We have had quite the week. On Wednesday I went with M to do cow chores and help sort out the calves that R was going to take to Glasgow to sell. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, there was no wind. We got the calves in and sorted and moved a feeder. Then M was worried that I was getting cold so had me shoveling out the alley way to warm up while he finished feeding the cows. So thoughtful. The snow was a couple feet deep and we needed to run the calves through the alley to load them in the trailer. It was just fluff but there was nowhere to put it. I thought I was going to throw my back out trying to throw it over top the boards lining the alley. R showed up just in time so I let him finish since he is younger, stronger and taller! R and I then went to hook up the trailer. When he tried to move it he noticed that one wheel wasn't turning so they had to take it off and get it in the shop where they had to work on the hub. Finally, he got the calves loaded and headed to Glasgow.
I was planning to pick up my mother-in-law and go to Flaxville for haircuts after lunch, but J was going to change the oil in my pickup before I went. Just before I was ready to leave the wind started howling and it clouded up. I took the pickup into Richland so J could change the oil and was ready to change my mind about going on to Scobey because I was afraid the road would drift in and I wouldn't make it home. M assured me that it wasn't that bad and that he would be behind me if I had trouble, so I went. I made it home but it wasn't much fun. M was actually several hours behind me and told me to pack a back because if he got me out to the highway to go to work I shouldn't come home.
I followed him out in the morning but could hardly see his tracks because everything was the same color, the sky, the road, the ditch. I spent the night in town with my in-laws and worked the next day. R plowed the road so I made it home the next night. The wind came up during the night and howled into the morning. R moved from his place into his grandparents house so if he's snowed in, he'll be snowed in with the cows. He'll stay there until calving is over.
We had a funeral to go to Saturday afternoon and weren't sure we would be able to go. The wind let up some and we didn't get as much snow as predicted so we decided to go. I had a bad feeling that we had stayed in town too long and wouldn't make it home and bucked some snow drifts on the highway and plowed our way up the gravel road in 4-wheel drive and made it home. The wind came up even more shortly after we got home and has howled all day today. R got stuck in our yard this morning and M didn't try to get to the house with the pickup this afternoon. The wind is still howling so who knows what it will be like tomorrow.
The guys are trying to haul grain to Wolf Point but have to plow to the bins every day and the road to Wolf Point isn't totally clear either. Everyone in the country is having a tough time getting anywhere and are afraid to leave home. This winter weather is really getting old and there is no end in sight, but every day is one day closer to spring!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Head 'em Up, Move 'em Out
The goal this week was to get the neighbor's cows hauled back to Harlem. It took a day of M, R and J plowing snow on Thursday as well as the county snowplow working on the road to all that to happen. They had hoped to do it today, but then looked at the weather forecast and worked furiously to be able to move that up a day. So, yesterday M was up bright and early to feed and then get to the neighbor's with our two trucks. M and J each took a load and there were five other trucks also to haul out 350 head. They had a good day for it with good roads, no snow, not much wind and temps in the 20s. Pete did a great job of helping to get all the cows into the corral. He'd love it if he could do that every day. R was busy getting all the trucks loaded while M and J took off with their loads. I missed all the fun because I was at work. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. At least it is one more thing off M's shoulders.
In the afternoon R took his turn with the new dozer and had some fun plowing snow. He plowed the main road in spots and plowed the access road into our yard and got my car back to the garage. M had taken it to town to get a new battery and then couldn't get home with it because the snow had drifted in at the main road.
It was a good thing they got that job accomplished yesterday because this morning we woke up to a blizzard with heavy snow and high winds. Not a good day to be out doing anything, but M had to get to the cows and I had to give a ride because the loader tractor ended up in town. We spent the afternoon watching football. The snow tapered off this afternoon and the sun peeked out but just for a minute. The wind is still howling so it will be interesting to see what we wake up to tomorrow.
In the afternoon R took his turn with the new dozer and had some fun plowing snow. He plowed the main road in spots and plowed the access road into our yard and got my car back to the garage. M had taken it to town to get a new battery and then couldn't get home with it because the snow had drifted in at the main road.
It was a good thing they got that job accomplished yesterday because this morning we woke up to a blizzard with heavy snow and high winds. Not a good day to be out doing anything, but M had to get to the cows and I had to give a ride because the loader tractor ended up in town. We spent the afternoon watching football. The snow tapered off this afternoon and the sun peeked out but just for a minute. The wind is still howling so it will be interesting to see what we wake up to tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Road Trip
One day when I was in Arizona, M mentioned that he had found a dozer blade in Nebraska and he was going to have to go get it. At that time, we weren't sure how I was going to get home from Billings after I flew in there. I told him that if he picked me up he'd be halfway to Nebraska so we could go from there. I did not know what part of Nebraska we were headed to, and M neglected to tell me it was only about 40 miles north of the Kansas state line. Someday I will learn to keep my mouth shut and not be so practical or ask more questions before I come up with these good ideas.
I arrived in Billings on the night of January 2nd (flight was late again, but only an hour this time). We were on the road by 7 am the next morning heading south through Wyoming pulling a 32-foot gooseneck flatbed trailer on our way to Imperial, Nebraska. It had snowed overnight, and we ran into some ice just across the Wyoming border and began to think it was going to be a VERY long trip. Thank goodness we ran out of it pretty quickly and had good roads and weather the whole rest of the way. It was so cloudy that I couldn't see the Big Horn Mountains until they peeked out of the clouds.
R gave M a Tom-Tom navigation system for Christmas so he thought it would be a good time to put it to use. We quickly found out that it needs to be updated and that it gets confused. South of Douglas, Wyoming we got off the interstate and angled down into Nebraska. I was wishing I had mobile internet so I could google some of the places we passed, like Fort Laramie. There was a historic site there, but I didn't know the significance. I came home and looked it up. That was where the United States government signed a treaty with the Sioux in 1868 where they agreed to settle in the Black Hills area of the Dakotas. When gold was discovered there all bets were off, however.
We went through Torrington, Wyoming and soon arrived at Scottsbluff, Nebraska which I found out was a significant landmark of the Oregon Trail. There are a lot of interesting rock formations. It would be fun to hike there.
We decided at that point that we had made a mistake getting off the interstate. We may have been saving miles but not time as we had to slow down and go through so many little towns. We were hoping to get to Imperial before closing time so we could get loaded and make as many miles back as we could. We could see that we were cutting it close. So, we headed south to Kimball and got back on the interstate, through Sidney (the worldwide headquarters of Cabelas) and then on to Ogallala, then south to Imperial, arriving about 5:00 pm. We had been in touch with the salesman all day so he knew we were on our way and knew when to expect us. They were nice enough to hang around a little late to get us loaded and strapped down, and then we were off again.
As you can see, the load was hanging off a bit on both sides so we made the decision to stick to the interstate and avoid the 2-lane roads as much as possible. We stopped for fuel and some KFC and were back on the road with Cheyenne, Wyoming as our destination goal for the night. We made it there about 10 pm, but then decided to keep going to Wheatland. M wasn't sure he wanted to navigate through traffic at night in Cheyenne to find a place to stay. We stopped at the first motel we saw in Wheatland, a Motel 6. Sixteen hours and 650 miles later. Appropriate since we were there about six hours. Parking that trailer was an adventure in itself.
We were on the road again by 6 am, hoping to get home before dark, heading through Douglas and up to Gillette. There we refueled and grabbed breakfast and headed to Broadus. It was a good feeling to cross back into Montana to roads we were familiar with. There was a lot more snow, however! Grabbed sandwiches and fuel in Miles City and headed north. To avoid truck traffic on a narrow highway we took the scenic route through Fort Peck and back roads from there home. It occurred to me that during all the years that I have lived here close to Fort Peck I never knew the history behind it. I found out that it was originally a trading post on the west bank of the Missouri River and later an Indian agency. It was eventually abandoned because the river was undermining the bluff on which it sat and it crumbled into the river at some point.
We arrived in Richland at about 4:15 pm, safe and sound 1500+ miles (1800+ for M), 26 hours actually on the road, lots of gas station food, and 160 gallons of fuel later. I like to say it was a good bonding trip for M and I. I felt like I had been gone for so long, and we had a lot to catch up on. It's been go, go, go for the past month, and we are both ready to stay put for awhile
I arrived in Billings on the night of January 2nd (flight was late again, but only an hour this time). We were on the road by 7 am the next morning heading south through Wyoming pulling a 32-foot gooseneck flatbed trailer on our way to Imperial, Nebraska. It had snowed overnight, and we ran into some ice just across the Wyoming border and began to think it was going to be a VERY long trip. Thank goodness we ran out of it pretty quickly and had good roads and weather the whole rest of the way. It was so cloudy that I couldn't see the Big Horn Mountains until they peeked out of the clouds.
R gave M a Tom-Tom navigation system for Christmas so he thought it would be a good time to put it to use. We quickly found out that it needs to be updated and that it gets confused. South of Douglas, Wyoming we got off the interstate and angled down into Nebraska. I was wishing I had mobile internet so I could google some of the places we passed, like Fort Laramie. There was a historic site there, but I didn't know the significance. I came home and looked it up. That was where the United States government signed a treaty with the Sioux in 1868 where they agreed to settle in the Black Hills area of the Dakotas. When gold was discovered there all bets were off, however.
We went through Torrington, Wyoming and soon arrived at Scottsbluff, Nebraska which I found out was a significant landmark of the Oregon Trail. There are a lot of interesting rock formations. It would be fun to hike there.
We decided at that point that we had made a mistake getting off the interstate. We may have been saving miles but not time as we had to slow down and go through so many little towns. We were hoping to get to Imperial before closing time so we could get loaded and make as many miles back as we could. We could see that we were cutting it close. So, we headed south to Kimball and got back on the interstate, through Sidney (the worldwide headquarters of Cabelas) and then on to Ogallala, then south to Imperial, arriving about 5:00 pm. We had been in touch with the salesman all day so he knew we were on our way and knew when to expect us. They were nice enough to hang around a little late to get us loaded and strapped down, and then we were off again.
We were on the road again by 6 am, hoping to get home before dark, heading through Douglas and up to Gillette. There we refueled and grabbed breakfast and headed to Broadus. It was a good feeling to cross back into Montana to roads we were familiar with. There was a lot more snow, however! Grabbed sandwiches and fuel in Miles City and headed north. To avoid truck traffic on a narrow highway we took the scenic route through Fort Peck and back roads from there home. It occurred to me that during all the years that I have lived here close to Fort Peck I never knew the history behind it. I found out that it was originally a trading post on the west bank of the Missouri River and later an Indian agency. It was eventually abandoned because the river was undermining the bluff on which it sat and it crumbled into the river at some point.
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| Crossing the spillway at Fort Peck Dam |
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| Substation at Fort Peck |
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| Fort Peck Dan Powerhouse |
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