Another trap missing

*Argh!* Those darn cattle! A few days ago I had added a short fence along the river and still 11 of them decided to river walk.

I saw them in the middle pasture last evening and decided to leave them be for the time being as I seen they had already knocked over the marking sticks for the pocket gopher traps. I figured there was no harm in them being in the middle pasture and I'd let them get it out of their system over night. Either they would do a river walk back to the south pasture else get "separation anxiety" being apart from the rest of the herd and not being able to go out into the hayfield.

Late this morning the herd was in the NE part of the south pasture and the "gang of 11" was across the fence in the SE part of the middle pasture. I gathered up some bread and small apples that had fallen from my trees. I fed them to the cattle in the south pasture while the "gang of 11" watched from the middle pasture.

"See what you're missing?!"

One of Dan's cattle let me scratch its head. That was a first as cattle like to sniff and lick me but don't like to be touched.

While one heifer stuck her head in the bucket to get more apples I went over to open the gate to the three cattle now standing at the gate. One entered and the other two stood there. The rest of the 11 stood and watched from the shade of the large pine tree in the corner.

"You idiots!"

I moved down the fence line to the west and with my long legs stepped over. One heifer was standing in the shade of a pine tree and I "shushed" her along. She went over to the remainder of the herd standing under the corner's very large pine tree.

"Come on girls. The herd and block licks are over there. The gate is open and I am here. Put two and two together."

I had to walk around and encourage them to cross the gate.

Of the 11, nine were my cattle. No wonder they weren't all hot and bothered to rejoin the main herd.

After getting all the cattle together in the south pasture I worked on adding to my fence along the river. Earlier I didn't want to extend the fence further north as this area was one of the minimal banks areas where the ground gradually enters the water. I want to keep as many of these areas open as possible as I don't want to restrict the cattle to one or two areas. Over use is where bank damage can occur. I have avoided that. But the cattle are not in the middle pasture so closing this access temporarily shouldn't cause problems elsewhere. It just means more fence work right now.

About the time I finished extending the fence to a deep water / steep bank area half the herd showed up to drink some water. I sat in the shade under a tree to watch. The south/middle fence is just above where the east channel splits from the main channel. Earlier I had built a fence from the south/middle fence and blocked river access until a short distance into the east channel. Watching the cattle they entered the river along the east channel and then walked up to the main channel to drink.

"What? The water is just as good in the east channel!"

Go figure. The cattle all know I was watching them so they returned to the south pasture without making a move to try to reach the middle pasture. Else these were the "good cattle" who had earlier remained in the south pasture. The all black cattle blend together and I hadn't memorized ear tags when herding them earlier back into the south pasture. I had wanted to see their reaction when they found the fence now *should* go farther than they would want to go as it means they would have to swim.

As of tonight all are in the hayfield and south pasture.

I had to go around and put all the marking sticks back up. I also had to reset all the traps as they had triggered them. Most of the milk jugs were separated from the marking sticks and a number of the jugs and sticks were scattered a distance from the traps. The iron bars marking the gopher traps were leaning and several were knocked completely over. Then I discovered one conibear trap was missing! It's steel rod had been pulled out of the ground allowing a hawk or eagle to fly off with the gopher and trap. All the remaining traps were empty.

I was so mad that if the cattle were still in the middle pasture and I had a switch I would have tanned their hide. If I could have hooked up an electrical charge to those marking sticks to give the cattle a jolt I would have gladly done so.

Why? Why are they so obsessed with knocking over the sticks and rods and taking everything apart?! Why can't they be satisfied with eating the grass and chewing their cud?

The time spent building the fence didn't allow me to finish watering my garden. It is so dry now the garden and fruit trees needs lots of water. And I could have been doing other chores that need to be done. *sigh*

New header photo

Another update to my blog's layout. The header this time. This photo was taken by my uncle during his visit last year. Yeah, I know "no tall pine trees" in the photo, but again my blog's previous header photo showed my trees in the snow. It is July right now and near 90 F. Snow photos seem out of place!

This photo was taken in Glacier Nat'l Park and shows on the left side Going-to-the-Sun road and Logan Pass. I cropped the bottom of the photo to make it wider than tall to fit into my blog's header. The valley below the photo is where the road climbs out of.

Measuring and haircut

Thursday's County Commissioners meeting play-by-play will have to wait till another day. While it is not too late (by my standards) I don't feel like taking time now to reconstruct the meeting in detail. Must be the heat. Day after day of mid-90s temperatures and very low humidity is slowing me down.

I will say that after my haircut I rode my bicycle and using my bicycle's computer/odometer (which is accurate) measured the distance from Rose Crossing to Tronstad Road along Whitefish Stage Rd. 1.25 miles. I measured the distance on my road from Rose Crossing to the north. 1.2 miles is near the subdivision's southern perc test pipe. Streich, the former owner apparently shilling for the developer, was wrong when he said if Tronstad Road was extended eastward the road would not pass through the proposed subdivision's property, but would pass south of the property. I stopped at Loyd and Joe Ann's house and we looked at their book of Flathead County's road maps. Even on the map Tronstad Road would pass through the proposed subdivision. But the Commissioners wouldn't listen to me when I suggested they verify Tronstad Road's future location! So much for long range planning!

Yup... this afternoon I finally got my summer haircut. 'Bout time. I had it cut short. I haven't looked in a mirror since having my hair cut but I believe my hair doesn't even reach my ears. So it is probably shorter than I usually have it cut. I still don't have a camera, so no photos. Sorry, guess you'll have to use your imagination.

Commissioners meeting result

This is gonna be a short blog tonight as I don't have the heart to ramble on in excessive detail as I normally do. The short of it is: the "bad guys" won. The developers pretty much got what they wanted. If they don't feel that way, then they wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than 100%.

The good thing was my neighbor and new friend, Tony, was able to educate the Commissioners about his road easement and perhaps get language in the subdivision's conditions that protects his easement. We'll have to wait and see what the final language turns out to be.

After the Commissioners vote I have been bummed out the rest of the day. I spent all that effort to do the right thing and make things better for the neighbors and area only to be an annoyance to the developer and his henchmen (and henchwoman!) and to several Commissioners on some of the points I raised and ignored on the other points.

Odd as it sounds that is part of the reason I became a software engineer (or as it was called back when I started: "computer programmer"). I liked to solve problems and puzzles. But also I took pride in having a computer program make a person's life better or easier.

But after today's Commissioners vote I feel like I've loved and lost and been rejected. Ya, I know it is an over reaction, probably because of the intense effort I made the past week and less sleep than usual.

I guess I should go back to trapping gophers, pulling weeds, and herding cattle.

Oh yeah... cattle. Twice today, before the Commissioner meeting and then after, I had to herd some of the cattle out of the middle pasture back to the south pasture. The river level continues its steady drop and is becoming quite shallow in larger and larger areas. The area along the south/middle fence where the cattle drink from the river is very gradual and the river bottom shallow. It appears once some of the cattle drink, their head and front legs are just beyond the fence so they hang a right and go into the middle pasture.

The middle pasture is recovering nicely from the cattle these past weeks, but its grass is short. Either the cattle like the grass at that height else they want to go somewhere new. The hayfield has lots of tall green grass.

Anyway, tonight instead of doing chores I needed to be doing, I built a quick simple two strand fence on the river bank ten to twenty feet each side of the south/middle fence. Perhaps this will eliminate the idea of swinging around the end of the fence. I don't really mind the cattle in the middle pasture except they walk around and knock over all my gopher trap marking sticks. It took me a bit to find them all tonight. The cattle stepped on one pocket gopher trap breaking it. The good news is it was the one trap that was broken before and I can fix it.

Commissioners and petition

I woke up early enough to attend the County Commissioners 8:45 - 9 am open comment period today (Wednesday). I arrived a few minutes early and, other than the secretary, I was the only person there.

Two commissioners came into the room on time. We waited for the third commissioner. And waited. Finally he came. I started speaking at 8:50 am and spoke until after 9:05 am. I got the entire 15 minute time period.

So the commissioners understood the area I was speaking about I had made copies of an area map from a prior growth policy amendment change. It turns out the room had a map on the wall of this area. I used this map when speaking and pointing out the locations.

I had three pages of signatures on my traffic petition and I gave them to the commissioners. I spoke about my traffic and road concerns, and also about a number of concerns people told me.

I had a few minutes left so I also mentioned my ground water and septic system concerns as I have a hand dug shallow well. The one commissioner, Hall, said he trusted the Dept of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would ensure the water and septic systems met standards. As a few people later told me 'this is putting the cart before the horse.' The County should require DEQ approval prior to the subdivision request being submitted to the Planning Office and the Commissioners. The DEQ covers the entire state and they are understaffed and overworked.

After I returned home I checked my gopher and pocket gopher traps. After I checked my traps I picked yet more goat's beard seed pods. I heard a voice calling me and it was Linda and Emy. When gathering signatures the day before I met another couple with the same concerns about the aquifer. We drove over and I introduced everyone.

We discussed perc pipes testing the water level underground at the subdivision. We got the locations and Linda, Emy, and I wandered over to check a number of them out. We had a tape measure and measured the water depth we found in the several pipes, the mud depth in a few other pipes, and the depth of the pipes, subtracting the pipe length above the ground. It has been very dry since the first days of the month so I wasn't expecting any water.

When checking the last pipe a pickup drove by. Uh, oh? I later found out it was the neighbor and he was not part of the subdivision and was not in favor of it. I went with my petition and he signed it. He also filled me in on more of the backstory about this subdivision and the developer. He plans to attend the open comment period and meeting Thursday. We will travel together.

After eating a late lunch, I got more printed petition forms from Amy, then gathered signatures from spouses who weren't home the previous day, a few people I missed earlier, and visited people along Rose Crossing. Those people led me to other people sympathetic to my concerns.

After learning yet more backstory I returned to my road late and began to visit people across from the subdivision. I encountered my only refusal. He was an elderly man. To my surprise he wasn't concerned about increased traffic and the road. "I don't care. Development will happen anyway. You can't stop it. Live with it."

I explained the impacts, how I wasn't against development, but I wanted the infrastructure to support it. He didn't care.

I was starting to think he was not mentally all there due to his advanced age. Then he revealed he was the father of a developer trying to develop property across from the subdivision I am protesting. When he spoke of 'problems with the subdivision south of his house', I had assumed the problems were in fighting the proposal. It turns out he meant in getting it approved. I heard this subdivision has had problems getting DEQ approval.

He then mentioned he didn't like my small pile of rocks at the edge of my driveway next to the road (which I removed several days ago). He felt they were a hazard and would cause an accident. Oh, really? I let him know that I removed the rocks several days ago, and that they wouldn't be a problem if people would drive on the road. "Oh, I suppose you're right."

I decided to turn his negative energy back at him. I then let him know he was the only person not to sign my petition, and since he didn't care about the traffic and road that I would be going. I left.

I then spoke to the negative man's next door neighbors. Even though this young couple lived across from the proposed development they hadn't heard about it. They were receptive and signed my petition. They were the last people I spoke with as it was dark outside now.

So tomorrow (Thursday) I plan to attend the commissioners' meeting and turn these names in. Wish me luck!

Working on my petition

A busy day Tuesday with my petition about the subdivision and traffic issues. I didn't start talking to people until after 3:30 pm when some people would be coming home. I finished talking with people and returned home at 11:44 pm.

Everyone had traffic stories to tell me. Everyone has signed. Even the people who believe developers can develop their land how they see fit. (I had to do some talking with those people!) Some people asked me to come back later when their spouse got home so they also could sign. I spoke with everyone between the development and Rose Crossing except for three homes where the people weren't home. *whew*

People were giving me names of other people for me to talk to tomorrow.

Even though I got more people to contact, I am worried about getting time on Thursday to speak so I will try to attend the open comment period tomorrow to make sure I can speak. The open comment period is only 15 minutes each day. I can always bring more names on Thursday. I hope to get up early enough Wednesday morning so I can attend the open comment period as it is at 8:45 am.

I also met most all my neighbors for the first time and they seem like a good bunch of people. Very diverse. Newer people, and people who lived here 40 to 50 years. I got a little history about the road and how and why it was paved, although people aren't quite sure exactly what year that happened. One woman knew the people who owned my place many years ago. I plan to go back and talk with her to learn more of the history of my place. Another man's wife is in a nursing home and I listened as he talked about that, and some of his life history and the jobs he held over the years as he seemed to want to talk with someone. He is 79 years old. Another elderly woman was skeptical as she didn't know me. Her daughter and son-in-law lived next door and heard me talking and came over to investigate. I got all to sign. One couple were sitting having a beer or two and were fun to talk to as they were funny. The new couple in the house with all the apple trees said I can have the excess apples that fall to the ground this fall to feed to my cattle if I still have them then.

I am a little worn out talking (and talking) but it actually was fun.

Starting a petition

Even though I went to bed after 2:30 am last night I woke up in time to call the Flathead County Road Superintendent (Charlie J.) at 6:30 am before he and the department left to do chipping & sealing road work. I woke up naturally (or as natural one can on less than 4 hours sleep) as I never plugged in the alarm clock. How I can do this, I have no idea.

I wanted to talk with Charlie about what he supposedly suggested to alleviate traffic concerns from the proposed 52 home subdivision down the road from me. The road past my place is already considered substandard and adding two foot gravel shoulders on each side of the road to handle an extra 520 vehicle trips a day is not adequate. The impression I got was that with the budget restrictions this is the best we can get. Well, it is not good enough or safe enough.

Naturally after talking with Charlie I went back to bed to get more sleep.

Late this afternoon I wrote up a petition with my traffic concerns and had Amy print copies off for me as I don't have a printer. Then I started visiting my neighbors along the road. I started at the north end as these people are closest to the subdivision and would know about it. The rules are the county only has to inform people who live within 125 feet of the subdivision. Everyone else along the road who would be affected were not notified.

I ended up speaking with a half dozen families. Some people I hadn't met so I took time for small talk and introductions. Most people didn't know about the subdivision plan so I spent time on education. One couple knew about it and had attended prior planning board meetings so I learned from them. Some people had property rights concerns until I explained how the developer's road plan actually infringes on their property and rights, and voicing their concerns would not be anti-property rights.

So far everyone who I spoke with has signed my petition. Limiting the petition to one issue helped also as I had less explaining and more of a chance of people agreeing and signing. Especially about traffic as everyone had an opinion or story about the traffic on our road. These stories also slowed my progress.

The next few days I plan on contacting everyone up and down the road. I hope to get as many signatures as possible to present to the County Commissioners to get them to listen to our traffic concerns. Their meeting is Thursday morning. So lots to do before then!

Show jumping

Today (Sunday) was the day for show jumping at The Event at Rebecca Farm. I arrived around 11 am and missed the accident, which happened around 9:30 am. A horse loosened a rail when making a jump. The rail somehow hit the horse on its head and it collapsed and died. Until an autopsy is done they won't know if the rail caused the horse to have a heart attack, else a heart attack caused the horse to hit the rail in the first place.

The rider fell to the ground after the horse collapsed and hit her head. She is in the hospital overnight for observation in case of a concussion. The arena was cleared of spectators after the accident until the horse and rider were taken care of.

Earthen berms are around three sides of the arena. The spectators can sit on the berms to watch. The trees are still young and didn't provide shade. I sat on the south berm so my back would be to the sun in hope of partially shading my legs. If it worked, it didn't work well enough as my legs are even more sunburned today. My ankles especially. I wore sandals and not shoes and socks. All I can say now is, "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Depending on the level of riders the course was changed with gates added or moved or the gates' rails raised or lowered. I arrived when the "middle range" riders were riding. The top riders didn't ride till mid-afternoon. With the middle riders quite a number had "clean" runs with no rails knocked from the gates. The rest of them had only one, two, or three rails knocked down. But with the more advanced riders the course was tougher and only one or two riders in each group would have a clean run.

After the top riders competed the Event had the Intermediate and Advanced classes compete. The course was easier but the Intermediate class had riders whose horses knocked down rails. A few riders even had 10 and 11 rails knocked down with six or seven being the average. The Advanced level riders were a little better. I sat near the judge's tent in its shade during the Intermediate and Advanced runs and overheard the judge's disgust with the Intermediate level riders. I am no expert but I thought they were being a little hard on the riders.

One of the Intermediate riders' horse balked at a jump and slid into the gate. The ground crew had to reset the gate. I thought I heard the buzzer to continue and so did the rider. A ground person was raking near the gate and backed off as the rider approached. The horse made the jump but the judges buzzed the rider to stop. They were quite annoyed with the woman rider and didn't believe her when she said she her the buzzer to continue and disqualified her. The women sitting near me discussed it and they heard a buzzer also. What they suggested is that we all heard the buzzer from another arena nearby where the lower skilled riders were competing. I think the judges were too harsh on the rider and I wished we figured out the "buzzer problem" before the rider left the arena and that we spoke up about it to the judges to convince them to give the rider another chance. What a disappointment for the rider. After 5 pm on Sunday, after waiting all day to compete in this event and then get disqualified.

Once person told me that when experienced horses age they are sold to less experienced riders who learn with an experienced horse before they move on to a younger horse that they train.

If the horse balks three times (same gate or different gates) the rider is disqualified. That only happened once or twice. If the horse and rider get separated the rider is disqualified. That happened once when the horse balked suddenly and the rider was tossed from the horse into the gate. The horse ran off. Another time the rider was tossed from the horse when it balked but she was able to hold onto the reins and was allowed to continue.

Sometimes the horse hits the gates rails hard. Mostly the rails were dropped when a hoof caught it as the horse went over. Some gates which I thought would be easy gave many riders trouble, while difficult looking gates rarely lost a rail. I spoke with a woman who used to show jump when younger and she explained that some vertical gates on their own can be difficult for the horse and rider to gage how much effort it takes to make a clean jump. Difficult looking gates, such as several closely in a row, can provide the horse with a depth perspective.

Before each class competed the riders along with their trainers walked the course to view the gates. The horses are not allowed to view the course before competing. The same rule applies to the cross country event. The riders must evaluate the course and guide their horses. The riders walk the course to decide how many strides the horse needs between each gate before the jump. Then during the run they urge on or hold back the horse depending on the next gate. The run is more than "guide the horse to the next gate in sequence and let he horse jump it".

The riders didn't get much for winning. The highest total for 1st Place was $9000. Other first place winners won anywhere from $1500 to $500. One certainly doesn't make money doing this. Either the rider sacrifices because they love competing, else the horse is owned by rich people who hire someone to ride their horse at events. Most riders seemed to be from: California, Washington, Alberta and British Columbia.

The Event was one of three (I believe) U.S. events where the top riders qualified for the World Equestrian Cup. Several riders wore red jackets instead of the dark one. The red jacket for a U.S. rider signified the rider was on the U.S. Equestrian team. Either for the World Cup, or for the next Olympics.

For the team event, the Rebecca Farm team took first place. The judges joking said the other riders asked them to change the scoring for the Rebecca Farm team. It appears "Rebecca", the owner of Rebecca Farms (along with her husband) rode on this team.

I met a few people at the Event. I met a 40ish woman originally from Georgia at the Event with her mother. They both seemed to be horse women and would make comments during the competition about the horses and riders. The younger woman said she used to participate in Hunter/Jumper shows in the SE U.S. for many years. She helped educate me on things to watch for.

I commented that 95% of the riders were women. She said that is true and that most of the men who ride are gay. She said the circuit is not a place to find a guy. I had figured the feminine looking male participants looked that way due to the riding outfits all had to wear. I would think it would be hard to look masculine in English riding apparel, especially when the riding apparel's target buyers are mainly women. I am not sure how many men competed but the total I saw was between 5 and 10. A man did win one of the classifications for the more experienced riders.

I met another couple originally from England, now living in British Columbia. Their daughter participated. They had emigrated to Canada in 1975 and have led interesting lives. She was the one who suggested to me that the buzzer we, and the disqualified rider, had heard came from the next arena.

It was another hot day with the temperature reaching 96 F again. Some of the earlier riders didn't wear their jackets when they competed. Once the CIC riders (the top riders) competed the judges enforced the rule that all riders must be completed dressed with jackets.

We had scattered rain showers. Two or three times I saw a long bolt of lightning in the distance with a rain shower across the valley. Around 4 pm a few large clouds came off the peaks to our west and provided wonderful shade. Then a few sprinkles. Then a steady light warm rain. I knew it wouldn't last long so I enjoyed the cooling down and getting wet. Sure enough after the sun came out my clothes dried in less than 15 minutes. People who had umbrellas for shade used them to keep dry.

I stayed to the very end which came around 6:20 pm. I enjoyed it. I plan to attend the Event again next year.

Cross Country at the Event

I spent all afternoon at the Rebecca Farm Event, from noon to the end at 6 pm. One of the jump judges told me they were putting in a 12 hour day as the competition started at 7 am.

It was a sunny and very hot day. The high temperature was 96 F. The average wind speed was 2 mph with a maximum of 8 mph. A beautiful day but hot! Along with thundering sound of the horses hooves I could heard many breathing hard in the heat.

A number of people had umbrellas to provide shade for them. A good number of people were dressed in long pants and shirts and cap to protect against the sun. A number of the younger, mainly female, people were not so covered so as to get somewhat of a tan. Interestingly not many people had tans, even the ones trying for a tan.

Me on the other hand, am somewhat dark from being outside much of the time picking weeds and whatever. Or I should say the top half of me is tanned as I wear long pants around the ranch as it is a must when working. Today I wore short pants and I think my legs got a touch sunburnt. The first few hours I watched at the duck pond and had shade. The rest of the time there were no trees.

At 96 F I was sweating in my clothes so I took my tshirt off. Being tan no problem with sunburning. Later a man, (pregnant) woman, and two girls came and sat nearby. They looked like they were out of the "Little House on the Prairie" as the woman and the girls all wore long pioneer dresses. They looked hot. When the man and girls went off to look at a jump from another angle I caught the woman looking at me. Wonder what she was thinking?

I started my viewing at the duck pond. This is the first water jump and the 5th jump in the competition. The pond is shallow. It is called the duck pond because of two very large carved ducks sitting in two parts of the pond. If I remember old newspaper articles correctly, the ducks are made from several large pieces of wood. They look very nice and the experienced, top level, riders were required to jump both ducks. The other levels had lower objects in the pond that they had to jump.

The duck pond had a few large cottonwood trees to provide shade and most people were in the shade. There were more spectators than yesterday, but still not a whole lot of them. It was easy to find a good spot in the shade to watch.

The few people not in the shade were the professional photographers. They took and sold to the competitors photos and videotapes of them. Their cameras had super long lenses. Brain would have been drooling over these cameras. As the photographers were set back from the pond, they had to contend with people coming to watch and getting in the shot.

Most everyone was either at the duck pond, else on the hill overlooking the two ponds and much of the course in the middle to end of the course. I had walked half the course and stopped at a few jumps to watch and there were only a couple spectators at these jumps.

One jump area had two jumps where the horse and rider had to time the horse's gait to make clean jumps. Making it more difficult were the two jumps were in a "crescent" shape. After the jumps the horse and rider had to quickly get around a hill to the jump at the edge of the hill before going downhill to the next (trout pond) water jumps. I stood on the edge of the course after the double jump and watched a few riders come past. The riders, 95% women, were very focused and serious as they galloped past. They were looking ahead and I think if anyone got in their way they would have been run down.

If the horse refused three times to jump over any jump, it was eliminated from the competition. Five "refusals" over the entire course and the horse was eliminated. I never witnessed any 'refusals' while I was at the duck pond, but heard later in the day the announcer calling out refusals at the duck pond. I saw a handful of refusals at the trout pond water complex.

Some horses and riders were very smooth going over the jumps, and some seemed like they wouldn't make it over but did somehow. A few horses jumped like a deer over some jumps. I heard a number of hooves hit the obstacle and saw a woman later walking the course looking for lost horseshoes. One horse rubbed its belly hard going over the jump but make it. One time the horse ran into jump and the rider had to circle around to try again. After the third refusal she was eliminated.

The two water ponds section of the course was challenging. At the top/side of the hill the horse had to jump over a very large log., Then run downhill to the trout pond, jump over a large log to land on a short section of land before the pond (I don't think the horse could see the land - only the pond beyond). Then a few steps then a small jump over a little log and into the pond. Just past the other side of the pond was another large log jump. Then sharply to the left and jump a large log then run into the pond and on the other side of the pond was another large log. Then sharply to the right and a smaller log and a short distance then leap into another pond. After that pond race a ways to the next jump. There were a number of different jumps around the ponds and the lower levels of riders didn't have to make as many jumps or had a different route through the ponds.

The challenge was making the jump at the side of the hill then slowing the horse going downhill to then make the first jump before the water. A few women were shouting "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!!" as they rode downhill.

Many riders were silent. A number would say either "Good Boy!" or "Good Girl!" after successful jumps. One woman talked and talked to her horse during the water jumps, and after the final water jump let out a joyous cry.

I think a number of riders would be sore after all the water jumps. Some riders rode smoothly, some riders were tossed around by the force of the jumps. Many parents and family members were watching and let out a sigh of relief after the last of the water jumps.

After making the jump the horse and rider would ran fast and hard to the next jump. The riders didn't sit in the saddle when racing to the next jump. Some riders appeared to float over the horse, and with other riders you could see their up and down movement as the horse ran.

Dog were allowed at the Event as long as they were on a leash. One time a dog ran onto the course as a rider was coming out of the second pond. Someone ran and got the dog before the rider reached that spot. I seen other dogs and they were panting heavily in the hot sun. I think it was cruel and selfish of people to bring their dogs on a day when it was 96 F and no shade.

One woman had a toy Australian Sheppard. It was a cute tiny dog and many people went ga-ga over it. As the woman and I happened to be at several jumps at the same time I heard her story over and over. She seemed to have brought the dog to get the attention. She is from Bozeman and bought from a breeder in West Yellowstone. Apparently it costs $950 but she traded one of her sculptures for the dog.

One woman was so enamored by the dog she wanted the name and phone number of the breeder. While she said all species of female were superior to males, and she wanted to buy a female dog, her description of her current female dog and past female horses seemed to focus on their stubbornness and neurotic behavior. The male dog she had owned (she had to take the male dog to get the female one), though deaf and partially blind, seemed to have a calming effect on her female dog. Unfortunately the male dog was run over and the female dog then got extremely neurotic.

Each jump had several judges to watch that the horse and rider made the jump and would radio in the result of each horse and rider. I asked how they judged the jump and it was "make it? yes or no". No points were deducted if the horse touched the jump obstacle. I guess they are more critical on how the jump is performed when it comes to the show jumping tomorrow.

I was told there are 500 competitors. Looking towards the stable it looks like a small city what with all the campers and horse trailers. Supposedly there is even a competitor from New Zealand. I heard many riders announced as being from California. Alberta, Canada also had a number of riders.

The riders, while stylish, wear vests to protect their chests. A medic I spoke with said the chest injuries are almost all prevented after the vests were required. The hats are actually helmets. I am used to helmets looking like football helmets or bicycle helmet. Leave it to the horse riders to make the helmets look stylish. Then again most all the riders are women. I remember how the bicycle catalogs in the 1980s changed after women took up bicycling. From a page selling clothes, now many catalogs are half or more with clothing for sale.

Tonight was a social party. The tickets to the meal were all sold out, but apparently one could attend the dance afterwards and cash bar. The Event hired a live band to provide music. If one is male and can dance this may be the event to attend. As I mentioned most competitors were women as I only saw a handful of male riders. In the spectator crowd it was mostly women. The men often were fathers (someone has to write the checks!). I can't dance. Besides I had a feeling that since the final part of the competition (show jumping) was tomorrow the competitors may call it an early night.

Foot, Roads, Horses

Joyce - my huckleberry picking friend - called to invite me to join her hiking group today (Friday) for their weekly hike in Glacier Nat'l Park. They were going on a 10 mile hike. I had to decline because my left foot was sore. I thought that when I wore an old pair of shoes with a hole in the bottom to cross the river to see how my cattle made their jail break last weekend, I had stepped on some rocks on the gravel river bed and hurt the ball of my foot. Then the next day I had to stand on two pipe wrenches over and over to loosen a number of pipe sections on my well's plumbing. So I have been hobbling since then favoring my foot. This morning I checked the bottom and found a very small black spot. It turns out I had a thorn in my foot. I guess when wearing those shoes and walking among the brush I stepped on a thorny something, then forgot about it. Once I got the thorn out of my foot my foot felt so much better when I walked on it. I wish I figured this out yesterday so I could go on the hike today.

This afternoon I went to talk with Charlie, the County road superintendent, as he was suppose to be back from vacation yesterday. I never got around to writing about it, but last week I went to the County Commissioners' office to read the file on the proposed subdivision north of me. 52 houses. This is the same sub-division that was defeated last December. The developer is back again with a slightly revised plan. Because the road past my place is substandard and wouldn't handle the estimated traffic of an additional 520 vehicle trips per day from the new subdivision the developer proposed to add a two foot gravel shoulder to the road. Then he wanted the County to set up a plan to have "late comers" reimburse him for the improvement to the road by their property. He apparently spoke with the County road superintendent and got his approval. When I spoke to one County Commissioner about this he said to talk with the Road Superintendent.

Which brings me to today. I found the Superintendent was out of the office. I guess he and most of the department work four 10 hour days and have Fridays off work. Pretty nice - go on vacation and come back to work, then get the next day off work.

Guy, the second in command, told me to call Charlie 6:30 am Monday morning. Apparently the County dedicates two weeks each year to chipping-and-sealing and that starts Monday. So call Charlie early before they go out to start the work.

I found that while Guy drives my road and is familiar with it, as his girlfriend lives north of me, he wasn't familiar with the proposed subdivision or Charlie's views on the road improvements. Guy seems to be a good guy, and in a talkative mood as no one else was around. After hearing lots of stories of crazy or upset people unhappy with the road department and the roads I finally left as I had to get to CHS to buy more bloat blocks.

My bloat blocks for the cattle were almost gone. The cattle seem to love them. Dan dropped off two bloat blocks this morning before I got up. I got to CHS before they closed at 5 pm. Three people were before in line. The price of each block went up from $17.99 to $18.59. But as it was only listed in the computer and not on the board, he sold the blocks to me at the old price. I bought three, an extra one for later.

Then off to Rebecca Farm to attend "The Event". This has been going on for a number of years now and I never got around to attending it. The Event is a premier equestrian competition. It is one of the four or five top courses in the U.S. In Olympic years it is one of the qualifying events for the U.S. team.

I got to the farm after 5 pm. The competitions on this first day of three ended after 6 pm. Not many people were there and I was able to park close. I wandered around not sure what was where and what was going on. On a loudspeaker I could hear a man with a slight British accent announcing riders' locations in a certain event. I later learned it was the cross county event. I wandered around a few areas where people on horses were walking around a square ring with very short with dividers inside. The dividers looked slightly higher than a curb. I wondered if this was an event or some people on horses wandering around. I later learned this was the "Dressage" event. "The Event" consists of Dressage, Cross Country, and show jumping. All three are required and one's score is the total of all three events.

I eventually found the cross country course and wandered over to watch it. There were very few spectators and they wandered across the course taking care not to get in the way when a rider and horse came by. I eventually made my way up the hill and to the shade of a large tent canopy. This location gave a person an overview of much of the course. I and others mainly watched when the riders had to cross the water pond in several locations.

There was more to describe but it is late and I am tired. I think I will try to go back to watch tomorrow. I guess today's contestants were of the novice class. More experienced riders compete tomorrow. Besides, as one course official confirmed to me, 3/4 or more of the contestants are women. These women in their stylish tight fitting clothes have a certain appeal.

In the hayfield

Today, Thursday, was the day the cattle could be let into the hayfield. It has been a week since I started them on the bloat blocker licking blocks. Today I only found 1/5 of two blocks left, and the other two blocks are completely gone. Wow. I need to buy more blocks.

I waited till the cattle were nearing the end of their late morning siesta. I bought a half dozen of loafs of French bread. A few cattle ate some pieces; other wanted to pull the full loafs out of my 5 gallon pail and shake them around; others had no interest in the bread but wanted to be part of the action.

Twenty-four of the twenty-eight cattle crowded all around me. Most are getting big so it felt at times I was in a sea of cattle, especially as many would mill around. While most of the cattle were content to look-but-not-touch, a few pushed right against me.

I had a pair of pliers (as I had to fix a gopher trap I bent when 'dispatching' a gopher today) and a few unopened goat's beard seed pods at the bottom of my pail. Dan's all brown steer/heifer (someday I need to check what sex it is) stuck its head into the pail to try to reach the items at the bottom of the pail. No, it did not get its head stuck in the pail, but it was not for its lack of trying.

Once the bread was dispersed, with half of it ending up on the ground, I walked over to the hayfield/south pasture gate. The herd followed me. Once I opened the gate four immediately stepped through and started to munch on the tall grass. The ones behind pushed until all were through the gate except for two cattle; one of mine and one of Dan's. They stood and looked from along the fence a short distance from the gate. I wasn't sure if they were kind of slow, or if they were waiting to see if the others got in trouble for being in the hayfield. After a few minutes, when I moved into the hayfield to gather open goat's beard seeds the final two joined the herd.

As usual with a new place the cattle were torn between eating and exploring. The herd wanted to stay together but some wanted to eat more than explore, and others, visa-versa. After a bit the herd split into two equal numbers seemingly based on the desire to eat or explore. One of my heifers walked over to me and licked my hand before going back to eating. I guess she wanted to thank me for letting them into the hayfield.

From the road the field doesn't look like it has any goat's beard weeds. Walking in the field I found how wrong that was. Lots of open goat's beard seeds scattered throughout the field in amongst the tall grass. As it is late in their growing season the weeds didn't have the oomph to grow taller than the surrounding grass.

I tried to gather the seeds before the cattle walked by and knocked them to the ground. I hadn't planned on gathering seeds and didn't have a bag. I had to use my 5 gallon pail. I ended up with enough seeds to almost fill a plastic grocery sack.

Shortly after I let the cattle into the hayfield, I had to get over a feeling of "Oh no! Cattle are in the hayfield!". In the past I never had Dan's or my cattle in the hayfield as each year the hayfield never re-started its growth after the hay cutting before we sold the cattle at auction.

With cattle in the hayfield I had remove my pocket gopher traps. Cattle like to scratch on the marking sticks and end up knocking them over. That already happened to one of the sticks before I could gather them all. For over a week I had been setting a trap and the pocket gopher filling it with dirt. I guess the gopher "won" this round as I had to pull the trap before he slipped up and got caught.

I see plenty of mounds of dirt in the north and middle pastures, so the pocket gopher traps will be put to use.

Early this evening I heard whooping and hollering down by the river. I went to check and found five early-20s men floating in the river on inner tubes. A good thing to do as it is very hot here. Our high temperature today was 86 F. The guys were all in a good mood. One said to the others, "I feel so high from smoking that weed."

I watched until they floated out of site down the main/middle channel. I was nice; I made a comment about it being a good day to float the river. I refrained from standing on a high river bank overlooking them and asking, "Can you squeal like a pig?", as was said in the movie, "Deliverence".

This evening I finally finished weeding my garden. "Finally" is the word. I now have to weed my strawberry patch and water the garden, fruit trees, and bushes. With no rain, low humidity (in the teens), sun, and hot temperatures in the mid to upper 80s, the ground is dry. I can start to hear some grass crackle when I step on it.

Small jail break

Monday afternoon I found six cattle in the middle pasture. It seemed to be the same six who got into the middle pasture last week.

I checked the fence line and found the fence needed work in the low area near the river that flooded when the water was high this spring. As I had never closed the south and middle pasture from each other before I hadn't maintained the fence, nor had the cattle "stress checked" it. Now that the river has receeded into its banks and this area has dried out for the most part, access to this section of the fence here is now relatively easy.

I added a couple extra steel posts and moved a couple other ones. After I had re-attached the barb wire to the posts the cattle came to the river to drink. They were surprised to see me as I could see them on the higher ground stop suddenly when they saw me.

While the cattle have a low easy access to water for most of the south pasture they decided to drink on the other side of the fence from me. The six "jail birds" (all Dan's cattle!) came to the river first. One Holstein drank right next to the fence. After he drank he turned and started to cross to the middle pasture before I stopped him.

After the water level dropped a shelf or bench of ground has been exposed past the end of the fence. This is how the cattle have been getting into the middle pasture! After the cattle left I added another steel post at the end of the exposed ground, and extended the fence. Now if the cattle want to get into the middle pasture they will have to walk in the river and so far they have not done that.

While the cattle were drinking from the river and checking me out, I worked on other part of the fence moving or attaching strands of barb wire. Some cattle wanted to check out what I was doing and wanted to sniff my hands. So I had to be careful when working. Many of the cattle have no fear of me.

The cattle look good. Mine look very nice except for "the runt". I had two smaller heifers when I got them and now I can only pick out one smaller one. She is growing in height and is getting longer legs, but she hasn't filled out yet. She also has half of her winter fur coat. Of the rest of my cattle, only a few have a light reddish tinge to their coat signifying a touch of the old fur, and that one parent may have been a red Angus. I don't know why this one heifer is lagging the others. Younger? She takes after her mother? Don't know. One of Dan's cattle seems to be similar: winter coat, no great weight gain.

Since I fixed the fence no more jail breaks into the middle pasture.


I see that my cattle's jail break made the "Law roundup" section of the local newspaper. Someone had called the Sheriff's office to report my loose cattle. My neighbor across the river and I are the only people in the area that I know who have cattle. The neighbor has a herd of Hereford cattle. I only have two Herefords, with the majority being black. Why the person who noticed the cattle didn't contact me before calling the Sheriff's office is a mystery. The Sheriff's office never contacted me.


Today I found one of the wooden stands that hold two of the bloat blocker blocks was flipped over. I set it upright. I found that the two blocks were a quarter of their size. I checked the other two blocks and found they were half their size. Wow. The bloat blocks certainly don't last as long as salt blocks. I read on the label that one block per five head was recommended. Dan and I were a block and a half short as we only have four blocks for 28 head. Still that doesn't account for the rapid use of the blocks in only seven days. At $18 a block, one certainly doesn't want the blocks to be used up as if they were candy.

Tomorrow I let the cattle into the hayfield as it has now been a week since they started on the bloat blocker blocks. Then it will be a test of the hayfield fences.

Water pressure tank

My leaking well water tank is fixed.

Since I hadn't heard back from Tony, last Tuesday I went uptown to see what Home Depot, Lowe's, and Murdoch's had for tanks.

Since many, many years have passed since my water tank was installed, I guess I should have expected to find the tanks to be very different now. My tank is tall and thin (16" by 48") and has two holes to let the water in and out. The tanks I found at the stores were shorter and fatter. They also have only one opening in the tank, and not two like my tank has.

With the size difference on new tanks I needed to measure the area I have to work with, so I didn't purchase a tank.

In between huckleberry picking, cattle rangling, and other chores I worked on getting ready to replace my tank. I didn't think I could get the old tank out of the shed door so I felt I would have to remove the shed by tipping it over. I started to dig the large amount of dirt - that is my flower garden - away from the shed. One night I dug away the north and east sides. The next night I had dug half the south side before I realized that I wouldn't be able to tip the shed over the tall tank. I would need a machine to lift the shed straight up. That I don't have.

I decided to take off the door and west side of the shed to allow the shed to be tipped over. After I got most of it removed I realized I wouldn't have to move the shed, with this side open I would be able to remove the tank. *duh!*

The next chore was to remove the pipes that led outside the shed for watering the lawn and garden, and for filling the stock tank. There were two openings and three pipes. Only one pipe is still used. One pipe formerly went directly to the stock tank. Another (copper) pipe led to a small basin next to the stock tank that apparently would provide continual water. Around the copper pipe was a heating tape as this pipe was buried only a few inches below ground and was susceptible to freezing in the winter. Another electric cord led to a heating element under the basin. All of this I removed from the shed. I had to take the end of one electric cord off as the plug would not fit through the hole in the wall of the shed. I guess the previous owners, and/or dad felt it was easier to just disconnect stuff instead of making the effort of removing it.

I also removed half of the old insulation inside the shed along with whatever else was extra or in the way.

With all the extra stuff removed I only had the pump, tank, and pipe to the house left. I was now ready to go buy a tank. With my cattle jail break this weekend I wasn't able to go buy a tank. This worked out well as Kyle, the son of Tony the well guy, showed up at my door at 8:30 am Monday morning. I was still sleeping as 8:30 am is early for me.

It turns out Kyle and Tony had a similar sized tank in their boneyard. Someone had upgraded their tank size so they had a used tank to sell me. Kyle was on his way to a repair job in Big Mountain, but he dropped off the used tank. The new tank, while almost the same size, does have only a single opening. So some plumbing was required to hook up pipes.

The tank Kyle brought was a Well-X-Trol model WX-203. As you can see from the specs it is only a couple inches shorter than my tank. In the following photo my new tank is the tall thin one. My old tank is a galvanized steel pressure tank. The new tank has an air bladder. This will eliminate the chance of it getting waterlogged, as what happened a few years ago.




Tonight (Tuesday) after 6:30 pm Lyle came over and we replaced the leaking tank. While old, and a little rusty, the old pipe connections did unscrew easier than I imagined they would.

We placed the newer tank on the concrete floor to the south side of the shed instead of on the boards over the well casing. The old tank was half on-and-off the casing. The re-position of the tank required some changes in the pipes, but that was a given as the tank had only one opening instead of two. Being to the side allows easier access to the pump and rear of the shed. Before I had to squeeze around one side of the tank.

I used this opportunity to replace the shutoff valve with a new one. The old valve, when closed, would still allow a slow steady drip of water which was a problem last year when I fixed another section of the pipe. I also moved the location of the shutoff valve. Before, the shutoff value stopped water from the tank to everything. Now I have two shutoff values: one to the house and one to the outside. In the future if I have a problem with the pipe to the house I can still have water via the faucet in the pump house.

We put a short pipe and faucet on the "outside" line for now. Later I will assemble the pipe and fittings so the faucet can go through the pump shed wall to the outside for easy lawn/gardening access. I plan to move the "outside" pipe higher so I don't have to bend down as far and so it is not in the way of the lawn mover when I mow the grass.

As Brain commented on my "low water pressure" during his visit, I had Kyle increase the pump's pressure. Before, the on/off pressure was 23 lbs to 48 lbs. Now it is 26 lbs to 52 lbs. It doesn't sound like a great increase but I had to balance the increase in water pressure against the old age of the house's pipes and fittings. Besides, I was fine with the old water pressure.

So, my leaking problems are fixed. Now I need to put the pieces back together once the shed's insides dry completely. Too bad I didn't realize earlier that I didn't need to dig the dirt away from the shed.

50: states, rooftops, American flags

Scott LoBaido, an artist from New York City, is going around the US to paint the American flag on one roof top in every state. 50 flags in 50 states. He painted the flag in Montana in Butte. The photo below is of the flag in Rapid City, South Dakota.

http://www.creativepatriot.org/

Here is an article and photos from the flag he painted in Ketchikan, Alaska. I've been in Ketchikan many years ago. I was on a bicycle tour and arrived via ferry around midnight. It was raining cats and dogs so Sarah and I spent the night in the section of the ferry terminal under construction. To our surpise the ferry terminal manager arrived sometime around 6 am for the early morning ferry. He wasn't happy with us being there.

We learned that the next night a couple of backpackers arrived via ferry around midnight and again it was raining hard. The ferry terminal manager wouldn't let them spend the night at the terminal and made them leave. Oopps.

I rode on an Alaskan ferry which is nowhere near the size of the cruise ship in the photo below.

Cattle, garden, gophers and weeds

The cattle behaved themselves today and stayed mainly in the eastern part of the south pasture. Else they decided the effort to "escape" to where they were yesterday wasn't worth the effort?

Therefore I concentrated on my garden. The past week I have worked on weeding my garden as it badly needs weeding. I had trouble finding my carrots, beets and onions in amongst the weeds. Yes, my garden was that bad.

I now have two thirds of the garden weeded. All the lower height crops and their surrounding areas are weeded, and most of the rest of the taller (corn, peas, beans, tomatoes, etc) crops also are weeded.

The tomato plants have grown into large bushes. Too large to place more old tires around tomato plants to keep them warmer at night. Even with our hot temperatures of the mid 80s F during the day, our overnight lows are in the mid to upper 40s. The air is that dry.

The tomato plants are so large I now can't use my tomato cages to help keep the plants off the ground. I had to round up a variety of sticks and place them around the plants to keep their branches off the ground. The plants look more like bushes than "trees".

This morning I spent a few hours and watered (soaked) the crops. A benefit of the weeds is that they were so thick that they shaded the ground and retained the moisture longer. The disadvantage is that the weeds held back the crops. The plants in the areas I weeded last week seem to be noticeably bigger today.

The pocket gopher is still in the garden. I had seen an open pocket gopher hole by a fruit tree was now plugged with dirt. Since no activity on my trap in the garden I thought this pocket gopher moved once again. I moved the trap. Less than an hour later I found the hole in the garden was plugged with fresh dirt. I went to retrieve the trap and found a dead pocket gopher in it. 24 hours later and again no activity in the garden. *argh* This gopher is one wary animal.

I haven't gotten any more gophers in the pasture. Several leghold traps had been triggered but no gopher. Not sure why, perhaps something else was between the trap arms when it closed and the gopher was able to slip out? I had been trying to place a light amount of dirt to cover the trap. Maybe some debris got mixed in?

For one conibear trap the gopher plugged the hole with dirt rather than try to use it and go through my trap. I miss when I first started and easily trapped the dumb gophers.

The depressing part is that I found a half dozen holes in the north pasture have been re-opened. A gopher chirping a warning alerted me that I should re-check some of the holes. The re-opened holes are not just one or two in one "subdivision", but spread out over at least three subdivisions. Where are the gophers coming from?!! What makes it easy for them is that I can cover the openings to the holes but the underground network of holes are still open and ready to easily move into.

Also depressing is that I found quite a number of goat's beard weeds in the north pasture as I checked the gopher traps. The western sun was just right to light the weeds up. One weed after another. The cattle had eaten them down earlier when they were in this pasture, but now the weeds have sent up new stalks and seed pods. The deer must be wandering through this pasture as I also found quite a number of stalks that were partially eaten. The stalks are too recent for my cattle to have eaten them.

Gophers and weeds. I can't win.

Major jail break!

A nightmare scenario came true today. The cattle made a jail break and got out ALL the way to the south road. This is a half mile or more.

Around 4:30 pm on a hot day my neighbor to the south came and asked if the cattle in her brother's field next to her house were mine?

"I don't know."

"Two Holsteins are part of the group. There are about 25 of them."

"Oh. They may be mine."

While I had seen the herd in the morning around the bloat blocks, a check of the south pasture and the island after my neighbor came over found all the cattle gone. *sigh*

I took a plier and screwdriver so I could open the small gate in the south pasture fence. Then I realized I should have some food to entice the cattle back. As they were a half mile away it would be hard for one person to herd so many animals. I ran back to the barn and got some bread and a bucket of alfalfa cubes and some other treats I had gotten at an auction. I think they were for horses but the cattle like them.

Then I ran back to the gate. I cut through the hayfield and found running through alfalfa is hard is it is long and wraps and tangles on one's legs and feet when they move fast.

The neighbor to the south hadn't plowed her field this year so it was mainly chest-high Canadian thistle and some grass. That is why one wears long pants. Fortunately the thistle wasn't too dry with sharp thorns, and with the long pants didn't sting.

The lady said that one or two cattle were even on the road in addition to being in her brother's freshly cut hayfield. I found the whole herd together in the hayfield. They were a little confused by their new surroundings and the cut hay. I approached them slowly and some came to meet me.

I held out their treats and while a half dozen were curious only a couple were really into eating them. One of my cattle, which I expected as I started them out with treats so they would get used to it and me, and one of Dan's cattle, which was unexpected as he brought his over after I stopped much of the treats.

I walked backwards and the two followed me. The herd followed them. Unlike last year, this is a herd that stays together.

I got the herd across the hayfield to a dirt road. After slowing down to look over and sniff the dirt road the herd followed me. A short walk on the road then I got off the road and towards the thistle and grass part of the field. The road couldn't be used as it curved and went to the trees - the last place I want cattle. Herding cattle through trees is near impossible. Believe me, I've tried in the past.

The cattle followed me off the road. They started to move faster and I had to move backwards faster than I wanted to, all the while feeding treats and trying not to get bit feeding them. I felt their teeth a few times, but no bites.

I worked my way near the neighbors' fences as I crossed this field to my pasture. Half way several neighbors had horses. My cattle were very interested in the horses and would stop to look at them. Then a short distance later a fence gate was open. Only the one I was feeding continued to follow me. The rest went through the gate. The area wasn't large as several fences worked to make a large box around one of the power transmission towers.

But the cattle wouldn't come out of this "box". The neighbor, Shawn, was outside and asked if he could help. "Yes!" I had him stand in the field so the cattle wouldn't exit the "box" and turn south, away from my pasture. I herded the cattle out. The cattle went north, then northwest. More running by me and Shawn to head them back NE and north.

The grass and thistle were high so that actually helped as the cattle couldn't see where to go and all followed the leaders. We got them all the way to my fence. But not the corner and the gate. They wouldn't turn. I tried feeding them treats again but the two that ate them weren't interested. I had slip through the herd to the east side to entice them and the herd started west, SW. I couldn't herd them but Shawn cut them off. I got around the herd and to the west of them. I got them back towards my fence. I was like there was an invisible fence as the cattle didn't want to move further east.

I tried the treats and again and the two cattle started eating them from my hand again. I walked backwards to my gate and again the "invisible fence" and they stopped. Finally they walked over to me for more treats. The herd followed. At the gate the one (Dan's) stood and wasn't too sure about crossing the gate. Finally after some thought and encouragement from me, it crossed. But none of the other cattle would cross. They bunched into the corner.

I was running out of treats so I put the bucket inside the pasture a distance away from the gate. Dan's animal went for the bucket and I slipped through the fence and behind the herd. Shawn and I walked in slowly to "push" the cattle towards the corner.

The gate is narrow and only one animal at a time can go through it. The cattle in front just stood there and wouldn't cross the gate. Then one, then another crossed. But no more. Shawn and I pressed in further and occasionally had to move quickly to head off an escape attempt by one or two who didn't want to be crowded. Finally the pressure of the herd got a flow of animals going and all returned to the pasture.

"Whew!"

I then was able to do a count and found all were safe and sound. They all settled down and either stood around or sat down. They have plenty of grass, but got the traveling bug.

I checked the fence and did not find any breaks in the fence. I found a few middle strands of barb wire pushed up and down, but the opening wasn't enough for the entire herd to cross through. And I did not see signs the grass and thistle field south of the pasture had been trampled.

I crossed the river to the island and looked for signs that the herd had crossed from the island to the "thumb" of my property across the river. The grass on the "thumb's" bank all looked good with no signs of trampling. The property south of the lower pasture and thumb is solid brushy trees. The only way though is deer trails, although I have seen cattle make their own trails when they want somewhere.

I have no idea how the cattle got to where they did.

Last year a few adventurous cattle crossed onto the thumb, but then they would come up via deer trails to the grass and thistle field, which last year was a dirt field as it had been plowed.

The only way to get to the thumb is to exit the west side of the island. I didn't think the water level is low enough this year as the river channel here, while not fast moving as it is an overflow channel, is narrower and therefore deeper than the broad channel east of the island. But checking the island out I was shocked to see signs (large areas of trampled and eaten grass) the cattle had been on the small island north across the main channel from the big island. How the cattle got there is a complete mystery! These cattle seem to have no fear as they had to cross the main channel to get to the small island.

The previous property owners built, then dad maintained until he got ill, a fence on the south and west side of the island. Because the river channels change so much the fence was now useless. In places the channel ate into the river bank and fence posts fell. Other areas gained land and a large accessible area was between the river and fence.

But I have to do something. I got some of the odds & ends 2x4 boards and started to rebuild the fence. A two strand wire, short fence, is enough as I seen that placing it on the edge of the river bank is enough so the cattle won't push it over or try to jump over or go through it as the other side is water and the cattle like to ease off a river bank and into the water.

I was able to rebuild about 40% of the fence. I needed more boards for posts. The sun was behind the ridge and the mosquitoes - which were bad even in the hot sun - were now out in force. As I walked back across the river, holding tools, and unable to swat the mosquitoes I counted more than a dozen mosquitoes on the back of my left hand. The right hand - the same.

I hope to finish the island west fence tomorrow.

Why not fence this side of the river?

• it has never been fenced
• it is more than a half mile in length. I don't have enough fence material.
  
• the island is way shorter in length. Also the thumb is way shorter.
  
• the property on other side of the river is fenced.
• the river channel changes. The short fence sections I did build last year are in need of major repair because of bank erosion or gains from this spring's high water flow.
• why restrict my cattle from my property across the one channel?

So that was my day. I called Dan to help get the herd back and got his answering machine. It turns out he was having a horrible day. He was hauling hay and while driving through a gate or along some fence a bolt stuck out. He scraped his pickup breaking a light and some other stuff. The worst was the bolt punctured, and ruined, two tires on his flatbed trailer, which was fully loaded with hay.

Also I told Dan not to say "these cattle seem more calm and well behaved than the previous years cattle". Every time he tells me that the cattle then go and do something to prove him wrong.

So that was my day. It took an hour and forty minutes to get the cattle back to my pasture, and hours more rebuilding the island fence. I did get some other stuff done, so my entire day wasn't just another 'react to a crisis' day.

Jail break and gophers

Gonna make this short tonight as Dan is bringing three more head of cattle early this morning. Earlier I had told him to wake me when he comes as I wanted him and I to round up six of his cattle that made a jail break.

His Holstein steer that wanted to be in the south pasture when the herd was in the middle pasture now has decided he wants to be in the middle pasture now that the herd is in the south pasture. "The grass is greener..." fits this steer's way of thinking. Today he broke a middle strand of barb wire and slipped through the fence. He is so tall and gangly I don't know how he can do the limbo through the fence. This time he brought five more of Dan's cattle with him. My "girls" were good girls and stayed in the south pasture.

I decided I didn't want to chase cattle this hot (85 F) day. It didn't hurt that they were in the middle pasture as the grass is recovering nicely from the herd being in there a few weeks ago.

Before it got dark I saw the six near the middle/south pasture gate. The rest of the herd was in the south pasture by the bloat blocker blocks. Oh yeah, Wednesday afternoon I replaced the salt blocks with four blocks of Sweetix bloat blocker. It is recommended the cattle lick the bloat blocker blocks a week prior to them being let into an alfalfa field. And also when they are eating the alfalfa.

Since the six were by the gate I went out and opened the gate. One of the six slowly wandered back into the south pasture. The Holstein and a black body with spotted white face heifer stood and looked at the open gate and chewed their cud. I guess they expected me to leave the gate open. I encouraged them to enter the south pasture.

I had to move from the gate and shoo a few south pasture cattle away from the gate area as I could see a few were getting the idea of crossing into the middle pasture. By doing that, two more cattle from the middle pasture decided to cross over and join the south herd who were no longer near the fence.

The final escapee just stood and chewed its cud. *sigh* I had to encourage it to move and go into the south pasture.

Gophers

No more gophers trapped the past few days. While I hear a few chirping their warnings there doesn't seem to be too many out and about. Must be because of the heat. One gopher is either smart of lucky as I have found the leg hold trap shut twice now, but no gopher.

The garden pocket gopher is still around. He/she abandoned its earlier tunnel in the garden. Today I found fresh mounds of dirt in the middle of the garden. No luck getting this gopher today as I found the trap filled with dirt when I checked. *argh* One smart pocket gopher.

Yesterday I had trouble finding my last pocket gopher trap in the hayfield. Even with a white milk jug on top of a stick next to the trap I couldn't find it. I climbed one of the transmission power line towers to get a bird's eye view of the field in case the wind blew it over in the tall grass. Nope, couldn't see it. Did someone take it? A few years ago I had someone take a trap near the road and toss it far away from the hole I had it in to catch a gopher. I figured this was the case yesterday. But when I walked back to the house I walked in the area I thought I left the trap. Success! I came upon the milk jug and stick laying down in the tall grass. I guess my bird's eye view wasn't high enough.

More Huckleberry picking

I picked more huckleberries with Joyce today. That meant getting up early again as I met her at 6 am to drive to the site.

This morning had no rain threats. The morning was nice: partly cloudy and cool. Today I brought my flannel shirt along as it is nice to wear in the morning up on the mountain. The morning was beautiful mountain weather: stillness punctuated with occasionally gusts of wind.

We easily found the spot again. We didn't need to use the dead branches that we had innocuously laid beside the road yesterday. Then off the road, down the mountain side and we quickly got down to business.

The berries bushes were so heavy that we didn't have to move around much in the beginning. Sit or kneel and pick, and pick, and pick! When I returned home I found my pants knees were stained purple from kneeling on berries. A problem was accidently stepping on berries. The bushes and berries were so low to the ground, that when moving downhill it was easy not to see the berries and therefore step on them. Also the huckleberry bushes were thick which made avoiding them hard to so.

Today four vehicles drove by on the road. Other huckleberry pickers! All but one vehicle drove down the road never to be seen again. The last car parked near Joyce's car. We don't know where they went as we made sure not to be seen from the road as the vehicles passed. More likely they went up the mountain as most people look up instead of down when looking for huckleberries.

When a teenager Joyce had worked five summer at the cherry warehouse in Kalispell. While over 70 now she hasn't lost her picking ability. She said she is slower now than before, but she put me to shame in picking. She picked much more than I. She helped me at the end so I would fill my pail and we could go. Joyce had an appointment to keep. I filled two paint can pails.

We left after noon but could have stayed longer as the patch went on and on. It is good Joyce had the appointment as I would have kept picking all day as I had trouble quitting.

A number of varieties of huckleberries: purple, blue, almost back, and red. All good. Joyce said this not a typical patch; it was a super patch.

Over the two days I believe I easily exceeded two gallons of berries. I have them in my refrigerator. I am too busy to make jam from them now. My freezer is full so I don't know what I am going to do with them for now (other to eat some as snacks).

This evening I checked my raspberry plants. I found a number of ripe raspberries. Even after sampling all the huckleberries today, my raspberries tasted great.

These early mornings are getting to me. After returning home I checked my gopher traps then had lunch. After lunch I fell asleep in my chair at the diner table. Even now I am having trouble staying awake... so if this post doesn't make sense in spots...

Huckleberry picking

What an early day. What a long day. What a busy day. What a beautiful day. What a wonderful day up in the mountains on the side of a mountain. What a good huckleberry picking day.

I didn't get to bed till midnight last night. Early for me, but still late for getting up before 5 am. To make matters worse I woke up out of a dream at 2:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep as my mind wanted to be active and work on the Planning Board approved subdivision and the County Growth Policy issues in addition to the needed replacement for my well's water tank leak. After an hour I drifted back to sleep at some point. With as little sleep as I got I still woke up 5 minutes before the alarm went off. How do I do that?

I got to MA's house by 5:30 am. We picked up her sister and then met Joyce at 6 am. As we drove it was iffy as dark rain clouds were to the west over the mountains. I even saw a large long lightning bolt strike three times. Fortunately that was the only lightning. A little thunder and a few sprinkles as we drove but again fortunately no rain once we started picking.

As I only had plastic bags and ice cream pails MA's sister lent me an extra paint pail. The paint pail's handle can be looped into ones pants belt to free both hands for berry picking. The paint pail beats using an ice cream pail as the ice cream pails occasionally have the handle fall off. A big nightmare is for one to spill a pail of picked "hucks". As MA said, she never has anyone else carry her picked huckleberries as she doesn't want to be mad at them for life if they spilled her berries.

These women ranged in age from the lower 60s to lower 70s and I struggled to keep up with them. They are serious berry pickers! At the end of the day I picked the least berries by far.

We searched for huckleberries at the same location I had picked them with a few years ago with MA and one of her friends. MA and her sister went up one part of the mountain and Joyce and I another. It was spotty. Areas where the bushes had no berries; then areas where the bushes had plenty. Over all we were pleased.

The ladies were getting near full with their paint pails. I remained a little while as I had a ways to go to fill my pail. Eventually I worked my way back down the mountain and over the numerous fallen trees and tried to resist picking berries I seen along the way. MA had mentioned she wanted to try another spot up the road. My being late was no problem as they were eating lunch. Joyce was back out picking.

MA drove down the road to find another spot while Joyce continued to work a patch she found near the road. She said she would walk the road to join us. It turns MA didn't have a specific place in mind and after a while she carefully turned around on the narrow one lane gravel road carved out of the mountain. We ended up back near where we last picked.

MA's sister said she would remain at the car as her back was bothering her. The three of us ventured back up the mountain. This time in an area with no real tall trees. The picking was slim so we worked our way back to the treed area where we had success earlier.

Again the two women picked their way back to the road faster than I. I did find success in the strategy in working my way down in areas where it was difficult to climb up. We weren't the first berry pickers to this area. When I couldn't go down any more I went up then down again. I repeated this as I found a number of "hucks" this way.

I heard MA back at the car call to me. It was far enough away that I couldn't make out the words, but as she mentioned she had to be back home by 1 pm I figured it was the "time to go" signal. To my surprise I found all three women sitting on the ground on the mountain side below the car picking furiously. MA's sister went to sit down while waiting for us and found lots and lots of "hucks". We think these very short bushes were producing "hucks" for the first time as the bushes were loaded with them and the berries were large and ripe. Everyone was in heaven.

We picked and picked and still there were more. MA had to leave but she didn't want to. She tried working her way back up the mountain side back to the car but kept getting sidetracked by heavily loaded bushes. She kept saying she had to leave but the rest of us kept picking. We told her we weren't stopping until she actually was standing on the road.

Eventually she reached the road and Joyce and I reluctantly quit picking. This was the best huckleberry picking these women had found in many, many years. These women have picked all their life and are quite experienced. The women picked from a gallon and half to almost two gallons of "hucks". I picked 5 quarts. Lots of huckleberries. Huckleberries sell for $35 a gallon - so a productive day.

MA and her sister can't return tomorrow but Joyce said she would be returning. So I decided I will join her and return to pick more. We saw the patch stretch on as far as we could see.

So I need to go to bed now as tomorrow is another early day as I will meet Joyce at 6 am.

And the huckleberry patch? I am sworn to secrecy, as all the women are. ...maybe I shouldn't even be writing about this in my blog?! Mum's the word!!!

Chainsaw photos

A very busy day today running around town: from after 10 am till almost 10 pm. I'm tired.

MaryAnn called tonight to say the huckleberries are very good this year - after a few bad years. She and her sister are going picking tomorrow and she invited me to join them. As I don't know the location of any huckleberry patches I will join them even though it means getting up early - way early for me. (where did I put my alarm clock? ) I meet them at 5:30 am. So off to bed soon for me. I'll write more later - if a bear doesn't get me while picking the berries. I guess we are going to the same area as where we picked a few years ago - and I heard a bear in the afternoon. I guess I was intruding on his berry patch?

Brian sent me a few photos. Here are a couple of when I cut the fallen tree so it wouldn't fall on the cattle. The cattle like to rub against the supporting branches and I was afraid the tree would topple over on them this year. Brian took the photos when I was almost done cutting the tree. In the one photo you can see where the wind snapped the tree off. (The trunk is behind me.)

Germany, water tank and rain

I got a call early (ok, early for me!) this morning. When I answered the phone I was serenaded by Olaf and Kathi from Germany singing "Happy Birthday". What a nice way to wake up and start the day. They were off by a day, but no matter, it's the thought that counts.

I was invited to come visit them again in Germany, which I would love to do. I had a great time visiting them in 1993(?). They were wonderful hosts and I got to see many interesting sites from 2000 yr old buildings to the vineyards along the Rhine. We even sampled ice wine. Their neighbors owned a vineyard. They gave us a tour then we had a visit and tasted their wine. A great time.

Then my day took a turn for the worse. I found my water pressure tank for my well is leaking. A slow leak so I can still use it and have water. The tank is very old - perhaps as old as the ranch? Where the leak is located the tank is rusty. A few years ago I had a pinhole leak in the Fall. With temperatures in the 20s F I didn't want to rip everything up and replace the tank. I used JB-Weld and was able to seal the hole. That is still sealed. The current leak is below that area and JB-Weld won't be able to seal this leak now. Too bad I hadn't used more JB-Weld before and coated the tank to the bottom. I might have gotten another year or two out of the tank.

I called Home Depot and another store and they both carry water pressure tanks. Tomorrow I will go check the tanks out. My tank is an old style steel tank. No internal air bladder, which I gather is what is in the current pressure tanks.

I also called Tony and left a message. Tony owns the well service just down the road. When I had problems in the past he fixed them for me. I didn't get a call back today. With all the building going on in the Valley I hope he has time for me.

It will be a job to replace the tank. The tank is tall and thin and is larger than the door to the little shed that houses the tank and pump. The shed must have been built around the tank.

A few years ago, after the winter where it froze inside the little shed, I added more insulation and also added dirt around the lower third of the shed for more insulation. I had tried planting tomatoes in this area but it was too shady. This year I planted old seed packets of flowers but none germinated. Which is good as I imagine I will have to dig the dirt away from the shed, then tip the shed up and over somehow in order to get the tank out.

The pump is old and the cover over the hand dug well are old boards. If I have to replace the tank, now is the time to replace the boards covering the well. And I imagine the pipes to and from the tank are old and rusted. That will be more work. Good thing it is the middle of summer and not November.

When I was checking the gopher traps around noon I got caught in the rain. Now the weather forecasters said nothing about rain. I could see blue rain clouds towards Whitefish, but those usually head into Glacier Park. I went to the pasture to check my traps. Today the clouds came my way. I still wasn't concerned as the clouds weren't that blue or threatening as they approached. They were moving quickly. A few rumbles of thunder and then large rain drops started falling here and there. I went under a large pine tree. Larger rain drops fell. Then a heavier rain. Soon I seen small white soft hail was falling. The wind picked up and I moved to another side of the tree and out of the wind. It really rained! Other than a few drops that found me I stayed dry under the branches.

During my bicycle ride tonight the sweet smell of cut hay didn't smell so good. Several fields of cut hay got soaked by the rain. In one of the fields I seen a tractor with a rake. This farmer was turning the rows of hay over so they would dry faster.

I got my rows of lettuce, onions and beets weeded today. Yes, I do have some plants under all those weeds. Jan planted her onions later than I did but now hers are larger than mine. Darn weeds!

While weeding I heard some cattle belloring. It didn't sound from the direction of my cattle. Still I had to look. It was cattle owned by my neighbor across the river. One or two times a year he moves his cattle onto his land across the river. It seems whenever the cattle go up or down the steep road/trail between the ridge and the land by the river they bellor. They did it other years and this year seems to be the same. At least it wasn't my cattle. They shouldn't be able to get over there, what with the high river flow in the main channel and the fences on the other side of the river. But ya never know. In the past I wouldn't have thought livestock would or could get through thick trees and brush, but the cattle did.

Bicycle, cattle, gophers

After taking a shower I went for a bicycle ride. A short distance into the ride a bicycle spoke broke. Not just any spoke, a spoke on the rear wheel - on the freewheel side. Yup, after replacing the spoke - so much for being clean.

During my bicycle ride later a woman passenger in a black SUV asked if I wanted to race. Yah, right. "No, not tonight.", I said. They continued to drive in the left lane slightly ahead of me and at my speed. So I speeded up. They speeded up. I speeded up more. So did they. At 21 mph they had enough and drove off. So much for the race.

I still didn't see the cattle this morning. While the usual behavior when previous cattle discover they can cross the river to the small island is for them to stay and explore the island for a day, I wanted reassurance these cattle were ok. I went to the south pasture then towards the island to look for them.

Sure enough I found them taking their late morning siesta. They were all on the eastern tip of the island. I wasn't able to count them. It is hard enough to count them when they are laying down close together; it is nigh near impossible when they are across the river and in amongst trees. It looked like the whole herd was there. This herd tends to stay together, unlike last year where the slightly smaller herd eventually broke into two herds.

The herd watched me. They seemed pretty content. They had this look of 'See what we found! Our own little island!' They had it good: shade, and open area, and surrounded by water on a hot day.

I also checked the east river channel. I hadn't been down to see it in a while. While it is a shallower channel, as it is not the main channel, I was concerned it was still high enough the cattle may not want to cross it twice. It was shallower than I expected even though the river is running around 350 CFS. I have been accustomed to seeing the river upstream before it divides into three channels and it appears there to still be running 'deep'.

By late afternoon I seen the cattle were back in the south pasture. They had come back for the salt blocks. Instead of rushing back to the island they grazed in the south pasture.

I picked a few goat's beard seed pods in the south pasture the cattle hadn't eaten. I also stacked the logs from the tree I had cut up earlier before letting the cattle into the south pasture. Then I spent a few hours picking goat's beard seed pods in the hayfield. Looking at the field one can't see any seed pods, but after I started to walk through it I found a number of them amongst the tall grass. When I walked to one I then could see another, and so on. I must have picked a hundred pods as I filled over a third of a plastic bag with the seeds. 100 times 64 seeds equals 6,400 plants. That is if all the seeds germinated. See why it is so difficult to eradicate them?

The garden pocket gopher must have left. I moved the trap elsewhere yesterday and left the gopher's hole open. The hole is still open. Pocket gophers do not like open tunnels.

I caught a regular gopher today. The first one in a number of days. I wondered if I would be stuck forever on 66 trapped. I caught this gopher near the north/middle pasture fence. I think I have closed down most of the "suburbs" in the north pasture. Holes I covered with dirt have not been reopened, and the traps on open holes are not catching anything. I think I only have a few holes near the fence and then the north pasture will be clear of gophers. For now anyway.

My raspberry plants are producing a few raspberries. Yum!