Calf Shed and Freezing Pipes

Our internet has been out so I have not been able to do any posts for the last week or so. Sacha put a trouble call in on Monday, Tuesday was a holiday (Veteran’s Day) and the power went out on Wednesday.

There was a windy spell Tuesday night that the whole region experienced. We got it too. There is a background hum of appliances that one gets used to and it is noticeable when this hum abruptly stops and the computer backup battery starts beeping. I remember hearing the power go off at about 3:00 a.m.

The power going out during a cold snap was a concern to me because when the weather is well below freezing, we need to run a heater in the pump house to keep the pipes from freezing.

S…t!, I remembered, just as I woke up, that I had forgotten to turn on the heater and the cold snap had been going for a day or two at that point. The heater we use is an electric space heater so that was out as an option. I hoped at that point that a couple more hours wouldn’t hurt anything and I could deal with it after I got up at my usual time which is about 5:00 a.m. I slept fitfully until then.

I got up promptly when the alarm went off. The house was getting cold because the pellet stove that heats it needs electricity to operate. I prefer a regular old wood stove because you don’t need power to stay warm. However, we live in a rented place and a pellet stove is what was available at the time. We do have a generator but I got busy with other things and it wasn’t ready to operate, a big no-no in these parts where we lose power frequently. Fortunately, Sacha was at her mom’s with the kids so keeping them warm wasn’t an issue.

I would have to figure out some way to heat the pump house and hope the main house didn’t get cold enough for the pipes to freeze. I finally got a big candle and put it in the pump house near the tanks and piping. I draped several old blankets over the tanks, taking care to secure them so they wouldn’t slip into the candle, catch fire and burn the pump house down.

So I got that taken care of but I wasn’t done yet. I still needed to get some heat into the pump house at mom’s and get to work on time. Mom’s house is on the way to work and I usually stop in on the way.

Years ago I built a small house of hard foam insulation around the pump and pressure tank at mom’s. We keep a trouble light with a 60 to 100 watt bulb on inside the foam house to keep the pipes from freezing. Of course, with the power out, this light wasn’t working. We have a Coleman lantern for just such occasions. I was able to locate it but it was nearly empty. There was an almost full can of fuel but I couldn’t find a funnel. I poured it into the lantern as best I could, spilling quite a bit in the wind and dark.

Fortunately it lit up without much trouble. I put it in the foam pump house and headed for work. In the past we have used long lasting emergency candles when the power was out during a cold snap. We will have to come up with some other solution to heat the pump house when incandescent light bulbs are no longer available. There are also other systems that don't require all the measures to keep the pipes warm. I might look into some of those some day. 

It is quite amazing how little heat is required to keep your pipes from freezing. Another trick to keep pipes from freezing in cold weather is to leave a faucet open to just a trickle. The water will keep flowing enough to prevent it from freezing. Obviously this won’t work if the power is out and you need electricity to run your pump.   

When Sacha called Thursday, our internet provider said that, indeed there was a trouble call ticket for us but their records showed that there was a power outage so they cancelled the lost internet trouble call ticket. Huh? Sacha renewed the trouble call. It sounds like a wider area than just us was affected.  

All of this is not an uncommon thing. Losing power and/or internet is part and parcel of living out here. A problem of living in a rural area is that there is not enough demand to get top of the line services here and it is quite easy to get behind the technology curve. A few years ago when my mom was still on dial-up, Microsoft put out a patch that could only be downloaded from the internet. The patch was so big that it took too long to download and the internet connection timed out every time before the patch could be completely downloaded.

Our internet is certainly adequate and, I am sure, much better than other places. I understand some people are still on dial-up but it is also definitely not top of the line. We got it back today, the 18^th , over a week later. Good thing I grew up without the need to be online all the time.  

In between a birthday party and a trip Down Below, I worked on the calf shed on the weekends and on Veteran’s Day. Before the cows start calving I need to get it to the point where I can put a cow and new calf in it and button it up against the weather. I made good progress and hope to finish it over the Thanksgiving weekend. Fortunately, you don’t need the internet to do this kind of work.  

I had added 1/2 inch plywood sheets on the back of the shed the previous weekend. This weekend I was able to get the sides on. 

I left a gap about chest high so I can check on the cow and calf and get water and feed into the shed without opening the main doors. I made little doors out of plywood to cover the gaps. 

I had intended to make the main doors out of 1x4's or 1x6's but I discovered a bunch of narrow strips of 1/4 inch plywood and decided to use that instead. It will be lighter but also much more flimsy. I used 1x4's to fasten it together and brace it and am hoping it will be enough to withstand bovine attentions. Time will tell. I might regret this decision, cows are powerful animals. 

1x4's across the plywood sheets. I screwed the plywood sheets to these boards in order to fasten the whole door together. 

One cross brace installed. 

Both cross braces installed on both doors. 

I added some nail plates left over from another job to the joints on the cross braces to increase the overall strength of the structure. 

Close up of nail plates. 

          Main doors fitted to shed. I still need to put hinges on the doors.                                                                                             

Plywood covers or doors on the access slots or windows on the east side of the shed. I still need to put hinges and latches on these as well.                                                             

Catching Up, Fall 2014

Hiking season is over. Deer season is over and the venison is in the freezer. Now it is time to finish buttoning everything up for the winter and try to catch up on all the work that didn’t get done this summer and early autumn while I was out running around.

This last weekend I started on the list of work that has been building since before summer started. Saturday I went down and picked up the beef and took it up to the big freezer at mom’s. We had discovered several days earlier that the big freezer was running continuously. This was bad news. It means that the freezer is on it’s way out. We discussed getting a used one to fill in until spring when mom can bring one that she inherited up from California but used freezers, while cheaper up front, can be pretty unreliable. In addition, I would have to move the old freezer out and the new one in. Finally we decided to buy a new one. For about $300 more than a used one, the appliance company would take the old one out and put the new one in.

This was a relief to me. It will save me a lot of time and aggravation and we will have a reliable freezer that probably won’t cost me a bunch more time and aggravation in the near future by breaking down like a used one might. Luckily mom could afford this solution. It was not too long ago that our budget was tighter and it isn’t hard to imagine having to go with a used freezer because of cost and then having it break down and not only lose the time and money invested but a winter’s worth of food in the bargain. Sometimes if you have enough money, it’s easier to save money.

With the freezer issue out of the way it was back to the maintenance tasks. I moved and winterized the roto-tiller by emptying the gas tank and running it out of gas so the gas in the tank wouldn’t go bad over the winter. Bad gas will shellac your carburetor and cause a lot of problems. I winterized the weed-eater in the same manner. I talked to a neighbor who is a mechanic about getting help with the clutch on the ¾ ton farm pickup. I had replaced the clutch master cylinder this spring but was having trouble getting it bled properly. We set up a time to look at it on Sunday.

Then I discovered a spot where the cows had knocked down a section of fence. And, it was obvious from the tracks, that several had gotten out. This wasn’t on the list. This was a little fire that needed to be put out even if it cost me a lot of time. One of the cows had gone out by the highway. I saw its tracks and several cow pies there. Somehow the cows had gotten themselves back into the pasture. Sometimes they decide they want to be back with the rest of the herd and just do it. Getting back in by themselves happens only rarely. Usually some herding and chasing is required. Luckily the cows that went out by the highway weren't hit. We have had cows hit before. Fortunately no human has gotten killed. You usually lose the cow in these kinds of incidents. 

It was getting late so I did a temporary fix to the fence by propping up the broken wooden posts with some steel "T" posts, did a quick blessing and prayer and headed to Concrete to get a few more "T" posts and a salt block.

The fence was the first thing I worked on Sunday morning. The fallen posts were red cedar that had rotted at the ground line. I propped them out of the way and drove steel “T” posts in behind them and then, moving the wooden posts back against the "T" posts, wired the two together. I guess this is where the term lash up comes from. Then I nailed the rails, the long poles running between the posts back up. This isn’t a long term fix but it should hold for a few years. A long term fix would take a day or two to do properly and I didn’t want to take that much time right now. These are the types of decisions that I often end up regretting. The lash up I have should last (hopefully) until I can get the old house and a few other major projects dealt with.

After the patching up the fence I nursed the farm pickup up the road. We tried bleeding the clutch again and it seemed to work for a bit. I took the pickup for a run and lost the clutch at the end. I nursed it home and bled it some more. I think it is going to take some more work to get it fixed.

Finally, I went back to work on the calf shed. I need to get it sheathed and secured before the really cold weather sets in and one of the cows has a calf. I got the back half on the north side covered before it got too dark.

I finished the day by picking a small batch of chanterelles for Sacha. They are still abundant.

A long list of tasks awaits me for the fall and winter. We still have venison sausage to make and I need to finish the calf shed. Then I need to organize space in order to clean out the basement in the old house. I hope to have it emptied out enough by next spring to have it assessed for soundness. Whether it is salvageable or needs to come down, getting that done will be a major task as well. Another important item that needs attention is a failing crown that has been bothering me off and on for years. I haven't gotten it fixed yet, not because I can't afford it but because I can't seem to find the time. This could turn into something dangerous and it might be that it finally flares up to the point I can't stand it anymore and I am forced to make the time to deal with it. The list goes on and on, more fence to fix, outbuildings to fix and maintain, equipment to maintain, firewood to cut, etc, etc.      

Broken fence (as if it isn't obvious). 

Broken red cedar posts propped up with steel "T" posts. This is what I did for a temporary fix and got away with it. I left the posts propped up while I drove new "T" posts in. 

"T" post lash up with wooden posts wired to "T" posts. 

Next was to nail the fence rails back up. 

Job completed. This isn't a long term solution. The surface area of a "T" post is pretty small and the ground is pretty soft so over time they will tend to sag under the weight of the posts and rails. A more permanent solution would be to replace the wooden posts with new ones or with stand alone "T" posts. I decided to not replace the broken bottom rail in the photo, hoping that none of the cows will want to try to crawl through that space. Another decision that I hope I don't end up regretting. 

More downed rails. Mostly this just required nailing the rails back up though I did have to brace one broken rail. 

Job complete. The cows like the salmonberry and thimbleberry brush on the other side of the fence os they are constantly testing it. This fix might last until spring. 

Calf shed as I left it this summer. 

Sheathing on back or north side of shed. 

Chanterelles for Sacha. 

2014 Discoveries, Re-Discoveries and Mysteries

In order to achieve my overall goal of walking into every mapped high lake and pond that drains to the Skagit River I set a yearly goal of how many of these water bodies I want to get into in a year. I figure if I can do 20 a year, I should be able to achieve my overall goal assuming I have a normal life span and stay healthy enough to keep hiking. In years when I go into areas that are difficult to access and the lakes and ponds are far apart from each other, I figure I might only get into about 15. In areas where access is easy and the lakes and ponds are close together, I figure I might get close to 30.

This year I got into 33 lakes and ponds. Of those, 26 were mapped. Of the total number of mapped lakes and ponds I went into this year, I had been into 5 previously. One of these lakes drained to the Similkameen, rather than the Skagit River. This left a total of 20 lakes and ponds that I visited this year in the Skagit River Watershed that were mapped and new to me and thus, were progress toward my overall goal.

I had hoped that many of the lakes and ponds on the Canadian Skagit that I visited this year would be easy to access. For the most part, this was not the case.

Even though they didn’t necessarily count toward my overall goal, the waters that weren’t mapped or that I had been to before were worth my time. At most of them I got some good observations and learned more about the North Cascades. As far as the ones I have already visited, quite often I didn’t take any notes or photos on my first visits years ago. So, in certain ways, I was visiting these for the first time as well.

I scanned my field notes from the year and will send them to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U. S. Forest Service and, since I did a bunch of trips in British Columbia this year, the BC Ministry of Environment.

At some point it would be nice to comb through my notes over all the years and see what kind of patterns pop out, like the Cascades frog distribution hole that seems to exist (see The Cascades Frog You Heard It Here First). WADFW is already doing this kind of analysis with a database and GIS.

I usually discover or re-discover quite a few interesting things every year. Some are quite easily explainable, others are mysteries, at least to me. Some general things of note that I discovered or re-discovered this year that come readily to mind are:

Rock rabbits or pikas (Ochotona princips) at about 340 feet in elevation in the talus below some rock bluffs near Marblemount. Rock rabbits are perceived to be a high elevation species but I have seen them at mid to even low elevations in areas of talus and log piles in old logging landings.

Wax flower or single delight (Moneses uniflora) along the Slide Lake trail. This isn’t anything particularly astounding. This small member of the Wintergreen family isn’t rare or endangered but I think it is a really cool looking plant and I have only seen it in a few places.

The forest in the Lower Skagit Highlands, Cultus Mountains, Day and Cumberland Creeks, is than one finds in the mountains to the east and the rest of the plant community is different as well.

Pink heather (Phyllodoce empetriformis) is present but no white heather that I have seen. This isn’t too far out of the norm, I think pink heather will grow at lower elevations than white heather. The blueberry community or Vacciniums are composed mostly of V. ovalifolium and V. membranaceum and I didn’t see any of the lower growing, sweeter berries like V. uliginosum or V. deliciosum.

In the Mountains of the Lower Skagit there is a lot of Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) at elevations that seem pretty low (less than 4000 feet) for this species in the forests farther east. But what I found most striking, in a forest community like this with Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis) and mountain hemlock, one would expect to see Alaska yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) but there is none that I have seen. Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) appears to be the only cedar in the area. Which begs the question: Where is the western edge of Alaska cedar distribution? I think it might be on Upper Finney Creek. I know there is Alaska cedar on the North Fork Stillaguamish just east of Finney Creek. And I have seen it in the valley bottom at an elevation of about 370 feet in the Marblemount area. The even more interesting question to me is: Why is Alaska cedar distributed the way it is in this part of the Cascades?

Another piece of information I gathered about the Cultus Mountains area is that blue grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) occur there. I promise you that this is no news to the people who have hunted this area for generations. I have see quite a few grouse over the years in this area and figured most, if not all, were blue grouse but this is not my normal hunting grounds and this is the first year I actually killed a grouse in the area so I could get a good close look at it. Blue grouse are mid to high elevation species so this is the species you would expect to find at similar elevations farther east in the Cascades.

I learned while researching this post that blue grouse have been split into two separate species, sooty grouse (D. fuliginosus) which usually occur on the west side of the mountains and dusky grouse (D. obscurus) which usually occur on the east side of the mountains. There is some overlap between the two species however and they look very similar.

Finally, on the subject of wildlife, it was interesting to note abundant bear sign at high elevations almost everywhere I went this year except the Cultus Mountains.

I found the forests on the Canadian Skagit had a lot of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) in them. This is fairly common in this area south of the border as well. There is quite a bit of Engelmann spruce in the Little Beaver drainage which is on the west side of Ross Lake as well as many of the drainages on the east side of the lake. Engelmann spruce might also occur farther south on the lake in the Big Beaver drainage as well, but I can’t recall this off the top of my head. Engelmann spruce, Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Rocky mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) occur as far south as Diablo Lake.

There is a lot of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) in certain areas on the Canadian Skagit but most that I saw was in pretty bad shape. All of the larger trees had been killed by white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), a fungus that attacks five needle pines and there were only seedlings left and many of these weren’t doing very well either.

If I knew more about dragonflies and damselflies, I might have picked up some interesting information there too. I saw a lot of dragonflies this year. The most common had a blue abdomen with green on the thorax and green eyes but I saw many other species as well as some damselflies.

I saw a lot of fish eating birds at high elevation lakes that historically probably didn’t have fish in them. The birds I saw were osprey (Pandion haliaetus), common loon (Gavia immer) and belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon). I also saw ducks and waterfowl like goldeneyes (Bucephala spp.) that also spend part of their time in saltwater. Ducks and waterfowl have probably always used high lakes for at least part of the year or for resting while migrating. Maybe the fish eating birds did as well. I have also seen many shorebirds at high lakes.

Finally, I noticed a different in the parent bedrock on the Canadian Skagit. On the west side of the river, much of the rock is granitic while on the east side it is a different type. I don’t know much about the rock type on the east side but it tends to be more of a solid brown or grey or blue color. This rock seems to be fairly competent i.e. erosion resistant but when it breaks away from parent bedrock it seems to crumble. I didn’t encounter any slopes of large talus in the part of the eastern Canadian Skagit that I visited this year.

I think this division in rock types might run all the way down Ross Lake to at least Ruby Creek/Granite Creek. I know that there is some sort of rock type boundary in this area but I don’t recall the specifics. I will have to read up on it.

Something that I found quite interesting was the use or lack of use of stocked high lakes in B.C. Evidently there isn’t a strong high lake fishing culture there. The lakes were obviously stocked by someone but many I visited no evidence of use by fishermen. Some of these spots were within only a few miles of roads and places like that in Washington would have trails and camps and also a lot of litter. The lakes in B.C. had none of these. Maybe there are more, better choices that are more readily available in B.C. than the places I visited. Though many places I did visit there are still, or once were, fairly easy to access.

Finally, while doing the post for Galene Chain Lakes, I noticed in some of my photos that there is a tower of some sort on Shawatum Mountain. This wasn't visible from anywhere on my visit to Shawatum Lakes. So maybe there is a trail of some sort up there, just not from the direction I took. They may have also installed the tower via helicopter.

I don't have any photos particular to this post that aren't already published so the photos that follow are from previous years and numerous different locations.

Black bear (Ursus americanus). This bear was in hyperphagia, a condition where it was so concentrated on getting food it ignored me standing about ten feet away while it was eating blueberries. 

Western toad (Bufo boreas)

Blue grouse. The light band on this grouse's tail marks it as the new sooty grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) of the blue grouse complex. 

Crab spider (Misumena vatia) on marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris).  These spiders don't spin webs. They wait on plants and ambush insects that land. Quite often, I have seen them take bumblebees (Bombus spp.). These spiders can change color for camouflage, seeming to prefer yellow on red and green backgrounds and white on purple or lavender backgrounds. Evidently these colors work in the ultraviolet spectrum because I believe this is how insects see plants and flowers.   

Black huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), autumn. 

Sulphur shelf or chicken-of-the-woods, (Laetiporus sulphureus).

Scarlet mycena (Mycena adonis).

Turkeytail fungus (Trametes versicolor).

Deer fern (Blechnum spicant) autumn. The "albino" frond is evidently senescing and dying and has lost all of its chlorophyll. 

Rock bands. I believe this is sedimentary rock but I am not sure. 

More rock bands. These are dikes and sills though they are tan rather than white. 

Fly muscaria (Amanita muscaria) in autumn blueberries.