Harrows, gopher, wind, spraying

Harrows

This week's Mountain Trader had an ad listing two spike-tooth harrows for $20. I called for the address, then went to look at them. The owner had pulled them up out of the grass and weeds on his "back 40" up the mountain side. He recommended I put the pickup into 4 wheel drive so as not to spin its wheels on his rough gravel & rock "road" when I drove to where the harrows lay.

They are old and have seen better days. One harrow has all of its teeth; the other one is missing some of its. The harrows' size is smaller than the neighbor's harrow I had used. I think the neighbor's harrow was custom built while these harrows are the typical size.

I debated whether to buy them. $20 isn't much, but they were old and beat up. I asked if he would take less. "A few dollars less". I offered $15 and he accepted. After we loaded them in the pickup I spied a few rolls of field fence. I asked if he would sell them and for how much. "You can have them for a few dollars." I gave him $20 for everything: the harrows and fence. I got four rolls. Old fence, and the rolls are kind of flat, and I had to break small trees that had grown through the rolls over the years, but this fence will work when attached to my old barb wire fence. The cattle get through the fence by sticking their head and neck through the barb wire, and then the wire breaks. If they can't get their head through the fence... no problem?

After loading everything into the pickup I drove up the mountain more. He wanted to show me a contraption he made to "blade" his road to smooth it and pop the large rocks from the ground. He had welded and modified part of a trailer house frame and hitch to pull behind his machinery. It works, but nothing I needed.

Most of the other items in his ad he had sold the previous night - not that I was interested in them. They were the old horse drawn equipment that people now fix up and put in their front yards.

After driving back to his house I chatted with him about the area. He lives along Blankenship Road and the 2003 Robert fire that burned in Glacier Park was close. If the wind blew from another direction his place could have burnt. He has lived here for 40 years. Initially he only had 3 other neighbors within miles. Now, lots of neighbors who live up on the mountains on narrow gravels roads the local fire department won't travel on. He used to shoot gophers in his front lawn, but quit because he is afraid the joggers may think he is shooting at them.

He has an old 2 cylinder John Deere 730 diesel tractor which he showed me. He also has a D7 Cat. Big! He said in the old days the loggers used the D7 to built roads and do other logging tasks. They aren't used any more as the equipment is specialized and now all run on rubber tires.

An interesting old guy. I like to talk with the old timers how the Valley used to be, and how things used to work.

Gophers

I caught a regular gopher today! A surprise. I guess all of them haven't gone underground. I caught this one in an area where I had dug down deep around a tree stump I plan to burn this fall. I had a trap here several weeks ago but no activity. I closed the hole with dirt and moved the trap to another area. After catching that gopher I found the closed hole was again open. I reset the trap with no activity. That is why it was such a surprise to catch the gopher today. That makes 82 trapped this year. I don't think I will make it to 100. That is ok; I have made a significant dent in their population.

Wind: trees and weeds

Another front came through as the wind was strong this afternoon. The weather forecasters had predicted, "The wind can be as strong as 30 mph." Even after all my years here I smile when wind warnings are issued for 15-25 mph wind. I grew up in North Dakota and lived in Minnesota. 15-25 mph wind is the norm there.

I found another tree on the ground. I have three dead trees the bugs apparently got. I had left them standing as I have other dead and fallen trees to cut and split first; and because my friend Sarah asked me to leave them standing for now for the wildlife that likes dead trees. The recent winds were too much for one tree. Fortunately the tree fell just short of my south/middle pasture fence.

Another problem with the wind is my neighbor's field. Usually the south neighbor (to my pasture) plows her field. This year she hasn't, and the Canadian Thistle has gone to seed. Areas of white seeds. With the wind I find white seeds flying past when I am in my pastures. *sigh*

Spraying

I sprayed a (hand held) tank of herbicide on my weeds today. I had sprayed over a week ago before I got wrapped up in the subdivision fight and escaped Holstein. Now is not the best time to spray as Spring and Fall are the best times. But one must do some things when one has the time.

Earlier I had sprayed my front yard, the fruit tree/garden area, along the fence along the road, and half the NE pasture before I got pulled to other things. Today I re-sprayed the front lawn, along part of the roadside fence, then a little of the knapweed in the north pasture. The earlier spraying had worked as those weeds are browning up. The snowberries, being tougher, were affected but fighting the herbicide. They got another dose.