The Rut

 You deer hunters know what I mean with that title. The rut, the one time a year the deer get frisky. It is basically a two-week (+/-) period a year when the does come into heat. But the does do not let just any buck do the job, they wait for the most buckly and virile buck in the woods. Oh, the lesser bucks try, but the does reject their advances waiting for the right buck. 

To put it into perspective think about it this way.... There is a bar full of girls sitting at the bar having a good time, minding their own business when in walks two of these lesser bucks. For the purposes of this explanation, we will call these two Dino and Steve. Now Dino and Steve come strutting into the bar like they are God's gift to women. The women, upon first glance know that these two are not the ones they have been waiting all year for and try to ignore them. 

Dino                                                              Steve

But Dino and Steve try anyways, using their best lines on them, trying to impress, but really getting nowhere. They chase the girls around the bar as the girls move from table to table trying to get away from them, but to no avail. Dino and Steve do not get the hint and just keep on trying. This is why you see so many dead deer on the side of the road this time of year, they just are not thinking straight. 

After a bit two more bucks walk in. These two bucks are the buckiest bucks in the woods. They walk in with the confidence of a couple of bucks who have been around the woods a time or two. For the purposes of this example, we will call them Jim and Harry.  I don't know why I chose those names, they just seemed to fit in this scenario. 

(Sidenote on this picture. Barb took it from inside the house while I was out hunting. The doe was inside the dog pen while the buck laid just outside watching her eat the green grass)

Now Jim and Harry walk in and every doe in the bar turn towards the door, and their legs turn to butter. THESE are the two that they have been waiting for! Dino and Steve, sensing their bucksculinity, lower their heads and hide in the corner. But not every doe is ready at the same time, and when they are ready, it is for only 24 hours, so Jim and Harry have to be very astute and very busy. It is going to be a busy two weeks! 24 hours a day for over two weeks these two have to provide a service for their fellow deer making sure that only the strongest genes are passed on to the next generation. There are fights, sometimes to the death, they are determined to be the top bucks.

Notice how some of the bucks are leading with their nose? That is how they tell if a doe is ready. 

Not every doe gets bred this first go around. Those that do not, they come into heat in 28 days later and again in another 28 days if the first two cycles did not work. That is why you see fawns of varying sizes throughout the spring and summer. It is said that even does born this year get bred during this last cycle of the rut. 

By the end of January Jim and Harry are tired, exhausted and satisfied, knowing they did a good job passing on their superior genetics. Steve and Dino are left frustrated, but hopeful that next year will be their year!

That pretty much sums up the rut put into layman's language. I hope that helped. 

Throughout the late summer and early fall I put out cameras trying to pattern the bucks. Where they are during certain times of the day, where they frequent with the hopes of an encounter during hunting season. But, I am afraid that this is more likely what is happening....

I have had plenty of opportunities to harvest a Dino or a Steve, but they are scrawny, inferior and just enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. The older I get the less important the actual harvest gets. I just enjoy being out there. Although now that it is getting chillier the enjoyment level is diminishing. I don't know if those are the words of an aging man, or of a man who has failed to get his deer. 

I worry about the deer and all the woodland creatures this time of year. Freezing temperatures have frozen all the ponds and water tanks. I do not know where they get water. The morning dew perhaps? It has to be a hard time of the year. I see them at the water tanks licking the ice, I suppose that is something. 

But being Thanksgiving week, I have spent week reflecting on Thanksgivings past. Since retiring and hitting the road in 2014, we have continued to spend Thanksgivings with family and friends; Salt Lake City with the kids, Zion National Park, again with the kids and one of my all-time favorites, Pennsylvania and even a Cabela's parking lot. 

2014

The last few have been here in South Dakota with both friends and family.

2023

2024

  This year was no differerent when we spent the holiday with our good friends Bob and DeAnne! 

They arrived late Wednesday afternoon driving through snow and cold to get here. We spent the next two days catching up, watching football, working on a couple of projects and eating, oh the eating, between the appetizers and the main course I think we ate from 1:30-4:30 straight!    So full.....

Zoey was so tired that she crashed in front of the fireplace while the rest of us crashed on the couch. 

Bob and I worked on the windmill, adding a couple of tension wires to keep it upright and taunt. This has been on my list since installing it a couple of year ago. 

They also brought be a fuel tank from the farm. They have replaced their existing fuel tanks with newer larger ones. This one will be perfect for us as we are 20 minutes from the nearest fuel station. 

Thanksgiving also happened to fall on our daughter-in-law's birthday this year. Happy birthday Somer! This picture is from last year, love how the exit sign is framed on top of her head like a little crown!

So much to be thankful for, hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Taking Things for Granted

 I read another power outage post this week that prompted this one. We had a power outage last week, not too long, a couple of hours. Before I go any further, I want you to guess what caused the power outage and tell me your guess in the comments. No cheating as I will reveal the real culprit later in this post. Some in our area were affected a lot longer. Over 100,000 customers in four states were affected; western South Dakota, Eastern Wyoming and even parts of Montana and Idaho. 

The surge was so great that it popped the majority of the breakers in each and every one of those homes. Entire towns (including Custer) were without power; traffic lights, businesses, restaurants, all dead. Fires broke out throughout the outage area as a result of the surge. Many businesses were down for up to two days as IT experts rebooted and made repairs. We had over 9 breakers pop, including the hot tub, which we did not discover until we stepped in it later that night. 

The outage made me think of things we take for granted. You hit a light switch you really take it for granted that a light will turn on. You turn a faucet on; you expect water to come out. 

So, what caused the outage? Many of you that live in the area already know the answer. It started with the wind which was blowing upwards of 70mph. This wind started blowing tumble weeds, of which we have a lot of. One small tumble week rolls across the landscape and hits another tumbleweed. They become entangled and become a bigger tumbleweed..... until...you have mass of tumbleweeds bigger than a house that blows into a power substation and "Boom!", it shorts everything out for miles around. 

The resulting clog caused the system to trip offline, triggering a cascading failure across multiple connected grids. Crews spent hours attempting to reach the station, with one lineman reporting that visibility was “zero, like driving through a hay bale hurricane.” The pile was estimated to be “somewhere between 14 and 20 tons”

It really makes you realize how vulnerable we are. A coordinated attack on substations could bring the nation to a standstill for days. 

Two big milestones this week! One for Barb and one for me. Barb's was getting the flooring done in the camper! She finally laid the last piece of flooring on Friday of this week when she put the bullnose on the edging of the slideout. 

For my part, on Thursday, I finally put up the last full piece of steel siding on the garage! Going from this.....

To this....

We are both elated to have these portions of the projects behind us. There is still a lot to do on both. (Namely trim on both)

I helped Kevin one day this week with another concrete pour at Sam's house in Rapid City. If you recall, Sam's house looked like this in late October.

Now it looks like this.....

We were pouring the porch in the back of the house on this day. 10x50, a pretty easy pour and all went well. 

Did I mention that Sam is just 22 years old and building his first house? 

Deer hunting is going well, continuing to see lots of deer, but not the one I have my sights (literally) set on. I am seeing him on camera, but our cat and mouse came continues. In the meantime, here are a few of the beautiful animals I am seeing. 

This guy was carrying a branch attached to his antlers!

Next week is Thanksgiving! We have some very special guests arriving and staying for a few days!

Reincarnation

The other day Barb and I got up early and drove to Rapid City. Of course, we had to stop by the donut store. After getting our donuts as we were driving away, I had an epiphany. I turned to Barb and told her how in my next life, if I get reincarnated as a human, I was going to marry a woman who works in a bakery. 

She looked at me like with a look at was a cross of wanting to murder me in my sleep and mild curiosity.  I went on to explain that people who work in donut shops are often cheerful and friendly. Which is saying a lot given it was 6am. I went on to explain that they must have a strong work ethic as they get up in the wee hours of the morning to make the donuts and this store was only open from 5am-11am which means they probably have another job they work later in the day. Lastly, and maybe the biggest bonus of them all, is they she could bring home the leftover donuts! Genius I tell you!

 But I already have my donut girl. Although she does not and has not worked in such a place, she is more often than not, cheerful in the morning and a very hard worker. Sometimes annoyingly so! This is the best way I can describe it....this is Barb coming down the hallway each morning as I sit in the living room. Sometimes it is just too much for my waking brain. 

I got out deer hunting a few times, but a nagging cough has put a damper on the deer sightings. At the early stages of cold I thought I could "man up" and power through the symptoms and would go out to the blind. Soon I was fighting the uncontrollable urge to cough. After trying to suppress it, I would eventually start coughing and scare everything; deer, turkeys, squirrels, birds, everything would vanish. After two failed outings, I decided it was best I not go out at all until I felt better.  It ended up lasting 5 days. 

The last time I got out though I saw Hopalong! The video is not very good as I took it with my phone, but it is clear enough that you get the general idea of how she gets around. It starts out with her hopping down the hill towards the water tank. As you will see, the bucks are really chasing the does as the breeding season is in full swing! She eventually makes her way to the water tank where two deer are staring at her like they don't know what is going on. 

After getting a drink of water, she starts working her way up hill feeding along the way. She is not one-legged as I originally thought, the leg is there, just not functional. The video ends with two bucks sparring. The scene reminded me of the scene from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer where poor Rudy was sparring with a friend and his nose fell off changing his life forever. 

Here is the ethical questions I have been battling.... Do I put Hopalong out of her misery or leave her alone and let nature take its course? She will not be able to get around with any measurable snowfall meaning she will probably starve or freeze to death in the next few weeks. On the other hand, she seems to have adapted and is getting around just fine for now. I have already made my decision, but what would you do?

Did ya'll see the Northern Lights this week? I say "ya'll" as from what I heard they were seen pretty far south. They were incredible up here! 

Not a lot of progress to show you on the camper or garage. Mostly electrical on the garage. While it is a huge accomplishment, it is not really picture-worthy. The camper is kind of the same. Barb squirreled again. You know how she was going to replace the carpet under the dinette where Dakota sleeps? That plan has now changed. It is going to be vinyl planking instead of carpet. Makes sense as with the dog it will be a lot easier to keep clean. Tedious work as many of the pieces are custom fit. No picture yet, maybe next week when it is further along.

I worked with Kevin for three days. His regular helper is out of town for a few weeks, so I jumped into help. The first house we worked on involved taking down the siding and putting up a faux stone wall. 

Pretty easy work and since the "rocks" are in 2'x3' sheets. 

We also worked on another house where the owner had issues with their sewer line freezing up last yet. Keven rented a backhoe and we set out to dig up the line. Not nearly as much fun as putting up the stone. This was a bit more work and a lot more digging. Once we had the entire 150' of the pipe exposed we quickly saw the problem. First there were 3 spots where the pipe had holes in it. We spliced in new pieces for those. Then there was a 20' section of the run that went uphill. And we all know that Sh#% does not run up hill. So we lifted the pipe, got out the laser level made sure it was all sloped downhill and re-bedded it. Lastly, we laid 4x8 sheets of 2" foam along the whole length of the pipe and reburied it. If all of that doesn't keep it from freezing, nothing will!

Meanwhile in Tennessee, granddaughter Lily has joined a local soccer team where is kicking some butt!

For those of you wondering, I am going to let nature take its course with Hopalong. She's a fighter, if things get worse, I may change my mind, but for now, she seems to be getting around just fine. Who knows maybe this one good deed will guarantee that I am reincarnated as an eagle or a spoiled French Bulldog! But, with my luck, I will probably come back as a stink bug or a dung beetle. 

Woah! I just noticed, the blog went over 2,000,000 views this week! It took 10 years for us to reach 1,000,000. That was in August of 2023. The next million only took 15 months! If only I got $1/view, hell $0.01 would have been a windfall. Alas, though I am dollarless and penniless, but happy share our adventures anyone willing to read them!