It’s been a busy day today so far, and more to come!

Got up and did my workout, this time I really pushed my limit, I maxed out on the pre-programmed parts of the tread mill.  This one takes you to a speed of 7 mph and an incline grade of 8%.  I didn’t think much about the incline but I was a bit worried about the 7, in the recent past 6 was pretty dang fast, what would 7 be like.  Well, I gave it heck and made it.  This is a 25 minute workout and I’m not sure if I could have made it 5 more minutes.  They must do a lot of testing when they put those programs together.

At one point I was running at 6 mph on a 4% incline, the lights started flashing and suddenly the incline went to 7% and speed increased to 6.5 mph…I literally said out loud, OH MY HELL!  Luckily it only lasted one minute and then the incline went down to 4%.

The tread mill has 10 lights across it and at the peak of this workout 8 of them were lit up.  I knew I was getting beat up bad by this machine!  When it was all over I was sweating harder than on any previous workout and I really didn’t catch my breath until after I had showered.  A good workout for sure!

Then it was coffee with Sherry, Breakfast and then I took her to work.  This evening  is Smith and Edwards company picnic, so I’ll pick her up when work is done and take her to the park where the picnic happens.

Back home, I grabbed out the only two packages of sweet breads I had and thawed them out.  Put them in a big pan of boiling water and vinegar and boiled them for 20 minutes.  Then into some cold water and the rest is history.

An hour and a half later I had them all cleaned and ready for the pan.

MMMMMM!  Breakfast for another day!

Once they were done, I emptied the old freezer out in the garage and am preparing to defrost it.  For some reason, the top shelf becomes so frosted I can hardly see the furs I have in small bags on the shelf.  Some day I’ll send them off to the tannery and have them for show and tell, for when we do our mountain man  demos.

What will I do while I’m waiting for the ice to melt?  I have to run to Smith and Edwards and pick up a large funnel to mount in the camp trailer.  I built a platform to hold a 5 gallon jug of water and put a hose on the end of the spigot so it will be easier to put water into the toilet, but the hose will come off after a few “on and offs” of the spigot.  So I figure if I get a large enough funnel, I can mount it under the spigot and then nothing will be hooked to the spigot and yet water can still be dispensed to the toilet.

When that is done, I’ll put the battery into its place on the trailer and take it down to the rendezvous spot that has been reserved for it.

So, what are you doing today?

Bears Butt

August 24, 2013

I expected rain last night…nothing!  When in the heck will it ever rain?  We need it bad!

So, there is something for everyone in this big old world of ours.  I never thought I would ever read about what I’m about to tell you but it is happening.  There was a day where a rancher would welcome shooters to come and shoot pot guts off his land.  They are so prolific they can have up to 10 pups a year and when you have a colony of over 1,000 adults you can  just imagine what that group of digging little critters will turn into.

I remember once driving from Evanston, Wyoming toward the Uinta Mountains of Utah, off to the side of the road there were over 100 pot guts standing just outside their holes.  I pulled over for some other reason than to look at them and that is when I noticed them.  Literally 100’s of them standing there looking my way.  I thought then how fun it would be to just park there and 22 the crap out of them.  I’m sure the land owner would have appreciated my efforts.

Imagine the devastation to a persons property having that many little critters digging and tunneling under your hard earned crop.

Ok, so what I read was that now, outfitters are leasing up ground where there are these colony’s of pot guts live and are charging people to go out and shoot them!  I could not believe I just read that!  AND they are charging from $200 to $1,000 per person to do it!  Really?

I’m sorry guys, but this just amazes me to think this is going on and people are willing to pay for it.  Do we have too much money?  Too much time?

Oh well!

Bears Butt

August 21, 2013

Boy this rendezvous stuff is a big load!  Bones and I met this morning to discuss some final issues and to go over all that has to be done once the rendezvous gets going and there were still some things left undone, but we think we have everything straight now.

I really thought everything was pretty much done over a week ago, but the devil in the details is starting to come out of the woodwork now.  That’s OK, it’s going to be a blast and we are ready for a good time!

For those of you who are planning on coming down and playing or just to watch the antics that goes on at our rendezvous, you are in for a real treat this year.  Lots and lots of extra work has gone into a bunch of it and you will just have to be there to see it!

Bones has selected some really great prizes to be given away to the “winners” of each of the events and for the raffle!  A very special blanket has been made by Hot Sparks cousin and it’s BEAUTIFUL!!!

The center patch is this years logo that will be on everyone’s shirt that they ordered and if you procrastinated and didn’t order one, you will be a sad baby because they are really cool!  The rest of the quilt was made out of past rendezvous shirts logos!  Remember, this our 30th year for pulling off this rendezvous and Hot Spark had a GREAT idea to have this quilt made up!  I thank her cousin deeply for making it and donating her time and efforts!

This picture does not do the blanket justice, but you get the drift of what this thing looks like and I want to win it very badly!  What JoAnn did where there wasn’t a rendezvous shirt for that year, she wrote on a blank shirt who was the Booshway and what year, so all 30 years is accounted for!  The blanket is the size of a King Size bed and she also made two matching pillow cases for it!  They match the pattern that surrounds the 30 years center patch.  The back of the blanket is made of this same pattern.

So, don’t forget to buy some raffle tickets!  This blanket is planned to be the first raffle item given away on Sunday night!  So, get your tickets and get a bunch because everyone who buys a ticket, even one, will be in the drawing and it’s not going to be an easy win!

The other raffle prizes are great as well and we are expecting others to donate more to the effort once we get to the rendezvous site!  It’s going to be a rendezvous to remember and I sure hope you are planning on attending!

The evening activities that are planned are going to be marked down in history as well!  Some very fun things are going to happen and you sure don’t want to miss any of it!  So, my advise to you is to come down no later than Friday and plan on staying through Monday morning.  Bring your travel trailer, camper, coach, tent or just a plain old tarp.  Load up your coolers full of food and drinks, hit the bank for a couple of notes and come on down!  There is no charge for camping, only for buying raffle tickets if you want them.  The rest is all free and for a good time!  If you do plan on shooting at the range, remember it’s a blackpowder only shoot and you are limited to a maximum of 20 grains of powder, no more.  Your entry fee for that is a gift worth at least $20 to be put on the blanket and the top shooter (the one with the highest score) will get first pick off the blanket, the second highest score will get second pick etc. and everyone wins!  So make sure the prize you put down is something that you would like to be picking up when your turn comes, because you just might come in last place!  (insert grinny face here)

Remember too, that even though this is a mountain man rendezvous, not everyone wears leathers or loin clothes, only those who want to show off.  If you are a loin cloth type of person, be sure and sunscreen the sides of your rear end!

RENDEZVOUS!!!!!

Bears Butt

August 19, 2013

What a lot of work got done today for rendezvous!  We had a great crew and everyone put in a full 6 hour shift!

The biggest problem we encountered was a huge tree that was holding up a bunch of  “widow makers” (old fallen branches waiting to come down at any time) cracked at the base when we were trying to pull down a widow maker.  That made us have to take down that tree entirely.  What a big job!

So while a crew worked on that, another crew worked on the small section of fence that needed to come out, while a third crew worked on installing a fence that had a tree laying on top of it and still another small crew worked on sprucing up what the Fat Duck had harrowed up.

Duck worked over the horse crap in the fields and while doing that the cut grass from Wapitis bush hogging last week rolled up into little bundles.  It didn’t look too good at that point.  So No Grimace and I went up and hooked up the hay rake and I raked it all into one big wind row.

After the fencing was done, the crew began picking up the windrows, loading them onto trailers and hauling it off.  Probably 30 bales worth of hay went into the hole!

A look at the scene once it was all completed sure made me feel good about the whole place.  Lots more room for trailers, tents and parking and it really looks good.  I made a comment that it looks more like a park than a field!

A great days work!  Thank you to everyone who made it and put in all the effort!

Bears Butt

August 17, 2013

It’s almost time for rendezvous and today is “clean up the area” day!  We should have a pretty good sized crew to help trim the low hanging branches and cut up some of the dead fall that has occurred since last year.  Then the horse turds need to be knocked around and a small fence taken out.

The work is not all that hard, just necessary in order to accommodate all the folks coming to camp or just visit for the day.  It’s a great spot for the event and I’m really surprised it took us all these years to finally figure it out as a great place for the event.

Whodaguessed?  Camping next to the Willow Creek and when we call ourselves the “Willow Creek Free Trappers”?  I guess it is too close to a “work” place and we all felt we needed to get away for the weekend (week).  But since we have been camping down there in the field it sure is a nice place, just like we have been looking for to buy…grassy, lots of trees, water running down through it…we were just blinded.

So, I hope to see you down there today!

Bears Butt

August 17, 2013

Boy am I a dummie!  I think I have said that recently on another posting, but I sure am one!

I’m usually one for keeping my data clean and don’t want to use up a lot of space on a computer and so, in my brilliance I went into my media file on this site and went to work “cleaning up” the old pictures that were cluttering it up.  You know the ones I posted in the previous posts.

Well, today I went looking for an older post and saw that the pictures that were supposed to be there we just the name of the picture and no image!  My first thought was that my main man “Weasel” had done something and he needed to know to put them back.

I emailed him and he responded right back that something was causing the pictures to be deleated….It was ME!

I now know to leave well enough alone and let that media file fill up and overflow!  I deleted hundreds of pictures from old postings and there is no way I will be able to know what pictures they were from and be able to put them back into the posting.  Sorry folks!  I will repeat after myself:  “Imma dumbshit”!!!!

Bears Butt

August 14, 2013

Everyday I try and think of something to interest you and today it came via Facebook.  I love that place, so many interesting (and uninteresting) things hit there.  “I’m so tired and yet here I sit and it’s 3 a.m., I just can’t go to bed right now because someone might post something interesting on here and I would miss it”.

So, this morning, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is going to release the 6 beavers that were “saved” from the diesel spill at Willard Bay several months ago.  They were in an awful state of affairs at that time and they were marked as heros for containing the diesel to their little dams which kept it from getting out into Willard Bay proper.

YEAA Beavers!

So, they were covered with diesel fuel greasy stuff and had to be cleaned off and made sure they could see and have fuzzy fur and all that neat stuff that only cost about $15,000 p/beaver.  And today they get released back into the wilds.  But not back to their home in Willard Bay, they are not wanted there (I thank the DWR for that)!  It is rumored that they are traveling over onto the other side of the Wasatch Front mountain range and will find a new home somewhere near Randolph (those lucky folks over there can deal with them).

Someone over in that neck of the woods will have 5 pretty easy pelts come next Spring!  They won’t be worth nearly what it cost to save them, but they should be able to net at least $15 each.

Am I bad?

Photo is courtesy of the Utah DWR!  Thanks guys, nice pic!

Bears Butt

August 13, 2013

You all know I’m a flashlight freak and that my latest flashlight is like 7600 lumens (well not quite, but it’s pretty bright).  Lately it has seemed to be getting dimmer and dimmer, but I didn’t think anything about it until this morning, when it would not come on at all and if it did flicker it was just for a second.  I told Sherry I’d have to work on it later.

Usually, you just have to wiggle the contact points, maybe sandpaper the contacts of the batteries and possibly work a pencil into the contact on the back of the bulb and rub it.  The re-insert the batteries and VUELLA!  Let there be light!

I tried all of that today and nothing worked.  So to the internet I went!  I searched for “My mini mag light won’t stay on”….lots of stuff came up but the first one was the key to my problem.

They guy posted a troubleshooting page from Mini mag company and it said:  Mini Mag Flashlights equipped with LED lights are manufactured to remain as bright as possible until the last minute of the batteries useful life and then they go out.

So, after all my sanding and adjusting, all I really had to do was replace the batteries!  I sort of feel like a dummy.

Bears Butt

August 12, 2013

I’ll be absent for a while on here, I think, because we are heading up to see if we can find a bear.  I doubt there will be internet service where we will be, but if there is I will post up.

Wish us luck on finding a bear!

Bears Butt

64th birthday, August 6, 2013

An early rise morning to get some things done on the farm.  The morning air was crisp at about 65 degrees with lots of dew.  It sure was a reminder that Fall is just around the corner, however you won’t know it as this afternoon the high is expected to be 95 degrees!  That is hot folks!

So a quick little two hour ride around one of the fields to test out a theory about weed spraying.  You see we have a bit of a problem with a weed we call Indian Tobacco, however when you look it up on the world wide web it comes up with pictures of something totally different.  This is what we have:

In no way is this a picture from our farm, but of a field out south and west of the South Marina of Willard Bay.  By spraying we are trying to avoid our fields looking like this.  How about this picture of the field next to the one I just showed you.

If someone can tell me of a good use for this sort of weed, I would like to know it.

Our theory on spraying these this time of year is that when we usually spray it in the spring time, a lot of it hasn’t come out of dormancy yet and so we still have some in the hay.  This year we decided that after the hay was cut and we had watered and allowed the grass to grow about 6 inches, we would spray at that time to try and catch all the new growth of the Indian Tobacco.  As I sprayed this morning the growth of this weed looked perfect and the spray should have plenty of warm temps left to get to the root of the problem and kill it all off.  We won’t know for sure until next Spring.

Wish us luck!

Bears Butt

August 2, 2013