Some Farm Success and Motorcycles

We dug up the broken faucet by the barn which has been leaking for over 1 year.  It turned out to be the cast iron elbow just below the frost-free faucet.  I had assumed the freezing weather two winters ago did it, but more likely it is just our acidic soil that rotted it out.  You can see the hole in it.

Tom painted the new one hoping this will slow the corrosion.  It is now in place and not leaking!

Our barn faucet is operational again.  This is so huge!  Running water for the animals again.  We have been having to turn the water to the barn on and off again at the pump house for over a year.  This will be so much easier.

I was dealing with an ant invasion of my tomato starts in the greenhouse.  In this process I found a really cute tree frog living with these starts.  I may have removed his food source though.

The turkey is looking really good.  The pigs are doing well also.

Wally is still being Wally, acting like a dog.

The swallows are back!

 

And I have been seeing herons most days.  This one flew low over me and then landed on the tree top nearby.

As far as motorcycles go, on Sunday we went to the Northwest Motorcycle Classic.  Russ, Thomas, Jay and the grandkids came as well as Tom’s dad.  This is Tom’s booth.

And this is the show.

This is Tom’s motorcycle that he had on display.

This is a gorgeous bike.

This is a bike very similar to mine.

The crew

This is one of William’s two favorite bikes of the show.

Surprisingly, to me, this was not.

Grampa and William discussing motorcycles.

It was a fun show, and we are getting some farming done too.  So win, win.

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Three Pigs and a Turkey

We wanted to get pigs again this year.  Our usual pig supplier did not answer us, and Craigslist had nothing.  So Tom decided to go to the Everson Auction.  He met his dad there.  He wasn’t really expecting to, but there were three little hogs there.

They were described as 11 week old cross breed black pigs.  Here is a photo from the auction site facebook page.

Tom was determined to buy these pigs as we didn’t have any other viable options.  So he outbid the others and won.  Then he called me to load the truck up with three large crates and head to the auction site.

But he also texted me that there was a 1 year old Royal Palm tom turkey there.  Of course, I asked him to buy it.  We haven’t had any more bird losses since we have been diligently closing the barn at night.  So I am hopeful that our turkey problems are resolved.  Here is the photo from the facebook auction site.

He bought this turkey for me too.  Fortunately it came with the crate.

I headed to Everson.  It was a challenge for Tom and I to catch and load the pigs into the crates, especially since our biggest crates were pretty small for these pigs.  They squealed and carried on loudly while the auction was still going on.  Tom’s dad George helped with the gate.  With much effort we moved the crated pigs into the truck. I got a high five from George for my hog catching efforts.  The turkey went into the Honda, and we headed home (slowly due to inexplicable traffic slowing).

He got the pigs home.  They seemed stressed, but once we released them into their new pen they started rooting around.  I got them some water and started making a mud hole for them.

We moved the turkey into the barn, in the pen with the food.  He rather quickly flew out of there and was checking out the peafowl.

The dogs were all excited about the pigs and even Wally was fascinated by them.

Tom wanted to named them Huey, Louie and Dewey.  Here is a picture of them from Wikipedia.  Based on this, I think the largest is Huey, the second largest is Louie and the runt is Dewey.

Tom got them some food, and they are all eating well.

Meanwhile, the turkey found one of our female turkeys and was intrigued.

I am hoping they will all be healthy and happy here.

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Cabin Rebuild #1

We arrived at the Boles Aero Wednesday afternoon to see that the excavation had begun for Dad’s new cabin.  This is to replace his cabin that burnt down in the Snag Canyon fire almost 10 years ago (August 2, 2014).  

Here is “the office” where the cabin’s plans are reviewed.

The view from the Boles.

There was a beautiful sunset,

and we watched Survivor.

On Thursday morning, I did my usual walk around the property, looking at wildflowers.  I cannot help but take photos of them.  But this time, I had the bright idea to use my plant identification app.  So I am going to label the flowers with what the app told me they were.  Please correct me if any are wrong.

Barestem biscuitroot

Baker’s Goldfields

Pretty Shooting Star

Daggerpod

Here is the view with the dogs.

In the middle of the photo, slightly to the left, you can see my shadow.

Ryeleigh got a scent at the top of this cliff.  When she howled it echoed back.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get a video of that.

Carpet phlox

This is the view of Thomas’ hunting cabin.

These are views of Dad’s property line with his on the downhill side.

On the way back, Steve found a pool in a hole left by a fallen burnt tree.

Fernleaf biscuitroot

The excavator was still working as we returned.

 

I thought this was an interesting sight with the dead burnt tree and the majesty of Mount Rainier.

 

Steve didn’t seem to mind the excavator.

Our view from the Boles got even more obscured.  But it is all for the greater good.

Slender phlox

Arrowleaf balsamroot

Wax Currant

Yarrow

Oregon grape

So this is some fresh scat I found.  I was wondering if it was coyote or wolf.  Tom thinks it’s coyote.  We know we have both in the area.

So this is the official portrait after the excavation was done.  It is Dad, Mo, Tom and me with Steve and Ryeleigh in front.  It gives you an idea of the size of it.  It will go on the new cork board once the cabin is built.  The cork boards with photos in the old cabin burnt in the fire, but I did manage to take photos of them beforehand so those 2 photos will go on the new cork board first.

On Friday morning, I took the dogs on a walk again.  We did manage to spook some deer.  Thankfully the dogs were clueless.  We also later flushed some grouse which Ryeleigh really, really wanted to keep chasing.

This is a photo walking back.  Since Dad moved his motorhome to make way for the cabin build, it is more visible on the ridge.

This is the view heading back downhill to the “cabin”.  The views alway amaze me.

I was able to get some knitting done on my sheep tribute scarf.

 

Spring draba

In the afternoon walk, Ryeleigh demonstrated her amazing digging skills going after something.

 

We visited the remains of the old German settlers’ cabin which had also tragically burnt in the Snag Canyon fire.  Not much left.

On the way to the Boles, I had decided to spend my birthday money at Owen’s Meats and get some cuts that we do not get from our butcher.  So we got Filet Mignon, beef short ribs and marinated tri tip roast.  We had these for dinners in this order.  All were amazing. I had to research how to properly cook the latter two, but they turned out quite well.  It was fun.

Last night, I checked out the moon and stars with an app that Mo suggested, SkyView Lite.  It was fun checking out the constellations.

We came home today as Tom has to prepare for the Northwest Motorcycle Classic Show and Swap Meet tomorrow.  We had to leave before the concrete truck arrived today to pour the foundation.  Here is a photo that Mo sent me.

Things are getting real now as far as getting a cabin again.  This is so exciting!

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