Momma and Tammy and apples

Momma and Baby still swings by daily to get apples from me or Tammy.

1:08 long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Zk5VfOPPU


Here they are heading out after eating the apples.

Several auctions and a fundraiser

Today I went to two auctions today and didn't get anything.  More importantly I didn't spend all day getting nothing.

The first auction was of a business in Columbia Falls that recycled items from home or business remodels.   The stuff they had mostly was suited for the dump.  Who in this day and age wants a lime green sink and bathtub?  No wonder that business was going under.

I was in and out of that auction pretty quick.  It had taken me longer to drive there.

The second auction was south of Kalispell off of the Willow Glen road.   By the time I got there at noon the auction had been going for three hours.  They had lots of stuff left.  When I was there they were mainly selling guns, paintings and some miscellaneous stuff mixed in.  Lots of stuff was left in the garage and more stuff was in and around another large building.  I saw several metal water troughs, two nice looking 1/2 hp water pumps, and a pile of 8 ft metal t-posts.   All these items were outlining three different rows at the south, north and west edges of stuff to be sold.  In other words, it would be hours before this stuff would be auctioned.   I had things to do so I didn't make an afternoon of it.  Besides lots of people were at the auction and quite a number of people brought folding chairs.

Some of the crowd.

Seal skin boots

Two carriages for sale

Sleigh

Old Maytag washing machine

Later in the day I talked with my neighbor.  He also was at the auction - just not the short time I was there.  He bought a back blade for his tractor.  He said the water troughs were all lumped together in one sale but didn't know what they sold for.  By then the auctioneer was just trying to get done.  Not everything was sold and by the end the auctioneer asked people to bring up stuff they were interested in, else the remaining stuff would wait until Spring when another auction was planned for more stuff the people had.

On the way home from the auction I drove by the Boys and Girls Club building where they were having a fundraiser.  Tammy and her new Tastefully Simple consultant, Serena, had a table there to sell their product.

Serena's daughter dressed up in a mascot outfit and entertained people or attracted attention to people driving by.  She was a kangaroo or a dragon or whatever your imagination pictured her as.

Baby and a garden hose

What's with cattle and garden hoses?   The adult cattle seem to like to pull the garden hose out of the water trough, and now I see my little-over-a-month-old baby calf doing the same thing as soon as I put the hose into the water trough.  You can see that in the video below.


Earlier Momma had come from the pasture to the water trough - and to score a few apples as she saw me working in the back yard.  Baby woke up while Momma was at the water trough and came running from back in the pasture.  She was on the other side of the barb wire fence and ran along the fence to try to get to Momma.  She ran north until she came to the corner with the middle pasture fence.  Then she ran south.  I thought she would run all the way to the open gate but she stopped short and ran back and forth along the fence several times.  Finally she crawled through the barb wire fence and then raced across the pasture.

Momma and the water trough is west of the house but Baby ran to the south of the house then stopped.  Huh?!  She looked and looked for Momma but didn't look out way.  I had to call to Baby to get her attention.  Then she came over to us.  Baby bleated as she came to us.  Apparently she was complaining to Momma about being left alone in the pasture.

After eating the apples and drinking water Momma and Baby left to go to the fence by the road.  After Baby fed from Momma she laid down.   Later Tammy and I noticed Momma had walked back to the east side of the pasture to eat.  Baby was in the hayfield looking for Momma, and once she saw Momma, Baby trotted over to her.  Almost.   There was a barb wire fence in Baby's way.   So Baby walked back and forth along the barb wire fence.

The neighbor to the south has a herd of horses in the pasture and Baby would get distracted looking at the horses.  Or distracted with something else.  Then back and forth along the fence.

*sigh*      "Baby, go to the open gate."

Having seen Baby's "Houdini barb wire" trick earlier, I was afraid she would go through the fence to the horses as Momma was not paying any attention to her.  But eventually Baby slipped through the fence and went over to join Momma.

I'm not too keen on Baby learning to slip though barb wire fences.  In my experience, once cattle learn something, they don't forget.

And I hope Baby doesn't develop "abandonment issues".

The video of Baby and Momma is 1:31 long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7GN-a5Rri4

Shower start

Today Kevin had a break while waiting for material to dry in a bathroom he was working on down the road.  So he came over and laid the thin-set on the shower floor, the first step in building the shower pan.

The next steps are to build a curb (or threshold) and to lay a shower pan liner.  When my uncles Curt and Larry were here in May to help me with the bathroom, my uncle Curt lobbied for me to use Kerdi as a shower liner.  (http://www.ontariotile.com/kerdi-showerpan.html).   However Kevin is more comfortable using a shower pan liner and that is the way it will be done.

As you can see my shower drain is not in the center of the shower floor.  That is due to how the drains, pipes and studs are located under the floor.  Kevin will handle the shower floor slope accordingly.  All sides of the floor will be the same height so the slope in the corner to the closest to the drain will be greater than elsewhere, but according to Kevin, easily manageable.

I never noticed it before but the shower head and handle installed by my uncles are not centered on the wall.  When checking the planned tile placement Kevin started under the shower handle as he likes to start in the middle of the wall and work outward.  We found the shower head and handle to be 17 inches from the outside wall and 14 inches from the inside wall.  As I mentioned I hadn't noticed the head and handle were not centered,  I just hope that once the tiles are installed and there are lines on the wall that the off-centered aspect still won't really be noticeable.

I guess the off-centered aspect is another feature of the shower head and handle.  While I was soldering the water pipes in the crawl space, my uncles soldered the water pipes to the shower head and handle.  After they were done we discovered they had installed the shower control upside down.   The handle has to be attached to the top of the control unit and not the bottom.  The handle is supposed to turn from cold to hot.  The handle now turns from hot to cold.  So I will have to warn all guests that cold and hot are reversed.  I just don't have the desire to cut and remove the three water pipes going and coming from the control unit, removing the unit from the wall, attaching and re-soldering the three pipes in the correct position through the floor and up to the shower head and re-installing the unit into the wall.  So I will live with an upside down shower.

I also learned the tiles on the end walls didn't go as I had hoped.  The wall is a little over 31 inches wide.  The walls are the widest I could make them and still open the bathroom door completely.  The tiles are sold as 6 inches wide.  Add in the grout line between the tiles and I felt I could place five complete 6 inch tiles on the wall.  A quarter inch grout line between tiles and I would be able to set the tiles without cutting any tiles.  My uncle Curt felt I should make the wall a little shorter as I was risking cutting tiles and having a narrow line of tiles go up the wall.  I couldn't see how that could happen and made the narrow shower wall the widest I could.

We are going to have to cut tiles. Just like a 2 by 4 board is not really 2 inches by 4 inches, tiles are not their advertized size.  I learned the 6 inch tiles are actually 5 and 3/4 inch.   And Kevin prefers a narrower grout line, something closer to an 1/8 inch than a 1/4 inch.  A sixth tile will have to be cut.  How much it will be cut will be determined once we start.  If the shower head and handle were centered we would trim some off each of the two end tiles to make it look balanced, but since the head and handle are not centered we may only trim one tile.

Since the tiles were not 6 inches my calculations on how many tiles I needed were off and I had to get three more boxes.  Fortunately Lowes still had this style of tile in stock.

We were also able to buy some 12 inch (whatever the true size is) tiles in the same style. Discussing the tiles with Kevin we decided to change up the tiles for the bench and use 12 inch tiles on it.  We also are going to have several soap and shampoo dishes built into the wall and we will use 12 inch tiles on them.

Tammy got the idea of using our accent/border tile strips on the bench too.  That didn't turn out well as Lowes no longer had this style in stock and have discontinued carrying them.    We were able to find several similar colors and styles and may use them once the tiling begins.

Kevin will be back next week to work on the shower once he finishes the job he is currently working on.

New pasture, milk mustache, same old

This morning I let Momma and Baby go into the south pasture.  The hayfield is pretty dried up and the south pasture still has green grass.  Momma and Baby were in the vicinity of the gate so the time was right.  I wanted them to see me open the gate to let them in, and I wanted both of them go into the pasture together.  I didn't want Baby to wake up from a nap and not be able to find Momma because she was in the pasture.

I wish I had brought my camera with me as Baby was a bundle of energy to check out the new pasture.  Momma was just glad to get new green grass.  Initially Baby stuck her head through the barb wire fence instead of following Momma through the gate. But she quickly realized going through the gate was better than crawling through the fence.  Once in the pasture Baby ran here and there.  She stood by the barb wire fence and stared at the hayfield. It looked just a little different when viewed through the barb wire fence.  Then she ran to Momma, then ran elsewhere.  Baby kept her distance from me.  Momma briefly walked up to me.  I would like to think she was saying thanks, but she probably was just checking to see if I had any apples for her.

I figured they would be in the pasture all day.  Tammy missed seeing them in the pasture when she got home from work.  However they showed up a little later for their usual late afternoon apples from Tammy.  Also the salt blocks are still by the house.  Tammy noticed white all over baby's face and wondered what she got into.  Then she realized Baby had a huge milk mustache. She said it was soooo cute.   She came into the house to get her camera.  Unfortunately Momma and Baby had left by the time she got back outside with her camera.

This evening after sunset Momma and Baby were back along the fence by the road like usual.  I suppose it is just as well they spend the night there, especially as Momma taught Baby not to go through the fence and onto the road anymore.  A few days ago I saw some strange purplish scat with berries in the south pasture.  Usually berry laden scat this time of year is bear scat, but this looks like coyote scat.  I guess coyotes have been eating chokecherries and other berries.

Harvesting Potatoes

It's potato harvesting time. Last week the potato trucks started running to the warehouse down the road.  The trucks run six days a week all day for quite a few weeks.  That's a lot of potatoes.

Last week I dug up for Bob and Jan, their potatoes and onions. I had planted the potatoes and onions for them late Spring this year.  They gave me half of the produce.  The potatoes are two varieties: reds and Yukon Gold.  Yum.  Tammy and I already ate some of the really small potatoes in a crockpot meal she had made.

Baby is fine

The next morning found Momma and Baby fine in the hayfield.  The coyotes may have made a lot of noise last night but they didn't harm Momma or Baby.   Tonight the coyotes are howling back across the river.

Howling coyote

Tonight well after dark I heard a coyote howling.  Instead of howling on the ridge across the river, the coyote was howling loudly somewhere in the SW part of the hayfield.  Wow.  Close. That's unusual.  The coyote quit howling after I clapped loudly to make noise.

I hope Momma and Baby are sleeping along the road like they usually do. Lately Baby has been full of energy and has been running here and there in the hayfield.  But I don't think she is fast enough yet to outrun a coyote.

I'll see in the light of the morning if Baby is ok.

Harvesting apples

We have had a very nice Fall.  A week or two ago it froze several nights in a row with a record low of 24 F one morning.  The frosts sweetened up the apples while the nice weather during the day allowed the apples to keep growing and turning red.  So I let them stay on the tree. Until today when I picked all the apples.

I got tired of the deer getting to the apples that fell from the tree before I did.  Last night Tammy and I got back home after dark after setting up the room for her Women's Expo today.  I only found four apples and most of them had been chomped on by the deer.

The apples I had gathered earlier and kept in a bucket in the patio to feed to Momma were found by the deer the other morning.  I found a number of half eaten apples around the bucket.  It seems as if the deer ate a third of the bucket of apples. 

I filled three five gallon pails with apples.  Now I need to go through them to weed out the ruined apples to give to Momma.

Another reason to pick the apples:  the black wasps and ants were busy feasting on the apples on the tree.  Ya... not a pretty sight.  Two more apples for Momma.

Caterpillar bands

I've seen a few woolly bear caterpillars the past week.  Apparently it is just folklore that they can predict the upcoming Winter.

http://www.almanac.com/content/predicting-winter-weather-woolly-bear-caterpillars

Supposedly the wider the brown band the milder the Winter.  I don't know... is this caterpillar's brown band narrow or just average?

Filling in stump 3 hole

Back in August I finally filled in the hole from Tammy and my last tree stump bonfire.  I planned on filling in the hole sooner but the horse kicking me over three weeks prior delayed that.   I was recovering nicely and felt well enough to fill in the hole on a Wednesday.  Encouraging me to fill in the hole now is that it had rained a little over the previous night so that helped keep the dust down as I shoveled the dirt back into the hole.  This time of the year is dry and moving dirt gets pretty dusty.

It took me all day to fill the hole in.  First I had to haul off the unburned tree branches and boards from my bathroom remodel.  That was easier said than done.  Unfortunately the branches and boards were placed next to the dirt pile before I was done digging out the stump.  When I finished the digging around the stump I found the dirt had now covered part of the branches and boards.  So they didn't get burnt and I had to dig them out of the dirt and move them elsewhere.

Also slowing me down was that I found broken glass among the boards and dirt.  I have no idea where the glass came from as I don't remember any glass from my bathroom remodel.  I kept finding broken glass pieces no matter how much I combed through the dirt.  I have a fear I'll find more broken pieces for some time to come.

I try to avoid delaying refilling the holes because dirt hardens the longer it sits.  Unfortunately I dug almost half the stump last Fall.  The rest of the stump was dug over a month ago and even that dirt had hardened. The cattle walking all over the dirt hill also packed it down.  So I had to dig the dirt before tossing it back into the hole.   The idea of buying a tractor with a loader sounds more appealing to me.

It was dark Wednesday night by the time I had filled all the dirt back into the hole.  Thursday morning with more light I was able to finish the dirt work to make everything smooth.

Stump bonfire 3 for 2012

Back on Sunday July 22 Tammy and had our third bonfire of 2012.

This was another stump I had half dug around last Fall and then finished the dig this Spring.   As you can see this was a big stump.

We didn't get to the tree stump until after dark.  Then we had to fill the hole around the stump with boards, branches and paper.  A little tricky to do in the dark.  I didn't think I over filled the hole but after the fire got going - it really got going.

Oopppsss.... looks like I filled the hole with too much starter material. 


Here is how the stump looked when the fire started to die down.

After over three hours of burning there wasn't much of the stump left.

The next morning the entire stump was burnt. I guess it pays to dig lots around the stump before burning.  Here is how it looked the next day.

Now to fill all the dirt back into the hole.


Here is a 4 minute 7 second video of various times during the stump burning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Roa8mBHjzck&feature=youtu.be

Spraying, apples, and a jailbreak

Today I finished spraying the pastures.  All the pastures.  Wow. This is the first time I have sprayed 100% of the property.  (I'm not counting the thumb as that is mainly trees).  It took me long enough as I started waaay back the end of July.  I didn't spray every day, but I did more often than not spray a little each day.

The north pasture was sprayed twice and most of the middle pasture was sprayed twice as I often crossed it when going to spray the south pasture.

Lots of dead weeds in the pastures now.   Hopefully most of the weeds will be gone for good and next year the time I will spend spraying will be less than a week instead of over a month and a half.   We can dream can't we?

Wow.  It's hard to believe I am done spraying for the year.  Now what will I do with my time?   ...yeah right.


Each evening I have to pick up the apples that have fallen to the ground.  Else the deer eat them.  Lately I have had to get the apples earlier as the deer caught on and started coming to the apple tree around sunset.  A few days last week I surprised a deer eating my apples.  The deer was so surprised that it dropped a half eaten apple then ran.  By checking the apples earlier I am now finding more apples on the ground.


Baby was up to her tricks this morning.  I heard the horses making a noise at the corral gate and went outside to see Baby in the backyard.

She was rechecking stuff she had seen before.   Momma was relaxed but when Baby ranged far she would make her "meep" mooing sounds.  When Baby got close to the corral gate and the horses Momma really voiced her concern.

Is this where I got through the fence?   Noooo...

Three minute forty-six second video of Baby's latest jailbreak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmu00Ne1kiE


What with all her jailbreaks, my Uncle Curt thinks we should call Baby, "Houdini".

Momma, Baby, Horse, Apples

Saturday Momma and Baby were by the fence where Momma was eating apples.

"Apple, Please."

"What are these things?"

"Wow.  You sure are tall!"

2 minutes 46 seconds of Momma, Baby, Horses, and eating apples.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYU0ddyb-D4&feature=youtu.be

Momma and Firefeather

The other day I gave Momma some apples.  Firefeather came over and wanted some of the apples.  Momma didn't share.  Instead she gave Firefeather a kiss.