Fruit trees and bushes

Here are some photos of the trees in the fruit tree area, and also the front yard.   No photos of the apple trees.  They are doing fine.

Apricot trees.   I don't know why, but these are all the leaves that tree has this year.   Never had a problem with leaves on this tree before.

This is the other apricot tree.   It is the same age as the previous tree - over 15 years old.   But a few years into its life it was damaged.  I saved it. But, since then it grows each year, but not really taller.

BuffaloBerry tree.

Service berry tree / bush.   It has come back.   A few years ago I burnt the grass in the Spring.   The fire damaged and set back the bush.

The larger pear tree.  It is doing well.  I had pruned it back a few years ago.

The other pear tree.   The cattle got through the fence and ate most of its leaves a few years ago.  Since then it has struggled to grow.  Each year it gets smaller.  I may dig it up and get rid of it this year.

My two cherry trees.  Over 15 years old.   Don't know why but each year the past number of years the trees get smaller.   I think I will dig them up and get rid of them this year.

A plum tree I got a few years ago.   Another tree that stays alive but doesn't really grow much.

My rhubarb.  Each year I need to weed the grass away from the plants.  On the to-do list this year.

The caragana trees near the front.  They do well each year.

The black walnut tree in the fruit tree area.   The black walnut trees grow real slow.   This is a younger tree.  10 years?

The black walnut tree in the front yard.  This tree is over 10, maybe over 15, years old.  Again, a really slow growing tree.

The other black walnut tree in the front yard.  This is a younger tree.  10 years?

One of my hazelnut bushes.   They grow, but not much.  Never got any hazelnuts from them.

Steel to aluminum

Finally. After three or four years trying to get our schedules in sync on this matter, yesterday afternoon I worked with Myron and we made aluminum irrigation pipes to replace my 21-foot steel mainline irrigation pipes.  I no longer have to carry the 61 pound steel pipes across the hayfield to set up my mainline for irrigation.

I have 10 valves settings.  9 of them had 21-foot steel pipes matched with 40-foot aluminum pipes.  The tenth valve was made up with three 21-foot steel sections.  So Myron cut some of his old 30-foot aluminum pipes down to 21-feet.  For the last valve we used two 30-foot sections of pipe. One 30-foot section had a valve attached.  8 out of the 9 21-foot section had a valve attached.   Myron didn't have any more extra valves but that was ok as one of my 40-foot sections of pipe had a valve on it. 

Now the valves we added, plus my current 40-foot section with a valve, are 4 valves.  That is because the mainline is 4 inches.  On my 4 inch steel mainline pipes the valves are 3 inches.  They made the valves different back then.   I didn't want to buy new 3 inch valves for the aluminum sections as that would have cost a lot more for each valve.   Instead, I bought two new 4 by 3 valve openers to use with these 4 inch valves.   For the rest of my steel pipes that lay in the pasture and I don't move, I will use my old 3 by 3 valve openers.

Today Myron brought over the aluminum pipes.  He ordered two new valve openers as the two he had on hand had the "bump" hook mechanism.  Most of my pipes have the Western (triangle) hook mechanism.  I can mix the two hook styles but then I have to make sure the pipe's hook is long enough, and the hook has more of an angle, for the bump mechanism.  I prefer the triangle hook mechanism - long or short hooks work on those mechanisms.

So this year moving my mainline irrigation pipes will be a lot easier as the 21-foot aluminum pipes are way lighter.  The 21-foot steel pipes were about twice as heavy as the 40-foot aluminum pipes I had, and the 21-foot aluminum pipes are even lighter.

This cost me over a thousand dollars but it is worth it.

Newer pipes.

Once again, cattle and wooden feeder

Hay in the metal feeder.  No hay in the wooden feeder.  That didn't stop the cows from messing with the wooden feeder.  Maybe now that the boards are drying and shrinking they are not tight in the feeder and the cows can mess with them.   This afternoon I found all the boards out of the floor.  And the side board and tree branch were messed up also.  Why do the cows do this?  Are they that bored?

I spent time nailing the side board back to the feeder wall.  I did leave the branch under the side board.  Why not.  Then I put all the floorboards back in place.  Now that they dried and shrunk a little, I replaced the narrower board with the previous board.  Still not a tight floor, but maybe not as loose as before so the cows won't be able to mess with the boards again.  We'll see.

Rusty and face paint

When Donna and Edward came to help me herd the cattle back into the corral a few days ago they brought Rusty along with them. Earlier Edward put mascara or some makeup on Rusty's face.  Fake eyebrows and a moustache.  Days earlier Rusty had been running through tall grass and weeds on Donna's place and his chest and belly got color.  That color has mostly faded by now.

Rusty didn't want to sit still for a photo so we got this homeless guy to hold Rusty on his lap for some photos.

Cattle and wooden feeder

This morning I noticed the cattle "worked on" the wooden feeder in the corral.  Last evening I had placed some hay from Haynes' bale into this feeder to entice the cattle into the corral after their jailbreak.  The cattle ate the hay then did a number on the feeder.

Some cow must have stepped into the feeder.  Two boards were cracked/split and I had to re-nail them back together.  In the photo look where I placed a cut tree branch.  That is to hold up the side boards that hold the floorboards to the feeder and off the ground.  The side boards had been pushed down to the ground on that side and some of the floorboards were scattered about.  For now it was easier and quicker to use a tree branch to hold the side boards up.  Re-positioning the feeder and re-nailing the side boards will take an effort and more time.  I just wanted to put some more hay in the feeder and get the cattle from the extended corral and into the main corral.  I planned to put a large hay bale in the extended corral later that afternoon.

When I put the floorboards back in place they wouldn't fit.  The recent rains had swelled the boards up even more and I had to replace one board with a narrower board. So again there is a gap in the floorboards.  I find that small amount of hay will slip through the gaps.  Last week I removed a couple floorboards so the cows could reach the hay remnants on the ground.  Of course the cows then decided to check under other floorboards and pushed a number around looking for hay under them.

Cattle jailbreak extended corral

Late this afternoon, as I got back from my bicycle ride and approached the ranch, I heard Haynes mooing.  I looked over and saw the cows were starting to go into the north pasture.  They had got a metal t-post out of the ground and broke the twine holding it to the corral panel.  And they had broken the two pieces of twine holding the end of the corral panel to a railroad tie.  They pushed two pieces of corral panels out until they were able to get out of the extended corral.

I couldn't easily get them back into the extended corral so I called Donna for help.  She and Edward came and helped me herd the cows and calves back into the corral.  It wasn't too hard to do except for two calves.  They went left and not right.  I had to re-herd them.  One calf was fairly easy to herd into the corral.  The second calf, who now needed to turn left and not right, kept turning right.  Over and over I went to herd the calf.  Edward and Donna watched that the cows and calves did not come back out of the corral as they wanted to.  Finally I got the calf to turn left and go into the corral.

I fixed the extended corral breakout area.  I added another metal t-post and more twine.  It needs to hold for a week as next weekend they will be let out to the grass.   Donna wanted me to let them out on the grass now.  But Haynes was not happy the cows were out on the grass and he wanted to join them, and I don't want him with the cows until June 1.  And the start of being-on-the-grass is to eat my yard grass down first, and I'm not ready for that yet.

Back into the extended corral.  They are standing near where they had broken out before.  They are trying to figure out how to do it again.

Feeder repair and missing steer

This morning I found the cows had pushed a board off the wooden hay feeder.  Always something with those cows.  I fixed the feeder.   Then I gave them some hay in the feeder.  I also herded 12 of the 13 calves into the loading corral to eat grass.  The other calf want to stay near her mother.  Then I went off to a dental appointment.  Hours later when I got back I let the calves out of the loading corral.  They immediately when to drink from their mothers.

This afternoon I got a call from someone I know who pastures her feeder calves down the road past Donna's place.   Last Saturday four steers and one heifer got out and away from the pasture.  The heifer was in crazy heat and broke out.  The steers followed.  They got three steers back into the pasture.  Later the heifer showed up on her own back to the pasture.  They are still missing the steer.  They had looked and looked for it.  So now she called me in case the steer really went far and came down to visit my cattle.  Nope.  But I will talk to my neighbors and keep a lookout for the steer.

Haynes and calves

Haynes likes to play around with stuff.  The other day I found one of the wooden pallets I set the hay bale on, up on top of the remainder of the hay.  How he got the pallet up from under the hay, who knows.

Today I put out a new large hay bale for Haynes.  I see he decided to push the hay feeder closer to the corral fence.  Before putting a hay bale into the feeder I had to use the tractor to move the feeder away from the corral fence.

This evening, before putting a new hay bale out for Haynes, I herded the cows out into the extended part of the corral.  That way I can let Haynes into main corral while I work on the hay bale in the south corral.   Before letting Haynes into the main corral I got 12 of the 13 calves into the loading corral.  The grass has grown there and I want it eaten down eventually.  The cows would go through the grass in minutes.  The calves, not so quick.

The calves are starting to eat hay in addition to drink from their mothers.  Over the past few days while filling the water trough I would tear some grass in the yard and give to the calves near the water trough.  The cows keep an eye on things and when they saw me tossing grass to the calves they would run across the corral and push the calves away from the grass and then eat it.   So I only fed grass to the calves if the cows could not see us.  Yesterday several cows must have heard or smelled as they came over.  One calf has learned how to take the grass from my hands.  So I would give some grass to this calf.  So what did a few cows do?  They would reach over and grab the grass sticking out of the calf's mouth and take it away as the calf tried to chew the grass.  The calf then would turn its head back once it got grass from me.  The cows followed and grabbed the grass.  Then the calf would step back once she got the grass from me.  Sometimes that worked.  Other times the cows still took the grass from the calf.  Once the grass I had torn from the yard was done, so was I.

That is why I decided to only let the calves into the loading corral.   The cows had been eating hay from their feeder, but once I let the calves into the loading corral grass the cows immediately noticed and were upset.   You can see them standing and mooing at the calves.  The cows were not happy they weren't getting the grass.  Tough luck.

I let the calves stay in the loading corral a few hours until it was getting dark.  Then I herded them out.  Not the easiest thing as we went around and around as they did not want to go out of the loading corral.  They were having fun in there.

Once the calves were back in the main corral I opened the gate and let the cows into the corral.  The cows stampeded into the corral.  Sorry, but I had already closed the gate to the loading corral.   I'll let the calves back into there another day.

Box elder trees: Before and after

I think I am done trimming the box elder trees.  I'm trying not to look much at the trees, but when I do, I am not seeing branches I should or care to cut.   The ones I see as small dead branches are at the very top of the tree and I can't reach them.

Here is a view before I started trimming the trees back in 2022.  This was when I only trimmed from a ladder.  And before I used the lift in 2023.

Here is a view of the trees last year after I had used the lift to trim the trees.

Here is the view before I started the trim this year.

This is how the tree ended up looking after I was done trimming.

Here is a side view of the trees.

I took these photos from my fruit tree area for another angle of the trees.

Here is a view of different, much younger, box elder trees I did not trim this year.  You can see how lush the trees should look.

Mark had called my trimmed trees "Charlie Brown trees".  For now maybe, but they will look better after they grow out in a year.

Mouth and forehead

Yesterday when I rode my bicycle for a bit I made a u-turn.  This area is of one of my common bicycle routes and I have done this u-turn many, many times.  This time I was distracted and made a mistake.  I had the inside leg and pedal down and not up.  I leaned a bit much and the pedal caught the pavement.  My bicycle and I went down fast.  I still landed mainly on my hands but my head went down and struck the pavement.  The end of my nose and my upper lip hit the pavement.  Odd that it was only that part of my face, but if any part has to hit the pavement, this was the best part.  I ended up with a swollen lip.  Otherwise I am fine.  Though I decided to skip shaving today.

Before I hear about wearing a helmet, it wouldn't have made any difference.  When I need to wear a helmet is when I am walking.  A week or so ago I let the cattle into the loading corral runway so they could eat the grass there.  Even after they ate the grass there some didn't want to leave.  After I had put out a large hay bale only some of the calves were still in there.  To herd them out I walked through the runway gate and down the runway so the calves would go out the large gate.

When loading the cattle into the stock trailer I have some 2 by 4 boards I slide into the fence so the cattle can't back up in the runway.  I store the boards on top of the fence boards going from side-to-side.  They are in several spots and I didn't duck enough while I was looking at the calves.  I walked right into several of the boards stacked one on another.  Wham!  It knocked me back.

As you can see on my head that is where the boards hit me.  They may have dented the wire mesh that was placed over the hole in my head after the doctor removed the cyst a few years ago.  I don't feel and pain so I must be alright.  It's just that the flat spot in my head now has a dent.   This may be why I need to wear a helmet when I walk.

Final box elder branch cut for now?

Earlier I mentioned that after sweeping debris off the patio roof I noticed another box elder tree branch to cut.  And I did so.  Then I noticed another branch.  Another branch looks to be dying from the end.   Years ago I had trimmed it back.  Last Fall on the machine lift I cut the branch back a bit more.  Now it appears to be dying further back.  It doesn't help the branch that the bottom of the branch has lost its bark.

So I decided to trim the branch back even more before I do some repair work on the patio roofing.  The branch is a thick branch.  Thankfully a relatively lower branch.

Yesterday I cut a short section of the branch.  It took an hour or two to make the cut.  Another very windy day.  The cut branch fell and the patio roof survived.   Today I cut the second - and hopefully last - section.  This time the patio roof suffered damage.   And it was yet another very windy afternoon.

The branch to be cut is in the middle of the photo.

After I already cut the first part of the branch.  Again the branch to be trimmed is the shorter branch in the middle of the photo.

The patio roof before and after.  The metal "bar" holding the sheet metal down in the wind is a former smaller gage railroad track.  Someone in the far past had cut the track into short lengths to use as fence posts.  I had replaced them when I had rebuilt that fence.

The roof support board was split in several places.  Here is one place.  I then had to spend time fixing and re-nailing the board.  I added more support for the board.   I also then found two other boards elsewhere that had been damaged / cracked from earlier branch falls this past week. They were not as damaged as this board.  I fixed them also.

The two large sections are from this branch.  The thinner branch was the earlier branch I cut a few days ago.   Tomorrow I plan to chainsaw them in shorter sections.

Now I think I got the last box elder tree branch cut - for now.  I need to stop looking at these two trees.