Saturday, August 02, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Hucks, deer, hike
What an early morning! I got up before 5 am after 5 hours sleep and after 6 am I met Joyce, her daughter, and daughter-in-law to go huckleberry picking. We went to the exact same place Joyce and I picked before and started up where we had left off.
Another cool morning but a beautiful day to be picking hucks on the side of a mountain. We stopped picking before noon. I had picked around a gallon of berries. Joyce naturally picked more, though not quite twice what I had picked. Her daughter and daughter-in-law each picked a gallon and a quart. I tried picking with two hands, but found I would pick with one hand then the other and not both hands simultaneously. Us guys have trouble multi-tasking.
I was dragging much of the rest of the day. When visiting with Bob and Jan later afternoon I started to fall asleep. I took a nap before checking my gopher traps in the evening. As I went into the north pasture I saw six or seven deer out in my hayfield.
Hey! That grass and alfalfa is for my cattle!
Darn deer.
As I returned to my house after checking the traps I saw two bucks with antlers hop the fence into my garden and fruit tree area. I ran over there and it wasn't until I entered my garden and fruit tree area that the deer ran off and crossed the road. They then stood and watched me not believing someone would chase them out of the garden and fruit tree area. Finally they went away after they decided I wasn't leaving.
Well, I'd write more but I have to get to bed. I have a hike tomorrow. At least the meeting time is more reasonable: 8 am. If I go to bed now I will get more than 5 hours sleep this time. Man, I must be getting old. It is getting harder to operate on just 5 hours sleep.
Another cool morning but a beautiful day to be picking hucks on the side of a mountain. We stopped picking before noon. I had picked around a gallon of berries. Joyce naturally picked more, though not quite twice what I had picked. Her daughter and daughter-in-law each picked a gallon and a quart. I tried picking with two hands, but found I would pick with one hand then the other and not both hands simultaneously. Us guys have trouble multi-tasking.
I was dragging much of the rest of the day. When visiting with Bob and Jan later afternoon I started to fall asleep. I took a nap before checking my gopher traps in the evening. As I went into the north pasture I saw six or seven deer out in my hayfield.
Hey! That grass and alfalfa is for my cattle!
Darn deer.
As I returned to my house after checking the traps I saw two bucks with antlers hop the fence into my garden and fruit tree area. I ran over there and it wasn't until I entered my garden and fruit tree area that the deer ran off and crossed the road. They then stood and watched me not believing someone would chase them out of the garden and fruit tree area. Finally they went away after they decided I wasn't leaving.
Well, I'd write more but I have to get to bed. I have a hike tomorrow. At least the meeting time is more reasonable: 8 am. If I go to bed now I will get more than 5 hours sleep this time. Man, I must be getting old. It is getting harder to operate on just 5 hours sleep.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Connected to the world again
I'm back. Apparently I am the only dial-up Earthlink subscriber in Kalispell. Their access number was totally screwed up starting Monday night until they fixed it today (Thursday). If not for me they wouldn't have known there was a problem.
This will be short tonight as I will be meeting Joyce just after 6 am tomorrow to go huckleberry picking. Why are most of my friends early people? Since I will be getting up shortly after my normal bedtime, I need to go to bed before midnight tonight. As one can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many huckleberries, I will be getting up at an insanely early hour tomorrow.
I wonder how cold tomorrow morning will be? This past morning the low temperature on my thermometer was 37.8 F. With the house windows open it got down to 57 F in the house. Good sleeping weather.
I do have lots to write about, but another day. Another cattle and bull story. (Photos later). Another jailbreak. And more. So much going on, the time rushes by so fast I barely have time to catch my breath. I have lots to do before Winter and in less than an hour it will be August already.
This will be short tonight as I will be meeting Joyce just after 6 am tomorrow to go huckleberry picking. Why are most of my friends early people? Since I will be getting up shortly after my normal bedtime, I need to go to bed before midnight tonight. As one can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many huckleberries, I will be getting up at an insanely early hour tomorrow.
I wonder how cold tomorrow morning will be? This past morning the low temperature on my thermometer was 37.8 F. With the house windows open it got down to 57 F in the house. Good sleeping weather.
I do have lots to write about, but another day. Another cattle and bull story. (Photos later). Another jailbreak. And more. So much going on, the time rushes by so fast I barely have time to catch my breath. I have lots to do before Winter and in less than an hour it will be August already.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
When it rains, it pours
I lost my Earthlink internet connection Monday night while doing my email and have not gotten it back since. The access phone number claims all lines are busy.
I figured Earthlink had problems Monday night, and since it was late, I went to bed. Last night I tried again and the same error. I called Earthlink and they said they would look into the problem and fix it in 2 to 10 hours, 12 hours at the max. I tried accessing late this morning - more than 12 hours later - and still the same lack of connectivity.
*argh*
I came up to the Wednesday Picnic in the Park concert and now am at the library to check my email. I hope Earthlink can get this solved soon.
Lots of other stuff has happened the past few days. I was suppose to go on a hike today but the cattle had other ideas. I awoke to find 9 of them in my middle pasture. Not sure where the rest were but could hear Street's cattle bellowing across the river. He told me Monday he planned to let his cattle and bull move from the ridge down to the field across the river from me in two or three days.
I found where "my" cattle came through my simple fence along the river bank in the middle pasture. Then I could see some of "my" cattle on the peninsula on the other side of the river. A few cattle were along the fence where it comes to the bend on the river. Then I saw in the tall grass a brown one on the other side of the fence. What?! How could it have gotten through the five strand newer fence?! And how many were on the other side?
I came home, called Dan as it was his cattle, and got sandals for crossing the river. A Hereford heifer met me on a grass/tree trail on the peninsula after I crossed the river, then turned around. Along the fence I learned it was not one of "my" cattle, but Street's bull. A very big bull. The size of a small car. His testicles were the size of ... well, you get the idea.
Only the bull was in the field. Street's other cattle were bellowing up on the ridge. It is a mystery why Street let the bull into this field alone.
Dan's Hereford heifer is in heat. Great. Just great. She wanted through the fence just as much as the bull did. Apparantly "size does matter" as she wouldn't give the time of day to the steers around her.
I had a heck of a time herding her away from the fence back to the river crossing. She went this way and that to stay along the fence. The bull followed along the fence.
The remaining eleven cattle appeared through the trees to check us out. I got the herd to the river crossing point. The bull - in a wimpy voice - called to his - at this moment - beloved. The cattle stood and wouldn't cross. Then the heifer in heat made a dash around me and ran to the fence and bull with the herd following.
*argh* Young love! Don't you know it won't last? He'll be on to another once he has had his way with you.
I again herded the cattle back to the river crossing. Now the original nine in the middle pasture came running to the river to see what the commotion was. With them calling one of the twelve cattle entered the river and made its way across. One by one the rest followed with the heifer in heat last. I had to encourage her as she stood and looked and looked at the trees waiting for the bull to join her.
Even on the gravel bar she was the last to move off it and would look back for her "beloved".
Now I had thirteen cattle in the south pasture and eight in the middle pasture as one of the eight made its way through the fence to join the twelve.
I opened the middle/south pasture gate for now. It was easier than herding the eight into the south pasture. The two that had gotten into the middle pasture a few days ago when they broke the old fence were a pain to get back into the south pasture. The nineteen wanted to join the two, not the other way around. Those two would stand in the gate with two legs in one pasture and two legs in the other pasture as I held the gate. They stood there and chewed their cud with the nineteen tried to pass by me.
Anyway, today I wanted to get to the hiking group as time was passing. I let Dan know I had things under control again.
No shower or breakfast and legs with river mud. I grabbed my hiking boots and bag and water and a few items of food and took off. I arrived at the meeting point at 7:36 am - six minutes late. The group was gone.
*augh*
Back home I decided to get my gopher traps out of the middle field even though the gophers are still active. By now the cattle had knocked over most of the marking poles and triggered some of the traps.
I couldn't find the last trap. Around and around I went. I stood on a tall stump and looked. Nothing. Later - after a long time searching - I found the "missing" trap in the north pasture. The milk jug on the marker had fallen down.
Oh yeah, while I think of it, Monday I found the trap where the gopher ran off with it. The trap - and now dead - gopher were in a gopher hole heretofore unknown to me. Just the very end of the chain was sticking out and I hit it with my shovel as I dug dirt to close the hole.
By the time I finished with the gopher traps the cattle had all settled down for their late morning seista. The morning's excitement was over. That heifer better not be dreaming about the bull while chewing her cud!!
I saw my northern neighbor Jim and let him know about the bull. He has two heifers and the black one was going nuts running along my northern fence trying to join "my" herd, all now in the middle pasture. Jim said last night his two heifers were acting 'crazy' and now he knows why.
I checked my gopher and pocket gopher traps in my NE field and found a dead pocket gopher and a triggered gopher trap. Yes, they have moved into the NE pasture. *sigh* Not only that, the gophers have two tunnel openings under the hay shed walls!
And lots of other stuff has happened the past few days like mysteriously losing my sunglasses yesterday while spraying weeds. And other stuff that I can't remember right now.
Today at the concert a young guy sat down next to me and asked what my relationship was to the Lord. Not today. It's been a day already.
The County started re-paving my road and this morning mysteriously quit and left shortly after starting and before they could do the second lane in front of my place. I wanted to be there to remind them the road is 6 inches narrow in front of my drive at the bend in the road.
I better go home now and see what's up.
I figured Earthlink had problems Monday night, and since it was late, I went to bed. Last night I tried again and the same error. I called Earthlink and they said they would look into the problem and fix it in 2 to 10 hours, 12 hours at the max. I tried accessing late this morning - more than 12 hours later - and still the same lack of connectivity.
*argh*
I came up to the Wednesday Picnic in the Park concert and now am at the library to check my email. I hope Earthlink can get this solved soon.
Lots of other stuff has happened the past few days. I was suppose to go on a hike today but the cattle had other ideas. I awoke to find 9 of them in my middle pasture. Not sure where the rest were but could hear Street's cattle bellowing across the river. He told me Monday he planned to let his cattle and bull move from the ridge down to the field across the river from me in two or three days.
I found where "my" cattle came through my simple fence along the river bank in the middle pasture. Then I could see some of "my" cattle on the peninsula on the other side of the river. A few cattle were along the fence where it comes to the bend on the river. Then I saw in the tall grass a brown one on the other side of the fence. What?! How could it have gotten through the five strand newer fence?! And how many were on the other side?
I came home, called Dan as it was his cattle, and got sandals for crossing the river. A Hereford heifer met me on a grass/tree trail on the peninsula after I crossed the river, then turned around. Along the fence I learned it was not one of "my" cattle, but Street's bull. A very big bull. The size of a small car. His testicles were the size of ... well, you get the idea.
Only the bull was in the field. Street's other cattle were bellowing up on the ridge. It is a mystery why Street let the bull into this field alone.
Dan's Hereford heifer is in heat. Great. Just great. She wanted through the fence just as much as the bull did. Apparantly "size does matter" as she wouldn't give the time of day to the steers around her.
I had a heck of a time herding her away from the fence back to the river crossing. She went this way and that to stay along the fence. The bull followed along the fence.
The remaining eleven cattle appeared through the trees to check us out. I got the herd to the river crossing point. The bull - in a wimpy voice - called to his - at this moment - beloved. The cattle stood and wouldn't cross. Then the heifer in heat made a dash around me and ran to the fence and bull with the herd following.
*argh* Young love! Don't you know it won't last? He'll be on to another once he has had his way with you.
I again herded the cattle back to the river crossing. Now the original nine in the middle pasture came running to the river to see what the commotion was. With them calling one of the twelve cattle entered the river and made its way across. One by one the rest followed with the heifer in heat last. I had to encourage her as she stood and looked and looked at the trees waiting for the bull to join her.
Even on the gravel bar she was the last to move off it and would look back for her "beloved".
Now I had thirteen cattle in the south pasture and eight in the middle pasture as one of the eight made its way through the fence to join the twelve.
I opened the middle/south pasture gate for now. It was easier than herding the eight into the south pasture. The two that had gotten into the middle pasture a few days ago when they broke the old fence were a pain to get back into the south pasture. The nineteen wanted to join the two, not the other way around. Those two would stand in the gate with two legs in one pasture and two legs in the other pasture as I held the gate. They stood there and chewed their cud with the nineteen tried to pass by me.
Anyway, today I wanted to get to the hiking group as time was passing. I let Dan know I had things under control again.
No shower or breakfast and legs with river mud. I grabbed my hiking boots and bag and water and a few items of food and took off. I arrived at the meeting point at 7:36 am - six minutes late. The group was gone.
*augh*
Back home I decided to get my gopher traps out of the middle field even though the gophers are still active. By now the cattle had knocked over most of the marking poles and triggered some of the traps.
I couldn't find the last trap. Around and around I went. I stood on a tall stump and looked. Nothing. Later - after a long time searching - I found the "missing" trap in the north pasture. The milk jug on the marker had fallen down.
Oh yeah, while I think of it, Monday I found the trap where the gopher ran off with it. The trap - and now dead - gopher were in a gopher hole heretofore unknown to me. Just the very end of the chain was sticking out and I hit it with my shovel as I dug dirt to close the hole.
By the time I finished with the gopher traps the cattle had all settled down for their late morning seista. The morning's excitement was over. That heifer better not be dreaming about the bull while chewing her cud!!
I saw my northern neighbor Jim and let him know about the bull. He has two heifers and the black one was going nuts running along my northern fence trying to join "my" herd, all now in the middle pasture. Jim said last night his two heifers were acting 'crazy' and now he knows why.
I checked my gopher and pocket gopher traps in my NE field and found a dead pocket gopher and a triggered gopher trap. Yes, they have moved into the NE pasture. *sigh* Not only that, the gophers have two tunnel openings under the hay shed walls!
And lots of other stuff has happened the past few days like mysteriously losing my sunglasses yesterday while spraying weeds. And other stuff that I can't remember right now.
Today at the concert a young guy sat down next to me and asked what my relationship was to the Lord. Not today. It's been a day already.
The County started re-paving my road and this morning mysteriously quit and left shortly after starting and before they could do the second lane in front of my place. I wanted to be there to remind them the road is 6 inches narrow in front of my drive at the bend in the road.
I better go home now and see what's up.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Huckleberries and pie cherries
Early Saturday morning I went huckleberry picking with MaryAnn and Joyce. By 'early', I mean early! I drove over to MaryAnn's house at 6 am. I was on time, but that meant I only had 5 hours of sleep (for the third night this week) and no breakfast. 
We met Joyce along the way.
At the site we started picking huckleberries right from the road. The area had plenty of huckleberries so I didn't have to range far to find bushes to pick. MaryAnn, ever looking for the better bushes, ranged higher up the mountain side than I did.
Here are a few photos. I was too busy picking to spend time taking really good photos of the huckleberries and bushes.
We picked until noon. While they are older than me, MaryAnn and Joyce are faster and better pickers than I am. I filled a gallon and quart ice cream pail with berries. They each picked almost two gallons.
A few other cars were on the road, and one stopped down the road from MaryAnn's car. A group in that car must have picked for a few hours before leaving.
I knew I shouldn't have worn long lightly colored pants. I eventually kneeled to pick berries and got stains on my knees. How I got a huckleberry stain on my right back ankle is a mystery.
On the way home MaryAnn stopped at a cherry stand and bought some freshly picked Flathead cherries. I also bought a pound of cherries @ $2/pound. I ate half of them before we got too far down the highway. Remember I had no breakfast that morning other than some of the huckleberries as I picked them.
MaryAnn knew of some pie cherry trees down the road from her farm. She already had all the pie cherries she needed and let me have them. The cherry trees were in amongst a grove of trees. It looked to be a former homestead for a farm the way the trees were clustered. I didn't see any sign of the old farm.
The trees were not loaded with cherries as they were 'wild' and needed care and pruning. Still in a few hours I had picked two gallons of cherries. Now to make a pie with them.
This morning I had some of my huckleberries on my pancakes. Yum! Yum! Yum!
We met Joyce along the way.
At the site we started picking huckleberries right from the road. The area had plenty of huckleberries so I didn't have to range far to find bushes to pick. MaryAnn, ever looking for the better bushes, ranged higher up the mountain side than I did.
Here are a few photos. I was too busy picking to spend time taking really good photos of the huckleberries and bushes.
We picked until noon. While they are older than me, MaryAnn and Joyce are faster and better pickers than I am. I filled a gallon and quart ice cream pail with berries. They each picked almost two gallons.
A few other cars were on the road, and one stopped down the road from MaryAnn's car. A group in that car must have picked for a few hours before leaving.
I knew I shouldn't have worn long lightly colored pants. I eventually kneeled to pick berries and got stains on my knees. How I got a huckleberry stain on my right back ankle is a mystery.
On the way home MaryAnn stopped at a cherry stand and bought some freshly picked Flathead cherries. I also bought a pound of cherries @ $2/pound. I ate half of them before we got too far down the highway. Remember I had no breakfast that morning other than some of the huckleberries as I picked them.
MaryAnn knew of some pie cherry trees down the road from her farm. She already had all the pie cherries she needed and let me have them. The cherry trees were in amongst a grove of trees. It looked to be a former homestead for a farm the way the trees were clustered. I didn't see any sign of the old farm.The trees were not loaded with cherries as they were 'wild' and needed care and pruning. Still in a few hours I had picked two gallons of cherries. Now to make a pie with them.
This morning I had some of my huckleberries on my pancakes. Yum! Yum! Yum!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Bad day for my bicycle
Today I rode my bicycle to the Event at Rebbecca Farm to watch the horses compete. On the way to the Event one of my bicycle's spokes broke. I continued on with a rear wheel that was getting out of true as I rode.
After the Event I rode home. The Event is 7.5 miles from my place with the last mile on a gravel road. During my trip home, two hundred yards from the pavement, my rear tire went flat. I was so close! I had ridden over a sharp rock that caused a snake bite flat and a quick loss of air.
I walked and pushed my bicycle. At 3.6 mph. Later I jogged off and on. Between 7 and 8 mph according to my bicycle computer. A strong breeze was at my back so that made my walking and jogging easier.
The roads were narrow two lane - former country - roads with plenty of traffic. The picture may not show any vehicles, but trust me, there were more than I cared for.
I was a little under two miles from home when a little blue pickup stopped and the driver asked if I needed a ride. Yeah! I forgot his name now, but this little old guy gave me a ride home. Interestingly he said he had never been on the road that goes past my place.
I could have made it home fine as I was still feeling good, but it was nice to have a ride. I had covered the more-than-five miles in a about 1 hour fifteen minutes.
Once home I replaced the broken spoke and fixed the two punctures. Later tonight I noticed that my bicycle rack is broken. I'll fix that another day.
This has been a bad day for my bicycle.
After the Event I rode home. The Event is 7.5 miles from my place with the last mile on a gravel road. During my trip home, two hundred yards from the pavement, my rear tire went flat. I was so close! I had ridden over a sharp rock that caused a snake bite flat and a quick loss of air.
I walked and pushed my bicycle. At 3.6 mph. Later I jogged off and on. Between 7 and 8 mph according to my bicycle computer. A strong breeze was at my back so that made my walking and jogging easier.
The roads were narrow two lane - former country - roads with plenty of traffic. The picture may not show any vehicles, but trust me, there were more than I cared for.
I was a little under two miles from home when a little blue pickup stopped and the driver asked if I needed a ride. Yeah! I forgot his name now, but this little old guy gave me a ride home. Interestingly he said he had never been on the road that goes past my place.I could have made it home fine as I was still feeling good, but it was nice to have a ride. I had covered the more-than-five miles in a about 1 hour fifteen minutes.
Once home I replaced the broken spoke and fixed the two punctures. Later tonight I noticed that my bicycle rack is broken. I'll fix that another day.
This has been a bad day for my bicycle.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Yup! Still busy
MaryAnn called today. She, Joyce, and I are going huckleberry picking early tomorrow. By early I mean, I meet them at 6 am. Why is everything good so early?! We'll get done picking by noon, which is good as I plan to attend the Event at Rebecca Farms Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
This morning I met a bicyclist from London as I was getting my mail. Dominic is traveling from Virgina to Anacortes, Washington. (or at least that is what I remember him saying.) We had a nice long chat and I'll write more when I have time.
I caught another regular gopher today to make 30 for the year. I have heard a few others chirping warnings, and even saw one run for its hole. That's where I moved a trap. So.. some gophers are still active this late in July. Most holes with traps are just gathering spiderwebs.
Oh yeah... I got my passport in the mail. That was fast! When did I send it in? 10 days ago?
This morning I met a bicyclist from London as I was getting my mail. Dominic is traveling from Virgina to Anacortes, Washington. (or at least that is what I remember him saying.) We had a nice long chat and I'll write more when I have time.
I caught another regular gopher today to make 30 for the year. I have heard a few others chirping warnings, and even saw one run for its hole. That's where I moved a trap. So.. some gophers are still active this late in July. Most holes with traps are just gathering spiderwebs.
Oh yeah... I got my passport in the mail. That was fast! When did I send it in? 10 days ago?
Friday, July 25, 2008
High and Lows
Busy day Thursday. After five hours sleep for the second or third night in a row I got up early for the bicycle ride on the Hiawatha trail. Gary picked me and my bicycle up at 6:15 am. Man! That's early!
We had a great bicycle ride. A clear dry day even if a cool start to the morning. I think it was in the low 50s F when we started the ride before 10 am. I'll try to write more and include pictures later.
For the ride it was me, Gary, and Joyce, as Bill and Sue Ann wanted to wait until September. It became a big mess when I was away hiking on Altyn Peak. I came home to numerous messages on my answering machine. Gary's pickup couldn't hold five bicycles like he thought, only four. He and Joyce came up with a secondary backup plan of also using Joyce's daughter's pickup, or I could have transported one bicycle in my car.
But Sue Ann had concerns about mud on the trail in the tunnels. We had rain the previous two nights (yay! as we need rain!) and she thought it would be wet in the tunnels. She wanted to wait until Fall. And apparently she had other issues with my planned trip. She and Bill convinced Gary and Joyce to cancel the trip and wait until Fall. However when I got home that was not an option. The trail closes the first few days of October, and Gary and I will be on the Alaskan cruise and then visiting relatives in September. So I was not happy with this change of events. Fall was out for me.
I told Gary and Joyce we do the trip now as I didn't think it would be possible later this year. If Bill and Sue Ann wanted to wait until Fall, fine, let them wait. I'm going now. They agreed to come with and we all three went.
Tonight I had one upset Sue Ann. She said she had tried to reach all three of us all day (though I had no messages on my answering machine until the one late this evening where she was ...upset). I called her back and we discussed the situation. She was not happy but the end result was: this was my trip, I put it together, and she was not canceling it on me.
Other irritations
When I came home I discovered both sides of the road that goes by my ranch and beyond has been bladed. The east side had a big gash. The County even ripped up Bib and Jan's lawn where it met the road. The west side did not have a large gash, and their lawns that went up to the road weren't touched. That is because Jan called the County and complained. A high level County road department official came out and apologized and spoke with the road grader operator.
Why was the County blading the ditches where it met the road? They told Jan they plan to repave it next week and they are scraping the grass away where it mets the current asphalt. Gee, it would been nice to know this ahead of time.
I then discovered my hayfield gate to the road was not attached correctly. It was leaning over and only attached by two of the four wires. One wire was broken and the other just laying there. I could see tire tracks in the grass where the Bonneville Power idiots drove over to the second tower and transmission line on my land. They couldn't have done whatever on Tuesday when they first came through. Probably now had to take photos of the second tower and line. Idiots. They are just idiots.
We had a great bicycle ride. A clear dry day even if a cool start to the morning. I think it was in the low 50s F when we started the ride before 10 am. I'll try to write more and include pictures later.
For the ride it was me, Gary, and Joyce, as Bill and Sue Ann wanted to wait until September. It became a big mess when I was away hiking on Altyn Peak. I came home to numerous messages on my answering machine. Gary's pickup couldn't hold five bicycles like he thought, only four. He and Joyce came up with a secondary backup plan of also using Joyce's daughter's pickup, or I could have transported one bicycle in my car.
But Sue Ann had concerns about mud on the trail in the tunnels. We had rain the previous two nights (yay! as we need rain!) and she thought it would be wet in the tunnels. She wanted to wait until Fall. And apparently she had other issues with my planned trip. She and Bill convinced Gary and Joyce to cancel the trip and wait until Fall. However when I got home that was not an option. The trail closes the first few days of October, and Gary and I will be on the Alaskan cruise and then visiting relatives in September. So I was not happy with this change of events. Fall was out for me.
I told Gary and Joyce we do the trip now as I didn't think it would be possible later this year. If Bill and Sue Ann wanted to wait until Fall, fine, let them wait. I'm going now. They agreed to come with and we all three went.
Tonight I had one upset Sue Ann. She said she had tried to reach all three of us all day (though I had no messages on my answering machine until the one late this evening where she was ...upset). I called her back and we discussed the situation. She was not happy but the end result was: this was my trip, I put it together, and she was not canceling it on me.
Other irritations
When I came home I discovered both sides of the road that goes by my ranch and beyond has been bladed. The east side had a big gash. The County even ripped up Bib and Jan's lawn where it met the road. The west side did not have a large gash, and their lawns that went up to the road weren't touched. That is because Jan called the County and complained. A high level County road department official came out and apologized and spoke with the road grader operator.
Why was the County blading the ditches where it met the road? They told Jan they plan to repave it next week and they are scraping the grass away where it mets the current asphalt. Gee, it would been nice to know this ahead of time.
I then discovered my hayfield gate to the road was not attached correctly. It was leaning over and only attached by two of the four wires. One wire was broken and the other just laying there. I could see tire tracks in the grass where the Bonneville Power idiots drove over to the second tower and transmission line on my land. They couldn't have done whatever on Tuesday when they first came through. Probably now had to take photos of the second tower and line. Idiots. They are just idiots.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Busy hiking peaks and bicycling
Wednesday I went on a fantastic hike with a new hiking group. We hiked to the top of Altyn Peak in the Many Glacier Valley of Glacier Park. Altyn Peak is 7,947 ft in elevation.
What a fantastic hike! The views of the other mountains, the valleys, the many lakes, and glaciers all were fantastic. And the wildflowers were in bloom and covered the mountain side. I have never seen so many wildflowers in bloom at once. Blues, purples, reds, yellows, oranges, whites, raspberry colors. Only the beargrass was missing as that bloom appeared to have passed already, else not bloomed (I'm not sure).
Coming down we dropped hundreds and hundreds of feet in minutes sliding down a wonderful scree slope that was like walking down on soft snow.
When I get time I will write more about the trip and go through the 280 photos I took. I met the group in Columbia Falls at 7 am and got home a little after 9 pm. Another long day of fun.
Tomorrow Gary will pick me and my bicycle up and, along with Joyce, we are driving to Idaho to ride on the Hiawatha Bicycle Trail that goes from the Montana border for 15 miles crossing through mountains along an abandoned railroad track. Another early day as Gary will be here at 6:15 am. And long day as the trail is about 150 miles away.
Better get to bed as the morning will be here early!
What a fantastic hike! The views of the other mountains, the valleys, the many lakes, and glaciers all were fantastic. And the wildflowers were in bloom and covered the mountain side. I have never seen so many wildflowers in bloom at once. Blues, purples, reds, yellows, oranges, whites, raspberry colors. Only the beargrass was missing as that bloom appeared to have passed already, else not bloomed (I'm not sure).
Coming down we dropped hundreds and hundreds of feet in minutes sliding down a wonderful scree slope that was like walking down on soft snow.
When I get time I will write more about the trip and go through the 280 photos I took. I met the group in Columbia Falls at 7 am and got home a little after 9 pm. Another long day of fun.
Tomorrow Gary will pick me and my bicycle up and, along with Joyce, we are driving to Idaho to ride on the Hiawatha Bicycle Trail that goes from the Montana border for 15 miles crossing through mountains along an abandoned railroad track. Another early day as Gary will be here at 6:15 am. And long day as the trail is about 150 miles away.
Better get to bed as the morning will be here early!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Bonneville Power idiots
I am not sure if I mentioned a few months ago that it appeared that someone from the Bonneville Power company drove through my hayfield under the transmission line. This was before my hay was cut. They drove to the south fence and then turned around. Why? Who knew! I could tell where they drove as the grass was flattened down from the vehicle's tires. Even now after cutting the grass for hay I can still see the tracks in the grass where the vehicle drove.
This evening after 5:30 pm, as I was in the hayfield gathering up stray pieces of hay not picked up by the baler, I seen a truck enter through my gate to the road. I walked over and reached them after they drove inside.
The two men said they were with Bonneville Power. I asked them why they were driving here. They said they were checking for trees. I told them they can obviously see I have no trees on my property under the power lines. They then said the headquarters in Oregon said they had to take photos as proof.
What? Apparently Bonneville Power doesn't trust their employees to say there are no trees on a property under the line.
I said they didn't need to drive their truck onto my property to take a photo. They said they had to follow the line. I then mentioned about someone from Bonneville driving and flattening my grass earlier. The older man said that was him and another guy. They cut down a tree under the power line that was on my neighbor's property to the south. Why drive on my property? Apparently he saw my gate and didn't bother to look for the neighbor's gate.
Now, he didn't drive through my south gate and onto the neighbor's property to cut the tree. He drove to my fence then got out and crawled through the fence to walk over to the tree. Now I understand why my fence had two strands twisted around each other. It was to create an opening for him to crawl through. Why he couldn't have walked from the road is a mystery. Lazy perhaps - which would explain why he didn't uncross the fence wires once he was done.
Bonneville had cut that tree several years ago. Apparently they can't do it right to make it last more than a couple years.
This guy got out his map of the transmission line that showed the line and fences and gates. My gate to the road is shown, but we didn't see a gate on his map on my south fence. That gate isn't even under the transmission line as my fences and gates predates when the power line was created. On his map he also couldn't find the gate to access the line from the neighbor's property. One of the towers is on that neighbor's land so Bonneville should have access to it via his property.
And one can't drive continuously under the power line through gates. If so, then one of the properties across the road from me would have a gate in their fence, and they don't. They also do not have a tower on their land. The towers are on property to the north of that property and that is where the gate is located even though that gate isn't under the power line.
The younger of the two guys told me that they come and check the line each year. He said it in a tone that was condescending.
Yes. And you don't think I know that? (Idiot)
After that I ignored this guy and let him stand, chew his tobacco, and spit while I talked with the older fellow who was in charge.
My point is that while they have access to their towers via the easement, that doesn't give Bonneville the right to drive all over my hayfield when they don't have to. Those lazy guys can get out of their vehicle and walk once in a while.
The older guy said they try not to damage hayfields and he will let the office know my concern. Ya, right. Especially when he was the one who flattened my grass when he didn't have to.
And another thing, they drive through the neighbors' fields with their knapweed, thistle and leafy splurge then drive on my field. No wonder I found weeds along the route they drove in my field this year.
My hay is cut so I let them be on their way as their truck was already through the gate. They stopped at the east tower and took a photo then continued on through my south gate and onto the neighbor's property.
And you know what? Some days later I noticed my gate along the road wasn't closed correctly and then saw more tracks where the grass was flattened. This time the tracks went to the other tower on my property. These guys weren't smart enough to take photos of both towers at the same time! Or they were doing things in a dumb and inefficient manner in order to make work for themselves and justify their jobs? And since I wasn't around this time they didn't close either gate properly. Good thing I hadn't let the cattle into the hayfield for the year.
Bonneville Power is not being a good neighbor and seems to be abusing their easement right.
This evening after 5:30 pm, as I was in the hayfield gathering up stray pieces of hay not picked up by the baler, I seen a truck enter through my gate to the road. I walked over and reached them after they drove inside.
The two men said they were with Bonneville Power. I asked them why they were driving here. They said they were checking for trees. I told them they can obviously see I have no trees on my property under the power lines. They then said the headquarters in Oregon said they had to take photos as proof.
What? Apparently Bonneville Power doesn't trust their employees to say there are no trees on a property under the line.
I said they didn't need to drive their truck onto my property to take a photo. They said they had to follow the line. I then mentioned about someone from Bonneville driving and flattening my grass earlier. The older man said that was him and another guy. They cut down a tree under the power line that was on my neighbor's property to the south. Why drive on my property? Apparently he saw my gate and didn't bother to look for the neighbor's gate.
Now, he didn't drive through my south gate and onto the neighbor's property to cut the tree. He drove to my fence then got out and crawled through the fence to walk over to the tree. Now I understand why my fence had two strands twisted around each other. It was to create an opening for him to crawl through. Why he couldn't have walked from the road is a mystery. Lazy perhaps - which would explain why he didn't uncross the fence wires once he was done.
Bonneville had cut that tree several years ago. Apparently they can't do it right to make it last more than a couple years.
This guy got out his map of the transmission line that showed the line and fences and gates. My gate to the road is shown, but we didn't see a gate on his map on my south fence. That gate isn't even under the transmission line as my fences and gates predates when the power line was created. On his map he also couldn't find the gate to access the line from the neighbor's property. One of the towers is on that neighbor's land so Bonneville should have access to it via his property.
And one can't drive continuously under the power line through gates. If so, then one of the properties across the road from me would have a gate in their fence, and they don't. They also do not have a tower on their land. The towers are on property to the north of that property and that is where the gate is located even though that gate isn't under the power line.
The younger of the two guys told me that they come and check the line each year. He said it in a tone that was condescending.
Yes. And you don't think I know that? (Idiot)
After that I ignored this guy and let him stand, chew his tobacco, and spit while I talked with the older fellow who was in charge.
My point is that while they have access to their towers via the easement, that doesn't give Bonneville the right to drive all over my hayfield when they don't have to. Those lazy guys can get out of their vehicle and walk once in a while.
The older guy said they try not to damage hayfields and he will let the office know my concern. Ya, right. Especially when he was the one who flattened my grass when he didn't have to.
And another thing, they drive through the neighbors' fields with their knapweed, thistle and leafy splurge then drive on my field. No wonder I found weeds along the route they drove in my field this year.
My hay is cut so I let them be on their way as their truck was already through the gate. They stopped at the east tower and took a photo then continued on through my south gate and onto the neighbor's property.
And you know what? Some days later I noticed my gate along the road wasn't closed correctly and then saw more tracks where the grass was flattened. This time the tracks went to the other tower on my property. These guys weren't smart enough to take photos of both towers at the same time! Or they were doing things in a dumb and inefficient manner in order to make work for themselves and justify their jobs? And since I wasn't around this time they didn't close either gate properly. Good thing I hadn't let the cattle into the hayfield for the year.
Bonneville Power is not being a good neighbor and seems to be abusing their easement right.
Monday's ditch find
Monday I picked up recent trash in the ditch along my property.
I found:
Guess I know what someone was doing as they drove down the road along my property this past weekend.
I found:
- an empty condom box ("For her pleasure")
- an empty condom wrapper
- beer cans
- a bag of McDonald's food wrappers and napkins, etc. strewn along the ditch
Guess I know what someone was doing as they drove down the road along my property this past weekend.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Cattle island
The river is dropping quite fast and either today or yesterday the cattle discovered they can cross the river safely, and crossed over to the island.
My sixth sense kicked in yesterday that the cattle may cross the river any day now. I think my sixth sense was a combination of the river level and noticing a slight difference in their grazing pattern. Today I checked and found a majority of them at the NE end of the island.
While at the river I checked the water temperature and found it to be ideal for swimming. As our high temperature today was 91 F, I went for a swim.
I found an interesting rock in the river.
I found a dead fish. It was a decent size fish and seemed to be about 9 inches or more long. The fish was by a bunch of underwater sticks. The fish appeared to have two holes in its side. The river current is not strong so I doubt it got impaled on the sticks. The fish was slippery and it was with great effort that I was able to hold it. I wanted to take it to my neighbor Bob as he is a fisherman and he could tell me what kind of fish it was. However the river bottom is not level and I stepped into a hole and that jarring movement caused me to drop the fish. The water was deeper here and the current stronger and the fish quickly sank out of sight.
Seven cattle had seen me by now. They were in my south pasture and came over to the fence where they could get closest to me. They were still a ways away but I didn't want to give them an idea of where to adventure to next. So I got out of the water.
Later five more cattle came to join the seven. They came up from the lowland where the cattle initially cross to the island. A few minutes later the other 9 came to the NE part of the island. They wanted to join the five on my side on the high bank. But between the high bank and the river being a little deeper this is not a place to cross and they couldn't. But still I was worried one would be a knucklehead and try.
So I went over to the south pasture fence. The cattle on my side of the river came over to me and therefore were no longer directly across from the island. We were on the north side of the NE end of the island. Finally one of the nine figured out they could cross the river on the north side of the NE point of the island. The rest followed. I could see the smaller ones work to cross against the river's current. All made it. Of course there was some bellowing by both groups. I am not sure if it was encouragement, disapproval on getting separated, or bragging on how they crossed the river.
They all came to stand by the fence across from me. No one was hungry. No one was tired. They all stood or milled about or watched me. Number 3 licked my hand as I put it out on the wire for her to smell it. That gets the cattle used to me. A couple cattle gnawed on either an old, old wood pole fastened to the fence or on an old wooden fence post. Both had the orangeish color of moss or lichen or being in the elements for decades.
The mosquitoes were eating me alive so I left them to go check gopher traps. I actually caught one gopher. I knew a few were still up and around as I heard a couple of them chirp their warning today and actually seen one run to its hole yesterday.
Still, I am finding trapping them difficult. I lay the trap and cover surrounding holes with dirt. They seem to be avoiding the traps. I don't know if they are getting ready for hibernation, whether they are few and far between, or whether they are getting smarter. They usually don't re-open the surrounding holes. It is like they pick up and leave, else use a hole or two I hadn't found. Yet, if I move the trap I find most of the holes re-opened several days later.
Sometimes after setting a trap I will find a whole new set of holes a relatively short distance away where there had been no holes earlier. I suppose clearing the pocket gophers out isn't helping as that is giving the gophers room to move.
I don't know. They will be going down soon for the year. On the plus side I don't have to check and reset traps every day. On the minus side is I haven't gotten rid of all of them.
Another reason I know the gophers are not hibernating yet is that yesterday I saw a nice looking eagle circling and circling low over my pasture above the gopher barrens. A nice sight.
My sixth sense kicked in yesterday that the cattle may cross the river any day now. I think my sixth sense was a combination of the river level and noticing a slight difference in their grazing pattern. Today I checked and found a majority of them at the NE end of the island.
While at the river I checked the water temperature and found it to be ideal for swimming. As our high temperature today was 91 F, I went for a swim.
I found an interesting rock in the river.
I found a dead fish. It was a decent size fish and seemed to be about 9 inches or more long. The fish was by a bunch of underwater sticks. The fish appeared to have two holes in its side. The river current is not strong so I doubt it got impaled on the sticks. The fish was slippery and it was with great effort that I was able to hold it. I wanted to take it to my neighbor Bob as he is a fisherman and he could tell me what kind of fish it was. However the river bottom is not level and I stepped into a hole and that jarring movement caused me to drop the fish. The water was deeper here and the current stronger and the fish quickly sank out of sight.
Seven cattle had seen me by now. They were in my south pasture and came over to the fence where they could get closest to me. They were still a ways away but I didn't want to give them an idea of where to adventure to next. So I got out of the water.
Later five more cattle came to join the seven. They came up from the lowland where the cattle initially cross to the island. A few minutes later the other 9 came to the NE part of the island. They wanted to join the five on my side on the high bank. But between the high bank and the river being a little deeper this is not a place to cross and they couldn't. But still I was worried one would be a knucklehead and try.
So I went over to the south pasture fence. The cattle on my side of the river came over to me and therefore were no longer directly across from the island. We were on the north side of the NE end of the island. Finally one of the nine figured out they could cross the river on the north side of the NE point of the island. The rest followed. I could see the smaller ones work to cross against the river's current. All made it. Of course there was some bellowing by both groups. I am not sure if it was encouragement, disapproval on getting separated, or bragging on how they crossed the river.
They all came to stand by the fence across from me. No one was hungry. No one was tired. They all stood or milled about or watched me. Number 3 licked my hand as I put it out on the wire for her to smell it. That gets the cattle used to me. A couple cattle gnawed on either an old, old wood pole fastened to the fence or on an old wooden fence post. Both had the orangeish color of moss or lichen or being in the elements for decades.
The mosquitoes were eating me alive so I left them to go check gopher traps. I actually caught one gopher. I knew a few were still up and around as I heard a couple of them chirp their warning today and actually seen one run to its hole yesterday.
Still, I am finding trapping them difficult. I lay the trap and cover surrounding holes with dirt. They seem to be avoiding the traps. I don't know if they are getting ready for hibernation, whether they are few and far between, or whether they are getting smarter. They usually don't re-open the surrounding holes. It is like they pick up and leave, else use a hole or two I hadn't found. Yet, if I move the trap I find most of the holes re-opened several days later.
Sometimes after setting a trap I will find a whole new set of holes a relatively short distance away where there had been no holes earlier. I suppose clearing the pocket gophers out isn't helping as that is giving the gophers room to move.
I don't know. They will be going down soon for the year. On the plus side I don't have to check and reset traps every day. On the minus side is I haven't gotten rid of all of them.
Another reason I know the gophers are not hibernating yet is that yesterday I saw a nice looking eagle circling and circling low over my pasture above the gopher barrens. A nice sight.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Garden and deer
Tonight I finished weeding my garden. My garden is pathetic. Hardly anything I planted came up.
I have:
I found that 3 sunflower plants also came up on their own and were doing fine until the deer came and ate them. Tonight I found the deer hoof prints in the soft soil next to the little stalks that are left of the sunflowers.
What I was more upset with was the deer ate the leaves of the lower branches on one of my cherry trees. This was the only young fruit tree I had no fence around. I had taken the old broken fence down after having the cattle in the fruit tree area and had not put up a new fence.
A few other fruit trees had a simple couple strands of wire around them and the deer left those trees alone. I know deer can get through fences, but for some reason they won't go through these fences. So that saved a couple other fruit trees.
I placed two strands of wire around the cherry tree until I can select which of my fences I will use around this tree.
@#%* deer!
I have:
- 10 stalks of corn
- 10 green bean plants
- a dozen radishes
- a dozen beets
- 1 pea plant
- a handful of carrots
- a handful of green onions
- 2 parsnips
I found that 3 sunflower plants also came up on their own and were doing fine until the deer came and ate them. Tonight I found the deer hoof prints in the soft soil next to the little stalks that are left of the sunflowers.
What I was more upset with was the deer ate the leaves of the lower branches on one of my cherry trees. This was the only young fruit tree I had no fence around. I had taken the old broken fence down after having the cattle in the fruit tree area and had not put up a new fence.
A few other fruit trees had a simple couple strands of wire around them and the deer left those trees alone. I know deer can get through fences, but for some reason they won't go through these fences. So that saved a couple other fruit trees.
I placed two strands of wire around the cherry tree until I can select which of my fences I will use around this tree.
@#%* deer!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Fence and gate
I got a latch last Thursday, and installed it, completing the rebuild of the short section of fence between my backyard and the hayfield. Finally!
Photo 1: the old fence after the heifer broke it.
Photo 2: after I removed the fence. The "hole" seems wrong.
Photo 1: working on the new fence
Photo 2: completed fence and gate
Here is a the new latch.
Well, another project done. How many more left to go?
Photo 1: the old fence after the heifer broke it.
Photo 2: after I removed the fence. The "hole" seems wrong.
Photo 1: working on the new fence
Photo 2: completed fence and gate
Here is a the new latch.
Well, another project done. How many more left to go?
Saturday, July 19, 2008
2 hikes, 1 long day
What a long day on Saturday!
I got up after 5 am.
Met the hiking group at 7 am.
Was on the first trail to Ptarmigan Tunnel after 10 am.
Got off the second trail to Iceberg Lake at 7:30 pm.
For once, I saw lots of icebergs in the lake.
Saw a humongous moose.
Finished supper at 8:15 pm.
Drove over Logan Pass after 9 pm.
Saw the "day after" full moon rise over the mountains at 11 pm.
Got home after 11 pm.
It is about midnight now and I am ready for bed.
I hiked about 16.5 miles.
I climbed about 3100 ft in elevation.
I took over 200 photos.
I went butt skiing. On purpose. In fact I went really fast butt skiing down the side of a mountain. And survived.
I met a woman who hikes with a group that does "off trail" hikes. Interesting off trail hikes. I plan to hike with them on Wednesday. To the top of some mountain or another. And Brian... last year this group hiked down into the valley above Bird Woman Falls. Wrap your mind around that one!
I had a great time.
Now to get the time to writeup the hike. I have three hikes in front of this one to write up. Where does the time go?
I got up after 5 am.
Met the hiking group at 7 am.
Was on the first trail to Ptarmigan Tunnel after 10 am.
Got off the second trail to Iceberg Lake at 7:30 pm.
For once, I saw lots of icebergs in the lake.
Saw a humongous moose.
Finished supper at 8:15 pm.
Drove over Logan Pass after 9 pm.
Saw the "day after" full moon rise over the mountains at 11 pm.
Got home after 11 pm.
It is about midnight now and I am ready for bed.
I hiked about 16.5 miles.
I climbed about 3100 ft in elevation.
I took over 200 photos.
I went butt skiing. On purpose. In fact I went really fast butt skiing down the side of a mountain. And survived.
I met a woman who hikes with a group that does "off trail" hikes. Interesting off trail hikes. I plan to hike with them on Wednesday. To the top of some mountain or another. And Brian... last year this group hiked down into the valley above Bird Woman Falls. Wrap your mind around that one!
I had a great time.
Now to get the time to writeup the hike. I have three hikes in front of this one to write up. Where does the time go?
Friday, July 18, 2008
Spray, gophers, bird, garden, flat tire
Thursday I sprayed the weeds in the NE pasture. Not that they were bad in the NE pasture as I sprayed and sprayed that pasture last year. This time it took me only three tanks of herbicide to spray the entire pasture. It may sound like a lot but it is much less than last year. Still it took me almost 4 hours of walking and spraying to complete the job.
Even though I have plenty of pasture and weeds left to spray, it feels good to have another section done.
Near the end of my spraying, at the west fence line, I found four new gopher holes. *argh!* I've never had gophers in this area. I got a conibear and a leg hold trap and set them in two holes and covered the other two holes. I'm gonna nip this in the bud before they excavate an entire complex.
I also found a gopher complex I had cleared in the north pasture had half its holes reopened after a week or two of it being cleared of gophers. Man, it never ends.
It has been annoying gopher day. No pocket gophers caught, but half of them had dirt in the traps. In another regular gopher leg hold trap I had caught a bird.
It appeared to be a flicker. Why the bird went in the trap I have no clue. The trap was set near a tree trunk in the entrance to a gopher hole. Why a bird stepped there is a mystery.
It was tricky, but I was able to release the bird without getting pecked. Still, it is not good as I believe its leg is damaged. It didn't fly off. Instead it flopped along the ground and away from me. I moved away from the bird to not further agitate it. I could hear another bird in a tree call to this one.
Then I found another one of my leg hold traps missing. The post that held the trap was laying on the ground a yard or two from the hole. *sigh* Since the hawks haven't been around to feast on the gophers, I have a feeling this gopher was one of the larger ones and with its free three legs was able to pull the trap hard enough to topple the post. I have a feeling I hadn't pushed the post into the ground deep enough as the ground was hard and the mosquitoes were eating me alive when I set the trap.
My only hope is that trap is still large enough that the gopher couldn't get back down a hole. I looked around but could not see anything in the grass and weeds. I will be spraying this area sooner than later and hopefully will come across the trap. Dang. I just found this trap after who knows how long, and a week later I lose it again.
I also weeded 80% of my garden before the mosquitoes forced me to quit. My garden is in sad shape. This is the worse garden I ever had. It seems as if only 10% of what I planted has come up.
Continuing my day's downward spiral I went for a short bicycle ride and got a flat tire. It was a mile walk home. At least the mosquitoes left me alone during my walk.
Even though I have plenty of pasture and weeds left to spray, it feels good to have another section done.
Near the end of my spraying, at the west fence line, I found four new gopher holes. *argh!*
I've never had gophers in this area. I got a conibear and a leg hold trap and set them in two holes and covered the other two holes. I'm gonna nip this in the bud before they excavate an entire complex.I also found a gopher complex I had cleared in the north pasture had half its holes reopened after a week or two of it being cleared of gophers. Man, it never ends.
It has been annoying gopher day. No pocket gophers caught, but half of them had dirt in the traps. In another regular gopher leg hold trap I had caught a bird.
It appeared to be a flicker. Why the bird went in the trap I have no clue. The trap was set near a tree trunk in the entrance to a gopher hole. Why a bird stepped there is a mystery.It was tricky, but I was able to release the bird without getting pecked. Still, it is not good as I believe its leg is damaged. It didn't fly off. Instead it flopped along the ground and away from me. I moved away from the bird to not further agitate it. I could hear another bird in a tree call to this one.
Then I found another one of my leg hold traps missing. The post that held the trap was laying on the ground a yard or two from the hole. *sigh* Since the hawks haven't been around to feast on the gophers, I have a feeling this gopher was one of the larger ones and with its free three legs was able to pull the trap hard enough to topple the post. I have a feeling I hadn't pushed the post into the ground deep enough as the ground was hard and the mosquitoes were eating me alive when I set the trap.
My only hope is that trap is still large enough that the gopher couldn't get back down a hole. I looked around but could not see anything in the grass and weeds. I will be spraying this area sooner than later and hopefully will come across the trap. Dang. I just found this trap after who knows how long, and a week later I lose it again.
I also weeded 80% of my garden before the mosquitoes forced me to quit. My garden is in sad shape. This is the worse garden I ever had. It seems as if only 10% of what I planted has come up.
Continuing my day's downward spiral I went for a short bicycle ride and got a flat tire. It was a mile walk home. At least the mosquitoes left me alone during my walk.
Picnic music: Can't Hardly Playboys
More blues style music was at Wednesday's Picnic in the Park concert series. The band was the Can't Hardly Playboys. The musicians seemed also to be members of other local bands. Their style was Delta Blues with some Americana tossed in. They played everything from Robert Johnson to Willie Dixon to Hank Williams to Bob Dylan to John Sebastien to Poco. Poco? The 70s soft rock band? Whatever. It was a nice change of pace.
The crowd was lighter than usual. Gary was there and we chatted for a while. He bought some raffle tickets. Since the crowd was light, the ticket seller was giving double tickets. I listened for the winning numbers while Gary ran an errand during intermission when the prizes were announced. He didn't win.
I chatted with a woman around my age, and her mother. They lived in the mountains near Kila. At 4300 ft elevation, and no neighbors for 12 miles. You could say... remote. They came in for the concert to get out and see people. The mother said she is a sculptor. I didn't get a chance to ask what she sculpts.
I asked if they had a ranch and she said she was done raising animals. She plans to grow and sell mushrooms. She has some good logs to use and said once she gets them established she can harvest the mushrooms off the logs for seven years. She already has some restaurants lined up as buyers.
Pella Windows, a sponsor of the concert, gave away bright yellow cloth bags. The bag came in handy for me as I was on my bicycle and had some stuff to carry.
The crowd was lighter than usual. Gary was there and we chatted for a while. He bought some raffle tickets. Since the crowd was light, the ticket seller was giving double tickets. I listened for the winning numbers while Gary ran an errand during intermission when the prizes were announced. He didn't win.
I chatted with a woman around my age, and her mother. They lived in the mountains near Kila. At 4300 ft elevation, and no neighbors for 12 miles. You could say... remote. They came in for the concert to get out and see people. The mother said she is a sculptor. I didn't get a chance to ask what she sculpts.
I asked if they had a ranch and she said she was done raising animals. She plans to grow and sell mushrooms. She has some good logs to use and said once she gets them established she can harvest the mushrooms off the logs for seven years. She already has some restaurants lined up as buyers.
Pella Windows, a sponsor of the concert, gave away bright yellow cloth bags. The bag came in handy for me as I was on my bicycle and had some stuff to carry.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Picnic music: Big Daddy and the Blue Notes
Tuesday night the Picnic in the Park concert had as the band, Big Daddy and the Blue Notes. This was a three person band with Big Daddy on lead electric guitar, a bass electric guitarist, and a drummer.
My legs were a little tired from the day's long (17 mile) hike off Blacktail Mountain. While the crowd was a good size, fortunately it wasn't too long before someone left and I was able to sit down on a bench.
The band was loud and it was the older people who were leaving early.
Next to me on the bench, at the left end, was a little old lady. She looked to be in her 70s. Kids attend these concerts and do a lot of running around. It wasn't long after I sat down that several little girls about 4 or 5 years old or so ran by. The little old lady put her leg out and tripped the first girl surprising her - and me. The little girl had a surprised look when she got up, then she ran off. The little old lady then told me that was the tenth time they ran past and she was tired of it.
Okay... I guess "little old nice lady" is not how one would describe her.
Later she remarked to me how loud the band was, and how it was driving the old people away. She said the band's style had changed. She remembered them playing more of a honky tonk style of blues in the past. Their sound now was more of a power blues, a mixture of Chicago blues and other styles.
The first half of the concert was decent, but unremarkable. But after the intermission they came out and played their "A" game. They were very good and were really rocking the blues.
Later in the concert the little old lady said that Smokey Robinson was playing in Sandpoint, Idaho soon and the tickets were $59, which she thought was too expensive. I said it may be because he was playing at a festival and that was the festival price. But she said no, that price was just for his concert at the festival.
She then asked if I was going to attend the annual blues concert/fund raiser this Saturday in Somers, MT. She mentioned she had seen the main act several times in the past and liked her the first time, and was unimpressed the second time. She had hopes for her performance at this concert. She also talked about how she liked Zydeco music.
Shouldn't she be listening to Laurence Welk or something? And... is grandma hitting on me for a date?! Yikes!
No, I have hiking plans and hadn't planned on attending the concert.
Later the fellow at the other end of the bench left and I moved to that end. Not to get away from grandma, but because the person running the soundboard spent much of the time standing up and this blocked my view of half the band. Of course he didn't eat during intermission,but after the intermission was over. To eat he had to move over a bit to reach his food on the table, and again he blocked my view. *grrrr*
The strange guy I seen dance at the previous concerts was here again this night. He wore a lavender shirt and had his leather motorcycle chaps on. No bandannas on his head but he had a red one tucked in my back pants pocket and had a blue one around his neck. He asked several women to dance but couldn't quite get a decent routine going with any of the women.
Usually the kids monopolize the dance floor but not this night. A half dozen women danced off to the left side front. They wanted to shake their 'groove thing'. A guy danced awkwardly a few times with them but he seemed kind of creepy to me. And maybe to the women also as several times another woman cut in on him when he started to concentrate on a single woman. He had 'desperation' written all over him.
For one dance there were a number of couples dancing. Thankfully the men didn't dance long as they couldn't dance and embarrassed all men everywhere. One guy with camera tried taking a picture of his partner while dancing. He was such a bad dancer to begin with, his picture taking didn't hurt his dancing style.
Later a woman with green hair showed up. She and her friend were odd. So the men weren't the only odd people dancing at the concert.
I didn't see anyone I knew though the next day Gary said he was there, but sitting in a different location due to all the people there preventing him from getting his usual location. And I am terrible in picking people out of the crowd.
My legs were a little tired from the day's long (17 mile) hike off Blacktail Mountain. While the crowd was a good size, fortunately it wasn't too long before someone left and I was able to sit down on a bench.
The band was loud and it was the older people who were leaving early.
Next to me on the bench, at the left end, was a little old lady. She looked to be in her 70s. Kids attend these concerts and do a lot of running around. It wasn't long after I sat down that several little girls about 4 or 5 years old or so ran by. The little old lady put her leg out and tripped the first girl surprising her - and me. The little girl had a surprised look when she got up, then she ran off. The little old lady then told me that was the tenth time they ran past and she was tired of it.
Okay... I guess "little old nice lady" is not how one would describe her.
Later she remarked to me how loud the band was, and how it was driving the old people away. She said the band's style had changed. She remembered them playing more of a honky tonk style of blues in the past. Their sound now was more of a power blues, a mixture of Chicago blues and other styles.
The first half of the concert was decent, but unremarkable. But after the intermission they came out and played their "A" game. They were very good and were really rocking the blues.
Later in the concert the little old lady said that Smokey Robinson was playing in Sandpoint, Idaho soon and the tickets were $59, which she thought was too expensive. I said it may be because he was playing at a festival and that was the festival price. But she said no, that price was just for his concert at the festival.
She then asked if I was going to attend the annual blues concert/fund raiser this Saturday in Somers, MT. She mentioned she had seen the main act several times in the past and liked her the first time, and was unimpressed the second time. She had hopes for her performance at this concert. She also talked about how she liked Zydeco music.
Shouldn't she be listening to Laurence Welk or something? And... is grandma hitting on me for a date?! Yikes!
No, I have hiking plans and hadn't planned on attending the concert.
Later the fellow at the other end of the bench left and I moved to that end. Not to get away from grandma, but because the person running the soundboard spent much of the time standing up and this blocked my view of half the band. Of course he didn't eat during intermission,but after the intermission was over. To eat he had to move over a bit to reach his food on the table, and again he blocked my view. *grrrr*
The strange guy I seen dance at the previous concerts was here again this night. He wore a lavender shirt and had his leather motorcycle chaps on. No bandannas on his head but he had a red one tucked in my back pants pocket and had a blue one around his neck. He asked several women to dance but couldn't quite get a decent routine going with any of the women.
Usually the kids monopolize the dance floor but not this night. A half dozen women danced off to the left side front. They wanted to shake their 'groove thing'. A guy danced awkwardly a few times with them but he seemed kind of creepy to me. And maybe to the women also as several times another woman cut in on him when he started to concentrate on a single woman. He had 'desperation' written all over him.
For one dance there were a number of couples dancing. Thankfully the men didn't dance long as they couldn't dance and embarrassed all men everywhere. One guy with camera tried taking a picture of his partner while dancing. He was such a bad dancer to begin with, his picture taking didn't hurt his dancing style.
Later a woman with green hair showed up. She and her friend were odd. So the men weren't the only odd people dancing at the concert.
I didn't see anyone I knew though the next day Gary said he was there, but sitting in a different location due to all the people there preventing him from getting his usual location. And I am terrible in picking people out of the crowd.
Alaskan cruise and passport
My hiking friend Gary planned on going on an Alaskan cruise with friends of his when one guy dropped out. In the past I had mentioned an interest in going on a cruise so he asked if I wanted to come along. This way he would have someone to share the room and wouldn't have to pay a surcharge for having the room to himself.
Initially the cruise was in August so I said no as I would still have cattle then.
Then their cruise was changed to early September at the women's requests. I checked with Dan and he plans to take his cattle out and sell them by then. So I told Gary, yes.
Gary booked the cruise for us. The travel agent then mentioned passports were required as we had two stops in Canada. Gary thought I had a passport because of my previous travels. But my passport had expired since moving to Montana. Since passports were required, and I heard it took a long time to get one's passport, I told him to cancel me, or find another person to share the room, as I didn't want to chance not getting my passport in time.
Then Gary learned one of the women didn't have a passport either, was getting one, and would get it in time for the cruise. So I changed my mind again and said I would get a passport and go.
All I had to do was renew my passport. But then I learned there was 15 year window in passport renewals. 15 years from when one first got the passport, or 15 years from when it expired? It was 15 years and two weeks since I first got my passport. 2 weeks!
So I told Gary I would check with the passport people. I didn't want to try to renew my passport only to have it rejected, then have no time to get another passport.
I contacted the passport people via their 1-800 number and learned the 15 year window was from when the passport was issued. I was 2 weeks too late to renew my passport.
That meant I had to go to the post office and fill out an application. My old passport was good for proof of citizenship.
Today I rode my bicycle to the post office after the Picnic in the Park concert was over. I needed two passport photos. My old passport photos were of me from long ago, and I didn't recognize that person with long hair and a beard: a young person with hair. The post office took passport photos for $15. I rode over to Walgreen's where they took the photos for $7.99.
I filled out my passport application, wrote a check for $75 to the State Department, and another check for $25 to the Post office. When one renews a passport it only costs the $75 to the State Department and one sends their old passport directly to them. A new passport requires someone to look over your filled in application for $25 more dollars. Okay....
They promised I would get my passport in no more than four weeks. Plenty of time for my cruise.
Now let's see what else will be a hassle...
Also, because of mom's health, I am considering getting travel insurance for an extra $60. Supposedly it costs $50,000 to helicopter someone off a cruise ship.
Initially the cruise was in August so I said no as I would still have cattle then.
Then their cruise was changed to early September at the women's requests. I checked with Dan and he plans to take his cattle out and sell them by then. So I told Gary, yes.
Gary booked the cruise for us. The travel agent then mentioned passports were required as we had two stops in Canada. Gary thought I had a passport because of my previous travels. But my passport had expired since moving to Montana. Since passports were required, and I heard it took a long time to get one's passport, I told him to cancel me, or find another person to share the room, as I didn't want to chance not getting my passport in time.
Then Gary learned one of the women didn't have a passport either, was getting one, and would get it in time for the cruise. So I changed my mind again and said I would get a passport and go.
All I had to do was renew my passport. But then I learned there was 15 year window in passport renewals. 15 years from when one first got the passport, or 15 years from when it expired? It was 15 years and two weeks since I first got my passport. 2 weeks!
So I told Gary I would check with the passport people. I didn't want to try to renew my passport only to have it rejected, then have no time to get another passport.
I contacted the passport people via their 1-800 number and learned the 15 year window was from when the passport was issued. I was 2 weeks too late to renew my passport.
That meant I had to go to the post office and fill out an application. My old passport was good for proof of citizenship.
Today I rode my bicycle to the post office after the Picnic in the Park concert was over. I needed two passport photos. My old passport photos were of me from long ago, and I didn't recognize that person with long hair and a beard: a young person with hair. The post office took passport photos for $15. I rode over to Walgreen's where they took the photos for $7.99.
I filled out my passport application, wrote a check for $75 to the State Department, and another check for $25 to the Post office. When one renews a passport it only costs the $75 to the State Department and one sends their old passport directly to them. A new passport requires someone to look over your filled in application for $25 more dollars. Okay....
They promised I would get my passport in no more than four weeks. Plenty of time for my cruise.
Now let's see what else will be a hassle...
Also, because of mom's health, I am considering getting travel insurance for an extra $60. Supposedly it costs $50,000 to helicopter someone off a cruise ship.
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