Category Archives: Nature

An unwelcomed visitor

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Yesterday, there was a visitor on our farm. In fact, she was still here this morning, but I’m hoping she’s on her way by now. I haven’t seen her this afternoon, so either she’s moved on…or something.

It always starts with one...

It always starts with one…

Yesterday morning, my husband woke me up and asked me to look out by the calf shelter. At first I didn’t catch what he was seeing, but then a movement caught my eye. My first thought? “Oh no! Not again!” But then I was relieved to see only one…not a herd.

What in the world could I be talking about? Deer. Or in this instance, one deer. But it never stops at one.

This deer hardly even flinched when I moved up to the fence to snap this picture.

This deer hardly even flinched when I moved up to the fence to snap this picture.

Why does this one deer have me concerned? Where do I start…

1) Deer are wild creatures. They are not a domestic animal and should be afraid of humans. This deer is not. And it only moved when I was extremely close…but it never left the area. In fact, it only moved over to the next cattle-holding area.

Yes, that is a feed bunk for the cows that have just calved.

Yes, that is a feed bunk for the cows that have just calved.

2) Sick? The fact that this deer isn’t exhibiting normal deer behavior sets of warning bells in my head that something is physically wrong with it. And this deer is too close to our calves for comfort.

Just to show how close this deer is to our cattle.

Just to show how close this deer is to our cattle.

3) In my experience, deer are like mice. If you see one, there’s hundreds near by…and I don’t want a repeat of two years ago. Ever. The death and destruction was sickening. And those that are supposed to provide assistance did not.

So today I keep an eye out for our unwelcomed visitor. And if it shows signs of obvious illness or distress I will be quick to call the proper authorities to come take care of it. I’m just hoping it runs off, and doesn’t return with a few hundred of its closest friends and relatives.

Winter storm Orko

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Mother Nature has once again given us a strong reminder about who is in control…not that I ever questioned it for a minute. Winter storm Orko arrived in full force today, bringing with it about 10 inches of snow and 40 mph winds – white-out conditions.

Unfortunately, our heifers are due to have their first calves any day now, so that means that we don’t get a chance to hunker in for the storm, we must keep an eye on our livestock.

The cows stay where it's protected during the storm. Their instincts help keep them safe...usually.

The cows stay where it’s protected during the storm. Their instincts help keep them safe…usually.

Today Boss Man spent a lot of time pushing snow. Although heavy snow fall is a pain, it can be useful as well. With our loader tractor, he can push the snow up into big piles, creating natural windbreaks for our cattle. As long as it’s here, we might as well put it to use!

Boss Man making a windbreak with the snow.

Boss Man making a windbreak with the snow.

I was hoping to earn some Val’s Day (my nickname for Valentine’s Day…catchy, isn’t it?) bonus points by letting Boss Man catch a few extra zzzz’s while I took the first night check for our heifers. (We check them every two hours, to do our best to make sure that the calves are born in the barn – or at least brought to the barn as soon as possible, to keep them from getting chilled.)

My mistake? Thinking I was going to make a quick trip down to the calving lot and not suiting up properly. Instead of coveralls and the whole get-up (fashion plays little in calving), I just slipped on my Bogs, my jacket, hat, scarf and gloves. It wasn’t too bad, until I started fighting thigh-high drifts.

Even then, it wasn’t terrible…except when I started losing my balance in the wind and snow. Then I was working so hard trudging through the snow that I was melting the snow stuck to my yoga pants, soaking me clear through. I was chilled to the bone! A colossally stupid move on my part. Really.

I’m guessing I’ll sleep like a baby tonight, but may have a sore muscle or two tomorrow. Anyone looking for a great cardio routine? I think I found one!

Farmer Friday – Planting Wheat

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With the way he left the house this morning, you would think that Boss Man was six weeks behind in field work, but the truth is, things are pretty far ahead of schedule. But as the saying goes, “Make hay when the sun shines.”

So on this Good Friday, as I keep a close eye on George, Boss Man is out seeding wheat. After a quick repair this morning, he’s back at it again…check it out:

Repairs - sometimes it seems like a never-ending job, but Boss Man fixed this up lickety-split!

On his way again! The wind was a bit of a challenge this morning.

It's amazing to see where technology has taken us!

In a day where corn and soybeans seem to be king in this area, we still find wheat a very important crop in our rotation. Not only does it make improvements to our overall soil health, but the straw is an important part of our cattle operation. We use it as bedding for our calf area and in our barn during calving.

All safe and warm inside, no matter what's going on outside, thanks in part to the wheat straw used for bedding!

Up close and personal, that's wheat being seeded!

Now that planting (or seeding, as it may be) has begun, it’s Mother Nature’s turn to do her stuff. The next few weeks and months will be determined by the amount of rain we receive, when we receive it and what other weather patterns we encounter.

On this Good Friday, as so many reflect and express their faith, I still feel that a farmer’s faith is some of the strongest faith you will find.

Blessings to you today. And a Happy Easter to all!

March madness…North Dakota version

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No, our March madness has nothing to do with basketball, and I’m talking brackets of a different kind…this March is madness with peewee wrestling and spring weather. And it added up to spending an afternoon digging out some water pipes.

Let’s start off with Saturday morning and early afternoon. Scooter participated in our local peewee wrestling tournament and managed to come home with a first-place medal.

The weather was so unseasonably warm, that I decided we should finish a project we had started earlier in the week. Our aging pipes had sprung a leak, which lead to a continually green patch of grass in our yard all winter. But as it was warming up, that green patch had turned to mush. We needed to work on a fix…and 70-80 degree temps in North Dakota in March is a great reason to spend some time outside, even if it is to dig a hole.

So, if we’re fixing a water pipe, one would think that you would call a local backhoe and have it done in a jiffy, right? That’s not the way we roll around here. Instead, Boss Man gave a few directions, gave us a rough outline of size, and away we went.

Me and my little sister, just digging a hole.

Yep, my little sister and I became excavators and dug out the hole that will be needed to fix our water leak. And I have to say, I’m happy with the work we did, and enjoyed spending the hour or so outside in the beautiful weather.

And today (Sunday), the weather has continued on its beautiful streak, cracking the 80 degree mark. Let’s just hope our temps stay above freezing, because all of those beautiful buds and new plants will be a hard loss to take.

Our rhubarb is up...and it's March.

By tomorrow evening, I'm guessing we'll have full-fledged leaves on our lilacs. These buds are busting at the seams!

Hunt My Meat Monday – Success!

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That’s right, after a few failed attempts this week, I managed to finally bring down my deer. In fact, as I type this, my dear is at a local butcher shop, being turned into pepper sticks and dried venison (and I’ll have a recipe for that at a later date). I can’t WAIT!

But, the story on how I got my deer is an entertaining one…and since I happen to like to entertain you, my reader, I will share my story with you:

It all started Sunday morning, as I woke up to the promise of another beautiful day on the prairie (seriously, 50 degrees on the prairie…in North Dakota…in November?!? Pinch me, I’m dreaming!)

A friend of my husband called and said that there were some deer west of our house a bit. I drove a mile west, saw the deer he was referring to, walked a half-mile in, shot three times, missed, and walked the rest of the way home. Great way to get a mile walk in, but not a successful hunt. It was now almost 9 a.m., I had to get myself and four boys ready to greet at church at 9:35, plus have the refreshments ready for the Fellowship Time following church. But I wasn’t in a hurry. 😉

We made it through church (did I mention that we were also Sunday morning greeters/ushers for church?), made it through the snack preparation for after church, made it through Sunday School (did I mention that I was asked to sub for a Sunday School teacher that was sick?) and then headed home. I had a long, busy day already, and it was barely noon.

As we pull up to the grocery store to pick up some milk (we go through milk like CRAZY!), my little sister called, telling me that there was a buck just west of the farm. I’ve been down this road already…in fact, I had walked that mile already that day! But she was insistent that I hurry out and see if I could shoot him. And so we hurried home, I grabbed my orange sweatshirt (state law to wear blaze orange while deer hunting during gun season), grabbed my gun and headed back west again.

As I got out of the suburban to cross the fence and head out into the field, it dawned on me that my attire was not the best suited for hunting excursions. This is what I was wearing:

My version of hunting...with style.

 

 

Yes, I am wearing a green cowl-neck sweater dress, complete with brown leggings and knee-high dress boots. I was a fashionable hunter as I crossed the field, even kneeling to use my scope to spot my target. The buck got up, I shot once and missed. I reloaded and shot a second time. I didn’t miss that time. The buck did a summersault and was down. I had filled my tag.

Now, to be clear, I hunt for food and to protect our crops and livestock. I am not a trophy hunter (although I don’t mind having a mount on my wall), and have no desire to spend days on end tracking my deer. I prefer I shoot them, they die, we take care of them and they’re in our freezer. Simple as that.

When we checked on my quarry, it became apparent that the meat on this deer was safe, as I had shot the buck in the head, eliminating on side of its rack. A pretty crazy shot from where we were, but the animal was dead, which was the point I was going for! (Sometimes, when an animal is shot in the body, it can ruin large portions of the meat. Had this been a trophy deer, my shot would have been a sad deal, but since this buck was nice, but definitely nothing special, my shot was in a great place…causing no damage to any edible part of the deer.)

The guy walking with me started to field dress my deer (take all the insides out), and I quickly told him that I could finish the job. I knew I wasn’t wearing appropriate clothing, but I’m perfectly capable of dressing out my deer. Any errors in judgment that I had in my dress code were my mistakes, not something he had to make up for! But he graciously insisted that he could finish the job, and actually enjoyed this part of the hunt! (And he did a great job!)

Here I am, with my buck (complete with my fan-tab-ulous outfit!

Not exactly what I "planned" to wear when hunting, but it works!

 

 

When my Dad and I took my deer to the local butcher shop to be processed, he commented on my unique attire. I guaranteed him that although I was dressed in truly my Sunday’s best, I had no qualms about helping unload the deer. I’m guessing it was a fresh change from some of the guys he sees! 🙂

I don’t have a recipe to share with you today…I’m too tired and and little run down from the craziness of today! But if you go over to my friend Katie’s blog, she has an awesome pheasant recipe (that I happened to supply her with!) and I’m linking up some past venison recipes she has shared…go ahead, check them out!

Just Left of Norm

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Yes, I’m a tad bit on the crazy side. I admit it. As I stated in the title, you’d probably consider me just left of normal…well, actually right, depending on the day. But I love to have fun, I love to laugh and I love those around me.

And I’m very impressionable. As in, you can make a suggestion to me, and for some reason my mind believes that things MUST be that way. For example…tell me there’s a man outside my window at night. I become freaked, hear the strangest of sounds and am ready to call 9-1-1 at a moment’s notice. My friends in school used to get a real kick out of it. Scary movies were really entertaining, because I couldn’t sit still, would scream and then wouldn’t sleep for weeks. Fun stuff.

What difference does all this make? Well, it’s moved with me into adulthood. And this time, it’s kinda funny.

You see, on Halloween Scooter was responsible for apples for his school reading party. As I was cutting the apples up Monday morning (and dipping them in lemon juice, so they wouldn’t turn brown before the party that afternoon), a spider dropped out of the bag onto my hand. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed. But since these weren’t local apples, I caught the spider so that my boys could study it. (I’m such a good mom, right?)

Well, I’m also active in social media, so I posted it on Facebook…where a good friend made this comment:

 

Of course, I immediately thought of my grandmother. She’s been gone more than a year, and I still miss her so much every day. Not only that, but she would have celebrated her 91st birthday just a few days before, so I was content that the spider was her, telling me she loves me, supports me and misses me too.

So I kept the spider in the jar, talked to it, watched it…even fed it a few flies. I figured a day or two, the spider would die and all would be well.

Here we are, more than a week later, and this spider is still alive. And now I can’t kill it. I’ve tried. I want to, really I do…but…well…I can’t. I even asked Mark to kill it last night, while I was sleeping. He said no.

Any thoughts on how long a spider will live? Any volunteers to spider-sit when we’re gone? (And I believe Christy should be the first to volunteer.)

Hunt My Meat Monday

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I know, I’m funny, right? Normally I participate in Hunk of Meat Monday with Beyer Beware…but today, I don’t have any meat to make, because my hunt was unsuccessful this weekend. Oh well, I have two more weekends to work some magic.

But I want to share my hunting story, because I think you will enjoy it!

Things I need for my hunt: blaze orange, gratis tag, shells, clip, pelvis saw.

Deer season opened at noon on Friday. The boys and I drove around a bit, but didn’t really do much for hunting. Saturday morning, bright and early, I walked the trees behind our house with some friends. Then we walked more trees and then we walked some more. (By the way, did you know that hunting is GREAT exercise?)

We saw a few deer, but I never did shoot. Not sure why. Hmmm…better get over that!

Anyway, Saturday afternoon, my little sister and I decided to walk another set of trees. It wasn’t a great day for hunting, it was cool and the wind was blowing 40+ mph. After we walked the trees, we thought maybe walking the slough next to the trees would be a good idea. The chances of having the deer laying in the weeds were pretty good with the wind the way it was. And so Amy decided to take the south side of the slough…and I took the north.

What I did not realize is that the slough extended for most of the quarter of land. And in order for me to cross the slough, to get back to the road where the vehicle was parked, I needed to either A) walk for about a half-mile north before heading east again, or B) get my shoes a little wet. I decided to go with B…looking back on it, I should have hoofed it farther.

Anyway, I was walking along, crossing the slough where it looked the driest and the most narrow. But you know about looks, right? They can be deceiving.

About 10 yards from solid ground, the ground went from squishy to ankle deep water to over knee deep. I was up to my butt in slough water and no where to go but forward. I closed my eyes, prayed I kept my shoes on and forged on…not thinking about what things I may be stepping on, in, etc. My sister was laughing so hard that she could hardly stand!

I finally made it through and out the other side. Shoes still on, clothes soaked, gun dry, mentally smacking myself for not walking the extra bit. Did I mention it was cool? And windy?

The slough behind me didn't LOOK that wet...famous last words.

So, we got into the suburban and I suggested since I was already soaked and dirty, we might as well walk something else while we were out. Apparently my stinky slough-water-filled clothes got to my sister though, she insisted we stop by the house for me to change.

My socks after my little swim in a slough. The slough grass is a nice touch, I think.

Maybe next Monday I’ll have a better story…and hopefully a recipe!

Thankful Thursday – North Dakota

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What? I’m thankful for the state I live in? Really? You betcha!

Yesterday North Dakota (and to be fair, South Dakota) celebrated their “birthdays,” or the day that they were signed into the union. And although I complain about the 40 below temps, 100 inches plus of snow and other wonderful issues that come with winter, I truly love my state.

First of all, we have a budget surplus. For those that don’t understand what that means, it means that we take in more money than we spend. Shocking. I know.

Second, we have more jobs than we have people to work. No, this doesn’t mean we have NO unemployed people, but there are definitely employment opportunities that are open, for many, many people. The key would be work ethic, responsibility and eagerness to actually work. It’s part of the reason that while much of the country is slipping backwards, we’re actually looking to the future and planning ahead. Another shocker. I know.

Third, I feel safe where I live. Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t dangerous areas in ND, but right now, we’ve got it pretty good. And if you come in my yard, let me warn you that my two black labs will lick you to death if you’re friendly, but harass us, and they’re on their guard. And I hunt…if you get what I mean.

Our new puppy, Maggie, and our old foster-dog, Junior.

 

 

Fourth, I know my neighbors. Sometimes that’s not such a good thing, but for the most part, I feel blessed to know that if my kids are doing something they shouldn’t be, someone will tell me. It used to drive me nuts as a child, now I dig it.

Speaking of digging. Did I mention snow?

Now THAT's a snow bank!

 

 

Once upon a time, I tried to escape ND. I thought it was a mind-suck and a place that people came to die. I despised it, and everything it stood for. Thanks be to God that those times came and went quickly! I love my rural life, I love my prairie-dwelling companions and I wouldn’t trade it for the world…well, except for maybe a week or two.

Love sundogs and sunsets on the prairie!

 

 

Fall Friday

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Today is definitely a fall day. It’s cool, windy and a great day for hot cocoa…and it reminds me that in a few short weeks, hunting season begins!

For those new to my blog, last spring we had a TERRIBLE problem with deer in our yard. We aren’t sure on the exact number of deer that we were unintentionally feeding/housing, but we do know that about 180 of them died in our yard. Game and Fish estimate that approximately 10% die in a normal year, and every time we called them, they claimed there wasn’t a problem here. So, if 180 dying was 10% of our number of deer, well, you can do the math, right?

Needless to say, these deer are a nuisance and a danger to our cattle herd. And I do what I can to relieve the problem.

This year, we started out early with the special youth season. Two does have already been culled from the large number of deer already hanging around the area. Here’s my niece’s take on her successful hunting experience:

We (my dad, brother and I) were on our way to stake out at my aunt’s house. We were on the road to the south of my aunt’s house, when my dad said, “There are three deer in that field. They’re all does.” So we kept on driving and my dad asked me if I wanted to try to get one of them.
I said, “I don’t know will the farmer let us?” We went and asked the farmer if we could try to get one of the three deer. And being as kind as they were, they said, “Yes.”
I was so excited I was going to get my first deer!!!!!!
I loaded up my gun than headed to the field they were in. When we had walked to where we needed to be my dad went first to check it out and make sure the deer were still there.
Then so we weren’t seen we started crawling on our hands and knees through the cut wheat. We crawled about 75 yds to a haybale and check out if the deer were still there. My dad spoted them after a few minutes and so slowly on our hands and knees crawled forward. After crawling for 200 yds, my dad saw them at 153 yds and so I sighted up and went in for the kill.
I aimed at the first one I saw. I was so excited it was finaly here it was my turn to get a deer and I was ready to shoot my deer. I told my
dad which one I was aiming at and he said, “Whenever you’re ready, fire.”

So at first I was pulling the trigger slowly and then I got impatient and just pulled the trigger. I hit it and I was so excited! I was grinning from ear to ear. My dad told me, “You just barely nicked the shoulder blade nice shot.” And I got the biggest of the three!

My niece's first hunt, and a successful one at that!

And just for those that are wondering, yes, my sister and her husband are an avid hunting family and this doe will go a long way to fill their freezer with great food for the winter months! For those that hunt, but find that their freezer is too full to take all the meat, there is a great program in the state called, “Feeding Families, Meating Needs.” Check it out here!

I hope to be adding my own successful hunting story in just a few short weeks!


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Wind of Change

			
						

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Today has been a windy day on the prairie. And not just a little windy, but Wizard of Oz, there’s-no-place-like-home windy.


It’s been a rough 24 hours for the Wagner boys. First of all, yesterday a gentleman came in the yard to buy hay…and he had a pickup load of dogs (four to be exact). Just before they left, the dogs attacked and killed EJ’s kitty. He handled it pretty well, but the older boys took it pretty hard. *sigh* One of the dangers of farm life, I guess.


Then this morning, we woke up to this:


Uh oh, something doesn't look right here.


 


 


This time, it's not going to be a set-it-up-and-go kinda fix.


 


 


Yep, that's a doozy.


 


 


This horse may have to be put down.


 


 


I’m a little concerned about our garage (you know, the one without doors, thanks to this summers wind storm?), but I guess time will tell. May these winds settle down fast!