trees attacking bridges

We lose a couple of trees to wind (they turn into evil tree robots) every winter on the farm. Last year we had a pine tree take out some power lines and now we had a old rotten aspen score a direct hit on the bridge.

So far this year only a bridge has been a victim of the evil trees that fly on the high winds coming out of Hurricane Creek canyon, some of our neighbors have not been so lucky though.   The tree was mostly dead when I got to it otherwise it probably would have put up more of a fight while I cut it up.

A few hours with the saw and the aspen was reduced to rounds to be dried out for next winters fire place (while not the best firewood, robots still burn great).  There is only minimal damage to the bridge but we should probably have Zack and/or a structural engineer come out to the farm and look at it just to be safe.

hippie cows use side door: A.B.C. another bull calf

We got a baby Woolly Mammoth as a early Christmas present, Holly had been acting kinda weird all morning so Bruce had me check on her mid-day and this is what I found standing (still wet) next to her in the middle of the field. The other cows seemed a little confused as to why a tiny cow fell out of Holly, but cows are easily confused.

Scottish Highland Cattle are a really hardy breed so even though it is not the most
Ideal time of year for a calf to be born he is doing well and getting fuzzier by the day.

He never gets to far from his mother and he will probably inherit her bad temper but for now he is as cute as a button.

snow tire changing the easy way

I changed my trucks shoes to studs recently.  Wallowa county is one of the places in Oregon where studded tires actually make sense.  My two wheel drive truck is almost undrivable with out them nearly half of the year.

Maybe it’s my fault for living up here in the mountains but my truck gets great gas mileage and is the only one I’ve got. So until studded tires get banned in Oregon this is the little ritual I go through every year in November.

 

mule deer shaped lawn ornaments

It’s November on the farm and that means the “wildlife/tame deer” are as thick as well,   deer during mating season.  All of the big bucks that never show themselves the rest of the year suddenly appear anywhere that there are does (like the back yard).

There are quite a few Whitetail around also but they are a lot sneakier and don’t allow you to just walk up and take a picture like the mulies.  Bruce has a trail cam set up in the wild area that got this guy.

and this funny looking thing too.

little house; big project

To make a long story not quite so long,  I found a tiny building/ shack that somebody wanted to get rid of for real cheap.  It had a new roof and was built in the twenties or teens ( kinda hard to tell actually).  It measures 16′x 14′ and was nearly 17′ tall witch made it a little bit over the 13 1/2 foot height restriction for moving it and once you put it on a trailer you were looking at a 20′ tall behemoth roaring down the highway crushing everything in its path.  This dissuaded the first people that bought it from moving the building to their property so it sat for a couple of years looking forlorn until I inquired about it.  The building continued to sit for another year while I worked out how to move this thing to the farm.

All sorts of theories swirled through my head including the damn fool Idea of cutting the top of the building off (which I decided against).  I was given a 1970s camper that I wanted to use the frame off of so I got it down to the bare essentials.  Then bolted the frame to the bottom of the house, removed the springs and reattached the axles this got me about 18 feet to the top of the building which is still very tall but not as tall as it could be.

Once I obtained all the proper permits it was ready to move. Bruce’s tractor provided the pulling power and with it in low gear and my dad driving We made it the 4 miles to the farm with a minimum of effort.  There were a few tight  spots and we  had to lift a few lines but smoothness was the order of the day.

here are a few more shots of the moving project on my other blog.

now that it is in its new location renovations and sprucing up are underway.  The final use of the building has not been decided yet but it will most likely be a comfortable and cozy cabin sometime in the future………

splitten wood

Splitten like 40 cords of wood by myself in -20 degree weather uphill both ways!

about 1000 pounds of potatos

purple vikings, agria, rose finn, russian bannana, butte, nicola are just some of the many types of spuds erica grew this summer and I just dug with my own two hands.

we farm sit for family

erica and I are taking care of the farm and the business while they take a much needed vacation.  The picture is out the window of our room this morning which looks a lot like a photo that was taken from the same spot in the spring three years ago when we first moved here

we go to bozeman for Annie and Brandon

I had only been back a few days when we headed to Montana for our friends wedding.  It was very nice to see them and we hope that they decide to move back to the county in the future. Nicole Slater took the photos here are some more.

back from alaska and back on the farm

I made it back from the great white north and Henry  is still falling out of that damn tree.  I wanted to start posting, so let this be your warning that the pristine farm experience is about to get under way once again.

my photos are a bit off because my camera bit the dust up north so Im using a phone for now.  I will do my best but you know I phone pics are the new Polaroids.

I got back and helped Bruce with the second cutting, it feels good to be driving a tractor instead of a skiff for a change.