Diary from Sky Range Ranch - November 18 through December 18, 2017

DECEMBER 1, 2017 – We had our Thanksgiving dinner early, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, while Andrea’s kids were home (they spent Thanksgiving this year with their Dad). Bob and Jane Miner, long-time family friends, came also, so we had a full table. Andrea had all her kids there; Emily and Robert were able to come. Andrea took a photo of her three girls –Dani, Sam and Emily

three sisters at Thanksgiving

We had a few days of warm weather, up in the 40’s during the afternoon, with some rain (and snow on the mountains), but now it’s cold again. Andrea and I made a couple of rides to the 320 to check on the cows.

Andrea and Sprout on 320

Grandma and Dottie on 320

While we were there, she broke ice again on the little trough, and threw out the ice so the cows could drink.

getting the ice out of the trough

Andrea flipping ice out of the water

A week ago Monday, Michael and Carolyn went up to the 320 on their 4-wheelers and let the cows down into the road pasture along our upper fields. They opened the gates into the wild meadow so the cows can go in there and get to the creek for water. They brought down the 2 protein tubs that still had some protein in them, so the cows can finish eating those. Andrea and I moved our yearling heifers from heifer hill to the upper swamp pasture where there’s a little more grass.

Michael and Nick measured the little field above the house where we need to rebuild the old fence (the posts we set nearly 50 years ago are rotting off). After we moved the weaned heifers out of that field, Michael and Nick started tearing out the old fence, rolling up the old net wire. We will re-use the old netting later, on some jack fences.

Charlie split more wood for us and the girls helped move the weaned heifers down to the field below the lane, and helped Andrea rinse and fill their water tank, before they went out to their Dad’s place for Thanksgiving and the weekend.

On Thanksgiving Day I took Willow’s shoes off. We won’t be riding her any more this year, and her feet are getting long—and the shoes are worn out. The next day I took Ed’s shoes off. The only horses now that still have shoes on are Sprout and Dottie, because we may ride them a few more times to check the cows on the road pasture on the upper place.

We had rain and a horrible wind that took shingles off Andrea’s roof and more of the old roofing off our old barn/shop. The next day Andrea and Robbie went to town and bought more shingles, and some rolled roofing for the shop. Robbie put new shingles on Andrea’s roof to replace the ones that blew off, then he and Lynn started putting new roofing on our old shop, into the dark. The next day (Sunday) Andrea, Lynn and Robbie finished putting rolled roofing on the shop, until they ran out of rolls.

Robbie, Lynn & Andrea putting on new roofing

putting new rolled roofing on the old shop

Andrea putting tar on the rolled roofing

Michael and Nick cut and split more aspen from our upper place, and brought a pickup load to us and a load to Andrea. This will help augment our wood piles and maybe we’ll have enough to make it through the winter! We had more strong wind a couple nights ago. It scattered some of the hay I had in piles to feed the horses, but the new roof on the shop held on. On Tuesday Michael brought his skid steer down here, and he and Nick took out more of the old fence, and I fed them lunch. Nick has a bad cold and cough, however, and was wasn’t feeling very well. Michael left the skid steer down here, for me to plug in early the next morning, so it would start.

The next morning (yesterday) was cold (15 degrees) and one of Michael’s heifers was dull and not eating. I’ve been feeding the heifers some of my horse hay every morning, but in this cold weather they are not grazing enough and their pasture is about gone. It’s time to give them more hay. So as soon as Michael started the skid steer to go to work on our fence project, we plugged in our tractor. By afternoon we were able to start the tractor and take a big round bale of hay out to the heifers to put in their feeder.

Nick was too sick to work, so Andrea helped Michael all day on the fence project, taking down the old elk panels along the creek side of the pasture. Those were put on the fence about 30 years ago to keep the elk out of the stackyard across the creek. The old posts were rotting off and leaning, and the fence and elk panels have been tipping over into the brush. The only thing holding up that stretch of fence was the brush and trees.

taking out the old fence

Michael working on fence

This morning Michael’s heifer was still dull and not eating much, so when Michael came down to work on the fence he helped us put her in the headcatch by the calving barn. I took her temperature and it was 104.5 degrees, so we gave her antibiotics and Banamine. The Banamine is a good anti-inflammatory medication to help ease her pain and fever. By afternoon she was eating again.

Andrea helped Michael all day on the fence tear-down project again.

Michael sawing out tree that grew up though elk panel

Andrea helping take down old fence

Michael & Andrea taking out old fence

At chore time this evening I noticed that one of our heifers was also dull and not eating, so we got her in and treated her, too.


DECEMBER 9 – I’ve been working on book revisions for my 3 books that Storey wants to update for new editions: Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle, Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses, and Storey’s Guide to Training Horses. This will be the 4th edition of the Beef Cattle book and Raising Horses book, and 3rd edition of Training Horses.

The day after we treated the 2 sick heifers they were doing much better, and so far none of the other heifers have gotten sick. They are enjoying their big bale—having hay to eat all the time and never going hungry—and their heated water. They drink more in the winter with the warmer water, and I don’t have to chop ice out of their tank!

A few days ago I took some photos, including one of Willow enjoying the sunshine, napping on the high spot in her pen.

Willow resting

Nick has been sick with a bad respiratory infection and hasn’t been able to help Michael on the fence project, so Andrea has been helping him. Last Saturday they sawed out more trees along the creek side, to make sure none will fall down on the new fence we’ll be building, and pulled the trees out of the fence line.

dragging trees

sawed-out trees, ready to be cut up

Robbie helped Lynn put on 2 more rolls of roofing on the shop. That was just in time, because it snowed that night and the next morning.

The kids got home from their weekend with Mark and all had dinner here at our house (our Sunday evening tradition on the weekends they come home).

Monday Michael and Andrea worked on the fence project again, piling and cleaning up the brush and trees (sawed into log lengths) to haul down to the post pile pasture where we will burn the brush later and cut the bigger logs into firewood next year after the wood dries out.

hauling the brush

We started treating Shiloh’s left eye again; it’s infected, weeping, and the eyelids are swollen. Carolyn helped me and Andrea put antibiotic ointment into her eye. Shiloh doesn’t like it, and it’s easier to do with 3 of us, especially since Carolyn is taller and can reach the eye when Shiloh puts her head up high to try to avoid the medication!

On Tuesday Andrea helped me doctor Shiloh’s eye (we have to do it daily for about 10 days) and also helped me loosen up the frozen top of the big bale in the heifers feeder so they can eat it. We also hauled 15 bales around for Sprout and Shiloh from my hay shed, so I won’t have to keep bringing their hay in a wheelbarrow.

Michael skipped a couple days working on the fence project because it was so cold, and then Andrea helped him again on Thursday. First he used the skid steer loader tines to break the frozen top and pick up the remaining core of the heifers’ big bale and tip it over so they can reach it better in their feeder. Then Andrea helped him load and haul the rest of the brush piles out of the field above the house. Now all that’s left are the logs that we’ll eventually use for firewood.

unloading the brush

piling the brush in lower pasture to burn later

It’s been really cold and damp the past few days, with an air inversion and fog, with low-hanging clouds. Without sunshine, the days are nearly as cold as the nights. We’ve been putting the tube of eye ointment for Shiloh in hot water when we take it outside, so the ointment will come out of the tube easier and not be so solid. Michael didn’t work on the fence project; it was too cold.

Today was frosty and cold again. Michael helped Lynn drill a hole through our house wall so we can put a cord through it and be able to plug in a vehicle, tractor or the skid steer here by the house, in case we need to have two outfits plugged in at once. The extension cord from the barn won’t service more than one.

skid steer plugged in

DECEMBER 18 – We had 2 weeks of cold, damp weather with lows at night hovering about 10 degrees (down to 4 degrees one night) and daytime highs in the mid to low teens. Some days were just too cold to do much work on the fence project. I took photos of the frost on the trees along the lane, and the frosty young bulls in the orchard.

frosty lane

frosty bulls

Last Sunday a week ago was a challenging day. Early that morning I was working on several articles (deadlines looming) and the letter o on my computer keyboard quit working. When Michael came down to help us take a new big bale to the heifers’ feeder with the tractor (and to help me doctor Shiloh’s eye—which we were still doing every day), he brought a keyboard he no longer needed but it was incompatible with my computer. Fortunately my brother had another one--that he brought later that day--and I was able to type again! Using a zero for an o doesn’t work!!

That wasn’t the end of the day’s problems. The long hose that I use for watering the heifers was frozen (I didn’t get it drained quite well enough the day before) and I had to bring it into the house to thaw out. That was minor compared to other water problems and their consequences; the steady cold weather caused the creek to freeze over and Andrea broke ice for the heifers in the swamp pasture. She’d already chopped ice away from one of the ditch headgates at the creek so she could put dirt in around the headgate to seal it off solidly so it won’t leak this winter and create an ice flow across the field. Then on her way down the creek she broke another water hole for the heifers—and fell through the ice (in a deep spot, and went over her boot) and landed crooked on that foot. Her ankle was seriously painful and she was afraid it might be broken. She went home to get dry clothes but instead of icing it she just wrapped it and had Charlie help her fill buckets with dirt to take to the ditch head and shut off the leaking water.

She then put ice and DMSO on her ankle and elevated it, and had a miserable night, and went in to the clinic Monday morning to have it checked. In spite of the ice on it all night, her ankle was too swollen to tell anything from an x-ray, so the doctor told her to come back in a week to have it checked again. She was fitted with a walking boot as a brace, but was supposed to stay off it as much as possible for a few days.

She wasn’t able to help Michael finish clearing the piles of tree logs out of the field above the house (and Nick was still too sick to help) so Michael did the rest of it himself with just the skid steer—working a few hours a day until he got too chilled-- for a couple of days, in the bitter cold. He also helped me doctor Shiloh’s eye, and helped Lynn put the battery charger on our pickup because it wouldn’t start. The cold weather may have damaged the battery. When Lynn went to town that day to do a lot of town errands he had to leave the pickup running everywhere he went.

The cold damp air (with no sunshine) created thick frost on everything. I took photos of frost on the trees and horse pens.

frosty elm tree

frosty pens

The frost was so thick on the net wire that you could hardly see the horses in their pens. Here’s Breezy eating her morning had, and Rishiam in his frosty pen.

Breezy's pen

Rishiam in his frosty pen

The next day was really cold, and Michael came down to break ice on the water holes (since Andrea can’t) and helped me doctor Shiloh’s eye. He spent an hour and a half hauling away the rest of the log piles with the skid steer. We also started putting medication in the heifers water tank (daily for 5 days) to treat them for coccidiosis. Most of them have loose manure (like pea soup) and we need to get them over this infection!

Charlie filled our woodbox when he came home from school on Tuesday. We are going through a lot of wood in this cold weather.

I took photos of Willow in the frost, with frost on her mane and whiskers, and her frosty pen by my hay shed.

frosty Willow

Willow's frosty pen & hay shed

Willow's frosty pen and water tub

Wednesday it warmed up, with a high of 24 degrees, and snowed a little. We picked a lull in the weather that afternoon to treat Shiloh’s eye. She doesn’t like the medication being put in, on a good day, and we didn’t want to try to do it in a snowstorm! With the warmer weather (24 degrees instead of low teens) I did a couple loads of washing, knowing that the drain line from the washer wouldn’t freeze.

Sam was sick (with a high fever Tuesday night) but felt a little better that day and insisted on going to school, and singing that evening in the school Christmas program because she had the lead part in a trio the choir was doing.

On Thursday Lynn took the pickup to town to get new tires. With snowy roads the old tires are not safe; they were worn out last winter and we barely made it through the winter with them, but they have no traction left and are NOT safe for going through another winter.

Emily cut her own hair, getting rid of her long lovely curls. Short hair is easier to handle in her cleaning job at the hospital, and it also looks pretty cute.

Emily's new haircut

Michael didn’t work on the fence for a couple days, waiting for the posts he ordered from a local supplier who had to cut and treat them. Some of the posts were finished by Friday so he went to get those, and he and Nick set those (47 posts) in the fence line across the top of the little field. They rented Sy Miller’s hydraulic post pounder, which makes it a lot easier and faster. We were worried about frost after all the cold weather, wondering if we could drive the posts, but there were only a few places the frost was too thick. There were some areas where it was 12 inches deep, but most places it was only 3 inches deep, which was fairly easy for driving the posts. We’re using very tall posts, to make a fence that the cows won’t be able mash down and the deer and elk will be hesitant to jump over. This may help keep the elk out of my hay shed below that field, if we have another winter like last year, when the elk came down here to eat our hay and got into my shed.

new posts along the top boundary of the field

When they finished that afternoon, Michael helped me treat Shiloh’s eye one last time. It had been looking better for several days (we treated it for 11 days) and we hope it is safe now to quit treating it.

Friday the temperature got up to 32 degrees. It would have been a good day for driving posts but there weren’t any more ready yet. Michael spent a couple hours sawing sagebrush out of what will be the new fence line on the west side of the field, since we are moving the fence several yards that direction, so he’d be ready to drive posts there.

Saturday Michael and Nick spent a couple hours hauling off the huge pile of sagebrush. Michael used the skid steer to gently lift up the ancient manure spreader from its resting place where it was parked for more than 40 years along the ditchbank with the sagebrush growing up around it. The new fence will be going there, and we needed to move it. He was able to get it loose from its resting place, and that afternoon Michael carried it up to his house with the skid steer. Carolyn is going to use it as a lawn ornament and plant flowers in it.

Heather and Gregory sent us photos of little Joseph, who is 8 ½ months old. Here are photos of him in his crib, wanting to get out and try to walk around.

Joseph in his crib

Joseph in his crib

He is already trying to walk, and holds onto the furniture to walk around. His mom has a little harness for him to keep him contained, so he can’t get too far out of sight or fall down. He went shopping with mom the other day, and when they went into a tack shop he enjoyed sitting in a saddle.

Joseph trying to walk and dance

Joseph trying out a saddle

Yesterday was cold (4 degrees in the morning) but got up to 20 degrees in the afternoon. Andrea and Robbie drove to Missoula to get Jim at the airport; he was flying home from New Jersey where he’s spent several weeks doing some carpentry work for his twin sister. They didn’t get home from Missoula until 9 p.m. Charlie brought his sisters home (they spent the weekend with their dad) but they didn’t stay for supper here as they usually do; they were all very sick. So we just sent some supper home with them.

We treated Shiloh’s eye with antibiotic ointment for 11 days and it cleared up nicely, so we stopped treating it, with our last treatment on Thursday. It looked normal again, for several days, and then yesterday evening the lower lid was swollen again and she was holding the eye half shut. Discouraging! I hope we don’t have to go through another round of treatment—which neither she nor us would enjoy very much.

This morning Michael got more posts, so he and Nick laid them out along the creek side of the pasture (where they tore out the old fence and sawed out a lot of trees).

posts laid out along fence line

Then they spent the rest of the day setting posts, and got most of them driven. Here are photos of the skid steer with hydraulic post pounder, setting some of the tall posts. We’ll put the elk panels back on this part of the fence when we get it built, to keep the deer and elk from getting into the stackyard right across the creek.

Nick & Michael pounding posts

pounding posts

I’ve had several book orders already for my “Tales” books (Horse Tales, Cow Tales, Ranch Tales) as people start thinking about Christmas gifts. They make a good read any time of year for folks who like animals and true stories about animals. Details about these books are posted at the end of previous blogs. I also have some of my late father’s books on hand, if anyone would like those.

Best wishes to everyone for the coming New Year!

Diary from Sky Range Ranch - January 18 through February 15, 2017

JANUARY 25 – It was 3 below zero last Wednesday and Andrea took the kids clear to town for school (they missed the bus) then helped me feed cows while Robbie broke ice on the creek for the cows. That afternoon when the kids came home from the bus they helped fill our woodbox. With such cold weather during December and January we’ve gone through a lot of wood! If it ever warms up, we can let the fire go out at night and save a little wood.

The rest of the week was warmer; it never got below zero again, and a couple days the temperature got up to 30 degrees in the afternoon. During the cold weather Ed started chewing up the top poles on her pen fence, so Andrea and I put up a hot wire along the top to keep her from eating up those poles completely.

Emily’s favorite cat Blackie (a uniquely colored cat, with a kink in his tail) that she raised from a baby) went missing from Andrea’s place last year. Later Andrea discovered that a neighbor had enticed the cat into her house and kept him. Blackie is an independent cat, however, and was beating up on the other house cats, and the lady banished him to her garage. Emily went to talk to the neighbor, who reluctantly gave her the cat back. Blackie is now happily living at Emily’s house downtown. Emily took a photo of her cat and grandpa when Lynn stopped by one day at Em’s house.

Lynn & Em's cat

Tuesday was Emily’s 19th birthday. Andrea made lasagna and we all had dinner at her house and celebrated Em’s birthday (and a few more gifts for Sam, as well, whose birthday was January 15). The deep snow has made our driveways challenging, even with the plowing Robbie has done, so Lynn and I didn’t try to drive up to Andrea’s house; Emily and Robert picked us up on their way by, and brought us home again after the birthday dinner.

The elk continue to come into our field, pawing through the snow and eating the rest of our pasture (that our cows would have eating this spring), and eating Alfonso’s haystack along the road. They eat with his cows when his daughter feeds them, and have tried to get in with our young cows to eat at their feeder—except Andrea’s dogs scared them away. We are hoping they won’t get in with our heifers.

Friday morning we finally had a chance to try to shoot an elk (to utilize the tags we bought for the elk depredation hunt) and shot a couple down in our lower field. Here’s a photo of Nick with the elk he shot, at the edge of the field.

Nick's elk

The other elk didn’t die immediately, and went over the hill. It had to be tracked down—and retrieved with a snowmobile—and the scary thing was that by the time Andrea and Robbie found that one a group of wolves was right there on the hillside above her. We realized that the wolves are still hanging around very close to our cattle.

Saturday afternoon Andrea and Robbie took the kids sledding up Carmen Creek with the snowmobile, inner tube and sleds, and they had a lot of fun in spite of the cold temperature. Andrea snapped this photo, but I’m not sure what Charlie is looking at, up in the sky!

kids sledding

On Sunday Michael brought his tractor down to help us load our bales and take big bales around to the heifers and load our feed truck. Here are photos of him taking a bale of alfalfa hay out to the heifer feeder.

Michael taking bale to heifers

putting bale in heifer feeder

This next photo shows Michael cutting the net wrap so we can unwrap it off the bale and get rid of it. Cattle often chew on and actually eat some of the net wrap or strings if you leave them on the bales, and this can cause indigestion and blockage in the stomachs, which can eventually kill the animal. We always remove strings and net wrap and never leave any in the field where the cattle can get at it.

Michael cutting net wrap off bale

Michael brought his tractor that day to move our bales around, because our tractor still has the two elk hanging on the loader, frozen solid—with sheets and tarps over them to keep the magpies and predators from getting at the frozen meat. 

Here’s a photo of Robbie putting more tarps around the elk to protect the meat.

Robbie putting tarps around the elk

It was a nice day, so I took Sprout’s front shoes off (that have been on since last fall) and Michael helped me take her hind shoes off, and I trimmed her feet.

Robbie shoveled the deep snow off the old barn roof (so the weight of the snow won’t collapse the roof) and Charlie shoveled the snow piles away from the barn doors so we can get them open.

Robbie shoveling snow off barn

That afternoon Dani and her friend (who was staying overnight on the weekend) spent some time brushing Ed in her pen, then helped Andrea bring some salt and mineral down for the heifers; they were running out. I fed the kids peanut butter sandwiches for a snack and then they hiked back up to Andrea’s house.

Shooting a couple of the elk that were eating in our field didn’t deter the rest of the herd. Yesterday 25 of them came back again, and 16 elk in another herd were eating at Alfonso’s haystack. 

Robbie used a snow blower to finish removing the snow off our house roof. Several roofs around our area have collapsed with all the weight from 2 feet of heavy snow, and we thought we’d better get some of the weight off our roofs before we get any more snow.

Yesterday we had to take more hay around to various groups of cattle, and needed our tractor, so Andrea, Lynn and Robbie hung the 2 elk in our sick barn shed, to get them off the tractor loader. Today about 25 elk were camped all day on the hill across the creek from our house, and this evening they drifted back down into the field to eat. We have deer netting around our haystacks (flexible plastic mesh—as shown in this photo) to keep the deer out of the stacks, but it’s not strong enough to withstand elk pressure, so we hope the elk don’t try out our haystacks.

deer netting around the stack of round bales

FEBRUARY 2 – We had another siege of sub-zero weather for a few days and had to plug in the feed truck at night so it would start in the mornings. Andrea talked to Alfonso’s daughter (met her along the road down by Alfonso’s haystack) one morning and she told Andrea that her father was coming back from Mexico soon and didn’t believe her regarding how cold it has been. He was angry at his daughter and son-in-law for feeding his cows so much hay while he was gone for the winter. 

Alfonso doesn’t understand that cows need more food in cold weather, and apparently doesn’t appreciate the fact that his cows look better this winter than they ever have. None of them starved to death so far this winter; he lost at least three last year to starvation during the winter when someone else was taking care of them for him and feeding them only 2 or 3 times a week like he instructed.

On Saturday about 30 elk were lounging on the hill above our lower field again. I took some photos of part of the herd—photos taken from our back porch. One young bull was busily itching (maybe lice biting him) and a calf was talking to its napping mom.

elk on hill

elk on hill - bull scratching an itch

They’ve been there nearly every day eating our grass, and another group on the other side of our place, eating on Alfonso’s haystack by the road. The elk have been pretty hungry during the cold weather, too.Sunday morning one of Alfonso’s cows was out on the road, eating on his haystack along with the elk. That evening we had dinner here for Andrea, Robbie and the kids when they came home from their dad’s place.

Monday morning Robbie, Michael and Nick started on the fence rebuilding project for Willow’s pen. They sawed out the old top poles and removed the net wire, and they put up a tall pole to route the electric wire across to my hay shed so they could do away with the electric wire around the old pen. The next day after hauling bales around with the tractor, Robbie used the tractor and loader to lift out the old crab apple tree stump, in pieces. That old tree blew down many years ago and needed to be moved so we can rebuild the fence it smashed. For all those years the big stump took the place of the fence in that corner. I took photos of the old stump pieces a few days later when Robbie and Nick were working on the new fence.

fence project - with old stump in the foreground

It snowed all Tuesday afternoon, and the band bus bringing Charlie and Sam home from an away game didn’t get back until after midnight.

Yesterday was very cold and windy so the guys didn’t work on the fence; they just took a load of posts and poles up into the field for the new fence and put a big pole across the top of Rishiam’s gate into the back yard (and I put a hot wire across the other gate) so that when they pound posts next week he won’t try to jump over a gate if he freaks out.

The wind was blowing big drifts across our driveway by that evening so Robbie plowed through those. Otherwise no one would have been able to drive in or out. It was still snowing this morning when Andrea and Lynn left very early to drive to Idaho Falls for her pain doctor appointment and his arthritis doctor appointment. The roads were a little bad but they got there on time. Robbie helped me feed the cows. 

Lynn’s doctor examined his shoulder (that’s been hurting for several weeks after it popped out of joint and then back in again) and told him some of the attachments are torn and he will probably need surgery. Lynn came home in a fancy sling that helps immobilize the arm and shoulder, so he won’t keep moving it too much and hurting it more. They got home at 9 pm and the temperature had dropped to 5 below zero by then.

A few days ago Emily sliced open her hand (between thumb and first finger) when chopping kindling with a new hatchet her dad gave her for Christmas. She closed the wound with a butterfly bandage, but it got infected and she soaked it in Epsom salts. It’s doing better by today.


FEBRUARY 8 – We are still having problems with deer and elk. Nearly every day the elk have been eating in our field and lounging on the hill above it. I took another photo of some of our “resident elk” camped out on the hill across the creek from our house.

elk on hill across creek

Last Friday morning when I went out to feed the horses I discovered that a bunch of whitetail deer had managed to slither into our haystack below the driveway, by going under the old flatbed truck. The truck is next to the stack and we’d attached netting to it, to keep the deer out of the hay. They’d gotten in there and tore up a bunch of hay, then knocked down the netting to get out. They waste a lot more hay than they eat! We don’t mind so much when they are constantly eating hay with our cows out in the field (because the cows clean up everything the deer don’t eat), but we try to keep the deer out of our haystacks because they pull out bunches of hay and tromp on it, poop on it and waste it. After we got done feeding the cows, Andrea helped me remodel the netting and we wrapped it around the stack in such a manner that the deer can’t get in again. Then she drove the tractor around to our other haystack to get big bales to reload the feed truck.

Andrea taking tractor around to haystack

Saturday morning I went out early to feed the horses—when it was still almost too dark to see anything, and found three elk eating hay from my haystack. A young 2-point bull looked at me like I was some kind of alien and didn’t leave until I ran up to them and started clapping my hands. Several more had been there and were just leaving. They’d eaten and torn up all the bales I had opened and laid out for feeding the horses that morning, and started eating on bales in the hay shed. They also left at least 10 piles of poop in the mess of torn-up hay bales. I chased them out of my stack and up into the field, and then they had a little trouble getting back through all the fences. There were 15 more up on the hill above the road, and it took the group more than an hour, pacing up and down the fences to finally all jump over the fences and leave. This is the first time we’ve ever had elk right here by the house, eating my horse hay.

We’re hoping they don’t come back. The next two nights I turned on all our yard lights including the two on the end of my hay shed, to try to deter them. They didn’t come back into my hay, but a herd of them went in with the young cows the next night and ate hay out of their feeders and left a big mess. We were trying to figure out a way to fence them out of that end of the pasture, but then Mother Nature came to our aid.

The past few days have been warmer—actually above freezing in the afternoons for the first time in many weeks. The snow started settling and getting softer and the elk seem to be staying farther up on the ridges where they may be able to paw through to some grass. Also, Alfonso moved all of his cows from the lower place (since all the hay in his stack along the road is gone now) and took them up to the Gooch place above us—and is feeding them up there. Some of the elk are now coming down into his field to eat with his cows.

We’ve been feeding a lot of extra hay this winter, with all the cold weather. We save a little of the big bale each day for Buffalo Girl when we feed the main bunch of cows. She’s been by herself in the maternity pen all winter, so we take her some hay with the sled. Here’s a photo of Andrea feeding her.

Andrea feeding Buffalo Girl

Michael and Carolyn decided to bring their horses out of Cheney Creek. They have a group of 5 horses on the 320 pasture that they are feeding a little hay to every few days, but they hadn’t seen the 3 horses in Cheney Creek up close for a long time. Those horses have been doing fine, pawing through snow to grass, and could usually be seen every day from a distance. It had been several days since they were in sight on the hills and ridges, however, so Michael and Carolyn got worried about them.

They tried to go across the wild meadow (from the county road) on a 4-wheeler but the snow was so deep it got high-centered and wouldn’t go very well. Michael was walking ahead of it breaking trail and Carolyn was pushing it, but they gave up on that. Carolyn stayed behind, and Michael hiked across the creek and across gopher meadow through crotch-deep snow. Then he had to wade through deep snow on the jeep track up the mountain, and that took a long time. He had to stop and catch his breath frequently, and his heart rate never got below 140 even when he was resting.

He didn’t see any tracks, and no horses, and was beginning to worry that the wolves had got them. He finally found them up near the top ridge—not far from the range fence. Then they didn’t want to follow him back down to the field. He had to take off one of his sweatshirts, put it around Gus’s neck, and lead him down. The mare followed Gus, but the other gelding didn’t come, and Michael had to go back for him. It took 2.5 hours to get the horses to the gate to come down to the field, and Carolyn was starting to worry about him. Gus and TJ (the mare) were in pretty good shape but the other gelding, Clifford, was starting to lose weight; it was time to bring them out of there.

Sunday night I cooked dinner for everyone again, when Andrea brought the kids back home from the weekend with Mark. After dinner Sam washed dishes while Andrea and Dani hiked out to turn on our yardlights. The elk are staying away from our barnyard now, however, so that was the last night we left the lights on.

With the warmer weather, we’ve been letting our fire go out at night (to save wood) and turning off the pellet stove in the livingroom during the day (to save pellets). This winter has been very expensive for heating our homes!

The warm afternoons have been pleasant; the horses often nap in the sunshine or take a nice roll in the snow to itch their backs. Here’s Dottie rolling around in the snow.

Dottie rolling

The blackbirds seem to know when winter has turned a corner. They came back to our creek on Monday—about a week earlier than usual. Yesterday the guys started back to work on Willow’s new pen. Robbie and Nick started tearing out the old hot wires and Michael took the flatbed trailer down to Millers and hauled Sy’s tractor and post-pounder up here. Andrea and I moved Dottie, Ed and Breezy to the pens by the calving barn so they would be farther away from the loud noise of the hydraulic jack-hammer pounder. We didn’t want any of them to freak out and crash into a fence.

Sy plowed the deep snow away from the fenceline. We left the snow there until the last minute, because it served as insulation and the ground underneath was not frozen—even after sub-zero weather that got down to 28 below zero. We wanted to be able to drive those posts and not have to thaw the ground to create post holes. After the snow was cleared away, Sy used the tractor loader to pull the old posts out of the ground, and then set the new posts in the new fence line—making the lane by my hay shed bigger (to make it easier to get in and out of there with the stackwagon) and Willow’s pen a little smaller. With the jack-hammer pounder, Sy set 40 posts in about an hour—with Nick lining them up and Robbie working the chain to pick up and place the posts where they needed to go.

getting post ready

Robbie getting a post in position for Sy to pound

pounding post

Andrea and I stayed out there by Willow and Rashiam to help keep them calm when the pounding started, because it is VERY loud. With our reassurance, and some extra hay to nibble on, those two didn’t get too frantic. After the first few minutes they realized the loud noise wasn’t going to hurt them, and they settled down.

Michael hauled Sy and his tractor back home again, Nick and Robbie got the tops of the posts sawed off and ready for the top poles, and I fed them chili and corn bread for lunch. It was snowing lightly during the post pounding and started snowing harder in the afternoon, so the guys decided to quit for the day. Andrea helped me put Dottie, Ed and Breezy back in their pens.

It snowed all evening and part of today, with 6 inches of new snow. We’re glad we got the posts set yesterday! Michael’s tractor had a flat tire this morning, so he was glad we’d plugged in our tractor (to take hay around to the young cows’ feeders this morning). He brought his feed truck down here so we could load a couple of our bales for him.


FEBRUARY 15 – Thursday and Friday Michael, Nick and Robbie worked on the new fence for Willow’s pen. With the new posts set, first they measured for cutting the poles to fit on top of the posts.

Michael measuring for new fence

Nick and Robbie measuring for the top poles

The got all the poles on the top nailed on, and putting up the net wire (no-climb netting, which has very small spaces so a horse can’t put a foot through it). For Willow, we must have the netting very close to the ground so she can’t reach under it; she always tries to reach through, under or over a fence, and we don’t want her to get herself in trouble. I took photos of the fence progress, and Robbie and Nick splicing some of the netting together before putting it up on the fence.

poles on top of posts

Robbie & Nick splicing netting together

net wire on fence

The weather was warmer the last few days, with a little rain instead of snow. The snow is settling a bit, but still very hard to try to drive through or walk through. The elk are still coming down to the fields. A big herd spent Friday night in the field above Andrea’s house.

Robbie and Michael welded some mesh panel on the bottoms of the two gates they’ll be hanging in Willow’s pen, so there will be no gap under the gates that she can get her head under.

On Saturday Dani helped us feed cows, riding on the feed truck, and also enjoyed pulling the sled to feed Buffalo Girl. 

Dani ready to go help feed cows

Dani pulling sled-full of hay

Dani feeding Buffalo Girl

Sunday was cold again (down to 8 degrees that morning). When Lynn got up that morning he had another bleeding episode—hemorrhage from the colon—passing a large quantity of blood when he thought he was having a bowel movement. This is what happened to him summer before last, during all the stress of our irrigation water problems (the neighbor stealing our water) when we were haying. We had to take him to the hospital for IVs and the doctor sent him on a life flight to St. Patrick’s hospital in Missoula. That was scary and stressful. 

This time he wasn’t as stressed about the bleeding because he knew what it was, and that he wasn’t going to bleed to death. We decided to ride it out and take care of it at home. This was less stress for him than going to the ER and having IVs or being flown to Missoula. We immediately got him started on lots of fluids and electrolytes, drinking Gatorade, and though he was passing toilet bowlfuls of blood about once an hour for 10 hours, he didn’t get to the point where he needed IVs. He kept his color, and normal blood pressure, and ate a little chicken noodle soup and Jello for lunch and supper and didn’t get too weak. By evening the hemorrhage was slowing down; he was only passing blood every couple hours, and then it seemed to stop. He was able to sleep that night without having to get up and go to the bathroom every hour. 

He was supposed to take the kids to the bus Monday morning, but wasn’t quite up to that. Andrea and Robbie drove to Salt Lake Sunday evening; she had an appointment on Monday with a specialist to see if she needs surgery on her neck—the bone spurs and problems that have been putting pressure on nerves. Charlie can’t legally drive without a licensed adult, until he gets his driver’s license later this month) but I let Lynn sleep, and I was doing the morning chores, Michael came down to our place and rode with Charlie and the kids to the bus, then brought the vehicle home. Lynn was able to rest all day, and was doing better by evening, but Michael drove down to Baker and got the kids off the bus. Charlie carried in wood to fill our wood box. He’s been helping carry in the wood several weekends, and some days after school.

Charlie getting the wood

Charlie bringing wood to the house

Bob and Jane stopped by that afternoon with a birthday gift for me (fresh baked bread and some apricot jam she made).

The doctor Andrea went to see had an emergency surgery that day, and wanted to reschedule Andrea’s appointment, but managed to work her in for a brief appointment just ahead of the surgery. The doctor didn’t think the bone spurs in her neck warranted surgery at this point in time, but may eventually. At this point in time she was more worried about her shoulder problem and the way the shoulder contracture is pulling her spine out of line. She referred her to a shoulder specialist, who was supposed to look at her late that afternoon. While she was waiting for that appointment she went to the burn ICU and visited with some of her old nurses and physical therapists who remembered her from the 2 months she spent there 17 years ago. They were very glad to see her.

When she went to her appointment with the shoulder specialist, there was some kind of glitch in the referral and they said it would have to be rescheduled. So she wasn’t able to see that specialist. They were very late leaving Salt Lake to come home, during rush hour traffic, which took awhile. By then Andrea was exhausted so they stopped at Brigham, Utah to spend the night.

Tuesday morning Michael went to the school bus with Andrea’s kids again and brought the car home. Sam and Charlie went with the pep band to play at one of the last basketball games of the season, at South Fremont High School in St. Anthony. Emily, on her way home from work at Tendoy, picked up Dani from the school bus and brought her home to feed the pets and get a change of clothes so she could stay with Emily that night and go to school from Emily’s house. While she was here she took a minute to say hello to her horse. 

Dani petting Willow

Willow is living in one of our calving pens by the house until we get her new fence finished so she can move back to her pen. We had to rebuild the old pen because the fences were deteriorating badly and we needed to use some materials that Willow can’t chew on and destroy. Michael and Nick put chicken wire around the top poles so she won’t be able to chew on them. 

Andrea and Robbie came partway home that morning. They stopped in Blackfoot to visit Robbie’s grandparents, and since they were so close to where the band kids were playing that evening, they stopped to watch the basketball game and hear the pep band. Sam and Charlie have really enjoyed playing in the band this year. They are a very small group, and only part of the band goes on the road trips to play at the away games—and that small group has become very, very good. Each band member has to excel since there are no extra instruments for those parts. They’ve become excellent musicians and sound like a professional band.

Pep band

Andrea and Robbie brought the kids home after the game, and got home about 1 a.m. this morning. Andrea and the kids were really tired this morning when they had to go to the school bus, and Andrea took a nap after she came back from the bus. Then she helped me feed the cows and break ice again on the creek, while Robbie helped Nick and Michael on the fence project. They got Willow’s new pen finished and I put Breezy in it for now, so they can tear down the old fence in her pen. Once they get her pen rebuilt, she and Willow can both go back to their own pens, and our extra calving pen will be free again for calving!


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P.S. If anyone would like to order autographed copies of my latest 3 books, I can be contacted at 208-756-2841 or by e-mail at hsmiththomas@centurytel.net. Details about those books can be seen at the end of some of my previous blogs.