Rancho Seco (Dry Ranch)

 

It’s been a bummer of a dry summer at the ranch. “How dry has it been, Ran?”, you ask? Well, the Tule river is at “zero flow” (i.e. there is no movement of water which is something that hasn’t happened in my lifetime). That means that it is so dry that the trout are having to hitch-hike 5 miles to Success Lake to have room to swim. That’s dry!

Lawns in the area are more brown than green except where the homeowners have sufficient resources to pay exorbitantly for water or a private well. In one local neighborhood, their water bill is around 300 dollars per month and that’s before watering the lawn (with some reporting that the water isn’t fit to drink)!

That brownness includes Brother Ran’s lawn which is greenish but not the verdant lush lawn that it usually is. The “Pleasant Valley Ditch Company” has rationed our “ditch water” (whose tap is in the Tule River) with which we irrigate the place. We’ve been warned that it could cut back even more …..soon. So, we’re using the tried and true “drip irrigation” method for a lot of our watering so most of our fruit trees are only somewhat stressed.

That also means that our grapes are not exactly springing from the ground. Some of the problem may be the poor soil in which they are planted. I can get rocks and weeds to grow well there but not much else. Though planted at the same time, they are all different sizes ranging from “just recently planted” to “planted about 6 months ago”. They were planted more than a year ago. *SIGH*. It reminds me of an old bluegrass song, “”When My Brown Thumb Turns to Green Again”. Well, at least I have access to some “Miracle Grow” which, purportedly, can grow grass on a park bench. I need all the help I can get including a few days off to attend to our greenery around here.

Our “friends”, the pocket gophers, have taken down two of our young fruit trees (one apple and one peach). I’ve got some ideas, some hardware, some gas producing flares, and not enough time to deal with them. But, I hope to run the little furry buggers from their encampments soon. Every time I run them off, the neighbor’s gophers move in to take their place.

Thankfully, the weather has been somewhat milder than usual. 100 degree days are not uncommon but we’ve been spared the “scorchers” for the most part. The weatherman recently forecast temps of 105-106 degrees but those numbers failed to appear. It’s about the only time we’ve ever forgiven the forecaster for lying to us.

Our bees seem to be holding up under the heat. We checked them the other day and the colony is actually growing! Apparently, even our queen bee is blessed as she seems to have made sure that the work crew will be sufficient for the next bloom.

Since there is so little of anything blooming (bees can’t make a living from a few local Crape Myrtle trees, don’tcha know), we feed them a sugar syrup concoction with an additive that keeps the bees healthy (it’s called “Healthy Bee”, in fact). Our brother-in-Christ and professional beekeeper, Dave Kruze, has advised us to not take any honey until the spring bloom and to just let them settle in for now. We can do that.

I sure made the little buzzers madder than a hornet's nest the other day. Connie and I suited up in our space alien -looking bee outfits and went out to check on them and feed them. Now, you’d think that they would appreciate our love and concern. Hah! When I lifted the top lid off the top box, the hive came unglued all at one time! You'd have thought that we were trying to steal all the queen's larvae!

They were obviously improperly potty trained since hundreds and bunches of them and their buzzin' cousins from the adjacent hive assailed us with a vengeance! It was comforting to know that they couldn't get past our suits. As we finished feeding them (do you know how hard it is to feed a bee with an eyedropper?!), we headed back to the house and were still enveloped in a huge cloud of wings and stings. Usually, what few bees there were would stop following us within several yards. Not this time! They (all of them) pursued us to the front of the house before they finally left us alone (the hives are way out behind the pole barn). This was the first time we have faced the high dudgeon of the colony. We'll just smoke'em a bit next time and calm things down prior to tresspassing on their turf. Or, I could just start a hog farm. It would be less adventurous, I suppose.

The “Ranch Rocket” (the sublimely subsonic motorized Schwinn trike) is pretty much tested now. There is still a slow leak in the front tire even after a gallon of "Fix-a-Flat" and a new valve core. The problem will be obviated soon as we just got our new heavy duty tires and puncture proof tubes. I'm not  into fixin' flats around here. I’m not taking it to the “Famosa Drag Strip” for time trials any time soon either. Besides, if I ran the quarter mile, the timing clock would wear out before I finished and Christmas would be here. I dunno....maybe I could put a supercharger on it or such. How about maybe removing the basket and mounting a small block Chevy V-8 over the rear axel? Wouldn't that just smoke the tires?! Can't you just see Connie riding it now? "Go Granny! Go, Granny! Go Granny! Go!".

As soon as it’s convenient and the weather is nicer (I ain’t goin’ nowhere nohow at 5 AM just because it’s cooler then), I’ll pull the cord on the little Honda motor and head 2.6 miles down the hill to the “Eagle Feather” gas station/convenience mart. Yes, I’ll have my handy helmet and even handier cell phone with me in case I need Connie to rescue me. I figure it will only take about 15 minutes to get there.

It may be peach picking time in Georgia but it's veggie canning time at the ranch. Connie has put up a lot of zucchini, crookneck squash, green beans, and tomatoes The full tomato harvest is about to hit and it will be “Katy bar the door” when it does. Our tomato plants have certainly prospered this year and we will have an abundant harvest. She also combined the zukes and crooknecks with some tomatoes to make “soup makin’s” and a spaghetti sauce base.

We’ve managed to pick up a ton of canning jars at yard sales and estate sales for pennies on the dollar. Soon, we’re ordering the special “Tattler” re-usable jar lids, too. That should round out her canning supplies for now. The huge "All American" 21 ½ qt canner is kept warm around here!

With that bit o' cannery, y’all stay tuned for more updates from the little ranch that could.