Rancho Trabajo Trabajo Pendejo

Here's Abbie the Guard Dog at work. Notice how she lies perfectly still and keeps her ear to the ground. Her eyes are shut fast so she can focus all of her attention on listening for Gypsies and other ne'er do wells who would trespass her realm. Methinks she must have taken lessons from the premier guardian of the ranch, Maggie the Wonder Dog. 

This is Abbie in the official "Guard Shack". Wouldn't you know that I would catch her right at break time. 

Here she is again holding down the fort. Actually, she's only holding down a couple of square feet of the fort. The size of her realm and its duties seems to vary from day to day. 

Abbie ready to spring into action.......right after the stretching exercises. A good guard dog has to stay in shape, you know. 

 I forgot to get a decent picture of Wooly Pully's new high-rise stake sides so I'm using and indecent one. The sides are 48" and allow for some real options. We can now haul at least twice as much to the dump thereby saving us 20 dollars per trip! There are also new slab sides making it a materials hauler as well.

Would you believe that Lovey Dovey is back yet again? This dove is amazing! This her sixth go around for raising chicks here at the ranch! The first time was at our back door. After that, all other brooding was done on the front porch in one of the hanging flower baskets. Her chicks will be up and gone in only a few more days. 

Well.....it's September again and after only a fleeting 12 months. And, a strange September it is; it's cool. It's not supposed to reach below a day time high of 95 degrees until the third week of the month. That isn't happening; we've been experiencing day time highs of high 80's to mid 90's. So it means we're actually experiencing October weather. That's interesting (but nice and well appreciated). We were supposed to have the hottest August ever recorded but ended up with the coolest one. And, September is continuing with program. Another forecast that will likely come true, though, is for a few days of triple-digit temps. I shouldn't wonder since that's then norm.  We'll see.

So, we're cool but we're still suffering a sere September (don't you just love alliteration?). When I was a boy, this area was known for its "dry heat" but now we're known for our "parched cool". Guess we have to have something to put us on the map. Maybe we can also drum up a "Chicken Sitters Convention" and make Springville the go-to place for "chickening".

In any case, these old-but-new chicken sitters had an opportunity to have a "mini-union" a couple of weeks ago. Connie's son, Tracie, and his family flew into LAX from Seattle to visit for a few days. The clan congregated at her elder daughter, Trixie's, home in Harbor City which is adjacent to Torrance which isn't far from LAX. 

It was nice to see the grandkiddies and notice how they've grown (it's amazing what happens when you feed them). It was also a great day for Trixie's eldest son, Thatcher, who was gleefully elevated above his siblings by turning into a teenager overnight. His sister, Leisl, will not be outdone so she will give diligence to correct that "problem" in only a couple of years or so.

However (why is there always a "however"?), the 200 mile trip down there seems to be getting longer and longer. It's almost like driving to Washington. Ugh. After a couple of days in a MO-tel (a southern version of a northern mo-TEL), and after the 4 hour trek home, we are bushed, beat, and barely able to bounce if we fall. We felt like a living room rug after spring cleaning. Since we returned Saturday evening, we still had to finish editing and printing the bulletins for church, get our song list ready, stage stuff like the guitar and computers (for recording) to be put in the van, and such prior to getting any sleep. Even without a "cheatin' heart", we walked the floor until after midnight. Double "ugh".

All in all, it is always worth it so see the young'uns . We don't see them that often due to the distances involved so we see them only somewhat rarely (this sentence may be related to "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck..."). It may be awhile before we can break loose again. Seems like the work around here is never ending what with full-time tending of Rancho Relaxo, full-time computer business, and full-time ministry. We still manage to do some part-time Ebay and Craig's List selling but not as much as we'd like.

Music? Not in a long long time. I used to play at local jams and benefits but there just isn't any time left for such things. So, I just play for my own amazement here in the living room. The Fender Stratoblaster, Fender Telecaster, and Les Paul (Epi) are on hand and ready to make enough noise to insure that the dog doesn't get to finish her nap. The Martin Special Edition D-16M is always close too. The big "dog house" bass sits patiently in the corner awaiting the call for a good Bluegrass workout but no one seems to do much of that around these days. I used to play for my supper but now, I'd gladly play for donuts and hot coffee.

One change is that I cut the big 120 watt Crate GX-212 loose. It was just too big for the living room and I really don't need to peel the paint of the opposing wall with that big acoustic hammer. Connie just doesn't take kindly to old guitar players who wreck her paint job and her ears at the same time. So, I sold it to a fellow old picker who needs it for his church down in Bakersfield. In its place is a really nice "Fender 25R" 25 watt amp with a 10" speaker that has more reverb available than my old 1965 "Fender Deluxe Reverb" ever thought about. I doubt if I'll need a leaf scorcher for outside gigs any time soon anyway. If so, I'll just barrow the big Crate air mover from the friend who bought it. 

A nice workaround is that I fired up my Laney "Linebacker 50" bass amp and ran my guitar into it and the Fender at the same time. The big 12" bass speaker picks up the bottom end really well so the combo makes for a bigger than expected sound. That really blessed my heart and most of my vital organs.

Connie is getting ready for the canning season. This season's harvest is already starting to come in and we're flooded with bell peppers, zucchini, Mexican squash, and what all. She will be freezing some, canning some, pickling some, and dehydrating some of it. The rest will help the "Feed the Needy Chickens" sustenance program around here.

Speaking of chickens, our feathery friends are now in high gear and producing as expected. The pampered pullets are now happy hens with a purpose. We get about 3 dozen eggs now but that number is expected to increase as the newer pullets mature. Our egg factory produces all sizes of eggs. Some are huge while others are quite small since we have Bantams in the mix. 

Boy! Do they have our number when we enter the coop! They gather around and get ready for the feast we bring in. In fact, some already know that the containers we carry are loaded with goodies so they fly up to the rim to be first in line for chicken chow! They "clean their plates", too. Not much is left after the pecking crew is finished.

We make regular "greens" hauls from a local supermarket where we get boxes of trimmings from their produce department. It does help with the overall feed bill to be sure! "Layena" pellets and chicken scratch round out their diet. That means that our cluckers are happy, healthy, and contented so they lay peaceful eggs (I should suppose). 

Our ever-faithful big Ford Freestar van, which has hauled more than its share of chicken feed, produce tailings, and wood shavings for nesting boxes, is now affectionately called the "Coop de Ville". We recently gave our faithful servant a complete servicing. She's up to snuff but our mechanic noticed an issue with the license plate light not functioning as required by law in CA. Come to found out, when the body shop fixed the storm damage we incurred two years ago, they pinched the license plate light wiring which produced a "short" (grounded them). Instead of simply fixing the issue (which would have taken only about 20 minutes), they simple removed the two lights! That means that we have been traveling around for two years at night trolling for a ticket! That includes traveling roads, streets, highways, and Interstates like I-405 and I-5. Thankfully, the body shop stepped up to the plate and fixed the issue under warranty. We're good to go anywhere now without getting issued a "ticket to the ball".

The Princess Abbie report: well....what can I say. She's cute, she's intelligent, she's friendly as clown at a birthday party, and she's a real pain in the kazoo. For reasons unknown to humans, the goofy pooch delights in finding things that appeal to her then dragging them off to be gnawed on until dead. The other day she lugged off a pair of ski boots that had been staged for our yard sale at church (you know. The one we held on our day off). Why would a dog chew off the top of a fiberglass boot? It's like she's practicing for the next rock gnawing contest or maybe a reality show like "Dogs Eat the Strangest Things". On another day, she commandeered a box of old but still useful Bose speakers, dragged them to the front yard from the e-waste pile, and chewed them to pieces. I didn't know they were even there so I was a bit miffed at her for destroying a 200 dollar set of speakers!

Then, she pulled a brand new tent canopy out of the carport stack of "things that Connie and Randy are going to store when they make room for it" and shredded the plastic sleeve. Those tatters were mixed with the shoe box she commandeered and destroyed. And, those shards were mixed with a stuffed something-or-other that had been disassembled into strewn puffs of ugliness across the yard. All a fella can do is shake his head, sigh, and grab a rake.

At least she's good at staying up all night and barking at every coon, coyote, spook, spirit, haint, wraith, and rabbit that catches her attention. Not long ago, and at midnight (of course), she was all excited about something. I grabbed my tactical flashlight and headed out to see what she had treed. The best that I could tell, she could hear a dog off in the distance who thought he had treed a critter or cornered a Gypsie. That, in turn, ignited Abbie's coon dog instincts so she figured that there just had to be at least a frog in her territory that needed to be treed. So, she started baying up her own tree. I think I'm going to just trap some varmint like a ground squirrel and keep it for her to practice on. Maybe she'll get the picture and I'll get some sleep.

Then, her highness, prone to keep guard only during the night, has given herself to sleeping most of the day. We're now calling her "Princess Schlaufenhund". Then, after struggling to stay awake long enough to greet us when we go out to the barn or coop during the day, she parks her cuteness in the dirt and takes another nap. It would appear that she's channeling Maggie the Wonder Dog who would rather die than be clean. Fortunately, she is a "short hair" dog and can shake off most chunks of royalty-defiling trash. At least we feed her "Purina Dog Chow" so she can stay strong and filthy.

You should see her when we go out to feed the chickens. She really digs chickens for some reason and wants to go into the coop to check our "her" flock. We let her come in but she can only go so far because her electric fence collar stops her. She stays on "high alert" watching their every move but not barking. It's a hoot sometimes because she'll stick her head in the door and the chickens will peck her on the nose! After that, she runs around to the side of the coop and commences her yapping routine and belly aching about not being allowed to participate. I'm starting to think that her full name is probably "Abbie Coaxialwheedletoucan" which, of course, would be Aztec for "Stupid pero that barks at chickens".

The un-floated boat....after three years in drydock....I'd rather not talk about it until my next day off. 

The Ham Radio Shack. Ah, now we're talking. After appropriating more equipment at one time than I've ever owned in my entire life as a "Hamster", I still haven't made a single contact. There is a reason for that. Part of it is that I just don't have time to tinker much. I've been able to build a couple of functional wire antennas but haven't had time to do anything but get them tuned and tested with my "MJF-949" and "Dentron Super Tuner" antenna tuners. Both antennas are mounted in the top of my barn (only one is mounted at any given time). Both work but have physically different lengths because one is a 40' "doublet" dipole and the other is a 30' "Slinky" dipole that's about 50' or more if uncoiled. That means they each have to be "dialed in" for resonance for a respective band. That takes time.

I can quickly tune up a nice 11M CB mobile whip with an 8' counterpoise for the 10 Meter band but...wouldn't you know that.... the wave propagation (skip) is the stinkiest it has been in many moons. So goes life.

Also, a decent station should have a good ground system. The first choice for grounding is a short and wide grounding cable. That can't happen because my shack is on the second story of the new barn. So, I now have a super-neat MFJ-931 artificial ground which will tune a "counterpoise". It simply makes sure that your signal doesn't stay in the radio shack but heads back out to the antenna via a tuned circuit. Next will be to run the actual 66' wire counterpoise out the window and hook everything to the ground system...which takes time.

I have only fired up the full-featured Icom IC-706 and the small monoband HTX-100 rigs so far. In fact, I haven't even turned on the Yaseu FT-101E that I got some months ago. Once I get the details worked out, I may be able to at least reach out to Porterville. We'll see.

So, stay tuned, neighbors, and don't touch that remote control. Things could get.....interesting.