An Old Goat Ranch in Texas

[Arkaybee]

San Antonio

Ah yes .... San Antonio ....

Now you've gone and done it . . . my PB is vigorously lobbying for a trip to San Antonio and I know she will get it before too long.

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We are delighted to have, YOU, our GREAT storyteller back on-line.

We love your telling of the San Antonio "caper".

We receive great pleasure from reading your "choice" words and descriptive prowess which is UNIQUE.

Please continue to regale us with the development of THE OLD GOAT RANCH IN TEXAS.

Truth be told, we would each like to be developing our own "old goat ranch" and we can do it vicariously through your escapades.

Every step in His presence,

Arkaybee

 

[mbrule]

Terry, THANKS FOR SHARING!!!!!!

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy reading your stories!

 

[terry.dinerman]

Thank You, so very much everyone .... I am honored that you enjoy my scribblings ....!

Now go tell someone you LOVE them ...

Terry

 

[hobie]

Terry, I was wondering how you were doing this morning, and delighted to find your recent posts. You have given us a wonderful read. Thank you, and keep it up! All the best, Brian

 

[terry.dinerman]

Terry, I was wondering how you were doing this morning, and delighted to find your recent posts. You have given us a wonderful read. Thank you, and keep it up! All the best, Brian

Thanks, Hobie! I am always pleased and more than a little surprised to hear folks enjoy my fumbing attempts at building/writing...

It's a rainy morning at sea .... and I wish I could sleep in for a change, or at least chill out with the Sunday Paper, but I am a one-man-show out here and "Sick Call" won't wait...

So....I have a nice hot cuppa Joe, the music is playing, and I am at my post.

Hope you have a nice morning...

...now go tell someone you Love them...

Terry

 

[scoutcub]

Terry -

You entertaining rascal you.
I suppose the rainy season has hit full-on by now in your parts....?

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you we are no longer work neighbors.....my company, in their infinite wisdom, has transferred me to Kazakhstan, so flying out on the Caspian sea. Quite a contrast from Nigeria!
The weather's much better (at least now), the flying's much easier, and the pay is much lower but hey, still a job.....

Keep that keyboard lit up!


Frank

 

[terry.dinerman]

Terry -

You entertaining rascal you.
I suppose the rainy season has hit full-on by now in your parts....?

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you we are no longer work neighbors.....my company, in their infinite wisdom, has transferred me to Kazakhstan, so flying out on the Caspian sea. Quite a contrast from Nigeria!
The weather's much better (at least now), the flying's much easier, and the pay is much lower but hey, still a job.....

Keep that keyboard lit up!


Frank

Hi, Frank!

Yep ... interesting weather here in Equatorial Guinea .... after you choke on Harmattan dust for a few months you get to deal with the Rainy Season .... yessir .... makes me appreciate a little Central Texas drought .....

.... almost.

I'm sorry to hear you got sent to "Asz-crack-istan", Brother .... my company has operations there as well, and I am trying really hard not to get on the Boss's bad side and get sent to "The Gulag" for my sins ....

Drop a note occassionally and let us all know how things work out ... a compadre of mine worked Kazakhstan for a while and loved it .... he was in support of an exploration drilling team and told stories of having barbeques out in the desert and toasting the rockets launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome ....

In any case, remember to Straighten Up and Fly Right ....

Terry

 

[terry.dinerman]

OK Gentle Readers, here is the last installment for this trip....

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Roof!!!! Roof!!!

Precious Bride had managed to secure another long weekend off from the Giant Multinational Corporation, it was Precious Dafters turn for a little R&R, and after our rave reviews of Fiesta, she and her chums lit out for San Antonio to enjoy the last weekend of the party.

PB and I decided to head up to the Old Goat Ranch to top out the barn roof ... so we took the dogs with us ... they LOVE the Ranch.

The Pack travels quite nicely ... I cleared out the back seat of our pickup, laid out some old sheets, and piled our bags up behind the driver's seat, leaving a nice perch for the 3 Stooges ... Dottie naturally got the window seat, being Pack Leader and Grand Old Lady has perks like that, Fox is too stubby to climb up on top of the baggage and so took over the center position where she could lay across the center console and keep an eye on us in the front seat (In case we tried to try driving PAST any establishment that serves french fries) and the littlest dog Stella took up residence perched on top of the bags behind my headrest, so she could keep me from dozing behind the wheel by occasionally sticking her cold nose on the back of my neck and act as Navigator.

The ride to the Ranch was wonderful, it was a warm and sunny day, the roads still offered up a bounty of wild flowers for us to admire, there were plenty of places to stop for water breaks and let the Stooges enjoy the roadside smells, and of course, there are a multitude of french fry purveyors scattered along the route ... although I am sure Fox can't spell, she can darn sure spot those golden arches from a LONG way off ... and she tells us ALL about it ... The rest of the Pack counts on her to keep the fry supply flowing ... :licking:

The Pack stayed with PB and I out in MIL and FIL's guest house, but unfortunately, since the place is right on a busy road and not fully fenced in, the dogs spent most of their time on leash or inside.

Several other visitors came and went, 2 out of 3 of my BIL's came by with assorted wives and kids, so being kept around the house was not such a Bad Thing for the dogs as this meant lots of walks with PB and MIL and FIL and BIL and SIL and the Nephews, which churned up lots of extra Guilt Snacks to make up for all the abuse heaped on the poor darlin's due to their confinement.
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Mornings were still cool ... So we had a quick breakfast with MIL and FIL and got an early start on the work ....

As we collect the building materials Precious Bride locates on Craigslist, I try to stack them close to where I eventually plan to use them, so a thick pile of corrugated and treated poles has been resting next to the Barn for several months ....a fellow was demolishing an old bus barn and sold us as much of the metal and poles as we could carry so two trailer loads of barn-building materials wound up stored in several piles at The Old Goat Ranch ...

PB had found some scaffolding for sale, and picked up two aluminium scaffold boards, two sets of risers and crossbars, and a nearly new set of wheels as well ... we trucked them up along with an old chicken house fan PB got for free during another deal and a bunch of materials gleaned from the BIL's beverage machine warehouse as he cleaned out about 20 years accumulated Stuff ... thanks to my BIL's generosity I have enough plastic hose, fittings, water filters, coffee pots etc for three lifetimes ...

While at home on the coast, I got the fan back in operation with some fresh wire, a new belt, and a little grease and oil for the fan and motor bearings ... these old fans were built to LAST ... there is no telling how many thousands of hours the thing might have had on it, but it is now mounted in a nice heavy wooden frame with fence-mesh blade guards, and will serve well cooling me as I work around the Barn ....

We unloaded the supplies and I set to work on a small job I have been meaning to get around to for some time ... I hung up a nice hammock on a pair of hickory trees in the middle of what will be our Palaver Hut in the middle of the Front Yard ...I got lots of hugs for that

The scaffold boards fit the ladder rack of my truck perfectly ... once lashed down with cargo straps, they made a stable and easily mobile platform to work from ... I set up some string lines and my long measuring tapes and found that the building had gone a little out of square over the hiatus, so I broke out some slings and a come-along and soon had things back in shape

I had treated myself to a new toy for this job ... an 18 volt DeWalt impact driver ... I can't imagine doing any more construction without one of these tools ... I socked the hundreds of Tek screws down with hardly any effort ... I also tried sinking a few 3inch wood screws into some well-aged and dried poles just to see ... it was like driving them into butter ....

I positioned the truck along the west edge of the roof and was squaring off a piece of J-channel for the first row of panels when Precious Bride hollered that she had discovered a CRIME had been committed on our Ranch ....

PB had gone off to the Little House and discovered a ghastly scene of violence .... from what we can put together from the tracks in the thick dust and the disturbed leaves around the area, the Doe that lives on our place and the Garden Gnome that protects our Little House had a run-in with a good-sized raccoon ....

The tracks started outside the Little House and ended a few yards away, where the still-breathing coon was laying in a pile of leaves ... he had been slashed in several places by the doe's hooves and had his back was broken .... the old boy could drag himself only a short distance before he could go no further ....

I guess old Rocky Raccoon was trying to kidnap the Gnome and Mrs. Doe objected to it ....

A .22 short ended Rocky's pain, and our compost heap is seeing to his remains. We dusted off the Gnome and set him back to his watch .... he seemed none the worse for wear, but refused to provide any information ....

....when your garden gnome Lawyers Up, there ain't nothing left to do but get back to work ...

With Precious Bride on the ground sorting the sheets of corrugated and passing them on up to me, the roof took shape quickly and by the time lunch rolled around, more than half of the metal was up.

PB took a well-earned break .... her morning was a flurry of activity, sorting sheets of metal from the pile, passing them up, moving the truck / scaffold as I directed from up top .... a nap on her new hammock was in order ...

I prefer not to eat during the heat of the day, so after a water break I continued the work.

By early afternoon, PB was back at the stockpile slinging corrugated, and the end of the job was rapidly coming into view .... The Word must have gone out because first Good Neighbor Joe and then MIL and FIL came by to see how things were progressing ...

The honor of driving the final screws into the final panel of the roof belonged to Precious Bride .... naturally her INTENSE dislike of heights made getting her up on the ladder a bit of a show ... A little shaky, but grimly determined, she was as happy as a cat on ice, but discharged her mission with honor.

The roof was on .... !

I finished up by dressing the bolt heads on the front braces with some cast iron shoulder washers I had purchased a long time ago Just In Case ... I rather liked the look of the big stars ... I then remounted Old Glory to a permanent spot in the center of the eave ... there was just enough breeze to make the flag stream nicely for the picture ...

A fine day's work was done here ... I love working with PB ...and somehow, that pile of tin just didn't seem to be getting any smaller .... I know we pulled out at least 35 sheets of varying lengths to put up on the roof but there is plenty left in that pile for a Goat Shed and another large stack over in the Great Pile-O-Stuff should hold enough for a proper Tractor Shed ...

I love it when a plan comes together .... I am going to get PB a Data Plan for her phone so she can surf Craigslist 24/7 ....

Dinner's centrepiece was a pot of beans I had put up in MIL slow cooker that morning ... a couple of bags of 15 Bean Soup, a sweet onion, the bones from a spiral sliced ham and a little pepper had been simmering away and driving anyone within 300 feet of the house mad with hunger all day ... we could smell them when we pulled into the driveway so once we got cleaned up and armed ourselves with some tortillas, our little circle tucked into them with purpose ...

What's that saying that goes something about having a simple meal with friends rather than a feast in the tents of ones enemies ...

... well it's even better when you wash them beans down with a scoop of Bluebell ....

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Dottie's Last Stand - A Good Dog's Grand Day Out

We have another sad loss to deal with ... Spotty Dottie is gone ...

Rather than add more torment our Son's last days with the loss of his beloved dog, "Bob" waited as long as he could until after Ben was gone to come for Dottie ... she was there for Ben and then for the rest of us thru this trying time .... but Bob came nevertheless and left with our Grand Old Lady ...

Dottie was famed far and wide, or at least in our little tribe, alternately, as an Authentic Indian Weather Dog, Blood Pressure Dog First Class and the One and Only Vibra-Hound ... Dottie almost made it to 14 years despite the damage from the ravages of heart-worms which produced periodic episodes of chaotic heartbeats that would cause her to black out, and her profound fear of any airborne moisture ...

Spotty Dottie was as dumb as a bag of walnuts, sweet as clover honey and loved her human and dog family and friends with a depth of commitment that will stand as a lesson for me forever.

Rather than waste a bunch of time on learning silly tricks, Dottie would meet you at the door at the end of your workday, follow you around until you made it to your comfy chair, then, always the good listener, she would sit patiently while you vented the frustrations of the day, laying her head on your lap to soak up any excess blood pressure which she would then carry away and bury outside, where it wouldn't hurt anyone ...


I still trip in some of the holes she left ready to receive more .... she was always thinking ahead ...

Dottie was without peer at keeping the yard free of cats and squirrels and with an eye ever skywards, would always warn us of impending foul weather by holing up in the darkness under our desk panting and shivering uncontrollably for several hours (or days) ahead of the actual event. She beat the local TV weather dweebs predictive abilities every time ...

While the other dogs would just dive into their food bowls like they had not eaten in weeks, Dottie would always taste her food and then reward you with a sweet smile and a wag of her tail before she went back to her meal, as if to thank you for providing her with the best thing she had ever tasted in her entire life ever, ever, ever .... REALLY ... and of course if you could spare a couple of cheese puffs, she wouldn't mind helping you get rid of them ...

As a Beagle / Jack Russell mix (a "Teagle" we called her) Dottie inherited the voice of her Beagle ancestors and the single-mindedness of the Terriers ... NOTHING was allowed in, over, or around her yard without her permission ... or could even get close enough to the fence to try ... the old girl was pretty vocal in explaining the rules to transgressors, both actual and imagined ...


Though Precious Bride found "Beagle Music" to be Fingernails-On-A-Chalkboard irritating, I thought the dog had a rather nice set of pipes, which I could hear as she gave the local cats, postal workers, stray dogs, blackbirds or tree rats "What-fer" thru the closed windows of my truck from a quarter mile away ...

....with the radio on and turned up LOUD ....

The fence was, however the line between Friend and Foe .... once someone or thing had been escorted into her domain by her humans, she accepted them as family .... especially our letter carriers, who seemed to always have a treat tucked away somewhere ....

All who knew her agreed, Dottie was, a Good Dog.

Dotties last weekend with us was one long Grand Day Out.

With Precious Bride's assistance we had got so far ahead on the barn roofing job I decided I would give PB a day off and rather than saddle her with more dog sitting, I would give the dogs a chance to enjoy the freedom of the Ranch with me as I finished up trimming out the gutters and flashing.

Right after breakfast I loaded up the Pack, and headed on down to the Ranch so Precious Bride could get some Quality Time with the family.

Once the dogs saw the gate they could hardly contain themselves ... and once turned out, they got right down to business, crisscrossing the property, patrolling from one corner to the other nose-down for the rest of the morning, smelling all that there was to be smelled, wallowing in the pond, chasing small crunchy critters and rolling in unspeakable foulness ...

.... we would all join up at the barn for regular water breaks every hour or so ... they would come right in at my whistle, lap up a bucket of water and then head back out for more adventure ... a perfect dog-morning.

I had set up the big fan to blow thru the now deeply shaded front of the Barn to cool my work area as I pieced together the salvaged guttering and folded the flashing, and as the morning wore on and the heat of the day began creeping up on them, Fox and Dottie spent more and more time relaxing on the cool steel floor of an open container, enjoying the breeze and occasionally taking cooling dips in our little pond , much to the anoyance of the bullfrogs ....

Stella, however, could not contain all the energy stored up from her former life in a puppy-mill cage ... she ran full-tilt wherever she went, tried her best to capture at least ONE of the bullfrogs , nose-dozed countless tons of leaves hunting for the rodents or other crunchy bits that must surely be hiding underneath, she gave herself her own flea treatments by rolling around in the driveway dust and tried very hard to get the other dogs to join in all the fun ... but around noon even she began to play out and took up her own small patch of floor in front of the fan.

Even in the mid-day heat, the Pack stayed with me while I kept on with the work alternating supervising from their lounge, or following along as I drove around the property collecting materials from the various Piles-o-Stuff ... the younger dogs preferred to trot along behind the truck so they could investigate all the wonderful smells and critter trails thru the brush along the way, but the Grand Old Lady was not doing so well with the afternoon heat ... I helped her up onto the tailgate where she got to lounge around and enjoy all the benefits of travelling around the Ranch with none of the work.

She took being helped up and down off the tailgate gracefully, as one of the prices of ripe old age ...

With regular trips to the water bucket, we all just kept the pace slow and steady for the remainder of the afternoon.

I soon had all the guttering and flashing done, and with the sun beginning to drop low, I decided it was time to get back to MIL and FIL's ...

Now, between the trips to the pond and all the well-ripened dead stuff they found to roll in, there was NO WAY those dogs were going to travel inside the truck before they had a bath, so I put a critter-crate in the back of the truck and loaded them up for the short drive back.

This was the first highway ride in the bed of the truck for any of them ... and they all seemed delighted with the whole thing.

I was concerned with how Stella might react at being behind wire again, but she was all smiles when we got back to the Guest House.

The price for my taking the Pack for the day was for Precious Bride to be in charge of bathing them ...

You would think that for animals who enjoy wallowing up their noses in our pond, they would not resent a bath as much as they do, but Dottie normally will have to be dug out from under the house if she knows she has a bath coming, Fox will endure the bath and the horrible state of "Fluffy" her coat goes thru for a day or so thereafter , but she gives you the Stink Eye the whole time, and Stella will just look as miserable as a drowned rat thru the whole thing.

PB was astounded at the amount of swill going down the drain as she washed the dogs, confirming her suspicions that we had all had a wonderful time.

After we were all cleaned up I took a nap while PB walked the Pack .... that's when the War broke out.

"Tomasz Katz" is my FIL's tomcat ... a grey feral yearling of unusually pleasant disposition and uncertain parentage, that has taken up residence at MIL and FIL's place ... he keeps the mice under control and for this service is not only tolerated but has his wild rations supplemented with assorted handouts.

I am not, as a rule, fond of many cats, but as cats go, Tomascz is an OK cat.

Tom is doing a pretty good job buttering up the humans, and making himself a pretty good living at it, however, the old boy needs to learn to choose his battles more carefully ... Tom decided to join the Pack on its evening walk around MIL and FIL's fenceline and MIL was so impressed at the dogs low-key reaction, she took a few pics on her phone ...

This pleasant little cat normally follows FIL around as he putters about, and this was not a problem for the dogs until Tom suddenly decided, for some unknown insult, to clobber Fox, leaving one of his claws embedded in her nose and sparking an instant riot.

Tho the Pack is willing to accept the presence of any animal we human Pack Leaders say they must, and have tolerated other dogs, cats, goats, chickens, geese, human children and even the Federal Express Man, all Good Dogs must, as a matter of Honor, draw the line at physical assault, and the Pack is apparently aware that the laws of God, Man and the Great State of Texas give them the right to whoop asz in each others defence when attacked.

... this they did with gusto ... that little SOB had drawn first blood ... !

Leashes snapped, collars slipped and the Pack turned as one to confront the mighty threat posed by at least two full pounds of alley cat ... The chase was brisk but short and once Tomasz was holed up in the darkness under the house, the Pack decided, quite wisely, to break contact rather than follow the hissing, snarling, puff-ball of teeth and 17 remaining claws under the house to continue the fight.

Tomasz, for his part, showed exquisite good sense by staying under the house until the next morning rather than risk the snapping jaws of the enraged Pack.

With order restored and Honor served, the Pack retired from the field in triumph ....

PB picked the claw out of Fox's nose and gave the whole Pack a piece of her mind for breaking discipline ... another battle casualty occurred when Fox's leash snapped and the reel backlashed, the recoiling line slapped back and left a nasty bruise on PB's arm, so PB was, to put it mildly, PISSED OFF and let the dogs know it.

T\But enven tho chastised and subdued, the dogs all seemed pretty full of themselves by the time I saw them. A good cat-fight-chase is apparently a tonic for the doggie soul ...

Needless to say, it was a full day, and we all slept the sleep of Good Dogs that night ...

The next morning was time to get back to the coast ... I had to attend a class and PB had to get back to work at the Giant Multinational Corporation, so we had an early breakfast with MIL and FIL and got packed up.

Pre-trip walkies with the Pack was a bit problematic, for we were hardly into the first turn around the property when Dottie had one of her episodes of chaotic heartbeat and collapsed ... This always horrifies the other two dogs who hovered protectively over their Grand Old Lady as she slowly recovered her breath and wits.

Dottie needed to be carried to the truck where some rest on a soft seat and some air-conditioning did much to restore her, and by the time we were ready to leave, she was her old self, expressing much appreciation for all the attention she was getting from her human and dog chums.

With all the activity of the last couple of days, the Pack was happy to chill out for the whole ride home, demanding only one stop for french fries

Once at home, we got unloaded and turned the Pack out into their Home Turf ... soon Precious Dafter came home with goodies the Happy Dance was a sight to behold.

It was after the Dance, snacks and a trip outside that "Bob" came for Dottie.

PD called to me from our utility room to say Dottie was having another one of her episodes ... Fox and Stella were with her as usual ... PD was stroking Dottie's grey head as Bob left with her.

I wrapped Dottie up in a clean sheet and PD, accompanied by an old friend, who also grew up with this sweet dog, carried Dottie back up to the Ranch, where our Grand Old Lady will sleep the sleep of Good Dogs in the middle of our front pasture, with a group of oak trees to shade her from the Texas heat.

Dottie's last weekend was quite possibly the best of her long life, filled with Travel, Adventure, Combat, French Fries and the love of her family.

I can't say that I would want much more than that when Bob comes for me ...

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See you next month, Neighbors ....

As usual, photos to follow ....

Now go tell someone you LOVE them ...

Terry

 

[terry.dinerman]

Roof -

 

[terry.dinerman]

More Roof -