Doesn't look like there has been many people posting on here,including me.I've been busy trapping squirrels a lot.I've got over 700 so far and there is still a bunch more.Last weekend there was a rodeo up at the fairgrounds.My friend entered in the bronc riding,and he stayed on for about 3 seconds before he got pitched off,oh well,theres another rodeo coming up in july I think.We'll be cutting hay in another 4 or 5 weeks,then it will get really busy.So whats everybody else doing?
If we don't get rid of the squrrels they multipy like crazy.They have a litter of around 10 every 6 weeks,and they eat the alfalfa,and the field gets dirt mounds all over it so when we cut the hay,not only is it really bumpy,the dirt clogs up the mower(thats a big pain).Plus I get 3 dollars a squirrel.
Speaking just for me, I've been busier than a rat trying to make it through the dog pound unscathed. What I thought was just a large property has turned into a ranch. Horses, a herd of dogs, 30 chickens, one cat, forty gophers and three thousand mice. We've got our hands full, believe me! I wish I had more time to post and more time to write books, paint, and all the other things I love to do. Instead, I've been spending my time gardening, nursing my gangrenous horse, pulling weeds, and getting a chicken coop set up. Next come the turkeys. We have six wild ones on order, still waiting for them to show up! I figured since I can't afford to travel anywhere anymore I might as well raise animals. I'm also going to get rabbits to try and knock down the alfalfa around here. We'll start out with one and see how it goes. Thanks for asking. I hope your spring is going well.
I have so much trouble logging in or sending messages on this board. I don't know if it's going to work this time. It's good to see everyone. Kirby, that is so cool that you have all those animals. I've always wanted to have chickens and turkeys, and of course, horses and dogs and cats. But, right now, I have no pets, except for some fish. Can you believe that? I can't. I'm waiting for the right dog to come along. Someday. I'll bet Cloud is big and beautiful.
Good Morning,
Glad to find more than 3 names on the message board..... Whahooooo and even Gina.
I have been busy trading horses again.
Im traded PETE (2020 pounds of Blonde Belgian) for a White Shire style and his full brother that looks more like a Percheron. They are Percheron/Shire cross draft horses. MUTT and JEFF because one is tall and the other shorter.
After my friend and mentor Don Green put shoes on for me..... I harnessed /hooked /drove from Tyhee (thats just North of Pocatello) 23 miles in 7 hours
with a lunch stop of maybe 15 minutes and a water the horses stop of about 15 minutes and three empty our bladders stops .........
I didn't have a new tarp for the wagon yet so it was ( just like that old song) a bright sun shiney day........
I have since then started to restore my fathers old draft horse harness, I took it apart at every snap/buckle and ring that I could.; It was then scrubbed in hot water and dish soap to remove over 45 years of dirt dust and old horse sweat. I was told once "Don't sweat the petty things and no need to pet the sweaty things"
Then each peice was soaked in harness oil for 24 hours or more and hung to drip dry. All of the buckles, snaps, rings, and heel chains were rusty so they were buffed as best I could and then primered and painted. The hames have been sanded and painted. I will probably start to reassemble this week. I have at least two more to do and maybe 4 more.
I should have cleaned and oiled this leather sooner. Some of it is /was pretty dry. I guess if I was hung on a wall peg for nearly 45 years I'd be dry too. I don't know when the harness was made. Maybe in the 1930's. But it was custom made and fitted to my Dads Horses. He used pieces of string to measure where each section would fit and then the harness maker sewed or riveted the appropriate pieces together.
I had hoped to go on a wagon train this next two weeks but other chores and or need to do things came along.
HOWEVER I hope to do a wagon train in August 2008. The Oregon/California Trails Association National Convention will be in Nampa,Idaho. I hope Kirby will at least set up a book booth there. The Oregon California trails came to Montpieler And Fort Hall then split at Raft River. with a Variant that is know as the GOODALE CUTOFF.
It goes from Fort Hall to Springfield, then out accross the desert to the Big southern Butte and around the Craters of the moon and on up the Wood River past Sun Valley and on over to Boise and Nampa and on into Oregon. Think about joining me on a trip to the Moon...... {:-)
Other than that it has been dry here in Idaho. Not as much snow fall as average, warm early spring and not much prospect of rain soon. Almost 100 degrees in Boise, Idaho last weekend.
here in east tennessee the humidity is terrible,,,makes the heat index go up 10 points,,,but the mountains are beautiful,,out west you'all would call them hills!!!!!
Animals glad to hear someone else has gotten
themselfs some.
Dont worry the more you get the less work it is (thats a lie).
Turkeys even the wild ones you can buy are the dumdest animals ever.
We had some but they just couldnt stay out of the Dog pens 10 arces and where did they all end up thats right in the dog pens.
So no more turkeys get ducks there much smarter.
You're right about the turkeys. Pretty funny. In the wild those Rio Grande turkeys are pretty cagey, but not when they're farm raised. I couldn't get any this year anyway. We ended up with bronzes and whites. The bronzes are really black but have a little bronze shading on their tail feathers. If you can get past their faces they're a really beautiful animal. And they're even cute when they're little.
But man, have you ever seen one hypnotized? If you haven't, it's an amazing thing. I can't seem to hypnotize the whites, but I can the bronzes, and it's hilarious. I can keep them out for quite a while, too. I've not tried to see how long because it gets a little boring watching a hypnotized turkey, but suffice it to say they have stayed out until I bring them back. And I am not joking about this!
Kirby, the turkey hypnotist ... Uh, or should I say hypnotist of turkeys?
By the way, Jeff, I did try to duck thing. I would do it again, but I never got very endeared to those ducks and I don't care that much for duck meat or eggs. I did like our geese, even the big mean gander. He wasn't mean so much to us, but he would sure attack people he didn't like, and it was sometimes a pretty entertaining sight. He had good taste in people to go after. We named our two geese when they were a few days old and we didn't know male from female yet, so the gander was Goosey Lucy and the goose was Diver Dan. She loved to go under the water and swim under all the others, the gander and four ducks. It was quite a sight to see.
That goose actually became a family pet. Even after she was full grown and having babies of her own she would sometimes come over to me and want me to scratch her back, and she would like down on the ground for me to rub her neck. She was a neat animal, and I actually miss her.
Speaking of animals, check out rat story! (New post)
Hi
Good to see lots of posts. Bob and I just back form 3 weeks in Hawaii so lots
of catching up to do. We had a great time and my grandson's graduation was very nice but just to hot for me. Of course when we got back to Pocatello it
was in the 90's. Anyway glad to be honem