Living the Life

Steve Jobs' impact on my life

2011-10-06T12:41:00.001-06:00

I'm sure there will lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth today over Steve Jobs death. I am very sad about it and I feel his loss personally. A friend of mine suggested it is like Alfred Nobel, who continues to have an effect on lives long after his death, but very few people can claim he had an effect on them personally. However, I actually do claim Steve Jobs affected me personally, and perhaps more importantly, professionally. Please don't dismiss me as an iFanboy, this isn't that story.

I was in sixth grade at Belvedere Elementary school in Omaha, Nebraska. Another teacher entered our classroom and asked for me. Huh? What had I done? She took me out of class and led me down the hall to the "computer room" which was outfitted with a dozen or so Apple II computers. She then asked me to show her students how to use them. In a flash, I realized that not everyone got it the way I did. From that moment on I knew I wanted to work with computers.

In Jr. High, there was again a room full of Apple II computers. I tried to get as much time on them as I could. The only class that was available was this wierd hybrid of Typing/Computer Education. For 3 days each week we learned to type, but NOT on the elegant computers with their magical green screens, but on manual typewriters. The other two days each week we got to use the computers, complete with writing programs in BASIC and carrying around my very own "password" protected 5.25" floppy disc. Oh how I resented those days we wasted pounding away on manual typewriters. Naturally, I joined the Computer Club, which was really just an excuse to play rudamentary games.

In high school the Computer Lab had a bunch of Apple IIs, a few Macs, and even an Apple IIgs. The IIs were familiar, but started to feel dated, and the Macs were very cool, but too "simple" somehow, so I ignored them. Besides, I only had eyes for the room full of IBM Model 30s hooked together on a Novell network. Ah, this was powerful, shared drives and text messaging between workstations! (Hey, give me a break, I only thought I knew everything.)

Now on to college. As I mentioned above, I never had any doubt that I would study computers. There was a time when I thought I might want to build them rather than program them, however my first electronics class cured me of that! Programming was where it was at. The first few classes I had were on familiar IBM PCs, but soon they let us loose on the mainframe, a VAX (not a big one, but still a HUGE computer compared to my previous experience). With this came terminals with a graphical interface, which made it easy to write code in one window and execute it in another. Revolutionary!

Now I realize I haven't mentioned Steve Jobs in the last few paragraphs, so if you are still with me, thank you, I'm getting back to him soon. The school I attended, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, created an innovative program in 1990 called IFYCSEM in which first year students were taught an "Integrated Curriculum" where they had a computer at their desk in every classroom as a teaching aid, to work their problem sets, and even to take tests. Here's where Steve Jobs comes back into the picture. The computers all the Freshmen used were NeXT computers. At this time, many universities had NeXT computers, some even had as many as 5! Rose-Hulman had over 100!! That meant they were plentiful enough to be usable by students besides those in IFYCSEM, namely, me.

To this point, I enjoyed working on the VAX, and had also been exposed to networked Sun 360s and was conversant in *nix OSes. The Sun computers were nice, but I always felt XWindows was klunky. When I sat down at the NeXT, with its sleek graphcs, integrated Workspace, a suite of development tools, and powerful BSD Unix core, I was hooked. I had actually disdained the Mac to this point as not being for Power Users, because it was too hard to get under the hood. It was great if you liked drawing pretty pictures or writing a newsletter, but beyond that I didn't see the point. But, here was a computer with all the pizzaz of the Mac, and all the power I could want under the hood, easily accessed by launching a command prompt. So, I dove under the hood, like a shadetree mechanic, learning whatever I could by poking around.

I learned enough to land a summer job at Rose-Hulman writing fluid flow simulation software for the Mechanical Engineering department. The software was used the next school year to teach IFYCSEM Mechanical Engineering students! This was my first real paying gig as a Software Engineer, and also my first software actually used for a purpose other than making a grade in a class. Oh, that felt good!

That next school year was my senior year, and the Computer Science department required a Senior Project. Naturally I wanted to do something on the NeXT. My team decided to create a teaching tool for CS100, the intro class every freshman was required to take. It would essentially be a computer language with a simple Pascal-like grammar and an IDE on the NeXT which focussed on debugging and understanding the state of all variables and the call stack, very visual. We won an award for it: ACM Student Competition (scroll down to 1993, Undergraduate). In the 1994-5 school year the "Prizm Toy Box" was used to teach some sessions of CS100, replacing Fortran (yes Fortran!).

In for a penny, in for a pound! Having hitched my wagon to NeXT and the OS (NeXTSTEP) this far, my job search after college heavily leaned towards companies using this technology. After all, I was good at it, and I truely enjoyed working in that environment as a developer. Also, if you look at your history, the next best things at the time were DELPI and Visual Pascal!

Moving right along, I got a job with a consulting company that had caught the NeXT bug and started doing projects for them. The big one was a transcription system for a Chicago hospital. On another one we worked closely with the sales team at the NeXT office in Chicago. I soaked it all up like a sponge. After 3+ years at that job, I took a job in Chicago at NationsBanc-CRT as a GUI guy doing (...drumroll please...) NeXTSTEP development! By this time NeXT had gotten out of the hardware business and was running on Intel-based PCs. A good move in my opinion.

While I was there, Apple acquired NeXT, and things got really interesting. OPENSTEP was just about to break out, and it became Rhapsody, which eventually became Mac OSX. If NeXTSTEP was Awesome, then Mac OSX was Awesome^X (see what I did there?). As I said before I wasn't really impressed with all the eye candy Mac OS had to offer until they put the power of NeXT under the hood. The NeXT dev tools lived on as did their sesibilities about user interface design. I had read NeXT's User Interface Guidelines book cover to cover -- and still find most of the suggestions relevant today.

So, where do I get off saying that Steve Jobs affected my life personally? My whole first decade as a technologist was shaped by technologies he envisioned and ideas he advocated. I never met the man, I didn't always agree with him (I liked my "scribbly" Palm Pilot), and I don't even know if I would have liked him as a person, but his life affected mine on many levels.

As for the iFanboy stuff, I own an iPod and a Macbook, but I also love my Droid X and my Galaxy Tablet. Truth is, I love technology so while I repsect a lot of the stuff Steve Jobs did after Mac OSX, I'm not really a slave to it. Last thing I just want to say it, better than anyone since W.C. Fields, Steve Jobs was a showman and knew how to give a killer demo! Put him on stage and you were sure to sell products. Of course, it didn't hurt that the products he was hawking were actually pretty good.

Movember - Week 1

2008-11-07T15:58:00.003-07:00

Well, it has been one week since I changed my image. I am no longer startled when I look in the mirror, but I sometimes think I know the person looking back at me. For those of you who are still not clear on where your money goes, check out their Outcomes page.

Also, I have a MoSpace page on the Movember website, complete with up to date pics. For the click-impaired, here's my mustache in all its glory...NOT! Truth to tell, I'm a little disappointed. I feel like I could have done better by drinking chocolate milk! I'll do better next week. In the meantime, don't punish the Prostate Cancer Foundation for my weak showing. Please donate!

To donate you can either:

Click this link https://www.movember.com/us/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1391346&country=us and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account, or
Write a check payable to the ‘Prostate Cancer Foundation', referencing my Registration Number 1391346 and mailing it to:

Prostate Cancer Foundation
Attn: Movember
1250 Fourth St
Santa Monica, CA, 90401

All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Movember - before and after

2008-11-03T07:38:00.008-07:00

As promised, here is an updated photo. I have to say I completely underestimated how weird this would be for me.

Friday afternoon, myself and my teammates all took over the public restroom on our floor of the office building we work in. One of our co-workers wanted to witness this historic event, but her gender was an issue. To be as accommodating as possible we left of the bathroom door open while we worked.

The most amusing part of the whole thing occurred when another tenant came to use the facilities. I didn't see the look on his face, but I can imagine his reaction when he saw three guys shaving, two more standing around taking pictures, and a (gasp!) woman in the bathroom. She offered to leave, but I believe we ruined the moment for him. Under similar circumstances I might have even had a case of bashful bladder myself!

Anyway, back to my own reactions to the event. As I said, it was a little bit strange for me. I felt decidedly unsettled, and every time I caught sight of myself in the mirror, I couldn't help thinking "who's that guy?!?" So, please help me cope with this traumatic event by donating to the cause...

To donate you can either:
Click this link https://www.movember.com/us/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1391346&country=us and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account, or
Write a check payable to the ‘Prostate Cancer Foundation', referencing my Registration Number 1391346 and mailing it to:
Prostate Cancer Foundation
Attn: Movember
1250 Fourth St
Santa Monica, CA, 90401
All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

For more pics, including a preview of what I might look like at the end of the month, check out the pics of the whole event: http://picasaweb.google.com/wconroy/Movember08#

Movember - no it isn't a type-o...

2008-10-31T09:34:00.009-06:00

Raise your hand if you've ever walked for charity. I'm talking about a sponsored walk where you solicit pledges on a per-mile basis and then wake up really early on a Saturday morning and join hundreds of other people pounding the pavement in support of a good cause. I've always felt the act you perform in order to convince people to donate is arbitrary, whether it is walking, jumping ropes, baking, or ... growing a mustache, as long as you put yourself out there and support a worthy cause.

If you haven't heard of the month of Movember, I'm not surprised. I hadn't heard of it either until a coworker invited me to join his team. Movember is a replacement for the month of November, in which for one month, men grow a mustache (or "mo" in Australian slang) to raise money and awareness for men's health issues, specifically, the fight against prostate cancer. The catch is that you have to start with a clean slate!

For me that is a really big deal. For the last 15 years I've been a beard/mustache wearer. My face hasn't seen the light of day since the summer of 1993, shortly after I got my first job out, right out of college. My facial hair is an essential part of my identity. So much so that my wife has never seen me without facial hair!!! She once saw my high school graduation picture and said flatly "that's not my Dave." Last night took clippers to my beard and I have to admit I'm a little traumatized. I don't even know if I remember how to shave.

So here's the pitch. At 2:30PM today (Halloween, 31-Oct-2008), I and my Movember teammates are going to shave our faces clean. Then, we will grow our mo's until the end of the month. All through the month we will take pictures to chart our progress. Since this is mustache only, we are not allowed to grow anything below the chin, although I believe elaborate sideburns are allowed as long as they connect to your 'stache. Please donate to support me.

<--Before the shave...

Donations are tax deducible, I will submit your details and the Movember Foundation will issue you a receipt at the end of the month for donations over $250.00. You can use either credit card or PayPal online. If you prefer to pay offline, I can accept checks and cash and will submit your details to the Movember Foundation.

To Donate

Online:

https://www.movember.com/us/donate/donate-details.php?rego=1391346&country=us

Offline:

Write a check payable to the ‘Prostate Cancer Foundation', referencing my Registration Number 1391346 and mailing it to:

Prostate Cancer Foundation
Attn: Movember
1250 Fourth St
Santa Monica, CA, 90401

[Update: 3-Nov-2008] Here's the pics from before and after together.
[Update: 7-Nov-2008] Here's the pic after one week.

Going home again

2008-06-03T11:58:00.002-06:00

You will all be relieved to know that I get to go home on Wednesday (tomorrow!!!). There is no one in the entire world who will be more relieved than Christie, however. If you've been keeping up on her Daily Ranch blog then you know she has not had it easy. When I get home, I will take the rest of the week off so I can help her get back on her feet. My trip home also coincides with the start of the summer guesting season. Our good friends Karen & Aud are coming out for an unprecedented 20 days, and their son Alex will be with them for at least a week of that. They are really great about pitching in where ever help is needed, so my hope is that Christie can recover pretty easily.

The big news for me is that the next week, I have the opportunity to work from home. My boss agreed to a trial week offsite to see how it goes. So, even though I have to work, I will still be home for a week and a half, which will be the most I've seen Christie since heading off to Chicago in March. I'm so excited I can barely concentrate at work. I'm doing my best though!

You have the right to be annoyed

2008-05-12T07:31:00.004-06:00

Now that I've moved back to "the city" I guess I have to deal with attitudes and prejudices held by the public. I'm a firm believer that regardless of what the media says, folks are basically decent. If everyone worked off that assumption I think the world would be a better place. Unfortunately, I found a place in Naperville, IL that doesn't seem to have faith in the common man.

I was going to meet up with a friend of mine to get a free chair. He had a recliner he didn't need, and offered it to me to help furnish my apartment. We agreed on a time, and I headed over to his place on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I called him on my way over, and he was running late, so when I got there, I parked in front of his house, rolled down the window and listened to the radio. A Prairie Home Companion was on NPR so I didn't really mind sitting and waiting.

My friend lives in one of those neighborhoods that is all curvy streets and cul-de-sacs. Very family oriented, with big yards and little traffic. I was facing the entrance to my friend's dead-end when a police car turned down his street. My first thought was that it was nice to know the cops even patrolled little neighborhoods. Then the patrol car accelerated in a manner I can only describe as aggressive, and another patrol car turned into the neighborhood. Somehow I just knew they were there for me.

The faster car pulled around the cul-de-sac and blocked me from behind while the second car parked in the middle of the street blocking me from the front. As I said, I'm not one to think ill of people without cause, but it was clear to me that one of my friend's neighbors had called the cops on me. It was also clear to me why they called the cops. Had I been parked in a shiny BMW or a Hummer they wouldn't have given me a second look. However, I was sitting in my newest pride and joy, a 1994 Nissan Sentra Coupe.

My car is the epitome of Basic Transportation. It is old, has a few rust spots, door dings, and paint chips, and the trunk no longer closes perfectly due to a rear-end collision in the car's recent past. I paid $2,000 cash for this car and was pleased to find that two grand can still buy a decent car that runs well and gets good gas mileage. Just to be clear, this is a nice, older car, not a sh*tbox.

All of this went through my head before the nice officer could approach me. When he did, he asked what I was doing there. I told him I was meeting my friend who was running late, and pointed at his house. He asked for my friend's name and my ID. I provided both, politely. I even offered a copy of my temporary registration for the car, since I had an in-transit tag issued by the state of Montana taped in the window and I could tell the officer was mighty curious about it. He took both and went to the other squad car presumably to find out if I was a dangerous criminal.

While Officer One and Officer Two conferred my friend drove up. He had to negotiate around the cars blocking the road but eventually headed for his driveway. The officers asked him if he knew me and when he confirmed my story, they returned my license and registration, thanked me and departed. As they departed a third squad car pulled into the neighborhood, but after a quick conference with the other officers, Officer Three departed without a glance at me or my friend.

It is moments like these that I'm glad my Momma raised me right. Just as I knew the cops were coming for me, I also knew that whoever called them was peeking through their curtains hoping for a show. I was sorely tempted to shout "are you happy now?!?" or stand in the middle of the cul-de-sac and give a 360 degree one-finger salute. However, due to my good upbringing, I simply went inside with my friend. Besides, good entertainment ain't cheap and I don't work for free.

You may be wondering if I jumped to conclusions, and the truth is we'll never know. However, one point of evidence in my favor was shared with me as my friend and I loaded the recliner into his minivan. Evidently the lady two doors down gives piano lessons and strange cars are often parked on the street with parents waiting to pick of their children. To his knowledge, this is the first time anyone called the cops.

Chapter n+1: A New Adventure

2008-03-31T06:23:00.003-06:00

Given the "downturn" or "slowdown" or whatever you want to call it, Christie and I have been increasingly leery of returning to Bank of America. The question quickly became, if not BoA, where? We figured I'd have to move at least temporarily in order to find work. Well, if I'm going to move, it should be somewhere I'm already comfortable, so that means Chicago.

I have a ton of contacts in Chicago, and notification of my intent to relocate brought lots of interesting possibilities. The most interesting was at Sky Road LLC, a software company catering to small to medium sized trading firms and hedge funds. Their business model is to wrap up existing software and vend it as an ASP (Application Service Provider) which means their customers don't have to have a large IT department, like BoA or Citadel. The best thing about Sky Road is that I already knew 5 of the 20 employees, so I felt confident I would fit in. Also, with my 10+ years working on financial software they felt confident in my abilities.

Now it is the beginning of my third week at Sky Road. I am staying in an extended stay-type hotel and getting to and from work using their shuttle. I have been looking for apartments and found a nice place 1.3 miles away from the office. My next big thing will be buying a car. I figure we can get a halfway decent car for a few thousand dollars. My commute is short, and beyond work, I just need to get groceries and maybe go to a movie now and then.

At work, I definitely jumped right into the deep end, but was pleased to discover I am a good swimmer. My experience working for banks and hedge funds has already paid dividends because I understand what is being asked of me and can accurately discourse on many topics. My first task is a big one, slated to take 6-8 weeks. I understand how to do this sort of thing, but the challenge before me is to figure out how Sky Road does this sort of thing so that I don't have to throw away my first effort, or heaven forbid, reinvent the wheel.

Christie is holding up pretty well at the ranch. We've got people helping with the feeding right now so she doesn't have to do too much on a given day. It is my hope she can use some of this time to recuperate from the long and difficult winter. Spring is around the corner and with it comes foaling season. Christie has a long list of guests slated to visit this summer, so she will rarely have to handle the ranch all alone.

We've been apart like this before, but during the year I lived in Chicago before working remotely from the ranch, I was able to travel home every other weekend. This time around money is a little tighter so we are jumping into this new adventure not knowing how it will work. One thing I do know, even with so many miles between us, we will figure it out together, and that makes all the difference.

I'm still standing

2008-02-29T11:42:00.003-07:00

Hello dear readers. I haven't been ignoring you (much) I have just been kinda busy being unemployed. They say that looking for work is a full time job. Well, "they" don't know the half of it. By the time you sleep until 10am, eat breakfast, and check your e-mail, it is time for lunch. And, if lunch is at all strenuous, an afternoon nap ensues. It is a good day when I can send out one or two job applications, and I think you know not every day is a good day.

OK, I'll let you off the hook, I'm not really just a shiftless layabout, I'm much, much more. In addition to being a shiftless layabout, I'm also a full time ranch hand right now. If you ask me, and I think you did, or you wouldn't be reading my blog, it could not have come at a better time. Christie didn't get her usual boost in heath this summer, so going into the winter, her tank was running low. When I got laid off, she could barely manage one of the two daily feedings by herself, and none of the other things, like pumping water into tanks or putting out supplements. While I have been doing my fair share of laying-about, I have also been able to take over most of the day-to-day ranch chores.

This week we replaced "most" with "all" as Christie went to Iowa to help out her cousin. I'm doing all the feeding, watering, and supplementing by myself right now. Luckily, all of the new fencing is holding up quite well, so breakouts have been a minimum. There's a weak spot between the Boys and Mamas herds, and some of the more adventurous horses, like Sahara and Ghost are doing some mingling. I'll probably have to trudge out there at some point and make a temporary repair, but it isn't too urgent right now.

On the job front, a couple of interesting possibilities exist, but I don't want to count chickens before they hatch or anything. (Actually, I've never been a fan of counting chickens so I may have a bias.) Anyway, I'll be sure to let you all know if anything "hatches".

Yo Yo Me

2008-02-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

I am a human yo-yo, and Bank of America is the inept kid who just bought me at the dollar store.

My contract was to end with 2007, but they managed to extend it for 2 months. Who looks a gift horse in the mouth? Well, on Wednesday the 30th I was informed that Thursday the 31st would be my last day. That's right, 24 hours notice. Very nice. Last year I was ticked because they only gave me 9 days notice. If I'm fallible enough to sign on with them again, I will probably be told after the fact, like "ok, Dave, your contract expired last Tuesday, don't bother filling out a timecard for this week..."

The truth is that I'm not really bitter. When I signed on with the group I worked for in 2007, they told me they only had funding until the end of the year. When they extended it two extra month, it was my hope that would bridge me over into the new budget season so I could find another group. This loss of a month of work is going to hurt, but I can't say I didn't see it coming.

If they come back with another contract in a few weeks, I will probably take it, because working from home allows me to be here when Christie needs me. In the meantime, if any of you out there need a slightly used (aka experienced) Java developer, let me know.

As for toy metaphors, in 2008, I am going to strive to be a Slinky. I will walk down stairs, alone or in pairs. I don't know what that means metaphorically speaking, but you have to admit that making a slinkety sound has its perks.

Let there be heat

2008-01-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our wood stove conked out. It filled the house with smoke instead of sending it up the chimney. Smoke was even oozing (can smoke ooze?) out of every little crack and crevice in the stove. It wasn't heating, and we were quickly reduced to opening doors and windows to vent the place. Did I mention it got down to negative 30 degrees up here last night? Ole' Murphy was prosecuting us to the full extent of his law, I can tell you that.

We got a roaring fire going in the fireplace, which helped. Our fireplace has a blower built in so that once the firebox gets heated, warm air can be circulated. It was really nice within about 5' of the fireplace, and the rest of the house stayed just above 50 degrees. We figured it was also a great time to run the self clean cycle on our oven (500 degrees for three hours or so).

Once we had a little heat in the place we tried to tackle the stove. It just started smoking really bad, do we have a green log in there? We took all the burning wood out of it and threw it in the snow outside. Nope, smoke still coming into the house. There's a lot of ash in there, maybe it would breathe better if we cleaned it out. I dug a trench in a snow bank and took 8 big buckets-full of ash out. Nope, still too smoky. Ah, there is a door for removing the ash that falls down the chimney. Took another bucket of ash from there. Nope, still smoky. Well, let's sleep on it, thank goodness for down comforters.

At 5AM this morning, we were awake and decided to try using the shop vac to clean out the horizontal portion of the chimney that goes out the back of the stove. (To do this, I had to get the generator to start in -30 degrees and then find the shop vac out in the garage. Brrrr!!!!) There was about an inch of ash there, but removing it didn't fix anything. However, while shining a light around in there, I saw that there was no opening in the back for the smoke to go up. I got a pole and tested this and confirmed that there seemed to be a blockage.

At 8:01AM we started calling chimney sweeps. It must be the off season for them because of the 4 in the phone book, two were out of town. One was too far away and didn't want to drive all the way up here, but the 4th guy was willing. He got here as the sun came out blazing brightly in complete defiance of the temperature. He agreed that there appeared to be a blockage and hopped up onto the roof with his brushes and poles. There was quite a bit of accumulated ash and creosote in the chimney, so it needed cleaning, for sure. However, at a certain point, his brush got stuck. He hit something metal. A glance inside the wood stove revealed he was banging on the horizontal pipe from above. He figured out that the horizontal pipe had somehow gotten pushed back into the chimney too far and had become closed off by the back wall of the chimney. It is a good thing he was a small man, for he was able to climb halfway into our stove and get a vicegrip clamped onto the pipe. He pulled it out a ways and lit a piece of paper. The smoke went up!!!

Now we have a very clean wood stove and chimney and a nice warm fire going. We stole the big coals out of the fireplace to jump-start the wood stove and now it is warming up in here. My nose is still cold, but there is no longer any frost on my window. We were able to settle out of court with Murphy for about $150, which could have been much worse.

Maybe it'll work THIS time...

2008-01-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

When will I ever learn? I keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. I'm going to state a bit of wisdom that you can all feel free to quote back to me until I learn my lesson. Here it is:

If you think you might need tire chains, then you do need tire chains.

Wow, when I say it like that it makes so much sense. Of course, if someone had said that to me yesterday, I would probably have dismissed it as hogwash.

Yesterday Christie had to take Cordova (Cory) to town to meet a transport truck. Cory is going to live with some very nice people in Colorado Springs. He was a champ, he even waded through a snow drift to squeeze into the trailer because I backed it into a corner. Trust me, for a half-Arab yearling, that is downright amazing.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why the trailer was parked awkwardly. I'll tell you outright it was because I was too tired to care. But I get ahead of myself. Let's backtrack 4 hours to the time when Christie sweetly asked, "Honey, could you help me hook up the trailer?" I left my desk, knowing I would be right back to work with none the wiser.

We hooked up the trailer as snow fell softly, giving the world a fuzzy aspect. We decided, smartly I thought, to pull the trailer up to the top of the driveway before adding the weight of a horse. I took a run at it, and almost made it too. The truck made it past the steep part, but the trailer didn't and I started to spin. OK, no problem, I'll just back up and a take another run at it, with a little more speed I won't get stuck. Evidently I left my mental capacity in my other briefs, because I managed to back the trailer straight down the driveway, and into our yard. The driveway turned, I didn't, the rest is history.

About this time, I realized it would have been good to have tire chains. So, we decided to put them on. This was a terrible time to try to locate the chains we hadn't used since last winter. Well, we couldn't find them in our garage, but we did find the chains for the Dodge (our ranch truck). These were a little too big for the Chevy, but we decided that with enough bungee cords anything will fit. With some digging, we got the chains around the tires, latched and tightened them. I got back in the truck and pulled the trailer about 6". While I didn't manage to get the trailer back up onto the driveway, I did dig a pair of impressive holes with the back tires.

The chains were slipping and starting to come off the tires, one link snapped under the stress. Since it was clear the Dodge's chains weren't going to work for the Chevy, we decided to use the Dodge. We unhooked the trailer from the Chevy, drove it out of the holes it dug, and took off the chains. Then we repaired the broken link and installed the chains on the Dodge. This was all around much easier, since the chains were meant to fit these tires and it didn't hurt that the Dodge was parked on a nice flat, level section of our plowed driveway.

With chains properly attached, I backed up the Dodge to the trailer and hitched it up. Chains aren't a cure all for bad traction, but they help a lot. After several times moving the trailer a few feet, I managed to get turned back onto the driveway. By then, the trailer and I were pointing downhill instead of up, but that could be remedied. I went down by the barn and turned around. Then, with a mighty roar, the Dodge, the trailer, and I went tearing up the driveway ... literally. Snow was flying everywhere, from the sky and from the tires. When I got to the steep part I didn't hesitate and we made it up onto the road. (I parked the truck and trailer in our turnout, and that is when I backed the trailer into a snow drift.)

Wow, I thought, that was much easier with chains.

If you think you might need tire chains, then you do need tire chains.

The year is dead, long live the year

2008-01-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

New Year's has never really had much meaning for me. It was simply another holiday from work. This year, however, I see the new year in a whole new light. As 2007 was very rough on Christie and I, I see 2008 as an opportunity. This year will be a year of healing for us, a time to get back on our feet and recover from all the shocks of 2007.

What is more, I have the strong feeling that 2008 is going to be a great year for us. For the first time in years we are entering the new year free of debt. Well, there's still the mortgage and the car payment, but everyone has those. I'm talking about unsecured debt, like medical bills and credit cards. For the first time in a long time, none of that is hanging over our heads, and I blessed that we are so fortunate. It was worth the hardship.

In my last post, the glass was definitely half empty. I'm not so manic as to declare it is now half full, let us just say there is water in the glass. It is what it is. Could we have more personal and family emergencies in 2008? Of course. Are we in a better place to handle them when they arise? I think we are.

I wish everyone a safe and gentle 2008.

I want my money back

2007-12-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

I may be showing my age, but how many of you have heard Meatloaf's Life is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back? Well, that is how I've been feeling lately about 2007. I sat down to write a this blog post and while thinking about what to write, I found myself humming the song, so this is what you get.

In general I'm not a whiner. I can take my lumps and keep on going, perhaps even better than some. However, this was an incredibly difficult year at the ranch, for a lot of reasons. I won't bore you with every little thing, but a few of the highlights are:

I got laid off work with only 9 days notice (two months later, got my job back)
Christie fractured a vertebra while riding
An unexpected death in Christie's family
The Black Cat fire and midnight evacuation of 30 horses
Wind storms that destroyed our fences in almost every pasture
I had to manage the ranch alone while Christie was out of town for several weeks helping her cousin
Two bent axles on our horse trailer

I could make the list much longer, but then I think I really would be a whiner. My point is that if only a few of these events had happened, I wouldn't be humming "life is a lemon..." This year, though, I feel battered and bruised, and if any of you have any connections at the Customer Service Center of the Universe, I'd like a refund for 2007. Barring that, I would settle for a mulligan or even a do-over.

Now, in order to keep my readership, I'm going to end on a good note. In the past few weeks we found a crew of guys at a local temp agency to help rebuild our fences. They have done amazing work, putting up hundreds of yards of jack-leg. The stallion has not escaped in weeks, and Christie and I actually have time to enjoy each other's company. Some of the stress of the past few months is finally starting to dissipate now that we know our fences will hold up.

The Wind also Blows

2007-11-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today it is snowing ... on only half of the ranch. The snow is coming down outside my West-facing window, but not outside my North-facing window. If anyone can explain that to me I'd love to hear it. Meanwhile, I'll tell you about yesterday's weather, which wasn't so much strange and frightening.

The wind roared through our little valley yesterday. It wasn't just gusty, it was constant and very strong. From my office window I watched trees bending at unnatural angles. A rabbit hutch, which took three strong guys to move, was casually flipped over on its roof. The same for the goose shelter. Roofing was ripped off the small barn, and tarps were torn from hay stacks. However, the biggest issue, by far, was the downed trees.

I watched with guts twisting as more and more trees fell. Oh, there went a fence in the Upper Little Barn pasture. Ah, another one blocking the driveway. By the time I finished work for the day, 8-10 trees had fallen across our driveway. I had to clear these before I could take food to the Middle 20 and Back 20. Before I could do that, I noticed that there were too many black horses over by the young boys herd.

Ryder and Blackie were in the Goat Barn pasture while we fixed fences knocked down last week. The fences got fixed, but I hadn't gotten around the moving them back yet. Well, the fence that borders the property to the South was almost completely destroyed by several fallen trees, so Ryder and Blackie decided to go exploring. I got them put back in Ryder's pasture (Lower Little Barn) and grabbed my chainsaw.

I lost track of time, but it must have been a little over an hour later, I straightened up, looked around and realized I had cleared enough of the driveway for a vehicle to pass. It was well past dusk, but I could still see to walk around so I quickly got the feeding done. By the time that was done, it was pretty much full dark. I was able to see by the light on our little John Deere lawn tractor (which we use to haul hay around for feeding) that there had been a few trees down along Mill Creek Road, but that other people had cut and cleared them. When I got to the little road that leads to The Cabin, I noted at least 4 large trees that fell from the Middle 20 to the Back 20, taking out fences on both sides of the road. They will have to wait for another day.

The feeding was done, but unfortunately I couldn't go in yet because I didn't have any firewood in the house or on the porch. Luckily I knew just where to go for some fresh fallen timber, some of which was even already dead and dry. I won't complain about my various aches and pains, I'll just say I slept really well last night. Today after work I will try to survey more of the damage while there's daylight.

The Lone Rancher

2007-11-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

I don't wear a mask. I don't ride a fiery horse with the speed of light. I avoid clouds of dust. And, I'm never heard saying "Hi-yo Silver," although I do let slip a "Weee doggie" now and then. In spite of all this, I am The Lone Rancher.

Christie is back in Iowa for two weeks helping out her cousin, so I have the ranch to myself. In preparation, we hired some help and got a huge amount of jack-leg fence built. This makes my job a bit easier, which turns out to be a good thing.

Yesterday, I fed the horses morning and evening, managed three escapes, and repaired a gate. I also attempted to work my full shift on my day-job, but managed only about 6.5 hours. It seems horses don't wait until after 4PM to escape from their pastures.

Two of the escapes were from a known section of down fence, but I ran out of daylight (thanks to daylight "savings" time). I'm hoping to repair that section tonight after work. The other escape came when the stallion apparently smashed a gate in our new jack-leg fence. Mares and babies were running everywhere as the stallion attacked some and tried to mount others. That gate is now just another section of fence as my "repair" was to nail up some rails over the gap.

It is a good thing we didn't make life any easier, or I'd just sit around eating bonbons all day.

Tagged!

2007-10-30T10:50:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged by PastorMom, so here goes!

1. Who eats more? That one is easy, me.
2. Who said “I love you” first? I think Christie did, I remember long conversations about the "L" word.
3. Who is the morning person? Me, by necessity.
4. Who sings better? Probably me, Christie has a great voice but feels she needs someone to follow.
5. Who’s older? I am, by a year and a half.
6. Who’s smarter? Christie is. We are both pretty bright, but her brain works faster than mine.
7. Whose temper is worse? Oooh, that is a tough one. I lose mine more easily, but Christie is more ferocious.
8. Who does the laundry? Christie does, but I'm better at folding.
9. Who does the dishes? Neither one of us. :(
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? We are both on the right side for us. We tried the other way around and it felt wrong, so this way must be right.
11. Whose feet are bigger? Mine.
12. Whose hair is longer? Christie's.
13. Who’s better with the computer? I am, but then, I'm a software engineer. Christie is the resident webmaster of Wild Mountain Farms.

14. Do you have pets? We have 3 dogs and 4 house cats. Those are the traditional pets. We also have 28 horses, three goats, 4 geese, 2 ducks, and about 10 chickens, some of whom have names.
15. Who pays the bills? It used to be me, but Christie does it now.
16. Who cooks dinner? I probably cook a majority of the meals. There are some things we collaborate on, but I enjoy it more, so I do it more.
17. Who drives when you are together? I do, so Christie can save her energy for more important things.
18. Who pays when you go out to dinner? Usually me, because I have always have my wallet, but Christie doesn't like to carry a purse.
19. Who’s the most stubborn? My nickname growing up was The Negotiator, so that would be Christie.
20. Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? Most often me, but Christie is getting better at it.
21. Whose family do you see more? Christie's, her sister lives in town, less than an hour away.
22. Who named your pets? Joint venture.
23. Who kissed who first? She kissed me.
24. Who asked who out? She asked me out.
25. What did you do on your first date? We went to The Olive Garden for dinner in Kalamazoo.
26. Who’s more sensitive? I get my feelings hurt easier, if that is what you mean.
27. Who’s taller? I am, by 4-5 inches, which means her head fits right on my shoulder.
28. Who has more friends? Neither of us has a particularly wide circle, but I would say she does.
29. Who has more siblings? Christie has two, I have one.
30. Who wears the pants in the relationship? This is a partnership, we are in it together, so we make the big decisions together.

Cutting down trees for firewood

2007-10-30T10:18:00.000-06:00

We finally got all our hay in for the winter, and it is stacked high and tarped down. We should be able to manage feeding through the winter as the piles are conveniently located. That leaves fencing and firewood as our two top jobs. We are building jack-leg fence, so now both of our top priorities require the ability to handle a chainsaw well.

I learned how to handle a chainsaw from my friends and neighbors. They taught me the right and wrong way to drop a tree, and how to do so safely. For those of you who don't have the benefit of Curry, Bob, Jarred, and Pete, and Aud, here's a great set of instructional videos I found online.

http://www.expertvillage.com/interviews/felling-trees.htm

Enjoy.

New, old friends

2007-10-24T09:42:00.000-06:00

From earlier posts, you might remember Michal, the girl from Chicago who stayed with us for the summer and helped out around the ranch. Well, her parents, Naomi and Larry are visiting us for the week. This is their first vacation without the kids for a long, long time and they are very excited. We met Naomi when she brought Michal out, but Larry couldn't come that time. It will be good to get to know them, even though we feel like we know them already through their daughter.

They are here to do some horseback riding, hiking, biking, and sightseeing. It seems Larry also has a fondness for power tools and he took the afternoon yesterday to cut and notch a whole bunch more posts for building jack-leg fences. I was dreading that job, and it seems Larry has given me a reprieve.

Christie, Naomi, and Larry are getting ready to go on a ride. Since it is 30 degrees out, I think I'll stay in my nice warm office.

Now this is progress

2007-10-12T08:12:00.001-06:00

For those of you worried that we won't get our fencing project finished, fear not. This week, we have erected a total of 10' of jack-leg fence. Actually, we didn't do any fencing, Christie did it all. It was our intention to go out there every evening after work and put up a couple more jacks. Well, you know what the best laid plans oft do...

Tuesday Christie went to town to babysit our nieces while I tore down some old fencing that was in our way. Progress was made, for sure, but no actual fence was built.

Wednesday we discovered that Spirit, Nefertari's baby from this Spring, was limping and had a cut on his left, rear leg above the hock. After bringing him to the barn and getting his leg cleaned up, we realized it was a pretty bad cut near the tendon. So, we loaded him into the trailer and took him to Dr. Brown ... after hours, of course. Dr. Brown got him cleaned up, but it was a pretty serious cut, so Spirit will need to have the wound cleaned and redressed every day for a few weeks. No fence was built.

Thursday, while I worked, Christie went out and worked on the fence. She got one jack-leg set with all the rails perfectly spaced, so now we have a template to work from. Then she was off to town for a lesson with the gaited horse trainer. After the lesson she realized that one of the trailer tires was all shredded and definitely flat. The guys at the stables helped her change the tire, but they noticed that the trailer had a bent axle and that the mounting brackets for the axle were twisted and broken, hence the ruined tire. She got a recommendation for a trailer repair guy and dropped it off. He is going to get back to us with an estimate of the damage. Ten feet of fence built.

Friday, today. Our hay people were able to load up the flatbed trailer during the week, so we need to get back to bringing in hay only 23 ton to go! We're working on a loan from the bank to pay for the hay, but the banker seems to be dragging his heels a bit. If we can finalize the loan today, we will be getting more hay, otherwise, maybe ... perhaps ... there's a chance ... of getting some more fences built.

Two-fer Tuesday

2007-10-09T12:32:00.000-06:00

I don't usually post twice in one day, I wouldn't want my dear readers to get the wrong idea about my level of commitment.

However, here is a quick bonus post. Below is a short video of Cami's baby running across the pasture. I captured this from my office window. He doesn't have a name yet, if any of you have suggestions.

Better than any gym

2007-10-09T11:42:00.000-06:00

This weekend (a long one thanks to Christopher Columbus) we brought in 22.6 ton of hay. We had plenty of help, but it was still a lot of work. Our hay suppliers have an amazing attachment for their tractor which can pick up 12 bales at a time and stack them on a trailer. They were able to do almost all the loading with that machine in very little time (about 11 tons in 1 hour). The hay suppliers loaned us a flatbed gooseneck trailer which I pulled with our 3/4 ton diesel truck. Our helpers also had two trucks, a one-ton pickup and a two-ton flatbed with an additional trailer. With all that capacity, each trip up the mountain brought us 11.3 tons!

I drove two 4.5 ton loads up to the ranch, and helped unload one of them into the Big Barn. The Small Barn by the house is full, we have a nice sized stack in the yard near the friendship circle (aka fire ring), the Goat Barn is full, and the Big Barn is nearly full. Next weekend, our helper is going to bring more loads up, and we will start filling the Hay Barn across from the New Moon pasture.

We had a little excitement when I got the flatbed trailer stuck in the muck down by the Big Barn. We huffed and we puffed but could not budge that trailer. It only weighed about 13,000 lbs, so I'm not clear on why it sank so fast. Our helper was able to unload it into his pickup and shuttle the hay to the Big Barn. After the trailer was unloaded, we got it out of the mud easily.

Over the weekend Christie and I also gathered up jack-legs for the lower Little Barn pasture and laid them out all in a line. These were the heavy duty ones Jarred put together for the stallion pasture, so it took both of us to lift each one. We will begin erecting that fence as time permits this week. Also this week we will have to hit some of the stores in town to see if anyone is giving away palettes, we had to scour the ranch this last weekend in order to have enough for all the hay that came in.

One fence down ... er up!

2007-10-04T09:20:00.000-06:00

Christie has been working on finishing up one of the lines of fencing for Ryder's pasture (Lower Little Barn for those keeping score). Last night we worked together to put the finishing touches on it. We now have one complete line of heavy duty jack-legged fence. Some of the jacks were so heavy it took two people to lift them. If this fence doesn't hold the stallion, I don't know what will.

So, that is one down, and many, many more to go. Even though the job is huge, there was a certain satisfaction in getting at least one fence line completely replaced. Wish us luck, the next challenge will be a flatbed trailer filled with 122 bales of hay (again for those keeping score, that is roughly 4.5 ton). To get all of our hay, we will have to make 10+ trips with that trailer.

Tag team ranching

2007-10-01T08:06:00.000-06:00

Well, I had the ranch to myself for a couple of weeks, and it was a little rough. Not only did I have to handle my "day job," I also had to feed the animals, irrigate the pastures, and bring in hay.

Christie came home last Saturday afternoon and tagged me out so I could go to Chicago for a week. In the last two months, I think we've only had about two weeks in which we were both at the ranch at the same time, and there was one week, during the fire, that the place was completely deserted. As such, a lot of our ambitious projects, like the jack-legged fences, are less than complete.

It is my hope that when I return home from Chicago I can jump right into the ring and we can double-team some of the big chores, like hay and fences. I want to put hay in a full nelson and get those fences in a figure-4 leg lock. They will be at our mercy, begging to give up. Will we let them? NO! We will follow up with a backbreaker and a series of combos, like a Facebuster/Leg Drop or even the awe inspiring Airplane Spin-Double Suplex. Our opponents will be gasping for air and pleading for the sweet release of defeat, but we WILL NOT allow them to surrender. We will CRUSH THEM, they will have to be removed from the ring with a MOP. OHHHHH YEAAAAHHHH!!!

Whew, sorry about that, I got a little caught up in the moment. Let's just say we have our work cut out for us, but as a team, Christie and I can do anything.

An hour in a minute

2007-09-17T13:54:00.000-06:00

Well, one of the things Andy helped me figure out was the webcam thing. We didn't have the exact right hardware, so we made due. The camera is a black&white cam we use to monitor birthing mares, so it isn't the ideal webcam. Even so, the results aren't bad.

This is what the world looked like out my window during my lunch break today. It is a cloudy day today, but the sun does peek through a couple of times. Enjoy!

Living the Life ... of a bachelor

2007-09-10T09:40:00.001-06:00

Christie is off to Iowa for a couple more weeks to help her cousin so
I again have the ranch to myself. Well, not completely to myself.
My friend Andy, who some of you may remember as the Best Man at my
wedding, is coming out for a week. He is a hard-core geek like me,
so we're going to be playing with electronics and software more than
chain-saws and hammers. There will need to be a little fencing
because our resident escape artists, Chance and Ghost, have been up
to their usual tricks, but mostly we are going to pass the time
indoors where there is a significantly reduced risk of injury.

Don't expect a cure for cancer, a solution to world hunger, or a
working model of cold fusion out of us, but don't be surprised if we
come up with a nice way to automatically capture and post time-lapse
videos of the awesome view from my office window. There's something
really soothing about watching the clouds whisk by while the horses
graze contentedly. With Andy's help, I hope I can share it with all
you soon.

Rajah Update

2007-09-07T12:43:00.001-06:00

For those of you who are worried about Rajah, let me just say that he
is doing MUCH better now. He had a pretty bad case of pneumonia,
which old dogs often succumb to as their last illness. However,
after two nights at the doggie hospital and a week at home with pills
three times a day and IV fluids twice a day, he is much improved. He
is now back to barking at the coyotes all night and eating his normal
food.

Evacuation and aftermath

2007-08-29T09:57:00.000-06:00

Where to begin? I don't know, and I'm not sure I can do this in chronological order, but I'll try. Just don't hold me to exact dates and times. As the danger has now passed, let me not keep you in suspense. The ranch did not burn down, and all of our animals are safe and healthy, except Rajah, who is doing better. Now let me see if I can fill in the details.

To get the timeline of the fire itself check out the official website: Black Cat Wildfire.

My timeline goes something like this...

A while back: there's a fire in the area, lots of smoke in the air
Not as far back: the fire is on our same mountain range, about 5 miles away
Two weeks ago today: a Sheriff's Deputy is stationed at the bottom of Mill Creek Road, says that if they order an evacuation, we will have 90 minutes to get out.
Two weeks ago tonight: we decide to get the horses out because 90 minutes would not be enough time. There is a good story here which I intend to write about more fully. The summary is that Christie rounded up a bunch of people and trailers and we got 30 horses (26 of ours and 2 visiting mares with foals at side) off the mountain in the dark.
The next day: We learn some of the horses tried to make a break for it in the night. I guess they didn't like their temporary home, so we went over there to secure the pastures better. We took a couple of the troublemakers to our Arlee evacuation site to ease the pressure on the fence work.
That evening: Karen & Aud celebrate their anniversary with a steak dinner (cooked on the gas grill, not the fire pit!)
Later that evening: A sheriff's car drives by shouting on his loudspeaker that we have 30 minutes to evacuate. We pull out of the driveway at 32 minutes (Karen kept the time for us).
Some indeterminate amount of time later: Our caravan of four vehicles, the Silverado with horse trailer attached, the dodge, Aud's Father's minivan, and Janice's car arrives at Katy and Paul's old house. (Katy & Paul are my brother- and sister-in-law.) The house doesn't even have furniture, but it does have electricity, running water, and A/C, which we gratefully crank up.
The next couple of days: Drop off cats and goats at a shelter for evacuees, located at the fair grounds. The Houdini horses aren't in a very secure pasture, so we decide to move the rest of them to our Arlee evacuation site. Our near-Blue-Mountain-Road evacuation site needs hay so we pick up a ton from our suppliers in Arlee and deliver it. At some point I lose track of how many times we drive up and down highway 93, gawking at the fire each time. We pick up a refrigerator from Bug & Paul to put in their old house. There is a community meeting at the Frenchtown high school.
Monday, 20-Aug: I use Katy & Paul's basement as a temporary office. Meanwhile, Karen, Aud, & co. are able to make a trip up to the ranch to get some of the important stuff we forgot in our haste. There is another community meeting tonight.
Tuesday: Something like normalcy. Karen, Aud, & crew check out downtown Missoula while I work. Karen will fly home home on Wednesday so we grilled steaks and I got a cake that said "Thank You!" from Coldstone. Evacuation is lifted as of 10PM, we decide to stay in town for the night.
Wednesday: I work from Bug & Paul's (do you see a pattern here?). After work, we go up to the ranch. Everything is fine once you get past the first few miles of burned land and the National Guard checkpoint. The ranch is unharmed except that everything is in disarray from our hasty departure.
Thursday: Sleeping in my own bed instead of on the floor is too good, I oversleep by three hours. After a late start, I get to work. Karen fixed lots of little things in the barn, stall doors, broken mangers, etc. They head out in the evening to sleep in town and get an early start on their driving.
Friday: All alone at the ranch, I work my day job. Sarah comes over in the evening with a pizza and we watch a movie.
Saturday: Lots of helicopter activity, I hope that means they are controlling the fire. Rajah is not himself, seems sick. Took his temp, 104.2 which is high. Decided to take him to vet. Since we are still on 1-hour evac notice, I take everything I'll need in case they decide not to let us back in (including Maya). At the vet, his temp is 106, they immediately start trying to cool him down and get him on IV fluids. They figure out he has pneumonia and keep him overnight.
Sunday: visit Rajah a few times to try to keep his spirits up. Put Christie on speakerphone so she can tell him she loves him and wants him to fight this illness. Stayed at Bug & Paul's old house so I can be close to Rajah.
Monday: Move Rajah from emergency vet clinic to Four Paws as the emergency clinic only operates on evenings and weekends. Work from Bug & Paul's basement, again. Christie flies home about noon and checks on Rajah. The vet doesn't have the facilities to keep Rajah overnight, so we stay at Bug & Paul's old house again. We learn the 1-hour evac notice is lifted for us!
Tuesday: Take Rajah back to Four Paws for more observation, he seems to be a bit better. I work from Bug & Paul's basement. Vet thinks we can take Rajah home and switch from IV antibiotics to oral. Christie rides up to the ranch and sees the fire damage for the first time.
Today: Rajah is breathing easier and seems to have a bit more energy. He ate some leftover steak, and is drinking well. I work from HOME, alleluia! Christie went to town to pick up cats and goats from the shelter, and the first load of horses. If we have the energy, we'll go back for another load of horses tonight.
Tomorrow: More of the same, and life continues...

Fire on the mountain

2007-08-15T09:58:00.000-06:00

There have been fires every year, but this one is pretty close to home.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/938/

According to GoogleEarth, it is about 5 miles away, down Black Cat Gulch. I don't think we're in much danger, but there is a chance. If this fire were to burn along the crest of the mountain it is on, it would come right to us.

We have started working on our evacuation plan, but it is really hard to know how far to take it. Should we start trucking horses off the mountain, or just load all our keepsakes into the truck? We've had numerous offers of assistance, for which I am very grateful. With our three-horse trailer, it would take something like 8 trips to get all the horses down to the evacuation site in Arlee. Luckily we have lots of good friends with horse trailers, so I think we can get it done much faster.

There isn't much else to report right now, but fear not, we are all well

The calvary has arrived

2007-08-13T08:29:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't know, Christie had a family emergency last week and had to head to Iowa on short notice, Monday. Michal was here until Wednesday, taking care of the animals, so I could concentrate on work. However, after Wednesday, I had the ranch to myself, which also meant all the chores.

Mostly the chores meant feeding a few of the horses and milking the goat. I also setup an irrigation regimen for watering the Big Barn pasture every morning. Add to that all the miscellaneous ranch details, and I ended up short changing my day job to moonlight as a rancher. Well, now I don't have to bring home the bacon AND fry it up in a pan, because the calvary has arrived.

Our friends, Karen & Aud are back, and they brought Alex and his girlfriend Emily along as well. They will be here almost two weeks and will be concentrating on erecting more jack-leg fences to replace all the old, rotting fences we have now. They are also kind enough to take over the daily things, like feeding the horses and milking the goat twice a day.

Not only that, but this ranch gets pretty lonely after all the work is done, so I welcome the company. Last night when they arrived, we quickly dispatched the evening chores and then spent a few minutes enjoying the cool evening breeze around the Friendship Circle. (We can't really call it a fire pit during Stage 2 fire restrictions.) It will be nice to pass the evenings with friends again.

Early to bed, early to rise ... and fall

2007-07-30T10:41:00.000-06:00

Hoping to get a good start on the week, I went to bed around 8:30PM last night. I didn't fall asleep right away, but it was good to know I'd wake up refreshed and ready for my Monday morning. That was the theory anyway. At 1:24AM, I woke up to hear beeping, running feet, and slamming doors. It took me at least a full minute to put together that Sky was having her foal.

No worries, I thought, Christie is already out there. Oh wait, Sky wasn't in the barn, so the baby is probably out in the pasture somewhere. Ugh, time to carry another 100+ lb. baby to the barn. When I got out there, the baby, a jet-black colt, was already born and trying to figure out about standing up. Well, there was a lot of squirming, but not much standing.

Christie helped get the little bugger standing so I could get my arms around it. I had just hoisted the baby up into my arms and taken the first step toward the barn when some horse's ass blind-sided me. It was Sky's ass, she evidently took exception to my carrying her baby off. She spun around and did a full-body check on me and baby. Baby went down and I landed on my back a few feet away, with new respect for hockey and football players.

I know my brain was rattled because I momentarily confused Sky's species, calling her a female dog instead of a female horse. Christie got a halter on Sky, and we tried again. Michal helped Little Bit up and I got him up into my arms. Luckily Sky foaled right across the bridge from the barn so there was only about 100 feet to stumble to the barn. I laid Scooper down in the fresh straw and promptly went back to bed. But not without taking some aspirin first.

Sky and her colt are doing fine this morning. The little bugger is very cute, I think he's going to grow up and break all the ladies' hearts.

Crazy Day

2007-07-26T09:15:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a bit much, here's some of what happened:

Blackie tripped on her lead rope and went down. Stayed down. Had to be coaxed back to her feet. Poor old girl.
Christie took Michal and Brianne out for a ride. All horses came back with riders this time.
The young horses, including Dancer and Ghost decided the grass was greener in the yard.
I built up the fire pit (aka Friendship Circle) with more rocks to make a deeper pit. All agree it looks nice.
A neighbor had family in from out of town. They came to see the critters. They stayed to ride the golf cart, the lawn tractor, and anything else with a motor.
A mare and her foal got tangled in Ryder's electric fence. Everyone is fine. I used enough adrenaline to last a week.
My sister made kabobs for dinner over the campfire. They were yummy.
Two mares arrived for breeding with foals at side. They don't appear to have been handled much. Christie setup a temporary round pen for them.
All the yearlings got groomed. There is a prospective buyer coming today.
Horses were moved around to make a stall available for Sky to have her baby in. Sky didn't have her baby. We are all waiting to exhale.
Christie and I made a quick trip to Frenchtown to make a deposit at the bank and get groceries for today.
We filled water tanks for all pastures using the irrigation pump.
Jarred hauled more wood for fencing down from our hillside.
Michal worked with Cairo in the round pen.
A temporary fence was setup by the round pen so horses could be left there without them being able to chew on Janice's car.

...oh yeah, and I worked my normal 7-4 shift for the bank.

Guests, invited and otherwise

2007-07-23T09:46:00.000-06:00

My sister, Ruth, arrived yesterday. Her roommate Beth, and Beth's niece, Brianne came with her. They were at the end of a fairly long road trip from Omaha that included seeing Bon Jovi in Wyoming, and spending a day and a half in Yellowstone. Needless to say, they were grateful to fall into bed last night, even if it was just the couch and a blow-up mattress.

Now because I'm so dedicated to my work (i.e. there are bills to pay) I was up at 6:30AM today. As I emerged from the bedroom, I distinctly heard Beth say "Peacock go away!" In any other household it would have been safe to assume Beth was dreaming about some real or imagined childhood trauma. I however, knew immediately that she was wide awake and lucid, because there were indeed two peacocks strutting around the room. It seems they have discovered that our screen door has a peacock-sized hole in it. Furthermore, this is not the first time they have been inside.

It was easy to herd them out of the house, but I'm sure they'll be back. I'm also sure that our invited guests will be wondering what other manner of uninvited guests will be poking their beaks, noses, muzzles, or snouts through that screen. What I'm not sure about is whether Beth really believes she can talk to peacocks. City people sure are strange.

Puncture Wounds

2007-07-16T11:03:00.000-06:00

When we decided to move up here, it was quickly apparent that we would need tougher tires. We currently run 10-ply off road tires on our Silverado (most street tires are more like 4-ply). However, even with the added protection, we have had what I would call an extraordinary streak of bad luck.

On the 4th of July, we ran to town to see a movie and grocery shop. While unloading I heard a hissing. A little investigation revealed a 2" nail jammed into the tire. Bummer. Two hours later in the hot sun, I managed to get the tire changed. I did, however, have to RTFM (Read The Manual) GASP!!, to figure out how to get at the spare tire. The next day, Christie took the truck to Les Schwab where they fixed the flat, free of charge (which is their policy)

This last Saturday, we went to town to hang out with Katy, Paul, & the girls. When we went to leave, we realized we had another flat (different tire than last time). It was already late, and I didn't feel like spending another two hours, so we called the roadside-assistance service that came with our warranty. It took them about 45 minutes to get there, and then about 5 minutes to change the tire, including all the paperwork. This time the culprit looked like a small bolt. Fine, we were on our way.

Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful, I'm sure. I don't actually know because I slept until about 8AM. When I looked outside, I thought I'd parked in a hole, but closer inspection showed another flat tire. What a pickle. We didn't even have a chance to fix the flat from the night before. We only have one spare, so it looks like we're calling for help again.

We waited until this morning to place the call. This time, at least, Les Schwab is open, and we can get the flats fixed right away. However, they are going to have to tow it down there. The automated system called and told us it will take two hours for them to get here. I just feel sorry for the driver that has to come all the way up here. I hope he has plenty of spare tires for his own truck.

The rule of halves

2007-07-13T09:30:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I can be a bit of a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy. However, when I see a horse come running back to the ranch without its rider and with the saddle dangling underneath its belly, I feel it is justified. This happened yesterday afternoon, and I knew my day was shot.

A few moments later the other horse showed up, with its rider this time. "Where's your partner," I quizzed, and learned that she had gotten off the horse to recover a water bottle, and the horse made a break for it. OK, good, there would be no blood or helicopter rides in the near future. The horses had obviously had enough excitement for one day, so we quickly settled them into a small pasture, and I sent the lone rider back in the golf cart to retrieve her stranded comrade. I then fetched Christie, something I should have done first, not last.

I filled Christie in on the details and went back to work. Awhile later ... I don't know how long because I was working and you know how time flies ... Anyway, awhile later, the duo hadn't returned so Christie decides to go looking for them. Another while later -- don't ask, I still don't know how long "awhile" is -- the golf cart comes back with only one person on it. Oh boy, here we go, time for the blood and helicopter rides.

Well, it turned out that the other half of the pair didn't wait to be rescued, she started walking home ... the wrong way. I called Christie on the car phone, and we regrouped. She and Rider#1 would retrace the route in the Chevy, while I would take the Dodge and check other nearby roads. We kept in touch via walkie-talkies, and after a sun-soaked and dusty hour, we had very few leads and had searched all the back roads.

At that point we caught a break. Right near where Bear Creek meets Mill Creek, we found some shoe prints that likely belonged to Rider#2. The only problem is they were heading away from the ranch. I headed back to the house to leave a note while Christie followed the tracks. When I arrived home, Rider#2 was sitting on the couch eating ice cream! It seems she hiked toward Frenchtown until she met someone on the road who kindly gave her a ride back to the ranch.

As to whether the glass was half full or half empty, it was kind of a tie. My day was indeed shot, but there were also no blood or helicopters. Worse than I hoped, better than I feared. In the end, everyone, human and equine, was home safe and sound, so I may have to go with half full.

Rite of Passage

2007-07-10T09:27:00.000-06:00

I feel as though I have passed an important milestone on my journey from Software Engineer to Rancher. No longer can our neighbors look down on me as a poser, pretender, wanna-be, or goat-roper. Now, I don't think any of our neighbors actually did look down their noses and call me names, but the point is that they could have and they would have been right...until now.

My rancher credit is now certified, justified, and bona fide. I have everything I need to be able to fit right in. I no longer have to worry about what everyone will think of my pale skin and baby-soft hands because I have ... a John Deere up on blocks!

Now, technically, it is a tractor up on block, but I have all the technical skills required to add an additional block, so I'm not really concerned about details.

No applause, please, just throw money...

Plumber's Crack

2007-06-29T11:00:00.000-06:00

A good friend told me that anytime she embarked on a plumbing project, she ended up making three trips to the hardware store. I scoffed. I thought I'd planned pretty well for our latest adventure. If you recall from Water, Water All Around, we had a broken pipe in the garage. We decided to fix it so Michal could make better use of the apartment.

We turned on the water to the garage, briefly, in order to assess where the pipe was broken. It turned out we would have to replace about 20' of a straight run of pipe. We took inventory and headed to the hardware store. The next evening after work we got started...

Scoffer beware lest the universe decides to teach you a lesson. We are now up to 4 trips to the hardware store, and the run of pipes still leak. Each time we replace a section, we learn that another section leaks. In one location, behind a wall, in a crawlspace only Christie could reach, the pipe had a double split along the entire length. I'm really hoping that we are nearing the end of this little saga, otherwise, I may have to buy stock in Lowes just to recoup some of my losses.

Destiny's Suprise

2007-06-25T09:02:00.000-06:00

The rain had just stopped and the sun was beginning to shine. I was working at my computer (as I do every weekday morning) when I heard horses screeching at each other. I figured it was a turf war over grazing rights (pun intended). When I looked out the window, I realized it was just Destiny shooing the other mares away from her baby. BABY?!?! Destiny didn't have a baby the last time I looked out!

I ran over to the house and woke up Christie. She and I rushed out to the pasture to find Destiny's little girl already up on her feet and trying to nurse. The poor dear was still wet and shivering in the early morning chill. Christie put a lead rope on Destiny and I picked up the baby and carried her to the barn. By the time we got to the gate Michal was there to open it. I deposited the little cutie in the straw and went back to work, leaving Christie and Michal to do all the post-birth stuff.

Since this is not the first time I have had to carry a 100+ lbs. baby to the barn, I now have reason to believe it won't be the last. I'm going to have to try and create a strength training regimen where the weight will periodically struggle and try to get away. If any of you know of something like that, I'll do 6 easy payments of $29.99, otherwise, I'll just have to invent it myself and market it on the home shopping channel.

By the way, for my avid readers, I'm sure you're wondering why this was such a surprise, since we have the Foalert system. Well, chalk this one up to the mysterious ways of Mother Nature, because we didn't think Destiny was due for several weeks. We hadn't implanted her with a Foalert device yet! I guess it is just like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play.

Ah, sweet quiet

2007-06-21T10:55:00.000-06:00

Our mantra these days is "Simplify". To that end, we've decided to cut back on the critter count. The two donkeys, Jesse and Julia, needed a new home because they had to be kept off the green pastures lest they founder. Keeping them in a stall meant feeding them twice a day and hauling water from the creek. That certainly didn't make our lives any easier, so they had to go. They went home with a nice couple that needed companions for a young horse.

Now, if there's one creature that makes life harder for everyone, it is goats. Our herd was up to 14 adults and kids, which became a marauding tornado of destruction. They would get into anything, anywhere, anytime. They felt a particular need to follow us everywhere, which was endearing when we had three goats, but troublesome with 14. They also left little gumdrop sized presents all around the ranch, especially on the porches. We put an ad in the Missoulian and the response was overwhelming. We could have sold twice as many easily. We are now down to two milk goats and a kid. The kid could still sell, but if he doesn't then we'll probably eat him this fall. We're going to keep the two milk goats for foal emergencies, which means we'll be breeding them every year to keep them producing milk. However, I think we will make a habit of selling the kids.

With most of the prime troublemakers gone, it is actually quite peaceful up here.

New Rule: No Fun Allowed

2007-06-18T09:29:00.000-06:00

Summertime is when we have the most visitors to the ranch. We have friends and family visiting almost continuously from May through August. Unfortunately, I still have to work, and since I telecommute, I'm in the middle of everyone else's vacation. Last summer we instituted a new rule, no one was allowed to have any fun in the house between 7AM and 4PM. It actually worked pretty well, because the weather cooperated. Who would want to be indoors when it is sunny and 75 outside?

This year has turned out to be a bigger challenge. We have had a lot more rain, and so all the outside projects get put on hold. It is actually a sore subject with me that people persist in having fun while I'm trying to work (read: not have fun). Needless to say, I am easily distracted these days. Add to this that our summer helper, Michal, arrived this week. She is going to be staying in the house, which means that her bedroom is in my office, or vice-versa, I don't know which.

What we decided to do about this is something I've been wanting to do for some time. We are moving my office over to the apartment above the garage. Over the weekend, I did the hardest part, which was to pull network wiring over there. This was my most ambitious wiring project to date, which involved pulling almost 200' of cat-5 through conduit, under the house, and up through two floors of the house and one floor in the garage. It went pretty well, all things considered. When I put the ends on the cable and plugged in a laptop, it worked the first time!!

That's all the progress we've made on the move so far, I'll keep you posted as my commute gets multiplied by a factor of 10.

Sleeping Throught the Night: Priceless

2007-06-14T08:24:00.000-06:00

For those of you who haven't heard Christie tell stories about birthing foals, let me sum it up. She generally starts sleeping in the barn when the birth is near, and wakes up at every little noise, in case the birth has started without her. She goes days without a decent night's sleep, and when the foal is finally born, she just goes to bed. She's not neurotic, most births go on without a hitch, but once in a while there is a complication, and if someone is there to help, it is easy to solve.

Take Echo's baby this year. Echo had some trouble pushing the baby out, and Karen and Christie had to each grab a leg and pull. Even with help, it was a difficult delivery, and Echo had some tearing, which shouldn't happen. If Christie hadn't been there, we might have lost the foal, the mama or both.

This year, however, Christie didn't have to sleep in the barn. She didn't even set an alarm to check on Echo every couple hours. In fact, Echo wasn't even on our radar because her milk hadn't turned white. I won't lie to you, we're incredibly lucky, but luck isn't what saved that foal.

What saved the foal was Foal Alert. My mom gave us the money to buy a Foal Alert system this year, and it is already paying for itself. Christie was able to sleep through the night, and when the alarm went off, she was up, dressed, and out the door in less than 30 seconds! She found Echo laying in the pasture struggling to deliver and was able to assist immediately.

I know I sound like a commercial, and this won't help most of you (except maybe Mb ;), but you should check it out, and tell all your friends who raise horses, cattle, sheep, goats, or even llamas about it. This thing works, and works well. We had the vet install the first two on Mariah and Echo, but we've been doing it ourselves since then. Even for us rank amateurs, the procedure only takes about 30 minutes, and the peace of mind is priceless.

You know what gets my goat?

2007-06-12T10:38:00.001-06:00

Apparently a candy necklace.

It all started because one of our guests has both a sweet tooth and a twisted sense of humor. She bought one of those candy necklaces with the idea that you could put it around one goat's neck and the other goats would mob it to eat the candy. Hilarity would ensue and a good time would be had by all.

Well, we picked Chico as our victim based on that fact that he is the most annoying goat and surely deserved such a prank. The joke was on us, however, the other goats completely ignored the yummy treat, even when we held it out for them to taste.

Fast forward to the next day, and Chico is still the most stylish goat with his new necklace. While sitting around the cook fire waiting to grill our steaks, I decided to see if he would eat the necklace. It wasn't quite as funny as we hoped, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

A former, ex-blogger speaks

2007-06-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

I'm going to call this a monumental case of writer's block. Well, that isn't really true, I just got stuck on one story about Thanksgiving at the Ranch, and stopped writing. I should have just bagged on that story, and written others, but I did not. So, I became, as the months passed, an ex-blogger.

Now, I am a former, ex-blogger, or a former, former blogger, or an ex-ex-blogger. Take your pick, I think I'll go with re-blogger. Anyway, I'm back. I feel the need to make my voice heard. There are lots of stories to tell about the ranch, and Christie's blog only covers one perspective.

It is the beginning of birthing season at the ranch, and our friends, Karen & Aud are in town helping out. They were here last year about this time, and were present for at least 4 births! They are now honorary ranchers and will be assisting with more births any day now.

R.I.P. Lambie

2006-11-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Many of you have been introduced to Christie's Blog, but if you haven't, I encourage you to read it. The first story (a two-part story) tells how we lost our pet lamb. He was a sweet little guy, and he deserved better. We are trying to honor him by not letting his value as a food animal be wasted.

High Tech: 1, Mother Nature: 0

2006-11-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

With all that wind on Friday, my satellite internet service wasn't working. I hoped it would clear up by Monday morning when I had to telecommute to Chicago again. Monday morning came around and the internet was still down. It was funny, because it seemed to lose its signal each time the wind blew really hard. I went out on the deck and eyeballed the dish's line of sight and noticed a tree was waving in front of it.

When we installed the dish, that tree was a good 3 feet to the right of the dish, but the high winds pushed the top of the tree over in front of it. I got the chainsaw and dropped the tree, letting the wind push it over right where I wanted it. It was about 40' tall and still had lots of greenery at the top. I hate cutting down a live tree when we have so many standing dead, but in this case technology had the trump card because if I can't connect to the internet I don't get paid.

Aunty Em, Aunty Em!

2006-11-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

Do you hear that?! That isn’t coyotes, it is the wind howling outside. Good thing we’re safe and sound inside.

As is usual for Friday night, our neighbor Sarah came over to have dinner with us and watch West Wing on DVD. We’re up to Season Six, where President Bartlett has the MS attack on his China trip. We had to turn up the volume a bit so we could hear over the blowing wind. We had just started the second episode of the evening when there came a knocking at the door.

It was Jarred, our neighbor. A tree was down on the road and he couldn’t get home. He wanted to borrow a chainsaw because he really didn’t want to hike up to his place in the dark to get one. We grabbed both of our saws and headed to the downed tree. This thing wasn’t the biggest tree in the world, but with all of its foliage, it formed a barricade as tall as a man. Jarred and I started at opposite ends, limbing the tree so we could get at the trunk. Once all the limbs were out of the way, we cut the trunk and rolled the log to the side of the road. (Tomorrow I’ll go back with a truck and drag that log to the house, it will make good firewood. :)

The job done, Jarred ran me back to the house. I stowed the chainsaws in the garage and wished him safe driving. He drove up our driveway, and then started to back down again. Yep, in the time in took him to drop me off and turn around, a tree had fallen across the driveway up by the road. I grabbed a saw and trudged up to the top of the drive. This was a little tree, one cut, then the two of us pushed it off to the side. This time, I sent the saw with him, wanting to make sure he could get home.

Back inside Christie and Sarah had finished the episode and were ready to watch another. After the third episode, in which President Bartlett struggles with his disability and watches his last China Summit fall apart, Sarah went home. Not wanting to take any chances, we sent our other saw with her in case she had to clear any trees.

She did. A while later, our neighbor Regis stopped by to return the saw we sent with Sarah. He was coming up the hill and arrived in time to help her chop up yet another tree. Good thing she had a saw with her, huh?

What do you want to bet that every single resident of this mountain has a saw in their car/truck tomorrow? Heh, I wouldn’t take that bet!

Water, water, all around. (Or, why it was raining in the garage.)

2006-11-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning. A rare opportunity to sleep in. I woke up from a dream in which I was searching for a bathroom. You all know what that means, right? I stumbled to the bathroom, did my thing, and headed back to bed. I only got a few steps because the toilet was making a whistling sound. Darn, I was SOOOO looking forward to sleeping in.

I knew this whistling sound from experience, the cistern that supplies our water was empty. We don't have a well, we have an underground spring, which is captured in a cistern up on the hillside opposite the house. The cistern is higher than the house, so our water pressure is supplied by gravity. It is a sweet setup. That is, unless someone leaves a water hose running overnight. It happened a few times this summer, which is why I knew the whistling sound.

Still in my PJs, I put on my mud boots and headed outside. I was going to turn off the hose and go back to bed. Peculiarly, the hose wasn't on. I opened the hatch to the crawlspace under the house and cocked my ear. Nope, no sound of running water (as from a broken pipe, which also happened this summer). OK, where else do we have pipes? The garage.

In the summer of '05, we had a young couple living in the apartment above the garage, and they installed a water line from the house to the garage. Predictably it froze in the winter, and in the spring of '06, there was a tiny crack seeping water onto the garage floor. I patched it with silicone tape and went on with life. Well, this lucky Sunday is when the pipes really cracked, and it was raining in the garage.

One of our winterizing tasks was to crawl under the house and turn off the water to the garage so it would not freeze again. Now seemed like a good time. Christie volunteered to do the crawling, bless her sweet, angelic heart! From deep under the house, she called out "Which valve do I close?" I told her it was the one on the line to the garage. She called back "There isn't one."

I'm trying to keep this blog family friendly, so I won't repeat what I said next, or about whom. What it came down to was that the only way to shut off the garage was to shut off the main valve. Nice.

Home Depot here I come. Christie went back to bed and I drove to town. I got a 3/4" valve and PVC cement, then headed home. The 3/4" valve did not fit the 3/4" pipe. This is when I learned that there is a difference between CPVC and PVC. I bought the wrong thing.

Fast forward to 9PM, we finally have the right parts to install a valve, so we turned off the main valve and put in the new valve. The PVC cement needed 2 hours to cure, so we left the water off overnight. This morning we turned the water back on and everything looks good, no leaks.

It is currently raining outside the garage, but I'm told that is normal.

I have the power!

2006-11-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

At last, our primary generator is working again. Over $400 later, and putting some old parts back on, we have the 15kw propane generator charging the batteries again. There are still a few minor parts that need changing to get it running smoothly, right now it tends to backfire on startup. However, it is only about $20 worth of parts, and I can install them myself.

For the gearheads out there, we had the points and the condenser replaced, and the generator seemed to have good spark, but would not start. The tech suggested a new pressure regulator, which I installed myself, but didn't solve the problem. I checked each component of the fuel delivery and found them in working order. The tech came back out yesterday, and finally got it running by putting our old condenser back on. Evidently the new one was bad, out of the box. We've ordered a new distributor cap and rotor to complete the electrical overhaul, and that should help with the backfiring.

I'm still primarily a software engineer, but each time we get something fixed, I quiz the guy until I understand why it failed. I'm getting to where I almost understand internal combustion engines and how they work.

My momma told me...

2006-10-20T09:36:00.000-06:00

...if you don't have anything nice to say, then say nothing. I don't know if I can do that this time.

My employers are going to red-tape themselves right out of business. My contract came up for renewal in mid-October. They renewed me for another 6 months, the maximum allowed by policy. That was nice, because knowing where my next mortgage payment will come from helps me sleep better at night.

However, and it is a huge however, they neglected to sign me up for another 6 months of network access. I'm not talking about my ISP, I pay for that, and it is up to me to make sure it is working. I'm talking about the privilege of logging into their network so I can do my work. On Wednesday when I logged in for work in the morning, I was able to connect to their VPN, but I could not use any of their services, like e-mail, chat, or remote desktop. I knew what this meant, I'd seen it every six months, like clockwork, since I started working for them. They'd turned off my account.

I called the Help Desk, and they confirmed that it was disabled. They told me my boss had to submit a request on an internal website. He did. A few hours later he received a message saying his request was fulfilled. It wasn't. The Help Desk confirmed that my account was still turned off. You might think the Help Desk could do something about it, but no, the group in charge of allowing me to work is a secretive organization that works solely from an e-mail drop-box, with no phone number, and no way to find the name of a real person belonging to the group.

The request to re-enable my account was assigned a case number: A141631. Don't you feel all warm and fuzzy? In order to communicate the failure of A141631, my boss had to send an e-mail with "A141631" as the subject to the mystery drop-box. He got back a message that they had assigned case number A141848 to his request to look into case number A141631's failure. Go ahead, sit down, my head is spinning too.

On Thursday morning, my friendly Help Desk person confirmed that my account was still disabled. Luckily, a few hours later, the cloak-and-dagger squad dispatched a message to my boss that A141484 had been resolved. Great, now I can get back to work!! Oh, if only it were true.

Do you recall that on Wednesday, I could connect via VPN? Well, on Thursday, I could not. My ever so helpful Help Desk person confirmed that my network account had been enabled (hooray!) but that my internet proxy account was disabled (boo-hiss!). Was my internet proxy account covered under the original request? Nope. Does the same group handle the request? Nope. Was there a phone number I could call to expedite the request? Nope.

This time ... get this ... I had to log on to an internal website, download and fill out form #210, sign it, have my boss sign it, and then fax (yes, FAX) it to the number listed on the form. Well that first step was a doosey since I could not log on the their network at all. Thankfully, my boss was kind enough to send the document to my gmail account. I printed it out, signed it, then scanned it back in as a PDF and sent it back to my boss so he could print it out, sign it, and fax it to Whoever-They-Are.

If you think there is something wrong with this process, join the club, my friend. A quick Google shows that the fax machine was invented in 1843. Here I thought I lived in the 21st century, the information age, but we're still using an antique process by which the 25 kilobytes of data from the original document is blown up to 272 kilobytes and, as a bonus, is no longer machine readable. What do you bet that on the other end of the fax line there is a computer which translates the fax data into a digital image and stores it in an optical database archive, wouldn't that be a hoot? (OK, I'll admit that my sense of humor might be a little skewed on this one.)

So, here we are, it is Friday morning, and I still cannot log in. Do I have anything nice to say? Well, I can say that the Help Desk people, while less than helpful, were very friendly. Hey ... that's it! I said something nice, so I can justify the preceding rant without upsetting my mother!

Late for Work

2006-10-11T11:34:00.000-06:00

I was late for work today, but I didn't oversleep, there was no traffic, and I didn't miss my train. I was late today because we had to load a little colt into the trailer so he could go to the vet. The colt however, had other ideas.

A couple of weeks ago, we noticed that Mariah's baby, Cordova (or Cory) had a goopey eye. That is a technical term which means his eye was draining lots of fluids. Upon closer inspection, his eye was also cloudy, so we whisked him and his mama off to the vet. Cory wasn't halter broke yet, so we were lucky that he hopped right into the trailer behind his mama.

At the vet's office, we found out he had a deep cut right in the middle of his eye, and that, left untreated, the eye would likely rupture and eventually he would lose it. The vet installed a very thin tube in Cory's eyelid and then sewed the eye shut. We've spent the last two weeks squirting medicine into his eye through the tube as often as we could, up to 10x per day. Needless to say, the little guy has had a hard couple of weeks.

This morning, we led mama into the trailer, and Cory decided he'd rather eat frozen grass. We tried to herd him towards mama, but he was very clearly saying "Thanks guys, but I'll pass, the last time I got in there you sewed my eye shut!" So, there was nothing left to do but halter break him in order to lead him into the trailer. About 30 minutes later, we had him on a lead line, though he was clearly not happy about it. With some coaxing and lifting of feet, we got him in the trailer and quickly shut the door.

Then I went to work, late.

16 degrees

2006-10-10T10:04:00.000-06:00

I doubt you'll ever hear me complain about the cold. I love it. I might have complained last February when one of our mares foaled in -30 degree weather, but really, it wasn't the cold so much as having to be awake in the middle of the night.

So let me just say for the record that being out in 16 degrees of chilly goodness doesn't bother me. I'm writing this not so you will feel sorry for me, but so you will get a real idea of what it is like "Living the Life."

My alarm went off at 6:30AM like always. After a couple of snoozes, and a little staring into empty space, I was ready to start my day. Morning chores today included feeding the cats (so they will stop complaining about how we starve them to death) and feeding the wood stove. Once I coaxed a bit of flame from the new log I threw in, I checked the power.

Earlier you saw my solar array. That solar power feeds into a bank of 12 6-volt deep cycle batteries arranged to produce 24 volts. Whatever the sun doesn't provide, our generator does. Whenever I come in or out, I check the battery level, it is a good habit to be in as it avoids some nasty surprises. At 23.8 volts, it is time to charge the batteries, at 22.0 volts the system shuts down to avoid damaging the batteries. I consider this a nasty surprise.

After feeding the cats and the stove, I checked the power, and we were down to 23.4 volts, which means we need to charge the batteries SOON. I threw on a flannel jacket, grabbed a flashlight, and trudged out into the pre-dawn darkness. My shoes crunched in the frost on the lawn. I gassed-up the backup generator and started it.

Our primary generator runs on propane and is fed from a 1000 gallon talk, so it never needs to be gassed-up. Our primary generator operates on a remote switch, so there's no need to trudge anywhere. Out primary generator can be started automatically by the power system without any intervention from me. Our primary generator, as you may have guessed by now, is not working.

So there I was trudging back into the house. Luckily the morning fog had lifted from my brain enough to wonder why the batteries weren't charging. Turing on the generator isn't enough, you have to make sure the power is actually being consumed. OK, back outside, yep, the breaker on the generator was popped. Aha, that explains why last night's run didn't charge the batteries enough...

Welcome to life off the grid. Would I trade this in for power lines and electric bills? Nope.

Toys for boys

2006-10-06T11:03:00.000-06:00

It is nothing new, but a few months ago I got a PSP, that is Playstation Portable for those of you who are acronym-challenged. It is a pretty decent game machine, but that isn't really why I decided to write about it. This device, dismissed by many in favor of Nintendo's DS-Lite, is a multimedia extravaganza. Those of you who know me will notice right off that I'm not one to use the term extravaganza lightly! ;)

What impresses me most about the PSP is its ability to handle all manner of portable entertainment. Of course you can play games on it and load it full of MP3s, but there's so much more. You can also load it with your favorite photos like a virtual leather wallet filled with pictures of your family, or if you don't have a family you can keep the picture that came with the wallet and tell everyone she's an old girlfriend. From there, you can amaze and captivate your friends with full motion video! Anything encoded in MPEG-4 video plays just fine on the PSP, and looks very good. Yep, that old collection of Star Trek episodes you have on VCD can now go mobile!

Now how much would you pay? Wait there's more! In addition to all of that, the PSP supports wi-fi internet access and has a built in web browser. One day I was in town and wanted to see a movie, so I pulled into the parking lot of a hotel with free wireless internet, and checked movie times for the local theaters. Also, because the browser has flash support, you can download Shockwave Flash games and other content to play offline, just in case you managed to get bored with all the other features.

Nope, not done yet! Along with the web browser is an RSS feed reader. If you click on a feed link, it will ask if you want to add it to your feeds. From the feed reader, you can download all your favorite podcasts, video podcasts, pictures and music for your viewing/listening pleasure when you're not near a hotspot. If you're not up on RSS, it stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is an easy way to subscribe to your favorite feeds, whether they are current events from CNN or the latest of Strong Bad's Emails.

Surely you're done now, Dave?!? Not quite. While I have not dipped my toes into the homebrew scene, there are thousands of programs out there written by Joe and Jane Schmoe. Not all are games, one person recently came up with software to turn the PSP into a digital voice recorder if you plug a mic into the headphone jack! There are also more than a dozen emulators available for your favorite game consoles of yore. Miss the SEGA Genesis? There's an emulator for that.

As you may be able to tell, my enthusiasm for this machine is unbridled (please excuse the pun). There's so much more that this little box can do, I haven't even scratched the surface. There's an IR port on the top, but none of my software uses it (yet?). Sony is releasing a GPS receiver and webcam for it this December. What other uses might we come up with? Who knows, the sky is the limit!

For now, I'm working my way through Daxter (37% so far) and using it as a PMP (Portable Media Player) almost every day.

The Rural Arms Race

2006-09-26T12:38:00.000-06:00

Dateline: Monday, 25-September-2006, Wild Mountain Farms

Christie burst into the house shouting "Coyote! He's right there ... get your ... he's ... where are the dogs?!?" I was at my computer upstairs and couldn't see what she was talking about, but since married couples need a certain amount of telepathy, I got the gist of it and ran downstairs. While I got my rifle, unlocked the gun lock, loaded the clip with "varmint" rounds, and put on shoes, Christie explained that there was a coyote right across the creek, not 20 yards from a pond full of terrified ducks and geese ... in broad daylight.

Dateline: Saturday, 23-September-2006

Christie and I spent the day in town with Janice, Katy, Paul, Lucia, and Ella. Jarred agreed to feed the animals for us so we could have more time with family. While Jarred was in the main barn feeding, the dogs went crazy. He poked in his head out in time to see Louie and Rajah charging toward the barn. He looked around and saw a coyote in the barnyard ... in broad daylight. When the dogs got close, the coyote turned and loped off back the way he'd come. Jarred went to his truck for a gun in case the dogs needed help, but they chased that coyote back over the mountain.

Jarred finished the feeding and came out of the barn to hear a horrible ruckus from the ducks and geese. He looked over and thought he saw Rajah at the edge of the pond. As he was about to scold Rajah for terrorizing the birds, he saw another Rajah a little ways off in the pasture, and two more behind him. As he got closer, he realized that four coyotes were closing on the pond. By the time he was within pistol range, they decided to retreat.

Dateline: Monday, 25-September-2006

We ran out to the back porch in time to see the coyote right by the footbridge. To reach the pond, all he'd have to do is cross that bridge. He spotted us on the porch and backed off to the base of the hill to consider his options. We took a moment to do the same. Without many words, Christie and I agreed that I should shoot this coyote. I took aim and fired. He twitched, then rolled down the hill. Until that moment, I'd never fired a gun at a living thing.

Dateline: Sunday, 24-September-2006

Upon hearing Jarred recount the tale of the four coyotes stalking the waterfowl I realized the coyotes had raised the stakes. It started when they began taking chickens from us. Then, we got Louie to guard the ranch animals, and he put the coyotes back in their place. In answer to that, the coyotes changed tactics, and sent one member of the pack to lead the dogs away while the others feasted. If Jarred hadn't been there, we would have lost many birds. We'd never seen more than one coyote at a time at the ranch before.

Dateline: Monday, 25-September-2006

The coyote only twitched a little after the first shot, but I fired again to make sure he wasn't suffering. Christie and I didn't say anything for a while, letting the import of the moment sink in. For me, it meant we had raised the stakes of our little rural arms race another notch. I felt bad for having to kill the coyote, but I hoped the rest of the pack would be deterred by my action. Time will tell if the coyotes decide to go back to eating field mice and wild rabbits. They may have developed a taste for fowl, which would be a shame.

There's gold in them thar' hills!

2006-09-25T11:27:00.000-06:00

One of the great things about living in the west is that the land isn't all used up yet. Case in point is the Garnet Ghost Town. This is one of the most amazingly well preserved ghost towns anywhere. Due to a major fire, the town doesn't look anything like it did in its heyday (over 1000 people lived there), but the feel of the town is still very much alive. When you walk through the buildings, like the three storey hotel, you can easily get a glimpse of what life must have been like.

Unlike most mining boom towns, Garnet was very family friendly. They even went so far as to have a cabin set aside for newlyweds in which a young couple could live until they built their own place, or another couple got married, whichever came first. What amazed me was that so many families would end up in such a remote place. It is remote by today's standards, which is to say you have to drive on dirt roads to get there, and there are no power lines or phone lines running to it. (Wait a second, that sounds like our ranch!) However, when you contemplate what was involved to support a town of 1000 people, it boggles my mind.

Today, there are two roads that lead to the town, one of which is narrower and steeper than Mill Creek Road, where we live. (Those of you who have visited the ranch will appreciate how narrow and steep the road must be.) The other road has been developed by the BLM for recreational purposes, and even on that road, you have to climb quite a ways from the valley where highway 200 runs up to the site of the town. What took my pickup a half hour to drive must have taken all day in a wagon!

Here is a link to the location on Google Maps, so you can see just how far back in the hills we're talking about. Even though it takes a while to get there (about 1.5 hours) it worth the trip. If you're ever out here visiting the ranch, this is a must see.

Snow!!

2006-09-18T10:13:00.000-06:00

I woke up on Saturday morning to a winter wonderland. There was snow everywhere about 1" deep and it was still coming down. :) It stuck around most of the day, and I'm happy to say there's still a small pile of it down by the barn.

In other news ... er ... umm ... sorry, I've got nothing. I'm very pleased to report that nothing interesting happened at the ranch last week. Another week or two like this, and I might actually get around to working on a fun project.

Hot Springs Eternal

2006-09-11T11:21:00.000-06:00

Our anniversary was the 2nd but we had company in town so we delayed the celebration until this last weekend. After the long summer we've had, the delay seemed almost intollerable, but it was worth the wait!

Friday after work, we headed up to Hot Springs, MT, and spent the weekend at the Symes Hotel. It is a beautiful old place built in 1928. They have somehow managed to maintain the charm and pace of an earlier time. We spent our days soaking in the pools and relaxing. In the evening we dined in their little bistro and were even entertained by a "cowboy blues" trio in the big common room. There was no cover charge, but they did pass the hat (literally) to pay the band.

One interesting thing about the people at the Symes is that they seemed to form a tight-knit community. I got the impression that you don't get "hired" to work there, you get "adopted." There were numerous characters who hung around, from the little old guy who ran the gift shop, to the lady who makes and sells massage stones. They were all interesting to chat with.

I feel much replenished by our weekend away, something that I don't think we could have accomplished by shutting ourselves in at the ranch and telling everyone to stay away. If any of you are considering a visit out here, I'd highly recommend a trip to the hot springs, they are only about 90 minutes from the ranch.

Size Matters!

2006-09-06T14:21:00.000-06:00

Oh My God, Becky, look at his Solar Array, it is so big! ;)

We decided to fill out our solar array this year. We got eight panels on a 14 panel mount last fall. Last week we added the other six panels to complete the array. This puts us at 14 x 170 = 2380 watts! The solar installers said this was the biggest single mount they've ever done.

Before the solar power came in, our generator would run 2-3 times per day for 3-4 hours. With the eight panels, our generator still needed to run once each night. Well, two days ago, we had our first all solar day. We got enough power into the batteries during the day to last us all night!!!

Since then, we've had some partly cloudy days, so I don't have a lot of data with which to establish a pattern. However, even if we only last all night every other day, that is still cutting generator run-time in half! At that rate, these panels will pay for themselves pretty quick.

BTW, my little friend in the picture is none other than Chico. Here's a bonus picture of the little bugger. :)

Putting food on the table

2006-08-31T09:19:00.000-06:00

[For those readers who are sensitive, I'm going to be talking about hunting for and butchering meat. I won't be offended if you decide to skip reading this post.]

I just bought my first gun last week. I'm sure I'm on a list at every government agency by now, but I'm not so concerned with the political ramifications of my decision. Those of you who know me will agree that I am not a violent person, so you might be wondering how I became a hunter. The simple answer is that I don't consider hunting for food as violence.

OK, you caught me, I'm not really a hunter yet. I've never fired a gun at a live target. So, please allow me to backup so I can explain the basis of my opinion.

Living this life, an hour from town and off-grid, has instilled a certain sense of self sufficiency in us. We learned early on that most professionals (electricians, plumbers, etc) don't really want to drive this far for a job. So, I became my own electrician, my own plumber, and my own etc. Christie has a garden every year, and its bounty (meager though it is) fills us with pride. Our chickens have also been producing enough eggs for our needs for a couple of years. It isn't a big step from there to consider raising some animals for food. Besides, we could hardly do worse than AgriBusiness with their feedlots, growth hormones, and mad-cow disease.

We have a few neighbors who are already raising some of their own food, so we talked to them, read books and magazines, and Googled until we felt we knew enough to get started. We acquired some meat rabbits (Florida Whites) and decided that some of the 40 chicks we had this spring would be eaten. Up to this point the biggest thing I'd ever killed intentionally was a grasshopper, however, the only way I was going to learn was by doing.

So, we invited the neighbors over for dinner. We decided to slaughter two rabbits for the meal, they would demonstrate on one and I would do the other. I won't go into all of the gory details, but one thing I noticed was how personal it was. When you cut the rabbit's throat, it bleeds on your hands and shoes. This was nothing like going to the store buying a pack hamburger patties. What's more, the very personal nature of this method felt right. I'm not turning into a blood crazed lunatic, I'm just saying that the hands-on approach gives you a very different understanding of the circle of life.

I have since slaughtered, butchered, and dressed chickens, geese, turkeys, and more rabbits without any trouble. The one rule I always try to work by is this: be quick, and make sure this animal isn't suffering longer than is absolutely necessary.

Now here is where my logic gets a little fuzzy, but I'll see if I can explain. I feel I am ready to hunt with a rifle, to reach out and kill from a distance, because I am willing and able to do it with own two hands. I see the hunting rifle as an extension of my arm, rather than an instrument of destruction. It is just a much longer knife.

Now, as I am so inclined, I did a lot of research on rifles before making a purchase. I wanted to make sure it was a weapon Christie and I could both use safely. It needed to be capable of handling predators (coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, and possibly bear) as well as game animals (deer and elk for now). Since I am left-handed, and Christie is right-handed, a bolt-action was out of the question. Also, I wanted to make sure I followed my rule. In order to be quick and make sure the animal doesn't suffer, I decided on a 30-.06.

So, my first gun is a Browning Lighting BLR 30-.06, a lever-action rifle with right-side eject and 4 round clip. We put a Bushnell ELITE 3200 scope on it. I can already see that this could get to be an expensive hobby because we still need a case and shoulder strap, not to mention that the shells are about $1 each! All I can say is that I'm looking forward to saving money at the meat counter.

Swallowing the Rhino (or How Chico Became "The Man")

2006-08-28T10:43:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not talking about some exotic aphrodisiac from the far-east, get your mind out of the gutter!!!

Are you familiar with the old children's song about the woman who swallowed the fly? Below is the final verse, in which you can see that the old lady has clearly gone way too far in order to kill a fly.

I know an old lady
Who swallowed a rhinoceros
Isn't that preposterous!
To swallow a rhinoceros
She swallowed a rhinoceros
To catch the minister
She swallowed the minister
To catch the goat
She swallowed the goat
To catch the dog
She swallowed the dog
To catch the cat
She swallowed the cat
To catch the bird
And she swallowed a bird
To catch the spider
That wiggled and jiggled
And tickled inside her
And she swallowed the spider
To catch the fly
But I don't know why
She swallowed the fly
- I guess she'll die!

I'd like to tell you a similar tale about our lives, and (hopefully) explain why we had to pickup a goat last week...

It all started when Christie decided she liked birds. We got some chickens from a local rescue and I mentally checked that off as a Mission Accomplished. The next Easter, we got a handful of chicks and ducklings from a family who thought they would be cute in an Easter Basket. After that it gets fuzzy, there were some geese and ducks from the rescue, and maybe some other critters, and then suddenly I was awakened by a terrible clatter. I realized immediately that we had just crossed over from Mission Accomplished to Mission Impossible.

OK, it wasn't that sudden, but it felt that way when early this spring Christie's shipment of 40 chicks, 15 ducks, 15 geese, and 15 turkeys arrived. It was around March/April, and it was too cold to have them outside, so we setup a hatchery for each species complete with heat lamps. For those of you who have never had an impromptu hatchery in your living room, these birds were noisy and stinky! In late May we finally released them all to frolic and play. It was sometime in June before we got the house to smell normal again.

What we didn't know at the time [cue sinister music, perhaps a selection from Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev] was how brave the coyotes were getting. At one point we had a coyote taking a nap in one of our pastures, less than a hundred yards from the house, in broad daylight, with three of us yelling at him!! This spring we lost at least 6 ducks and an untold number of chickens to the mangy, flea bitten, varmints. Some protection was in order! We adopted a one-year-old, 100 lb., Great Pyrenees named Louie. He was bred to protect the small and innocent (sheep, goats, etc) from the cruel and heartless (wolves, mountain lions) and the low-down, dirty, and rotten (coyotes). He's a great big, fluffy, white, ball of love to us, and a terror to any predator who dares to step on his turf.

Louie's instincts were strong. Too strong, in fact, because he started spending all of his time at the neighbor's house protecting their sheep and goats! It seems that horses didn't need him, and birds were beneath his notice.

Oh, what to do? We started driving over to their house to pick him up each night. He would come home easily enough, but by morning he would be gone again. We made a deal with a local butcher for meat scraps to feed him. Bribery worked a little, instead of having to go get him every night, a couple of times a week he would come home on his own! Now this was progress, but he was still spending most of his time at the neighbor's house.

As a scientist -- OK, I'm a computer scientist, but you've got to work with me here! Ahem ... as a scientist, I figured we had to get to the root of his behavior. If he likes to guard small animals ... then ... if we had some suitable livestock ...

I never got to finish the thought. In a flash, Christie was on the phone researching where and how we could cheaply acquire sheep and goats. Within a week we had begged, bought, or adopted three goats and a lamb. The lamb was a bottle-fed orphan and we named him Oliver Twist. Oliver is very personable and makes a fine addition to our petting zoo. Two of the goats were adult, lady goats. They will provide us with meat goats and milk in years to come, right now they are comic relief. They have been raised to be tied out in a field during the day, and sleep in the barn at night. They are named Clara and Annabelle.

The final goat is Chico. We only just picked him up last week because we wasn't weaned yet. He is "The Man" because he is (or will be) our stud goat. At present, he is only about 6 weeks old, and is the cutest little bugger you'll ever see. The ladies don't take much notice of him yet, but I can see he'll grow into a handsome young man.

So, to recap...

We got the goats (and Oliver) to keep the dog
We got the dog to protect the birds
But I don't know why we got the birds
-- I'm at a loss for words.

;)

All in all it is working out well with Louie now. He is spending the majority of his time at our place and just visiting the neighbors sometimes. He has chased off the coyotes more than once, and they tend to stay gone for a few weeks before getting their courage up again.

I'm a little worried about the rhino, though, because we already have a minister here (Janice), and once Christie gets an idea in her head ... look out. If we get any packages from Africa, I'm going to Return to Sender, unopened!

Breathe in. Breath out. Repeat.

2006-08-23T07:48:00.000-06:00

That is my mantra today. Keep it simple, just try to survive.

Our guests went home yesterday, but not without a typical bit of Wild Mountain Farms excitement. Monday night we got a message from the airline saying that their flight out of Missoula was cancelled. After many phone calls they got it smoothed out. Well smooth doesn't exactly describe how yesterday went, but at least we got them home.

4:00AM - Wake up
4:30AM - Take first guest to Missoula airport
5:30AM - Drop off guest at airport
6:30AM - Return to ranch, eat breakfast
8:00AM - Take other two guests to Kalispell airport 2.5 hours away (suprise!)
11:30AM - Drop off guests at airport

... at this point, you'd think any sane person would crawl into bed for a nap. Well, at Wild Mountain Farms, we're crazy like a whole litter of fox pups! Read on ...

12:00PM - Lunch in Kalispell
1:00PM - Pickup goat ... it is on the way home! (The story of the goats will have to be another post)
2:30PM - Return to ranch, settle in Chico (the goat) with Oliver (our lamb)

... nap? Well, I may have passed out for a few minutes while Christie was handling the critters, but then it was right back to work ...

4:30PM - Take Natasha (visiting mare) home, thus closing Breeding Season.
5:30PM - Stop off at Sportsman's warehouse to buy a hunting rifle (that will have to be another post as well, I'm afraid)
7:00PM - Back on the road to Natasha's house
7:50PM - Are we lost? No! There's the turn to Corvalis ... whew
8:00PM - Natasha returned home safe and sound
9:00PM - Dinner at Applebees (yeah, well, it was the only thing open)
10:30PM - Heading home
11:45PM - Home at last, jiggity-jig

Is there a moral to this story? Nah. All I know is that I spent about 20 hours awake, and 15 hours of that driving all around Montana, including driving up and down our mountain three times and I'm tired.

Breathe in. Breath out. Repeat.

The Book of Dave

2006-08-21T12:40:00.000-06:00

And lo it came to pass that the Bubbas would be returning to the land of The South. And Dave said unto Christie "Rejoice! For we are passing from the season of Guesting into the season of Leftovers" And Christie was afraid, for truely Dave and Christie's refrigerator was stuffed to the hinges with the remnants of good meals gone by.

Cooking for Bubbas

2006-08-18T10:45:00.000-06:00

We have our second group of vacationers with us this week. They are self-described Bubbas from South Carolina and Virginia. These three guys are an unlikely trio, and are fascinating to be around.

The first night they were here, I took the easy route and cooked Johnsonville Brats at the outdoor fire-ring. We sat around the fire eating, drinking some beer, and telling stories. At one point the discussion turned to barbecue. The quietest member of the trio launched into a 20 minute explanation of the "best" way to BBQ a whole hog. I won't relate the entire discourse, but suffice it to say it takes all day and involves using the skin of the hog as a "bowl" in which to simmer the pulled pork and sauce. The sauce is made from scratch and includes ingredients measured in gallons and pounds.

I'm telling you that so I can tell you this...

When I was getting ready for bed that night, I glanced at the menu board for the week and got a sinking feeling in my gut. There it was in green dry-erase marker: BBQ Pork Ribs, scheduled for the next night. "Oh my God!" I thought, "I am going to serve BBQ to Southerners!!" Christie thought this was really funny, but I wasn't laughing.

Now, one of my specialties is Country Style Pork ribs, served with a local BBQ sauce. This cut of meat isn't really a rib at all, it is boneless strip of meat that comes from somewhere near the ribs. The Costco butcher shop cuts these strips into something more adequately described by words like hunk, chuck, or slab. These monsters are about 2"x2"x8" of pure pork with nice marbling all through. Needless to say, it is a moist and tasty "slab" of meat. I believe you could serve these on shoe leather and they would still taste good! Just for good measure, I rub them with some Chef Paul's Magic Seasoning.

The next evening came, and I built a nice big fire in the pit. The cooking went well, with corn cobs on the outer rim of the grill and the meat cooking in the middle over some nice hot apple wood coals. Rain threatened, and the first big thunderclap rumbled through our valley just as I was about to add the sauce. The sky opened up soon after, and I quickly declared the outdoor portion of the cooking finished. We ended up serving the meat bare with the BBQ sauce as a dip.

To my immense relief, the guys tore into that meat. We started with 9 lbs. of meat for 6 people and ended up with about 3 lbs. of leftovers. They even requested we serve the leafover meat the next day for lunch! At that point, I relaxed, knowing that my poor, Northern, imitation of BBQ was well recieved.

my pic

2005-10-05T12:10:00.000-06:00