Winding down to Winter

Fall moving to Winter.

Today the horses left for the year. While there is still grass for them to eat, it's that time. Loading was quick and easy as the horses just walked right into the stock trailer.

I am trying to finish up a few projects before the snow flies and stays on the ground for good.  We are forecast for a chance of a few snow flurries reaching the ground on Sunday.  The wood feeder rebuild north of the barn is 99% done.  I have a few other projects I really want to get done this year.  The rest... would be nice but realistically at this point they will probably be delayed until next year unless November has really nice weather.

The mice must be hunkering down this Fall as Daisy has not brought any mice home for a while now.  She also spends more time in the house and with me.  When Tammy was here she liked the house temperature to be in the mid 70s degrees.  Now with just me the house temperature is in the 50s and 60s.  Daisy likes it cool and would seldom lay on a person's lap when Tammy was here.  Now with a cooler house Daisy will lay on my lap as she doesn't overheat now.

Buddy the bull comes and goes as he pleases.  In and out of the middle pasture every day.  This afternoon he was by the middle/south pasture gate so I walked out and opened it.  He walked over and stood in the gate opening.  For the longest time.  Fortunately the herd was elsewhere.  Finally he walked through the gate over to a salt block.  Just before dark I noticed he was back in the middle pasture.  And so was the little steer calf.  *sigh*

A few days ago I checked with three local tractor dealers for a used tractor.  Might be some prospects.  I'll follow up next week after the elections.  I am a chief election judge again.

Happy Halloween!

Another sunset

Monday night's sunset.

Oh... and Buddy the bull?  Just before sunset I saw him in the middle pasture again. 

Buddy does what he wants

Saturday I didn't get back from hiking until dark so I couldn't tell if Buddy was in the south or middle pasture.  Sunday morning I found out.  He was in the middle pasture again.  So was that little stinker steer.  I let them be.  The cows appear to be all 'satisfied' so Buddy is content to leave them and wander into the middle pasture.

In the afternoon Daisy and I went out to check the fence.  The fence wires were stretched in a new area.  The little steer stepped right through the fence back to the south pasture when I walked out there.  Buddy was laying down chewing his cud.  I let him be.  Daisy sat and watched from the safety of some trees when I was near the cattle.

I doubled checked that the little steer had no balls.  Nope, no balls.  He sure is an independent little guy.  Between his stocky build and his independence I began to wonder if his balls really had fallen off after I banded them this Spring.

I added wire to the fence where it was stretched.

In the evening just before dark I saw Buddy was near the gate and the herd wasn't.  I went out and opened the gate.  Buddy walked over and stood in the open gate.  He looked at the herd.  He looked at the gate.  He looked at me.  He is impressive.

There is no hurrying Buddy.  He does what he wants.  And since I don't want to get hurt, I respect that.  Especially since the gate is a barb wire gate and not much protection from a mad bull when open.

After forever he walked into the south pasture and turned around as I closed the gate.  Buddy wanted to lick and possibly nibble on my hand.  I let him lick my hand.  He wasn't keen on me scratching his head as he wanted to nibble on my hand.  I left him so he would to go back to his ladies.

Tomorrow?  Will Buddy finally stay out of the middle pasture?  I hope so.

Saturday sunrise

Saturday morning I got up a little earlier than normal because I was going hiking in the east side of Glacier Park.  While waiting for Patti to arrive I saw this sunrise.

More herding

Friday morning, before I left for a hike, I saw the two cows by the middle/south pasture gate.  The little steer had slipped through the fence to be back with the herd.  Some of the herd was by the gate, the rest of the herd was off grazing.

I went out there and opened the gate.  One cow walked through while the other cow just stood there.  I had Beulah (of course) near the gate so I couldn't open it wider.  I waited.  Then the herd came running and I had to close the gate.

When I got home from hiking late afternoon I saw the cow in the middle of the middle pasture.  Daisy came with me to the middle pasture.  Then I saw the bull was in the middle pasture with the cow.  Not again!!!

*sigh*

I herded the cow towards the gate.  I didn't try to herd the bull.  I hoped he would follow.  The cow didn't want to be herded and just wanted to eat grass.  It took time to herd her.  Of course the herd in the south pasture noticed us and came running over to the fence and made a commotion with their bellowing.

*sigh*

I got the cow near the gate. I went to open the gate and the bull who had been following us came over to the gate.  I opened the gate a little bit and stood holding it upright so the cattle in the south pasture couldn't pass through the opening. The bull stood by the gate. I had one cow try to make a move through the gate.  I shooed her away in a restrained manner and kept an eye on the bull so he didn't become agitated.

I waited.  And waited.  He just stood there.  But the cow came to the gate, and after a little bit, walked through the gate.  Once she was in the south pasture her calf came over and latched onto her udder to drink.  Her udder was huge from not being drained for almost 24 hours.

I encouraged the cattle to move from the gate to give the bull room to walk through.  Gently encouraged of course.

I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  He stood there. He looked around. He looked at me. He checked out the barb wire of the gate.  He checked out a post in the gate.  He checked out a cow on the other side of the gate wire.  He checked out my boots.  He scratched his head on the wire.  He scratched his head on the post.

He was in no hurry.  He stood there knowing he could do what he wanted and not what others wanted of him.  He is big and made of muscle.

Finally he slowly walked into the south pasture.

I slipped around the gate and closed it with me now in the middle pasture.

Done.  Finally!

I checked the fence to see how the bull got through.  I found an area where the three-wire fence had been stretched.  No wires were broken.  Mostly like this was how he got through the fence.  I took extra wire and wired up this section and four other sections that were kind of loose or could be stretched.

Maybe, just maybe, I won't find Buddy the bull in the middle pasture on Saturday.

Walking back home I found the little steer was in the middle pasture. 

*sigh*

I let him be.  He comes and goes through this fence as he pleases.  Beulah and the herd were not happy he was in the middle pasture and bellowed their complaints.

I gathered up Daisy who had wisely waited by a fallen pine tree while I herded the cow and bull, and home we went.

I will be so happy when I have finally upgraded all of my fences to six or seven tight strands.

Wandering Buddy

Wednesday I found Buddy the bull in the middle pasture.  The rest of the herd was taking their siesta along the south pasture south fence.  I opened the gate, called for Buddy, and he came sauntering over, walked through the gate, then sauntered over to his girls.

I found where the fence wire was broken and fixed the fence.

Late Thursday afternoon, just before dark, I heard Beulah bellowing at the gate between the south and middle pastures. I saw Buddy in the middle pasture along a the steer calf that slips though the fences.  I went to let Buddy back into the south pasture.  This time the herd was near the gate.  This is a barb wire / string gate.  It is next on my list of gates to replace with metal gates.  So it is a difficult gate to handle by oneself when cattle are on each side of the gate.

Buddy slowly came to the gate.  I opened it and he then walked and stood in the gate.  Come on Buddy, walk through.  As I waited a cow slipped through the gate between Buddy and the fence post.  I blocked another cow from going through.  Then I tried to get Buddy through again and another cow slipped through before I could stop her.  I was getting aggravated. Not a good thing around a bull as Buddy started to get upset.  He put his head down and hopped around on his front legs facing me.  I settled down, closed the gate and put the fence between us.  Buddy quickly calmed down.

Now I had four cattle in the middle pasture.

I went home and got a few steel posts and wire and came back to the pasture.  The cattle were away from, but still, near the gate and Buddy was standing at the gate.  I opened the gate and Buddy walked through before any other cattle could slip through.

The two cows were away from the gate eating like there was no tomorrow.  I wasn't going to get them through a gate I can't leave open as I herd them.

I went to see where Buddy came through the fence.  The repair job from Wednesday was still good. I didn't find any breaks but I did find a low area that Buddy may have jumped over.  I added the posts and wire and I'll see if that finally stops him.

Back at the gate the steer calf was standing.  Beulah was right on the other side.  I think it may be her calf (Note to Uncle Larry: I am thinking of changing his name from Buster to either Houdini or Hamburger.), else she was just annoyed the other two cows were having what she could not.  I couldn't get the cattle to move away from the gate. Beulah was getting upset with me when I tried to shoo her away from the gate.  I didn't try too hard as with only me the cattle would come back to the gate before I could herd the two cows through.

There is no harm in letting the cows and steer be in the middle pasture overnight.  Their calves may be unhappy with their mothers by morning.

It had rained off and on all day and I walked home with wet shoes and pants after walking through the tall grass.  Life on the Ranch.

2014 Bonfire number 2

The end of August I had the first tree stump bonfire since Tammy left.  It was a stump I had dug around earlier in the Spring so it was relatively dry.  It was time to burn the stump before the evenings started to get colder.

This was another one of those stumps that barely peaked above the ground but was massive once I began digging around it.

It was just me burning the stump so that felt different.  I kept busy throwing branches and stuff on the fire to keep it going hot.  Stumps are hard to burn.  I was able to burn the entire stump in one bonfire.

I kept to the same routine as when Tammy and I burnt stumps.  I even had a bottle of wine and drank part of it.  I just didn't have anyone telling me I was a lightweight and couldn't handle my liquor.

First fire of the season

After a couple of very nice days, Tuesday's weather brought cold air and rain.  A cool damp 55 degrees inside the house meant that for the first time this season I lit a fire in my wood stove. 

This evening the clouds are moving on and tomorrow looks to be a better day...

Fruit tree fall colors

Transparent Apple Tree

Apricot Tree

Well completed

Another project that took forever to complete is my livestock well.  I am now done with it.  I finished work on the well the day before I left for my Washington vacation.

When I last blogged about the well I was waiting on a new pump as the old pump couldn't pump at full volume.  I bought a 1/2 HP Wayne brand pump from Amazon.  It works great.

It was a hassle to hook up the pump.  The pump wasn't the problem - the piping was.  First, the plastic hose that goes in the well casing had such a curl to it that it took finesse to get it into the well casing and then into the pitless adapter slot.  In the photo below the straight part is an old pipe whose use is to lower part of the pitless adapter (hole seen in the following photo) into the pitless adapter slot already installed in the well casing.

Then the union connection between the pitless adapter and the pump leaked.  Pipe thread tape didn't work but a silicon paste got the leak to stop.  Then I needed the right amount of piping to go from the pump to the hydrant attached to the concrete wall.  Those connections would leak.  Usually it would be the last section to be screwed together. Or the last section of pipe to be screwed together would not screw together due to some odd threading.

The blue tank is the pressure tank.  Not super big, but works.  I bought it for $5 at a garage sale.

The hydrant drains when turned off.  Since the hydrant usually is installed in the ground, it just drains out of a small hole into the ground.  I wanted the hydrant to drain back into the well.  Neither Home Depot or Lowes sold a fitting that screws into the hydrant hole with the other end being barbed so I could slip a plastic hose over it.  But Ace Hardware had the fitting.

The well casing is hard steel and my drills bits are getting duller so it took a long time to drill through the pipe.

I bought a carbide tipped concrete drill bit to fasten the hydrant to the concrete casing.  The first bit only drilled three holes before going dull.  I figured it was defective so I took it back and bought another brand's carbide drill bit.  This time I watered down the bit as I drilled to cool the bit and provide a little lubrication, and ended up drilling seven holes before this bit went dull.  Do these bits drill so few holes before going dull?

Then it was time to rebuild the fence around the well.  The new concrete casing is larger than the old casing and the fence needed to be moved in addition to being strengthened.  The move resulted in moving part of the old corral fence instead of merely adding a little bit to go around the concrete casing.  *sigh*


I also rebuilt the fence that divides the water trough.  And the gate and the post that held it.  A ripple effect.

The gate is now attached to a taller more solid post and no longer scrapes the ground when opened wide.  And I was able to drill new lag bolts into the post and have the bolts point to one another.  This prevents the gate from being lifted off the post unless one section of the gate's hinge is unbolted - something the livestock can't do.


Knowing how cattle rub on things, I placed the hydrant outside the corral and added wire to the fence to prevent the cattle from putting their heads through the fence to reach the hydrant - which is what they would try to do.  Trust me.

Because the horses rinse their mouths in the water trough, I am still using the small trough until they leave next month.

I hooked up a hose from the hydrant to the trough.  Everything tested and it all worked.  Then a day later I saw the white horse kick the empty water trough.  Huh?  The horses must have been thirsty.  I filled the trough quickly and went off to work on another project.  That evening the trough was empty again.  Well... the temperatures have been in the 80s. I filled the trough again and went off to work on other stuff.

Within a day the trough was empty again.  Strange, the horses never drink that much water.  I checked for leaks.  None.  Okay....

I filled the trough again to the top.  I checked after 20 minutes and the water was a few inches from the top.  Well, it was dark when I filled the trough so I may not have filled it to the top.

Before going to bed three hours later I checked the trough.

Empty.

What?!  Did a herd of deer come in and drink all the water?  An alien spaceship?  Where is this water going?!!!!

So I stopped and thought about it.  Then it dawned on me.  When the hydrant drained it was siphoning the water from the trough back into the well.    All the times I tested the hydrant I pulled the hose from the trough.  These last times I filled the trough in a hurry and left the hose in the trough when I shut the hydrant off.

I found a short section of hose and fastened it to end near the top of the trough.  The mysterious draining stopped.

One of the last things is that I needed a cover for the well.  I got a strong thick piece of plywood and cut a round lid with a notch for the hydrant to come through.  But how to fasten it to the casing?  Then my uncle Curt suggested attaching a piece of Styrofoam to the lid.  The Styrofoam fits inside the casing preventing movement by the lid.  While the pump is almost 6 feet below the ground and should generally be protected from the cold temperatures, the Styrofoam provides extra insulation to the well and pump from the cold.

To get the Styrofoam I bought a damaged piece of 4' by 8' insulation from Home Depot.  They gave me 70% off the price because it was damaged so I got the piece for around $5 instead of around $25.  The only sizes of insulation sold was 4' by 8' or 4' by 2'.  I needed a 3 ft diameter piece.

The last things to do was to chisel a groove in the top of the concrete to lay the electric cords.  This way the lid lies flat on the casing all around. I also added a light bulb.  Not for light.  For heat.  An old fashioned light bulb generates plenty of heat and that should be more than enough in case I need extra heat against very cold temperatures.

Below...condition of the well before the final push to complete it.  Once I got the pump and pipes done, Wyatt came over with his tractor and lifted the final concrete ring into place.  Poor Daisy... she doesn't have that ring to lay inside of anymore. It was one of her favorite places to lay.

Start of the final push.

The finished product.

Of course Daisy had to check it out. While she could stand on the ground to reach the water in a full water trough, it is easier for her to drink from the trough.

Cattle hide 'n seek

The day I got home from Washington State I let the cattle into the south pasture. Even if the photo and video doesn't show it, the south pasture has more green grass that the hayfield, especially down near the river.  Dan still hasn't made a decision on whether he will keep the three cows or sell them to me.  With the green grass it will be harder to get his cattle to the corral if he decides to keep them.

Here is short video of the cattle coming through the gate. The last cow was a little excited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adMWMMCa_RI&feature=youtu.be


Today I noticed one cow in the middle pasture.  *sigh*   When I went out to the pasture I counted the herd.  Five were missing.  Four calves and one cow.  I walked the south pasture.  Nothing.  I walked the middle pasture.  Nothing.  I got my boots and walked through the pastures again on the way to the island.  Nothing.  On the island.  Nothing.  I walked through my neighbor's pasture and his forest.  Nothing.

When I came back to my south pasture the cattle were there.  What?!  Where they were hiding, I don't know.

I patched the fence where the one cow got through and then herded her back into the south pasture as the herd was now away from the gate.  The cow stood and watched me open the gate.  She didn't want to be herded and would back up or hop sideways each time I herded her.  She bellowed.  The rest of the cattle took notice and came running over.  I picked up the pace and got the cow through the gate before the herd reached the gate.

*whew*  No wonder it takes me so long to get anything else done.  Over the past two days I only got two hours of work done on the north barn feeder rebuild. 

Pickup breakdown

Friday was the last beautiful weather day forecast for a while so I went on a hike to another lookout with Joyce and Kendra.  I drove.  After the eight mile hike, when we got back to my pickup it wouldn't start.

The pickup would turn over but would not start.  It was like it wasn't getting any fuel.  The fuel tank was a quarter full.  Or maybe something jarred loose on the rough and washboard North Fork Road that stopped working when I shut off the pickup.


We were way up the North Fork Road near Polebridge, Montana.  Then off on Forest Service Road 376 'Hay Creek'.  Then at the dead end of a side road: Moran Basin Forest Service Road 5241. We were six to seven miles from the North Fork Road which was over 30 miles to the next town, Columbia Falls.  The electricity-free community of Polebridge is mostly only the Polebridge Mercantile and the Northern Lights Saloon and Cafe.

We were way out in the middle of nowhere on a late Friday afternoon.  Cell service?  Forget it.  Hopes of another vehicle driving by?  Forget it.

Our choices were mostly:

1. Walk almost seven miles to the North Fork Road where an occasional car would drive by,
2. Spend the night and wait to be rescued (we still had a little food left),
3. Be bear food.

Fortunately, I had turned around before shutting off the pickup.  The road was narrow at the dead end and I had to do a "Y" turn before finally getting turned around, something not possible with a dead pickup.

I didn't like our choices, and since the pickup was pointing downhill, I put the shifter into neutral and began to coast down the mountain. The pickup unfortunately is not a stick shift so I couldn't pop the clutch to start it.

I had the pickup's key turned on so the steering wheel would not lock.  No power steering or power brakes.  The narrow forest service road had a drop off on one side for a few miles.  It also had a few hairpin curves.  I had to use a lot of effort to safely steer and brake the pickup without losing momentum or going off the road.

After about three miles I reached the Hay Creek Road and turned on it.  It too mostly went downhill.

Often I had to ride the brakes to stop from going too fast as I could easily coast over 30 mph.  We had two instances where the road began to go uphill.  The first time I had plenty of momentum to get over the rise.  The second time was iffier.  We all held our breath that we would make it over the top.  I made plans to jump out and push while the pickup still rolled as once it stopped I wouldn't be able to push it uphill.  But we crested the hill at a little under 10 mph.

Once we came to the North Fork Road I pulled off to the side of the Hay Creek Road.  The North Fork Road was mostly level and I wouldn't get far with the momentum I had.  Certainly not the 30 plus miles back to the next town, Columbia Falls.

There are not many houses along the North Fork Road but there was one across the road.

No one home.

But as I walked back to the pickup a couple in an older Ford Bronco stopped.  No cell service here.  She got out and stayed with Joyce and Kendra while I rode with him to the pay phone in Polebridge.   Why didn't I ride with both of them?  There was no room in their backseat as it was filled with guns.  I didn't have change for the pay phone so she gave me $1.50 in quarters.

The pay phone at the "Merc" in Polebridge didn't work.  The woman behind the pastry counter let me use her phone.  Note: be sure to stop in at the Merc and have a roll or donut or other pastry as they are delicious!

I couldn't reach Wyatt so I called Kendra's daughter who said she would come and get us.

While we waited over an hour for Corrine to arrive, the home owner across the road came home.  He and I looked over my pickup some more but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start.  He said there was no problem leaving my pickup overnight there as no one would touch it, and he would keep an eye on it for me.

To pass time Joyce, Kendra, and I played the "I went on a vacation and..." memory game.  Kendra won.

Finally Corrine arrived.  She had three young kids in the middle seats of her mini-van.  Joyce and I crawled in the back seats.  Two of the kids were boys aged 5 and 8.  They were typical boys and Joyce and I were 'entertained' by their wrestling and minor fighting to test who was stronger.  Typical boy behavior.

It was well past dark by the time we got to my house and Joyce's and Kendra's cars.   My pickup would wait until Saturday.


Wyatt must be away this weekend as he wasn't home Friday night or Saturday morning through noon.  I called Dan and he said he would go with me to my pickup and would tow it if necessary.   I had checked the pickup's owner's manual and found that, even though it was an automatic, it could be safely towed.  As a four wheel drive I could shift the transfer case to neutral to allow it to be towed without damaging the transmission.

*whew!*  Good, as having a tow truck come so far up the North Fork Road would be expensive.  I don't have Triple A.

Saturday afternoon after finishing up some fence work Dan drove over.

My vehicle still wouldn't start and again neither of us could figure out why.  So I connected the tow strap and we were off.

It took almost two hours to get my pickup home.  The North Fork Road is mostly gravel and and very washboard.  It began to rain and my windshield got muddy.  The wipers slowly worked but the washer did not.  Whenever a vehicle came up behind us I turned the flashers on.  Closer to Columbia Falls we had a long stretch before the vehicle behind us could pass.  The flashers were hard on the battery. It took a little while to regain power for my windshield wipers.  By the time we got through Columbia Falls the battery power was gone.  The wipers didn't work nor did the flashers.  Through the wet windshield I could still see Dan's pickup's taillights and some of the florescent yellow tow strap.

We mostly took back roads.  One time we had to stop for a herd of geese to slowly waddle across the road.

But we made it home safely.

My pickup may not run but it is reassuring to have it sit in my yard and not 50 miles away in the forest and mountains.

Never a dull moment.

Return home

Wen I got home from my Washington trip Daisy was very happy to see me.  She met me at the door and wanted attention.  I had to sit on the front step and pet her for 15 to 20 minutes before I could go inside the house and go to bed.  Daisy, having been inside the house over five days wanted to go outside, but wanted attention from me more.  Her meow was hoarse.  She must have been lonely when I was gone and was calling for me.  Poor kitty.

My first day home Daisy spent a little time on her outside patrols, but mainly hung around me going almost everywhere I went.

Her nose is still healing.  I can see the puncture marks so the injury was not from bumping her nose.  It must itch as it is healing as she moved her head once so I could lightly scratch her nose when I was scratching around her neck and face.

The cattle were also happy to see me.  Seeing me meant more apples.  I gave them several plastic bags full of apples and naturally they wanted more. It appears they all behaved when I was gone. And no reports of that little calf getting out in the neighbor's field.

I found a laundry basket of apples on my front step.  All day I asked people if they left the apples for my cattle.  Nope.  The next morning I talked with Dan and learned he left them.  He said when he dropped the apples off he gave the cattle some apples, and while he remembered me telling him the cattle loved apples, he was amazed at how much they liked the apples.  The herd came thundering over when he came to the fence with apples.  So many stuck their head through the fence to get more apples he was afraid the fence would break.  So he tossed the apples over the fence behind the cattle so they would stop crowding the fence.


Once I got my sleep it was this and that to get back into the groove of things.  By evening I finally began the tear down for a rebuild of the north side barn feeder.  That is when I took these sunset photos, and then the rising  full (blood) moon photo.