PRCA rodeo

Tammy won two free tickets to a PRCA rodeo at the Majestic Valley Area.  So we saw the rodeo Saturday night, March 22, the second night of a two round series.

The arena was not full, but there was a decent crowd.  Tammy and I did notice that people could not sit still and there always lots of people moving here and there.

The rodeo lasted a little over two hours and had:

1. Bareback riding
2. Steer wrestling
3. Team Roping
4. Saddle Bronc
5. Tie-down roping
6. Barrel racing
7. Bull riding
8. Mutton busting

Here are a few photos:

Danger, the rodeo clown

Saddle bronc riding

 Team roping

 

Mutton busting.  A half dozen kids tried and only the last boy was able to stay on the sheep the entire time.

Barrel racing

Bull riding.  Out of seven riders only one rider was able to stay on the bull the full 8 seconds.

One bull didn't want to go back into the pen.

Tammy's traveling wine party

Tonight Tammy hosted a Traveling Vineyard home party.  This is the party Tammy tried to hold in January but had to cancel because of a Winter storm.

Tammy had six people here to taste five wines.  Other people wanted to attend but couldn't due to other obligations.

The party went very well and everyone had a great time.  We tasted five wines and learned about wine.  We had cheese, crackers, pizza rolls and chocolate to taste with various wines.  The foods made a big difference in the tastes of the wines.

Daisy behaved herself quite well during the party.  Several Traveling Vineyard consultants live in Billings, Montana and they ran the party via Oovoo on Tammy's computer. Tammy and I poured wine samples and passed out the food. At one point I was worried Daisy was going to press on some computer keys and disrupt the video.  But she didn't.   Daisy did get a little tired of the commotion by the end of the party.

The five wines we tasted were:

(my, and most other people's favorite wines, were the Screaming Goat and the Fissada)

http://www.travelingvineyard.com/wine/2013-screaming-goat-gewurztraminer/

http://www.travelingvineyard.com/wine/2012-leafwing-riesling/

http://www.travelingvineyard.com/wine/2012-perique-pinot-noir/

http://www.travelingvineyard.com/wine/2012-rayado-cabernet-sauvignon/

 http://www.travelingvineyard.com/wine/fissata-red/

Cleaning up the tree

I finished working on cleaning up the "V" box elder tree break (http://www.tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2014/03/v-tree-break.html).   Daisy helped me.

The parts of the tree not useful for the wood stove.

Daisy supervising the stomping down of the branches.

Yesterday I pulled another hay bale across the corral to the metal feeder.  Lots of mud and manure in the corral.  I needed the four wheel drive ability.

More supervising by Daisy: "Don't forget these branches!"

Everything loaded in a single pickup load

I hauled the branches next to a tree stump in the pasture.  On the to-do list: dig around the stump for later burning.

On the left most pallet: the parts of the "V" tree I will use for firewood after it is dried and split.  It was not the best stacking job as 15 minutes later half of it came tumbling down.

Missoula road trip

Tammy wanted to go on a road trip this weekend.  Initially I thought of driving to Great Falls, Montana.  However, between the almost four hour drive, a Winter weather advisory in the mountains and Marias Pass, and not getting out of bed until almost 10 am, led us to change plans.  We decided to drive to Missoula, Montana.  This is only two hours away.

Before we left I had to put Daisy in the house. She had been ignoring us calling for her and planned to snooze on some rugs in the garage until I found her.

The weather was decent.  The scenery very nice.  Here are views of the Mission Mountains from around Polson, then Ronan, Montana.

Near Polson...

Near Ronan...

In Missoula we stopped at an expo held by a friend of Tammy's. We arrived at the expo just as it was ending.

Then we stopped at a Cracker Barrel as Tammy heard good things about this store.  We found lots of "old time" (that is, baby boomer) candy we haven't seen in a long time.  I bought a Bit-O-Honey bar I remembered as a kid.  Tammy remembered "Chick-O-Stick" which is unknown to me. I bought one of those.  At a candy store in the Southgate mall I bought a "Big Cherry" candy.  The packaging and name and description was similar to "Bing Cherry" candies I knew as a kid and didn't realize the difference until later.  We have yet to eat our candies.  Tomorrow.

I also found a novelty item that I think may also amuse Daisy.  We'll see tomorrow.

Before returning to Kalispell we ate at the Red Robbin restaurant.  Good food.

Tammy's meal: Chicken Caesar salad wrap

We got home just after dark.

More hay

Thursday the cattle finished off the first large hay bale.  It only lasted 4 1/2 days.  Once the cattle finished off the hay and went to the north pasture to chew their cud, I shut the corral gate so I could work undisturbed.

The snow and ice never melted under the previous hay bale.

To make the move go faster Tammy helped me by driving the pickup as I managed the chains around the hay and pallet.  The corral was slippery from mud and manure, and even with four wheel drive the pickup's tires would spin after pulling the bale and pallet a short distance as the mud and manure would build up in front of the pallet.  Tammy had to often back up and give it a run to keep moving the bale and the pallet it sat on.  I managed the chains.

Corral's water, mud and manure.

Once the bale was in place the cattle decided to return to check the bale out.  Beulah came running with the rest of the cattle quickly behind her.

Grandpa Whiskers brought up the rear.

"V" tree break

This morning the "V" tree south of the house had one side lean down to the ground.  I discovered the tree trunk on this side had a large tear in it.  I spent much of the day cutting it down with a chainsaw.

How the tree on the left looked this Winter before the tear.

Leaning down.

The tear.

Because of the fence I had to cut the tree trunk down in sections.  For this cut I had the ladder on the other side of the fence.  Because of the trunk's thickness I cut the trunk from both sides.  I wasn't sure if the tree would fall to the right or left.  I had Tammy watch to warn me as it can be hard to see when one is close to the trunk and holding a chainsaw.

I was on the left when the tree came down.  To the left.  What saved me was this is where the trunk ended up on the ground.  When the trunk fell I jumped off the ladder and tossed the chainsaw away as I jumped.  Since the trunk's end did not fall further I avoided getting hurt.

When cutting the remaining part of the trunk I had Tammy pull the tree trunk's end with a rope.  I was concerned the very end may fall on the fence.  The problem I encountered is that the trunk had a rotten piece in it and I didn't know it.  I again had to cut one side of the trunk then the other. The rotted section was among the last I cut. I thought I had more trunk to cut when I cut through the end of the good trunk and reached the rotted part.  The tree trunk fell quickly, towards me and on my ladder.  Again I had to jump off the ladder tossing my running chainsaw as I jumped.  No damage to me or the chainsaw.  The ladder is toast.  Here is how the ladder looked after I straightened it quite a bit.

See the rotted section?

Daisy performed a "cat scan" of the bad tree trunk.  Daisy does not like loud noises and hung back while Tammy and I worked on the tree.  Once I turned the chainsaw off she came and inspected my work.

Even with all my efforts to avoid the fence, part of the tree came down on the fence as I cut the rest of it up.  Fortunately the fence did not break.

Tonight the trunk is all cut up.  The tree sap was only starting to rise.  A few branches leaked sap after I cut them.  Otherwise the cutting went better than if the sap had risen.  The work would have went faster if the chainsaw chain was sharper.

Tomorrow if it doesn't rain I will cut up the huge pile of branches and haul them off for later burning on a tree stump.

Night lights

The ski resort has night skiing on the weekends.

Tall Pines lakes

Lots of standing water everywhere...  below is an area in the hayfield that is normally dry but now has so much water I could swim in it.