Mom's cemetary plot

Here are photos of the location my brother and I picked out on Thursday for our mother's cemetery plot.

There is room on each side of her plot for my brother and I. I am buying a plot now even though I haven't decided to be buried here. I plan to live a long life and I may change my mind on how or where I want to be buried.

Her plot, and future gravestone, is roughly located by the X I added to the first photo. A decent sized tree is located to the west of her plot. As you can see there are not many trees in the cemetery in areas where plots are still available. My brother said mom wished to be near a tree.

Mom has died

Mom died last night around 2 am. This was the same time (1 am Montana time) I was pulling off the highway in Malta looking for a place to park my car to get some sleep as I was getting sleepy while driving.

I was woken up at 4 am Montana time when the city drove around their park with a spraying machine in back of a pickup to spray a fog to apparently kill mosquitoes. I got to Minot at 10:30 am their time. It was over 11 hours of driving.

I've spent the day talking with the funeral home and also the cemetery to buy a burial plot. I never even attended a funeral in my life, much less plan one. Other than which cemetery mom wanted to be buried at, and that she wasn't particular about the funeral ceremony, I've no idea what she wanted or what is involved with a funeral. No date has been set for the funeral but it looks like Monday may be the day. Lots more to decide and do and I'm tired.

SUV oxymoron

The other day I was at Walmart and I saw a big honking SUV in the parking lot with a "Obama 08" bumper sticker and a license plate holder that said "I Support National Public Radio".

What a minute... what's wrong with this picture? A Liberal driving a big SUV, and in a Walmart parking lot no less? I thought Liberals hated SUVs and Walmart.

Hot and Blue

Another hot day. 98 F, which is a new record high temperature. I sprayed a couple tanks of herbicide in the morning before the temperature got too hot and a breeze started. I finished spraying my north pasture and started on the middle pasture.

I also chatted with my neighbor Jim. I learned his grandson took third place with his steer at the local County fair. At the auction, where the local businesses bid high to show their support for the kids and FFA, he got $3 a pound for his steer. As the steer was 1200 plus pounds, he made out well. Much better than a rancher who'd get less than a dollar a pound for a steer of that weight.

Then I retreated inside for the afternoon where the house was still cool from the previous evening. I watched a movie, my first in a long time.

The library took my recommendation and bought a DVD of the movie, "Blue". "Blue" is the first movie of a trilogy by Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski. The trilogy is of Three Colors: Blue, White and Red. The trilogy is on France's national motto: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

The reason I recommended that the library get this movie is they already had "White", and "Red" was available on interlibrary loan. "Blue", the first movie in the trilogy, was missing. Once the library got the movie they called me.

Blue is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew free of personal commitments, belongings, grief, and love.

The movie is serious, but well made and a visual treat. I had seen it back when it came out in 1993. Fifteen years later parts of the movie seemed familiar, but not enough that I could predict what would happen. What was of interest to me was the scenes of everyday life on the streets of Paris. That felt familiar to me having traveled in Europe and Paris in the 1990s, and brought back memories.

I recommend this movie if you are serious about watching movies. I must warn you that since the movie's character Julie pushes people away from her, it can be hard to warm up to her. But the actress, Juliette Binoche, is so good and the movie good, that one goes along with her to see where she and movie will go.


In the evening, once the heat abated, I checked my pocket gopher traps then sprayed another tank of herbicide. The time I spent last year spraying in the middle pasture paid off as the weeds were less and I was able to covered a much large area on a single tank of herbicide this time. That's not to say I don't have my work cut out for me spraying the rest of the pasture.

At dusk I noticed a pickup along the road next to my hayfield. I got my binoculars and found they must have been checking out the two deer in my hayfield. One buck had a nice rack.

In the evening I rode five miles under the full moon. As I came back to my driveway I saw a shape in the darkness on the other side of the road. For some strange reason the first thought that came into my head was "What's a camel doing here?" I know... strange. The shape turned out to be a young couple standing next to one another. Right next to one another. Who were they? Where did they come from? What were they doing here? I said "Hi" as I rode by and they said "Hi" back. I guess I'll never know the answers to my questions. At least they weren't camels.

Hot busy day, cool nights

Another hot day here. 93 F was our official high temperature. Fortunately the nights are cool.

Today, I:

• chatted with my neighbor Jerry about his new garage. I learned the 2008 Corvette is not his son's car, it is Jerry's. Going from only having his wife's car to having a 400+ horsepower Corvette is quite a change. 71 years old is kind of old for a mid-life crisis.
  


• sprayed three tanks of herbicide on weeds in an effort to finish spraying the north pasture. I didn't finish. Hopefully tomorrow I will. The weeds I sprayed one to two weeks ago, before the cattle flared up where I had to work on my loading corral, are dead and dying. I found patches where I missed some weeds entirely. Some areas had so many weeds it was easy to miss clumps of them.
  
  Other areas of the pasture dried up and the only green were weeds. Made it easier to find the ones I missed earlier. I also found the Canadian thistle is not giving up as near some of the dead thistle plants new green ones are coming up.
  


• caught a regular gopher in my remaining trap. This is the latest in the year I have caught one. He must have come up for something. I have found other gophers holes have been opened so I moved the trap to one of those holes. Maybe I'll get another gopher.


• set my pocket gopher traps back out in the hayfield.


• added some wire to strengthen the south pasture gate I had been using to get the cattle back into my pasture.


• repaired the fence by the river where the cattle made their last jailbreak. I added a half dozen boards as posts along the fence. I also gathered more dead trees and branches to pile on and in front of the fence.
  
  I noticed that over the years the river is filling in front of the fence. Formerly the fence was on the river bank just above the water. Now there is some ground for the cattle to stand on when checking out the fence.
  
  The black wasps are still around and I had to avoid getting tree branches from one area.
  


• watered my garden and berry bushes, picked and ate fresh ripe raspberries.
  
  The zucchini and pumpkin plants have gone wild. Too bad it is late in the year and I won't get pumpkins. Now that I know what kind of plant the pumpkin plant is I should yank it, but with so little in my garden I am letting it be.
  
  The apple trees are loaded with apples. A few are starting to drop.
  
  At dusk the mosquitoes were out. You'd think that with no rain since July 22, the mosquitoes would be gone.
  
  A large owl flew into the pine tree above me as I watered the last of my berry bushes. I mean large.
  

The sunset this evening was fantastic. It lasted a long time. The colors slowly changed from a pastel yellow to a light orange to a dark orange. The trees on the ridge individually stood out against the sunset colors. A couple of long narrow clouds to one side provided a blue/gray/purple offset to the sunset colors.

Then to my east as I watered my plants I watched the full moon rise from behind the Swan Mountain range. Gorgeous! I didn't know whether to look to the sunset or the moon rise, and kept looking back and forth.

This evening after the sun went down I went for a bicycle ride. The moon is full tonight and it would have been fun to ride up and down Logan Pass in Glacier Park, but I didn't.

After the sun set the temperature cooled off nicely. In the dark and warn night air my sense of smell was enhanced. Riding near creeks had a nice musky damp smell. Not so nice were the couple of times I rode by some animal dead in the ditch or nearby property. Riding along highway 2 I heard some of the car stereos thump as the cars passed. I could feel the energy of a warm summer Saturday night.

Life after cattle

I am trying to make sense of what to do now that I am not chasing cattle or working on rebuilding the loading corral. Mom continues to improve and sat up in a wheelchair today. There is talk that she will be released from the hospital early next week to a swing bed facility. Since my brother is doing a good job looking out for mom I am trying to determine the best time for me to go to North Dakota. It would be when mom comes home from the swing bed unit, and I would have to work around my Alaskan cruise dates.

Today I resprayed the weeds in the hayfield. The first time I sprayed the hayfield this year was the end of June / early July before Wyatt cut the grass for hay. Still a number of weeds. The thistle that grows in the low area where the grass is thick and lush is hard to kill. Probably for the same reason the grass is lush and thick there. I kill the individual thistle plants but the root system keeps putting up new plants.

Bob and Jan filled their little trailer with tree branches and similar stuff and I dumped it in my back pasture. I plan to use it when I burn tree stumps this Fall.

I also trimmed and dug up more of their yard's sod along the road. Bob wanted the strip along the road to be wider. He plans to put gravel in that strip. This way he doesn't have to run his riding lawn mower as such an angle to mow the grass there and risk tipping over. Earlier I had taken the sod the County torn up when they bladed the ditches before repaving the road. I had filled over half the pickup with that sod then. Today I filled over 3/4 of the pickup. It took me some hours to do this work. The temperature under the cloudless sky was 90 F.

I had taken off my sweat soaked shirt while doing the work. When Bob and Jan's daughter-in-law came to pick up her kids and was talking with me I noticed that after a bit she put on her sunglasses even though she was standing in the shade. Why was that?

Tired tonight from all that sod work.

Cattle are gone

Dan took his cattle home today. It is bittersweet for as much as they have caused me trouble the past few weeks, I miss them a little. I find I am looking out to the pasture for them time to time. Still it is for the best as the grass is really drying up; no rain is in the forecast; and the temperatures are suppose to be in the 90s F this weekend. What grass that hasn't dried up will be dry by this weekend. Dry grass = restless and jailbreaking cattle.

I got up before 6:30 am to put a railroad tie post in the loading corral. Amazingly I had dug the hole correctly and to the correct depth last night in the dark. I guess I have the knack after digging a number of holes the past few days.

I dropped the tie in the hole and attached another section of fence. With this tie in the ground I was able to connect to the remaining two old sections of fence and use them.

By the time the loading corral was ready the herd had come across the hayfield to stand at the corral fence to watch me. I opened the gate and most came through. Seven stood outside the fence and looking through the fence watched the rest inside the corral and occasionally bellowed. The seven seemed to be too dumb to figure out to go down the fence and then walk through the gate. I then noticed that all but one of the seven were the seven that escaped yesterday afternoon. I herded them through the gate.

I called Dan and he came shortly to get them. Once he got here I had him leave his truck and trailer by the house, and stay with it until I got the herd into the loading corral. I was able to do it without riling up the herd.

It was pretty smooth to load the first batch of cattle. I got ten loaded into his trailer. The trailer was loaded down. A little too much weight as he later said he had problems backing into his corral to unload them as the trailer hitch wanted to drag on the ground in a few spots. So it took a long time before he returned.

I threw some hay into the loading corral runway where the remaining ten were standing. They all crowded together at one end and didn't move much. Except for #78 who wanted to pick fights with a few of the others. I decided to call #78: Loki - the Norse god of mischief. With his cut off horns and thin scrappy build he seemed to be a "Loki".

For this next load Dan decided to only take six cattle so as to not overload his trailer again. I got Loki and a few other of the troublesome cattle loaded. Such as #3 and #204.

Who did not get loaded was #23 who I finally figured out was the chief troublemaker. #23 is a big steer. After Dan drove off #23 started to pace the loading corral's runway. Three other cattle remained who I came to name: Larry, Moe and Curly. Between these three they shared maybe a single brain.

#23 would walk to the head gate and Larry, Moe, and Curly would follow behind. #23 would have to back up as the corral at that point was too narrow for him to turn around. #23 would have to push back against Larry, Moe, and Curly who were crowding him and were clueless. Once the corral was wide enough for #23 to turn around he would but the three out his way.

Around and around the runway #23 paced looking for a way out. Larry, Moe, and Curly would follow behind. #23 was getting annoyed at them and would push them aside when he turned.

Occasionally #23 would stop and watch the guys build the neighbor's garage. Other times he would stand and think and look at the fence. The sides were too high to jump over as he stretched his neck up to test the height. I got extra boards then stood next to the gate which was the only way he possibly could escape.

Occasionally he would push his head through a broken section of the snow fence and then push against the fence hoping to break the boards behind the snow fence. I would shout at him to stop and he would. Then back to pacing. Sometimes he would pace fast and I was afraid he was trying to get a head of steam up to go through the fence.

After what seemed forever in the hot sun Dan came back and we loaded the rest. #23 was the last to go into the trailer and even then it took two tries to herd him into the trailer. It figures he would be the last to load. I am certain he was the reason for many of the jailbreaks as after watching him in the corral I am sure he was the one who broke the fence yesterday and the day before.

Well, the cattle are gone and that is one less headache right now. After they left at noon I went back into the house to finish my breakfast. Then I promptly fell asleep in the chair for several hours and slept hard.

Now that the cattle are gone that frees me up to go to NoDak to be with my mom. Apparently she is getting better. The dilemma is the train is sold out until Monday, then the ticket prices are 2 and 1/2 times the typical prices for several days before coming down to a price comparable to what it would cost to drive there. I don't relish the 700 mile drive so I need to think on what I will do. Drive or wait?

I hate Wednesdays

Tuesday night I saw Wyatt run his swather over more of his sister's field of thistles. I seen the cattle in the south pasture, then saw them head to the river. Later I saw Wyatt driving here and there in his sister's field. I figured he was done and catching stray weeds missed earlier. Nope. He was trying to herd the cattle back to the river. I had no clue.

I was working on my loading corral rebuild until dark and didn't get in the house until 9:55 pm. I had two phone messages, including one from Wyatt, alerting me that the cattle were in Wyatt' sister's field.

Oh, great!

It was dark now but I got a flashlight and went out there. I opened the gate between that field and mine. Shining the flashlight I could see some cattle here and there a short distance from my fence. It was way too dark to try to find them all and herd them. I stood by the open gate for a while but they ignored me. Cattle don't travel much at night so I let them be.

I got up at 6 am and went out and herded them back into my pasture. It was a combination of herding them and enticing some with a bucket of grain. Finally after I got one to follow me and the bucket all but four followed me into the pasture. I had to go back and herd the final four. I also found Wyatt hadn't cut all the thistle field as I had to walk through stands of it to herd the cattle.

It has been a week on bloat blocks so I opened the gate to the hayfield. They decided to take a siesta under a pine tree instead.

I went to the river and found where they had broken through the fence. This was a different area from their jailbreak last Wednesday. It was surprising they broke through the fence here as the river bank was higher and the river deeper at this point. I fixed the fence and added quite a number of extra boards. I also got a bunch of dead tree branches and piled up over the fence. I added a few branches to another spot that looked like a possibility. I also got stung several times by a bee or wasp or something so I avoided that area for dead branch picking.

The cattle came to the river, took a quick drink, then went in a line back to the tree for another siesta.

I had a few errands to run uptown and since things seemed to be under control, rode my bicycle uptown. I also stopped by the Picnic in the Park concert and caught the final 20 minutes of the Bluestone Trio music group. I found they were a quartet. Also I found I was not in the mood for the new age jazz they were playing when I was there. Songs that went on forever and didn't seem to have a focus was not interesting to me. Or songs that seemed to be endless repetitions with a slight variation didn't do it for me. The audience was smaller than usual. Even the small kids weren't dancing to the music.

When I got home I found ten cattle in the south pasture, three in the thistle field, and the other seven missing. I herded the ten into the hayfield which was harder than I expected. I then herded the three in my pasture and they then quickly joined the ten in the hayfield. This was easier than I expected.

Then I was off to find the missing seven. I found where they broke through the fence by the river. It was the section where this morning I had added new dead branches to the existing pile by the fence. The cattle trampled the branches and scattered some, then knocked over the fence.

I found one in the trees and tall grass/weeds and herded it to the thistle field. It did not want to stay there and wanted back into the trees. The more I herded it away from the trees the more it was determined to get into them. It outran me and went into the trees.

I went further down the field and then went into the trees. The rest of the cattle must be there and I need to make sure I stay south of them before driving them up to the thistle field. I wandered for a long time over cow trails and did not see a single one of the cattle. Finally I came up to the thistle field and found the seven eating thistles.

This time herding this group was I expected: not easy. When I finally got them close to the the gate they now knew the routine and several went to the gate. At the gate they then saw the rest of the herd in the hayfield which got their attention. Once all were in the pasture they stood along the fence and bellowed at the herd, which ignored them.

The seven could not figure how to join the herd. I let them stand and wonder a good ten minutes or more while I knocked down weeds in the pasture. Eventually I led several of them with my grain bucket to the gate and they then went and joined the herd.

Nothing but jailbreaks on Wednesday.

Dan plans to get a number of the cattle tomorrow and take them home because:

• he is leaving Saturday for his daughter's wedding and will be gone ten or eleven days,
• the cattle are breaking fences and getting out when they want to,
• mom is in the hospital and I can't guarantee I will be here in Montana the entire time he is gone,
• someone needs to be around to check on the cattle.

Yes, you heard right, more bad news on a Wednesday. Mom took an ambulance to the hospital this morning. She is really weak, and she and my brother have had problems controlling her blood sugar the past few days. Her blood sugar has been crashing and she has had readings in the 50s. The hospital tests indicate she has a bladder infection. They put her on antibiotics and she will apparently be in the hospital the rest of the week as they want to rid her of the infection before releasing her.

I am not done with the loading corral rebuild so tomorrow will be a challenge with the cattle. If I hadn't had all the problems today I would have finished the south side. As it stands I am several railroad ties short of finishing the south side. I got one hole dug today and only finished that after dark as I got distracted when the cattle didn't return from a drink at the river in a timely manner. They came back by the time I almost reached them. Time going to them I could have spent more productively on the loading corral.

Instead of hitting rocks and gravel two feet down and having to remove six inches to reach 30 inches deep, for this latest hole for a railroad tie I was hitting rocks and gravel half way down to the 30 inches. Rocks and gravel digging is slow.

So tomorrow looks to be another challenge.

Black cloud over me?

Is there a black cloud hanging over me? Tonight I could have burned the house down as I turned the stove burner to high and not low before going outside to do more work. I decided to steam a beet for supper and decided to start it before I came in so I could eat supper earlier... say at 10 pm and not 11 pm.

I thought I turned the burner to 1 (low) but had turned it the opposite direction and it was set to 9 (high). 45 minutes later when I came back in the house the burner was glowing red hot and the pan was very hot. The water in the pan was long evaporated and the beet was shriveled and black. I have aluminum foil under the burner to catch overflows and the foil was ashes. The pan - my favorite and most used one - was scorched.

As I was cleaning the scorch marks from the blackened beet off the strainer, its handle came off.

*augh!*

*sigh*

What next?

And the cattle... yes, they went wandering. This afternoon they disappeared from view after their noon siesta. They reappeared in the evening in the south pasture. The whole herd. The three that figured out the other day how to get from the middle to the south pasture via the river taught the entire herd. This group of cattle is smarter than average as prior herds usually didn't figure out the middle/south river passage. I had a couple cattle who figured it out in the past but that was when the river level was much lower, and they didn't teach the others.

Since the cattle were in the south pasture I opened the gate between the south and middle pasture as I want them to have access to the bloat blocks. I didn't feel like herding them. I also had to tip up the wooden box that holds one of the bloat blocks as the cattle had flipped the box over and spilled the bloat block on the ground. That explains the large group of cattle around the flipped box this morning before their siesta.

Earlier in the afternoon I checked the hayfield fence along the road in preparation of letting the cattle into the hayfield later. I added a fence post and some other wire and nail work.

Late afternoon I got back to working on my loading corral. I put three railroad ties in the ground and added fence between them. I am using as fence the wooden fence panels I bought at an auction a couple years ago. At the time I wondered if it was worth spending $20 for the twelve panels as I wasn't sure I would use them. Yes, it was worth it!

I also found the railroad ties I have accumulated via auctions are in varying lengths and thickness. I have one 11 ft long, eight or so are 10 ft long, and the rest seem to be 8 and 1/2 feet long. The 10 and 11 ft ties are rectangular and are 7 by 9 inches thick. All this adds up to be very heavy ties. I can barely lift these ties, and do not carry them. I have to drag them along the ground.

The old posts seem to be dug 30 inches deep and that is a good depth. That leaves over 7 feet of the tie sticking out of the ground. I am using the 10 ft ties on the runway part of the loading corral. I don't think any cattle will ever jump out of the loading ramp ever again.

Due to the ties' weight I have to get the hole right before I lift the tie and slide it in the hole. There are no "do overs" with these ties as I cannot get them out of the hole once they are in there. The most I can do is wiggle the ties slightly side-to-side in the hole. I would need a tractor with a loader to get these ties out of the holes. So I am careful before putting the ties into the holes. So far I have gotten each one correctly positioned.

Once I fill the dirt around the ties they are solid. The soil here is so fine and powdery right now that usually the post I place in the ground can be wiggled until the ground sets over time. And I do pack the dirt around the posts. With these ties, once I pack the dirt around them they do not wiggle. These ties are solid. I doubt these ties will bend outward when the cattle crowd the loading ramp.

I don't know how long the current corral posts have been there. I doubt it has been the 68 years of the ranch. Of the four posts I have removed, one was as good as new while the other three were rotted from ground level to about a foot down. Below that level those posts were as good as new. I imagine these railroad ties, and the loading corral, will last many decades - most likely longer than this ranch will exist.

I have another five posts to pull and ties to put into the ground before the south part of the loading corral will be done. Hopefully I can do more than three ties a day.

Picnic Music: Cocinando

Back on Tuesday night, July 22, the band at the Picnic in the Park concert was Cocinando, who play Latin jazz.

For once I got to the concert before it started. That turned out to be good as I discovered that there was also an ice cream social going on with free ice cream. I got huckleberry ice cream.

This time Cocinando was joined by a special guest player from out of state, Bobby Matos. The band played a few of his songs and he talked about them. That guy sure liked to talk. Someone near me muttered he should shut up and play the music.

Near to me was a small group sitting and laying on a blanket. Kids to young adults to adults. At one point the group sang "Happy Birthday" to one of the kids while gathered around a cupcake with a candle. Later during intermission the leader of Cocinando came over and then I noticed one of the women in the group was wearing a shirt with his name on it. It appears he is running for a seat in the Montana legislature.

With the group was a woman who looked 40-something. She was somewhat attractive. She was dressed stylish and young, in the manner where her appearance was important to her. She did seem to be kind of an airhead. When the band leader had stopped by to talk with the woman who was wearing his shirt, the 40-something woman interrupted several times to tell him it was her birthday today, and only stopped when he acknowledged her. She also told him her name was Julie.

Later before ending the concert early due to the weather he mentioned it was Julie's birthday and that the band would sing her the "Happy Birthday" song if she came up to the stage and danced while they sang the song. I think she went up there but by this time the weather and wind was getting worse so I didn't see Julie dance as I was in the back of the audience getting my bicycle ready for leaving.

The band tried to soldier on but the wind made it hard for them to play and it was also whistling into the microphone. So the concert ended 20 minutes early.

As I rode home it began to rain. Colleen wasn't at the concert this night to give me a ride home. Fortunately it didn't rain too hard. I was pretty wet when I got home but I wasn't soaked.

Bobby Matos is the guy in the hat.

During the concert the tent was set up over the soundboard. The sound man is holding onto the tent to keep it from blowing over.

Cherries, apples, gophers, cattle, corral

I made a cherry pie this morning from the cherries I had picked a few weeks ago. I had planned on making the pie at the beginning of the week, and had the dough for the pie crust made on Monday, but that was before the craziness with the cattle. The cherries that I had stored in the basement really needed to be used. They were getting dried or old.

I never made a pie from pie cherries before so I had to find a recipe on the internet. My pie came out ok. I think I can do better. I am not sure if having fresher cherries or modifying the recipe would be a way to improve the pie.

I watered my garden and my small bushes. I noticed my pie apple tree had a large branch drooping to the ground as it was loaded with apples. I got a couple posts to support the branch until the apples are picked later. I also thinned some apples from the tree and picked off the ground the apples that had blown off the tree. No sense letting the deer find and get them when I could feed them to my cattle.

I brought in all but one regular gopher trap. It appears they are staying underground now for the year. Still, I left one trap as it appeared one hole had recent activity. I cover the holes with dirt and I wonder if the gophers come up and reopen some of them to keep an air flow into their tunnels?

Steer #3 was in the north pasture again this evening. I herded him back into the middle pasture. At first he ran towards the north fence before I got him turned around. By the time I got him to the middle fence the herd had come over. They were in another part of the pasture but naturally seeing some activity they came over. Now, why can't they come over to me when they get out of the pasture?

I have plugged up a number of the openings in the middle fence and #3 couldn't find/remember the one he came through. He looked and looked then decided to jump the fence. He got tangled briefly in the wires. I had to then fix the fence.

Another day of only an hour or two of work on the loading corral. Where does the day go? I need to pick up the pace.

In three pastures at once

I had cattle in three pastures this afternoon. Heifer #3 naturally slipped through the fence to get into the north pasture. No surprise there. The main herd was in the SE corner of the middle pasture. Two cattle were in the south pasture having just come from the river.

#3 was going along the fence trying to figure out how to get back into the middle pasture to join the herd. It must have been down by the river as I seen the fence wire was stretched under the apple tree.

I got the two cattle back into the middle pasture by the time #3 arrived. It was a hassle as the second one of the cattle preferred to stand there and chew its cud. Naturally a few of the herd wanted to go into the south pasture and I had to juggle shooing them away with enticing the two from the south pasture.

Once everyone was in the middle pasture I realized one was missing. I counted and recounted and kept coming up one short. Down to the river I went and as I got there here came #23 from the peninsula and crossing the river to the south pasture. Back I went to the gate and played the "shoo and entice" dance until #23 joined the herd.

*sigh*

I fixed the stretched fence; added more baling twine to sections of the fence to try to prevent #3 from crossing the fence; and added some boards to the fence down by the river.

That's how I spent my afternoon.

Before I can let the cattle into the hayfield, as the hayfield has plenty of alfalfa and alfalfa is rich and cattle can overeat it bloat up and die, I need to have the cattle lick on bloat blocks about a week before they are let into the hayfield. Wednesday will be a week. So I have a few more days to go. The cattle already licked up one of the bloat blocks and I added a new one today.

After a bicycle ride to run some errands to get stuff I had an hour in the evening to work more on dismantling the loading corral fence. I wish I had a camera to have before and after photos but my camera is still drying out and I can't find my old cheap digital camera from last year.

Oh yeah, and the neighbor whose son and his family moved in with them after the son lost his house in the contractor swindle, they appear to be building a garage. Another building to look at. Bah.

Big boom in the night

My computer use ended suddenly last night after the power went out after a loud boom. A very close loud boom. The forecast had called for a chance of thunderstorms because of monsoonal moisture from down south. Before the loud boom there were no signs of an approaching thunderstorm: no rumbling, no thunder, no lightning, nothing.

The lights went out all over the area except one or two lights far off in the distance. I went outside and saw lightning over the SW mountains west of Flathead Lake. The lightning was a combination of big lightning bolts and heat lightning. Lots of it. Fun to watch as it lit up the mountains. It was far enough away there was no sound from the lightning.

No other loud booms occurred before I went to bed. I could see some of the lights coming back on in the distance, but the power in my area remained out. It came on sometime during the night.

I was on the computer when the power went out and was concerned the power outage may have affected my computer, but things are working this morning. *whew*

During the night I woke up to wind, some thunder, and lightning. But no rain. It is so dry what rain there was must have evaporated before it reached the ground. I haven't heard the news, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few fires were started from the lightning as everything is very dry here.

This morning there was a very brief shower as I checked my gopher traps. Only enough rain to wet the pavement. Better than nothing, but nowhere near enough. It is dry here and the grass is drying up fast.

When I looked out on the cattle at 6 am I saw them sitting and resting under a tree near the hayfield fence. Two deer were in the hayfield across the fence from the cattle. Those evil deer were teasing the cattle.

Before breakfast I picked two small cool whip containers of raspberries. This year I am eating them instead of last year where I got distracted and the raspberries dried up.

Catching up

The cattle have behaved themselves for two days now. Hurray! I did get concerned as I crossed the river from the north pasture to check the fence on the other side of the river. Some of the cattle saw me and were quite interested. I quickly went into the tall grass and trees on the other side of the river and out of sight of the cattle.

I found a spot where the old fence was down. This was along the river bank where the bank had eroded. After piling dead tree branches on this section of collapsed fence I checked on the cattle. It seemed as if one was trying to walk around the fence and was attempting to walk along the river bank to go upstream to get from the middle to the north pasture. It failed as the river at this point is a combination of middling deep and has a current at that point. *whew* Another escape attempt thwarted.

In the evening I noticed the herd returned from the river. I could hear bellowing from the river area. Usually it is Street's cattle as the mothers are calling for their kids. But after my cattle's antics earlier this week, I am not sure now. I tried counting the cattle and was coming up one or two short. Eventually I had to go out in the middle pasture and count and found all of them.

Otherwise today was a number of small catchup projects:

• checked the fence as I mentioned earlier


• talked with my cousin Jen


• put away and stacked odds & ends of lumber


• checked the gopher traps for the first time in several days


• filled in the area between the newly paved road and my mailbox as the County had bladed a large area of dirt and gravel away from the old road surface prior to the re-paving work. After they finished the paving work the County did not fill in the areas between the road and the mailboxes. The post office vehicle has to drop down off the road to reach the mailboxes.


• repaired my broken bicycle rack


• installed the battery into my RV and started it for the first time this year,


• started on my corral rebuild. I took apart an old broken gate and started to take apart a few sections of the loading corral. I did this until dusk and the mosquitoes came out.

I also tried my camera. It activates and I can see the menu and that sort of data on the LED display or in the viewfinder. I do not get any images though. The screen is black. It doesn't look good for the camera as it appears to be dry now. Still I took it apart again to dry some more in case it is still wet inside. Naturally one of the screws got jammed and the head stripped. I was able to get it out eventually so I could get my camera apart. One annoyance after another with the camera.

I also got my train ticket to/from Seattle for my cruise in September. I planned on going several days early so I could go sailing with my cousin Jen, but between waiting for a callback from her, Gary waiting to hear back from a step daughter about a graduation date, and Amtrak having a fare sale, the Thursday seats were now few and expensive. Gary and I got the last 2 cheap seats on a Friday.

I booked my tickets after midnight and that is when I learned there was only one cheap seat left. I left a message on Gary's answering machine about his need to book his ticket as soon as possible. Gary is an early person so he was able to get the last cheap seat. Gary called me at 8 am to let me know and kiddingly was disappointed he hadn't woken me up as I had woken him up the night before as I had called him late twice.

So that's done. If I had time to make a list I could have the satisfaction at crossing a "to-do" item off the list.

I'm going to skip tomorrow's hike as my toe is still raw/sore, and I need to work on my corral rebuild. It needs to be ready for the first of the cattle on the 26th.

The world is back to normal

The cattle behaved today. No jailbreaks. They are back in the middle pasture as letting them in the south pasture was not good. There are more grass opportunities in the south pasture but the cattle abused my kindness.

Today I found all my missing items I had lost yesterday. My camera is still drying out as I still have signs of a little moisture on the led display on the back of the camera. I am crossing my fingers the camera will work after I dry it out.

I completed my fence work today. When I built the fence in the trees the mosquitoes took advantage of the shade to attack me. Taking a shower this evening I noticed a number of bug bites on my arms.

After lunch from 3 to 4 pm I fell asleep for a few hours. Then I took a shower. Since then I've done nothing much more than rest and relax. Yesterday I hadn't changed from my river walking shoes to regular shoes before chasing cattle so my feet got blisters and rubbed raw. So I took it easy tonight to rest up.

Time is passing quickly and I need to start the rebuild of the loading corral tomorrow. These projects always take longer than expected and I have less than 3 weeks before the first of the cattle leave. So the barn floor work will be put on hold, and the same with weed spraying. I was so close to completely spraying all of the north pasture. If the cattle hadn't acted up these past three days I would have finished it.

I want to shoot a herd of cattle

If I thought Monday was a bad day, I was wrong. I would take a week of those kind of Mondays to avoid a day like today. I am so mad at the cattle I am not going to write much about it. Needless to say the entire herd made a major jailbreak. A number of my neighbors helped me in various ways to get the herd back into my pasture. At one point I was so mad at the cattle I was starting to swear at the cattle in front of several of my neighbor ladies who were helping me at that point. If you know me, I rarely swear.

You know, in the movies stampedes are exciting to watch. In real life when it is cattle you are trying to herd, it is not good. Fortunately Wyatt and his dog headed them off before they reached his house and then the road.

In other bad news I lost a pair of pliers and other things various times of the day. My camera also fell into the river and sank. I am drying it out and I'll see tomorrow if it is ruined.

Last night I was on such a natural high at the fantastic concert held at the Picnic in the Park. I foolishly thought that having the bad Monday and part of Tuesday with the cattle was worth it if it meant attending a concert as great as that one. I learned my lesson as I got today - a day to end all days. This is a bad bunch of cattle. They have done stuff no other herd of cattle here have done. I have more fence work tomorrow.

Females do crazy things when in lust

I was up by 8 am to look for the missing Hereford heifer (#18). The herd was down by the river along the middle/north fence. Or I should say all but the missing heifer and steer #3. You know the one... the one who steps through fences. #3 was halfway down the fence line. After I passed by I looked back and there he was trying to step through the fence. Ay-yi-yi-yi! And right after I walked by!

I stopped him before he got through the fence. He was trying to squeeze through where I had added extra wire yesterday. I chased him away from the fence. I went home and got about 10 strands of used baling twine and tied the fence in that area with the twine. I don't like using twine as the cattle will chew on it, and Dan told me of a steer or heifer that died after eating some twine. Last week the grandpa who bought three of Dan's large cattle told of finding a huge wad of twine in the stomach after they had a steer/heifer butchered.

I went to the south pasture to go and check out my "thumb" property. I don't like the cattle see me cross the river or go to the thumb as I don't want them to get ideas.

I only saw deer trails when crossing over to the thumb. A deer was on the big island as I crossed to the thumb and another deer was on the thumb as I entered it. I followed deer trails around the thumb's edge until I got to near the northern side where I found large hoof prints in the river bank mud. The trail now was wide and the grass flatter. Signs at least one of the cattle had been there.

I found where the heifer had worked around to the west side of the thumb before being stopped by my fence between my property and the neighbor's property. No signs the heifer got past the fence as it was only deer trails beyond. I went through the fence to make sure the heifer didn't walk the river then come back on land. Nope.

In fact a short distance downstream a half dozen large tall trees had fallen over across the river blocking it. The river bank on the west had eroded this past high water and the trees toppled over. The trees were so tall they fell a distance on the east river bank. I could see signs where the rafters and floaters in the river had portaged around the trees.

Back on my thumb I could see a larger area where the grass had been matted down. The heifer may have spent some time - maybe the night - there. Across the river is the corner of Street's property. It was where one of his irrigation pumps used to be before he removed it. The large rock rip-rap remained.

I think the heifer made her way to the thumb alone. Instead of returning to the island she saw Street's cattle and the bull. She must have decided to cross the river. I am not sure how she got onto the rip rap - whether she came from the river else went upstream to the bank then onto the rip rap. I could see manure and signs she had passed over the rip rap. In past years when cattle have gotten on the peninsula to the rip rap they stopped as the rip rap is difficult - especially for cattle - to cross. But a heifer in heat with a bull waiting will do foolish things. The path she appeared to have taken was a hard one to do and one a normal animal would not make. But she was in heat and wanted her "man" to satisfy her.

I had an errand to run and breakfast to eat. After I did that I returned to the peninsula to search for the heifer hoping Street's herd was near where I could see them without having to enter his property and dealing with the bull.

An old field fence was at the end of the rip rap but it seemed partially down. Maybe the heifer could have crossed the field fence. Else the heifer somehow slipped through Street's four strand fence. I went up the steep ridge. The grass is thin so it was hard to tell if the heifer passed this way. Partway up I could see the fence had sagged and I believe the heifer could have crossed it.

I looked and saw Street's herd on top of and partially along the ridge. With binoculars I found Dan's heifer #18. Success. She was alive and hadn't met with a terrible accident.

I returned home and called Dan. I wasn't about to try to separate the heifer from the herd alone, especially a herd with a large bull.

Dan rearranged his appointments and came with grain. As we passed his herd the remaining Hereford heifer was fighting again with th #78 steer. They seemed to be either fighting or resting from fighting the past 24 hours. What is up with these two cattle?!

We found the herd still near where I had left them. Heifer #18 was on the side of the ridge at the edge of the herd. Dan shook his bucket of grain and poured some of it out and the heifer just stood there and watched.. I figured the heifer knew me better so I went closer with my bucket of grain. I did the same and he did nothing then began to move up th steep ridge. I followed and we both went to the top.

At the top I was able to get within a few yards of her but she didn't want the grain and then made a move to rejoin the herd and the bull. *sigh* Dan and I tried a few times to entice her and get her away from the herd and the bull by whom she shadowed but the herd began to spook and stampede so we gave up. The herd ran off to the north and we followed but we never saw them again. By now we realized she identified with this new herd - and bull - and there was no easy way to separate her from them.

Dan then talked with Street to let him know she was with his herd and he was fine with it. Street plans to move the herd from this area in two or three weeks and he and Dan will separate the heifer from the herd then.

The good news is the heifer is fine. The bad news is she went over to "the dark side" and joined another herd. I guess she wanted a "real" male in her life and not those steer want-a-bes. And I didn't get any other work done today. *augh* which reminds me... the morning had been down to 41 F and I wore a flannel shirt and I left it in the pasture. *sigh* I hope I remember tomorrow to get the shirt.

I want to forget this day happened

What a day! And not in a good way. Other than eating breakfast and lunch I was on my feet roughly from 8 am to after 10 pm. Supper tonight was a bowl of popcorn and some chips.

The County came and started paving at 8 am. By the time I got to the road they were at my driveway and paving. When they paved the west lane last week I explained to them that the road in front of my driveway at the bend was 6 inches narrower than the rest of the road. I had thought (hoped) that they would remember and today when they paved the east lane they would make the road a touch wider in front of my driveway. I don't think they did.

My mailbox is across from the road and it still has the hole where they had bladed the grass away from the side of the old pavement. The mail lady "dented" (or 'smooshed') the edge of the road when later she delivered my mail and had to drive off the road with her right tires in order to reach my mailbox.

Then I was off to spray weeds before the afternoon breeze kicked in. I wasn't done with the first tank of spray when I saw Street's bull and cattle across the river with the bull calling for my cattle. I went closer to the river to watch the interaction between the groups. Then I noticed one of 'my' cattle (steer #3) was in the north pasture and not in the middle pasture. What?!

Last week #3 had slipped through the fence and gotten into the hayfield briefly until I herded him through the gate back into the middle pasture. I had found and fixed the area he had slipped through the fence. He knew where he had gotten through the fence as he tried to get through that spot as I herded him to the gate.

The only gate between the north and middle pastures is at the east end of the pasture and we were at the west end. With effort and time and patience I herded # 3 to the gate. The rest of the herd (10 of them) followed in the middle pasture along the fence. So at the gate I had to watch they didn't get into the north pasture while I held the gate for #3 to enter the middle pasture.

But he wouldn't. He stood along the fence outside the gate. And stood. Sniffed a few of the other cattle through then fence or chewed his cud. My neighbor Debbie saw my troubles and came over to help. All she had to do was walk towards #3 and then he walked through the gate.

We chatted a bit and I showed and explained a few varieties of weeds. I also found out Debbie's black heifer apparently is a lesbian as she kept sniffing and licking the Hereford heifer's private parts. Debbie says she does that a lot. Then I finished my tank of herbicide.

When I got home I had a message from Dan. He had been there about an hour earlier and hadn't seen me in the pasture, nor I him as he later said he came out just beyond the corral. Strange.

The other odd thing is he claimed he saw the herd and counted 16 or 17 of them. Impossible as the herd was 11 all morning and part of the afternoon when one of the missing 10 came running back to the herd. Lots of bellowing and greeting and sniffing by the returnee and the herd.

I sprayed some more and delayed lunch as the wind had not come up. Then when I was about done with another tank of herbicide the herd finished their siesta and before long #3 was in the north pasture again.

I was trying to herd him back to the gate and he was having none of it. As I herded him over and over a pickup drove into my pasture towards me. What? It was my neighbor's son Kerry, his son, and his father-in-law. Earlier I had told his parents that they could fish the deep holes and bends in the river. I didn't say they could drive my pasture. People can't get out of their vehicle and walk these days.

Kerry helped me herd #3 and against the fence #3 turned and walked through the barb wire strands to rejoin the herd now gathered on the other side of the fence. #3 broke a fence post in the process of squeezing through the fence. *sigh*

I showed them places along the river with the deeper holes. They had to park the pickup and walk to get to them. They were fly fishing and I watched them as they snapped the line back and forth multiple times before tossing the hook into the water.

After watching and chatting for a while I returned home as I was starving. It wasn't long before they came back. The father-in-law had broken the tip of his fishing pole while casting.

I then decided add some wire to my north/middle fence. This fence is only a three strand fence which is why #3 could slip through it. I don't have time now to redo the fence to add a forth strand so I added barb wire between some of the looser and wider sections between the fence posts so I connected the three strands of wire to one another to eliminate the ability of #3 to stretch and through the fence.

Now that she has taught herself how to do this she will continue to do it. I have seen how she does it. She finds a section, puts her head through, and with her neck lifts the top strand then steps through the fence if she can lift the top strand high enough. She can't do it with every section, but there are plenty of sections she can.

As I wired a few sections she suddenly was in the north pasture again a short distance from where I was working. This time she had broken the top wire when she stretched it. I was able to quickly encourage her to returned to the middle pasture and I fixed the fence.

As I worked on adding wire to more sections #23 was straining against the fence to eat as much as he could in the north pasture. I was afraid the old wire would break and chased him away from the fence. Multiple times. *argh!*

#3 was still eying the fence and I had to chase him away a few times too. I ended up encouraging the whole herd to move on. I finished the wiring patch job and went home to make and eat lunch.

After lunch the wind was still slight so I sprayed another tank of herbicide. During this time the rest of the herd came and joined the twelve for their late afternoon siesta. Or so I had thought.

I had reached the place where I had sprayed the north pasture from the west. I had sprayed from the east past the trees and from the west past the trees and now I was working on the large open area between them. I had sprayed the southern half of the open area. I could see the "dead zone" line where I had stopped spraying from the west last week.

Once I finished this forth or fifth tank of herbicide I was done for the day. I was tired and my legs were tired.

After a break I checked my gopher and pocket gopher traps. It was then I saw #3 in the north pasture again. Again I herded him. The rest of the herd followed on the other side of the fence. #3 couldn't find a way through the fence. He tried a number of spots but they were too tight for him to fit through. Or maybe it was the pressure by me that caused him to fail.

I continued to herd him and he was getting annoyed. A few times he stopped and faced me putting his head down. I was carrying my shovel from setting gopher traps so he didn't intimidate me.

Eventually he ran to the north fence where Jim and Debbie had their two heifers. Those two heifers of course were following the action and were agitated. This is a four to five strand fence and tighter wire and #3 couldn't get through though I kept him moving so he couldn't take time to try to figure how to get through the fence. He was doing lots of sideways walking as I herded him and was in an agitated mood.

Nearer the east end I got #3 back to the middle fence and herd and then got him closer to the gate. I opened the gate and he stood there and wouldn't go through it. As the herd was not to the gate I dropped it and worked on herding #3. A few times I had to stop and head off one of the Charolais steers who were trying to get into the north pasture. As usual the herd wanted to join the one instead of the one wanting to rejoin the herd.

Jim came over to help me but I got #3 into the middle pasture before he could arrive. *whew*

Then I noticed one Hereford heifer fighting with a black heifer and a small black steer (#78). The two black cattle were ganging up on her. They kept at it far longer than I have seen cattle fight. The two would push the Hereford around. One head to head or neck to neck with the other either ramming her from the side or in the rear end.

I went over and broke it up. This was not easy to do and they were trying to ignore me and keep fighting. Jim commented he wouldn't get in the middle of the herd and in the middle of a fight. I had my shovel in hand. Then I found the Hereford was not the victim as after breaking up the group she searched for #78 and starting fighting again and then the other black one joined in again.

Around and around they went with the other cattle moving out of their way.

I let them be hoping they would resolve their difference. On and on they fought. Well a couple of females were involved. I have noticed in the past that the heifers will fight long and dirtier than the steers do. And this trio was seriously fighting.

Eventually they took a break as they were exhausted, sweating and panting. What is up with these three cattle?!

Then I counted the herd and noticed I was missing one of the two Herefords.

Oh great... as if this day hasn't been a mess already.

Cattle stick together and almost never do you find one alone. I called Dan to let him know one is missing, one goes through fences, and three are fighting and fighting non-stop.

It was almost 9:30 pm when I finished talking with Dan. I got shorts and shoes and went to look for the missing Hereford. The other Hereford and #78 were back fighting again while the rest of the herd was grazing. Oh, for Heaven's sake! Stop it already!

Still only 20 cattle so I crossed the river to the peninsula and searched. It was getting dark and I wandered around the cattle trails checking the boundary and the fence and some places along the river. No sign of the missing Hereford. It was getting darker and harder to see. I ran into the old barb wire fence several times and cut my left shin in three places.

After a while I could hear Street's cattle as they came down off the ridge. In the darkness I could vaguely see shapes move in the area where I heard the cattle move through the grass as they passed some distance from the fence.

I gave up for the night. Tomorrow morning the search continues. I wonder if the craziness will continue?

Man, this has been a trying day.

Friday's sunset

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

Monday's ditch find

Monday I picked up recent trash in the ditch along my property.

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

Thankfully I did not find a condom.

Guess I know what someone was doing as they drove down the road along my property this past weekend.

Monday's sunset

I took the photo about 10:10 pm.