Found some pretty purple flowers in the field today. Don't know what kind they are. I just enjoy seeing them.

The goat likes to snack on dandelion flowers (and almost everything else that grows above ground).

Cat and goat meet face-to-face for the first time outside the goat pen.

The dog was very jealous of the attention the goat was getting. The dog weighs about 75 pounds. When the goat is fully grown it should tip the scales at 250 to 300 pounds. It's still a baby yet.

When you have chickens you see a lot of egg "designs" you'll never see on store shelves. This is a new one for me. Despite it's deformity the membrane is intact so the egg is probably good to eat. We've also gotten a few double yolked eggs and the occassional egg with a soft shell. With those the hard outer shell never forms so you have an egg with just the opaque membrane enclosing it. Those too are okay to eat if you can get them from hen-house to skillet without breaking.

Monday, July 19, 2010
We had an unexpected guest this morning when a neighbor showed up on his bicycle. He’d come to claim the last dozen eggs we had for him. A couple of weeks ago we’d traded a couple dozen eggs and some other stuff for a box of 357 magnum ammo he had on hand. He only took one dozen eggs at that time and came back today for the second dozen. He stayed awhile and we solved all the worlds problems and also did some internet searches for info he was looking for. He lives a short distance from us in his hand built log cabin on a private lake. He works at temporary jobs when they’re available and is quite resourceful, often living on whatever he forages, hunts or catches in his lake.

I gave him a lift back home and used the hydrant on the property adjacent to his to fill the water barrels in the truck. The hydrant is gravity flow, fed by a thousand gallon tank up the hill that’s filled by a spring. The water is some of the best you’ll ever find. It took awhile to fill the barrels and it was about 12:30 when I got back home. I siphoned the barrels all afternoon. I get one started then do other things until it’s empty then repeat the process until I have them all emptied. This afternoon I worked with the goat awhile. It wasn’t halter broke when we got it and was scared to death of us. Yesterday I brought some willow branches into the pen with me and sat down on the rock and fed them to the goat one branch at a time. I spent over an hour in the pen doing that. I only gave them to him if he took it out of my hand. At first he’d grab a bite and run. Then he got to where he’d take some and step back. This afternoon I made him get a little closer each time then got him to where I could rub his back or head while he ate. I probably spent 90 minutes or more doing this. I finally got him to trust me enough that I felt confident of taking him on the leash outside the pen. I mainly followed him around with just a little guidance on the leash at times to keep him on one side of a tree or the other. I just kept taking more control a little at a time until he got pretty good at following me. Again, it was probably another two hours of this. I also worked to get him where he didn’t mind me rubbing his back, head or neck. The dog was extremely jealous the whole time this was going on so I had to stop repeatedly and give her a good rub-down. I should be able to catch him easily tomorrow but we’ll have to do some review on the leading lessons. In a few days he should do well without the reviews. We’ll also tie him up and let him graze while we work nearby. We have so many large predators around that, for his own safety, we’ll never be able to leave him unattended.

We plan on using him for a pack goat so he’ll have to be comfortable with us and trust us enough that he comes to us for protection instead of running away from us when something scares him.

We did some yard clean-up this afternoon. Susan had filled more buckets with wheat, corn and beans this morning so we took them out to their temporary storage area. We also moved some fencing we had in the playground area. I fixed one of the lawn chairs that needed minor repairs (a couple of pop rivets). Susan ran the power mower to trim the lawn up a bit there.

We currently have a thunderstorm going outside. It’s one of those with very little rain but with enough lightning to keep the forest fire lookouts watching for smoke. It also keeps them sitting on their insulated chairs in case the lookout tower gets zapped by lightening … which happens quite often. Working in a metal framed building built on metal legs and positioned on top of a mountain during a thunderstorm is not a good way to relax and enjoy the weather.

This is the continuation of the raised bed for the Jerusalem Artichokes. Once they were planted Susan set some PVC pipes to hold the row cover. The pipes are bent into an arch then a ridgepole is taped over the top using duct tape.

Next, a section of floating row cover is placed over the frame and weighted with rocks. The floating row cover is a thin, paper like material that is porous so the rain can fall through it. It also protects the plants from frost on cold nights and shades the plants from the hot sun during the day.

We're working on getting potatoes ready for the dehydrator. The box on Susan's right side held potatoes from our root cellar. They are still firm even though stored since last fall but most have sprouts on them. Susan breaks the sprouts off and peels them then I cut them into little cubes about 1/4 inch square. They go into the silver pot and will be boiled until cooked.

Once they're cooked we drain off the water and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process. Now Susan takes three vitamin "C" tablets and crunches them with a spoon in a clean bowl. She adds water then puts the potatoes in the Vit. C water and lets them soak for five minutes. She then drains that water off and spreads them on the dehydrator racks for drying. The Vitamin C keeps them from turning brown when drying. After they dry she'll powder them in the blender and we'll have organic, instant mashed potatoes. The number of tablets she uses varies according to how many spuds we're drying. She also used Vitamin C when drying apples for the same reason.

Susan made flour out of both corn and wheat today. We bought the corn and wheat from an organic food coop. She ground the corn first then cleaned the grinder and ground the wheat into flour. The electric grinder does a superb job but it is very noisy. Everyone in the house wears hearing protectors while we're using it. The picture shows wheat in the grinder.

Our younest son decided to run his generator today so, in addition to using the grinder and dehydrator we also ran the water pump to water the garden. It was late afternoon when Susan went out to get started. She went back in and put on a jacket. A cold front moved in this afternoon and the temprature dropped considerably.

We're going through our leftover garden seeds and vacum packing them for long term storage. These are some left over from this year. The older ones will be labeled with the year they were originally sold.

Sunday, July 18, 2010
On Friday (the 16th) we headed into Eureka for parts for the pickup. We got a wire brush to fix the bead leak on the front tire and a new thermostat and gasket. Before we left we had to push the pickup forward. We needed to get the picnic table out in the sun so we could use the solar oven for cooking. Susan was making venison stew for our afternoon guests. I washed dishes and emptied all the water jugs and filled the reservoir over the sink before we left. We brought the empty jugs to refill them in Fortine on the way home. We made it back about 30 minutes before our guests arrived. They are also “homesteaders” we met about four (maybe???) years ago. They had read some of my articles in Backwoodshome Magazine and tried to contact us when they moved to the area. We had an unlisted number at that time so they asked at the post office. She (the postmaster) wouldn’t give them our number or address but let them leave a note in our mailbox. We called them and got together and have been friends ever since. They are the ones who gave us the goat. Anyway, they had thought about buying a solar cooker but wanted to see one in action so we used it to cook the stew. After eating then looking over the garden we played a couple games of Hearts before they headed back home.

On Saturday we ended up spending most of the day in Kalispell. We took our time and made a stealth trip, not telling anyone in Kalispell that we were in town. We stopped at several yard sales and made a few minor purchases but didn’t spend much. We stopped at the Olney Mall (green box/dumpster site) to look for bed frames and rails but there weren’t any there. I use them for building projects around here and they’re always in short supply! By the time we got home everyone was ready to relax for the evening.

Sunday (today);
I installed the thermostat on the pickup this morning then helped cut up the potatoes for the dehydrator. After that I started on my laundry. Once I got the first load finished and the second load soaking we called up another neighbor to see if I could drop by to fill the barrels at their well. I can pump it out of the lake but the lake is low this time of year and it’s kind of a pain to get the suction pipe far enough out to pull in water instead of mud. No one was home so I left a message. I’d drained all the water jugs for the wash water so I loaded them up into the pickup and took them with me. I got there just before they got home from church and we filled up the six barrels and the five water jugs for the house. I began siphoning water into the main tank. It takes about 45 minutes to siphon one barrel so it was going to take awhile. In the meantime I finished up the wash and got the pump hooked up to the extension cord and primed it. While Susan watered the garden I extended the willow branch to the goat. It’s young and a little on the wild side so it’s taking some time to earn it’s trust. This is the first day I‘ve really had time to work with it. When it’s full grown it should weigh between 250 to 300 pounds. I’d like to have it trained to pull a cart and pack a load long before then. It sounded as if our neighbor was doing a little range time with his Glock this evening. I checked traps and dispatched another gopher before heading into the house. That’s the fourth one today.
I’ve been on the computer since coming back into the house and plan on being in bed as s soon as I get this posted..

The water hole is full and ready to go.

I primed the pump and started the engine. I leave the outlet hose off at first to be sure I have a good stream of water flowing and the pump is fully primed.

I shut the pump off and hook up the outlet hose.

It's about 90 feet to the truck. I know this because a single, 75 foot long hose won't reach. I use two fifty-footers.

When I ran the water through the hose I found a slight problem. The hose (with a new bullet hole in it) was laying about twenty feet in front of my 50 yard target. Last time when I was playing around with the MAK-90 on rapid fire I must have hit a little low. I walked back to the cabin and got another hose. (About 250 yards each way.)

I think this means we're finished. I only got about 230 gallons this time. Usually I get enought to fill all six barrels (330 gallons).

Susan took this opportunity to water the garden with the hose while the generator was running the water pump. She usually does it witha water can by dipping water out of the stock tanks or barrels.

While the compressor was running I decided to check out the leak in my front tire. The bead is leaking on it this time. I put it back on the truck until we can get to town and I can buy a stiff wire brush for my drill to knock the rust off the rim where the bead seats against it. I'll also pick up a thermostat and gasket while we're in town.

The battery charger is on fast charge and set for 90 minutes at a 40 amp charge rate. This is an extra battery we have on hand. We may use it with the electric trolling motor or I might need it at the shack to run my lights and radio there or we may use it to jump start a vehicle. A friend gave us several of these Wal Mart batteries a couple of years ago. They were new batteries that had never been sold but had reached the end of their "shelf life" so WalMart tossed them.

When we run the generator we run everything electrical we can use. This is the new 6,000 watt generator. The two cords on the left go to the battery charger and the air compressor. The one on the top right goes to the water pump. The one on the lower right goes to the cabin where it's running the battery charger in the inverter, the electric dehydrator (with the celery in it) and we also turn the refrigerator to "high" when we have the generator running.

Susan with celery freshly cut from the garden.

Celery, sliced, diced and ready to dehydrate.

I'm building the raised bed for the Jerusalem Artichokes. I made several vertical cuts where the logs will overlap on the corners. Next I'll knock out the "slices" with a wood chisel.

Last, I'll use the chainsaw to smooth the surface. Once I've finished the end logs I'll do the same to the side logs. When finished I'll put the flat sides together and secure them with a large spike. That way the side and end logs will be about the same height.

This is the finished product complete with compost and the newly planted Jerusalem Artichokes.

Saw a bull moose on the road about two miles from the cabin. He took off into the woods before we could snap his picture.

Me and Andrew

Me and Anna (our youngest grandchild).

I have the top sewed to the bottom.

Sewing the sole to the upper.

David and Jonathan

I tree in a tree.

Two nights in a row when the temperature got down in the low 30's so we've been covering most of the garden with old blankets, sheets and plastic.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Good thing we covered the garden last night. It was down to 36 degrees this morning. The covers need to be removed before it gets too warm out. After breakfast, feeding the dog and chickens and making sure the goat had water it was time to wash dishes. Our oldest daughter and her husband and four little ones are coming to day to look at land to buy. It was a long day with five hours in the car looking at different properties. Susan and I bugged out with the boys on the last place. By then we were only about five miles from home (on the road, one mile as the crow flies). Prices have come down on land in the last year. I barbequed some hamburgers for supper. Susan made chocolate cake for desert. Kevin and Tristan went out to shoot some gophers but they were all in bed by then. I set three traps for gophers before they got here in the morning. Didn’t catch any. Amy and I made patterns for a set of moccasins for her. I cut the leather out and I showed her how to stitch them up. She’ll have to take them home to finish them up. We ran out of time in the evening. Susan covered part of the garden before bedtime.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010
It was 34 degrees this morning. Susan got up during the night and covered more of the garden. We fired p the woodstove to take the chill off. After breakfast and feeding critters I measured patterns for a pair of moccasins for Susan and worked on them for a couple of hours. I got the tops sewed to the sole of the first one. I broke two needles doing it. I have one left. We’ll see if I get the next one finished before I run out of needles. I started on a raised bed for planting Jerusalem Artichokes. I got three logs cut down (two 10 footers and one 8 footer that will be cut in half to make two 4 footers. They’re green logs and too heavy for me to carry without risking injury so I rigged up a cart I started on (but haven’t finished yet) awhile back to carry the logs. It worked very well but needed two people in some of the rougher places in the woods. I just got them over to the right place when Susan found where gopher (Columbian Ground Squirrel is the correct name) had tunneled under the fence and into the garden. I stopped work on the raised bed to set some more traps. As soon as I finished that we headed into Fortine to mail a package and check the mail. From there we went to the Fortine Merchantile and bought some ice cream and sausage. Both were on sale. When we got home Tristan and I went walking and capped off two more gophers. By then it was time to eat. After supper we watched a movie on the DVD/TV. Afterwards I checked my traps and had two gophers to dispatch. One was at the tunnel under the fence but I saw another one near there duck down a hole so I reset the trap after dispatching the first one. Now it’s getting late. After I finish this blog I’m going to bed.

We haven't named it yet. I suggested that we name it "goat" but that didn't seem to get a very high approval rating.


This is a good mosquito. It's one of the few that I just killed and didn't totally crush beyond recognition. My aim must have been off just a little.

this is our second youngest grandchild. I think she was eating a cracker and forgot to let go.

Susan cutting up peppers from our garden. Some of them went into the omelettes we had for breakfast.

The dog and goat meet for the first time. Neither one seems too impressed with the other.

Sunday, July 11, 2010
The kids got here late yesterday afternoon and spent the night. Sunday morning had omelets for breakfast. J and I shot gophers in the late morning. Had a lot of shots, many of them were off-hand at fast moving gophers! We went to a different spot this time but they’ve been shot at before. The survivors learn quickly. Susan made dinner using the solar cookers (one store bought and one home made.)

Got a call from a neighbor in the evening. There’s been a mountain lion hanging around the neighborhood. He’s been seen by several people over the last week or so. Once he was crossing the road dragging a full grown deer. This time he was at their house. They sometimes have deer in the yard and the cat was stalking one. They let the dog out and the dog treed the cat. He got some pictures then they put tied the dog up and chased the cat off. The only problem is that while it shows no aggression towards people it also shows very little fear. It would only run about 50 yards then lay down until they got closer. When they’d get within 20 yards or so it would take off again. Normally they should run and run and run. You shouldn’t be able to catch up with one. If he makes it to hunting season I’m sure there will be a guy with hounds coming up. (I have his phone number.) It’s a full-grown male and appears to be quite healthy. He may have been forced to hunt close to people by wolves or a larger male lion. They’ve also been logging in some prime mountain lion habitat about a mile from here and might have forced him out of there. Whatever the reason he’s a little too comfortable with people to have him around for long.

Susan went to a neighbor’s place to see their new goat. They just got a milk goat and had made a milking stall for it. She came home with a quart of goat milk for us to try. I’ve never had it before and am looking forward to it.

Not much else happened over the weekend. I got the go-ahead on another article query.
Watched three episodes of Top Shots on Hulu. Now I’m caught up with it.

Monday, July 12, 2010

After breakfast I finished up all the extra stuff to mail the article. I cut some wood and took pictures to go with the article. Then I culled them out to those I’d use in the article and labeled them. Next I wrote up the photo caption page and made two copies of it then burned the article, spread sheet, photo captions, and photos onto a CD, wrote a cover letter and addressed the send envelope and another for returning the materials if the article doesn’t sell. After that I put a new battery terminal on the pickup and cleaned the other cable real good, load tested the battery and tried it out. The truck started just fine which didn’t surprise me since it usually does … cold! I’ll have to drive it until it’s warmed up good to see if it’s fixed. I suspect it’s got a bad starter. The problem is only apparent when the engine is hot.

I’ll pick up a thermostat later, For now I’m just going to take the old one out and drive it like that. I didn’t fix the tire yet either. It’ll have to be done later also. We needed to get in town to mail the envelope and go on into Eureka to get dog food and a goat.

When we hit town we filled up three water jugs before going to the post office. After picking up the mail and mailing the manuscript package we stopped at the green boxes (dumpsters) and unloaded our trash. From there we took the highway into Eureka and stopped at the bank to deposit a check (payment for an article) and go to the grocery store. They were out of the stuff they had advertised that we wanted so we ended up just getting a big bag of dog food. From there we went to some friend’s home and they gave us a goat to take care of. They raise and sell pack goats. They gave us a three-month-old kid as long as we promised not to eat it. That sounded good to me. I just hope we can keep the mountain lion from eating it. It was less than enthusiastic at the idea of leaving it’s mother, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great grand parents, etc. and coming home with us. We had to pick it up and carry it part way. When we set it down it decided it didn’t like that idea either. So, when we went to load it in the back of the Cherokee it laid down on the ground. It took two people to lift it up then and load it into the Cherokee. I was already there waiting to keep it company, which I did for the ride home. We were good friends before we got home. (Now that didn’t sound quite right!!!!) Anyway, it’s new home is the dog kennel. We’ll be taking it out to graze every day and hopefully it will keep some of the undesirable plants in check. I’m hoping to get it to actually do what it was designed for and have it carry stuff when we go backpacking. We’ll keep you posted.

By the time we got home it was late afternoon. We had leftovers for supper and I took some more allergy medicine and will probably be asleep soon. I’m hoping it will rain tonight and clear the air some. The wind has been blowing all day keeping the pollen stirred up.