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.