My neighbor Curtis

My neighbor Curtis died last Wednesday December 11.   It was a surprise, but also not a surprise.

I've seen Curtis off-and-on over the years.  The last I saw Curtis was near the end of October.  In hindsight I think it was that day or the next when he got ill.  I didn't know back then. It was when I was being an election judge for the election.  Then the cattle, then the weather changed, and snow fell.   I see Curtis less in bad weather as he isn't working outside.  Then the end of November, the beginning of December, my neighbor Jan said Curtis was ill and she hadn't seen him in quite a while even though she had left food for him at his door a few times.  I worked/talked with Jan and my neighbor Russ and we briefly talked with Curtis on the phone.  Curtis sounded bad but at least he gave us the phone number of a couple who were his close friends and also were his trustees.  We talked with them and they were looking out for Curtis, and that Curtis wanted to be left alone while he recovered.   That's Curtis.

So we kept an eye out for Curtis and hoped he was recovering.  But also Curtis doesn't believe in doctors and wouldn't go see a doctor.  When Curtis was ill for almost a week this past Summer he wouldn't go see a doctor, even after he recovered.  I suggested over and over the time afterwards that he should see a doctor.  I stopped saying that for a while as he would get annoyed and I didn't want him to stop talking with me.

So that is why it was a surprise, but not a surprise.  Overall he seemed to be in decent health other than his illness this Summer. So a surprise he died.  But no doctor visit, so not a surprise.

No funeral, but today there was a graveside service for Curtis.  He was buried in a cemetery west of Kalispell.  This cemetery was created in 1895.  It is not large and there are only a small number of plots left.  The grass is native grass. The grass is not mowed and is all natural.    Russ has family members buried there.  Curtis had seen the cemetery in the past when he and Russ stopped there.  Curtis liked the cemetery.  

Curtis had a natural burial.  That is, no coffin.  This cemetery apparently is the only cemetery in Flathead County that allows a natural burial.

Curtis was laying in his grave when we got there.  The funeral home prefers that instead of having people watch a body carried/laid into a grave.  He was under a sheet.  I was told he was dressed with his motorcycle vest as Curtis liked to ride his motorcycle and almost always wore his vest when he did so.   And buried holding his bible as Curtis was a religious man in his later years. 

There was short service and then people shared a few stories about Curtis.  There were only about a dozen of us there.   After the service was over, I and many others used shovels and took turns helping the gravedigger put the dirt back into the grave and cover Curtis.

His close friends and I are going to miss Curtis.

Curtis helping Donna and I with a new calf back in March 2022.

Farm auction

Today I went to a farm auction a few miles down the road.  Not common these days as there are less farms around.  And in December of all times.

They had irrigation pipes at the auction and I hoped to buy some more to have another backup line.  They had 500 irrigation pipes.  Handline irrigation pipes.  People these days use wheel lines or pivot lines for irrigation if they can. Handlines are work and not as poplar. Who wants handline pipes these days?   So I thought I would be able to get some of the pipes.  Especially with that many as they sold in around 12 lots from 33 to 100 pipes in each lot.   But a number of people showed up.  And they wanted irrigation pipes.  I was outbid time after time.  I can get some pipes from my irrigation guy for $45 a pipe.  Many of the pipes sold for around $50 or more.  And the valves and fittings sold for a lot.  Everyone I talked to were surprised the pipes sold for so much for used pipes.  $10 more than they expected for each pipe.

They also had some farm equipment for auction.  Nothing I needed or wanted, but it was interesting to see for what tractors and other farm equipment sold for.   Again, for lots.

Pretty much all the other ranchers and irrigation people I know in the valley were there and I caught up with what was going on with them.

I drove my Ford two-wheel drive pickup.  We have had only 6 or so inches of snow so far and some melted. So not much snow. We had to park in a field.   And my pickup had a little trouble in spots.  I didn't have a shovel along with me and at one point when I couldn't move forward or backwards I was fortunate to have two men push as I tried to go backwards, and after a few attempts I was able to go.

A nice day even if I didn't get any items at the auction.

Some of the irrigation pipes.

Inversions

For the last week or more the entire valley has been under an inversion.   No sign of blue sky or sun the entire time.   On occasion one can see the stars during the night, but that's it. The little benefit from an inversion is that while the temperature doesn't really rise during the day, at night it doesn't get too cold.   The last few days the inversion intensified.  Now fog came in and ice fog.  All day today the roads and most everything was iced and slippery.

The ski resort opened on the 5th.   Here are pictures from up there on that day.  As you can see no clouds and blue sky above the inversion layer.   The weather forecast has wind and rain/snow this weekend.  And the prediction is the inversion will leave.  I hope so.  I miss seeing blue sky.

Salt and mineral licks for the cattle

Black Friday discounts, so I bought salt blocks, a bloat block, and tubs of mineral lick for my cattle for next year.   In the past I ran out of salt blocks during the year, so last year I bought lots of them.  I still had 8 salt blocks left this year.  Still, I bought 6 more blocks to be safe I have enough.

Usually I buy them at the Murdochs Ranch store.  But this year we also got a Tractor's Supply store in part of the old Kmart building.  I stopped there.  They were cheaper than Murdochs.  So I bought the salt blocks there, and also the mineral lick tubs.  Tractor Supply didn't have any bloat blocks.  So I went to Murdochs to get a bloat block.   Lots of people at Murdochs.  I had to drive around until someone pulled out of a parking spot.  Crowded in the store.   Most crowded of anywhere I went on Black Friday.

Then back to Tractor's Supply.  Their mineral lick is a different brand than Murdochs.  After comparing the mineral percentage I went for the ones at Tractor Supply.  The Tractor Supply's tub is 200 pounds, not 250 pounds of the Vitalix mineral tubs.  But the Tractor Supply's price was a little less than half the price of the Vitalix.   So I bought 2 tubs for the cattle.

I ended up putting an old Vitalix covering on the Tractor Supply's tub.  When driving home the cardboard flew out of the one tub.  I then put something on the other tub to make sure the other cardboard wouldn't fly out of that tub.