An Old Goat Ranch in Texas

[ruralruss]

You are beyond generous in your praise, Bob, and I thank you...!

Now as far as writing a book is concerned, I suppose the book is actually writing itself...I just do the living and record the results when I get a few moments to sit still and put the words together...

It's tough for me to find the time to write while I'm off the ship....the monthly pauses in the narrative simply mean I am way too busy doing stuff....it is this voluntary confinement at sea every other month that finally provides the "spare time" I need to reflect on all that's happened.

Precious Bride has me printing off the blog in hard copy so she can store it away with he other treasures in her "Hope Chest"....

Maybe she has something in mind...

Thanks again, Brother....Be Safe!

The book may be writing itself but I hope you are making backups! You have written a lot of entertainment here, be a shame to lose it.

 

[terry.dinerman]

The book may be writing itself but I hope you are making backups! You have written a lot of entertainment here, be a shame to lose it.

Like we say "backintheneighborhood"....

"...not to worry..."

T

 

[terry.dinerman]

Can you see the LIGHT?

The Father / Daughter Dance

After dropping Precious Bride off at home to slog thru the accounts of the Big Multinational Corporate Giant, I packed up my tools and my Precious Dafter for the return trip.

PD generally only gets to visit the Ranch during my deployments ... she has shouldered the dual responsibilities of providing daily medical care for her Brother, while attending the local Community College, so anytime PB and I are up here, she runs the show down on the coast ...

I like this kid ... she takes after her Mother ...

Needless to day, she has been chafing at the bit to get her hands dirty on some of the work up there, and the juxtaposition of the Christmas Break at the college and my rotation finally provided the opportunity ...

Without the pressure of having to schedule contractors or inspections for the next few phases of the work, there will be plenty of "Quality Time" available ... and naturally she wants to learn how to operate the tractor ...

I like this kid ...

We got a nice early start Monday, picked up some breakfast on the road and headed north ...

When we got to the Big Town, we headed right to the Big Electrical House to order the cable, and lo and behold, the Boss had simply gone ahead and ordered a full spool of the stuff ... said he needs to keep it in stock anyway ...

How cool is that ?!

Well, it was going to be an hour or two before he was going to be able to cut and spool up our order, so I paid for it and we headed to The Ranch to drop off the tools and make enough room in the back of Truck for the spool ... PD and I had the gear cleared out and she elected to chill with MIL and FIL while I made the return trip to the Big Town (With a big "T") and picked up the cable.

The cable was waiting for me when I got back to the Big Electrical House, wound up on a nice heavy wood spool too, which will make laying the stuff out a lot easier ... the Manager hopped into the fork lift to load me up and I was ready to go in 10 min ...

I got the Boss to give me the email address of his Regional Manager so I could take a moment to right these guys a Letter of Commendation ... quality customer service like theirs should not go unnoticed ... you never know when an "Ataboy" letter in someone's file from a happy customer will make the difference when a raise or promotion is being weighed ....

The ride back to the Ranch was uneventful, and I scooped up PD on the way it was time for a little classroom action ...

The Little Green Giant vs Precious Dafter

When not working, the Little Green Giant rests in one of the containers that forms the nucleus of our barn, so we opened up and started from scratch checkeing fuel, oil, coolant, kicking tires, and went over the controls ...

I am always glad we chose an older, simpler machine ... Some of the newer tractors have dashboards that resemble small aircraft these days but the 870 is dead simple ... only the absolute bare necessities ... which has the added benefit of making breaking in a new operator a lot easier....

This is sort of the "J-3 Cub" of tractors, as far as I am concerned ....

With the "Pre-Flight" checklist done, PD fired it up and gingerly chugged out of the barn ... there are only a few inches to spare on either side or between the top of the ROPS and the container door but she did as instructed and kept it in low gear ... eased on down the ramps with no problem .... she drives a standard car ( and steals my truck while I'm off at work and can't defend it!) so although the non-synchro transmission was a bit of a new experience, she choogled on down the ramps and into the sunshine with no problem.

The Kid is a natural ...

The post-hole digger needed to come off so I had her drive around to Machinery Row along our back fence where I have laid out a bunch of railroad ties to set our "Tractor Bling" on, as the Girls like to call it ... so PD got some practice dropping and then backing up to implements, and did a fine job as we hooked up that "new" rake that Precious Bride had found for me on Craigslist ...

The darned thing hardly had the paint scratched ... what a DEAL !!

It was a nice light (sort of) implement to practice hooking up with and PD quickly got the hang of the 3-point hitch ... But I can see that I am going to have to find a quick-hitch one of these days ... bite the bullet and "adjust" all the dinged-up pins on my ever-growing collection of "bling" ...

I had her run the back fenceline and rake up the debris that had accumulated there and shove it into the brush-fence ... this provided lots of three-point turns and lift control practice and by the time she was done the back road was looking pretty spiffy ... I pretty much just advised her to keep the speed down until she was more experienced, and keep trying different settings on the lift, toplink and the tool itself until she was happy with the results ... she was decidedly proud of herself with the outcome ...

Like the Philosopher said, "...we are just raking up sticks here .... no reason to get all emotional about it ..."

So with that done, we went back up to the house site and unloaded the wire spool, laid out the tools for tomorrows trenching job, talked about underground utilities in general and then spent a while going over the Master Plan ... tho she has been following the job closely, as she keeps the family financial books, it is a lot different when your boots are standing on the jobsite and you have the plan in your hand ... we went over the various facets involved in completion of the Utility Corridor, the Interior Fencing Plan and I drove her all over the place pointing out the various features already in or planned ...

She asked a lot of good questions regarding where water points were going to be and was especially concerned with the area in which the direct burial power cables will have to be crossed by the water line to the house ... didn't think 2 feet of dirt between the top of the cables and the bottom of the water line was enough protection ... so we are going to thread a 20' piece of conduit over that section as well ... belt and suspenders ....

I KNOW I mentioned that I like this Kid....

All this activity attracted the attention of the Pasture Posse, who will definitely need to be placated later ... they all stood at the fence trying to look as malnourished as possible as we passed ... moochers ....

Over the course of the the last year or so, Precious Bride and Precious Dafter have been collecting plants for the Front Gate landscaping ...

... mostly off of Craigslist, and the "Bargain Rack" at the local Big Box Home Improvement Store OF COURSE .... Ranchers cannot afford to pay Full Price ...

The girls have assembled a nice assortment of native grasses and shrubs which are currently living in pots in a small nursery area in our backyard down on the coast

This coming spring they will have to get into the ground lest they get root-bound, so it is time to prepare the beds up front for that ...

I had Precious Dafter drive the tractor around back to drop the rake and pick up the box blade ... we will need the rippers to pull a tangle of stumps and brush out of one of the beds and plow the other one, so I decided to see if she could figure this out herself ... that box blade is HEAVY ... so there will be no cheating ....

I busied myself laying out the location of the breaker box on the barn wall and started trying to come up with a thumbnail estimate of wire and conduit for the final wiring, but before I had really got into it, PD was back with the blade on and ready to go ... So up to the Front Gate we went ...

I like this kid ...

We fumbled around for a few minutes dropping the ripper shanks down ... I hate those darned hairpins that secure them, but you can't beat the simplicity and reliability of the things, and then we got busy ripping up the stumps and staubs ...

PD had a little bit of trouble on the uneven ground and couldn't quite get the hang of using the lift as she drove to control the rippers depth, as the area drops quickly off into the roadside ditch ... she was was also pretty uncomfortable with the machine pitching around on the broken ground, so I finished up the rough patch, leaving plowing up the opposite side of the entrance to her ...

On this side she did just fine and got a real object lesson on maintaining traction by balancing implement engagement depth vs rpm vs brake pressure to keep the rear tires from spinning on the small tractor ...

... several years of driving a manual shift car in traffic has given her a nice touch on the controls so in short order, she had mastered the job, the bed was plowed up and we were parking the tractor ...

As soon as the engine noise ceased, the sound of Pancho braying hungrily in the distance cut thru the air ... after about 5 minutes of that ruckus we couldn't stand his complaining anymore and went back to the back gate to smooch up on the Pasture Posse ...

PD had tagged the new foal "Lilly White" with her name due to the foals white coat with a shock of curly white hair along the top of her nose but mainly so she can tell people she doesn't particularly care for to feel free to drive to Bedias and kiss her Lilly White *** ....

Did I mention that I like this kid ??

PD took great delight feeding the rapidly taming littlest burro, who is still skittish enough to be very gentle about taking a pellet from your hand, unlike her elder burros or the mules, and especially the gelding, who would would happily swallow your arm up to the shoulder if you're not careful ...

With the Posse temporarily sated, we closed up shop for the evening and headed up the road to MIL and FIL's ....

Yes indeed ... I LIKE this Kid ....

 

[dcyrilc]

PD had tagged the new foal "Lilly White" with her name due to the foals white coat with a shock of curly white hair along the top of her nose but mainly so she can tell people she doesn't particularly care for to feel free to drive to Bedias and kiss her Lilly White *** ....

Did I mention that I like this kid ??

How could you not? I don't even know her and I'm already starting to like her.:laughing::laughing:

 

[scoutcub]

Too Good!!!!!:thumbsup:

 

[dcyrilc]

Too Good!!!!!:thumbsup:

Wow. Just get me all excited why don't you.

I saw a new post for "An Old Goat Ranch in Texas" and got all excited thinking that Terry was continuing the story and then I find that it was just a reply.:laughing::laughing:

You got me good, scoutcub.:laughing:

 

[terry.dinerman]

Wow. Just get me all excited why don't you.

I saw a new post for "An Old Goat Ranch in Texas" and got all excited thinking that Terry was continuing the story and then I find that it was just a reply.:laughing::laughing:

You got me good, scoutcub.:laughing:

....Patience, Grasshopper....

 

[dcyrilc]

Morning Terry.

 

[terry.dinerman]

'evening, Cyril...!

 

[dcyrilc]

I reckon it must be about lunch time by now so I think I'll head for the sack.:laughing: