Fruit tree and garden cattle - done

For a while it didn't like much of anything would be done today. It rained a third of an inch early this morning. Add in a late night on the computer and a very late morning as the week's late nights and work during the day caught up to me. I even took a short nap after breakfast as it was wet outside.

I let the cattle into the fruit tree and garden area even though I wasn't out there digging in the garden and able to keep a closer watch on them. There were only three heifers out there as the rest were taking their siesta in the loafing shed. After my nap I found all the cattle were in the fruit tree and garden area. They were behaving themselves.

Since the weather had improved I went outside to dig in the garden. After I arrived the cattle lined up along the fence to watch me as I dug. After a while they lost interest and went back to eating. The grass is now shorter and a few heifers decided to sample the leaves of the few fruit trees not completely protected by chicken wire.

The second time I admonished them to stop doing that, all but one heifer left - I guess in case I got upset like the previous night when I caught the two heifers in the garden itself. They went over to their favorite scratching tree in the NE pasture and held a conference. As the one heifer was still eating the rest came back. After a short while they settled down around the fenced in strawberry patch for their siesta and to chew their cud. Everyone was happy.

After their siesta it was back to eating. It wasn't long till some couldn't keep away from the fruit trees and I chased them all out and closed the gate behind them. The grass is short enough in the fruit tree and garden area that I no longer need to mow it. If they had stayed with eating only the grass I would have kept them longer to have them even the grass out. Oh well.


When I was checking pocket gopher traps in the hayfield I seen the black mama dog from the "3rd trailer" down the road. The dog was chasing the partridges it could find among the hayfield's grass. A partridge or two would fly up and land elsewhere in the grass. The dog would run over that way until a partridge would again take flight. Eventually the partridges had enough of the dog's harassment and flew off.

The river level is 890 CFS and it is playing musical chairs. I mentioned before that the large tree stump is gone. A few days ago two new smaller tree stumps appeared near this particular gravel bed. 24 hours later one of the two stumps is gone. As the river level continues to rise we'll see if the other one remains.

I went all the way to my northern boundary. Mr. D's low lying part of his property next to mine is all under water. As I approached the boundary a group of fuzzy brown little baby ducks (?) walked from my property into the water along my fence and swam out among the grass on Mr. D's low land. I counted 10 babies all swimming as a unit. No sign of their parents anywhere.

The past couple of days I have seen a pretty good sized deer on the other side of the river. The river is so high it can't cross over.

I am still getting accustomed to the tree I cut yesterday. Now when I look out to the north pasture I see a large yellow circle in the air that is the end of tree.

The lilac bushes are in full bloom. Lots of purple.