I checked the northern fence and found four seriously "loose" posts. Loose meaning probably broken just below ground. This happens to some of the posts over winter.
When I returned to the corral the "girls" were all in the south part of the corral watching and waiting for me. After I picked up two posts, a post hole digger, sledgehammer, hammer and "u" nails I opened the corral gate and let the girls into the taller grass of the north pasture. No hesitation on their part in entering this new area.
As I worked on putting in the new posts the cattle went here and there checking everything out, stopping to take a few bites of grass before moving on. The laggards would notice the leaders and sprint to catch up in case they were missing something good. The cattle checked out the perimeter and at one point the entire herd ran down the center of the pasture from the river to the corral in full gallup. Stampede!
The river was a new thing for them and they stood and looked at it trying to make sense of it. I purposely let the cattle into the pasture earlier in the day, and not the evening, as I wanted them to see and understand the river and not blindly run into it. I had strung a simple two strand barb wire fence on the higher river bank section, but running cattle could easily go through it and over the river bank.
When the cattle walked along the fence near Mr. D's house his cocker spaniel came running out and toward the fence barking furiously. The cattle ran away from the fence. Hmmm....
The north pasture is the hardest to view from the house as the corral and barn block much of the view. Late afternoon I seen a few cattle in the trees by the river. They had finished exploring and had settled down to eating by the time I finished with the fence posts so I think they are fine. I just miss seeing them when looking out the window.
Flathead Valley was a lake during the last ice age. Then a large river when the ice dam melted and the pent up water rushed to the Pacific Ocean creating the Columbia River gorge. As a consequence one never knows what is underground. Two fence posts holes were easy to dig as it was soft dirt. A short distance away I seemed to dig more rocks than dirt. It took a long time to dig those holes.
I closed the NE pasture to the cattle to let the grass recover. I checked out my little trees along the north fence and they all survived. My tomato and other cages and boards worked at protecting them.
For the caragana bushes I had recently planted I had taken big pine cones and put around the caragana bushes along with some fresh manure. For both objects I noticed the cattle would avoid them and leave a little grass around them. My efforts paid off as these caragana bushes apparently were untouched.
All the time I worked outside it would sprinkle rain off and on. A cold cloudy day.
Our high temperature struggled to reach 50 F. So much for the mid-80s of last week. At least our overnight low temperatures stay above freezing. The mountains supposedly are getting socked with lots of snow by this weather. In the late afternoon I even had the wood stove going to heat the house. Tomorrow's weather forecast is for more of the same.Other than checking my pocket gopher traps (4 more!) today was an indoor day. Washing, cleaning and mending. When checking the pocket gopher traps I decided to go over a barb wire fence and not crawl under it in the wet grass. My back pants leg caught on a barb. As I was over the fence by then I couldn't reverse my movement to untangle. Pull! Pull harder! Rip!
Also, today's work made the small hole in the pants' right knee bigger. I sewed another patch over a patch. *sigh*I also set another mouse trap. Last night, in the 30 seconds before I fall asleep, I heard a scratching sound in the ceiling above me.
Pound! Pound! Pound! on the ceiling only temporarily stopped the scratching sound. So it took me a couple of minutes to fall asleep last night after I made a mental note to set a trap in the attic after I woke up in the morning.
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