Labor Day miscellaneous

Holsteins

The two Holsteins are gone. Dan was available Sunday morning to come get them. Since they are jail breakers I didn't want to try to keep them in the corral for any extended period of time. Dan came over in less than an hour.

Earlier the cattle were in the south hayfield and starting to head to the river for a drink of water then take their siesta. I went to the hayfield before all of them had left and lured them with some loaves of bread. It worked so well I had the whole herd coming at me. I gave up on walking backwards rapidly and turned to jog while watching my back that they didn't run me over. Some cattle passed me but most followed me. I led them into the corral as I had already opened the gate. Once the two Holsteins were in the corral I shut the gate. I only had 5 others in the corral with them. I gave all of them (in and outside of the corral) apples as a reward. I didn't want them to think I played a dirty trick on them.

I hadn't separated the Holsteins into the north corral but that didn't matter. By the time Dan arrived they had jumped the fence into the north corral and the remaining five were still in the south corral. The rest of the herd were along the fence in the hayfield.

The two Holsteins made things even easier as they were just entering the loading corral as Dan pulled up. Now why wouldn't you guys act so nice this summer for me?

The rest of the herd watched and bellowed as the Holsteins entered the stock trailer. "Noooo! Don't do it! Don't go in there! They'll take you away!"

I showed Dan where the Holsteins had jumped the chain link fence last week. He plans to keep them in his tall corral for now. He is amazed at how large these two have gotten this summer here at my place. He doesn't get many Holsteins but feels these two are the best ones he has ever had.

Beavers

As of yesterday my neighbor hadn't caught his beaver. A muskrat, and not a beaver, was caught in the trap. The dam had been rebuilt as good as new over night. He had breached the dam again and we reset the trap. He placed tje trap in the water in the breach. I didn't wade into the stream. The creek's channel is narrow; almost narrow enough one could jump over it. But it is deep and has a strong current. I was surprised as this creek meanders above and below ground.

Daryl also put a second trap at the water's edge where a trail exists for the beaver to get the new branches and young trees for the dam. I hadn't a chance to check to see if he got any beavers today.

Apples

I spoke with another neighbor about getting their fallen apples for my cattle. They were very glad I would pick them up as their half dozen trees need pruning and are fully loaded with apples.

They are also close friends with one of our county commissioners, Mr. Hall. I filled them in on the recent subdivision he approved. I also filled them in on things he said and did at other commissioner meetings I have attended. They still let me have the apples.

Labor Day picnic

A local campground held a Labor Day picnic with free food, pop, beer, and live music. Linda had told me about it. I had a couple of burgers, potato salad, coleslaw, cookies, and pop as I am not a beer drinker.

I thought I had seen Linda there but by the time I finished speaking with an elderly Democratic candidate for the Montana House of Representatives Linda had disappeared - if indeed she really was there in the first place.

The candidate had sheets of papers where you could write issues you want him to tackle if he gets elected. I am not sure if he is running in my district but I wrote in a request for a state bicycle advisory board for Montana similar to what they have in Minnesota, and on which my good friend Charlie is serving. I hadn't applied for that position in MN as I was going to move here to Montana.

The candidate was familiar with bicycling issues and we both knew Darla, whom I had met at a growth policy education meeting a few months ago. I am slowly getting integrated in the social and political network out here. It is different than in Minnesota where I never really integrated into the community even though I lived there for 18 years. IBM was its own subcommunity. Besides the city and county seemed to be run well.

Not many people where at the picnic when I was there mid afternoon. Then again, 2 pm is not exactly lunch time for most people. Me...? Yes. The picnic was held on green grass in the shade of tall trees near a creek. I think the same creek as where my neighbor is having beaver problems.

The picnic had live music. The musicians were a middle aged man on keyboards and another mid aged man on guitar. They mainly played country music songs popular between 1985 and the mid 1990s. That was unusual as these type of acts usually play the usual rock-and-rock oldies from the 50s and 60s. Later someone requested some rock songs and they switched to - you guessed it - pop songs from the 50s and 60s. Surprisingly the musicians were pretty good. The pop songs they played were simple, but they did very good renditions of the country songs which were more difficult to play.

After leaving the picnic I rode my bicycle through the campground. Man, motorhomes these days sure are fancy! I can see why people sell their homes and live and travel in these motorhomes.

Cattle

After I returned to the yard after enhancing a fence gate in the pasture the cattle saw me. They had just meandered into the hayfield after spending the day down by the river. They all stampeded over and stood at the fence begging for apples. I gave them lots of apples tonight but they still wanted more.

Jam

I made another batch of huckleberry jam this evening. I need to finish making the huckleberry jam as the berries are getting old and soft. There is only so long that they can last in the refridgerator. A few nights ago I had returned the sugar-free pectin I had bought at Walmart a few weeks ago. With no-to-little sugar the jam's taste is more dependent on the berry. I decided the age of the berries made it too risky to make without sugar. The "add sugar" batches of jam I recently made have come out well so I wanted to stick with this type of pectin.