Recovery day

After Tuesday's hike to Triple Divide pass I slept long and hard Tuesday night and late into Wednesday morning.

Dan stopped by in the morning to give me the bill of sale for the cattle I bought from him this Spring. We also talked a bit about cattle getting bloated on alfalfa. I had my "girls" on bloat blocks prior to letting them into my hayfield so they should be protected. Still, I wondered as the other night when they came running from across the hayfield to eat the apples I was tossing over the fence one of my heifers looked really fat. She had a barrel belly. She was one of the original lighter heifers I bought first and I didn't remember her being so fat before. But she was active and running with the rest of the herd and not lethargic. And Dan told me when cattle bloat they bloat out on the left side more than the right. So my heifer is all right and doing what she is suppose to do - gain weight.

Tuesday evening after I fed the cattle that day's apples I headed out across the hayfield to test out my chainsaw on a tree in the pasture. The herd, spread across the hayfield and in the distance, saw me and came towards me. They caught up to me just after I crossed into the pasture. They followed me until I crossed the fence to the south pasture then they ran off to the river.

The cattle then hung around the middle pasture across the fence and eating grass while I tested the chainsaw and used up all the gas in it on a downed and dead tree. When I then walked home they all followed me wanting more apples, and I had none for them.

Why I tested the chainsaw is I apparently put the newly sharpened chain on backwards. I still insist I followed the diagram on the correct way to mount the chain. The first items I tested the new chain on were odds and ends of wood and stumps that normally would be quirky to cut. Once I cut a "normal" tree stump the chainsaw would throw the chain from the blade. Not knowing what the problem was I later tested the chainsaw with an old dull chain and the chainsaw did not throw the chain. Ah, problem figured out if not solved. I have the bad chain soaking in oil in case it can be saved as I noticed the reason the chain was being thrown was the chain's joints were not entirely flexible and would sometimes catch.

The neighbor's pocket gophers. I caught two of them. One in Jerry's yard and the other in my pasture just on my side of the fence from Jim and Debbie's yard. The trap in their yard was filled with dirt once so I had set the extra trap on my side of the fence and think I got the pest. It appears these are all the pocket gophers they have as their soil is rockier and drier and not able to support as dense of a gopher population.

Wednesday I rode my bicycle uptown to run errands and attend the last afternoon Picnic in the Park concert for the season. I didn't arrive until intermission so I missed half of the concert. On the ride to the concert one of my bicycle wheel's spoke broke which I later fixed that evening.

My old water socks wore out and I planned to buy a new pair. I went to five stores Wednesday and all were sold out of adult sized water socks. They all said that once the weather got warm the socks flew out the store. So I am out of luck until next year.

I had planned on spraying more weeds in the evening but just as I was about to do so a cloud formed and after a little thunder and lightning it rained lightly for a while. With the rain it got cooler and I sat out in my patio and relaxed and listened to the rain. It wasn't long before I fell asleep.