I've told friends I don't need much advance notice, just a day or so. Which is what I am getting. Brian plans to arrive Sunday afternoon. Hmmm... where are my cleaning supplies? I need to make the place livable.
Brian's timing is good as Glacier Nat'l Park's Going-to-the-Sun road opened Friday afternoon.
Where does my vacation fit into all this? The only time I take time off away from the ranch to see the park and the area is when I have company.
Jail break
Hmmm... is this a broken record? Today after mending the fence where the magpie (Holstein) broke it yesterday, I noticed that magpie in the south pasture again!! He saw me by the fence, and since the rest of the herd was along the north fence he wanted back into the middle pasture. I opened the gate and he started to come but then got distracted by eating some grass. *sigh* I had to herd him a bit. This time he knew where the open gate was and went through to rejoin the herd.
I checked the fence and couldn't find any breaks. I did notice the top wires on the gate were sagging a bit. I wonder if he jumped the gate? I tightened up the gate closure to make the top wires sit higher.
When walking along the north/middle pasture fence I found a broken fence wire by the apple tree. None of the cattle went through the fence. I guess they have "been there, done that".
What will tomorrow bring?
Gophers
Only caught one pocket gopher the past few days. What's up with that? They are around. I usually catch one, or have him fill the trap with dirt, within 24 hours. A few days ago, not having caught a gopher, I figured the tunnel had been abandoned. I put the dirt back in the hole and moved the trap. A day after that I saw fresh dirt mounds where I filled the dirt. 24 hours later I trapped the pocket gopher.
I'll give the remaining traps another 24 hours.
Even though I have painted the marking sticks with orange fluorescent paint I still have trouble finding the sticks in the tall grass. Today I had to stand on top of my fence to search for one trap. I have started placing empty milk jugs on top of the sticks (3 so far). That really helps.
Another subdivision has been re-occupied. *sigh* I put a conibear trap over the top of the hole. When I checked an hour later the trap had been pushed to the side of the hole. *argh!* That's a first. These gophers are getting smarter.
Neighbor moving
The couple renting the house to my south have bought a house and are moving in July. It is too bad as they are nice neighbors. They gave me odds and ends of chain link fencing and a roll of wire fencing (not field fence). Also I get their old harrow. The property they bought is a half acre and the harrow is no use to them. Even here I used their harrow more than they did.
Weeds
What's my day without weeds? I pulled weeds for only a little over a half day as I had ridden my bicycle to the main post office to mail my shipping labels back to the nursery for my 1 year guarantee. Even working less than a full day I filled one and a half plastic grocery bags with seed pods.
The deer think they are helping me, but they are not. The deer are eating the younger stalks on the plants with multiple stalks. The oldest, central, stalk's seed pod is all seed and no flower, and therefore of no interest to the deer. With only the oldest seed pod left, the plant must think it is under attack and then opens the seed pod to scatter its seeds. Sometimes all it takes is to step on a plant and the next afternoon the pod opens to disperse its seeds even if it not quite time to do so. Other than a few early openers (always someone who wants to be first), most of the open seeds today were on partially eaten plants. The rest are waiting for whatever is the main trigger before opening.
Today's picking followed where the open seed pods were located. In between I picked large pods that look ready to open any time now. There are many of these. I am starting to feel this year I won't be able to pick all the goat's beard pods before they open. Especially with Brian coming to visit. Remember I said I needed three more days to finish my first pass at clearing the field? Yup, after today's work I still need three more days.
On the brighter side, the plants for the most part misjudged how high they need to grow to be above the grass. Once they open their flower they do not grow higher. New stalks can, and usually do, grow higher before flowering. Many of my plants are not taller than the surrounding grass. Even though this afternoon was breezy, most of the open seed balls were intact when I got to them. Maybe this will keep much of my eastern neighbor's seeds over in his field. I sure hope so!
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