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Cool morning turning warm again. I moved the cows into first split in NBW 8. We stripped this piece hard with the calves in early April. While dry and a bit short, you can see the richness in the color of the grass, not unlike the old crested wheat grass we grazed with high stock density in West Lackey 3. Magpies hanging near the headquarters.
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More of the same. My, what grass we could have grown if measurable moisture could have come in early September. Moved the cows into WL 4 around the old Lackey buildings. A small flock of sharptail grouse is hanging in the reservoir pasture. The white salty shoreline of our shrinking reservoir is uncomfortable to observe.  Another mild fall day. I saw two nice bucks south of the house on the way to West Lackey to check water. Worked on next temporary paddock in North Big Wall. Despite deer putting pressure on Dana’s garden, I made a scrumptious potato soup from ingredients harvested in the garden.
Clear skies and cool in morning but turning hot by the afternoon. While sitting the faint raspy call of the spotted towhee, and the broken call-song of the white crowns, bring back fond memories of sounds more commonly heard along California’s Pacific coast. The cows are still gathering toward WL2&3 out of East Lackey. We got a few good shots of the eclipse and full ‘blood moon’ but clouds mostly concealed the display.  "Blood Moon" Still very warm, yet a little cooling and overcast skies in the evening. Cows broke into EL 5a and 5, yet the lane is open for cows to move to WL 2 and into WL3, and by evening a few have started to move into the new paddock. A large flock of migrating white-crowned sparrows have arrived in the yard. With the hot fall weather, the yellow jackets are out in force always finding places to sneak in to the house. This is fall. This is the time of year when we are mixed regarding our thoughts for a first frost. If it freezes, many annoying insects depart, if it doesn’t, Dana has more time to process food from the garden.  White-crowned sparrow Hot-like almost 100 degrees. I shut off water in EL6 tank expecting the cows to move to main EL water center. The younger cows didn’t get it and hung by the empty tank. I started some in the right direction this evening, but will need to finish early tomorrow morning. We will be moving them out of EL Lackey and slowly heading to North Big Wall. Though little green to be found, moving often to remaining ‘fresh paddocks’ (not grazed since late winter-early spring), the cows remain in reasonable condition. A Ferruginous hawk is still hanging on the prairie dog town.
Classic Indian Summer weather persists over the passing of the fall Equinox on the 23rd. I have been staying with Max in Polson over the last four days. Fall rains in the area have greened things up nicely. Ryan has been holding down the fort at the ranch. We have started to build a new pipeline in the West Griffith Cell. The cows were moved into the last paddock in East Lackey. Two small Prairie Dog towns have started up along the wall. I made up two new Big Wall Dragon tales for Max: How Big Wall Dragon and his buddies ended the last ice age and created Flathead Lake and Cirques are mostly the result of dragon slides and not glaciers. I was able to take a nice walk into the west side of the Missions.  It was warming up again with some strong SW winds. It is so dry. The expanding white border to a shrinking reservoir can be seen from two miles away. I moved the cows to the east end of EL7 with assistance from Tommy who arrived yesterday from Tennessee. The cows remain in surprisingly good condition-even the young cows. Returning home from moving the cows, we discovered we left Paxs (one of our border collies), which delayed our return to headquarters while we searched for her. Backtracking, we finally found her, but the search time kept us out long enough to experience a remarkable sunset on the drive home.
Cooler temperatures with a few light showers and little measurable precipitation the last couple of days. The grouping of journal days is a the result of my son-in-law being admitted for 5 day in the hospital. With Dana in Connecticut attending Moria's ceremony for becoming a Fire Lieutenant, and Ryan caring for the ranch, I spent a good share of the last five days with Will in the hospital. I was able to make two more moves in EL7 and 8 where the cows are still grazing the pasture cocktail and the remaining native grass in the paddocks. See the pictures below for the move today and a baby rattlesnake. You may need to look closely. Since the cows have been on the "wall", I have seen four rattlesnakes while either rolling out our rolling in temporary fence. The eagles and the ferruginous hawks are still hanging on the Prairie Dog colony.
It turned warm the last three days. The cows remain surprisingly content on the pasture cocktail. The cows save the sunflower heads for last, but the heavy seeded flower heads are disappearing fast. The water leak that we fixed at the tank seems to have returned. Hopefully we can live with it until we move to another water center. Every day, I see coyotes, prairie falcons, hawks, and eagles traveling into and from East Lackey. The dryness and increasing dust are worrisome. We may need to move even more before the feed is used to prevent the possibility of dust pneumonia that calves are prone to during prolonged dry falls. Ryan is covering as I hang out with Will at the Billings Clinic Hospital - another story.
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Bill Milton
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