3-4 November, 2010 Sunny days

Good weather the last couple of days.  Set out a few more traps and got more done on the Uhaul and around the house.  Susan and I went for a quick walk this morning .  When we went past the buffalo feeing area the hay we put out yesterday was still there.  We were more than just a little concerned that maybe a tree had fallen on the fence and they had escaped so we walked the fenceline around the 40 acre pasture.  Most of it is timbered so visibility was limited.  We made it about 3/4 of the way around when we spotted them feeding on hay the owner had set out either yesterday afternoon or earlier this morning.  He usually emails or calls when he's going to be up.  It was a relief to see them inside the pen.  I wasn't looking forward to a buffalo round-up.
We've been checking traps about mid-day but will probably start doing them in late afternoon beginning tomorrow.  I skinned and stretched the previous two day's catches this afternoon.  They're wet when I pull them out of the traps so I take them to the shack and dry them with paper towels and hang them to dry overnight before skinning them.  It takes several days for the pelt to dry once I get them on the stretchers.  I bought another dozen stretchers earlier in the fall and will order another dozen tomorrow.  Last year I only had six stretchers and had quite a back log waiting to get skinned and dried for shipping.

We're supposed to have one more good day for weather then back to rain again starting Saturday.  I'm hoping for snow instead of rain.

Susan made a venison pot pie for supper last night.  It was very good!

Tristan cleaned the chimney yesterday afternoon so I'm getting the fire ready to go in this picture.  I have a bunch of short 2X2 ends cut off from working on the Uhaul so I'm splitting one into kindling.

A bunch of crows and ravens were squaking up a storm yesterday so I went looking to see what had died. This is a young deer I found about 200 yards from the cabin.  It didn't look like it had been shot so I don't know what killed it.  We have a lot of wolves, coyotes, mountain lions and bears around or it may have died from disease.  At any rate it is being recycled nature's way.

A neighbor called last evening.  He had plucked a deer out of his pasture fence (the deer got tangled in the fence and died) and put it in the back of the pickup for dog food.  During the night a mountain lion had taken it out of the truck and dragged it about 100 yards back into the woods.  They keep their goat in a cage type shipping module at night.  It's made out of 1/2 inch steel rods.  It's probably the main reason their milk goat is still alive.

I'm down at the boat landing taking the canoe off the Cherokee so we can check traps.

A little closer view.

This is a floating mat of cattails.  I have a trap set on it but we have to look close because every time we check traps it's drifted to a new location.

A stop-loss long spring trap waiting for a muskrat to step into it.  Hopefully the water won't freeze and make it inoperable in something steps in the pan.

The insulation is going into the Uhaul.

Susan made donuts today.  They were ready when I got back to the cabin from peeling muskrats. 

She did some experimenting with a new recipe and they are the best donuts I've ever had.

Fresh dinner rolls tonight!