Spring Time at the Ranch

We are busy here at the ranch! We're in town, out of town, back in town, around town, and all over town. There's the computer biz, church biz, political biz, and even funerals to take care of! Then, there's the usual shopping and bill paying stints.

So, just how on earth does a busy computer dude get the time to sit down and hammer out a new blog posting? I suppose it’s easy. You just start downloading software on one computer and start a bug scan on another after making a coffee latte’. You just type really fast and squeeze it in. Works every time!

The weather has brightened up around here. We almost headed back to the house to get our shorts on while in Hooterville yesterday. I was hoping that the cool breezes might hang around a bit longer but it doesn’t appear that it will. It's already too warm for me.

 Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! We have a new family member! More precisely, she’s a grandchild and she has come into this world weighing 6lbs 15oz and the tape measure says that she's 19” long. Her name is “Moira Anneliese Howden”. You may have to practice this one a bit. Connie is still trying to get it down. Me? Not so much.

 
She is a living doll!! Connie and I went down to Harbor City (Moira’s new mailing address) to visit with the family and to get to hold the little cutie. She’s definitely a Howden what with the tow head and all. Connie did most of the holding while I did most of the resting and taking a few pictures. Actually, I should say that I tried to rest. I looked up the Greek word for “grandkids” and it means, “forced exercise”. I used up a lot of engery playing with the kiddies but it was worth it.

It was a hoot getting to see them all again. There’s Thatcher (10 and the brains of the outfit), Liesel (8), the crew foreman, Cosette (5) the self-appointed family princess, and 2 year old Kuyper (rhymes with diaper. His life is still closely associated with them), who is the “scootch” of the family (he used to scoot across the floor on his bottom until he discovered that he had been born with feet).

He has been demoted to being the second place attention getter as well. Moira has just topped him. He really has his act down, though. It's amazing that a two year old can grasp the concept that, if he cuts loose with a blood-curdling scream or yell, he will ...absolutely will...get attention from someone. Perhaps he won't drag his "Terrible Two's" into the "Threes".

We spent two days with the 5 of them and had a wonderful visit. Did you know that it can be expensive being a grandparent? Did you know that "7-11’s" looooove grandparents? They have doormen who watch and wait for grandparents to pull up with a van-load of kids. They then show you all of their teeth while welcoming you in and sweeping the floor in front of you. They absolutely know that you will be happy to pay for whatever the kids pile on the counter after strip mining the place. And, after the haul, they know that they will all grab a "Slushie" on the way out. Oh, well. It’s a small price to pay for a great time.

I did come away from the visit with one of life's mysteries. Cosette had my undivided attention for about thirty minutes or so. She had a large plastic stern wheeler bathtube toy boat that had a hinged top on it so you could store other toys inside it. How is it that she could make more noise banging on that thing in just that short of time than all of the noise I made during all of last week....and I was using a weedeater?

“In the  jungle the mighty jungle……” Hoooo, boy!  The front yard at the Ranch looks like it could be hiding a few lions, tigers, and bears, and probably a dump truck. It’s hard to tell at this point. Seems someone forgot to hire a young and strong groundskeeper (I've about passed the baton on that stuff) and the place is overgrown with grass and weeds. UGH. The garden boxes need major help too. We had hoped to at least get them prepared by now but that didn’t happen.

We did, however, purchase a new batch of seeds and starts. We’ll have supplies for soups and stews this year. I may even shove a few spuds in the dirt for the cause. No garden would be complete without zucchini so we’ll have some this year too. It would seem that we’re off to a running start but, so far, it’s more waltzing than running. That happens when you run out of steam, you know.

Speaking of steam, since there is such a scarcity of it around Rancho Relaxo, Connie and I are going to be getting a couple of tricycles and then will glue a small traction motor on the front wheel. It appears that they can haul even a goodly sized gorilla like me around and they get great gas mileage (about 80mpg or so). The trikes have an advantage in that they have a nice basket on the back. Add another one on the front and you have a real SUV-cycle. There is a real possibility that we will have a couple of two-wheelers too. The trikes are 20” while the bikes are 26”. Big is good when you are as large as I am.

We haven’t taken the boat out yet. We have everything but the time and energy to wrestle it into and out of the water. The fish will just have to be patient and wait awhile. There are other ….ahem….fish to fry. That would presumably be the trout in the river up behind a friend’s house up on Balch Park Road. He just invited us up to catch a batch of them. We can do that. I can almost smell the trout grilling away as we speak.

The Ranch sports an entire closet-sized space full of rods and reels that need to go for a stroll. The tackle boxes are made of plastic but it seems to me that they are rusting. It’s definitely time to overhaul a few of them and get them up and running…or should I say, up and spinning.

There are just about every shape, size, and length of pole and combination rod and reel that you can imaging just waiting to catch fish. I prefer the ultralight rigs with 6 lb test line on them if I’m fishing for trout. For bass, I like a bit larger rig with at least 8lb test line. I can go all the way to 50 lb test if needs be and the reel on that rig is mounted on a “real” fishing pole!

Things are moving along well at the church. We have peace there and are a family. It has been while since I’ve been a pastor but it comes naturally so there are no worries about it. Our church is thriving and prospering and it is under continually prayer for its success. There's the monthly potluck coming up soon too. That's always a winner with the hungry amongst us. We have about 40 folks who attend with most attending regularly.

One lady, my aunt, has attended the church on and off since she was a teenager. Talk about “faithful”! As each week passes we are seeing church growth. It is easy to see us counting more than 100 souls as being in attendance by the end of the year.  

Well, that’s the latest from “El Rancho Relaxo”. There will be more updates when it is possible to do so.