Finally…
Have a couple of minutes to blog. I should be sleeping, but - oh well…
I did go to Billings & get the pump motor the other day (and a few other parts). I had the misfortune of being behind a row of traffic from Edgar to Laurel. The leaders of this pack were a pickup with travel trailer & a pickup with a Bobcat on a trailer. There were several vehicles between me & them, so I resigned myself to going 45. At least the construction at Rockvale has been completed… By the time I got to the interstate I was maniacal. I was in the left lane heading east at my usual lead footed pace when a car cut me off without signaling. Good enough cutoff to make me hit the brake. I put my lights on. Hmm - maybe she didn’t see me. Then she proceeded to travel at 50 mph. The right lane was as close to bumper to bumper as it gets in Montana, but I really didn’t want to start some of my BQE maneuvers. So I continued behind her. She had several opportunities to get in the right lane, but chose not to. At this point I tooted the horn at her. So she slowed down some more. When she decided to get into the right lane she “threw me the rod”. So I tooted the horn again, smiled & waved at her.
Since I was close to homicidal, I just went to pickup my motor, figure out how to get around the construction and get into Fasteners, stop at Costco and head home.
Yesterday was so busy I can hardly remember what the heck I did. Which is how it goes here more often than not. I did some amateur dog grooming - as long as the dogs could stand it. Got lots of laundry done. I did get lost in the weeds of my garden for a while. The weeds are still winning the war. The sweet corn is late this year, we just started getting some. I knew that as soon as the racoons hit it - it would be ready. The guys finished the grain, Hooray! Just in time too. We don’t raise malt (beer) barley, but feed barley. So instead of loading trucks and sending them on their way - we load the trucks and then unload them into grain bins… Well, the barley looks good - and we have lots of it. Which would be even better if we had someone who wanted to buy some of it! But the reason it was good timing was because it started to rain here as soon as we finished the last load into the last bin. And it rained pretty good for a while.
Today was spent in the hills moving cattle. The morning started out cool, then it got hot, then it got cool again, and later it poured. I had packed a lunch. It’s funny how food seems so much better when you’ve worked hard and eat outside. We had ham and tomato sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, chunks of cheddar, and grapes. Simple & good, sitting on the back of the pickup… My father-in-law and I took turns with driving the pickup/trailer and riding my horse. Most of where we go cannot be reached with a vehicle. We three spent some time on foot, too. We spotted some strays on the way back home. So we dropped the trailer near the road, and headed up as far as we could with the pickup. We started walking up to get to the draw that we had seen the cattle in. It started sprinkling. My father-in-law was going to drive back down. He said, “By the time you get to the top it’ll really start raining.” Gee, thanks… that’s exactly what it did. My sea level lungs were straining. My boots had ten pounds of alkali mud on them. My clothes were soaked. My hair was too, and streaming across my face. And I was enjoying every minute of it. After a while we got to the top. Found the girls and their calves and got them started down. Much easier on the lungs, not so good on the knees…
When we did get home, we unloaded the horses. They got a good brushing and a little extra oats. We fed the cattle at home. It was still pouring. It was close to seven by the time I’d put things away. Thank goodness for leftovers, since I was starving. Put on a fresh pot of rigatoni, heated up the sauce and meatballs. Then I get to clean it all up again.
Well, it looks like we’ll be riding again tomorrow - so I probably should say “Goodnight”.
August 27th, 2004 at 5:50 am
Are you a native to this fabulous place? Have you been …hmm waddya call it ‘ranching’… ‘farming’ all your life?
When will it actually start to snow there?
August 27th, 2004 at 8:35 am
I have just decided that when I make the turn at Rockvale, I am following everything in front of me and allow one hour extra to get to Billings from here. If I ever get there early, I can find things to do! Usually if there is a farm vehicle slowing things down, it pulls off and lets the traffic around now and then when it can. Going home is just as bad.
This was a good barley year, yield wise. The price is, of course, down. There will be someone who needs it one of these days.
Hope you don’t get rained on again if you are riding today. bonnie
August 27th, 2004 at 11:41 am
If the crop’s good, the price is always right. And I wonder when the state is going to fix that stretch of road so slowpokes don’t jam it up. I understand that California has a law that if you have five vehicles stacked up behind you, you have to turn off and let them pass. Wish we had it here.
The lady with the rod needs to be careful, even in Montana. We don’t seem to have much road rage here, not like in California, for instance, but some people do carry steel rods called guns in their vehicles here.
August 28th, 2004 at 3:14 pm
Hi Weese! I was born in the eastern part of the state - Brooklyn. My husband’s family has been in this valley since the beginning of time (early 1900’s). We’re farmers. We’re ranchers. We’re “in agriculture” which loosely translates to “We’re banging our heads against the wall.”
Hi Bonnie! I’m not even gonna touch Chuck’s comment about prices - I’ll leave that to you please. You’ve been “in agriculture” longer & have more seniority than me. Especially since I was an old broad when I married a farmer and you were a child bride.
Hi Chuck! After playing in real traffic - Montana traffic doesn’t bother me much, but some of the drivers sure do. I tell people that I didn’t know anyone that died in a wreck until I came to Montana. The smart alec reply is “no one drives where you come from”. Not true, and not funny.
August 28th, 2004 at 4:20 pm
Well, Chuck, it is for sure better to have a good crop and a low price than a bad crop and a low price. What is really nice is a good crop and a good price. Happens now and then. Usually means that some other area that produces the same commodity had a disaster. We all prefer not to be the ones with the disaster.
And about the road. A third lane for passing would surely help but I shudder to think of the mess and hold up while it was being constructed. Four lanes would be better yet but there is a lot of the right of way in there that is not very wide………bonnie