Tammy's here

Tammy arrived on Wednesday May 11 and she will be here with me until May 31.  Almost three weeks!

A rainbow came out after her arrival.

We've been busy since her arrival as she went right to work helping me around the ranch.

Kitchen leak

While doing Spring cleaning in the house today I noticed the cupboard floor under the kitchen sink was still damp.  Over a month ago I had replaced the corroded drain pipes.  I expected the cupboard floor to be dry by now.

Upon a closer look I discovered the cold water pipe had a 1 and 3/4 inch steel pipe connection between the copper pipes that lead to the main water line and to the faucet.   This connection was corroded and wet.

I replaced this corroded connector with another good one I found.  I'm sure there is a better material to use than steel, but steel was what I had on hand.  I believe it will last me long enough.

Here is a photo of the bad connector where you can see where the leak occurred.

Limp

One of my black and white heifers was walking with a slight limp this morning.  I have no idea how she hurt her back left leg or hoof or whatever.  I could only get close enough to see that her leg is not swollen, which is a good thing.

Whenever I was by the corral the rest of the day most of the cattle were laying down taking their siesta and I didn't want to cause them to move.  Hopefully her leg will be better tomorrow.

The cattle are getting more used to the corral and me.  They don't always walk away to the far corner when I enter the corral.  They will stand and watch me as I check their hay feeder or when I walk through the corral on the way to the pasture.

Cattle baron again

Friday I bought eight heifers.   My plan was to buy six steers but cattle are scarce and steers especially so.  Dan had been keeping an eye out for cattle I could buy but everyone was not selling or were holding on to their cattle for a while longer.  Cattle prices are higher and look to stay that way.  And with hay plentiful and cheap, ranchers are holding on to cattle to have them eat their hay up.

I was the second person on Rich's list and the other person ahead of me bought the half dozen or so steers. Rich only had heifers left when it was my turn.  Rather than wait and take a chance some steers would come available later I decided to buy the heifers.  I have hay I want eaten up.

The heifers are also lighter than I planned to get.  I wanted cattle that weighed between 500 and 600 pounds. In the past I got cattle as light as 539 lbs and heavy as 720 lbs.   The heifers I bought weighed on average 459 lbs, with a few on the heavier side and a few looking to be much lighter.  This will be different for me and I'll see how much they gain weight.

Lighter cattle don't eat as much as heavier cattle.  In the past I wanted lighter cattle because I didn't have as much hay to feed them - and then couldn't find any cattle on the light side, but this year I have a barn full of hay and would have liked heavier cattle.

Oh well.

I used my stock trailer to get the cattle after I bought them.  The last time I used my stock trailer to move cattle was four years ago.  During that move my stock trailer's brake locked up damaging my tire. I fixed the brake.  Today's trip was the first time I used the stock trailer since then.  How would the brakes work, especially after sitting for four years?

The brakes did not permanently lock up like before, but a few times they would lock the tires by the time I stopped.  Darn. However I noticed that by the time I got to Rich's place the tires didn't seem to be locking up.  When the trailer was loaded with cattle the tires never locked up and worked like they should.

But something always goes awry.   This time when I backed the trailer into Rich's loading chute I was a little to one side and I couldn't fully open the handle to open the trailer door.  I moved the trailer a little hoping to move the trailer further away from the one side.  Somehow the handle got caught against the corral and broke off.  Now I couldn't lock the trailer door.  Not a good thing.

Fortunately before I left home I decided to throw a couple ropes into the pickup in case I needed them.   And did I!  That was how I secured the trailer door once I got the cattle inside.   Rich has a welding machine but he was unable to use it to create a solid weld of the handle back onto the trailer door.  I'll have to take the trailer to a welding shop and have a professional weld the handle.

The ground was uneven in Rich's loading chute and the cattle are smaller and shorter than usual so they had trouble stepping up into the trailer.  It took Rich and I some effort to convince the cattle to climb into my trailer.  The last heifer was short and I lifted one of its legs onto the trailer floor before it climbed into the trailer.

As the cattle were smaller they all easily fit in the trailer with lots of room to spare.  That made pulling the trailer more interesting as occasionally they would move around as I drove which altered the weight balance.  This was especially interesting when I drove at highway speeds.

The cattle are skittish.  I imagine rightfully so as they were from two herds and spent the last so many days being moved around.  Also Rich gave them eight-way shots for their health protection and branded the ones without brands with his brand so all would have brands.  That made it easier for the brand inspector's bill of sale.

For the first several days here the cattle would all run to the far corner of the corral when they saw me.  They also stayed together as they moved around the corral.  Today the cattle are not in such a tight group and don't always run to the corral corner when they see me, but they still keep their distance and always stand up when they see me out and about in the yard or corral.

As you can see some of the heifers are black and white.  Kind of like an Oreo cookie look or a skunk look.

I had to wash out my stock trailer and the rubber floor mats when I was done moving the cattle.

I could have used my rancher girl Tammy to help me with opening and closing gates as I drove through them and to help me wash out my stock trailer.  She'll be here Wednesday.

Bonfire wood

Tuesday I got some starter wood for my tree stump bonfires.  Tammy will be here Wednesday to visit me for almost three weeks and she likes bonfires.  And since I have more tree stumps to get rid of... it is a win-win situation for us.

There is a business down the road that does old wood and log work and they have a scrap wood pile.  The owner lets me take what I want as it saves him from later burning or getting rid of the pile.

Since Tammy is still healing from her fractured shoulder she wouldn't be able to help me get the wood this year.  Other times when we got the scrap wood Tammy hasn't been enthusiastic in loading my pickup with it.  I get the pickup half loaded and she thinks it is enough wood.  Then a few days and a few bonfires later we had to go get more wood.

So I took the opportunity to get full two pickup loads of wood before she arrives.  That should cover most of the bonfires I hope to have when Tammy is here.

Now I need to get to digging some around a number of tree stumps to get them ready for burning.

Broken branches, pocket gophers, trivia

When I was out in the middle pasture I came across a tree that had broken branches from the snow this winter.  Also, the branches stacked at the base of the tree trunk are similarly broken branches from previous years.

Also I am up to four pocket gophers trapped this year.  And I still haven't made an effort to get out and set all my traps.  I run across some dirt mounds when working on something else; I quickly set a trap and the next day I have a dead pocket gopher.  Another sign that I have eradicated the regular gophers last year as today, for the very first time, I found and trapped pocket gophers in the very heart of the former domain of the regular gophers. 

Yesterday I won a $10 gift certificate to a local restaurant for knowing a trivia question on the radio.  In 1626 Peter Minuit bought what island using trinkets?   I seem to remember the trivia question as also indicating that he also discovered the island, but that is not true another European explorer discovered the island years earlier.  The answer?  Manhattan

Newer corral gate

Last week I replaced the corral gate between the corral and the yard.  The corral had a 12' gate and I replaced it with one of my newer 16' gates.

The longer gate length meant I had to alter the corral fence.

In addition to replacing the fence boards on each side of the gate I replaced the old post (which was rotten and fell over once I removed the boards from the post) with a newer heavier post, a post that should be able to hold a heavy 16' gate.

Even though the post already had lag bolts to hold the gate, they were in the wrong locations and I had to move them for my newer gate.

I didn't widen just only one side of the gate.  Due to the barn and the tool shed locations it was better to widen a little on each side.  The south (left) side board length was 9' instead of the typical 8' so I made the new length 8'.  The board lengths on the north (right) are 6 and 1/2 ft each for some reason.  In the future I plan to replace these boards with poles.  Once that is done the entire fence on the east side of the corral will be poles and not boards.

Here is a photo of the newer gate.  Here I am in the process of changing the 9' fence section to be a 8' fence section of poles.

Here it is done.  The gate is not completely closed in the photo.  That is why the gate doesn't look to be aligned correctly.

Since I rebuilt the fence on the left side of the gate, I also rebuilt the fence around the water trough and leading to the gate that goes to the barn.  The top post is part of a tree branch I had rescued from the creek across the road.  The beavers had used it when making one of their dams.  The branch is surprisingly solid, and since I didn't have any other poles this length I used the branch even if it isn't completely straight.  I think the bend adds character, and it helps that the old post on the left is slightly higher than the old post on the right.

In the past I found the cattle will put their head through the pole fence to reach the grass in the yard.  One time they broke a pole.  Since then I put wire fencing over the poles to prevent the cattle from getting their head through the poles, as you can see in the rebuilt fence on the left side in the preceding photo.

This newer gate is easier to open than the old gate.  I had no problem with the old gate as I knew how to handle the gate handle.  This newer gate is heavier than the old gate, and while I have the gate balanced pretty good on the post, the far end of the gate does hang down a little due to its length and weight, and with the uneven ground one does have to lift the gate over a few high areas.  Once the ground around the post settles and hardens I'll know better how the gate swing open wide.  Right now the gate's weight makes the post lean over when the gate is open wide.

Another nice feature of the pole fence is that it doesn't have to be painted - unlike the old corral fence.  I have enough fence for Tammy to paint to keep her busy for a long time. 

You and Happiness

While there are many ways to get to happiness, and it can look complicated, happiness can be easy.

Wooden duck

Sunday as I walked along the river I noticed this wooden duck floating against a snag along the river bank.  I rescued it.  The duck looks like it needs some washing as the dirty river water left its mark.

Tree stump sap

Sunday I chopped some side roots from a tree stump I had partially dug last year.  This tree has been dead over 10 years, and maybe much longer than that.  I had burnt it down to ground level seven or eight years ago, and last year I dug around the stump for further burning this year.

Imagine my surprise when I got splattered by liquid tree sap when my axe chopped through a side root.  The stump is from a Western Larch (Tamarack) tree so I shouldn't have been totally surprised.  The same thing happen to me a year or two ago as I chopped another Western Larch tree stump.

Here is where I chopped through the root and the sap came running out.

First Pocket Gopher

I trapped my first pocket gopher of the year.  I should have been out hunting them earlier but I've been busy.

On Saturday I came across a fresh dirt mound just outside the corral that I couldn't ignore and I then set a trap.  This morning I found a dead pocket gopher in the trap.

Chloe

Jan is out of the hospital but is now is in a medical transition unit.  It appears she will be there recovering for at least two more weeks. Every day I've been busy helping Bob with meals and taking Chloe out for bathroom breaks.  Many mornings come early for me as Chloe has to go outside for a bathroom visit after a long night.

Their cat, Jade, disappeared for several nights, and just when we feared the worst, she appeared one evening by my bicycle wanting inside the house.

Today it snowed in the morning and then rained all afternoon.  A very wet day.   And cold, as our high temperature was 38 F.  Our normal high temperature is 60 F.  Instead of melting and losing snow in April, the mountains all month have added snow and they now have more snow than when the month started.   So much for global warming.

Here are some photos of Bob and Jan's dog, Chloe.  She has to check everything out.  She is a very intelligent dog.   We think she is an Ibizan breed. Of the three hair types of the breed we believe she is a smooth hair.  Other than her hair coloring is black and white, and not red and white, she pretty much matches all the other characteristics of the breed.

So curious as to what is on the other side of the fence.

The reason we are out here.

Gates and feeder

Since my track record for buying gates at auctions is so poor I thought of placing an ad in the Mountain Trader paper to buy gates.   I didn't get around in doing so last week - but no matter as someone had an ad in Thursday's paper to sell gates.

As I am still helping my neighbor Bob I never got to calling about the gates until Friday afternoon - a time that is usually too late.  I reached the seller, who is also named Bob.  He had a variety of extra gates he no longer needed in sizes of 10', 12', 14' and 16'.   Just what I was looking for.

And he was relatively close, though on the west side of the Valley.  He said we could discuss prices when I came over.  Alright, I'll take a chance the gates will be what I want at an acceptable price.

I ended up buying five gates: two 16', two 14' and one 12' gate.  The 16' gates looked like brand new, the 12' gate had good paint, and the two 14' gates are in need of paint and a little work.  Since I bought five gates I negotiated a further discount and got all the gates for $250.  

The one 16' gate is a HiQual gate.    Last week I had priced HiQual gates at the CHS location that was selling them as closeout items and priced at $128.

The other gates I bought were two HW gates and two Pacific Steel gates - both good brands.  The 16' HW gate is a grey gate, their lighter utility model.  The 12' HW gate is green, their Corral/Horse model.

Still, I think I got a good deal.  And now I may have all the gates I need.

I also noticed Bob had a number of heavy duty (HiQual and Pacific Steel) round bale feeders that were used.  He had sold one the previous day for $200 and offered to sell me one for that price. I said I'd think about it.  As Bob would only take cash and not a check I had to go to my bank to get more money.  During the drive I decided to buy one of the feeders.

When I got back Bob said he had called the Pacific Steel company in Great Falls, Mt and got prices on new feeders.  Since he had told me $200 for a feeder he honored that price, though he told me that if he sold any more feeders he would charge more for them.

I loaded the gates into my pickup.  Now for the feeder.  The pickup is around 5' across and the feeder is over 8'.  Hmmm....    I had carried a HW feeder once and had one side in the pickup bed and the other feeder side on one side rail of the pickup bed.   I planned to carry the Pacifc Steel feeder the same way but Bob wasn't sure about that idea and kept asking if this is what I really wanted to do.  I had him bring the feeder over to my pickup using his Bobcat loader.  Next to the pickup the feeder looked big.  And the feeder is a heavy duty crown feeder.

I relented and unbolted the feeder into its three parts and Bob helped me lift the parts into the pickup bed.  In hindsight - though extra work - it was the right decision.

The feeder is heavy.  I have gotten entire HW feeders loaded into my pickup by myself but I have doubts about doing so with this feeder.  On the ground it is an effort to move it around.

The 12' and two 14' gates and the feeder.

Leaning together, the five gates I bought.

My Pacific Steel crown feeder

Gates and feeder are now checked off my list of stuff to get.  ...Now I need to buy another used harrow.  There was a harrow listed for sale in Thursday's Mountain Trader paper but by the time I called it had been sold.

Skillet Burrito Mix

A few weeks ago I got adventurous and made a Homemade Gourmet meal on my own - without Tammy's help as she is back in Minnesota.  Tammy said she wasn't fond of burritos so I made myself the Skillet Burrito recipe. The recipe can be found here: Homemade Gourmet Skillet Burrito recipe.

Yum!  I loved it.    And it wasn't hard to make.

As the recipe is for a serving size of eight I had plenty to eat for days afterwards.

While the recipe called for one cup of Mexican-style cheese I added a little more than one cup to the pan.  Then, when I made each burrito, I sprinkled more of the cheese on the filling.  So I ended up using two cups of Mexican-style cheese by the time I ate everything.

In the second photo, that is the recipe's Cilantro Spiced Sour Cream Topping. That also tastes good.

I also made and ate a Mexican Black Bean mix, but it appears Homemade Gourmet has discontinued that recipe as I can't find it on their web site.

Chasing after a dog

This evening when I was walking Bob and Jan's dog, Chloe, for her evening bathroom break, she spotted two birds in the evergreen trees.  She stopped short at the end of her leash when chasing the first bird. I was an immovable object.  The second bird... well... the leash came off.  That's what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object.

I had clipped the leash to a large ring attached to her collar and not the main ring.  The ring I attached the leash to broke.  Chloe took off.  The bird flew off and then Chloe realized she was no longer attached to the leash and she took off.

She was in a thick grove of evergreen trees. On the other side of the evergreen trees is a chain link fence. I saw which direction Chloe ran but little else until she changed direction and ran the other way towards the road.

I went to the road and looked on the other side of the fence.  Past the neighbor's driveway on the other side of the chain link fence is his fenced pasture with 13 Corriente cattle.  No sign of Chloe.

I went around Bob and Jan's yard.  No sign of Chloe.

I went back to the other side of the chain link fence and found Chloe running fast in the ditch along the fence on the west side of the pasture.  The cattle were running in the pasture along the fence and were running towards Chloe.

Chloe wouldn't let me get near her and tried to ignore me.   She ran full out and like a bullet.  Back and forth.  The cattle ran back and forth.

Chloe then reached the north side of the fence and ran along it.  I went down there but she ran to the NE corner of the fence.

All this time she stayed on the outside of the pasture.   But at the NE corner she slipped through the fence and went into the pasture, then ran over to the corridor that goes down to the creek.  Back through the fence, she then ran along the creek.  I was afraid she would reach the culvert and cross the creek but she turned around and came back to the pasture.

Then she decided to run to the cattle.  The herd ran after her while she ran circles around some of the cattle. The cattle were fast but Chloe was faster. I couldn't cross into the pasture and go after Chloe as some of the cattle ran over to me along the fence.  These cattle had long horns and a look in their eye of "Just try coming into this pasture buddy!"  I checked the biggest one that ran towards me and it was a steer - even though it was acting like a bull.

Chloe then ran all around the pasture checking out the salt feeders and extra hay bales.

She ignored me when I called to her.

She ended up on the south side of the pasture and I walked around the outside of the pasture to the SW corner.

Finally she came to me when I called her and I was able to reach through the fence and grab her collar.  The cattle were still towards the north side.  I maneuvered Chloe to a spot in the fence where she could crawl under the fence when I lifted the lower barb wire strand.

I finally got her home.

Chloe is like a sports car.  Here finally she could go all out with no restrictions.  It was magnificent to see, even though it was an annoyance to me.

I'll tell you one thing... in the future I will make sure I clip her leash into the main heavy ring.

Hayshed organizing

Last week I had to organize the north side of the hay shed.  I had over thirty cement blocks I wanted to move and store in the hay shed.  No room left.

Over the years as I gathered metal and wood fence posts, wire, metal sheets, cement blocks, and other stuff I would quickly place it in the shed with plans to use the stuff soon.  It all caught up to me as I had no room left.

While the outside ground was relatively dry, and certainly not muddy, it was odd to have the ground under the stuff be wet and muddy.  Which was a little strange as I had sealed most of the opening beneath the north wall last Fall.  The east side is always open so snow must have blown in from there.

Odder still, I found ice between the sheets of metal.  In addition, the ground beneath the sheets was frozen.  I was unable to pound any boards or posts in the ground until it thawed. I had to wait a few days. It took much of the week to complete the reorganization, and that was with three long days of work.

Yes, that is ice you see.

I decided to put some of my extra cement blocks to work and I put everything up on blocks so nothing lays on the ground any more.  No sense letting stuff rot or rust.


Here is a view when I was part way through organizing.  The metal and wooden posts have been organized but this photo gives you an idea of the area between the stuff and the RV in which I had to walk.

Here is how I supported the stack of fence posts.  The first time I stacked the posts in the foreground, the supporting posts bent way outwards and I had to take the stack apart and re-stack the pile with more support posts pounded into the ground.  Stacking and re-stacking posts made me sleep hard at night.

Here is the stuff when I finished.  Look at all that room!

Wait 5 minutes

The last few days the weather has been in a rinse cycle over and over with a little sun and snow tossed in.

One time late this morning...

One time this afternoon briefly...

Over and over the weather changed from rain, snow, sun, snow, rain, sun, snow, rain, etc.  Right now the snow pellets - graupel - are making a racket as they hit the house windows.


This afternoon's view of Big Mountain ski area.  The ski resort is closed for the season even though it looks like plenty of snow is still there.  Glacier Park has started to clear snow from the Going-to-the-Sun road and they report much more snow than usual.  It has been said that the mountains around here have 141% of snow than normal.

With this moisture the moss I had raked up, and which looked to be dying, is now back to bright green.  That moss doesn't seem to need anything to grow on.

I removed some extra pipe from my well as it had a slow drip from the extra valve.  I had no replacement washer and rather than replace the valve I removed it.  The extra valve is seen in the lower center of the first photo.

Thursday I took Jan to the hospital for the operation on her foot.  She was suppose to be home that night but she is still in the hospital. The operation was more extensive and painful than predicted. Apparently the medical staff is advising that she go to a transition unit for a few weeks to get the healing and therapy off to a good start.

As Bob has trouble getting around, and has health problems of his own, I go over to their house multiple times a day to take their dog out to go to the bathroom.  She also checks out the yard with her nose to the ground.  Mice are in a number of low thick evergreen type of bushes and she tries to get them to no avail.  I saw one mouse but in the thick tangle of branches couldn't step on it to good effect.  I did catch and kill a shrew in my house last night.  It had a light touch and earlier had licked the trap clean of peanut butter without triggering it.  This time it was not as lucky.

Chloe - the dog - and I are getting to be best buds as she has taken a shine to me.

I also try to let their cat in and out.  She must have gotten out last evening as this morning she showed up wanting back into the house.  She has spent all day in her cat bed sleeping soundly.

And I find and take to Bob some of the leftover food for him to eat, and also feed the dog and cat their food.

All that running back and forth to help out is keeping me busy.