North Dakota Critters

 Every spring I try to do at least one post highlighting all the critters in the area. And when I say "all", I usually just mean the waterfowl and upland birds in the area with the occasional deer and moose smattered in there. The pictures in this post are all pictures I took in the last couple days. 

So far this year, I have only seen a handful of deer and no moose at all so I do not know if this year's post will include any of either. What it will include is birds, lots of birds. Ty was asking me about a particular waterfowl the other day that had a black head and chest, white sides and a grey back. I told him that it sounded like a male scaup. 

Scaup

In total Cliff Clavin fashion, I went on to tell him that it is also called a bluebill because it, well, has a blue bill. He said they were really beautiful. Continuing on, I explained to him that the male species of many animals is much more beautiful or colorful this time of year than the females of that species as the males need to look their best to attract females for mating. He looked at me in wonderment of my vast knowledge of all things duck. I told him that this phenomenon is just not limited to ducks, that it also carried over to the human species. "I mean look at you and me", I told him, "It is spring, and even though I am 60 something and you are 20 something, we are so much more beautiful than the female gender as we stand here in our spring plumage". The look of wonderment was quickly replaced by one of confusion as he went about his business muttering something about a senile old man. 

Canvasback

Mallard

Pintail

Okay, while that may be true for many bird species, it is certainly not true for humans. The male humans never were, nor ever will be as attractive as females. It got me to thinking what species of animals or birds it is difficult or near impossible to tell the difference between the sexes of them by just looking at them. Most, you can certainly tell the difference between a male and female. 

Blue wing teal

North American Shoveler aka Spoonbill

Redheads

While these birds are beautiful the most beautiful one to me is the ringneck pheasant. The translucent nature and colors of this bird is just incredible. If you ever seen one, you know what I mean, if you have ever held one in your hand, you really know what I mean. 

Their colorfulness is a sharp contrast compared to the female of this species and the mottled coloring designed only to camouflage them while they nest. I bet you did not even see the hen in the upper right-hand corner of the first pheasant picture above. I was taking pictures of a rooster in a field when I noticed three hens standing in the stubble just a few feet from me, you would never know they were there they blended in so well. 

The only ones that I hunt that it near impossible to tell the difference in gender that came to mind is geese, ruffed grouse and doves. I can tell the difference in grouse once in hand, but it is almost impossible to tell on the fly. You have to spread their tail feathers and look at the two in the middle to tell for sure. I do not know if there is a way to tell on dove or geese once in hand. What other species can you think of where it is difficult or near impossible to tell the difference between genders?

How about bees? That is actually an easy one. All the bees but one in the hive are males. All working to please one queen. Story of my life...

Another one that is hard to tell when not in hand is the Hungarian Partridge. Also hard to photograph as they are hard to see and very nervous birds. I did manage to get a decent shot of these two as they flew away as I was getting ready to take pictures of them on the ground. 

Maybe gull? I have never really studied gulls enough to know if there is a difference. I am guessing there is. Speaking of gulls, they sure love following behind the air seeder. Constantly circling Chris as he goes down the field then landing and cobbling up whatever morsels he uncovers. 

This of course makes everything a mess as they use the air seeder as bombing practice as they fly over. I asked my friend Merlin what kind of gulls were there and this is what he told me....

We have moved on from wheat here at the farm having gotten all that in the ground. We even started and finished peas with only three fields planted in this legume. That was another word that I did not know prior to helping out up here. Legume or a leguminous plant is part of the pea family. Farmer Bob actually serves on the boards of the North Dakota Dry Pea & Lentil Council as well as the state and national USA Pulse boards. Suffice to say Farmer Bob knows his Legumes. 

Peas, of course means rolling, probably my favorite job of the springtime work. I do not know if it is the actual act of rolling, or the fact that I am just sitting in a tractor for hours and not walking a field picking up sticks or rolling up fences. Both rather physical endeavors. 

I think it is a little bit of both. I just love sitting in a tractor going across the field at about 12mph, lost in my own thoughts while watching the world go by pushing all those nasty rocks just below the surface so they are not in the way for harvesting. 

After peas, it was on to durum. Durum is a variety of wheat used primarily for pasta. Only one field of that, 100 acres or so. 

So, that is where we stand right now, maybe a little over halfway done with planting, just two crops left: canola and chickpeas. We really need the soil temps to increase a bit before we get those in the ground. It is supposed to be 70, or near 70 the next day or two so we are hoping they increase quickly so we do not have any down days. 

In addition to the usual duties of loading the seeder we carried on with numerous other tasks. And yes, there was more fence to be rolled up this week. Whenever we find ourselves in a lull with a free hour or two that is our "go to" duty. 

Bob S and I even spent an hour or so cleaning and sweeping the quonset whose concrete probably has not seen the light of day in over a decade. 

Ty and I spent an hour cleaning up spilled grain from all the filling going on in the yard. 

Notice in both of those pictures I am in the skidsteer and they are shoveling. While I did do some shoveling, my back can only take so much. What I can take is removing stumps. Remember those trees I took down last week? Now it was time to get rid of the stumps. Between the payloader and the skidsteer, I managed to get rid of them. 

By far, the funniest part of the week was Bob S and I helping Farmer burn a couple of sloughs. And when I say sloughs, I mean big sloughs, probably 20 acres or so. Why, you ask? To try and recover some of the farm ground that has been overtaken by the wetland in the past few years. There is a cycle to the dry and wet years up here, right now we are in a dry cycle which means many of the sloughs are either dry or much lower than previous years so they try to recover some of this ground for seeding. The first step is burning off all the cattails. Well, the first step is actually plowing a fire break around the sloughs then burning them but Farmer Bob had already done that part. Now, it was time to light the fire!

We start on the downwind side to create a back burn so there is less chance that the fire jumps the firebreak and gets into the field. Then Bob S went around the slough with the Ranger lighting the cattails along the way. 

You better hope that you did everything right as once this thing starts there is no stopping it!

There was only one intense moment where the fire tried to sneak into an area where it was not supposed to go, but we had rakes and water extinguishers ready and got it back on track relatively quickly. 

Overall, it went great and was over in about 3 hours recovering probably 20 acres of ground from the cattails. 

That was my week in a nutshell. Overall a very good week, I am fully recovered from last week's illness, but the virus claimed on more victim when Bob S's wife, Sue came up for a few days. Yup, three days later she came down with "the sickness". 

Meanwhile, back in South Dakota, all the snow is gone again and Barb has been busy working on one thing or another. Her big project of the week was building a rolling table for her workshop. She sent me progress pictures throughout the week. 

7 days left, it doesn't look good for us to get done before my departure, but we are certainly going to try!

This Sucks!

 When I first thought of coming up to the farm, I envisioned warm weather, laughs, hard work and comradery with the boys.  What I did not envision was me spending a 24-hour period running between my bed and the bathroom puking my guts out with the worst case of whatever the hell this is known to man. 

It sucked. Cold, fever, chills, nausea, fatigue, I could go on, AND, I had to do it.... a l l   b y   m y s e l f. I will tell you right now, I do not think any single man has ever been sicker than what I went through this week. Nope, not a single one. I guess this sickness started on the farm about two weeks ago sporadically selecting victims from household to household. It did not even spare baby Tessa who is now an adorable 20 months old. Everyone thought it had run its course...until Bob S and I showed up. It hit him first; he was out for 24 hours. Two days later it hit me. Did I mention it sucked? Lesser men would not have survived, but I powered through and now I am back in the workforce while this sickness lies in wait looking for its next victim. 

But we did get a lot done this week. We have somewhere around 2,000 acres of wheat in the ground. They start with wheat as it is the most weather tolerable and can stand being in cold, wet soil without molding. We all have our individual jobs; Dylan pretty much runs the seed plant, preparing the seed for not only farm uses but for dozens of other farmers in the area. Mine is to fill and deliver the fertilizer trucks to the field. Actually, Ty and I both do this depending on what the other is doing. Bob S keeps everything cleaned and organized around the farm while Farmer Bob is usually running for parts to Minot when something breaks down or is in a tractor preparing a field for planting. Chris, of course is in the seeder. 

We all have other jobs too, like fixing things and cleaning up tree rows. And tree rows were the main focus for Bob S and I for at least two full days this week. The blasted North Dakota winds are constantly knocking branches into the fields creating havoc for the seeder so we would go up and down every tree row picking up branches or fully fallen trees. We even took out one full tree row. That was fun! 

I was in the payloader, Bob was in the skidsteer. Most of the trees had been long dead in this row and it was time for it to go. Here I am getting ready to attack the tree row in front of me. 

6 hours later......

We also moved a bin out of a field. It had been unused and in the way for years and it was time fit it to go. We cut all the tie-downs put a strap around it and I dragged/drug it to a slough where it will rest until we have time to move it again. 

Bob and I also took out several fence rows. Fences are a thing of the past in the kind of farming they do now. No livestock to deal with and they just get in the way.  We have probably taken out a couple miles of wire so far. The wire roller makes quick work of it though. It is so weird to think that what took someone weeks to erect several decades ago, we are ripping out in a matter of hours. 

Mishaps for the week include two people getting stuck. Farmer Bob was first when he was mowing around a slough and hit some soft ground. 

Then it was Bob S's turn in the skidsteer while moving a big rock. Funny, I had just mentioned to Bob that morning that he had not gotten stuck yet and whalla! You will notice two things in the picture, actually three. One, he is stuck. Two, the big rock on the ground in front of him and three, the special wave he is giving me with his right hand when he saw me pull out my camera. It really a gesture of endearment here on the farm. 

The weather here this week has been crazy. We have seen 80's and we have seen 20's. We have seen low winds and winds sustained in the 30mph range. One afternoon when it was 80 I thought it was the perfect time to go up and finish caulking around the vent and skylight on the camper roof so I got my caulk and a caulk gun from the shop and went up on the camper roof. Low and behold, what do I see? My caulk gun! It had traveled over 8 hours up there!

The weather at home was even crazier. Again, with highs in the 80's to be followed two days later with this.....If you look closely, you can see Zoe Belle in one of the pictures. 

No complaints though, we need the moisture and we will take it any way we can get it!

Barb has been busy doing Barb things. She is having a garage sale while I am gone and is getting everything ready. She has been out in the woods with her chainsaw limbing up trees and out in her workshop doing who knows what. I guess I will find out when I get home!

Last, but certainly not least, today is DeAnne's birthday. Happy Birthday DeAnne!

Its' Time!

 Time for what you ask? Here's your clue... I am no longer at home. And before you get too carried away with your guesses, no, Barb did not kick me out of the house!

While you ponder on your guesses I have lots of other things to talk about. Like our son Forrest who has been on the road the past several years with his wife Somer and daughter Lily. Well, they have bought a house and are settling down! They bought a house in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Someplace we have never been, but will be in the future!

Somer has a job at a hospital in the area and Forrest got a job with an electrical company. Lily is now playing soccer locally in the area, a co-ed team. In fact, here is a video of a goal she got last weekend!

Since Dino and Lisa left, we have been busy working on projects again. The first was to carry on with the skylight and vent projects in the camper. Barb had removed all the caulk, now it was my turn to take the skylight and vent out and put in the new ones. The vent was pretty straight forward and I was done with that in about an hour. The skylight was another matter as we could not find one to fit the size of the opening of the old one. As a result, I had to fur out the opening to accommodate the smaller size of the new one. Probably about a 2-hour project. We still have to caulk it in, but for the most part we can cross that project off the list. 

In other news, the robins and gold finches have returned! No meadow larks yet, but I am sure they are not far behind. Here is your quiz for the day, how many gold finches do you think are in this picture? Answer later in this post. 

Did you count this gold finches? I got 25 which I have circled in red. I may have missed one or two though. Man, these guys are hungry. They eat a full birder feeders worth of sunflower seeds every day! No kidding, we have been filling it up every day. The red feeder in the middle they do not touch. 

I also got down to the windmill and put a cover over half of the smaller waterer protecting the float from the deer. As soon as I was done the birds started using it!

Speaking of birds, we had a little excitement last week when I heard a sound coming from our fireplace. Well, Zoey heard it first, but when I investigated, I saw a bird looking back at me through the glass. A blackbird. A very small blackbird. I went and got two fishing nets, held them around the door and slowly opened it. This bird did not even try to fly to escape, it just walked into the net like it knew I was there to help it. I then gently picked it up to see that it was not a blackbird at all, it was a bluebird covered in soot. I opened the door, opened my hand and it flew away. A good feeling knowing that bluebirds area always in pairs and it would soon be reunited with its mate. 

Before I knew it, it was time. Time to load up the camper and head to North Dakota for spring planting. 8 hours later I was there and in no time I was in another vehicle heading to supper with Farmer Bob and DeAnne (thanks Bob!). It was great to see them and catch up.

The next day I jumped right into it. We did not get into the field planting that day, in fact, we have not planted since I have been here. But that does not mean there is not something to do. There is always things to do, like replace some hoses on the seeder. 

Replace the fuel filters on the fuel tanks. 

Clean bins, this view is of the inside of the grain bin. 

Fuel trucks

The list really never ends. That was my first day and I actually got my, "I broke something moment" out of the way in the first few hours when I was moving some pallets from under the sprayer and clipped the water separator on the bottom of the fuel filter. Snapped that baby clean off and a drizzle of diesel fuel started to hit the floor. I got a bucket under it quickly and got the fuel shut off. That is actually on my list for today. Replace that part. Nothing like creating your own work to keep yourself busy!

Day 2 was cold and windy. Ty and Dylan took both of the semi's to a not so local seed dealer to pick up some seed. 

I opted to bundle up and hit some tree rows cutting down trees where they are encroaching on daily operations. 11 or 12 trees, 3 different fields, I would cut them down, grab them with the grapple bucket and carry them to a field edge where they will be out of the way.  

When the boys got back from with the semi's we put that seed into a bin. 

Chris's dad, (Bob S) arrived Friday evening just in time for a quick happy hour!

That night we got together for a game of poker. Probably the only opportunity we will get as once we are in the field seeding, we will be busy from sunrise to well into the night; 10, 11, 12:00 at night putting seed into the ground as quickly as we can. 

Farmer Bob, in addition to his other activities, has been driving bus both morning and night filling in for another driver who is out right now. DeAnne has her class B as well and fills in now and again too. Holly has kept me well fed with suppers and DeAnne was nice enough to mend some coveralls that I ripped opens when the chainsaw jumped and caught an edge of my pants. It is really a team effort with no one role taken for granted. We all get along really well which is really a blessing. 

With warmer weather forecasted in the next few days we loaded up the trucks with fertilizer and seed and transferred them over to the seeder. 

It's about to get busy. It's time!