Half day burn and pheasants

I woke up to light rain. All-in-all it totaled only 0.02 inch on my rain gauge. Enough to make everything wet. No burning today?

I picked up some of the leftover bread from the Food Bank to give to my cattle. More heifers are liking it more and more. I get more crowding to get a piece of bread and they are far less hesitant in taking it from me. So much so that I almost got bit by one heifer taking the bread from my hand as she was in such a hurry to get the bread and I was distracted by the other heifers crowding to also get it. Between bread and hay "my girls" definitely associate me with food.

I opened for the cattle the gates to the loading corral. I had kept the cattle out of this part of the corral as I was thinking about burning its mixture or hay and manure one more time. But I decided yesterday I wasn't going to burn. The cattle made quick work of the green grass growing in the parts with no mixture of hay and manure.

The pheasants, or prairie hens, or whatever their names are, were in the loading corral and ran out between two broken boards in the snowfence that surrounds the loading corral. They didn't fly but ran as fast as their legs would go.

Today they surprised me, and I them, when walking through the hayfield I tossed a banana peel away after eating a banana. I tossed the peel a few feet away to where the two pheasants were sitting/hiding. The grass is growing but is not tall by any means, but I didn't see them until they started running after I tossed the peel.

Every day or so I see the two pheasants somewhere in or around the hayfield or corral. Last week I saw a male pheasant down by the river. Even though I was a good distance away there was no mistaking it for a large male pheasant with the bright colors and long tail.

Also last week the two pheasants surprised me and the cattle when I was walking in the hayfield close to the corral and the heifers were following me on the other side of the fence. The two pheasants suddenly took flight from out of the hayfield grass. A number of cattle ran back over to the barn and away.

A school election was held today asking for more money. Earlier the school district got a large amount to build a new high school. Today they wanted around $400,000 to move into the new school. What? Wasn't that part of the bond to build a new school? At 11:30 am I was voter number 27. The polls had opened at 7 am.

On the way home I stopped to remind Bob and Jan of the election. Bob said the other night they sure could tell I was burning as they could really smell the smoke when they were outside. That was the night I had about 20 tree stumps on fire.

Mid afternoon the clouds were lightening up and the temperature rose to the 50s F. I checked my pocket gopher traps: 2 dead gophers, 2 traps with dirt, and 2 with nothing. I repositioned the 4 traps to new locations. This is harder than usual as I am finding mounds of dirt with no tunnels. I wonder if a pocket gopher is checking a new area out and then deciding not to move there. Still they can fill their tunnel with dirt so well that one can't see the former tunnel. One trap that was filled with dirt also had the tunnel filled and after several inches I lost the tunnel and could not find it again. I found a tunnel over at the next mound a few yards away.

I am done with the stumps in the south pasture as all have burned. There are stumps still in this pasture but I am leaving them alone as they are either right next to a pine tree, I want the stump as a scratching post for cattle, a sitting stump, or because I haven't cut the fallen tree by the one stump.

The smoldering stump is still burning. Really burning. Underground. In the hole where the stump formerly was is a large side hole of a former root. In this hole I can see flames burning madly. It is like looking into a furnace. I can't see what is burning, but it must be the root as the fire follows it underground.

My estimate yesterday of three or stumps remaining to be burnt again was correct: four. The rest are gone.

In the north pasture I decided to cut the last "leg" (root) of the spider stump and not burn it again. I gathered wood and reburnt the two other stumps. The smoldering stump is a good sized hole in the ground and still smoldering.

In the middle pasture I burnt again the stump I wasn't able to burn before dark yesterday. I also burnt again the smallest of the four stumps that needed another burn. I also burnt a stump I had earlier dug around but never got to. One other stump I dug around and gathered wood for a burn tomorrow.

Almost done with burning.

The Tamaracks are "needling" out now. Since they don't have leaves I can't say "leafing" out. The young needles are so cute. They look like tiny green paintbrushes along the branches.

I also got a call from a realtor. He said he had someone looking to buy property for a sod farm and was interested in my place. No thank you!