Karbon Kounty Moos

Warning - Manic Run-on Sentences Ahead

The beet digger got into the final field - #4 on Tuesday evening. Wednesday was spent there, until the beet dump went down. One of our trucks hit the piler, breaking a belt. We were told that it would probably be a couple of days before it was repaired. I was busy wrangling pets, and sorting off a heifer to doctor while waiting for the phone company to come and install my new ADSL modem. I’m also doctoring Ty - since Friday. We had an emergency vet visit on Sunday. And a followup on Monday in between parts runs to Bridger (imagine that!), Red Lodge, Billings and Lovell. I really need to make a grocery run.

Ty seems to be doing better. I’m pulling my hair out with Sugar. I’m using a Gentle Leader with her. She is not thrilled, but I hope that we’re making progress.

This morning we thought that we’d “sleep in”, since we couldn’t dig. Then the field man called. He informed me that the piler had been repaired, and was ready to accept beets. I made phone calls and breakfast. The Baron ate and then headed out. I prepared his lunch. When I went out to the Mule I discovered that Rocky (the cat) had vomited several large mole and/or mouse parts all over the seat. I scraped the seat cover, removed it and tossed it in the washer to soak. With lots of bleach. I guess that it could have been worse. It could have been the sofa, or the bed. . . Then I brought the lunchbox out - in the pickup.

I just came in from bringing Allan some cocoa (sugar free) - and a pill that he forgot to remind me about. He was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Not a good deal for a Sugar Beet Baron. Or anyone else. I got back to the house with Lucky and Sugar. Ty is wearing an Elizabethan collar. Sugar was harassing him, so I put her in the kennel on the porch. Then the dogs went wild again. Jan had stopped by with her grandchildren who wanted to see the puppy. There was no way I was taking the Devil Dog out now. We’re all on the porch with a yammering puppy when Wyatt came in looking for a bandaid. He’d sliced his finger open with a beet knife. Ty and Lucky were in the house barking their heads off at all the excitement on the porch. Wyatt has now been doctored. I need a cup of coffee. Or maybe something stronger.

We started this field, #3, yesterday.
Even with all the wind that we’ve been having, it’s still muddy.

The Sugar Beet Baron tries to take off a few hours once every summer. Yes, once. We’ll take a drive to Cooke City. Usually we’ll take the Chief Joseph Highway and return through Red Lodge on the Beartooth Highway. I was able to take my Mom when she was here last summer, but the Baron wasn’t able to stop at that time. Even just for a couple of hours. This year he was determined to go.

This is what we did on Sunday:

The Baron took Highway 308 south to Wyoming 120 then west to the Chief Joseph Highway 296. We found a dog friendly place for lunch.

Sugar was able to sit out on the deck with us.

What a lucky dog! She was well behaved in the car. She was frustrated with her first leash experience. I suppose we’ll have to practice. After we ate I drove to Highway 212 and then through Cooke City to Silvergate.

I turned around and we came back the same way, since the Beartooth Highway out of Red Lodge is under repair. Since I was driving I did stop a couple of times to take photos. All were taken from the side of the road.

You can see more at my flick’r site.

We were home in time to change water again.

Here the Sugar Beet Baron is backing the trailer up to one of the gated pipe stacks. The stack on the left side is 10″ pipe. On the right is 12″ pipe. They’re 30′ lengths.

We’ve loaded some gated pipe. He’s putting a metal pipe on the side of the trailer to keep the load from rolling. There are two of these on either side of the trailer. Note the hitch on the back of the trailer. It has hitches on both ends.

Here’s the hitch attached to the 4 wheeler. We’re in the beet field now. For now we’re just dropping the pipe in the field.

This is my view.

And the view behind me. We drop the pipe, and go back for more. We started with the 12″ pipe and then load up the 10″ and do the same. Once all the pipe is set up, we go back to the field and put it together.

You can view these photos and more at my flick’r site.

I was remembering an encounter that we had a few years ago. . .

It was a Sunday during the 4th of July weekend. I went to the back place to check cattle. Everything was fine, and I headed home. On the gravel road in front of me was a station wagon. It was weaving from side to side, traveling about five miles per hour. When it finally pulled far enough to the right, I passed. As I drove by I looked at the driver, to see if there was a problem. The man driving was looking out the passenger side window and paid me no mind. Once home, I went into the kitchen - pulling together some things for dinner. It was nearing noon. My husband came in and I told him about the guy in the station wagon. I thought that he may have been lost, or looking for someone or some place.

Not long after, the station wagon pulled into our yard. The Sugar Beet Baron went outside as I finished preparing the table. After a while, I went out. The man was sitting in his car. He and my husband were having a conversation. I stood there for few minutes. I got the impression that he knew my husband. I’ve lived here long enough to no longer find it odd that he didn’t get out of the car. People can visit for hours, pulled off the side of the road. One behind the wheel, one leaning on an irrigating shovel. The guy in the car was going on and on about looking for some ground to run sheep on. My stomach was growling. I said, “Would you like to come inside for some ice tea? Or join us for lunch if you’d like.” The man agreed, and fumbled for something on the seat next to him. He got out of the car with what appeared to be a small bundle of rags. He was cradling this in his arms. As we went inside, I made enough eye contact with my husband to realize that he didn’t know what it was - or who this man was - either. Uh - oh.

I set a place for him and he sat down, bundle on his lap. I dished up some salads while the Baron poured tea. The stranger was talkative, but after a while we couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying. He tugged on the rags. Now we could see what they were. Two tattered teddy bears. One dressed in pink, one in blue. As he ate, he talked to the bears, “See the potato salad - it’s very good.” “And the macaroni salad has tuna in it, yummy.”

Our familiar kitchen had turned into a very strange place. We were having a conversation with a man who was holding a glass of iced tea to his teddy bear’s mouth. The bears never did drink or eat. But the man did, while regaling us with stories of realtors, lawsuits and lambs. I lost my appetite, but sat there, listening. At one point I noticed that the Baron wasn’t eating either, but was playing with his knife. I scraped our plates while The Teddy Bear Man continued eating and talking. Some of his conversation was directed at us, some for the benefit of the bears.

Without a word, I let my husband know that it was time for our guest to get going. Eventually, we convinced him that we had to get back to work. He left our house and sat in his car, talking to the bears. This time I verbalized, “You’d better not leave here until we know that he’s gone.” After about ten minutes he drove away.

The Sugar Beet Baron looked at me and said, “Next week he’ll be coming up with all his friends, since he found a good place to eat.” I said, “Oh no he won’t - he never said ‘Thank You’, so he’s not invited back.”

Well, we rode yesterday - wasn’t too bad. It was sunny and warm. The cows still have grass and weren’t thrilled about having to move. The horses were relatively well behaved and there wasn’t too much yelling. I broke my walking stick on the butt of a bull that didn’t want to go, so I did yell at him. I liked that stick… I did most of the trailer jockeying and even managed to find time for some rock hunting. The worst things about rock hunting in high altitude desert:

Cactus; ants that crawl all over you if you don’t move often enough; no see-ums; no bathrooms; scorpions under rocks that you’ve just turned over; losing your balance on a rock ledge; black widows; interesting rock shaped critter turds; not enough pockets; bugs that buzz like rattlesnakes; and my all time favorite - rattlesnakes.

Anyhow, we got it done. Got home at a reasonable hour. After supper my husband started working on the bathroom sink. Uh - oh… Plumbing is not his strong suit. We got that done as well as could be expected. In other words, I needed to go to the hardware store this morning. Well, we just finished on it again. I don’t think that it’s leaking (much).