November shopping extravaganza

Today Tammy held her last shopping extravaganza for the year.  She held it at the fairgrounds in the Trade Center building.  The Arts & Crafts people held their "Black Friday" three day show in the Expo building at the other end of the fairgrounds.  So plenty of people came out for both shows.

Friday afternoon Tammy and I set up the layout for the vendors.  The event was 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Tammy was at the building before 8 am to let the vendors in to set up their booths.  I came at 9 am for a couple hours to set up the signs, blow up the snowmen and some helium balloons (and losing two balloons up in he building's rafters), toss ice melt on the pavement outside the buildings, and general stuff.  Then I came back before 5 pm to take signs down, deflate the snowmen, put the table and chairs away and sweep up the floor.   We were out of there at 7:03 pm.


Tammy likes snowmen and bought a couple of them to advertize her event.

The snowmen have an internal light to light them up at night.

On the way home we stopped at Panda Express to get take out Chinese food then drove home in our separate vehicles.  The temperature was around freezing all day.  The light snow from the previous evening was gone as we drove home.  However, on the curving road that goes down the ridge, I saw snow on the road.  I drove slowly and quickly found the road was icy.  Very icy.  I started sliding and geared down as I drove.  On the outside of the curve I saw a pickup sitting there.  I started sliding towards the pickup then caught enough traction to get back to my lane.  Then I started going towards the ditch on my side of the road.  Except it is not a ditch but a steep drove off.

By the time I got to the ditch/drop off the road had a wheel track before the drop off got serious and I had traction in that wheel track.  I stopped the sideways slide and also was able to slow to almost a stop.  By now I seen a vehicle that went off the drop off just beyond the only driveway.  I also saw lots of flashing lights from fire trucks, an ambulance and law enforcement vehicles.  Theses vehicles were in the opposite lane so I continued slowly down the hill as I was almost down to the bottom.

Once I got to relatively level ground I put my window down and told a fire department employee they needed to get someone at the top of the ridge as no one can see the flashing lights until they start down the hill.  Then it is too late to stop.

Once I got to a safe place to stop I pulled over, set my car's flashers and headed back up the hill.  Tammy was coming down after me and I was afraid she slid off the road or into another vehicle.  She had the same experience as me and ended up in the wheel track next to the road.  She stopped above the driveway.

The ambulance had driven up and a fire department employee was helping a shaken man walk to the back of the ambulance.  I could also see the minivan that went off the road.  The minivan had hit a large stump on the driver's side of the vehicle and caved the doors in.

I drove home.  Tammy had to wait for the ambulance to leave and the sanding truck to arrive as the emergency personal wouldn't let her drive the short section the rest of the way down the hill until the road was sanded.  Tammy sat there for well over an hour.

Inversion frost

The inversion has strengthened.  Now the days are frosty - all day.  Tonight more frost is being formed on the frost that did not melt today.  The air has a chill to it.  The mountains are hidden.

My protected (from deer, livestock, etc) small fruit trees.

I have some pruning to do this Winter.

Apple tree - The variety: Transparent

Chimney smoke

Winter is coming.  The weather forecast for the next week is for below zero lows and single digit highs.  Right now... not so bad as the afternoon temperatures have been in the upper 20s to low 30s.  Still... I have the wood stove going, especially today as an inversion set in overnight and there is a chill in the air.

Here is a view of today's smoke.

Btw - the livestock well is not done.  The well driller went hunting east of the mountains.  He is back now, called yesterday to say he hasn't forgotten me, and plans to visit next week at the earliest to look my site over.  Great. Just in time for sub-zero temperatures.  Today I saw a sandpoint pipe at a local store.  Kinda late for using one now.

November sunset

Yellow

At Tammy's Treasure Market event in October one of the vendors gave her this yellow pot and fake flowers.  Kind of "pops" against the red and black.

More limping

My poor cow.  She has just about healed from her bad rear leg when she started to limp on a bad front leg.  Both legs are on the right side of her body.

I wasn't sure if I noticed anything Tuesday evening but on Wednesday I could see her limp. She still ate and chewed her cud.  Thursday her limp was worse.  She didn't even want to stand on that leg.  One time she started to kneel down but changed her mind.  I didn't see her eat or chew her cud. She would move the leg like she was a prancing horse.   Odd.   I called a few friends for advice but none could explain the prancing motion.

I visited the vet place near me.  While most vets are equine (horse) vets as that is where the money is, the office did have one cattle vet.  He was out of the office but called me back around 5:30 pm.  He suspected the cow may have an abscess near her hoof.

He had called me after closing hours and did not leave a phone number.  I called him in the morning and finally he called me back during the noon hour.  We made an appointment for me to bring the cow in at 2:30 pm.

Once we got the cow in the squeeze chute the vet could tie her leg up and check her hoof.  Yup.  An abscess.  The vet cut it and drained the puss from it.  There appear to be a lot of pressure from the puss buildup.  He cleaned the area around the hoof and gave her some antibiotics and a shot for pain.

I also had him do a preg test to see if she was pregnant.  After buying the cattle I learned the bull was a young small bull who had not had offspring yet.  Was the bull up to the task of inseminating these big cows?  This cow... yes.  She is pregnant.  Yay!

Now to watch to see if her leg gets better.  The vet thought she would get better by Monday.  The predicted cold weather may be a good thing as it will freeze the muddy ground.  With all the rain we had recently the corral is on the muddy side.

Once home the cow laid down for a while, and when she did move, she walked stiffly but I didn't noticed her prancing like before.

How did the cow get the abscess?  Unknown.  She must have stepped on something that caused a wound that developed into an abscess due to the muddy state of the corral right now.  The corral and north pasture should be mostly clear of bad sharp objects.

From several web sites:

Abscesses of the Coronary Band:

The coronary band is the area at the top of the hoof that is normally soft, shiny and pink in color. It is the area between the actual hoof wall and where the hair growth of the leg begins. An abscess of the coronary band is often undetected, since this is an area where the foot gets muddy and can therefore be overlooked. On a cleaned foot, there is usually swelling and redness.

The cause of an abscess is usually from penetration near the coronary band, but even at the sole of the foot. The infection works its way up under the wall and develops as an abscess at the coronary band. The treatment requires that the abscess drains, so it is important to call in a veterinarian who can determine the extent of the problem, open the area properly for drainage and prescribe a treatment, which usually includes antibiotics.

Bacteria may enter the hoof itself through a crack or bruise, usually on the bottom of one of the digits. A bruised sole (as from stepping on a sharp rock, or from uneven weight bearing due to misshapen foot) may eventually become an abscess. 

With an abscess, initially there is no swelling above the hoof, since the infection is confined to the hoof itself. If a lame animal does not have a swollen foot, an abscess (rather than foot rot) should be suspected and the bottom of the claws/toes should be carefully inspected. A crack or bruise should be probed with a hoof knife to find the abscess and open it up. In some cases it may need to be flushed and drained. The infection creates a foul-smelling fluid that will be obvious when the abscess is located and opened. 

Treatment generally consists of paring away all the affected horn tissue around the abscess, and minimizing the weight bearing in that area until new horn can grow and fill in the hole. This can be accomplished by paring the affected claw so that the sound one bears the weight, or by gluing a "shoe" or wood block to the sound claw to build it up so it bears all the weight.

Here is a 1:07 video of my cow trying to walk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyQVvx0UPfo&feature=youtu.be


By the way... now I have a limp.  Tammy and I were able to easily load the cow into my stock trailer.  When the vet's helper and I unloaded the cow from my stock trailer and herded her into the area with the squeeze chute the cow was reluctant to enter one area.  Because of her limping and bad legs I got a little too close behind her when herding her and suddenly - like lightning - she kicked out with her good rear leg and nailed me in my right thigh.  Nothing is broken but I have a painful bruise and a strong limp.  I need to remember to take and use my whip when herding cattle in close quarters.  I guess I need to find and sometimes channel an inner "Fifty Shades of Grey" persona and use a whip. 

Also, while the vet was draining the abscess I looked over and saw my stock trailer was no longer on the hitch. Huh?!  I had forgotten to fasten the catch on the trailer.  When the cow stepped off the back of the trailer the trailer hitch popped off the receiver's ball and ended up on the bumper.  I had to get a block of wood for the trailer's jack as I neglected to toss my block in the back of the pickup.  Once I jacked up the trailer I moved the truck a few inches and then lowered the trailer back on the receiver's ball.  This time I closed the latch.  Once I got home I had to wash out the trailer as the stress had the cow crapping in the trailer.

In the evening I let the herd back into the corral to join the limping cow.  They were all standing at the corral gate and Beulah - as usual - was bellowing to show her displeasure at being locked out of the corral.  A problem is that the herd eats the hay and pushes the limping cow around and she gets the short end of the stick sometimes.

Well casing - yet another failure

*sigh*

It shouldn't take this long or be this hard.

Contractor Robinson was still busy and expected to be busy the rest of the year.  Contractor Russ - the guy who was afraid to lift the pipe into the hole in case the pipe slipped and hit his excavator - was now available as he just got back from a several week hunting trip.  The problem was his excavator was on a work site on a mountain.  But he had a large pay-loader available and claimed it had a little more down pressure than his excavator.

He drove the pay-loader over Wednesday morning.  Because the bucket on the pay-loader was larger than an excavator bucket I needed to take pat of the corral fence down.  I locked all the cattle out of the corral except for the cow whose other leg was not causing her problems.  I locked her in the loading corral.

The pipe stands 15 ft above the ground.  The pay-loader can only reach 12 ft up. I climbed on the bucket and wrapped a chain around the pipe and attached it to the bucket.  Then it was time to push the pipe into the ground until we could get the bucket on top of it.

Except the pipe wouldn't go.

Both of the front wheels of the loader rose into the air from the pressure.  He rocked the pipe slightly.  After almost a half hour of this it looked like the pipe barely moved.  I re-measured the pipe.  It *may* have gone down an inch or two.  I believe he said his pay-loader weighed from 22,000 to 32,000 pounds.

So disappointing.

After listening to people who claimed an excavator the size of a Caterpillar 120 or larger pushed a 6 inch well casing pipe into the ground were mistaken.  All this time lost.

I spoke with the last well driller in the Valley who also pounds shallow well pipe into the ground.  When I mentioned I couldn't find anyone who sells a sandpoint pipe he told me of a business who did.  While a sandpoint pipe is a cheaper way to get water, I am not sold that this is the way I want to go.  The well driller said he would stop by in the next few days to see what I have and give me a recommendation and if he can use the pipe I have.

Some day I will have a water well for my livestock.  The sooner the better as the weather forecast is for another major Winter storm all of this weekend.  I want the well done before Winter stays for good.

Neighbor's pasture

When talking with my neighbor about possibly using their property to get an excavator onto my property to push the well casing pipe for my livestock well, they mentioned it would be nice if I could run my cattle onto their pasture to eat the overgrown grass down to make it look nicer.

Today I inspected their fence and fixed the areas where the nails had popped out.  Then I opened the gate and let the cattle into their pasture.  The grass is overgrown and more brown than green, but there is stuff for the cattle to eat.  Anything to reduce the amount of hay I need to feed the cattle.

Notice the recent snows have melted.

And the calves follow their mamas.

Moving hay

Before the snow gets deeper later I move the hay for the cattle two bales at a time. 

A NE pasture view...

Daisy is not too fond of the recent weather.  She wants to go outside but then sits on the front step watching it rain during the day.  After less than five minutes she is ready to come back into the house.  Last night it was dry and she ran around here and there for hours and was a very happy kitty.  Tonight she is a restless kitty as she has been cooped up inside the house all day.

Into the corral

I woke up to more snow.  I guess global warming is passing us by once again.  Snow is in the forecast for many days to come so it appears I will be feeding the cattle hay sooner than I had planned.

Time to get the cattle into the corral and start feeding them hay. 

In the morning most of the cattle were at the salt feeder near the south/middle pasture gate.  The other three cattle came when I called them.  I let them into the middle pasture and the herd was excited.  None but Momma had ever been in the middle pasture.

After a quick look-see of the middle pasture they came to the middle/north pasture gate.  I then let them into the north pasture.  More excitement at being in a new place.  Beulah took time to look things over.  She also studied the neighbors' houses to the north.

The cattle had to wait to get into the corral and join the one cow and calf until I got their hay feeder ready.

Here are the boards I use as a feeder floor.

Once I put the boards in I found I now had a gap where none had existed in the past.

I found a board from my scrap pile that fit.

While I put the hay feeder together and then got a couple of bales of  hay from the hay shed to fill it, the cattle hung around the gate and mooed.  By the time I was done they had wandered off.  I left the gate open and within the hour they had come into the corral and found the hay.  I closed the gate to keep them in the corral for now.

FYI - the cow with the limp is much better.  With all the activity I saw her walk around more and while she isn't 100% back to normal, she is much better than before.

November snow

After an inch or so of snow Sunday night - of which some still remained in shady areas, it snowed again last night. It looks to be two or three or more inches.  Snow is in the weather forecast this week off and on many days.

More gophers

After I moved the cattle to the south pasture I placed traps in the hayfield to trap the pocket gophers who moved in since I last trapped the hayfield in the Spring.

I trapped 13 gophers.  One day one of the gopher traps near the south fence went missing.  This has happened before near the south fence.  I searched around and found the trap in the trees across the fence on the neighbor's property.  A dead pocket gopher was inside the trap.  Ahh.. the reason an animal carried the trap from the open field to this protected area.

I even did the neighbor a favor and tried to trap a pocket gopher on his property.  After filling the trap with dirt a few times the pocket gopher gave up and moved away.   That was it.  My last pocket gopher.  I am done for the year.  Winter is coming.

For the year I trapped 33 pocket gophers.  The second lowest amount since I began back in 2003.  In 2003 I only trapped 29 pocket gophers.  That was before I really knew what I was doing and when I only had three traps.  So to trap only 33 pocket gophers this year means I got them on the run.

Horses left

The owners picked up their horses for the year.  Not the greatest day to get the horse as it was cold and wet.

One owner wanted to get Cheyenne, the dominant mare, in the trailer first but she wouldn't go no matter how much the owner coaxed and pulled on the rope.  So she gave up and led Sierra, the oldest horse into the trailer.  Lily decided to enter at the same time and the owner ended up in the front half of the trailer with both horses.  Good thing she had the side escape door to exit.

Then it was back to Cheyenne.  They were in a stand off for a long time.  While the trailer's floor was covered in sawdust it still seemed to slippery to the horse the few times she put one hoof on the floor.  Finally the other owner got the whip and lightly touched the horse's hind quarters.  She moved a bit but didn't go into the trailer.  After a few more light brushes with the whip then pressure against the hind quarters the horse stepped into the trailer with one of the owners.  I thought the owner could get hurt as the two horses in the front half on the other side of the trailer's divider were moving around banging against the walls which made Cheyenne nervous.  She started to turn to exit the trailer and the other owner closed it.  His wife was still inside the small space but she was able to squeeze out the back door before getting hurt.

*whew*

I think the owners are in their 70s so this wasn't some agile young person handling the horses.

The owners had to make two trips to get the horses as they didn't want the young colt crowded in the trailer with the big horses.  So on the second trip they got the colt and his mother.

Sierra is the brown horse on the right

Cheyenne is the large horse in the center of the photo

Here is a photo of the colt when he first arrived back in the middle of August. I think he was two and a half months old at that time. Notice he has gotten bigger and darker.

After the horses left I heard one of the cattle bellow.  The herd was in the south pasture.  I then noticed one of the calves walking along the pasture/hayfield fence and he was in the hayfield.  Mom was walking to the fence in a concerned manner.  With some effort I got the steer back into the pasture without the herd getting into the hayfield.


The cow with the injured leg seems to be doing ok.  I think she still has a limp. It is not worse, but it is hard to tell if it is much better.  It is hard to tell as she is always standing or laying and I can't seem to catch her walking.  She eats, drinks and chews her cud and seems to be pretty content.  Her calf also is going fine, though being a kid she wants to go join the other calves when she sees them off in the south pasture.

Countertop oven

Last weekend at a Tastefully Simple Party Tammy met a woman who had a counter top oven she no longer uses.  We had never heard of something like this, but as we have been without an oven for almost a year and a half, a small one would be nice to tide us over until we get a full sized oven next year during our kitchen remodel.  This Fall I have been using my neighbor Jan's oven to bake my apple pies.  Thursday Tammy and I went to look at the oven and bought it.  Now to cook something and see how well it works.

Oven with Daisy's reflection in the front door

http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-31197-Countertop-Convection/dp/B0002HDWNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383286023&sr=8-1&keywords=hamilton+beach+oven+31197