I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything,
unbelievably long. I began this post some time ago (don’t even ask) so I
thought I would post it now, then later bring it up to date. Here goes.
I have a lot of catching up to do. My last post was written
on 01/05, and we didn’t have water. There’s a little pressure hose leading from
the transfer pump to a little box that tells the transfer pump to turn on or
off (at least I assume that’s what it does).
Well that little hose had a crack in it spewing water all over the
place. Hey at least the transfer pump didn’t crack, that would be $1200. I
tried to get hold of Harvey’s (Chad Harvey’s Drilling) to no avail. I think the
number I have is outdated. I couldn’t figure out how to take it off nor did I
have the time to do it even if I could figure it out. You see God decided that
we needed a break from the drought, and sent us more snow, and freezing temps.
Now I know we need the snow (it’s the only way I’ll get water from my well
again), howsoever, enough is enough. My once clean stalls were a sight to
behold, and not in a good way. They were one big mucky mess, and so were the
horses. It’s not that I forgot what a real winter is like I just forgot how
much I don’t like it. I’m a desert rat remember? It was going to take a month
of Sundays, and some serious sun to dry things out enough so I could clean
them. Well that didn’t happen for a long time.
Meanwhile, the gator decided to go on the fritz. I need the
gator, to haul wood (my stores were seriously depleted) amongst all the other
things I use it for. I was hauling water one tank at a time, filling what I
could, and putting the rest of the water into my big water tanks. I then filled
my little tank taking it around to all the various water buckets, tanks, etc. I
needed my gator! As I thought it was simply the battery, which Rudy informed me
was the original battery. 10 years or so is a long time for a battery, wouldn’t
you say? After a few days I finally got it going much to my relief.
What else went wrong let me see. I couldn’t use the front
wood stove from which we heat the entire house (plugged chimney). Freezing cold
temps, and no heat what fun. Ok we have the wood stove in the computer room,
but that heat doesn’t really heat much more than the back room. Still it was
better than nothing. Father’s happy he can play on his computer in warmth. Ok
no water, no heat, and very little wood. That about summed up the situation.
Rudy took his 34-hour break at home. He had to get all the stuff he left at
home to put back in his truck. For some reason airlines take exception to
tools, chains, mattresses, etc. The snow melted thanks to a nice warming trend
(who ever thought that 45 would be considered a warm day). Rudy got on the roof
to clean the chimney, and he checked on the pressure hose that cracked. He’s
such a good guy.
I took Bree to the vet, and I was right we were going to
loose her. She had a tumor that was pressing against the nerves that control
balance, and her vision in one eye. I brought her home with some medicine that
would at least make her more comfortable for what time she had left. She’s
gotten mighty spoiled. I even got some fat from the butcher that I cooked up
for her to keep her weight up. She got lots of pets, and Rudy even had her up
on the couch with her head on his lap. His rules are animals are not allowed on
the furniture. He’s the one that found her, and he’s the one that hurt most
when she was gone. The medicine worked for a while, then she got worse again. I
miss her terribly she was such a sweetheart. At least she was happy while we
had her, and then too I have Pena.
Sierra did well. Thanks to youth he healed quickly, and
thanks to Bute he had no pain while I changed his bandage. I weaned him off of the
Bute, and had no problem changing his bandage from then on thanks to a feedbag
full of alfalfa. I also changed his bandage just before I fed. I’m not dumb!
Rudy got the pump fixed with a new hose, and our water
problem became a thing of the past. I put more R19 around the pipes going into,
and out of the pump house, and the pipes stopped freezing. It helped that we
didn’t get below 0 this year. It snowed about once a week, which made it a very
long winter. May, and there was still snow on the mountain. It was finally gone
by the end of May. I got the gator going, and my wood supply kept up with the
snowstorms.
April was released by her doctor to go back to work again so
she was here for about a month before she started working at the track.
George’s daughter came from Wyoming to help out with Patty. It was just too
much for George, and he couldn’t work because he couldn’t leave Patty alone.
She brought her daughter, and then her daughter’s boyfriend. I thought he was a
sweet kid. They got him enrolled at school to get his GED, then they will help
him get a job. Before his parents got divorced he lived on a ranch, and loves
coming to our ranch. Steph loves it too. I’m teaching them to ride, or perhaps
a better word is re-teaching Steph, and Bryce. Brianna has never been on a
horse till now. She’s 13, no bigger than a minute, and afraid of horses. Even
so she is doing well. It’s fun for me too.
Penny had her baby, and we got there just in time. As I
suspected she delivered early. She was due on the 20th, but had the
baby on the 9th around 9:00pm. I had checked her, then a little
while later April, Steph, and the kids came back from Patty’s, and stopped to
check on Penny. It was a good thing too, because she was going into labor.
Bryce came up to the house, and by the time we got there the feet were sticking
out. I took position at the baby, and Rudy took the head. I was so happy Rudy
was here that night, he was going to leave the next morning. She took a little
while to deliver, but finally we had a beautiful chestnut filly. April named
her Aul Meerche (Meershe).
Meerche is different from our other babies. She’s quiet, and
shy. By two weeks the others would be tearing around the paddock running, and
bucking like crazy. She runs a little, but in a quiet way. She is by far the
sweetest baby we’ve had yet. She’s quick to learn, loves her skirtches, and is
spoiled rotten (of course).
George got double pneumonia was in the hospital, then two
weeks after he got out Patti went in the hospital with the same thing. Because
of her other health problems they sent her to Albuquerque. She spent a couple
of weeks in the hospital, then went to re-hab. She now has full-blown diabetes
on top of everything else. Thank God for Steph. The riding lessons have stopped
for now, and I don’t know when she’ll have time to start them again. Bryce took
off back to Wyoming, which turned out to be a good thing. He was not the person
he put on he was. Poor Brianna has had her first lesson in the perils of love.
I can’t remember whose truck died first, but both George’s,
and my truck died (thankfully not at the same time). I discovered that St. Eloi
(or St Eligius) is the patron saint of mechanics. I’ve been praying to him a
lot. We replaced the fuel pump, and it went exactly a mile, and a half before
it quit. Rudy came home, and did a full tune up on it. It still wasn’t working
right, so George was getting us both water, and feed. Meanwhile Sierra tore
down his gate (actually he lifted it up, and took it off it’s hinges), coming
out of it with only some scrapes (thank you for that Lord). I moved him, and
Ibn, and took him off alfalfa completely. He had gotten so full of himself he
was getting unmanageable. Cutting out the alfalfa has done wonders for his
demeanor.
I have one more thing I can replace on the truck to try to
get it running properly (an oxygen sensor). God willing it will do the trick.
The truck runs well enough to get water, and hay, but still stalls at the idle
when it’s warm. I’ve spent so much time working on the truck I haven’t done
much else except mow. El Nino has been kind enough to stick around for the
summer so I have been mowing constantly. At one point it was the only vehicle
that was running. Rudy got the gator going when he did the tune up on the
truck. Seems there is an anti-spark screen on the end of the tail pipe. It was
so full of carbon the poor gator couldn’t breathe. Rudy poked a hole in it, and
now the gator runs perfectly. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get it off so we can’t
replace it.
All vehicles are running now (more or less) so the water
pump just had to give me problems. It’s not exactly the water pump, but one of
the pipes at the pump house. Metal to plastic just doesn’t work well in our
extreme temps. I guess this is going to be an annual thing unless I can figure
out a way to keep that one section of pip from cracking (yeah right).
That’s as far as I got when our lives got so busy I couldn’t
even see straight. Well I’m going to try this again. Keep tuned…
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