Beginning and ending shots

I helped Tate and Chance on the house all day.. by evening we had 7 rafters up on both sides.. doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider we had to cut board to fill in on top off the ridge pole ( 30 some feet in the air from some places..) and then take them back off and redo them, build a partial floor across the dining room/living room to set scaffolding on then set and screw in on the mark great big beams the are hard to handle, one guy cutting ends and handing up over an 11 foot wall, then pull them in place with a rope and screw them down, we did pretty good… all this in a pretty good wind, until this evening.. oh, and one of the crew is an old fat guy! 😀

Tate and Chance and I got the ridgepole set on the house last week.. there were a few choice words bandied about during the setting! 😀

Cindy and I took off real early on Friday morning, headed for Valentine, Neb… Chance and Hope were’t far behind us.. we had a great weekend… I helped a neighbor work calves on Monday, yesterday I caught a ride with Fr Tyler (who had come home for a short visit) to pick up the Nitro.. it was at the vet’s getting new spark plugs… I picked up my chainsaw that had been in the shop and then went to Hot Springs for a meeting for the poetry gathering, for next year.. got home about 9 last night… supposed to help set rafters today, I guess..

Chance and I took off Saturday morning a bit before 6 and drove to Minot ND so we could play a gig for a farm and ranch store that was holding an appreciation day for their customers.. cool and wet the whole way.. we did the show and left about 7:30 and headed home.. got home about 1:30 Sunday morning… Got up and went to Mass in Faith on sunday as we missed the one out here on Saturday night.. went to men;’s group that evening.. today, I worked on a saddle and helped Tate with the house.. still cool and damp, but no rain.. not sure how much we got but there might have been 1.5 or even 2 all together.. at least I poured a lot out of a half barrel in the corral when I was catching horses this evening… we are going to help Eric ship calves early in the morning.. Cindy and Hope and Kass went to Faith for a ladies group at the church up there…

And wind… and cold! No snow, so that’s a good thing..Cindy and i ran into town yesterday and dropped off an outfit that’s not running right and then went and got a new freezer.. the last one we bought, the lid got wrecked and it won’t keep shut tight so forms a lot of ice…we got a smaller upright.. put it in the basement of the new house.. just need to let it set awhile then plug it in and put food in it.. Chance and Hope came down and we practiced for the gig tomorrow… Hope isn’t going, but she has a mandolin and needs the practice.. she played with us almost an hour.. she’s learning fast. but then she’s pretty musical.. Chance and i drove down and looked at the cattle. calves are getting big.. everything seemed to be handling the cool weather well, but then they might be enjoying it.. a cow with a good hair coat is comfortable at 18 degrees.. might be why so many of the feed lots are in cooler areas..

Cool with lots of dew this morning.. warmed up this afternoon and a bit muggy.. Pete has been hauling in hay.. 3 loads so far, the boys are working on the house and I have been working on a saddle in between unloading hay..

Got some rain yesterday.. not a big bunch but it will keep this green grass growing.. I love fall rain, now I am assured of a cheat grass crop, next year! 😀 We are going to need something to feed all the grasshoppers!
Cindy and I went to hot Springs last Friday for the Badger Clark Gathering. Had a great bunch of performers both on stage and off.. I was afraid this might be the last year for it, as Mary J, the lady who ran it in the past, had quit… but we have a bunch of people who are stepping up to help keep it going.. sounds like we will change the date it is on and get away from the Buffalo Roundup that is that weekend.. hopefully it will just get bigger and better!
Chance had to run to town yesterday so I rode along.. we dropped off some meat at Slim and Darlene’s in New Underwood.. cool and cloudy this morning, but I think the rain is done for now..

Chance and Hope, Cindy and I drove down south yesterday and looked at cattle.. when we got back, my friend Mick was here.. he was after some deer sheds to use for a gun rack.. had a good visit.. then after dinner I worked on stacking some small rock at one corner of the house.. later on, another neighbor stopped in to visit and look at the house, then later still another neighbor stopped to pick up a saddle i’d put new stirrup leathers in… I went up and helped Tate and Chance on the house this morning.. we were drilling pin holes.. they bore about an inch hole down thru’ 2 logs and into a 3rd one and drive a metal pipe in to help hold everything together.. so your drilling thru’ about 2 and a half feet of wood.. not hard to go down, but you have to keep pulling it out to clean out the wood.. doing this 10 feet or better in the air standing on an 8 inch wide surface… hard on your back and nerves! They broke for lunch so this afternoon hopefully we can get the other log on the exposed corner of the basement and I can get it all filled in with stacked rocks… cool and cloudy.. no rain, no wind today..

I had to ruin in and get stuff for the house.. dropped off my chainsaw to get it worked on.. chainsaws have played a big part in this timber log house.. then this afternoon I helped Tate on it.. then when he was done Sam and i took the big fork,lift and went and got a couple more rocks… one of these days that big machine is going to be gone and I want to get all the use out of it I can.. got warmish this afternoon.. supposed to stay that way for a few days.. feels like fall..

Supposed to only get up into the 50’s today.. started off cool yesterday and then warmed up.. we may get some rain too..I helped Tate for awhile yesterday morning.. his well pit was full of water… I have to follow Chance to Faith this morning and give him a ride back as he takes the tree planter and pickup back, from all their tree planting this spring… got a gig with Paul this evening…
Went in to Rapid the other day to get a new windshield put in the Nitro… I’d dropped a guitar off to get worked on awhile back so went to pick it up… they put son the smaller strings from a set of 12 strings so now when I play it along with another guitar it’s like listening to a 12 string.. and they are small strings and only one wound, so when you pick on it it’s easier on the fingers when you slide to hit the notes.. they call it Nashville tuning.. I think it’s pretty cool sounds somewhat like a mandolin…