Diary from Sky Range Ranch - September 4 through September 24, 2020

SEPTEMBER 12 – Last week we had some hot weather, up into the 90’s several afternoons. Andrea and I checked on the cows and calves grazing in the back lower field, to make sure we didn’t have any more cases of pinkeye. I looked at the cows while she hiked up to the ditch to check on her irrigation water and then came back down into the field. Our cows are always easy to check on because they come to see us, just in case we might move them to a new pasture. I took a photo as some of them approached us.

cows coming to see us

As they gathered around us we looked at their eyes, including the ones that we treated for pinkeye earlier, like China Doll who still has a patch over the eye we treated.

China Doll with her eye patch

I took a photo of the cows gathering around Andrea as she came back from checking the ditch, a photo of Andrea looking at my “crash cow” (the one we were chasing last fall in the snow when Dottie tripped and did a somersault with me underneath her) and her big steer calf, and a photo of “Training Wheels”—the last heifer to calve this spring—with her big steer calf that Dani named Stormy.

cows gathering around Andrea

Andrea looking at my crash cow & calf

Young cow with youngest calf

On Friday Lynn drove up 4th of July Creek (the other side of town) to locate sites for a couple of wells, for a lady and her daughter who bought property there—moving here from another state.

That afternoon Dani took her friend Dakota for a short ride, letting him ride Ed. He hasn’t ridden very much, but likes horses, and good old Ed was a great horse for him to ride. I took a photo as he was getting acquainted with Ed while she was being saddled.

Dakota getting ready to ride Ed

..and a couple photos as they were mounted and ready to start on their ride.

Dani and Dakota getting ready to leave on their ride

Dakota on Ed

When they got back from their ride, put the horses away, and started to leave, they discovered a flat tire on Dakota’s pickup.  They couldn’t get it off to change it, so they left his pickup here until we could help him.  Emily gave him a ride back to town for football practice.

Andrea gathered up more of the hot wire from places we grazed the cattle this summer, and stacked the plastic step-in posts and rolls of electric fence wire in the sick barn until we use them again next summer.

posts & wire stored in barn

When I did evening chores I put Sprout out to graze for a few hours in the brush along the edge of the barnyard, and put Breezy out for an hour to graze in the lane above my hay shed.

Sprout grazing in the barnyard

Breezy grazing in lane above my hay shed

When I fed the bulls I noticed that some of the cows in the field below their pen had come through the thick brush and were nose-to-nose with the bulls. The corral fence on that back side isn’t very good (the top rail is getting old and rotten) and I didn’t want the bulls to try to jump out and get with the cows, so Andrea and I moved the cows and calves to the little post pile pasture for overnight—until we could move them to their next pasture.

On Saturday Lynn and I loaded up a few more of the coarser hay bales from my hay shed (that won’t make good horse hay) and hauled them around for the bulls—about 15 or 16 days’ worth of hay for them.  I can spare a little of my horse stack with them, since I’ve been grazing Sprout around the barnyards here and there to clean up the tall grass, and not having to feed her any hay. Good exchange!

That afternoon Dani helped Andrea and me move the cows and calves up the horse road to heifer hill. I took photos as we took them up that trail.

taking cows up the horse road

The cows knew where they were going, to new fresh pasture, and hurried on up ahead, leaving most of the calves in the rear. I followed the stragglers and brought them up the trail to the gate on the main road where Andrea and Dani were waiting and heading the herd through the gate, and then took another photo of the happy herd eating fresh green grass on heifer hill.

bringing up the rear

Dani & Andrea heading them through the gate into heifer hill

We were going to then ride on up the road and ridge to check our 320 and make sure range cattle haven’t gotten into it, but we realized that Alfonso had some bulls in the bunch of skinny cows in the pasture right above our heifer hill pasture. 

Since we haven’t preg-checked our cows and heifers yet, and might have a few open ones, we didn’t want to risk having a bull come through the fence to get to our cows. Most of that fence is pretty good now that Nick and Michael put taller posts along it and more wires, when they worked on it last winter, but there is a short section in the thick brush through the creek bottom that didn’t get repaired. So I held Andrea’s horse while she went into that brush and checked the fence and discovered that it’s even worse than it was last winter—after all the snow pressed down the brush along it, and so many deer going through it. The fence was completely flat in a couple places.

So we postponed our ride to the 320 and spent the rest of the day fixing fence. Dani helped me salvage some old mesh panels off an old stackyard fence where we no longer stack hay (and don’t need the tall panels to keep the elk out). We had to unwire the panels from the pole fence and cut out the willows that had grown through them, but we got that accomplished while Andrea and Lynn worked on her chain saw and got it running. Then Dani babysat Christopher (so Emily could get a nap before her night shift at the care center) and Andrea and I took 3 panels in her pickup and a lot of baling twine up to the fence job.

She had to saw out some of the small trees to get to the fence, and we used those trees as “poles” to reinforce our creative new fence that we constructed with the wire panels. We got it well secured so no animals could get through it. Before we finished, strong winds blew a lot of smoke into our valley from some new fires, and the air became so hot and smoky that it was hard to breathe.

Afterward Andrea went home to take care of Christopher while Dani went camping with Dakota and his family—and we hoped the smoke wouldn’t be too thick and nasty for their camping trip.

Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent some photos of baby James and his big brother Joseph. Those kids are sure growing!

enjoying the new pasture on heifer hill

Baby James

James and big brother Joseph taking a rest

Baby James

Happy James

One of the guys that Lynn water-witched a well for earlier this summer stopped by our place to say Hi and to pay for the horse books of mine that Lynn sold him for his little girl. His daughter is 8 years old and loves horses and has a horse of her own.

Sunday was hot again, and smoky, but after Andrea finished irrigating we made a fast ride up to the 320 to check the fences, and make sure no range cattle had gotten in. Those cows are out of grass on the range, and very hungry, and it had been awhile since we checked our fences. We checked the top gate in Baker Creek, and so far we haven’t had cows come through our fence up there—just a couple of calves before we fixed a hole in that fence near the gate in Baker Creek. I took a photo as we were about to start back down the creek and head home.

Andrea on Willow, ready to start back down the creek after checking our gate in Baker Creek

The next day was cooler and windy. We rode up the ridge again to go through the 320, and checked out what’s left of the carcass of Alfonso’s dead bull, then went on up to our 320 and in through the ridge gate.

dead bull

Andrea getting out her keys to open ridge gate into 320

We made a longer ride and checked upper Baker Creek and didn’t see very many range cows. With no grass left on that side of the mountain, most of them have gone over the top into Withington Creek.

Our weather suddenly changed from summer to fall. That night it froze hard (27 degrees) and was cold all day—with a high of 50 degrees that afternoon. Our internet wasn’t working and neither were the phones. We could call other people on the creek, but couldn’t call anyone in town or long distance, or land line to cell phones. I had several interviews I had scheduled to do for articles, as usual, but was unable to do interviews that day. 

Sy Miller has been digging a new ditch for Alfonso on the Gooch place, and having trouble getting it to flow around the hill. Presently his machine is simply parked there. Andrea took a photo of the ditch.

ditch on Gooch place

That evening Andrea, Dani and Em went to a baby shower for a friend, and Christopher stayed here with Lynn and me and we watched a movie. When they got back from the baby shower, Emily, Dani and Christopher left to drive to Colorado to visit Em’s dad (Jim) for a few days; she had several days off from work and Jim hasn’t seen his grandson for several months. 

Fires are really bad all around us, and burning millions of acres across the West. Stan had to evacuate his home in California, and we are hoping he doesn’t lose another house (he lost everything in the Paradise fire two years ago—and barely got out with one of his pickups and his life).

Wednesday was cold again, 28 degrees that morning. Andrea and Lynn helped Dakota patch his flat tire and it is still holding air. Thursday was a little warmer (33 degrees in the morning, and up to 78 degrees that afternoon). Andrea and I rode to the 320-acre mountain pasture again and checked our fences and gates, and on our way up the ridge we stopped to take some photos, and Andrea took photos of the fields below us.

Andrea taking photos

Then she and Carolyn drove up Withington Creek on 4-wheelers to see how many range cattle were pressing the fences on that side. They drove up into the 160 and 320 and shut the gates between those two pastures, to keep Michael and Carolyn’s horses in the 160 pasture—so we can take our cows up through the lower section of the 320 when we move them up there for fall grazing.

Yesterday was warm again—up to 80 degrees. Andrea and I moved the cows from heifer hill early that morning (they’ve eaten all the regrowth from that hayfield) and put them into the field below it. It was easy to move them; we simply called them, opened the gate, and got out of the way. I took photos of the cows going through the gate and spreading out to graze and enjoy the lush green grass.

going though the gate

enjoying the new pasture

While we were in that field below heifer hill, Andrea took the dams out of the ditch on the lower end of it and moved them on down the ditch, to water more of the pasture below that field. I took photos of her taking out the dams and re-setting them.

Andrea taking out dam

Andrea moving dam

resetting dam farther down the ditch

While we were there I also took a photo of the little pasture below it (above my hay shed) where we are trying to grow the grass back enough to use it when we wean the calves—where they can be with their mothers for about a week wearing nose flaps.

pasture above hay shed

I also took photos of some of the cows – Magdalena with her eye patch still on (after treating her for pinkeye earlier this summer) and Training Wheels (the young first-calf cow who calved last, in late April) with her big steer calf nursing.

Magdalena's eye patch

Training Wheels & her big calf

Today we were very short of water (less than half our right), while Alfonso had more than his right (and was illegally using two ditches on the Gooch place after the watermaster shut them off), so we had to send a message to the watermaster, who said he would come up and check on the creek.

Andrea and I rode for 4 hours to check on our upper pasture and the range. On our way through the 320 we went up along the ridge fence where there was cell service so Andrea could make a call to one of her kids before we dropped down into Baker Creek and lost cell service.

Andrea using cellphone

Then when we went down into Baker creek we saw a young mule deer napping near the creek and she didn’t bother to get up as I took a photo of her.

mule deer

When we went on up into the high range, there was hardly any grass, and we took photos of some of Alfonso’s and Millers’ emaciated cattle.

Alfonso's skinny cow

skinny range cow

We rode on around above our 320 and down along the south side to Witteborg trough—which never works this time of year because the spring dries up and there’s only a tiny drip that comes through the pipe. We advised Millers and Alfonso not to put a new trough in there because it only serves as an attraction to thirsty cows and they hang around that trough hoping to get a drink, instead of hiking on up around our 320 and back to Baker Creek for water. But they didn’t listen to us, and put a new trough in there anyway. That day there were a handful of skinny cattle and a bull lounging in that area and some were trying to get a drink from that little drip of water.

empty trough

thirsty bull & cow at empty trough

We rode down along the rest of the south side of our 320 and patched some more of our fence. It needs some new posts.

Emily and Dani had a good time in Colorado visiting with Jim, and drove back home today (a 12 hour drive), and will probably get home very late tonight.

SEPTEMBER 18 – Last Sunday Michael and Carolyn drove up to Sandpoint, Idaho to do construction work for a lady from Minneapolis who bought property up there and needed to have a spring developed and some greenhouses put in—on a steep acreage. It was a challenging job, with very little space to maneuver machinery, but they got it done, taking nearly a week to do it. On their way back they came through Montana and picked up more fencing materials for some other jobs they need to do in our valley.

These past few weeks have brought more fires, with lots of smoke settling in our valley. May days it is hard to see very far, and the sun is just a big orange ball in a murky sky. I took this photo from our back porch one morning when I went out to do chores.

smoky sky

Monday was Dani’s first day of school; school started late this year because of COVID, after having school closed for the last couple months of the earlier school year. The kids all have to wear masks. Sam (a junior this fall) and Charlie (a senior) are staying at their dad’s house and we don’t get to see them very often.

I made another creative grazing area for Sprout in the stack yard, to graze around the haystacks and eat down the grass. To make a fence around the stacks so she wouldn’t nibble on them, I used step-in posts and baling twine—since she respects the twine as much as she does an electric wire. To keep her out of the hay bales I jabbed some step-in posts into the bales and made a fake fence around the rows of bales.

fake fence around the hay bales

Sprout grazing in the stack yard

I took photos of the creative fencing, and also of our haystacks that we covered earlier this summer with tarps and black plastic to keep moisture from rain and snow from ruining the hay.

covered hay stacks

I also made a temporary grazing pen for Breezy down below the lane, since she is running out of grass where I’ve been grazing her above my hay shed. She’s doing well with an hour of grazing each day; the green grass is helping her maintain her weight in spite of her bad teeth.

Andrea went to town that evening to watch the football game see Sam and Charlie in the pep band, and took Christopher. He enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing is aunt Sam and uncle Charlie. Andrea took some photos.

Charlie in the band

Christopher with Aunt Sammy

On Tuesday John Miller called to say they would be rounding up cattle the next day and bringing them down the road, so we could close our gates and close Michael’s gates on the upper place, so no cattle will get into his corral and stackyard on their way by the upper place.

Wednesday morning we closed all the gates along the road. Alfonso and Millers and a bunch of the Amish and their friends gathered cattle out of the Baker Creek side, pushed them over the top into Withington Creek (a long hard climb) and then brought them down Withington Creek. They sorted the cattle on the road along the Gooch place and put Alfonso’s cows in that field and brought Millers’ cattle down the road past our place and around to Millers place. The hungry cattle were eating everything growing along the road. We’re glad we have a really good fence along our place.

That morning we’d checked our cows and calves in the field above our house and noticed a couple more calves with pinkeye so Dani helped us sort out those two pairs and bring them down through the little pasture, past my hay shed and into the pen in front of the barn. We put the calves in the headcatch and treated them for pinkeye and glued eye patches over the bad eyes. 

Yesterday Andrea changed irrigation water (the little bit we still have in our two ditches) and she and Lynn drove up the creek to see if there were any range cows still up there. They saw a bunch on the south side of Alfonso’s 160-acre leased pasture, up in the timber. They got missed in the neighbors’ roundup.

Later that day Andrea and I rode for several hours checking the Baker Creek side and found no cattle at all—just a few new tracks, including some big bull tracks—coming up out of Baker Creek.

checking for tracks coming out of Baker Creek

When we came down around the south side of our 320 we found one of Millers bulls all by himself by Witteborg trough. He was a grumpy guy and didn’t want to move away when we approached him; instead he looked like he’d charge at us, so we left him alone. We realized the riders who gathered cattle out of Baker Creek probably had trouble with him (maybe they “dogged” him too much and got him tired, or maybe he quit the herd and stood them off when he didn’t want to climb the mountain) and they left him. He’s the same bull we’ve seen living by himself at Witteborg Trough, right outside our 320 fence.

We left him alone and rode on around the mountain and through the rolling terrain toward Withington Creek, to see if we could find any other cattle. Partway around toward the top of the Withington Creek canyon, we decided to ride over to some rocky outcroppings where we could look down off those cliffs and check the area along the lower area next to our 160-acre pasture fence, to see if any cattle were down there. I took photos as we rode toward and into those rock formations.

riding into rock formations

There was actually a double row of rocky walls before we got to the main cliffy part, and we realized we’d never ridden right into those, in all the years we’ve been riding range out there—probably because we’d always been going above or below them, checking cattle—and never had taken time to ride right into that double row of rocks.

When we got past the first wall of rock and went to look over the brink from the second row, we looked at the backside of that first wall and saw an unusual hole. It was symmetrical and square, like it had been created by human hands with a tool. It might have been chiseled out of that thin rock wall by early Indian tribes; this was a perfect location to be hidden in the rocks and wait for herds of elk or bison or any other game to come wandering by and be within easy range to harvest with bow and arrow.

I took photos of Andrea riding toward the hole, and a couple closer-up views of the hole, showing the view through it to the country beyond.

Andrea riding toward hole in the rock

hole in the rock wall

The rock walls were crumbling a bit and there were many mahogany bushes growing out of the cracks. Some of those were fairly large and thriving nicely.

mahogany growing out of rocks

I held Andrea’s horse while she climbed over the lowermost rock wall (with a major cliff below it) to look down toward our 160-acre pasture fence, to see if there were any cows down along the fence or in those draws, and she didn’t see any cattle.

Then we rode home and I called Millers to tell them where their bull was, and to mention that there were a bunch of cattle still in Alfonso’s 160 that the riders missed when they brought cattle down through there. 

John wasn’t home—he had gone to a funeral in Ohio—so I told Ruby about the bull, and the fact that he was by himself and would probably be hard to bring home without some cows to go with him. A bull will usually stay with a herd of cows being moved, but an independent or ornery bull by himself might refuse to cooperate and could put riders at risk. 

This bull needed to be brought home, however, because we’ll be putting our cows in the 320 in a couple weeks and we don’t want that bull to be there, and possibly come through the fence to get in with our cows. He’s likely to stay in that area where he’s been living the past several weeks. At first he was occasionally going over the hill to Baker Creek for water, but now that the rest of the cows are gone, the drip/trickle into Witteborg trough is enough for one animal. Ruby told me they were still missing about 10 cows.

Today we moved our cow herd to the upper swamp pasture across the creek, and then decided to make a major ride and try to find some of Millers’ missing cows. If we could gather a few cows and bring around to that bull, we’d have a little herd to take him with, and might be able to get him around the steep draws along the half mile of our 160 pasture fence. Then we could put him into Alfonso’s 160-acre pasture, where he could be taken home along with the rest of the range cattle.

Dani rode with us, on Ed, since that old mare is still a better cowhorse at this point than Shiloh. If we got into some challenging situations she’d be better off riding Ed. It’s great that Ed is a tough old gal with a lot of endurance (being part Arab) and can handle a long hard ride even when she hasn’t been ridden very often.

We went up the road to the upper place and then up the trail to the 320. I took photos as we went through the gate into the 320 and up through the lower half, going through tall sagebrush covered with pollen. I brought up the rear because the sagebrush pollen that billows off the bushes as you ride through them doesn’t affect me as severely as it does Andrea and Dani with their allergies.

Riding up through lower part of 320

Riding through pollen-covered sagebrush

We rode up to the side gate and went out of the 320 and over to Witteborg trough, and sure enough, that ornery old bull was still there. I took a photo of Andrea looking at the bull.

Andrea looking at Millers ornery bull

We just left him and went up and around to the ridge above the 320. Andrea and Dani went on up the ridge to the big salt ground, to look out over the ridges toward Withington Creek, and I rode Dottie down through the timber into Baker Creek (and spooked a big herd of elk in the timber). I checked the whole creek bottom, clear down to our 320 fence, then came back to the top of Baker Creek to meet up with Andrea and Dani. No cattle, just a few relatively fresh tracks high in Baker Creek.

So we rode over into Basco Basin and looked through that area. No cattle. By now we realized we might not find any cows to put with that bull, so we came back around toward Witteborg trough a few hours later, a bit apprehensive about trying to encourage that bull to go on around to where we could put him down into Alfonso’s 160.

As we were starting down the long ridge the other side of the 320 Dani thought she saw a cow on the far ridge toward Withington Creek, in the sagebrush—about a mile away. She got out her binoculars, and sure enough, it was a cow! So we rode over there, and as we got closer to that cow and calf high on the saddle, we discovered a little group of cows below that one, in a low pocket that wasn’t visible from any of our other vantage points. So we lucked out and had a herd!

We gathered them up and headed them around the hillside toward Witteborg trough and down the steep draw to the trough. When we got there, the bull was gone. It was late in the afternoon by that time and he’d left the bed-ground to graze. He’d gone around the hill and down the steep draw to our fence (along the top of our 160). It would have been very difficult to make him climb up out of that draw, even along the fence, so it was good that we had some cows to put with him. We brought them around and pushed them down the hill to where the bull was, and then gently herded the whole group up along the fence, and he stayed with them. After we got them all together and moving the right direction, I took a photo of Dani following the herd.

starting the cattle around the mountain after we got the herd together

It took a while; we took our time so as not to press them too hard, and they continued along the trail and around a couple more draws. Once we had them strung out and traveling well, I took more photos of the little herd.

the cattle strung out along the trail above our 160-acre pasture

following the cattle

We got past our 160 and pushed the herd down the steep mountainside into Alfonso’s 160. There were at least a dozen or more pairs up on the mountain across the way (on the far side of that 160, in the timber) but also a few that were clear down in the bottom. Our little herd went on down the steep slope and across the creek to join up with the cattle that were standing around by the gate, hoping to go home to greener pastures.

We came home down the road several miles and our horses cooled out nicely from their long, hard ride by the time we got home—just about chore time. When Andrea and Dani went home to their house they discovered that one of our calves had gotten through the fence from the swamp pasture and was in the field by Andrea’s house. So Dani came and got me and the three of us put the calf back where it belonged—and found the place in the fence where it got pushed through, where the fence is right next to a bog. The cows had probably been traveling along the fence in a group and the calf got squeezed through the fence.

By the time we got that calf back in, it was very late, and past chore time, but I got the horses fed before dark.

SEPTEMBER 24 – Saturday morning we had a little rain—the first rain for quite a while, which helped clear a little smoke out of the air. The rain didn’t last long, just enough to settle the dust and clear the air. Andrea irrigated, then she and Lynn drove up the creek to see if any other range cows were up on the mountain—and with binoculars they saw that same darn bull was back up on the mountain; he’d climbed back up, gone through a hole in the fence and was grazing back around the mountain toward Witteborg trough and our 320!

So Andrea, Dani and I rode again (Dani on Shiloh this time, because she’d ridden Ed the day before and Ed was probably stiff and sore --since she hasn’t been ridden much this summer). We trotted the 3 miles up the road and climbed up through our 320 pasture and out the corner gate to head around and meet that bull. We made it up there in record time, before the bull got clear back to Witteborg trough and before he dropped down into one of the big draws along the fence. 

But this time we had no cows to put with him. When we approached him on the steep mountainside, he would NOT turn around to go back. He stood us off, snorting and shaking his head at our 3 horses, and we didn’t dare press him too closely and risk having him charge at us. So Andrea rode back a little ways, found a big rock and got back on her horse, and handed it to Dani who has very good aim with a rock or a baseball—and Dani clobbered that bull on the head with the rock. That changed his mind about charging at us, and he turned around and started back the way he’d come. But after a short distance, he stopped again and stared at us. We had to gather more rocks, and Dani had to hit him about 5 more times with rocks before we could get him clear back to the hole in the fence to go down into Alfonso’s leased 160.

We got him in through the fence and he went down the hill and on down to the creek and met up with several pairs. Lynn had come up the road in the pickup, to shut gates for us along the road in case we were able to bring the bull down, and he opened the gate out of that pasture for us. We took the bull and several pairs down the road and put them in Alfonso’s field. Lynn then drove around to Miller’s place and told John Miller where his bull was.

About the time we got the bull and small group of cows down into the field, it started to rain again, and rained a lot the rest of the afternoon and evening. We need the rain desperately, but were lucky it didn’t rain while we were trying to get that bull down off the mountain; it would have made the footing slippery and treacherous, and the whole task more difficult.

That evening when we were talking with Michael and Carolyn on the phone, we told them about our adventure, and described the bull—and his ear tag #13. They said it was the SAME bull that tore up their fence this spring when their cows were on the road pasture on the upper place. Alfonso and Millers had pushed about 100 range cows up into the little basin just above our road pasture, and there wasn’t much feed (and no water) in that area—so the cows broke down the fence. 

Several cows and that same bull came through the fence and got in with Michael and Carolyn’s cows and calves. They had a hard time sorting him out of their cattle and put the bull in their corral, with their old granny cow for company so he wouldn’t jump out. They called Millers to tell them where their bull was, but Millers didn’t come get him, and Carolyn had to feed him in the corral for several days. Then finally Alfonso hauled him off for Millers, but rather than hauling him home, Alfonso simply put the bull back out on the range again. Alfonso must have had trouble loading the bull into his trailer, however, because there were broken poles lying around that probably had been used to beat on the bull. That bull is dangerous and we hope they don’t turn him out again next year!

By Sunday the smoke was completely cleared out of the air by the rain, but that reprieve only lasted a couple days; smoke was creeping back into our valley by Tuesday. 

We got a nice e-mail from granddaughter Heather in Canada and she sent some photos of the kids –Joseph riding with her on the Danny horse, Joseph changing his shirt, and baby James helping mom with the harvest.

Joseph riding

Joseph

James helping mom with the harvest

Lynn was very dizzy when he got up Sunday morning, and we never did figure out why. He was so dizzy that he spent most of the day in bed. He was a little better the next two days, and able to get up and do a few things, but still a little dizzy.

Andrea put a hot wire back up along her upper driveway to create a buffer zone between our field and the fence along the Gooch pasture above us. Alfonso still has cattle in that pasture and several bulls, and we don’t want our cattle nose-to-nose with them—not only because of the bulls (since we might have one or two open cows that didn’t settle when our bull was with them) but because several of the animals in his pasture are not only thin but very sickly, and we don’t want them to expose our cows and calves to disease. Alfonso doesn’t vaccinate his cattle very much and also buys cattle here and there, with unknown health history. We don’t want his cattle in contact with ours when we move ours to the field next door.

On Monday we moved our cows into that field by Andrea’s house; the regrowth on the hayfield should last a few days, until we bring the cows down to our corral on Saturday to preg check and vaccinate, and wean the calves with nose flaps. While they are weaning, we will put the pairs in the little pasture above our house, which has good grass—enough to last through the weaning period (about 5 or 6 days of the calves wearing nose flaps so they can’t nurse their moms).

Andrea helped me load some hay from my hay shed (selecting the coarser bales) on the old feed truck, to take around and stack by the bulls’ pen. Then she went home to clean her house. Her friend Stan drove here from California, arriving that evening. The area where he lives is still threatened by fire, but he thinks his house is now safe from burning up, and he came here to visit for a few weeks.

We kept Christopher here for the afternoon and evening while Andrea made a fast trip to town to do all the town errands and then clean house, and Christopher ate supper with us. Andrea and Stan came by later to pick him up and take him home (Emily was at work) and Christopher was delighted to see Stan again.

Tuesday was cool all day. The creek is up a bit with the cooler weather, and the watermaster came out and adjusted the headgates on ditches; we now have our full right again, not having to make do with such a small amount of water to try to irrigate all our fields before cold weather.

Yesterday Andrea’s pump quit working in the wee hours of morning and she had no water at her house. Lynn took some drinking water up to her, and Stan helped take things apart in the well house and check various possible problems and found that the pressure tank had quit working. They lifted it out with the tractor loader. Andrea and Stan went to town to get a new pressure tank, hoping that was the only problem and that the pump is still ok.

John Miller and Alfonso rounded up a few more cattle off Alfonso’s 160-acre leased pasture, and brought them down to the Gooch place. They sorted Miller’s cattle out of Alfonso’s herd and brought the Miller cattle (including the “bad bull”!!) down the road and hopefully got them clear home to Miller’s place.