Return to a bad toilet

Tammy returned from Minnesota today.  She arrived earlier than she estimated due to good traffic and good weather. My brother and I were in the process of fixing the toilet when Tammy arrived. This morning the toilet had a little leak at the base, and earlier this afternoon my brother and I had gotten a new wax ring for it.  Of course after a long trip Tammy needed to use the bathroom sooner than later.

The bolts to hold the toilet in place were old and when I gave the final screw to the last bolt, the bolt snapped in half. 

Off to the local Ace hardware store for new bolts.

The toilet is now fixed.

Broken water pipe

Over Winter a water pipe at my brother's place froze and split.  This water line runs under the front deck.

There is a valve to drain the pipe.  A few years ago my brother forgot to drain the pipe and it split.  It was a big plumber's bill to fix it.

My brother said he drained the pipe this last Winter.  He suspects the pipe was low in one corner and apparently the water did not completely drain.

We have a pipe cutter tool...

and we bought a click-in joint at Menards.

Wednesday I cut the pipe and put the pipe back together with the click-in joint.  The pipe ran through holes in the deck floor's studs. I cut several holes larger in order to bend the pipe so the joint fit together in a straight manner.  The blue pex pipe was how the plumber fixed the previous problem.  The white piece is the connector joint I used.

We turned the water on and found that there was a second hole in the pipe under part of the deck my brother did not remove.  When originally investigating the leak my brother did not check for more than one leak.

We removed more deck boards.  This was difficult because most of the screws would strip and not screw out.  I had to carefully pry each board off the deck frame.

I cut the second split out of the pipe.  Then back to Menards for another joint connector.  I clicked it on the pipes, put a brick under the corner to keep the pipe high for draining, and we were done.

Pre-trip cattle pasture check

Before I left for North Dakota I checked on the cattle in the south pasture.  They were down in the low area among the trees mostly laying in the tall grass.  I decided to let them be.  But some of them saw me and when I went back up to the higher ground half of them wandered out to see what I was doing.  As most of them milled around me a few more, then a few more, until eventually all the cattle were out of the trees and checking me out.  Of course my two flighty steers kept their distance.

I noticed that since Baby got her ear tagged and is out in the pasture she doesn't come up to me like she did when she was in the corral over Winter.  I guess she no longer needs me to stick up for her against the other cattle when she ate hay.  Other cattle are now more likely to come sniff and lick my clothes and shoes.

Photos of Baby...

Momma seems to be at that time of the month.  Either she was trying to ride a steer or a steer was riding her.  Otherwise she was pushing other cattle around.

As you can see both Baby and (especially) Momma got rid of their Winter fur already as they look nice and sleek.

Eventually the cattle got bored and wandered off to eat.  They have plenty of green grass so - cross my fingers - the cattle will behave and stay in the pasture while I am in North Dakota.

Cutting and packing

Yesterday I fixed my brother's sink which had a clogged pipe.  One of the nuts broke when I removed the pipe using a pipe wrench.  I got it in my head that I needed to replace that part of the trap pipe.  Well... the style now a days is for the pipe to be a male while my brother's old pipe is a female.  I was not about to replace all the pipes especially the pipe that goes into the wall.  I thought I would have to go to a plumbing retail store and not just Menards or Ace hardware when the light went on in my head and realized I only had to replace the nut as the pipe had some years in it before it gets too corroded.  Now the sink is fixed.


The garbage men had not come when I got up this morning. They were running late.   So I immediately went to work trimming tree branches.  The garbage men didn't come for over two hours to I got plenty of branches trimmed.  Of course there are many more trees and the hedge left to trim.

In addition to seeing the branches, you can also see the old chair my brother replaced yesterday.

The garbage men took the garbage and chair and one pile of the branches.  They said they would be back later this week to get the rest of the branches.


While on Sunday evening we had packed the unsold garage sale stuff into boxes, in the afternoon today my brother and I worked on packing the unsold garage sale stuff back up into the garage's attic.  First I wanted to look over and organize the other stuff in the garage attic.  We got rid of old boxes, carpet, carpet pads, old machinery parts, plant food, bird foods, etc. and freed up lots of storage.

The attic has no vents so while outside got to 77 degrees F it was hotter in the attic.  I took a break after cleaning and organizing.  As you can see my jeans are soaked from sweat except of their very bottom.

In the evening we packed up the garage sale stuff into the attic (the attic was still hot)  and swept out the garage and are done now.

Trivia night

Monday night in Minot and that means... trivia at the Landing Bar.

Ed has retired from hosting trivia games and is back being a player.  Matt has taken over hosting.  He put on good contests with a good balance between hard and easy with a variety of topics.  The contests didn't seem too hard yet the scores were not really high.

Some questions from memory...

1. True or false - all rattlesnakes are venomous?
2. True or False - Norman Rockwell created Rosie the riveter?
3. Which is further west... Milwaukee, Wisconsin of New Orleans?
4. Which fast food franchise has the most locations in the world?
5. What is the newest African country created July 9, 2011?
6. What is the first name of the angel from the movie,  "It's a Wonderful Life"?
7. Which two American presidents were adopted?
8. How many teams play in the World Cup?
9. What car company had the two slogans: "Go further" and "Built for the road ahead?"?
10. What common ailment are marshmallows used for?
11. In 2001 from which country was  Slobodan Milošević extradited to the Hague to be tried for war crimes?
12. In response to an articles implying he was a homosexual, what performer sent a telegram that read: "What you said hurt me very much. I cried all the way to the bank."

Answers:

1. True
2. True
3. New Orleans
4. Subway.  My team didn't believe me and went with McDonalds.  McD is number 3.  Here are the rankings: http://www.franchisedirect.com/top100globalfranchises/rankings/
5. South Sudan
6. Clarence Odbody
7. Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton
8. 32
9. Ford
10. Sore throat
11. Serbia (Yugoslavia was accepted as an answer).
12. Liberace

In the first contest we finished in the middle of the pack with 13 correct answers (two teams had 17 correct).  We won the second contest with 15 correct answers and could have had maybe 19 correct answers if we hadn't second guessed ourselves.

Our team name was "French Fried Tators" after the quote from the Sling Blade movie since Matt does a good impression of the Sling Blade character. 

The team was: me, Darrell, Ed, and two young guys who work at the Minot Daily News paper (you know me, I forget names at the drop of a hat).  Marv came late and decided to join a team of people he knew with less players.  Rod didn't show up.  it was good seeing everyone.

For the "quarters" questions, Darrell won a "Field of Dreams" DVD and a bottle Dr McGillicuddy's liquor.  One of the young guys won a large bag of tootsie rolls and a box of beef jerky.

The bar provided free sloppy joes and potato chips to eat.

After the trivia contest the bar had a karaoke singing.  The singers were pretty good but loud.  North Dakota has banned smoking in bars so it was nice to not have to sit in smoke and come home smelling of it.  Some people took smoke breaks outside.   Since this is North Dakota the bar built a four sided "bus stop" type of structure to protect the smokers from the elements and at one point someone came out and told people to move at least twenty feet away from the door.

Garage Sale: Day 2

Another slow day at the garage sale. We kept selling stuff, though not as much as yesterday.  Still it was worthwhile as we got rid of more stuff.

Talking with some long time garage salers I got the impression that people don't go to garage sales like they used to do.  Perhaps it is due to the rise of Goodwill and others stores selling used items.

Yesterday a couple of funny guys stopped and bought stuff.  The one originally from Texas mowed lawns and the other was originally from Tennessee (hence his nickname) and his strong accent.  "Tennessee" bought a pizza cooking pan though he had to borrow money from the Texas guy.  At the end of yesterday I remembered I had a female bicycle Dad owned.  I got it out of Devan's storage area.  Today "Texas" came by with a woman and bought it.  They used her can of change to come up with $15 for the bicycle.  So we ended up with lots more change than usual.  While the sale had stuff priced in increments of 25 cents we ended up with lots of dimes and nickels.

Even though the ad said we ended at 4pm we took our time and didn't close up until almost 5pm and made a few extra dollars as a result.

We have most of the stuff boxed up after throwing some items away.  I didn't toss much as during this sale I sold stuff that I had in the last sale, and in that sale I sold stuff from previous sales.  And I have more stuff to get out of the house to put in another sale.  A sale this or next Fall as I didn't have a chance this time to go through and put out mom's Christmas stuff.

The plan tomorrow is to haul the stuff back up into the garage attic.  Some of my stuff I am taking to Montana.  Tammy, like Devan, has little enthusiasm for holding a garage sale but I think I have enough stuff for a sale back in Montana later this year.

Garage Sale: Day 1

The garage sale went well though it was not as busy as I expected.   In prior years people were outside before the time we opened the doors.  Not this time.  A few people started to arrive at 9 am, the time the ad said the sale started.   Only a few times was it crowded and chaotic.   Otherwise a slow and relatively steady number of people came.  Some people I asked in the afternoon said they hadn't seen many people out at other garage sales.  The newspaper had 33 sales listed for Saturday plus one estate auction.  I think a dozen vehicles did a slow drive-by without stopping.  This was unfortunate as most people who did visit found at least one item to buy.

There is more stuff for sale than can be seen from the street

For the first time ever at a garage sale or flea market I am out of comic books to sell.  One of the first buyers offered me a certain number of dollars for all the comics I had for sale, and after some negotiation for a higher price to which he agreed, I sold the two big boxes of comics I had for sale.  I did have one other guy an hour or two later asking about comic books, but I think that if I had not made a deal to sell all the comics I still would have some left to sell.

Later I made another deal to sell a box of heavy stuff at a 'take it all' price.  That is good as the goal is to get rid of stuff and reduce the amount of stuff to carry back up in the garage attic for another sale.  Since I hadn't gotten all the stuff out to sell, even with one more day for the sale, it looks like there will be another North Dakota garage sale in my future. Hopefully it won't take another two and a half years to have the next sale.

Garage sale start

I plan on having a garage sale this weekend with my brother.  I had planned on holding the sale on Friday and Saturday like everyone else but the weather forecast was for rain on Friday, with a chance of severe weather.   The weather forecasters were right about the rain but fortunately not right about it being severe.

It is just as well I waited until Saturday.  I would not have been ready on Friday.

Thursday was spent getting the tables out and boxes down from the garage attic and the house's basement.  It took many hours even with my brother's help.

Friday was spent setting up the tables, placing sheets on most of the tables, placing the stuff on the tables, and marking prices on items added since the last garage sale attempt.  This also took most of the day. My brother helped price stuff in the evening.

I again have more stuff than tables and more stuff than can fit inside the garage. And I am tired.   The sale starts at 9 am tomorrow but I'm sure people will be here before then and I have stuff left to do.

Last minute stuff explanation

Regarding my previous post as to why I waited until the last minute to do the stuff with the horses and cattle...

I didn't do the cattle/horse work because I did not want the cattle to have access to the middle pasture until the last possible minute.  I try to rotate the cattle between fields every 5-6 days and we will be gone longer than that. 

The horses only just arrived two days before we left. Therefore the yard is way overgrown. Usually I put the horses in the north pasture last but because we will be gone for for more than six days I had to do it now as, with access to the river, they have a second source of water other than the water trough in the corral.  Therefore I wanted the horses to eat the back yard for as long as possible before leaving to knock some of the tall grass down.  I don't know why they acted that way but the horses ate grass growing in the corral during the day and then in the yard at night.

So unfortunately I had to wait until the last minute to do the horse/cattle stuff.

Road trip to NoDak

Tuesday Tammy and I drove her minivan to my brother's place in North Dakota.  Thursday Tammy drives to Minnesota to visit her kids and grand kids while I stay with my brother.

Our start from the ranch on Tuesday wasn't too late, but later than desired.  Before we left I had to:

• close that corral gate to the back yard,
• take down the corral panels limiting the horses to the back yard,
• open the corral gate to the north pasture to let the horses out there,
• open the gate between the middle and south pastures to let the cattle access to both pastures while I'm gone.

Then I made my lunch, loaded the minivan with all our stuff, ate breakfast and closed up the house.

We were off a quarter to 10 am - mountain time.  Tammy's Garmin estimated we would arrive at my brother's place at 8:53 pm - central time.  But the Garmin didn't estimate stops for stoplights, stop signs, gas refueling stops, road construction, and problems.  Tammy's new Garmin also showed the current speed and the the road's speed limit.  I said "new" Garmin.  But not new enough to account for quite a number of lowered speed limits in North Dakota due to more traffic in the Bakken oil boom area. Often 70 mph was now 55 mph and the Garmin showed us "losing" time as we drove the speed limit.


Our first unanticipated stop was when Daisy threw up on the back seat floor 15 minutes into our journey.  Daisy was not pleased when we left as she stood and looked out the minivan window and meowed as we left the ranch. Out of site of the ranch she eventually settled down and laid on Tammy's lap until she felt queasy.  Once I cleaned up her mess our time of arrival was 9:01 pm.  Once we got through the mountains it was 9:12 pm.  And so on.

For the rest of the trip Daisy lay on the floor.   First in front of the driver's seat, and once Tammy got her snuggie out, Daisy laid on the floor under Tammy's legs and snuggie with no interest in being elsewhere.  I had easily put a collar on her in case she attempted to bolt from the vehicle during stops.  After a couple of thwarted half-hearted attempts to exit an open door she gave up and settled down for the rest of the trip.

Our next problem was after it started to rain in central Montana.   The week before we left Tammy had the air conditioner fixed in her vehicle. During the drive to the repair shop her windshield wipers quit working.  The repair shop fixed them.  Or so they said. During our trip, after about 15 minutes, they quit working again.  Tammy was driving, the traffic was light, and concentrating we were able to see enough to make the 20 to 30 miles to the next town.

At the gas station and undercover out of the rain I found a screw was loose and tightened it.   This time the windshield wipers lasted 10 to 15 minutes.  When they quit working again there was a spot nearby with cover and I again tightened the screw.  The wipers lasted 5 minutes.  By now there was nothing but open fields.  The traffic and rain were light so we kept going.  The rain clouds were going from SW to NE and we began to get just ahead of the clouds and rain.

It remained that way until we got to North Dakota road construction.  Each time we waited the rain caught up to us until we could get going and eventually ahead of it again.  So the construction was more than an annoyance as a time waster.

It was raining when we drove through Ray, ND.  The road was so bad with large potholes that the speed limit was 15 mph - not 55 mph.  Between the rain and non-working windshield wipers it was hard to avoid the large holes in the road.


People living in trailers along the highway were common.

So was gas being flared at the numerous well sites.  If they could build pipelines maybe they wouldn't have to waste the gas.

We had another incident in eastern Montana as we were getting closer to North Dakota.  Two large semi-trailer gravel trucks were going the other way on the highway.  The trucks were full, the wind strong, and a bumpy road meant gravel flying out of the trucks.  All of sudden were were "strafed". One large rock hit the windshield on Tammy's side.  The rock didn't make it through the glass but it left a large impression.

We didn't get to my brother's place until 10:14 pm. Eleven and a half hours to drive 700 miles.   So much for Garmin's initial estimate.  Tammy and I slept long and hard Tuesday night and late Wednesday morning.

Sunset photos during a fence rebuild

A few sunset photos as I worked on my fence rebuild.

Hayshed post

Eventually I will get around to rebuilding the fence that runs between the corral and the hayshed.  When the previous owners built the hayshed they placed it a yard or so from the fence dividing the NE pasture from the North pasture.  This space between the shed and the fence has been annoying as the livestock would walk in the area then have to back out as there was not enough room to turn around.

The past few years I have blocked access to this area behind the hayshed with a goal of 'fixing' the fence.  When I rebuilt the corral I hung a gate in the location I wanted to move the fence.

This year I put in a railroad tie at the corner of the hayshed and bent the barb wire fence over to the railroad tie for time being until I get time to rebuild the rest of the fence.

I removed the fence behind the hayshed to allow the livestock access on the west side of the hayshed.  It is good to keep the grass level low next to the hayshed and not allow the grass to get tall and dry.

Before...

After...   a cleaner and simpler look.

Daisy 'helped' me put in the railroad tie.  Follow this link to see photos and a video of Daisy 'helping' me.

http://tallpinescat.blogspot.com/2013/06/hayshed-post-help.html

Lilacs

The lilacs are in bloom.  They used to also be lower but the cattle like lilacs too.

Cattle, pasture... Day 1

After a day in the pasture... the cattle are happy and calm - other than when Momma occasionally pushes another cattle around.

Momma looking back to the barn

Momma

Momma and Baby

Momma and Baby

Baby in the background

Dried manure eye makeup on one of my heifers

One of my two screwball steers

Ear tagging and release to the pasture

Before releasing the cattle into the pasture Baby and four others needed to have ear tags.  Thursday Dan and his son helped me tag the cattle.

While the small end of the loading corral packed cattle in tight there was still a little room to move and several cattle got excited and climbed up on other cattle. Then they tried to climb higher and out of the corral!  We backed off, especially as one of the cattle was standing on the bottom boards with two or more hoofs.  I didn't want it to slip off and get a leg out of the corral and possibly break a leg.

One of the cattle backed down but the other steer kept going and crawled up and out of the loading corral breaking the top board.  The steer quickly calmed down once it was out of the loading corral.  He already had a tag so it didn't matter.

Otherwise the ear tagging was quick and smooth.  The cattle couldn't move their heads much so the tags went in quick and clean.  No blood this time from hitting a vein.

After the tagging was done...  As you can see, normally the fence is much higher than the cattle.  Part of the broken board is on the left.  One steer hid his head under the belly of another cattle but after tapping him on his back he raised his head and we tagged him.

After the cattle were tagged I released them into the pasture. I was almost out of hay.  Dan had brought a few of his cattle over and his were already released into the middle pasture.  Once in the north pasture my cattle were so excited to have green grass they put their heads down and began to eat, ignoring the other cattle in the other pasture.

One of the screwball steers hung back in the corral when the others left.  I went in the corral to herd him out and he freaked out.  He ran back by the barn.  When I went to herd him from there he ran towards the open pasture gate but then suddenly took a hard left and jumped over the fence dividing the corral.  Or tried too as he crashed down on top of the snow fence and barb wire.  He then ran to the cattle's "safe place" in the corner of the corral.

Just to the right of the red panels is where the steer jumped the fence

 
I then opened the gate by the barn to allow him back around the barn and to the part of the corral with the open gate.  He was extremely excited and I slowly went to herd him back around the barn.  He then took off and made a hard left again and jumped over (and on) the fence in the same spot.  Then he wildly ran out of the corral to join the others.

My cattle just wanted to eat and be left alone and not be herded.  After a little effort we herded the cattle from the north pasture into the middle pasture to join the other cattle.  Momma then ran over to one of Dan's cattle across the pasture and began to headbutt it.  The cattle are now in the process of getting to know one another.

Before the board broke

After I added another board on top

After adding the extra board I also added a "holder" for another gate in the loading corral.  While the gate is level and does not swing on its own, I added a board on the railroad tie to set the gate on so the livestock won't push the gate closed on their own.  And it will help prevent the gate from sagging over time.

Yard grass cuttings

This time when Ray mowed Bob and Jan's yard he dumped the clippings in their small utility trailer.  I dumped the clippings in the corral for the cattle to root around in.  What they didn't eat would fill in a lower area.

It was good that I dumped the clippings.  It wasn't a warm day but the clipping were hot and steaming when I pushed them out of the trailer.

The cattle liked the clippings.