Updates from the J-B and 7 Bulls Ranch

We have been back now for almost two weeks and the most significant thing we have noticed is how dry it is. It rained less than 2” in both August and September. 

Our pond went from this….

Dakota swimming in our pond. It was 4-5' deep in August

To this….. in just a few short weeks.

I would venture to say that water is the most important thing to the wildlife right now. In fact a review of the trail camera on the water tank showed a variety of wildlife visiting throughout the day and night. The first 4 pictures are a sequence showing a Redtail hawk landing on the tank, jumping in the water, getting out and drying off then flying away. If you look at the clock on the bottom of the picture you can see that it was there for about 45 minutes!

Landing....

Taking a bath....

Drying off.....

And away it goes!

 Of course there are the ever present deer. This one got right in the water tank and was taking a bath! 

Not sure what scared these guys but they were getting the heck out of there!

Then there are the creatures that go bump in the night like this bobcat...

 This flying squirrel looks like he was going to land on the camera!

Ahh! There's a camera!

We have been busy as ever. The first 4 days or so were spent over at Kevin’s place putting up fencing for a much anticipated event. The arrival of the Filip horses! Kevin’s horse was arriving from Wisconsin delivered by longtime friends Craig and Paulette and Cheryl was to pick up her horse a few days later!

Craig and Paulette

Kevin and Cheryl were very excited to get their horses home and start riding them.

Speaking of Kevin and Cheryl’s house, they got a lot done in the 6 weeks that we were gone. They got the roof on both their covered porch and car port. They used T&G 2x6’s so it had a tight fit and the T&G is visible from below.

Carport all done!

Front porch with the T&G ceiling

They also put up the majority of the bug wood on the ceiling in their living areas. The finished product looks great and they are well on their way to creating their forever home!

He got the wood on his east wall and elk up!

Dining room area

Bug wood on the living room ceiling

Progress has been a little slower at our place. I redid the stairs as we did not love the way they felt from our first attempt. They are now level and more evenly spaced and feel great walking up and down them!

We also cut the wall down along the side of the stairs. This was the plan all along and we are now to the phase where we could cut the wall diagonally and start putting up posts for the railing. It is slow and tedious as each post has to be cut and notched to fit in its location but we are loving the end result!

Before....

After....Diagonal cut done and 3 posts set!

Barb snapped this picture because she was amazed that I knew how to use a vacuum cleaner.

We also spent a couple of days fencing the west line of our property. This line is a little over a ¼ mile through mostly rocky and wooded terrain. We have set the line several months ago now we needed to set all the T posts and run wire. Like a lot of the other fences on our property, setting the T posts in the rock is quite the challenge. We use a hammer drill and a generator set in the back of the ATV to drill a 2” hole every 25’ or so. This allows us to set the T posts directly in the rock and not have to hunt for softer areas where we can hand pound them.

Hammer drill in action!

We got about ½ way done in the two days so another 2-3 days and we should be done.

The highlight of the week was the arrival of my sister Carol from Minnesota. The oldest of my 4 sisters, she was 11 when I was born and basically raised me and my younger brother. This is the 3^rd year in a row that she has been able to visit us in the fall. She spent 3 days with us visiting, 4 wheeling, sitting out and enjoying the nature while we worked on the house.

We saw a couple of nice antelope on our ride

The view from the edge of Rim Rock Canyon

She even got out deer hunting one day! A first for her. We spent several hours in the deer blind one afternoon. Although the “big guy” did not walk by, we had a great afternoon watching the other deer in the area.

Carol and I in the blind

We saw a few does

Wednesday night we went to the Hitchrail in Pringle for burger night. Last Wednesday night we celebrated Cheryl’s birthday and this past Wednesday we celebrated Bonnie’s birthday! How old are they? Well, Cheryl turned….do you really think I am that stupid? Don’t answer that…  

Princess Bonnie

Cheryl with her tiara and scepter 

On the truck front, we decided to go with the new engine rather than a rebuilt. Although this is the more expensive option, it comes with a 3 year warranty and with a rebuilt you are just dealing with too much unknown. We had to put 1/2 down to order it. Once it arrives it will take 3 weeks to get it installed so it looks like we are without a truck for the next month or so.  

We also had a visit from longtime virtual friends Ron and Mary who were in the area site seeing. We had been following each others blogs for several years and this is the first time we have been in the same area. Ron and Mary stopped by our place for a few hours of visiting and getting to know each other. They are great people and we are looking forward to seeing them again soon!

I pretty much had this week's blog done and was ready to post it when we had an event in the neighborhood. Barb and I were out on the west line putting in a few T posts when we heard sirens pretty close by. We jumped on the Ranger and came out of the woods to this......just a mile north of our house. 

 So like all curious retired people we drove the Ranger over that way to see what was going on. We later found out that the rancher over there was mowing his pasture when a hot wheel bearing ignited the grass. The end result was about 50 acres being burned. Three fire departments responded as well as a helicopter and were able to keep the fire out of the forest and contained to the grasslands. 

This coming week we have lots of plans on the house, if we get them all done we will have lots to update next week!