16-September to 13-October, 2007
| Saturday, October 13, 2007: Yesterday I got the second phase of my water line project completed. I now have the main line as far as the start of the back pasture area, and a feeder line crossing over behind the pens to provide a faucet for supply to a water trough in the pen area. We are forecast to have some thunderstorms starting tomorrow night through Tuesday, and I hope we do at least get a good sorely-needed rainfall from them. But I will wait on digging more open trench until the storm potential passes. So today I went to the cattle auction, and bought two bred (pregnant) cows. They are not out of the ordinary at all, but I got them for a good price, because there is a good supply of cows right now, because a lot of people are liquidating some of what they feel is surplus stock in preparation for Winter's arrival. |
| Thursday, October 11, 2007: The work on water lines continues. I dug some more ditch, extending the trunk back to the entrance to the pen area, and a drop line across the south side of the pens themselves, to where the water trough is located at. Getting this done entailed a lot of other work, including some fence removal. But, tomorrow it will be ready to install another faucet for watering the cattle with, and I can disconnect all the long hoses running across the back. I also sprayed the cattle with an insecticide when I fed them today. It hasn't been that long since I sprayed them last, but with cooler weather the flies multiply quickly. These are mostly what is commonly called horn flies, and their sole source of nutrition is biting cattle and sucking their blood. When they are plentiful, it not only drives the cattle to distraction, but reduces their growth. Spraying them from a small hand-held spray bottle is quite effective. Even when only half the cattle are sprayed, the fly population plummets quickly because they move from cow to cow, and pretty soon almost all of them are dead. Of course, more will hatch from their eggs, but until they show up, the cattle are a lot better off. |
| Wednesday, October 10, 2007: Extending a water line has been the big thing the last two days. Yesterday I dug a couple of hundred feet of trench (not by myself, with a backhoe). Today I installed PVC pipe in it, connected it all, and now I have a faucet at the back corner of the house that is connected to the well, not the public water system. So I can irrigate the lawn and so on with that water, instead of paying by the gallon. I also left a stub line started toward the pens and pasture, that will be the next phase, extending that line so I can connect the watering troughs for the cattle with short hose stubs instead of the long hose runs I am using, which I have to watch I don't cut when mowing and so on. Today Kay and I also moved six now-grown heifers from the front to the back. The bull was showing immediate interest in the newcomers, especially White Sox, although she and two others used to be back with the herd until they were ready to be weaned. In all likelihood, next summer their calves will be born and by spring they will be up front themselves, or off to the sale barn. That's the business we are in, making calves. |
| Monday, October 8, 2007: The biggest thing I did today was go to town and get a flu shot. I have been getting the shot every year for a long time, and it seems to help a lot. I personally think it helps strengthen the immune system and thus helps ward off other respiratory infections. While there is no science I know of to support this conclusion, I can think what I want, and often do. The calves we are weaning have stayed in their new pasture and do not spend as much time bellowing for their mothers. The young longhorn steer has quit hanging with the others and has assimilated himself with the rest of the herd. One of the other four steers came to get cattle cubes tonight, so he is well on the way to assimilating. The rest will adapt soon. I noticed that some of the younger calves in the back now come for cubes there since I took some of the bigger calves out of that pasture. In a couple of months, some more will be ready to be weaned. Having them show up regularly will be a big help when it is time to round them up. |
| Saturday, October 6, 2007: A lot of activity today here on Rancho Como. The first thing in the morning, I looked out the back and saw four of the five animals we moved yesterday in the back pasture, but not on the side where their mothers were. So Kay and I got everything arranged and drove them back down in the front pasture where we had put them, and then I got my fencing tools together and reinforced the fence where they had pushed their way through. So all afternoon, and all tonight, it has been the typical racket when weaning calves. Momma moos, baby bawls, usually in unison and disharmony. It is a good thing this is a rural area, or the neighbors would be complaining. A man I have been allowing to cut down the local Cedar (actually Juniper) trees on the property finally showed up again and cut some more. I would probably give the job to someone else, but then no one I know has ever had any really reliable forestry work done around here. At any rate, I used my tractor to help him this afternoon, in order to speed the job up. We have a lot of acreage tied up in these Juniper trees, which are wasteful of water and provide a poor environment for most wildlife, as well as blocking the sun so the grass cannot grow. I also started on a long delayed project of extending the water line from my well onto more of the property. I need to get water to the back so that I can cross fence the pastures. While this is a lot of work, building a bunch of new stock tanks (water ponds) would be harder and more expensive. I have a backhoe to dig with. Because I did so many other tasks today, I managed only to get the materials bought and hauled them on site. I had to use my trailer because buying 20-foot lengths is the cheapest way to to this. But putting 20 foot long pipes in the back of an 8 foot long pickup truck bed is not too viable. |
| Friday, October 5, 2007: Today I put the backhoe on the tractor, in preparation for finally doing some more water lines. This evening I went riding with Kay to look at the cows, and we happened to get five of the older calves in the pen area, so we closed the gates and then sorted out the older cows, and I drove the calves into the East pasture where all the heifers are. I have been wanting to do this, and the opportunity presented itself. After a while, I can now move some of the heifers that are old enough to the back, promoting them to cows and letting the bull have his way with them. I also made some good progress on my fragoMOTION TS2 animation plug-in project, thanks to some help from the developer. I have the comments being extracted now, so I can work myself up to the next level. |
| Thursday, October 4, 2007: There has been less the last couple of days for me to think about writing down. I have been a little bit attitude-challenged on my ranch work. I started a few days ago working on an animation plug-in for fragMOTION, but I have been stuck trying to extract the imported comment strings. They are there, I can see them and edit them manually, but I cannot find the method to use to copy them. So I can't find the original bone positions and rotations, and I cannot see any of the flags like NoAnim:. I have extracted a lot of other data, and perhaps I can continue working on other aspects, but there are big holes in the process without the comments. |
| Tuesday, October 2, 2007: In the morning spent some time making arrangements for some miscellaneous business and calling in a prescription renewal. I started to town to pickup the refills, and on the way one of my neighbor's heifers was out along the road, munching the nice grass along the edge. I went to the his house, but he apparently didn't hear me knock at the door. I went back and shooed the heifer towards where she had partially knocked down the fence jumping over, but she went on by that spot, and I didn't want her running down the road further. I went back and this time they answered the door. I took him down with me, and we found the gal had jumped back into the pasture, probably unnerved by my chasing her earlier. I dropped him back at his home and went on to town, and when I returned he had patched the fence together with some T-posts. This past Spring he had started a replacement project for that stretch of fence, but it didn't get finished because of rain and then because it's just too darn hot here in the Summer. So I expect today's incident will hasten the revival of the project. At any rate, I was happy to help out. This is the same neighbor that twice now has helped me get back cattle that have wandered from my place to his, so he deserves a return favor. |
| Monday, October 1, 2007: The big event today was the cattle sale. I awoke this morning to the sound of both mothers of the two calves I took to the sale barn calling their babies. I had made up my mind last night I wasn't going to buy any cattle, but I sure was tempted. This is because prices are down, and the bad side of that was I got maybe 20% less for the calves I sold than I though there were worth. But then what they are worth is what you can get someone to pay for them. It was still a lot more than nothing. I noticed a lot of people are culling cows right now. I saw quite a few with a bad hoof, humpback, bad pinkeye, two prolapsed uteruses and a number of hernias. You always see these from time to time, but more than usual today, I suspect a lot of ranchers are cleaning up in preparation for winter. We also got a little rain today. Darn little (1/20"), but that is better than what we had been getting, which was pretty much zero for the last month. I fed the cattle after the rain quit, a little later than usual, but was it ever steamy after the rain fell on the already moist and quite heated ground. It was as humid as New Orleans, and given the overall moderate humidity I have gotten used to here, really uncomfortable. |
| Sunday, September 30, 2007: After church today, I rode into town and filled the pickup truck with diesel. Then I worked cattle. I did not manage to pen some of the calves I had planned to, but I did pen a large heifer and a roping steer that were both ready for market. I loaded them and took them to the sale barn in Giddings. I plan on going there tomorrow and watch the sale. After I got home, I rinsed the mess out of the cattle trailer, and dropped the trailer and parked the truck just in time to get in the house ahead of some rain. Not that I would complain about getting a little rain! We got 0.6", enough to stop the grass from turning any browner, and maybe helping some to recover. It is too early from a temperature standpoint for the grass to be going dormant for the winter, but with moisture in such short supply, that is what has been happening. |
| Saturday, September 29, 2007: I read yesterday about the feral hog population possibly doubling here because of the favorable rains this year. I had seen the start of their rooting in the grass, so I went to move the hog trap and get it baited. On the way top the garage, I saw that my diesel pickup had a flat tire. So I rearranged my schedule and took the tire off. The truck nearly came off the jack because of being on soft ground, so I had to get another jack under it to prevent that problem. Then, the wheel was stuck on the hub, and I had to use a sledge hammer and a wood block, plus some WD-40 to get it broke loose. Finally, I took it to town in my other pickup truck and then the tire repairman at first couldn't find the leak. Eventually, he did, got it repaired and I got back and installed it on the diesel pickup. Of course, this made a big mess of the schedule. I decided that I would not be able to get the trap project done before feeding time, so I dropped it altogether for the day. I piddled around and then fed the cattle (and donkey and dogs and cats) and got some food for myself. |
| Thursday, September 27, 2007: Only a moderate amount of work got done today, in part because it has remained so hot. I moved and parked the cattle trailer to a different spot. Then I worked at moving the cattle panels that were lying beside where the trailer had been parked. So much Bermuda grass had grown up through the panels that I had to use the tractor to get them free, and mangled most of them while doing so. But then I got some other stuff there moved and mowed some of the area. More moving and more mowing is needed, but I finally did something instead of putting it off. |
| Wednesday, September 26, 2007: Busy day today. I started the day by adding electric to the back fence on the West side, and the disconnecting the east half, since I moved the cattle yesterday. I found some repairs that needed done and got them finished. My neighbor was working his cattle, and called and said he had the calf of mine that had wandered over there penned. I went over in the afternoon, and we got the calf back. There was also a wild heifer that belonged to another neighbor he had penned, and when I got there it had injured him, fortunately not severely. I went in the pen to help get her moved, and she charged me. I only escaped because I climbed the wall of the pen quickly. We got my calf loaded in his truck, and brought it over to my place and unloaded it in my pen. After my neighbor went home, I changed the bull calf to a steer calf and de-wormed him, put an ID tag in his ear and moved him to the front pasture with all the heifers. So a lot of extra stuff beyond the ordinary daily chores. |
| Tuesday, September 25, 2007: There have been no entries since last Thursday because I had visitors and devoted all my attention to enjoying them. Aside from that, nothing else of note happened anyway, because I didn't do any projects, either. One of the visitors was my three-year-old great-niece, and she was just adorable, and quite well behaved, especially considering her age. She got a kick out of helping me feed the cattle, and especially feeding the donkey. Today we hauled all the visitors to the airport. After we got home to the ranch, we moved the cattle into different pastures. I had been saving these pastures for when the grass started growing slowly, and with the low recent rainfall that time is now. The older cattle especially were quick to move over to all the fresh grass. While their old pasture would not be considered overgrazed, the length of the grass has been grazed down to where they are not able to eat as much in a day as earlier this year (or even earlier this month). The pastures they were moved to haven't been grazed since late Spring, so for a while they will all be eating well. But unless the weather changes and delivers a good rainfall quickly, it looks like the grass will probably go dormant early this year, meaning I will have to start feeding them hay earlier than last year. Although hay is much more readily available this year than last, and at better prices, it still isn't free or even cheap. With fuel and fertilizer costs so high, cheap hay will probably never be seen again. |
| Thursday, September 20, 2007: Much time was spent getting the lawn mower fueled and then cutting the lawn. I sure regret the choice of lawnmowers we made. While overall it runs nicely, the mowing deck has been a constant source of problems. A broken axle bolt that supported one of the pulleys, and more belts torn up than I care to count. However, I am not about to scrap it until it is worn out, so I will just have to tolerate fixing it all the time. I might have left the yard go until the weekend, but my Mother is coming for a visit, and I want to spend time with her, not doing chores. I got back to working on the generic frame exporter for my AniMax project. Currently, I am trying to convert some animations I downloaded in .BVH format to TS2 format. While I have the general conversion working, it goes wildly out of control as the rotations get further from zero. I am certainly torturing the numbers badly, but if I knew what I was really doing, I would have this straightened out already. I thought I had the rotation combination math figured out, but that just shows to go you how much value thinking has sometimes. |
| Wednesday, September 19, 2007: First task on the list today was getting my tractor tire picked up and installed on the tractor. Then I had some cleanup to do around the yard, as we are expecting company this weekend and I to take care of as much junky stuff as I can. I did a little more mowing with the new shredder, and I am so far quite happy with my purchase, although I have to get my skills updated. Since the shredder is now a little wider than the rear tractor tires instead of narrower, I have to learn to get the right spacing so that I am not jarring the fence posts with the mower when I mow alongside the fences. It was also the day to get our trash down to the container. I was a day late doing that last week, and consequently we have two weeks worth of stuff crammed into the container. It's good there are just two of us. I did not go to the groundwater district board meeting tonight, like I had planned. I called their office this morning and talked to their general manager, and the one issue I have been following has been pushed back to the November meeting. I feel that, while the rest of the business before the board is important, it is not so important that I cannot review it in the minutes and from the press coverage (yes, in a small town it is newsworthy). |
| Tuesday, September 18, 2007: I followed through on my plan from yesterday, hitching up the equipment trailer, checking it over and then pulling it down to Paige, where I got my new shredder loaded. I returned and went in the garage to get the tractor out, and the right front tire was flat. The last thing I did with the tractor was shred some dead mesquite, so I probably got some punctures from thorns. It may have several, because after I inflated it, it leaked down at a fairly fast pace; I had to re-inflate it about a half an hour later. But I got the shredder unloaded, got it mounted on the tractor and did a quick test mow. It passed. I stored the trailer in a different location, because I need to get that parts of the ranch cleaned up. Then I took off the flat tractor tire and hauled it to town to get it repaired, dropping it off at the NAPA store to pick up tomorrow. After I got home, I took a short breather and then it was time to feed the cattle. Decisions that seem small, such as buying a new shredder, end up taking half a day to get the equipment purchased, and most of a day to get it on site, installed and tested. But I know you need good tools and equipment if you expect to get good results in a reasonable timeframe. Tomorrow I have to get the tire picked up and back on the tractor, and several cleanup tasks are waiting for me. In the evening will be another groundwater district board meeting, which I plan to attend. Plenty to do, as always. |
| Monday, September 17, 2007: I failed to note that Saturday was the third year since the day the tornado hit. I know in the grand scheme of things it pales in comparison with the events of 9/11, but it changed my life considerably. I suppose forgetting the anniversary until a few days later is a sign that the significance of the event to present circumstances has faded greatly, and that is true. I think of it pretty infrequently, being more concerned with the events of the present day. I went for an eye exam and some new contacts this morning. It has been a year, and as far as my eyes go, no noticeable changes have occurred. After finishing up at the vision center, I drove to Paige and bought a new shredder. Shredder is the local name for a brush mower. I have pretty much worn my old one out, and this time I bought a six-foot wide one instead of the five-foot wide one I have been using. That one foot doesn't sound like a lot, but it is 20% wider that the old one, and I expect it to increase the area I can get mowed in an hour accordingly. Tomorrow morning I have to get my equipment trailer hitched up and go down and pick up the shredder and bring it back to the ranch. |
| Sunday, September 16, 2007: Some really odd trivia. Earlier today I realized that it was exactly 22 years since I "turned on" the first commercial cellular phone system in Raleigh, NC. While it has been a long time since I was involved in that operation, it was an exciting time, because that was the first one I worked on building and operating, and at that time cellular phones were big, not very portable, used a lot of battery power and were pretty expensive. Airtime was very expensive, sixty cents or so a minute, and no free weekends or evenings (although the rates dropped to an off-peak rate). No "free" phones back then. Mass acceptance of the product by the general public has lead to lower service prices, better service, larger coverage areas and inexpensive phones. Except for the iPhone. Today was the annual Homecoming at the church we attend. There was a gospel singing group that provided part of the service, and afterwards a barbeque dinner in the fellowship hall. Since I love beef barbeque, and love to talk, it was a personally fulfilling experience to attend today. Good food and good friends, so to speak. |