Momma and Baby are separated

Baby is over 6 months old.  She still gets milk from Momma.  It is well time she is weaned from Momma.

Last year I had started to take down the barb wire fence separating the corral into two.  I plan on rebuilding this fence.  Hmmm... I need it done now.

Fortunately I have four corral panels I bought an an auction a couple years ago.   I used the panels to fill in the two sections of the fence I had taken down.

The cattle hung around the panels as I worked.  20 seconds long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jt-azeycQc


Then I had to fix the gate.   As you can see, when open, the gate is longer than the side of the barn.  Over the years the cattle and horses rubbed against the end of the gate and broke it - which was no big deal as I very rarely closed the gate.

Instead of fixing the metal gate now I decided to replace the gate with a sturdy metal gate.  I also added a small metal wire grid to one section of the wooden fence left of the gate.  That will prevent Baby from sticking her head through the fence to reach Momma's bag.  Now to watch to see if Baby sticks her head through the remaining barb wire fence to reach Momma.

I decided to let chance determine how Momma and Baby got separated.  Tuesday morning I found Momma and one 'mean girl' south of the barn, and north of the barn: Baby, one 'mean girl', and the two steers.  Perfect.  I am more concerned about how Baby will handle the loss of milk.  I prefer her to remain with the majority of the cattle and in the north part of the corral with the loafing shed for shelter.

To hold the hay I set out an old bathtub.  That didn't stop this heifer from stepping into the bathtub to eat the hay.

Baby in the north pasture looking as Momma moos.

Here are the cattle and the patched sections of the fence.

Here is a video of Momma and Baby mooing to one another.  2:12 long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZAXqegWlV0

By evening Momma's milk bag was very full and big and bothering her. She was mooing more for Baby than Baby mooing for Momma.  After dark whenever I called for Daisy to come inside the house Momma mooed back to me.

New Samsung refrigerator

My new refrigerator is finally here!   Monday I called to remind Lowes not to forget me once the refrigerators come off the boat to their warehouse.  Jerry at Lowes told me my refrigerator was already at the local Lowes store.  He had it scheduled for delivery on Friday.  Once I got off the phone Tammy wanted me to see if I could get the refrigerator earlier.  Especially as my current refrigerator is dying and starting to smell.

I called Jerry again, and while Lowes was booked with lots of deliveries this week, he moved me up to Wednesday.  Wednesday morning I called Lowes delivery to find out my delivery time but learned I wasn't on the schedule.  I talked to Jerry again and he promised I would get my refrigerator Wednesday between 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm.

Before 2 pm a U-haul truck drove up.  To get me on the schedule as promised Lowes rented a U-haul truck to deliver my refrigerator.  That's service.

The delivery guys had to take off my house door to get the refrigerator inside the house.  I had never taken the door off and I learned it was a solid and very heavy door.

My old refrigerator was a Whirlpool.  I don't know how old it was as neither the delivery guys or I could find a date on it.  I know it predates my dad as he always saved the warranty and instruction booklets on appliances he had bought.  I think the refrigerator is from the last major house remodel which was done in the mid-1960s.

The Whirlpool model was EAT 19PM.   I couldn't find any info on this model other than an advertisement from 1978.  That refrigerator was sold for $537.    I think this style of refrigerator is selling today for around the same price.

Here is where the old Whirlpool refrigerator once stood.  The area is too small - width and height - for the new refrigerator.  Once the kitchen & dining room remodel is done the refrigerator will go elsewhere along the wall.

For now I placed the refrigerator in one corner of the dining room.

Here are photos of my new Samsung refrigerator.  I bought is model:  RF260BEAESR.

Doesn't the LED lighting look cool?

While I am not big on getting extended warranties, I got one for this refrigerator.  Because:

1. there are no authorized Samsung service repairmen in Flathead Valley,
2. the refrigerator has electronics to control the refrigerator instead of dials.  Replacing this circuit board could be expensive,
3. the refrigerator has two compressors - one for the refrigerator and one for the freezer.

Right after we got the refrigerator and plugged it in Tammy went right to work taking the plastic wrap off everything.

I hit the "power cool" and "power freeze" buttons and it wasn't long before it was time to put food into the new freezer. Tammy was adamant she didn't want my "old" food in "her" new refrigerator.  She only wanted her food in her freezer.  My stuff was to go in the basement freezer. 

Corral fence, part 2

The fix of the corral took me two times to do. The first time, I fixed the south part before the cattle interrupted me.  I had to find another long branch for the broken west side.  Here the cattle check out my handiwork after I finished.  Then they had to taste the bark.

After that day they got over it. Their curiosity was satisfied.  I haven't seen them chew on the bark since then.

The video of the cattle and the fence is 2:37 long.

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

Corral fence, part 1

Last month - see snow is still on the ground! - I discovered the cattle had been slowly working on a way to break out of the corral hoping I wouldn't notice.   They had knocked down several long tree branches lining the top of the fence in one corner.

Of course when I was working on repairing the corner the cattle all came over to see what I was doing.

Here is a 34 second video of the "Gang of Four".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4yNuWWX0Q

Sunday snow

Sunday afternoon the weather changed suddenly and drastically.   Out of nowhere the wind blew hard and then the snow began. It snowed hard and the mostly bare ground was quickly covered.

Fortunately the front passed through quickly and snow tapered off.  We got a little more snow than shown in the photos.   Monday most of the snow melted once the sun came out for a while.   The shaded areas still have snow.

On a slow boat

Remember my earlier post about buying a refrigerator?

http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2013/02/refrigerator-dying-slow-death.html

I was suppose to have it by now.  The boat carrying the refrigerator (along with 33 other refrigerators) from Korea was suppose to get to the Lowes warehouse by Feb 15.  A week to get here in Kalispell which would make it Friday, Feb 22.  To be safe the Lowes salesman scheduled the delivery for Monday, Feb 25.

Lowes called Sunday to remind me of the delivery on Monday.  Then an hour later they called back to say, oops, they didn't have the refrigerator yet.  It would arrive Monday night so they re-scheduled the delivery for Wednesday.

Wednesday arrived and no call from Lowes.  I called them and learned they didn't have the refrigerator.  Where is it?!   They checked and it wasn't at the Lowes warehouse.  Further checking and they said it (and seven other refrigerators) were on a boat from Korea.  The refrigerator would arrive at the warehouse March 5.  Then another five days to reach Kalispell.

I bought the refrigerator on February 7!!  Living out of a cooler is getting old.

Also, I may be interested in buying an extended warranty on the refrigerator.  But I was told the warranty had to be purchased within 30 days of buying the refrigerator, not from taking possession of the refrigerator.  I wanted to have the refrigerator a few days before making the final decision on the warranty. 

First Lowes promised my shower doors would arrive on a certain date and they arrived three or so days later.  Now this.  Lowes has a credibility problem.

Hay on the head

The cattle like to bury their head in the hay while they eat.  Here they are coming up for air.

A side effect is that sometimes they accidentally push some hay out of the feeder and then step on it ruining it.

Mountain sun

Monday we had a brief break in the clouds and got a little sun...

February women's expo

On Saturday Tammy held her first women's expo in 2013 for direct selling home based businesses.  She and I set up the tables Friday night and Tammy was down there before 8 am on Saturday to open the door to let the women in to set up their tables.  The expo started at 10 am and ran until 5 pm.

Also at the fairgrounds was a Prairie Sisters vintage collectible show that ran from 10 am to 4 pm, and a Bridal Expo that ran from 10 am to 5 pm. Tammy's expo was in the smaller Country Kitchen building and the other shows were in the expo building and trade center respectively.

Tammy had 31 vendors including her own Tastefully Simple table.

I came down a little before 10 am and set up the five wooden sandwich board signs and also hung a banner on the building.  I came back after 4 pm and took everything down at 5 pm.

There were lots of traffic at the fairgrounds.  Most of the traffic were at the other two events as they have been around for years.  Tammy is trying to think of a cute catchy name for her events as some people here think a "Women's Expo" is a health fair.  Tammy needs some sort of name with the word "shopping" in it.  Any ideas?

Missing board

This is what I found when I went out to feed the cattle Friday.

Ya....   the board was missing.    Where was it?   I had to look around to find it.  The board was laying inside the feeder.   How the cattle - with no hands - slid the board out of  its holder and then got it into the feeder is a big mystery.

Here the cattle are eating.  Just look at those angels.

Relaxing in the loafing shed

Thursday morning I found the cattle again played with my feeder board.  Here you can see the board slid partway out.   On the right you see the cattle relaxing in the loafing shed as I fix the feeder board.  I can just imagine one of the heifers snickering at me behind my back every day when I find the board slid out.

Sliding out

The cattle are playing with me...

Lately I've noticed the new board on the hay feeder had been slid partway out.  At first I thought I forgot to slide it closed after adding hay to the feeder.  But it happened a number of times.

Now I know it is not me.  Today I found the board completely slid out of the holder and laying in the mud and manure a yard away from the feeder.  I guess it is better than the cattle breaking the board and holder.

That's what the cattle think of my attempt to keep them out of the feeder.


This is the board I am talking about.

Cattle and deer

Some deer passed through the hayfield late one afternoon when I was in the corral with the cattle.

The cattle were standing around watching me work.

Momma passed some gas.

There go the deer.

The video showing the cattle and deer is 53 seconds long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-G-obJOPPk

Loading corral gate fun

When I was fixing the hay feeder on Wednesday one heifer and Baby were at one of the loading corral gates and figured out how to open it.

If it's not one thing it's another.

Here is how the latch works on my homemade gate.   I had added a wire to hold the latch as cattle in the past pushed on the latch and opened the gate.  These cattle got the wire off then moved the latch to open the gate.

When "kids" have too much free time on their hands they get into trouble.

As soon as the heifer and Baby got the gate open Momma noticed right away and went over there.  That is how I found out as Momma was watching me work at the feeder then suddenly lost interest and went over there.

There is no harm in letting the cattle in the loading corral runway other than I had added some dirt near the header gate to make the incline more gradual.  I don't want the cattle walking on the wet dirt and messing it up until it dries and grass starts to grow on it.

I closed the gate when the cattle came out to eat the hay I added to the feeder after I finished my work on it.