Beavers and muskrats

Quick post for my blog as I have to get up early tomorrow. Very early! I am going hiking and the group leaves at 7 am as we are going to the east side of Glaicer Park over to Iceberg Lake. 7 am! Iceberg Lake... brrr... I am glad our temperatures have been in the upper 80s F - almost record high temperatures.

I checked the beaver trap this morning. No beaver, but we caught a muskrat. The beavers didn't close the breach in the dam. The beavers must be gathering big logs to really plug that breach. They knawed through a nearby tall aspen tree. The beavers didn't calculate quite correct as the tree fell into another tree and not between two trees. The tree was knawed a foot or more above the ground. I guess beavers stand to do their knawing.

I pulled the trap out of the water. The springs are so strong I couldn't open it to remove the muskrat, must less reset the trap. Daryl didn't leave his tool to squeeze the springs.

As the breach wasn't closed, the water level wasn't overflowing the creek banks and I could get to the edge of the creek. So I opened the breach more. In the daylight I could see to deepen the breach and also remove dirt and debris in front of the breach. I tried to make the breach so the beaver will swim through the trap and not just float branches against it. Also my goal of enlarging the breach was so that in the evening the creek wouldn't be overflowing the banks as the beavers would need more time to fix the breach.

Afterwards I could hear sounds and then see ripples from where some animal or fish broke the surface. This occured upstream and downstream from the dam. I never saw what did this.

Tonight Daryl reset the trap. During the day the beavers did not do anything to seal the breach. They must need more time to procur logs.

Days earlier the beavers had fell a tree over the creek upstream of the dam, a hundred or so feet. They have been working on knawing the section over the creek. Darly decided to remove this source of wood, though I felt until we catch the beavers they will just move to another live tree. We hooked a chain to the tree and used his pickup to pull it across the creek.

Another trap Darly had set on a beaver path near the dam was now exposed as the water level is lower. We decided to move this trap to the fresh path between the creek and the newly knawed tree. Maybe this will get those beavers.

Neighbors, growth, fence, and beaver

36 miles. That is the amount I rode today. In the early afternoon I put on some miles running errands. In the evening I rode downtown to attend the latest Growth Policy comment meeting.

Neighbors

After running errands I stopped on the way home to chat with Bob and Jan. Their daughter-in-law, Stacie, was there with her almost newborn daughter, Raimey. Stacie was sitting on the couch chatting to Bob when I came up the stairs. I peeked around to see Raimey, leaned in and - opps! - Raimey was feeding.

Then I visited my neighbor with the apple trees. I hadn't gotten the fallen apples yesterday and today I had to make two trips to carry the apples home on my bicycle.

Growth Policy

I hadn't eaten since breakfast and decided I needed something to eat. I ended up being almost an hour late for the 6 pm growth policy meeting. The meeting lasted to 7:30 pm so I only heard the last half hour.

This meeting was for public comment on the planning staff's recommendations regarding the earlier public comments. By the time I got there people were rehashing old arguments about the growth policy document. Linda told me that many comments from the first hour were actually about the planning staff's recommendations.

Most comments made when I was there were to delay the document as 'several months over a busy summer was too short to review the document'. Of course I've heard a similar argument other times of the year for Planning Board agenda items. Linda swam against the tide again and defended the document and Jeff, the Planning Directory. I didn't speak at the meeting.

The poor planning director. His face was red at the meeting. I am not sure why. Whether he was mad, or upset in another way. Or maybe he had too much sun over the Labor Day weekend.

Fence

I actually did a little work today as I straightened the fence along part of the river in the middle pasture. Bank erosion from this year's peak streamflow caused a number of posts to lean or get exposed and hang suspended by the barb wire. My wrist is well enough that I was able to use a sledgehammer to pound the posts straight or in a new location. The fence now seems good enough to last till next year's high water.

I also pounded in a few boards around a few trees starting out. This is to protect them as the cattle love eating willow trees. These 'newby' trees are fallen willow branches I stuck in the moist ground near the river. A few branches sprouted roots and leaves.

Beaver trap

Daryl and I checked the beaver trap late this evening. The dam was rebuilt, although not 100%. The trap was sprung, and after Daryl got it out of the rebuilt dam, we found it to be empty. We made a breach again and reset the trap. By now it was dark and we worked by flashlight and his pickup's rear bed light. It was too dark to see if the trap by the trail on the other side of the creek was sprung. You know summer is ending when it gets dark before 9 pm.

Beavers, muskrats, and a shrew

This afternoon I wandered over to check the beaver trap and the creek. The beaver dam was repaired and the trap was not triggered. The trap had some grass and sticks in and around it but it was still set. I got a stick, and from the shore - trying not to get my feet wet or fall in - I poked and pushed and pulled and opened a spot in the dam next to the trap. That way when Daryl comes to move the trap the water will be lower.

This evening while I watered my garden Daryl and his wife came to check the beaver traps. The opening I had made was already repaired with mud, sticks, and grass. He got into the creek and re-opened the spot I had made earlier. Then, standing against the current, he pulled stuff away from the dam and away from and out of the trap. The trap got covered in material and went off. So much stuff was now clogging it the closing of the trap was slow.

Daryl handed the trap to me and I worked at removing the grass, mud, and sticks from the trap and its springs. Daryl enlarged the breach in the dam.

After we reset the trap I suggested he place it just upstream of the dam and not on the dam. I wanted to make it so that the beaver would have to go through the trap to reach the dam. I also suggested he place material on the dam to have the opening only be as large as the trap. We'll see if this works.

He checked the second trap that was in front of the path between the creek and the trees. Nothing. The sticks he had placed near and around the trap to camouflage it were gone. Material used by the beavers to repair the dam. Then Daryl noticed that the hooks holding the two springs tight were still set even though he had set the key/tine trigger. No wonder the trap never caught anything.

Daryl mentioned he has caught three muskrats now. It appears the beavers are getting the muskrats to check things out. Pssst! Why don't you check out that square metal object in the creek?

Daryl, his wife, and I stood around chatting until we heard a beaver tail slap the water. I was twilight so we couldn't see anything in the water. We stopped talking to stand and watch. Nothing. Finally we left so the beavers would come to check things out. Tomorrow...? We'll see!

Tonight I caught what appears to be a shrew in my mousetrap. It is small, grey with a white underbelly. Kinda cute. It had almost licked all the peanut butter off my trap. Fortunately I have chuncky peanut butter and I jam a peanut chunk inside the curl of the trigger. That's what got the shrew as the rest of the trigger had been licked clean.

I took the shrew out to dispose of in the northeast pasture. In the dark I could see the black shapes of my cattle as they sat in the hayfield near the patio and the house. Such happy cattle.

Labor Day miscellaneous

Holsteins

The two Holsteins are gone. Dan was available Sunday morning to come get them. Since they are jail breakers I didn't want to try to keep them in the corral for any extended period of time. Dan came over in less than an hour.

Earlier the cattle were in the south hayfield and starting to head to the river for a drink of water then take their siesta. I went to the hayfield before all of them had left and lured them with some loaves of bread. It worked so well I had the whole herd coming at me. I gave up on walking backwards rapidly and turned to jog while watching my back that they didn't run me over. Some cattle passed me but most followed me. I led them into the corral as I had already opened the gate. Once the two Holsteins were in the corral I shut the gate. I only had 5 others in the corral with them. I gave all of them (in and outside of the corral) apples as a reward. I didn't want them to think I played a dirty trick on them.

I hadn't separated the Holsteins into the north corral but that didn't matter. By the time Dan arrived they had jumped the fence into the north corral and the remaining five were still in the south corral. The rest of the herd were along the fence in the hayfield.

The two Holsteins made things even easier as they were just entering the loading corral as Dan pulled up. Now why wouldn't you guys act so nice this summer for me?

The rest of the herd watched and bellowed as the Holsteins entered the stock trailer. "Noooo! Don't do it! Don't go in there! They'll take you away!"

I showed Dan where the Holsteins had jumped the chain link fence last week. He plans to keep them in his tall corral for now. He is amazed at how large these two have gotten this summer here at my place. He doesn't get many Holsteins but feels these two are the best ones he has ever had.

Beavers

As of yesterday my neighbor hadn't caught his beaver. A muskrat, and not a beaver, was caught in the trap. The dam had been rebuilt as good as new over night. He had breached the dam again and we reset the trap. He placed tje trap in the water in the breach. I didn't wade into the stream. The creek's channel is narrow; almost narrow enough one could jump over it. But it is deep and has a strong current. I was surprised as this creek meanders above and below ground.

Daryl also put a second trap at the water's edge where a trail exists for the beaver to get the new branches and young trees for the dam. I hadn't a chance to check to see if he got any beavers today.

Apples

I spoke with another neighbor about getting their fallen apples for my cattle. They were very glad I would pick them up as their half dozen trees need pruning and are fully loaded with apples.

They are also close friends with one of our county commissioners, Mr. Hall. I filled them in on the recent subdivision he approved. I also filled them in on things he said and did at other commissioner meetings I have attended. They still let me have the apples.

Labor Day picnic

A local campground held a Labor Day picnic with free food, pop, beer, and live music. Linda had told me about it. I had a couple of burgers, potato salad, coleslaw, cookies, and pop as I am not a beer drinker.

I thought I had seen Linda there but by the time I finished speaking with an elderly Democratic candidate for the Montana House of Representatives Linda had disappeared - if indeed she really was there in the first place.

The candidate had sheets of papers where you could write issues you want him to tackle if he gets elected. I am not sure if he is running in my district but I wrote in a request for a state bicycle advisory board for Montana similar to what they have in Minnesota, and on which my good friend Charlie is serving. I hadn't applied for that position in MN as I was going to move here to Montana.

The candidate was familiar with bicycling issues and we both knew Darla, whom I had met at a growth policy education meeting a few months ago. I am slowly getting integrated in the social and political network out here. It is different than in Minnesota where I never really integrated into the community even though I lived there for 18 years. IBM was its own subcommunity. Besides the city and county seemed to be run well.

Not many people where at the picnic when I was there mid afternoon. Then again, 2 pm is not exactly lunch time for most people. Me...? Yes. The picnic was held on green grass in the shade of tall trees near a creek. I think the same creek as where my neighbor is having beaver problems.

The picnic had live music. The musicians were a middle aged man on keyboards and another mid aged man on guitar. They mainly played country music songs popular between 1985 and the mid 1990s. That was unusual as these type of acts usually play the usual rock-and-rock oldies from the 50s and 60s. Later someone requested some rock songs and they switched to - you guessed it - pop songs from the 50s and 60s. Surprisingly the musicians were pretty good. The pop songs they played were simple, but they did very good renditions of the country songs which were more difficult to play.

After leaving the picnic I rode my bicycle through the campground. Man, motorhomes these days sure are fancy! I can see why people sell their homes and live and travel in these motorhomes.

Cattle

After I returned to the yard after enhancing a fence gate in the pasture the cattle saw me. They had just meandered into the hayfield after spending the day down by the river. They all stampeded over and stood at the fence begging for apples. I gave them lots of apples tonight but they still wanted more.

Jam

I made another batch of huckleberry jam this evening. I need to finish making the huckleberry jam as the berries are getting old and soft. There is only so long that they can last in the refridgerator. A few nights ago I had returned the sugar-free pectin I had bought at Walmart a few weeks ago. With no-to-little sugar the jam's taste is more dependent on the berry. I decided the age of the berries made it too risky to make without sugar. The "add sugar" batches of jam I recently made have come out well so I wanted to stick with this type of pectin.

Garden, apples, beavers and bears

No frost overnight as low was in mid 30s F. No freezing predicted for the next week so I put the garden coverings away. I may be dumb for believing the weather forecasters... we'll see.

3 more pocket gophers caught for a total of 251 for the year. I almost got the middle pasture cleared of the pocket gophers. ....ya, right!

Half the herd was still in the hayfield around the house this morning. Unusual. The rest were in their typical siesta spot. Some of the cattle by the house were mooing at me to give them some treats. Didn't you get your fill last night? Oh yeah, I got home after dark and didn't give you your treats. I gave them some apples.

This afternoon a few cattle bellowed briefly down by the river as I checked traps. I looked and seen some were at the far end of the island. What's up with you guys? Don't go and be adventurous today!

Tonight the cattle almost came through the fence in the front yard as they fought for apples. The top fence board started to come out of one post. I leaned against it then moved down the fence to feed more apples.

I found it was the magpies that snitched the bread the other morning. I caught them trying it again this afternoon. They also were stealing apples I have on hand for the cattle.

I pulled the pea plants and some of the green bean plants. Then I took down and rolled up the fencing I had for the pea plants to climb. I picked a container of strawberries. I had to fight off the yellowjackets to do this. Lots of them were swarming around the ripe strawberries. I am amazed I still am getting strawberries considering I neglected the plants all summer.

This evening I seen my neighbor, Daryl, and his wife across the road out in the creek. I went over to find they were clearing the culvert of the dam the beavers made. While they did this I went down stream to check for more dams. I didn't see any but I couldn't completely check as the water was outside the narrow creek channel. In the tall grass I didn't notice the water and got my shoes and socks soaked.

After they cleared the culvert we turned our attention to a new dam (one of four total) a short distance up the creek from the culvert. With this new dam the water level is now even higher into their yard. Daryl has removed beaver dams before and has a large metal 3-prong hook. He tossed on the dam and his wife drove the pickup and pulled it. The hook would pull a small part of the dam away. The dam is well constructed so it took three or four times before the dam was breached enough to make a difference. He wanted the dam breached to get the beaver's attention. He moved one of his conibears traps to near the dam. The previous trap location was on a beaver path which they apparently abandoned.

His trap is much larger than my conibear traps I use on gophers. At least four times as large. In addition it has two springs, one on each side, to squeeze the trap shut. Due to the size one needs a tool to set the trap. Daryl said that even with the tool it still takes two people to squeeze the springs and set the trap.

Daryl has seen three large beavers the other night. He also said when he hired a trapper earlier, and they were checking the location, they found tracks that the trapper claimed were bobcat tracks. My other neighbors, Bob and Jan, have seen a mountain lion in the past.

We talked bear. Daryl had something in his pickup bed and one morning found black fur on the side of his pickup bed and one tire was punctured. He guesses the bear tried to climb into the pickup bed. He had spoken to a neighbor down the road to the north and they claimed their 11 year daughter almost came face-to-face with a bear one day. And I found what I think is bear scat down by my river last year. So the bears do make their way around the valley.

Well shed, rain, and freezing

Thursday was the day I had to put the one side of my well's shed back together and reinstall the shed's door.

The first order of business to replace a couple of thin sheets of metal that lay over the boards covering the well where the boards had a gap (opening) around the pump. The water that had rotted the boards had rusted the previous metal sheets.

Then I drilled a hole in the wall of the shed to permanently place the small hose that handled the excess water from the pump. No sense fixing the boards and metal to have the same problem occur a few years down the road by leaving the hose end on the boards over the well.

I drilled the hole near the bottom of the shed. As the dirt is partly way up the outside shed wall I dug down in the ground to place the hose. Hopefully far enough below ground the hose and water doesn't freeze. Even so, I dug a small hole around the hose's end, then placed boards around the hose creating a small box around it. Room to hold excess water until it is absorbed into the ground? I hope so.

Then before I was about to put the one side of the shed back on it started to rain. Really...? Rain was not in the forecast. Then it began to rain harder and the wind blew stronger. I ran to the house. The rain was coming down very heavy and mixed with heavy sleet. The sleet accumulated against some of the house windows. The fiberglass panels over the entryway was loaded with the sleet which slid off the panels like slush from a cup. The temperature dropped to the upper 30s F and I ended up with almost a third of an inch of rain.

I had to wait for the rain to end, the sleet to melt (it took hours to melt in some spots away from the shed) , the water to sink into the ground, and it dry somewhat before working on my shed again. I was able to close the opening and re-install the shed door again before dark. Success! Even if it meant my sore wrist was very sore by the time I finished. Now my well shouldn't freeze if the weather forecast of freezing temperature overnight was correct. After the rain ended the temperature had recovered to the mid 40s F. It wasn't far to drop to the freezing mark.

Who would have thought that a few days ago our high temperature was 90 F?! This evening I seen smoke coming out of a few fireplaces.

My garden needed protection and I placed plastic sheets, tarps, and blankets over my tomatoes (still green!), bell pepper, pumpkin, muskmelon and watermelon plants. I have zucchini coming out of my ears so I didn't look for more blankets to cover those plants. Besides, unfurling and draping the coverings made my wrist even more sore. And it was dark by now. With the sun gone the temperature was dropping.

Before it had gotten dark, looking over my pasture I could see a thick fog of white rising from the river. A rare sight.

Overnight the temperature dropped just below freezing. Cars that drove by on the road showed their exhaust. Thick frost was here and there on the grass and hayfield. It was good I covered my garden. Or so I think. I went hiking with the group today and the temperature was still below freezing when I left. We got back after dark tonight so I never got a look to see how my garden fared. Tonight the forecast is for a freezing low temperature again. Tomorrow I'll see how my garden fared.

Gun shots and the well cover

When I first went outside this morning I heard a gunshot. Was it from my pasture? I grabbed my binoculars and went to the corral. No sense going out in my pasture if someone is shooting. I heard a few more gun shots but could not see who was shooting. The gun shots were very loud. They also sounded like they were from my north pasture else my northern neighbor, Mr. D.'s, pasture. Finally I seen him in his yard walking to his house. He was carrying a gun. I have no idea what he was shooting at as the gophers are not out anymore this year. He has a couple horses in his pasture so I doubt he was shooting there. Then again he seems to be an excellent shot, even having only one eye, so maybe he was shooting in his pasture.

The guy across the road trying to trap the beaver... he hasn't caught it yet. How do I know? The creek is rising noticeably each day and is out of its banks and now flooding his lower lawn.

I talked with Dan about the cattle and learned that the Missoula auction is up for sale. Man, if that place is sold and closes, the nearest livestock auctions are in Great Falls, else in Three Forks. They are on the other side of the mountains and a long way away.

I know I should rest my wrist but tomorrow night's forecast low temperature is now 32 F (freezing). I need to get the one side and the door back on my well's shed.

First I needed to replace half the boards over the well's concrete casing. The pump is lubricated with water and the excess water was sent down a short tube whose end lay on the boards over the well. Not a good thing as over the years some of the boards started to rot. Now is the time to replace 2 and a half boards before they fall into the well.

The problem is that the pump sits on two metal pieces that lay on top of the boards, one north/south, the other east west. I needed to lift one end of one metal piece to be able to slip the rotting boards out from underneath it. That meant using my hands as I could not get a jack underneath the metal nor get anything long to leverage it up. So much for resting my wrist. I set my recovery back a few days.

One board was especially rotted and I took care in removing it. The ends were nailed to boards that went around the well casing. The middle of the board was the part that rotted and was coming apart. I removed the nail on one end thinking the other end and nail would hold the board as I removed one half of it. Wrong. As I removed the one half the other half fell into the well. Argh!

I removed the other rotting boards then found a long wire to use to fish the board out of my well. I measured and found the water level is 8 1/2 feet down. That is not far down, but then the aquifer in my part of the Valley is close to the surface.

Still, 8 1/2 feet is far enough to make it a challenge to retrieve the floating board. To make it more difficult the well casing is only two feet wide and almost centered is a metal pipe in which the pump's pipes go into down into the well. Add in that only half the top was opened as I only removed half the boards. And I had to work around the pump and the electrical wires.

I had a barbless two-strand interwoven wire. I un-wove the end and spread the two wires apart and then bent them to make a "hook". The challenge was to get the wire and "hook" the right way under the board so I could pull it up and out. The board wanted to float behind the metal pipe and under the boards covering the well. Once I maneuvered the board to the other side of the well I experimented until I got the right size "hook" that fit under the board. With all the effort to get the hook the right size and in the right direction, I was surprised the wire held the board on my first try at pulling it up and out once I finally snagged it.

With the board out I turned my attention to retrieving the smaller pieces of wood floating in the well. The wire wouldn't work on these small pieces so I worked at finding a pail that would fit through the opening at the top. Using the pail and a long rope I fished out the smaller pieces of wood.

You know, if you want a pail to float on water the pail will tip and sink. When you want it to tip and sink the pail floats upright. I had to jiggle the rope to get the pail to tip. It was quite a few tries at working it so the water flowing into the pail also got some of the wood.

I found this was harder on my wrist that lifting the metal piece. I took the splint off my wrist as I couldn't easily pull up the pail and dump it with the splint on my wrist. Over and over I pulled up the pail of water so I could empty it outside the shed. The only position I could be in the shed meant I had to use my sore wrist to reach outside the shed to dump the water.

I needed three hands as I needed two hands to work the pail and one hand to move the light around so I could see down in the well.

Retrieving the floating wood was the most difficult and time consuming part of the whole project. Why did those boards have to fall in the well?!

I am left handed and my sore wrist is my left wrist. Sawing boards to the correct length and nailing them in place didn't help my wrist any.

But, the boards are replaced. Tomorrow I can close the side of the shed and put its door back on before it freezes. Then I will have time to cover my garden with blankets and tarps. Naturally many items are not ready to be harvested. Oh joy, Fall and covering the garden. It seems so soon.

Splint and wire

I decided to search for my old splint to use on my sore wrist. I had saved the splint I had for my broken arm 27 years ago. Yup, still have it. Never know when a splint can come in handy.

The problem with finding the splint was that it was still packed away with my stuff from Minnesota. Yes, I still haven't unpacked everything. Now if you are thinking "If you haven't unpacked it by now, you don't need it", my answer is "Then I wouldn't have my splint!"

The reason I wanted the splint was to stop me from lifting things and irritating my wrist. The problem was that my MN stuff was stored in a number of heavy boxes. Short term pain, long term gain I guess. Thankfully I didn't have to move too many boxes before I found the splint.

The splint seems to have helped. I found a little length of cloth and some tape and fastened the splint to my arm. While not wrapped up like a 'real' splint, it is enough to remind me not to lift stuff.

While my sore wrist is stopping me from doing some projects on my 'to-do' list, I still trapped pocket gophers and did some weed spraying.

I fed the cattle apples and bread as treats tonight. One bozo got his/her head under the barb wire strand I had placed on top of the hayfield / front yard fence where it dipped down in one area. When he/she pulled her head back his/her ears snagged the wire and tore it off the fence. *sigh* Another example of a temporary fix being more temporary than I expected. I tried to pull the wire back over to the front yard side of the fence but by now the cattle were in a frenzy to get more apples and everywhere I moved they rushed and crowded. I quit pulling the end of the wire back over the fence as I was afraid one of them would get hurt by the barb wire. It was best to leave so the cattle would quiet down and go back to grazing. Tomorrow I'll re-attach the wire when the cattle are taking their siesta in the south pasture.

Overdoing my wrist

While my sore wrist is healing I guess I should take it easy using my hand. But no, I feel better and am out overdoing it.

Yesterday I decided to run the lawn mower. I know.. I know... I seldom mow the lawn, instead letting the grass grow, and now I decide to mow it. I was tired of searching for fallen apples in the tall grass and decided to mow under the apple trees. Did I stop there? I decided to mow around the house, garden, garage, and clothesline. Since I had the middle part of the yard mowed I decided to mow the back part. Most of that grass was already dead and brown so mowing it wouldn't make it any browner. The only part of the yard I didn't mow was the front yard. The exception being the middle of the driveway as I don't care for the grass brushing against the bottom of my car.

The mowed lawn looks 'tidier' than before. I guess having the grass at a single height is the reason. I didn't mow the front lawn as we haven't had rain in a long time and the grass will turn brown after it has been mowed. I have enough to do to water my trees, shrubs, and garden that I don't need to add the lawn to the list.

My wrist was fine this morning after all that mowing so... I carried a thick sheet of plywood to the hay shed. Plus dug more holes to catch pocket gopher. Plus drug the long hose as I watered the newly planted shrubs along the north fence. Plus, whatever else. By the evening my wrist was sore. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

Then I went for a 16 mile bicycle ride. For the entire ride I rode with one arm as I rested my sore wrist behind my back. I ride so much that I can even ride "with one arm behind my back".

This morning I discovered that some animal had taken a couple loaves of the French bread I am saving for the cattle. They took the loafs from the pile on my front entry way. They ripped the paper and ate all the loaves. Only crumbs were left on my front step. Also a 5 gallon pail of water was tipped over. That has never happened before. I wonder if it was the new neighbor's dogs? Last night he let them run free after dark. Sure surprised me as I rode my bicycle when they came at me from out of the ditch next to my hayfield. They harassed me until I passed the neighbor's house.

I chatted with my neighbor across the road. I was right when I thought he was trying to trap a beaver in the creek that runs through his property. The previous efforts failed as the trapper only caught the beaver's tail, then a leg. The trapper switched to using a conibear trap and they are determined to get the beaver once and for all this time.

The Holsteins look like white-and-black giraffes when I see them among my cattle in the hayfield. I found where the Holsteins had gotten over the corral fence earlier this week. One section of the chain link fence was slightly bent down and out. Four feet high and they still jumped it. I guess this means getting giraffes is out of the question until I add to the corral fence's height. For now I've given up on separating the Holsteins into the corral for Dan to haul them away.

Study: tall people smarter

Here is an interesting paper. According to two British studies that tracked people born in 1958 and 1970, it showed that taller people are smarter.

It has long been recognized that taller adults hold jobs of higher status and, on average, earn more than other workers. A large number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain the association between height and earnings. In developed countries, researchers have emphasized factors such as self esteem, social dominance, and discrimination. In this paper, we offer a simpler explanation: On average, taller people earn more because they are smarter.

As early as age 3 — before schooling has had a chance to play a role — and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests. The correlation between height in childhood and adulthood is approximately 0.7 for both men and women, so that tall children are much more likely to become tall adults. As adults, taller individuals are more likely to select into higher paying occupations that require more advanced verbal and numerical skills and greater intelligence, for which they earn handsome returns.

Using four data sets from the US and the UK, we find that the height premium in adult earnings can be explained by childhood scores on cognitive tests. Furthermore, we show that taller adults select into occupations that have higher cognitive skill requirements and lower physical skill demands.

For details, here is a link to the paper.

Hmmm... I am 6 ft and left handed. According to recent studies I should be doing well. Then what am I doing being a rancher?

Left handed people

I am left handed. I read an interesting recent study.

Our findings are quite contrary to expectations. We do not find any evidence that left-handed individuals earn less, as might be suggested by the literature which generally finds that left-handed people tend to suffer more from factors that would reduce labor productivity. On the contrary, we find that left-handed individuals with higher levels of education have higher earnings than right-handed-individuals. More specifically, among the college-educated men in our sample, those who report being lefthanded earn 15 percent more than those who report being right-handed. The size of this effect is economically and statistically significant. Interestingly, this wage differential is found for males but not for females.

On the negative side:

Numerous studies have shown that left-handed individuals have different health outcomes. For example, some studies find they have a higher rate of high blood pressure and irritable bowel syndrome but a lower rate of arthritis and ulcer. There is no convincing evidence that left-handedness was correlated with immune disorders but did find a positive correlation with schizophrenia.

Evidence as to the relationship between accident rates and handedness may be even more mixed. Higher accident rates for the left-handed are found in some studies, but not in others. However, a recent meta-analysis supports the positive correlation between handedness and accident rates.

A meta-analysis found a “small but reliable increase” of dyslexia among nonright-handed individuals.

Finally,

Gifted youth were more than twice as likely to be left-handed than those in a control group. “Non-righthanded populations are over-represented in all populations with high talent”.

It seems as if us left handed people are more likely to be either smarter or crazier than the average person. I think it is all due to us having to use sissors made for right handed people. Man, when I got my first pair of left handed sissors, life improved greatly.

For more on the paper about "Handedness and Earnings", click here.

Two Holsteins, a bird and a break

*argh!* Those Holsteins are driving me crazy!

Late Tuesday evening I decided to get them into the corral area around the barn. All the cattle were in the hayfield along the fence close to the gate between the two areas. They wanted apples. I took a bag of apples and tossed them on the ground. The herd went into a frenzy.

The two Holsteins stood back near the gate and watched. Perfect. I ran over and opened the gate and offered them one of the few apples I had left. They stood there and looked at me.

"Come on! I have an apple for you!"

Nothing. "Duh..."

I walked out into the hayfield closer to them and they took a step back.

"Here's an apple for you."

By now the herd had gobbled up all the apples on the ground and came for me. I retreated back behind the gate and closed it. *argh!*

I ran over to get another bag of apples. I again spread them on the ground and again the herd went after them. This time the Holsteins were closer to the action and further from the gate. Again I went into the hayfield; again the herd gobbled up the apples; and again came for me. *argh!*

I decided to wait till the herd got bored and started to drift off leaving me with less cattle to deal with. Didn't happen. They stood at the fence begging. Others milled around. Others started pushing other cattle as if to say, "Don't crowd me!"

The Holsteins stood side by side 10 feet away from the herd and watched. They didn't seem to be a part of the herd.

I went through the gate and tried to lead the herd away from the gate. Not a good idea. The cattle were all around as quite a number associate me with feeding them treats and they all were trying to get next to me. I had to push some away but others milled up against me. I retreated back behind the gate.

The Holsteins were closer and along the fence now. I decided to let the cattle through the gate until the Holsteins were in the corral area then shut the gate, then lead the other cattle out through the gate using apples.

After opening the gate the initial cattle didn't know what to do and were hesitant to cross the gate. The gate is only wide enough to allow a single animal through at a time. One, then another, then another. Almost half the herd came through and still the Holsteins stood along the fence with a dumb look.

You idiots! Come through the gate!

I had to go out into the hayfield and herd them towards the gate.

All but six cattle were in the south corral when I shut the gate after the Holsteins. The six were not happy about being outside and stood along the fence and began to moo. The cattle inside the corral were excited at being in a new place and with fresh grass. They were no longer interested in apples and spread out throughout the corral. The Holsteins now split up and were at opposite ends of the corral. *argh!*

I waited and waited and finally the Holsteins came together near the gate to the north corral. I opened that gate and they went through. Success! I had separated them from the rest of the herd. The herd wasn't interested in leaving the corral. I left them and went to have supper.

It was dark when I came back out. Too dark to herd them. I opened the gate and hoped they would be gone by morning.

Wednesday I was up early - way early! - as I was going hiking in Glacier Park. Half the herd were in the hayfield by the house and half were in the corral. I put water into the water trough and then Joyce and Edley came to get me for the hike. I left the gate open so the herd could leave, and left a message with Dan to come get the Holsteins.

When I returned that evening I found the Holsteins were with the herd in the hayfield. What?! I thought the Holsteins weren't invested in the herd? Dan left a phone message that when he came after 11 am no cattle could be found. The Holsteins had crossed the south/north corral fence as it was lower.

All that work! Besides, Tuesday evening I had hurt my left wrist when I had attempted to lead the cattle away from the gate. Early in the day I had noticed I had strained my wrist lifting some stuff. I must have "pushed the strain over the edge" when using my hands to push the milling cattle away from me Tuesday night. My wrist was very sore and had swelled up.

Wednesday night half the herd was again near the fence and gate begging for apples. Okay... I opened the gate. Six of the herd walked into the corral. The two Holsteins stood there and finally(!) one walked through the gate. The other Holstein was not happy, stood there and began to bellow at the other one. On and on until he gave up and walked through the gate. I closed it to keep the rest of the cattle out of the corral.

The Holsteins separated from the other six fairly quickly. I opened the corral gate but they didn't want to go through it. I had to herd them by running and cutting them off as they attempted to go elsewhere. I was able to get them into the north corral.

Using apples I was able to entice the six to leave the south corral for the hayfield. As the corral was no longer "new" to them they were interested in apples. Success! I closed the gate. Now if the Holsteins cross the south/north corral fence they will be stopped by the chain link corral/hayfield fence.

I called Dan and he planned to come Thursday to get the Holsteins.

7 am Thursday morning I awoke to scratching and tapping sounds.

Huh?!

I got out of bed and discovered they were coming from the wood burning stove. It sounded like something was tapping on the stove's glass window. I got a flashlight and discovered a large bird inside the stove.

What the..?! How did he get in the stove?

The bird had to have come down the chimney then crossed over the long stove pipe to the stove, then pass the partially baffled area were the pipe connected to the stove. But he did ...somehow?

It was a Flicker.


I put a blanket over the stove to block the light to hopefully stop his tapping on the glass. I was tired and wanted to sleep.

I checked outside and found the Holsteins in the hayfield with the herd. What?!!! I haven't even woken up and apparently I got out of bed on the wrong side of the bed. I went back to bed until Tony woke me up around 9 am. That's another story!

After I finished helping Tony, and later helping Grant - my beekeeper - Grant suggested I use a towel to grab the bird from the stove and then release it outside. I closed all the inside doors and opened the outside door. I closed all the curtains. That way the only light if the bird got away from me would be to the outside door.

Using a pillow case I was able to open the stove door and grab the bird with the pillow case. The bird just stood there and I easily grabbed it. Well, he had been in the stove for many hours now. I took care as it had a long beak and I didn't want to get stabbed with it.

Outside I let the flicker go and it flew off unharmed. That's good as Bob told me flickers are wonderful bug and ant eaters.

Another problem solved.

I checked the corral fence and found the south/north fence top wires were pushed down. So that is how the Holsteins moved from the north corral to the south one. The chain link corral/hayfield fence was fine. This fence is 4 ft tall. How did the Holsteins get into the hayfield?!!! I haven't a clue. Can they jump that high? Even the double jointed Holstein couldn't slip through a chain link fence!

Tonight when the herd came to demand - yes, they now demand apples - I fed them apples but didn't bother getting the Holsteins into the corral. I'll give it a rest for a few nights. I am more bound and determined the Holsteins have to go.

By the way, my swollen wrist and blister on my heel (from the long hike) was nothing compared to Grant's bad luck. Yesterday when gathering and cutting logs for firewood a log struck his leg and broke it. It was not a compound fracture but he will be in a cast for about six weeks. What a tough break (no pun intended). Lots of work to be done outdoors before winter and Grant again got a great, and hard to get, hunting license for this Fall. I forgot for which animal. A cast will slow him down. I offered whatever help he may need over the upcoming weeks.

You know... I was thinking... I am never bored out here on the ranch.

Airfare prediction website

There is an airfare prediction website called Farecast. It's a service that is designed to save you money by predicting whether airfares will rise or fall, helping you decide when you should buy your plane ticket.

They have 55 origination cities with many more destination cities. Unfortunately my city, Kalispell, is not one of the cities even though we are connected to one of the origination cities, Minneapolis/St. Paul. Maybe some day...

Geo visitors button

I came across a tool that allows people looking at my blog to view a map of the world that shows the general locations of people who have viewed my blog in the past 24 hours. I added this button to my blog's sidebar.

Before you get all excited, I get little traffic to my blog. Some of my regular readers are on an email list where they get the posts in an email. So that cuts down on my visitor count. (Not that it is big to begin with... )

Click on the following button to see a map showing the visitors. Note, the green icon is you. Btw - I doubt the button will work when viewed in email. Somehow the button knows what web page it is on and tracks the visitors to that web page.

Dan and cattle

Dan came over late this morning to see how our cattle are doing. He hasn't been by in over a month.

Half the herd was taking their siesta near the irrigation shed. I fed them apples while we looked them over. One of Dan's steers, number 423, really likes apples. He kept wanting more while I wanted to save the rest of the apples for the rest of the herd. The steer would try to circle around me to get to the plastic bag with the apples. A number of times I was almost encircled by him as he twisted his head and neck around me to reach the apples. I also had to be careful as he would sometimes start to step on my foot. He is way too big to be stepping on my foot. Other times I had to move my foot as he would reach down and bite my shoe. "Stop that!"

We found the rest of the herd, minus the two Holsteins, down in the low area closer to the river.

All the cattle look good. One can't tell that Dan's Hereford-cross steer had lost all that weight back the end of June. A few of Dan's cattle still have a slightly rough winter coat. Dan says they may be missing a mineral in their diet. All of my "girls" have sleek coats, even the runt who was last to lose her winter coat.

Dan said the cattle all look happy and stress free. The cattle should be happy as my place is cattle heaven. After an initial wariness by some of the cattle at this new guy they quickly gathered round.

"Now, where are those darn Holsteins?!"

I walked over to the river and spotted one Holstein south of the river, south of the island. How did it get over there? I had built a simple two-strand fence last year along that river bank to keep the cattle from getting there.

While Dan waited I climbed over my border fence and went to get the Holstein. I found both of them in the tall grass and trees. I also found how they got there. A little herding and they returned to the river they way they came.

They had threaded their way through dead trees laying along the river bank, then broke the old barb wires and walked through the fence. *sigh*

After Dan left I returned to the scene of the crime to add three more 2x4s for posts and also more barb wire. The cattle were still taking their siesta in the shade in the low area near the river. Most of them followed me to the boundary fence. Guess they thought I had more apples for them.

When working on the last of the three 'posts' the Holsteins came into the river. The double jointed Holstein made his way through the fallen trees along the river to where I had fixed the fence. After a bit he strained against the barb wire and when it appeared he would break the simple fence I chased him away. After taking a drink from the river he went over to the island and joined the other cattle who now had moved over there. The other Holstein stood in the river watching me for a long time. He stood like he wasn't watching, but I saw that he always had one eye on me.

After putting in the third 'post' I found more dead tree branches and piled them in the path where the Holsteins try to break the fence. I also placed a few dead branches in other areas with easy access between the fence and the river. So far it has worked as tonight I see the Holsteins are in the hayfield with the rest of the herd.

Dan said he would take the Holsteins back to his place. He had two other Holsteins pastured at his brother's place but those Holsteins also were wanderers and didn't have a strong herd instinct. He eventually brought those back to his place. We had thought Holsteins were mild mannered and easy going, if odd looking. These Holsteins are proving us wrong.

This evening not all of the herd came by the house when I was out and around. So I didn't get the Holsteins into the area around the barn separate from the herd and ready to be loaded. Another night I will try.

Dan said Evan traded his 25 ft stock trailer for a new 30 ft trailer. He can haul more cattle now. Usually Dan sells his cattle the end of August, but as I plan to wait till the end of September or so, he plans to wait also. There is still plenty of grass left for the cattle so a few more weeks here would be fine. The ranch always feels empty without livestock so I want to have my "girls" here as long as I can.

Baking and biking

In addition to checking pocket gopher traps and watering trees & part of my garden, I did something different today. I baked zucchini bread and muffins and made an apple pie, including the pie crust. With all these apples I need to do something with them. I don't have an apple press to make cider, and I didn't feel like making apple butter at this time. So a pie it was.

I also fed a full bag of apples to the cattle this evening. Some were so desperate and/or greedy for the apples they strained against the fence to get all they could. When I heard my fence posts start to crack I moved elsewhere.

I went for an 18 mile bicycle ride tonight. And I mean tonight as it was dark by the time I was halfway into my ride. I rode a few miles along the highway. The highway has a wide shoulder to make riding safer. However debris is on the shoulder. In the dark I hit something big and hard and my entire bicycle and I went up in the air. My feet came out of the toe clips but I was somehow able to get my feet back onto the pedals before I landed. I didn't crash, nor did my tire blow. My tires are fully inflated so I didn't get a flat tire due to a rim pinch. However the force of striking the object appears to have made a flat spot on my wheel's rim. I can feel it as I ride. Darn.

The odd thing was that just prior to hitting the road debris tonight I was thinking about the time I crashed north of Las Vegas during a bicycle tour from North Dakota to California to see the 1984 Olympics. I was riding after midnight to beat the heat as it was near 107 F during the day while I waited in the shade at St. George, Utah. With little traffic on the interstate that night I often rode in the right lane's right wheel track. Still I hit a 4x4 board that lay across the road's shoulder and part of the right lane. With a fully loaded bicycle I wasn't able to stay upright and ended up was a bad case of road rash that left a couple scars.

Stomach pain

I woke up feeling fine, even if my wakeup time was 11 am. That is what happens when I go to bed after 3:15 am.

A hour or so after breakfast I began to have intermittent pain in my stomach. I ate my usual: cereal, strawberries and a roll. I don't know what caused the stomach pains. I took a nap.

I felt a little better and did some clothes washing. Remember my post from a few days ago about smelling a skunk? I think I may have ridden through its spray. My clothes still had a faint smell on them. Time to wash them!

I wandered over to visit Bob and Jan, and not feeling ambitious, spent hours chatting on a warm summer day. From an overnight low of 42 F it got up to 84 F today. Bob and Jan invited me to have supper with them, which I accepted. Maybe better food would help my stomach, and it did.

I also noticed the neighbor lady had her horse out of her pasture and in her front yard. Guess her efforts to get reacquainted with her horse are working.

Other than checking my pocket gopher traps, and riding 16 miles on my bicycle, that was all I did today. Not much.

No rain, horse and deer

Thursday's forecast of widespread rain was a bust. We had a few rain showers, but that was it. Not much moisture. I expected rain so I had stayed up late (even for me!) Wednesday night. Late as in 3:45 am. So when Joyce called me at 10 am Thursday morning to ask if I would hike with the group on Friday, I was still asleep.

Thursday I got the barb wire and fence from the family that had the rummage sale and is moving. More wire and fence that I thought. I kept pulling more and more out the tall grass and weeds between the garage and the pole shed. I piled it in the pickup bed as high as the pickup's cab. I also filled a good sized box with apples for the cattle (with a few of the larger ones for me).

The new neighbor lady's horse, a mare, has had an attitude change since they moved here from Helena. The five horses that had been in that pasture are now gone leaving only her horse. The attitude change is that her horse wants nothing to do with her. The previous evening I had seen a pickup driving around their pasture chasing the horse. Apparently they were trying to catch it.

Thursday the horse hung around the SW part of the pasture. The owner would walk in the general direction but not to the horse. Then when she started to get closer, the horse would move to another part of the pasture. Over and over. She came back to the garage and got a bucket of treats. After a long wait the horse came near. More waiting and the horse finally ate from the bucket, but only after she set it down and moved a few feet away.

I don't know if the move to Kalispell upset the horse, or her mare went "boy crazy" being in a pasture with five geldings.

I finished digging the area for my Emerald Arborvitae, then planted them. While I watered them I heard a car slow down on the road to almost a stop then honk its horn. I had fed apples to the cattle a short time earlier and they had now moved to the mid section of the hayfield near where the car was. None of the cattle got through the fence, did they? I couldn't tell, so I jumped on my bicycle and pedaled over there. The car had now gone. The cattle were all in the hayfield and no sign of any animals on the road. This is one of the areas the deer use to cross the road and I suspect it was deer in the road when the car drove there.

After spraying weeds tonight, as I was walking back from the north pasture, a fawn came walking towards me. The fawn surprised me as it was coming from the corral area and not from the river or the neighbor's pasture. After a few steps of walking towards one another we both stopped and checked each other out. We walked slightly counter-clockwise around each other until the fawn got to where I had been, then it went - white tail wagging - to the north/middle pasture fence and slipped under the bottom wire and left. Excuse me for intruding on "your" pasture.

Fixing, digging, stuff, rain, apples

I fixed the fence where the cattle tilted a few of the 2x4s. These were different 2x4s and not ones I had fixed a few days ago.

I fixed my wheelbarrow wheel. Or I should say, replaced it. The tire went flat today. Kinda hard to move stuff with a flat tire! The tire has an inner tube. The tire was old and cracked in a number of places. I found Home Depot sold the tire, tube, and rim as a unit for $19.98. There was no other choice as they didn't sell the items separately. My rim is good so I now have two rims.

Down the road was an unadvertised rummage sale. It had started Sunday and yesterday when I noticed it and stopped by many items were gone. The 79 year old woman is moving to Washington state to live with her son-in-law and daughter, who had grown up in the Flathead. A small world as the son-in-law knows my uncle even though both live in small towns just outside of Tacoma, Washington. But then, this guy and my uncle are/were in law enforcement.

Stuff had been picked over and some of what was left I didn't really need. The son-in-law told me he planned to haul off to the dump many items that didn't sell. The time was noon today. I stopped over after 1 pm and found many items loaded in the pickup already. I found a few odds & ends of stuff that could be useful. They also gave me the odds & ends of barb wire and also various sizes of wire field fence they had out back. I need to go back and get this later. I noticed apples laying under several apple trees and asked if I could have them for my cattle. Yup. I'll have to go back for the apples as they didn't have any extra bags for me to gather them into.

Rained this morning so I used the time to catch up on my beauty sleep. Then early evening we got a little more rain. This time the blue clouds looked to be holding more water than what we got. The weather forecasters promise widespread beneficial rains later tonight and tomorrow. Hope so.

This afternoon most of the cattle came from the river area to the hayfield at a very fast run. Some light thunder was rumbling as the rain clouds were building in the western mountains. Not enough thunder that I would think it would scare the cattle. Maybe some people floating the river harassed and scared the cattle?

I thought I had dug enough ground to plant my Emerald Arborvitae. It is recommended to plant them three to four feet apart. I initially dug an area to hold them three feet apart but when I came to measure and dig the holes today I found I was spacing them closer to four feet apart.

As I was digging more ground my neighbor came outside to walk their dogs. A doggy bathroom jaunt more like it. They have a small apple tree with apples on the ground. I asked and got permission to gather the apples for my cattle. Lots of apple sources - just need to get my butt in gear and gather the apples.

Cattle, apples, traps, garden

My earlier post about the cattle and the fence by the road... tonight as I rode home I could see several 2x4 boards cock-eyed. Either the cattle messed with boards I hadn't fixed earlier else my repair job wasn't that good. I'll see tomorrow in the daylight which instance it is.

The cattle really associate me with apples. When they are in the south pasture, and I in the middle pasture checking pocket gopher traps, some of the cattle will come to the fence if I am near the fence to beg for apples. I don't even have to actually feed them apples, if the herd sees a few cattle near me the rest will run over as fast as they can. Even with a fence between us it can be a little disconcerting to see a herd of cattle running towards you. I try to feed them apples near the house each evening to get them into a routine of coming by. They usually graze in the hayfield in the evening.

Today the cattle weren't in their usual routine. It was a breezy day. Nothing unusual for Minnesota or North Dakota, but out here, out-of-the-ordinary. I find on these types of days the cattle act differently. Where are they?

When checking the pocket gopher traps this afternoon I took a side trip to search for the cattle. I found them on the peninsula across the river. Well, it is out of the wind among the thick brush. This is where the double-jointed Holstein earlier had slipped through the loose section of the neighbor's fence. As I had blocked that loose section, no jail breaks today. By evening all the cattle were back into the hayfield. Apples, that what they wanted! They saw me watering my garden and came to a nearby fence. I gave them apples and some loafs of old dry bread I got from the Food Bank today.

The cattle hung around the fence after I finished giving them treats. The neighbor's dog had come over when I fed the cattle. Both the dog and the cattle are curious of one another but each wants to be the one to do the approach. So the dog will not cross the fence. Instead it paced back and forth. When it started to bark at the cattle I had to tell it to stop.

The other evening we had a short but intense rain shower. I noticed half the herd in the NE corner of the hayfield staring at something to the NE. It was my NE neighbor. He and another man were along the creek near the small earthen bridge over the creek. I saw the neighbor holding a good sized conibear trap. Ah... his beavers are back. I did notice the creek near his trailer house looked to be higher than usual for this time of year.

I removed the rest of my regular gopher traps. No activity for a few weeks now. They have gone underground (hibernation?) for the year. There is still activity with my pocket gopher traps. I haven't caught any for a few days now. Either the tunnel is abandoned, or was merely an exploratory tunnel, or the gopher fills my trap with dirt. I have three pocket gophers that refuse to go into my traps. I have the traps placement down to a science so maybe it is something to do with the time of the year. I had similar problems last August but wrote that off as bad trap placement. This morning I finally caught two of the three - after many tries.

My garden is doing well now that I am keeping up with its watering. All four zucchini plants survived this year so I have much more zucchini than I need. I have picked the peas and green beans. I thought all my watermelon plants had died. I found two survived. The plants are doing great now, but no melons. Too late to get any now. I don't have the heart to pull the plants. The pumpkin plants are growing pumpkins.

Even though I haven't gotten to watering my strawberry plants yet, they were so happy at being weeded they produced some strawberries for me. Oh yeah... and the robins that steal my strawberries have left. I only have the yellowjackets that go after some of the strawberries when they are tired of eating the fallen apples. Enough apples drop each day from my two trees that I fill a five gallon pail each day.

I have dug over 60 feet along the fence of my NE pasture. I plan to plant some Emerald Arborvitae shrubs I had gotten some weeks ago. I decided to dig the whole area before planting any. The NE pasture is dry and once I plant them I need to keep up with their watering. Once the shrubs grow up they should hide the traffic as it comes around the road bend from the north. I hope so.

A skunk must have been nearby tonight. I smelled it along the road when I rode home and with the windows and doors open to cool the house down even now I still smell it. The skunk must be Pepe Le Pew as the smell has a little sweet smell to it.