I've been up a while, since 1am in fact, and have already been to Boise and back before breakfast. Why? Taking hubby, son and daughter in law to the airport, they are on their way to Alaska to fish with our other son for a few days. And hopefully they'll bring home lots of fish. They'll have plenty of fun anyhow.
And so, I have a few days to play without having much laundry or cooking to do, and can get some major jobs done. Also I'm going to be riding more, and I spotted a package of chicken legs and thighs in the freezer, which is going to be FRIED!
Yesterday afternoon and evening we got a series of thunderstorms, which left us without power until after 9 last night, including enough rain to green up the fields, water my garden (which I had just spent a couple of hours in the hot sun doing) and get the hay wet. For dinner hubby fired up the grill and threw a cube steak on it, and I made a big salad.
I'll call my neighbor and tell him that I'm available to turn bales to dry when it's time to do that. He has a lot of hay baled but not picked up because he was repairing the bale wagon. It's not just a wagon, it is a mechanical pick up and stacking machine. Drive the truck up to the end of a bale, it goes up through a chute, is turned and lined up on a deck, when two rows are filled the deck raises up and stacks it against what is already on the truck, lowers down and is ready to recieve the next bale, all without stopping the truck. It will pick up about 5 tons in less than half an hour, which is 87 bales. It's an uneven number because several bales are manually turned to lock the load together. That takes up a little more space.
And then, the operator backs up to the haystack, the whole load is tilted, set down like a big block, and the truck is ready to go get more. The load, when it is set down is 2 bales wide, 5 bales deep and 9 bales high. Mechanical feet come out from under the bed to push it off while arms hold it together while the truck is driven out from under it.
It's fascinating to watch, but then I'm the kid who, when I was in the second grade, was so intregued by the bread wrapping machine at the bakery my class toured, that the teacher had to come back and get me. I was all alone, watching those mechanical arms wrapping, turning the bread over, glueing the ends together, and sending the loaf off down the conveyor. I never noticed that 30 kids and a few parents and teachers had left me, and when I found out, I didn't care. Most of us here are old enough to remember bread wrapped in waxed paper with the bakery logo on it, before plastic bread bags.
Sometime during my short night of sleep between 9pm and 1am, I woke up and smelled smoke from a forest fire that I couldn't locate in the dark and clouds. Today when I was driving home I could see it, high up behind a ridge, probably 30 miles away, maybe more. The wind was bringing the smoke to us, which was better than the skunk smell we had the night before. Today the breeze is from the south so somebody else is enjoying the smoke.
It's cool here this morning, and that feels very good! This morning as I was driving home from Boise, just after I crossed the state line into Oregon, the sun was coming up through bright pink clouds, shining through forest fire smoke. The reflection of the pink clouds on the east was projected on to the gray clouds on the west, causing a kind of overlay effect, bright pink on an almost charcoal gray background. Quite striking! Then as I turned toward the northeast about an hour later, the sun was behind a big dark cloud, with two roundish holes near the top, and a curved streak near the bottom, with shafts of sunlight shining through that streak. A big smiley face to start my day!
Hubby is home from his fishing trip, and he brought back lots of frozen fish. While he was gone I defrosted the freezers so there would be room for the fish and for the lamb we are getting, a gift from our neighbors. This was one of those big jobs that had been put off time after time, until it became a ridiculous situation that just had to be addressed. Partial clean out and reorganization jobs just weren't taking care of the frost build up. I'm not sure after all these years if it was supposed to be a self defrosting freezer, but I can tell you this for sure: it doesn't!
We have a big chest freezer in the basement, the largest one Sears sells. Chest freezers are nice because things don't fall out of them, but at the same time, things get lost in the deep dark corners because the new things tend to be placed on top. I had to have a plan to tackle the job and keep everything frozen while the built up frost and ice thawed enough to remove it.
I put a thick rug on the cement floor, then 2 large boxes into which I began to unload the freezer. More boxes went on top of the original ones, plus I used the ice chests, and then the whole stack was covered with the blankets I use to cover tomato and squash plants in the garden to keep the frost from killing them. I didn't take time to sort, figuring that the larger volume would help the stack stay colder.
I did find some nice surprises. One was a half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream which I knew was all mine! It went to the upstairs fridge freezer so it would be handy. Another nice find was a package of chicken thighs and legs that I had bought before hubby's heart attack and diet change. Since he was gone for a week, I had a plan for it. Having had nothing fried for about 3 months, I looked at that package and "fried chicken" immediately came to mind.
After meltdown and ice removal, the freezer was wiped clean and dry, and then I sorted bad from good as I put things back. Two wire baskets that came with the freezer hang on the edges of the freezer and will slide from side to side, and 3 more that came with a different freezer sit on the freezer floor because they are narrower. Miscellaneous items went on the shelf over the freezer motor. A couple of small cardboard boxes were also employed, so I could keep similiar items together. The compost pile recieved outdated donations, and there was space to spare!
After giving that unit a day and night to get everying solidly frozen again, I unloaded our extra referigerator freezer, and put the good stuff in the big freezer, and did the same with the referigerator freezer in the kitchen. After those were defrosted and cleaned out, I did more organizing as I refilled them. It all looks good!
I have about 3 gallons of frozen berry and grape juices that will be made into jam this winter. No straining, no drip bags, we like pulp and seeds, so I'll just cook it and it will be great. Making jam in the dead of winter makes the house smell like summer!
I got tired just reading about all of your hard work. Isn't it great when we can get all of our "ducks in a row" for a change? I only have a refrigerator freezer and an upright one but I can say honestly that both are due for the job that you have just completed. You have inspired me to "take the bull by the horns" and get that dreaded job done. Wish me luck.
Not only did I inspire you, but on another forum somebody else took the plunge and cleaned their freezer too!
No sooner had we arrived home after church today, and the phone rang. Neighbor had a cow emergency situation. He had two groups of cattle, each with a bull, and 2 fences between them. Somebody found, or more likely, made a hole in the fence so today he had one big group, two bulls fighting, and still had some of one group back in the pasture they came from. Could I help? Yep, I could, and did.
Patch wasn't too comfortable with the bulls fighting, but we managed to stay out of their way. The combined herd was moved to our place for a few days, since it was the handiest place to put them that had enough grass. When there is lots of grass they aren't looking for a way to escape. Then we went back to where the breakout group had been and rounded up the remainder of that group and added them to the others.
The reason they were in 2 groups was that the breeding heifers were kept separate with a Black Angus bull since they are known to produce low birth weight calves, easier for the heifers at delivery time. The older cows are with a Piedmontese bull, a breed that produces very meaty fast growing calves. Even when they are born the bull calves look like little weight lifters. The bulls have been with their groups long enough that there are probably no open cows left, so it is probably pretty safe to put them all together. The bulls fought long enough to establish which one is dominant, so now the looser is avoiding the winner and we hope they will not decide to have another showdown.
The fighting bulls made me think of another situation from a few years ago. I had driven our car over to my sister's place, about 60 miles away, to help her with moving some cattle. I took my saddle and met her up on her rangeland. She had driven up there with her trailer and an extra horse for me. So I parked the car on the edge of the meadow next to her trailer, saddled the horse and we went to get the cows rounded up and moved.
Several hours later, when we came back, two bulls were fighting in the meadow, dangerously close to my car! I tried to keep the horse between the bulls and my car which was looking very small. I had very little influence on the directions the bulls were taking, because I had to move out of their way to keep from being hurt, but prayers did, and they started shoving each other in another direction. Our car was spared! I had been wondering if insurance adjusters (or whatever you call those you call to say "my car is wrecked"), ever had a claim for a car totaled by two fighting bulls. Thankfully, I didn't have to make that call.
The cattle are peaceful, the weather is heating up again, and all is well here.
In 2 more days, we will be taking Fritz back to his family. They had a very good, intense month of ministry, with many decisions for the Lord made at the camps they conducted. The first week included an outreach trip into Albania which the Lord blessed and used to open hearts. A church in Albania has started an English school as an outreach for their ministry to the town, so an English camp was held there, then there was a soccer camp which attracted more people. A baptism service was held to baptize 3 boys who were attracted by last year's soccer camp and began attending church after that.
Back in Romania, closer to home base, they held a teen camp for 55 teen age campers. Eleven accepted Jesus as their Savior, and 25 or 30 dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. Some of them became helpers for the kids' day camp that was held the following week, with attendance of 95 for the biggest day.
Now the family is on their way home, and will arrive in Portland, Oregon late tonight. We are giving them a couple of days to get their days and nights reoriented for the western hemisphere, and try to catch up on a little sleep.
We had a great trip to see our family, and Fritz is happy to be back home. It's not that he doesn't like us and our place, but he is much happier with more activity, more snacks, and a bit more freedom since they don't have livestock or rattlesnakes, so doesn't have to be on a leash whenever he goes out the door. We think he does miss the kittys though.
The weather was great for traveling both ways and while we were there as well. Friday evening we had a nice dinner, followed by viewing of pictures from their ministry trip, and wedding pictures, all of which so far have been only moved from the camera to the laptop so the camera could be filled up again and again. We looked at them all rather quickly, with the laptop set for about 2 second intervals, but it still took more than an hour! At some point daughter will transfer them to her desktop and begin to edit and organize them. She just has to find the time.
On Saturday we were treated to a wonderful Belgian waffle breakfast with fruit and yogurt to put on them. Our daughter was celebrating her birthday a month late since she was in Albania on the actual date, so the girls did the cooking all day. We scalded and sliced peaches for drying, and when both dryers were full we went back to the fruit stand to get more to scald, slice, sugar, and freeze for pies! We also bought corn for dinner and some other vegies for salads.
The girls baked 2 chickens with tasty herbs, made a green salad with about 6 things besides lettuce in it, cooked potatoes and green beans, and the fresh corn on the cob to go with it, and served 9 of us with a pleasant candlelight dinner, complete with fancy glasses of sparkling cider and a bouquet of flowers on the table. After dinner, we went outside to the fire pit where they had a very small, 1 presto log fire, because it is fire season and the grassy fields are quite dry. After a lot of visiting, as more guests arrived, there were more refreshments, gifts for the birthday lady, and the cake which one of the girls had made. By then it was after 10pm.
They are all still fighting jet lag, but was is getting better after being home already for 2 days. They all stay up late, so we were glad that everyone was ready to call it a day before 11 pm, which is late for us.
Sunday we had another great breakfast with Scottish Oatmeal Bread instead of toast, plus a great variety of fruit, yogurt, and scrambled eggs for those who wanted them. We went to church, then had lunch with them before going to see the newly married couple's house which is about 10 minutes away, and sort of on our way back home.
Traffic was very heavy in the Portland area, with summer winding down and not many more free weekends before school starts, it seems that everybody who had fled the scene was returning home on Sunday afternoon. Once we got out of the Portland area, traffic thinned out and there were no more delays. We arrived home just before 10 pm.
All the animals were taken care of by our neighbor, and I could see improvement in Bullwinkle's feet from when we left. AmandaPanda kitty was very happy to see us. She romped around the house and rubbed on our legs, and even seemed happy to be held for more than 10 seconds!
Night before last the deer got into my vegie garden and sampled a few things, including the grapes which are not ripe enough for them yet so they didn't eat many. Netting is now in place as of this morning, so we think we will get the grapes when they finally do ripen. The stinkers also like my yellow summer squash, and had chewed holes in three of them. I think I will spray some deer repellent on the leaves of the plant, and hope it will discourage them from sticking their heads back under it to find the goodies.
Yesterday morning I took Patch to the vet to have a follow up ultrasound done on his leg. After almost a year with very limited riding and lots of rest, the vet says it has healed up very well, in fact, he couldn't even find the injured place in the tendon. I watched the screen as he searched over the leg about 4 times, and it all looked perfect. So now, very late in the season, I will take him to a couple of rides before the season is over for our region. The next ride coming up is a very hard mountain ride, so I will probably skip that one and go to a desert ride later. He needs more conditioning before we do 50 miles to minimize the possibility of a new injury. Meanwhile, he has been getting his vaccinations updated.
This picture is from last year at our granddaughter's college graduation. The color is a bit off, possibly due to the heat, sunburn, and all the red gowns and hats in a small area. This is the granddaugher whose wedding we attended about 6 weeks ago. The old folks in the picture are my hubby and yours truly.
What a beautiful picture of a precious and quite lovely family. I can hardly wait to see how beautiful she was as a bride. How are they doing, by the way? More pictures wanted when you get them from your daughter, PLEASE.
Cooler and partly cloudy, outside temp is 55, inside is 68, so not a bad start for the day. Last night we had a nice breeze, so just opened the house on both ends and let God do the air exchange without any fans running. The box fan we use in the dining room window for an exhaust fan is noisy, so it was nice to have everything quiet enough to be able to hear the crickets. I also heard a coyote yapping and the neighbor's guard dog barking at it. He is one of those big white dogs that stays with the sheep. My hubby built a doghouse on wheels for him, and when the sheep are moved, the doghouse and dog also go to the new pasture.
The tomato plants need to have the tops clipped out of them and water reduced to tell the plant it is time to ripen all those green ones. I read about the water just after watering them very thoroughly, so kinda bad timing on that. They are all growing under plastic so will take a while to dry out.
My homemade, improvised mellon rind traps are not catching much anymore. It's hard to believe, but I think between them and the yellow plastic traps that are designed for catching wasps, hornets or whatever bad bee types are around, I might have just about wiped out the population in the vegie garden. The homemade trap was nothing but a cottage cheese carton lid turned upside down with a piece of mellon rind on it. When it was covered with wasps I carefully put the carton down on the lid, made sure it was secure, picked it up and put it in the freezer. Frozen wasps were poured into the burn barrel, and the trap went back to catch more.
I baited the plastic traps with watermellon rind, and they were much slower to attract than the chunks of rind on the cottage cheese carton lids, but now they have started to work, possibly the first few captives made noises or sent scents to attract others. Once they had a few, others showed up much more quickly. I'll freeze them to kill the critters, then rebait them to attract wasps away from the grapes which are starting to get a bit of color.
Bullwinkle was found to have a draining abcess in one front foot last week, so I have been soaking it in a bucket with epsom salts water twice a day, then packing the wound with brown sugar and iodine. I do this when I feed him so that he his willing to stand with his foot on a pad of hay with the medicine for quite a while before he wants to move. If you are curious about the sugar remedy, you can find a lot about it by doing a Google search for brown sugar remedies, or for sugardine. It's antiseptic, and draws out infection. Nothing can live in it. Besides that, it's cheap!
His progress has been up and down, up and down. He is now walking fairly comfortably, and yesterday was standing at the fence when I went down the hill to feed him, pawing the ground impatiently with what was originally his worst foot! Pawing was a very good sign! While that foot was healing up, he stood on the other front foot and made it sore. That is the one I'm treating now. His hind feet did show signs of leakage around the coronary bands, but that has dried up now. Hopefully, we are over all the bad stuff. Today I plan to enlarge his pen with a hot fence allowing him the use of some of the dry part of the pasture. He will not be allowed green grass or green weeds, as that may have contributed to or caused his problem, or it might have been the Cushings Disease which has a side effect of laminitis and founder. I planned to enlarge the pen before now, but thought I had used up all the fiberglass posts to anchor the grape nets. Then I found a few more.
It's a good day to take Patch and go out into the hills for a long ride. Last time I went it was 95, and I was sunburned and feeling the effects of too much heat and not enough water, not quite sick from it, but getting close. Yes, I will be more careful.
Here is a link to an article in our local paper which is another chapter in the story from April, the continuing tragedy of wolves killing livestock. The ranch where most of the livestock was killed is about 15 miles from me. Wolf tracks (probably from the same pair) were seen by my neighbor at his pond and confirmed that they were wolf tracks by the state fish and wildlife department, less than a mile from our place this summer, but they didn't do any damage in my neighborhood. Thankfully my neighbor's sheep were a mile away in another direction when the wolves made their exploratory visit, apparently they only wanted a drink of water, and turned around and went back the way they had come. It did make us all nervous for a while though.
Just to clarify a bit about the wolves, no they are not starving. They have several million acres of wilderness where there is an ample population of deer, elk, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, besides smaller critters such as racoons, beavers, squirrels, rabbits, other various burrowing types like mice, and ducks, geese, etc on the mountain lakes. They will also catch fish in shallow water. These have been their traditional food. The west is a very different place from the eastern part of the country. The wildlife experts say this pair of wolves are rogues, and that they are not behaving normally. They are young and healthy. One of them was trapped, fitted with a radio collar and released. The biologist took blood and other samples, and determined by those and the appearance of his teeth, that the animal was healthy and young. The other wolf is a female, about the same age. Sort of a Bonnie and Clyde pair.
A few years ago, the starlings were stealing the cat food from the dish I keep by the back door. So, I put a 5 gallon bucket over it, on it's side with the opening toward the house, and the cats have to go into the bucket to eat. No problem with the birds any more. But last night when I was going out to bring in the dish for the night, there was a raccoon's hind end sticking out of the bucket! Time for the live trap again. And I had better call my neighbor who has chickens and warn him that we have one lurking about. It's always something.
More wasp nests have been located and sprayed, and I've replenished my supply of cans of wasp killer thanks to the local store that has them on sale this week. It's a different kind, it makes a foamy place for a couple of minutes, trapping the wasps in the mess while the chemicals do their job. The other brand was just a liquid that dripped immediately, but the dead wasps came down with the drops.
This afternoon and tomorrow morning I'll be helping my neighbor round up and move cattle. The yearlings need to come about 6 miles down to the ranch to graze for a few weeks on the hayfields before they meet their destiny, and the cows with calves need to go to the pasture where the yearlings have been. I'll go a bit early today so I can work Patch on the hills before we start to move the cattle.
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