Sunrise

I actually saw a sunrise this morning and I didn't stay up all night to see it. Today I was up early to get ready for my hiking group's hike.

Here is what a sunrise looks like from my place just before 7 am.

The "v" on the left side of the photo is the route to Glacier National Park. Beyond the "v" you can see mountains in the Park. In June around the longest days of light the sun rises from this "v". The mountain range starting at the "v" is the northern end of the Swan Mountain Range.

Back to normal

My life is getting back to normal after my weekend of backpacking and my prior time spent with Colleen. Slow, but sure.

My house is messier than normal due to my backpack and gear spread around waiting to be cleaned, sorted and put away for the next trip. I have my tent set up outside to air out. Prior to this trip I hadn't backpacked in ten years and mostly likely hadn't set the tent up in that time either. It was no surprise there was a slight musty smell when I set my tent up the first time on my trip.

I again am checking my pocket gopher traps. I caught five of them today. It seems they are more active now with the cooler weather.

The grass is mainly dried up and brown other than in places where the trees provide plenty of shade. You'd think there would be no grass roots for the pocket gophers to eat but the ones I have caught today are fat. The dried up grass *may* be why I have caught less than 100 pocket gophers so far this year. Or the hot weather, or my checking the traps less, or because I had caught so many pocket gophers last year there aren't as many to catch. I don't know.

I think a pocket gopher has moved into my garden as tonight I seen dirt piled around some of my green beans plants. I soaked the row of beans and hopefully that will put a damper on the gopher's activity. There are no weeds in the garden so the only thing for the gopher to eat are my plants and carrots.

I had watered my garden before I left on my backpacking trip, but it needed water again once I returned home. Apparently it was windy when I was gone and the wind sucked out what little moisture the ground contained.

Even though the forest fires are contained we still get some smoke from the fires. After returning from my smoke-free backpacking trip I immediately could smell the smoke. The mornings are the smokiest. I think the smoke settles in the Valley during the cool overnight temperatures.

Remember the damaged corral gate? I finished fixing it today. I also fixed the barb wire fence where Dan's heifer had jumped and got caught up in it.

Speaking of getting back into my normal routine, my hiking group is starting up our hikes again after taking a break due to the heat and smoke and people being out of town. A 15 mile hike is planned for tomorrow. That means an early start to the hike, and me getting up early. I need to finish my supper now so I can go to bed early. 'night.

Picnic music: Andre Floyd

Tuesday night I attended the last concert of the season of Kalispell's Picnic in the Park series. The band was Andre Floyd and the Mood Iguana. The band is a blues band and they are very good.

Because I am not yet back into a routine I was able to get to the concert before it started. I saw my hiking friend Gary there, and before the concert started and his friend Louise arrived, I spoke to him about my Sundance Pass backpacking trip. I want to interest him in backpacking the trail with me as I want to climb the two mountains on each side of the Pass.

The concert's audience may have been slightly less than normal. Also because I got there earlier than usual I was able to find a seat on a park bench. I sat behind a sidewalk that divides the park grounds. In addition to seeing the band I was able to people watch as they walked by. I didn't see Colleen. I don't know if she arrived later and sat in the audience behind me.

Later a young couple came and sat on the bench next to me. He was tall, had long scraggly hair and carried a motorcycle helmet. He had a laid back hippie unwashed stoned attitude about him. She was younger (early 20s) to his mid to late 20s. She seemed slightly more "straight arrow" but was infatuated with him. Midway through the concert a woman came over to ask if if I rode the "shadow" (or a similar sounding name) motorcycle in the parking lot. Nope. She then asked the guy next to me but the motorcycle wasn't his either, though he wished it was.

At one point Jennifer, who runs the concert series for the Kalispell Park and Rec department, walked by after selling some raffle tickets. A $5 bill dropped to the sidewalk and I and others nearby tried to get her attention about the dropped money. It was when I shouted her name that she stopped and turned around and looked to where I was pointing at the money.

For the raffle they were no longer giving away 6 lb bags of dog food. This time they had two 10 week tickets for Jazzerize. No winners came forward to claim the prize. Finally a guy came forward. It turns out he had the previous two winning tickets so he relented and accepted the prize. As Jennifer said he didn't have to use the ticket and could give it to someone else.

As I said earlier the band was very good. Andre has a relaxed style of blues playing and I didn't notice him following any particular blues styles. He even had a song dedicated to Jerry Garcia and played it in the style of a Grateful Dead song. He writes some of his own songs. One song that Andre wrote got me thinking. He said it was about a local woman he met who worked at a shelter. Andre said communities need more "angels" like this woman. The song was called "Colleen". I seem to remember Colleen saying she either worked or volunteered at the animal shelter for a bit. I do know one of her good friends works at the Humane shelter. The lyrics to the song weren't real specific with details, but it could have been about Colleen. Hmmm...

It was getting dark by the time the concert finished. I had ridden my bicycle and rode home under the rising full moon so I had plenty of light to ride my bicycle. Colleen had wanted to repeat our moonlit bicycle ride on Going-to-the-Sun road, but as our relationship is over, so too are these plans. I had thought of riding the Sun road anyway this night as I enjoyed the ride even without Colleen's company; but as the moon was already fairly high, the Sun road is closed after 10 pm, the temperature was already getting cool, and I was still a little tired after my backpacking and traveling weekend, I decided to pass on a ride. Another time.

Hectic life

It has been a few days since I last wrote to my blog. Life is very busy and crazy. Last night about this time - at 2:30 am - I returned from a several day backpacking trip in Montana near the Beartooth Highway. A fantastic time!!! This ranks in the top 10 hikes I have ever done. I definitely want to return to this trail and area. This time I will make it to the top of one, or even both, of the mountains on each side of Sundance Pass. An incredible time and an incredible view.

I also drove the Beartooth Highway and visited part of Yellowstone National Park before a late night crazy drive home. Think 'many deer' and a clock being an hour off. Oh, but the sunset I saw from Yellowstone Park. Beautiful! I, and almost a dozen other cars, whipped off the road into a pullout at the same time then everyone jumped out of our cars with cameras in hand in a mad rush to take photos of a gorgeous sunset before it disappeared while "oohing" and "aahing" at the sight.

Add in my car suddenly having battery problems just to make my travels more interesting. Think of a number of times having someone push my car while I popped the clutch to get it started, else leaving my car running trusting no one to drive off with my car while I saw the sights. What is my life but a crazy adventure. "Number 2 fun" as Chad, the forest ranger, mentioned to me. That is, some things are more fun to talk about later than experience. Though I went with the flow and still had a great time.

Let's see, what else, the last Picnic in the Park concert was held Tuesday night and I attended it.

And Colleen suddenly, surprisingly, ended out relationship last week.

I'll write more about all of this when I find more time. I still have my Goat Haunt hike, several trips with Brian, several adventures with Colleen, and now these recent adventures to write up. Summer is almost over and I still haven't gotten many of my ranch projects done. I have been having too much fun times; but now I need to concentrate on projects around the ranch before Winter comes. And come Winter will as there is now starting to get a chill in the air.

Flathead Comunity Band concert

I am a concert junkie lately! I attended two concerts on Wednesday. The evening concert went better than the Picnic in the Park noon concert. That is, I didn't offend anyone. Not that I know of... however maybe when I moved a bench over closer to have a good view of the band playing someone got offended. If so, then I wasn't the only person to offend someone as a few other people did the same.

The Flathead Community Band played a concert in the same park as the noontime park. Only 35 people were in the audience. I think that was close to the number of band members. One guy was younger than me with the rest of the people well over retirement age. Therefore it was easy to avoid talking to any women and somehow offend them.

An old lady came to everyone in the audience with a free raffle ticket for the chance to be the guest conductor for the final song, The Star Spangled Banner. I declined taking a ticket. I wasn't the only person to decline. Then just before the drawing an old woman gave her ticket to another old woman sitting on another bench. Initially the second woman took the ticket until she realized she was given the ticket.

"Oh no! Here take the ticket back!"

The first woman refused and the second woman unhappily held two tickets. Fortunately for her an older Filipino woman won. Her English was not that good and I am not sure she knew what she won.

To conduct the band she had to stand in front of the band. The conductor gave her a small baton. All the time she tried to back away and sit down and the conductor gently pulled her forward to the podium. She didn't succeed in getting away and eventually went along and waved her arm as the band played. With her limited English she said she came to the United State when she married her husband who she named.

The concert was interesting. Being a band they played - ta da! - band music. I was reminded of the movie, The Music Man. Yes, they did play a song from the movie. I rather enjoyed listening to the marches and band music played. I did noticed that when they strayed from band music and played, for example, the Cole Porter song, Don't Fence Me In, it didn't work that well.

Everyone wore a white shirt as a uniform. The nights get cool quickly once the sun sets so a few women also wore an extra shirt over their white shirt. The band's members looked to be on the older side with only a few seeming to be under 40. I noticed one the band's saxophone players was very elderly. Colleen mentioned she played saxophone in high school. I should let her know an opening for a sax player could come up soon.

Between songs the conductor would pick up the microphone and explain the next song they would play. I wouldn't be surprised if his job was as a high school band teacher.

The concert lasted an hour and ended at 8:30 pm. I was able to ride my bicycle home before it got too dark.

Picnic Music: Tim Torgerson

Wednesday at the noon time Picnic in the Park concert the performer was Tim Torgerson.

Tim is singer/songwriter/guitarist (Acoustic & Electric). His repertoire consists of original songs and instrumentals and twisted arrangements of classic and current cover songs. He performed solo except for a few songs in his second set where he was accompanied by an electric guitarist.

He was pretty good. He was low key and suited for a noon time concert or a coffeehouse or intimate setting.

The audience was the smallest crowd I seen all year at one of the Picnic in the Park concerts. The concert had started at 11:30 am and I noticed later more people arrived, though the crowd was still small.

The sound, like during last night's concert, was loud. Which was odd as he was an acoustic guitarist. Being a small crowd I sat relatively close. It was also in the shade. Either I got used to the sound's loudness else the sound person dialed it down later. The sound person appeared to be discretely breastfeeding a baby while she ran the sound board.

I noticed that a probably prematurely gray haired athletic looking man who always attended the concerts night and noon and who sits near the front on folding seat cushions with what appears to be his early teenage daughter, today attended the concert with a thin, long haired, woman a little younger than he. No daughter this time. Daughter gone back to her mother after a summer here, and now the girlfriend is back in the picture? I never noticed all three together before. They are a couple as she sat close to him and placed her hand on his inner thigh above his knee. Oohhh. Good for them as I'm not going to get into a huff like the "no-shirt note lady" Sandy.

At the concert I met one of Colleen's friends. Friends of this woman were sitting on the other end of the bench from me so she sat between us. We chatted about her real estate prospects. She talked about attending a recent sales pitch for local properties being developed where I believe the parcels start around $250,000. She seemed pleased the developer is trying to limit the impact on the land and that a conservation group gave the developers a high rating. She seemed ambivalent about the acreages' price when she made some sort of comment about the number of poor people in the world.

The conversation was going well until I wondered if all this new wealth moving into the Flathead Valley is changing things, and whether the Valley is trending towards being the rich and the blue color working class people, and if this divide may cause resentments in the future. I asked her opinion explaining I wasn't a longtime resident in the Valley and I wondered if she had been and had noticed a change. She sharply told me she was a native Montanan.

"Yes", I said, "but how long have you lived in the Valley."

Apparently her family moved here many years ago. Again I asked since she was a longtime resident had she noticed a change as I had spoken to people in the construction trades and cleaning trades, and for the Iron Horse subdivision (of the rich), these people complained how they were treated by the residents.

She turned and looked at me coldly and said, "What's your point?!"

That caught me off guard. I said I didn't have a point.

She again coldly repeated some question about me having a point.

I then repeated that I had no point but I was wondering if there was a change as more wealth has come into the Valley and whether that is now breeding resentment, or could breed resentment if rich people are overt in their displays of wealth.

I got a terse statement that the middle class is disappearing and that's the way it is. She asked if I thought all rich people were bad people and I assured her that I didn't believe that nor did I insinuate that. She told me that rich people are good people and many donate lots of money to good causes. Her parents were well off but she had been a teacher and taught in minority classrooms where more than 50% of the students were poor Native Americans. I was thinking to myself, "Umm.. what does that got to do with my original question?", but I didn't say anything. She got very upset as apparently I hit a nerve I didn't know existed and that was so raw. I had been trying to get a perspective from a long time Valley resident who I thought as a former teacher and now apparent real estate investor had moved in both working class and upper class circles.

I apologized saying I wasn't criticizing anyone but I was trying to get perspective and hear opinions from all sides. She didn't say anything but then got up, and taking her lawn chair that she had placed behind the bench, opened it up and moved to sit on the other side of her friends and away from me.

Okay.... I think she was rude. If she didn't want to discuss this subject she could have said that she didn't know, or had no opinion, or could have mentioned that she wanted to listen to the music. That would have ended the conversation on an amiable note.

I don't know. It appears people are touchy about most everything. In general one doesn't seem to be able to have an intelligent conversation on a number of subjects without someone getting upset over something.

Things aren't going well lately: today's result - inadvertently alienate one of Colleen's friends.

Picnic Music: Blue Onion

Tuesday evening I attended another one of the Picnic in the Park concerts. This concert was by a local Kalispell band, Blue Onion. The band plays blues music with a rocking edge.

While I can often hear traces of various blues styles and influences in other blues bands, this band seems to have their own style. Since they like to rock the blues I expected to hear traces of Stevie Ray Vaughan. I didn't (unless it happened when I was deep in conversation with Gary). A few times I was reminded of Jimi Hendricks playing the blues, but that was because the two electric guitarists were rocking and dominating the blues songs like Jimi used to do.

In addition to a drummer, the band had a keyboardist. The band had energy and were very tight in their playing. Many times it seemed like they were jamming instead of merely playing. One felt the music instead of merely listening to it.

An excellent band to hear.

One of the concert sponsors was the Montana Coffee Traders. Their banner proclaimed 25 years of business: 1981 - 2006. Hmmm... an old banner perhaps?

Initially I sat closer to the front but the band played so loud I moved towards the back of the crowd. The crowd was smaller than usual. I am not sure why. Perhaps the cooler weather kept some people from attending. Not that the weather was cold, but 70 degrees after weeks of 90s seems cold. I noticed less kids dancing in front of the stage so perhaps less families attended the concert.

When I moved locations I ran across my hiking buddy Gary. Colleen was a no-show.

Gary and I caught up on events since Colleen and I last saw him a few weeks ago. He is very busy as usual. For part of the concert a young couple danced to the side on a back sidewalk. Gary knows the couple as they also dance at one of the music venues he also dances at. The Kalispell high school has a swing dance club and this couple were two members. They were very good dancers. Gary would tell me they dance steps/styles the dancers were doing. Gary enjoyed the music by Blue Onion and was interested in dancing to it someday. He sure loves to dance.

During the last song a woman at the other end of the bench I was sitting on was making "Whoo!" sounds. She really got into the music.

The gazebo's and park's lights came on before the concert was finished. The days are losing minutes of light. Since the last Picnic in the Park concert two weeks ago I found it gets a little dark by the time the concert is over at 9 pm. Or 9:07 pm as the band played an extended last song that was requested by a fan.

Then it was a long bicycle ride home.

Cattle gone

Though I had gone to bed at 2:30 am I woke up after 6 am Tuesday without an alarm. I was wake and ready when Rich called at 6:30 am. I checked and the cattle were still in the corral. Rich didn't have to bring his horse.

I had a few apples and both of the cattle easily followed me into the loading corral. I had the cattle in the loading corral by the time Dan arrived at 7 am. While we talked and waited for Rich I saw Dan's heifer jump the gate between the loading area and the ramp. I didn't noticed when it jumped back into the loading area. All of a sudden Dan's heifer jumped the wooden gate and got out of the loading area and into the main corral. Naturally it broke the top board of the gate as it went over it.

The sound and sight of Dan had freaked out his heifer and she was starting to get wild eyed. I had Dan get out of sight. I did a quick fix on the gate. With a few more apples I again got the cattle back into the loading corral. I leaned tall boards against the gate with the boards standing above the gate to discourage any more gate jumping out of the loading corral.

Rich had arrived by this point and I had him back his trailer up to my head gate. First I had to remove the extra post over the main corral's gate that the heifer had broken the previous day so Rich could drive through to the pasture and turn around.

Once Rich had parked the trailer I had him and Dan move out of sight. Then I led the cattle into the loading ramp, then gently herded them into the trailer. No problem when I did it and it didn't take very long.

That done we drove to Rich's place to unload the cattle, sort all the cattle between Dan and I, then sort each of our cattle by sex. Rich has a good cattle dog and he was eager to help. Sometimes too eager as he sometimes got in the way, else chased the cattle when he didn't need to. Rich had him trained well as he responded well to Rich's verbal commands.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that this dog was hornier than all get out. When Dan and I rode to Rich's place with the first load of cattle I had to share the extended cab of the pickup with this dog. I have no idea why this dog was so aroused. Sharing the pickup seat with this dog was no fun.

The cattle weighed up less than Dan and I expected. My cattle gained less weight on average than my cattle the previous years. 185 lb on average vs 200 and 201 lbs the prior years. Maybe the reason was that I had the cattle a few weeks less this year. Maybe it was because the cattle were lighter when I first bought them and these lighter cattle may not be in the sweet spot where they gain weight as rapidly. Maybe the very hot weather contributed leading to a lessening of the cattle's appetite.

Less weight means less profit. And the spread between buying and selling the cattle was a little larger this year. I made money on my cattle, but not as much as prior years. Disappointing as one always wants to do better each year.

I had the option of taking the cattle back home for a few more weeks, but that wasn't a strong option. While I still have green grass, this late in the season the cattle won't gain much more over a few weeks to make the hassle of transporting them across town and back again worth while.

That's the way it goes.

It has been only a couple days now but I still look for them in the pasture when I first go outside or walk by a house window that looks onto the pasture. It takes a few days to get accustomed to that they are gone.

Photos:

Damaged gate from the previous day after I stood on it to straighten it out. I also had used a sledgehammer on it to help straighten it. Still to do in this photo: drilling and bolting pieces together, and adding a few metal pieces to hold broken or almost broken pieces together.


I used roping lariats to hold the weak posts together so the cattle doubling up would not bend them outward. See the narrow jagged board on the left side? That board wasn't there and the pole below it was hanging down to the level of the board beneath it. That opening is where Dan's heifer jumped out of here the previous day.


Shortly before 7 am with the cattle in the holding area of the loading corral. Dan's heifer has the green ear tag. The second photo has Dan's heifer looking through the break in the snow fence. Wonder what she was thinking? Jailbreak?



At Rich's corral the cattle turned their backs on me.


A 24 foot trailer makes transporting the cattle easier.


Photo of Rich when we were sorting the cattle in his corral before the weigh-in. Dan would cut one or two from the herd at the end. Rich would take heifers and I managed the gate for steers.

Cattle loading

This morning I made a loaf of banana bread and some muffins. I also fielded a number of phone calls from Dan in addition to a visit from him. He and I went to the south pasture to check the cattle. Rich, our buyer, was interested in heavier cattle and we were checking how many of the heavier cattle we had. Heavier means 850 lb and higher. The answer is not as many as we'd like. Usually my cattle are in that range by now but this year I made sure to get lighter cattle because they sell better. Not this year.

The cattle market this year is topsy-turvy as heavier cattle are fetching better prices. Apparently with the high price of corn due to ethanol feedlots that want heavier cattle so they don't have to finish off the cattle's weight with as much corn. Not only does it take as much or more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol as one gets from that gallon, but ethanol's demand for corn is playing havoc with the price of crops and those dependent on a reasonable price. But the Minnesota and Iowa farmers and politicians have gotten ethanol considered to be a "good" fuel and Congress is granting subsides left and right. Now places where growing corn doesn't make sense are planting corn and building ethanol plants. Bah!

Dan was concerned the prices cattle are getting are dropping and he wanted to sell now. I still have plenty of grass and even green grass, especially down by the river. But it was easier to have our entire combined herd go at once. And then I wouldn't have to hassle with transporting them to Rich's place later.

But I was torn as I watched the noon market report and with the release of Friday's report on the number of cattle in feedlots as being a record low amount for July, and that the Billings livestock auction and other markets were going higher, I wanted to wait. But by then events were in motion.

Dan and I worked our phone calls in between his visit to a doctor to find out what kind of surgery he will need for his shoulder.

I waited for the cattle to finish their noon siesta. Instead of coming to the house to check for apples, they split and roamed the south pasture. While waiting for the cattle's siesta to end I had gone to the neighbor's place and got apples. They have more than they want and give me the rest. Every few days I gather the ones that have fallen to the ground. Today I filled two large boxes.

I spread the apples around the corral and barn area then went with a 5 gallon bucket of apples to get the cattle. The cattle trust me. This morning when Dan looked the herd over they were wary and antsy. When I wasn't near Dan a number of cattle came over to me, and one of my steers wanted his head scratched.

With my bucket of apples in hand the herd came together and followed me back to the corral. I then called Rich and it wasn't too long before he came over with his 24 ft cattle trailer.

I herded the cattle into the loading corral and Rich backed his trailer up to my head gate. He wasn't quite even with the gate so I stood on one side so no cattle would take a hard left and not enter the trailer.

We decided to take the herd in two loads. Rich herded 15 cattle through the loading ramp part of the corral while I watched the gap. It went fairly smooth except for one which ran back past Rich. Before Rich could retrieve this one, it jumped over the gate that separates the loading ramp from the holding area. The gate was wood and high enough that it could not get cleanly over and it's weight broke the top board.

We had plenty of room in the trailer so Rich herded three more cattle and the loading of them went smooth.

The floor of Rich's trailer was thick with manure from previous transport and when I leaned out to encourage the cattle to move deeper into the trailer to make room for more cattle the cattle's hooves kicked up some manure and my arm and shirt got splattered. We'll see if I can get these stains out.

Dan arrived from his doctor's visit just as we leaving and we all rode together over to Rich's place. While we waited at the first stoplight just down the road the driver of the car behind us come running up to tell us the back door was unlatched. Man, you never saw three guys get out of a pickup and run back as fast as we did. What a nightmare it would have been if the cattle had gotten out! We latched the door securely this time. Rich and I had forgotten to latch the second latch after loading them and pulling away from the head gate doors. We must have feeling too good at how smooth the loading went.

We had hauled 17 cattle and both Rich and I had counted 12 head left in the corral before we left. Did we count right or was one missing? When we returned I stood up on the side of the loading ramp recounted several times the herd. Finally I got 13. A smaller one would get "lost" in the middle when the herd milled around.

It was the same deal when Rich backed his trailer up. It was not straight to the gate so I stood by the gap to discourage any cattle from slipping out the side.

Rich again herded the cattle while Dan maneuvered around the loading area. The cattle balked at going through the head gate and into the trailer. Instead of letting them get accustomed to the idea Dan and Rich yelled and swatted the cattle. The cattle surged simultaneously and the sides of my loading ramp bulged outward. Some cattle entered the trailer, others stopped, and others turned around and ran backward towards and past Rich. The ones that ran past Rich then jumped the ramp/holding area gate breaking it down.

Another try and we got all but three head in the trailer. When Rich and Dan herded the last three head one heifer jumped up and over the side of the loading ramp and ran off. In the chaos of the attempts to load the cattle the top boards on one section came down, and while the side was still high, this heifer made it over.

I closed the trailer door to keep the cattle inside and ran to get the heifer. It was along the chain link fence south of the barn. Earlier I had closed the gate east of the barn. Dan was attempting to open the gate when the heifer came around. He got it partway open before he ran. I tried to herd the heifer through the gate but it turned and charged at me. This is a big heifer, and while it was not a big bull, the end result would have been the same if it ran over me. I ran out of the way and let it pass by me.

The heifer was wild-eyed and saliva was dripping from its mouth as it ran to the west chain link fence. I walked to herd it. Running would only further agitate her. She was looking to get over the fence but it was a little too high thanks to the help my Aunt Cathy and Diane did in helping me attach long poles along the top of the chain link fence.

The heifer ran along the east fence and was again stymied, again due to the help my Aunts did in attaching poles.

I got the east gate open as Dan earlier had tried to move it in a direction it would not go. I eventually got the heifer around and through this gate which made it easier to herd her around the truck to the loading corral. Otherwise she would jump the interior barb wire fence that split the corral. Sometimes she would snag the barb wire. That fence - which I had planned to rebuild - definitely needs work now.

She went to the gate for the loading corral and stood. I tried to herd her further into the corral so I could close the gate and she turned and charged me. I ran out of her way as fast as I could and she missed me and ran over to the loafing shed. Dan and I herded her from the loafing shed back to the loading corral and instead of going into the corral she took a hard left and ran behind the trailer and to the south of the loading corral. Rich had closed the head gate so she had just enough room to somehow squeeze through the small area between the trailer and the head gate.

As I rounded the truck I saw her jump my corral gate to the pasture. She couldn't quite get over the gate and landed on it. The gate is a lightweight metal and not strong steel tubing. Ya, I can hear my uncles now telling me I should have bought those metal tube gates at the auction we attended in May near Whitefish.

When the heifer landed on the gate she broke part of it and pulled it completely off the posts. She untangled herself and ran into the pasture.

*augh!*

I ran after her. She ran past the gate to the middle pasture so I closed it when I reached it. She then ran along north/middle pasture fence. She wanted to get to the south pasture where she had spent the past weeks. I walked along the fence on the middle pasture side. Once she reached the river she turned and circled back looking for an avenue of escape. She was still wild-eyed and held her head high with a twitching tail and ran with a trot.

I circled around and got between her and the river. I followed as she headed back towards the corral. Dan and Rich let one of my cattle out into the corral to entice Dan's heifer to return. However once she got halfway she turned and ran back along the north/middle pasture fence. I tried to head her off but she was much bigger and I again moved out of her way.

Game of chicken: heifer: 3, Me: 0.

I crossed into the middle pasture and before I could get closer to the river she jumped the fence. She got hung up in the fence as her back legs hadn't made it over. I backed off so as not to further excite her (as if that was possible!) and eventually she freed herself and ran into the middle pasture.

She headed for the middle/south pasture fence and I ran to get ahead of her. I did but Dan called for me. I seen my one heifer was now in the north pasture along the fence. Dan called me back as his was too agitated to be herded. With my heifer here we would leave them and let his heifer calm down. Rich will return at 7 am in the morning, earlier than I wanted to get up.

Now to repair the damage. I had get and nail boards to patch up the loading ramp. Not only did I have the section the heifer had jumped and knocked down, but other areas had holes broken through the snow fence.

My goal was to rebuild the loading corral fences, but this summer was way too hot and I put the rebuild on hold. Just as I improved my perimeter fences over the years as the cattle found weaknesses in them, so too have I learned lessons today to use in my corral rebuild. I do learn as you may have noticed that the only jailbreaks this year have been through my neighbor's fence when the cattle were in his pasture, and then yesterday when the cattle found the weak rusty section of barb wire in my other neighbor's fence.

Ah.. the gate. Sure would have been nice to have one of those gates from the auction. But I don't have one. I got out a sledgehammer and drill and set about repairing my mangled gate. After jumping on it, then pounding it with the sledgehammer, I drilled holes to reattach pieces. Then I found a couple of metal plates I had gleaned from somewhere in case I needed them. I am glad now that I did that. I attached the plates to a broken section, and a near broken section. Good as new - or something close to it.

When I carried the gate out to be reattached to the post my heifer was in the corral by the barn. Dan's heifer was outside the corral in the north pasture. She ran off when she saw me coming. By now it was getting dark.

I couldn't get the gate on both pegs. I don't know if the gate got stretched or the posts tipped. It was dark and I was tired. I left the gate along the corral fence. I went to the south pasture with a couple large pails and retrieved the remaining salt blocks. I closed the gate to the middle/north pastures. When I reached the corral it appeared in the dark that there were two black shapes in the corral around the barn.

I closed the damaged gate the best I could then went and got some black rubber bungee cords. I fastened them around the gate to hold it in place. I also got a long thick pole and attached it to the fence posts on each side of the gate. Try jumping over the gate again!

My heifer was calm and even approached me when I put the salt blocks by the water trough. Even Dan's heifer came in the same area as me and my heifer. As I walked back and forth in the corral reinforcing the damaged gate the cattle were relatively calm as I didn't make eye contact with either one of them. I *think* they will remain in the corral overnight. Now Rich doesn't have to bring his horse in the morning. Though I suppose I could have called Colleen and she could have rounded the heifer up for me using her horse. She had offered in the past to do if I ever needed my cattle rounded up. Then I could have seen her in action. That would be sexy!

It was 9:45 pm before I got into the house. Definitely dark outside as we are rapidly losing minutes of daylight each day. Dark before 10 pm! Where has the time gone?!

My back and arm muscles are very sore. I better get these tired and sore muscles to bed so I can get up in time for Rich's arrival.

Rain, jailbreak, gophers

The weather has finally changed. After months of above normal temperatures and no rain, we are suppose to be below normal with changes of rain. It had rained earlier after sunset and only seems to have rained enough to get stuff wet.

I guess this is better than back in SE Minnesota where I had lived. It started raining Friday and continued all weekend. With 5, 7, and more inches of rain it is flooding all over. Some people died from the flooding. Most of my friends have replied and they are alright, though wet.

This afternoon I had sprayed more weeds. While I was spraying the cattle came from the river, and after licking some salt, went into the hayfield to check for apples, eat, and lay down to chew their cud. I counted and recounted and the best I could get was 28 cattle. A little while later I noticed two cattle in the south pasture near the fence.They looked to be in the pasture so I finished spraying.

After I returned with another tank of herbicide I noticed the cattle again along the south fence. I looked closer and found they were outside the fence in the narrow grass strip along the fence in the plowed field.

Oh, great!

Fortunately the cattle were fairly close to the gate and I opened it. I stepped through and back so they would understand one could pass through the gate. The two cattle were Dan's cattle. They wouldn't make a move to the corner and the gate.

*sigh*

I went through the gate into the plowed field to do a little herding. The cattle were in a excited mood and before I could get into position they started to run along the fence away from the corner.

*argh*

I had to re-enter the hayfield and do an end walk to the west and cross the fence back to the plowed field. Slowly I advanced on the cattle and herded them to the corner. At the corner they began to move south.

Wrong!

Eventually one of them noticed the opening in the fence and went through. Then the other one did. Once they were back in the pasture they kicked up their heels and then they ran to join the herd taking a siesta in the hayfield.

I checked the fence line all the way to the river. All good. I checked the fence on the neighbor's land to the south and found a broken barb wire. A few years ago I had refurbished this fence to keep my cattle out. I used my oldest rustiest barb wire. Time for an upgrade now that I have more barb wire.

I returned with a number of 2x4s to pound in the ground as posts and added them to a few spots where the fence "looked" open. I repaired the broken wire and added a new line of barb wire where the fence had been broken. I could see where the cattle had trampled piles of branches from the fence to the river. You'd think the cattle would not bother walking over this stuff, but nooo.

It began to try to sprinkle as I repaired the fence. A very, very light rain. No matter I was very happy to have rain after all this time. Other parts of the valley looked to be getting more moisture than I. The clouds replaced the smoke and I could again see the mountains. Hurray!

The pocket gophers must like this cooler weather. I caught 5 pocket gophers in my six traps. I don't remember when I last had caught more than two pocket gophers in one day. I now have caught more pocket gophers this year than regular gophers.

Once the rain started I came in the house, earlier than normal. Which is good as I got up after 6 am and I am falling asleep now.

Trees, gopher, haircut and cattle prices

So this is what the sunrise looks like? Well, at least a sunrise rise in a smoky hazy sky.

I woke up early this morning - after 6 am. I fell asleep early last night due to a combination of work and wine. I had a glass of wine with my supper and I think that was the main reason I drifted off to sleep early. "Early to bed, early to rise." is the saying isn't it?

I checked my apple trees Saturday morning and still no signs of whatever ate the leaves. I did find some curled leaves with some sort of small light white web-like stuff on them. I picked those leaves to ensure the web-like stuff was not caterpillar eggs.

I have been watering some of my fruit trees and bushes and found the small winesap apple tree I had planted a few years ago has one small apple on it. The tree's first apple.

Friday night I set a trap for the pocket gopher near one of my serviceberry bushes. I had to set the trap in the steep side of the ditch in order to find a decent gopher tunnel. It worked as Saturday I had a dead pocket gopher. Hopefully I got the gopher in time to save my serviceberry bush.

The first photo is the serviceberry bush around which the gopher gopher had tunneled. The second photo is a serviceberry bush untouched by a gopher. To make it harder to determine damage, the first bush was partially eaten by cattle this Spring while the second bush was untouched.


I ate two berries from my jostaberry bush. The first ones from that bush. Jostaberries are nearly black berries that look like gooseberries until ripe. They are high in vitamin C. The berries are great either for eating or in jams.

The photo is one I found that shows the berries.

Even though I have not watered my plants as much as I should have lately, the buffaloberry bush and grape plants both look good.



Colleen and I were planning for Saturday night to attend the rodeo at the local fair. But she did not feel well Saturday so we canceled that plan so she could rest.

I got a haircut Saturday morning. My hair is simple to cut and most anyone can cut it and it still would look nice. I usually go to Great Clips as they are located convenient to me and no appointment is needed. This time I was a little nervous as the woman seemed new at this. She didn't project confidence.

I usually say, "Cut it short. Above the ears and an appropriate length in the back." They may ask if I want it layered on top. "Sure." But this woman asked what length I wanted elsewhere holding various parts of my hair. She seemed careful and did not cut it as quickly as prior hair stylists have done. I haven't gotten feedback yet but the end result seems good.

Cattle prices seemed to have gotten volatile this past week with a big drop. Dan called and we discussed our options and what he heard from others. He is going to check more on it next week. Maybe this drop is a one week thing, or people 's pasture has dried up and are they are selling their cattle early putting pressure on prices, or people are nervous as they remember last October's free fall on prices received for cattle, or a combination of these factors. We may sell sooner instead of our planned early to mid-September. If the market goes into a free fall like last October any extra more money from a weight gain between now and September could be erased by a much lower price. The buying and selling times are the tricky and stressful times as one's profit depends greatly on one's actions and timing.

Saturday I finished fixing my garage roof. The forecast is for below normal temperatures (60s and 70s) this next week and I wanted to get the shingles fixed while the temperature was warm and the shingles easier to work with. The new shingles may look a little out of place with the old shingles, but they will protect the roof until I replace all the shingles in a few years.



I also sprayed for weeds. The thistle and snowberry bushes are pushing up new shoots among the dying plants all around them. The thistle and snowberries are connected by a root system and are hard to kill as when part of the plant dies, the root system will push up another plant to take its place. Eventually the plant system will die, but it take many, many repeated sprayings. It is amazing these plants have the energy to push up new shoots as the grass all around is brown, dead in hibernation until it rains. At least the weeds are easy to spot as they are almost the only green things in the pasture.

I also trapped more gophers and watered more fruit tress and bushes before it got too dark to see outside.

Fair parade

The local fair is running this week and today I joined Colleen, her brother-in-law, his son and daughter-in-law, and their kids to watch the fair parade down Kalispell's Main Street. I rode my bicycle to meet them and arrived after the parade had started.

The parade had the usual small town mix of old cars, political parties, floats, marching bands, horses (and pooper scoopers following behind), businesses, volunteer organizations, and fire trucks.

Lots of candy was tossed to the kids and Arie and Amelia got their share though they were sometimes distracted by the horses or floats.

After the parade was over we went our separate ways before later meeting at Colleen's house for MacKenzie River pizza and sandwiches. I stopped at a yard sale a few blocks from the parade.

The sale was in a yard of an old house near downtown. The two people operating the sale were what you'd call beatniks in the 1950s, hippies in the 1960s and 1970s, punks in the 1980s, and - what? - "alternative" today? She looked to be in her early 20s and had a black shirt and olive green pants. She had a few facial piercings though I can't remember where they were. Her short black hair had sections dyed a few colors. I seem to remember pink, green, and red. I was wearing an old "Keep on Bicycling" t-shirt from the 1970s. She liked my shirt a lot and commented how the shirt's colors matched her hair.

The main sale operator was a man in his 30s with shoulder length blond hair. I ended up buying a next-to-new XL men's Fall coat. The label is Powder Ridge. He had two identical coats except for the colors as he had gotten a second one as a gift. So he decided to sell one for $5. Being an extra large coat with long sleeves (not that easy to find) it will be another coat for me to have as an outer layer over other coats when bicycling or doing other outdoor activities this winter.

I also bought a CD for $1 of Django Reinhardt with Stepahane Grappelli music. Their music from 1934 - 1935. I haven't listened to a CD since I moved out here, but maybe this will encourage me to find my CD player.

Speakers were in the house's windows and music was playing. I asked, and yes, the music was by Tom Waits. Cool. These people had good taste in music.

The guy had three good sized tattoos on his forearms; one on his left arm and two on his right arm. The tattoos were all his designs and were black ink with no color. The left tattoo was skeleton bones of a horse. It was done in the style of the artist who did the old Grateful Dead posters from the 60s and 70s. The other tattoos were of his business's logo of a peace sign with fish encircling the sign. The last, a new tattoo, was meant to be a Mexican themed tattoo. The skull's shape was similar to the the skeleton from Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration, which is celebrated the day after our Halloween. The body had wings. That and the body's shape may or may not fit with the Mexican theme as I hadn't seen any similar image connected to what little I have seen of the Day or Dead images.

He was also selling snowshoes, but a friend of his wanted them and had requested he hold them until noon while he got the money for them. Darn. They looked like good snowshoes.

Tonight while watering my fruit trees I noticed a half dozen branches where the end leaves had been entirely eaten. It looked to be signs of tent caterpillars though I could not see any signs of them nor their webs. I cut the branches off in case eggs too small to be seen were on the branches. I had watered near this apple tree last night and did not notice this. But it was late and somewhat dark so that may explain why I missed seeing this. I'll see what tomorrow brings. Perhaps the caterpillars were gone for the evening as the sun had set before I noticed the damage.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the parade.



Now, do you think a fishing group called the "Happy Hookers" is the best group to be connected with "Kids Hooked on Fishing"?

Birds and windows

Today I didn't do what I had planned. A couple birds decided to cause problems.

My trouble started late this morning. I had caught up on my sleep as I had slept till almost 9:30 am after falling asleep the previous night at the incredibly (for me) early hour of 11 pm. Late morning I was walking by my barn when I heard a crash and saw the window near me shatter out towards me.

What?!!

I ducked back then noticed a bird against the window in the hay loft. Then it looked like two birds.

I had left the barn's top half of the side door open this summer so the barn would not overheat with the hay bales I had in it. Tonight on the local news I watched a story where large round hay bales being hauled along Highway 40 spontaneously caught on fire. The people hauling the bales stopped and pushed the bales from the pickup and trailer before they too caught on fire. They saved the truck and trailer but set the ditch on fire. It appears the local fire department got the fire out before it escaped into yet another one of our numerous forest fires.

Anyway, the birds must have flown in the open barn door. I noticed a bird in the ground level and went around to completely open the door. As I did the bird flew out the other window. Not the broken window... the other one. This window was made up of 6 panes and the bird crashed through one pane.

*sigh*

The other bird was in hay loft and I expected it to crash through its window any time now. The one bird that escaped stood on a fence post motionless. I got a camera and was able to get within 6 ft of the bird and it did not move. Odd. I noticed the bird was a Flicker. Several years ago one summer I had one of these birds fly down my chimney and into my wood stove. Other people have told me similar things happening with Flickers and their chimneys.



I got a ladder, and from the outside, opened the hay loft door on the other end. Then I stood back and waited. And waited. I looked inside and the bird was still against the window. I went inside the barn and crawled up the hay loft next to the window taking care the bird did not decide to fly down through the opening as I climbed up.

The bird flew to the other end of the loft and out the open door. At least I saved one window.

I found a small window pane in the barn. What luck! I picked up the broken glass and replaced the small pane. The big window pane was another matter and I removed the frame thinking I would have to go uptown to get a new window.

First I checked my tool shed and found a single frame with glass, and several double window frames with glass in three of the four frames.

I tried the single frame and found it to be an inch too narrow and two to three inches too short. I didn't want to build up the frame in the barn to make this frame fit so I turned to the double frames.

I removed the last pane in one double frame and found it to be a touch too wide and a half inch too long. I decided to remove the thick side of the frame for the broken window and once I get the glass fitted, I then would trim the frame and put it back together.

First I had to shave the insides of the frame so the pane would fit without pressure. I would: shave, try, shave, try... and so on. Once when I lifted the pane from the frame to do move shaving the pane broke.

*augh!*

Ok... calm down, I have two more window panes.

The second pane was a half inch too short. What's going on?! Don't they make window frames and panes in standard sizes?!!

*sigh*

While I fastened the window pane back into its original frame it cracked in two.

Nooooooo!!!

Yup, I only had one pane left. The caulk around this pane was extra thick and hard. I carefully scraped it off. Talking the pane out was the only way I hadn't broken a pane. Until now. When gently - ever so gently - pushing against the pane to get it out of the frame the pane broke.

*AUGH!* What the ....!

I was barely pushing the glass!!!! I swear!!

What is going on today? Did I get out of the wrong side of the bed?

I took the single frame and built barn window opening up so the frame would fit inside it. If I had known this would be the result I would have saved myself several hours of scraping and cleaning ...and breaking. Instead I ended up with a pail of broken glass.

So much for my afternoon and planned chores.

Earlier while around the barn I had noticed a big pile of manure that seemed to be relatively new. Maybe it was a day old. Strange.... The cattle had been by while I was working on the windows and had begged for apples. I thought I had counted 30 head. The big pile of manure was awfully big.... maybe it was from when the cattle were briefly around the barn before being moved to the south pasture? How long ago was that? Never mind - the manure must be from then.

Later I went to check the pocket gopher traps. I noticed a big pile of manure in the gate between the north and middle pastures. Now I know that pile wasn't there two days ago!!

After checking the gopher traps and finding two dead ones, I checked the fence. I found the barb wire where the middle and south pastures and the hayfield all meet was stretched low. Ah, ha. One or more cattle had jumped the fence to the middle pasture from the south pasture. Apparently they found that the hayfield and south pasture truly was where the greenest grass was and jumped back over to rejoin the herd.

The herd by now came over thinking they would get more apples and I recounted them. 30. I re-recounted. 30. I counted once more as it always takes me a couple of tries to get 30 and I got 30 right away today. 30 again. Ok... they are all there. I straighted the fence and barb wire. Hopefully that will keep them.

Tonight I started to water my fruit trees and bushes as I hadn't done this in a long time. I discovered the dirt was piled up all around my serviceberry bush next to the ditch. And then I spied a few more mounds of dirt nearby. *argh!* A pocket gopher had moved in!

The serviceberry bush still has green leaves so I don't know if the gopher has eaten the roots and the bush has yet to die. I soaked the ground around the bush well, and tomorrow I will move one of my traps into the area to catch it.

Darn wildlife!!!!