Fifth and sixth tree stumps removed in 2022

Back during the first week of August I burnt the last tree stumps I had dug around this past Spring.  Due to our wet Spring, and then my other projects, I didn't get around to burning these tree stumps earlier.  But my irrigation lines were getting closer and I wanted the stumps gone before they got soaked.

Initially when I started digging I thought this would be only one tree stump.  But as I dug I followed a side root and then discovered another big tree stump not far away.  This second tree stump was just under the ground and not visible above ground.  Both stumps were solid.  When I later used a chainsaw against the tree stumps I had dug that Spring, I could only cut some side parts of these stumps.  The main stumps were too hard to chainsaw.

I expected this would be another multiple evenings of bonfires to completely get rid of these stumps.  But one bonfire and the next day the stumps were mostly gone.  The ashes smoldered/burnt another day and then the stumps were gone.

I had dug around this stump.  But you can see the cattle stepped on the ground next to the stump and pushed it down to the stump.  I had to re-dig the ground away from the stump.

Stumps were dug.  Second photo shows what I removed with the chainsaw.

A full moon was out.

Now time for the bonfire.  I didn't place a lot of branches on the stumps for the bonfire, but the branches burnt fast and high initially.

Now you can see the burning stumps.

This shows how close the two stumps were to each other.

With these stumps gone, less stumps to harrow around next year.  I have a small number of stumps left in the pastures.  I planned to leave the rest for the cattle to rub against, and not burn any more stumps.   But wait... what could possibly happen on another day?

Hot air balloon

Tuesday evening, as I was cleaning the soot out of the wood stove's pipe and chimney, I saw a hot air balloon.  Then it looked like it was going to land near my irrigation shed.  I went and got my camera.  When I got back outside the balloon started to rise again.   It went higher and moved on.  After a short time it landed on the ridge NW of my ranch.

Planes fly this way when they land.  But I saw no planes that would cause the hot air balloon to go low and then later land.

Rising again.

In the last photo some geese flew in that direction.

Weaning has started

This afternoon Donna helped me get the calves into the corral.  Time to start weaning most of the calves.  I decided this year to sell the calves at auction on October 6 instead of waiting to the end of October.  The two calves born in late June and July are too small to sell this year.  I will keep them and sell them in the Spring when they are bigger.  I plan to keep Maria's heifer born mid-June.  I am not weaning Maria's calf yet as she is still small.  I plan to sell Maria and Speckles in two or three weeks and I will then wean Maria's calf.

Calves to be weaned.

Maria and her calf.

Cows outside the corral mooing for their calves.

While this is a heifer, this is the only heifer I won't keep as a replacement heifer even though she looks nice.  That is because she is Speckle's calf.  Speckle had a vaginal prolapse this Spring before having this calf.  I don't want to risk that the calf inherited this trait.

Pocket gophers and fruit tree area grass mowed

For now I am done trapping pocket gophers this year.  I have trapped and removed the pocket gophers from the hayfield and all the pastures.  I say "for now" because most likely a few more pocket gophers will move in from the neighbor's fields before the snow comes.  I trapped 98 pocket gophers.  More than average.  I'm glad to be done as I spent twice a day (morning and evening) checking the traps.

Last year I didn't mow the fruit tree area.  I let it be at the level the cattle ate the grass down to.  Today I finished mowing the fruit tree area. It took longer than expected - a few days - as before mowing I had to use a rake to upturn the cattle manure (and I still missed lots of them as I found more when mowing).  Before mowing I also trimmed some dead branches from the buffalo berry trees.

Here is an old photo of the buffalo berry trees from a few years ago.

Apricot tree that has not turned color yet, and the buffaloberry trees.

Then I decided to trim some branches from the box elder tree growing under the power lines.  Better now when all I need is a clipper and not a saw to remove the branches.  I gave the branches to the cattle as they like to eat box elder tree leaves.  They ate them all.

The tree is split low on the trunk.  I should remove the right half, but it provides shade.  So I leave it.

After the cattle had left this area I removed the fencing from around the smaller trees.  I discovered now that many of their leaves had been eaten.  I guess the deer, when not finding any apples this year, decided to eat some fruit tree leaves they could reach.  Dang.

The mowed fruit tree area.

Now on to other projects.

Lawn mowed, weed whacking, tree trimming, rain

I finished mowing the yard a few days ago.  My first and only lawn mowing of the year.  Otherwise the cattle had eaten the grass down.

Before and after.

I also mowed the ditch on each side of the driveway and around my mailbox on the other side of the road.  I would like to mow the grass in the fruit tree area.  I only had time to make one pass around that area.

Yesterday, to "pay" back my neighbor Curtis for fixing a few of my irrigation sprinklers, I used his weed whacker to trim the grass and weeds in parts of his yard.  He has stuff sitting around some edges of his property and a lawn mower can't be used.  I got two thirds of the area whacked.  I ran out of the weed whacker twine.  Curtis put more twine in the whacker.  We had to figure it out as he never had to replace the twine in this whacker before.  Then the new twine was positioned wrong and we had to make an adjustment.   Then when one wants more twine come out of the whacker one bumps the button/knob of the whacker on the ground as the whacker is turning.  Other times it worked.  This time the bottom of the whacker fell off.  The problem is there is a spring inside and that also came out.  And of the two small metal holes the twine comes out of, one is missing.  I used Curtis's metal magnet to look for the spring.  However, this being me lately, things go missing and can't be found.  I searched and searched the area.  I guess that since this came apart as the whacker was turning, who knows how far the spring was tossed.  That ended my whacking until Curtis can fix his whacker.

Also yesterday I trimmed a few more branches off the box elder tree I had recently trimmed.  I keep looking up at the trees.  I noticed a branch that dying at the end. I could fully extend a ladder against a lower branch and then climb up to saw off the dying branch.  Then I saw another branch that did not look like it was dying, but did not look robust.  I decided to cut the branch now instead of next year.  To reach this branch I had to put the ladder in the pickup bed and bungie cord it to hold it secure.  Then I could climb up with my chainsaw to cut this branch.

Before and after.

The chain sawed branch.

A neighbor/business down the road has a telescopic forklift.  He was outside a few days ago and I stopped and asked him about using his lift for me to reach the upper parts of my tree. 

A photo of a similar looking machine.

He wasn't interested in doing so.  Partly due to insurance reasons and partly because he only has the forks to stand on, and no box or bucket that would be safer to stand on when up so high off the ground.  I understand.  But, dang, I would like to trim my tree's upper branches.

Today was a day to sleep longer.  It started to rain overnight and rained all day today.  We needed the rain.  We got over seven tenths of an inch of rain and that is more than we got the past few months in total.  Rain should be gone tomorrow.  Rascal was happy today as I slept in bed longer and then he had my lap to lay on most of the day, and is laying there now as I write this.

Sunglasses found

I've started mowing my yard a few days ago.  The first and only time this year.  So I guess I will be contributing to climate change and my near-zero carbon footprint will rise a little bit.

Before starting the mowing I had move / put away some stuff.  I also had to get the rake out and flip up the cattle manure that seems stuck to the ground across the yard.  And the manure seems to be harder and more attached to the ground this year than other years.

I also decided to pull some grass around some areas before instead after mowing in areas the mower has trouble reaching.  When pulling some grass I also felt something hard.  It turns out it was my missing sunglasses.  It was near a fence post near my cattle's water trough.  When looking for my missing sunglasses earlier, I had looked around this area.  I must have looked more at the other fence post than this one.  And the tall grass easily hid the sunglasses.

I alot of the yard mowed.  I still have part of the front yard left to mow.  I should finish that tomorrow.

More tree trimming, and more

I'm trying to move on to other projects.  However I looked up at the trees I had been trimming and saw if I placed the ladder in a different spot and fully extended it I would be able to get higher and to a few more dead or dying branches.  So I did.  I trimmed a few more branches for an hour this afternoon.

Yesterday I fixed my garage door again.  A month or so ago the door came off the left rail when a board broke and the wheel came out of the rail.  I fixed it back then with a partial new board and some bolts.  Earlier this week the other part of the board cracked and the wheel came out of the rail again.  This time I added some metal pieces over the board.   Hopefully this will be the final fix.

Not sure if I had mentioned, but my pickup was fixed last Friday. The starter module had gone bad and quit working.  A new starter module was added.

I need to mow the yard grass.  I spent time today splitting a few logs and picking up some boards in the backyard to prepare it for the mowing.

Still gathering fallen apples for the cattle.  Yesterday I added another neighbor's tree to the mix.

Irrigation shed vent

The end of August I had stacked the irrigation pipes. It took three days - one day for each line of sprinklers - to gather the sprinkler pipes and stack them.  Also in the stack are the mainline pipes that go out in the hayfield.

Then I finished the work on the vent for the irrigation shed roof.  Since the pump had trouble operating when it was over 90 degrees outside, I figured putting a vent in roof would help cool off the interior of the irrigation shed.  While still irrigating I cut a hole in the roof.  Since no rain was in the forecast I didn't put the vent over the hole.  I figured having an open hole would let more heat escape than if the vent was in place.  Still, even with the hole, the irrigation pump would turn off when it got so hot outside.

I've now placed the vent on the roof.