Now the last stories you heard from me were pretty exotic. Wolves, Gran Tetons, Helicopters, and Thousands of Elk! Well, the following is a look into just few of the adventures I get drug into during a typical week at home.
MOUSING AROUND :Regg calls and asks me if I can come drive for him to feed? No problem, I reply. He’s gonna come down & pick me up. Sounds good, simple chore and won’t take long. He arrives about 10 minutes later in an old blue feed truck. We set out the back way around the block to go feed. I’m on the phone…… when suddenly…. a mouse appears right by the gear stick! I SCREAM!!!!!!! Death curdling SCREAM!!!! I don’t like mice in general but I’m really not a fan of them in enclosed areas with me! The mouse scurries away down a hole in the floor lining & disappears. Oscar is laying right underneath my feet & he doesn’t even see the mouse by his head! So much for my dog being a good mouser! Regg thinks I’m crazy…he didn’t see anything either.
My phone friend has hung up….thinking that we died in a fatal car accident while on the phone with her. I call back to let her know it was just a mouse. Keep in mind I am now sitting with both feet up on the seat underneath me. Aaaaaah! Another mouse appears RIGHT UNDER REGG’S FEET! GET HIM! GET HIM! GET HIM! I am yelling at Regg to step on the mouse under his feet! I looked the mouse in the eyes…I swear it was a different mouse than the 1st spotting! Regg doesn’t see him at 1st & by the time he does the mouse has crawled under the plastic floor matting that is peeling up. Regg is stopping on the floor & all about trying to get it. Hitting the gas pedals….brakes….& anything else the culprit tries to hide under!
Thank You! We are finally to the field to feed! I am more than happy to jump out of the mouse infested pickup to get the gate. I even offer to feed. Regg says if I’d know all we needed was mice for you to feed, he’d have got some long ago. ; )
Finish up feeding & I get the gate so we can head home. If I’d know we were feeding another set of horses…I would’ve never got back in the cab. I think we are headed home so I get back in the Blue Beast. Sitting with both feet on the seat….kind in a squatting position. Didn’t want them to touch my feet! We are half way down this back alley road when….Out of no where…..A HUGE MOUSE COMES RIGHT AT ME! I swear he was trying to sit on my lap! I SCREAMED…..JUMPING SIDEWAYS & using Regg’s head as a foot step to climb on! I was practically sitting on him…but that was as far away from the mouse that I could get!!!!! UGGGGG! Gross little creatures anyway!!!!!
The old wooden gate is drifted in with sand and tumble weeds & I am more than happy to GET OUT to open it! Feeding….from the back of the pickup is also no problem. When we finished I went ahead & got the gate & ….remained in the back of the pickup on the trip back to the house! I’d had all the MOUSING around I could handle for one night!
Feeding with the Tractor
Once again, I get a call from Regg. He’s feeling under the weather & needs some help doing chores. No problem, just call when you want to go. The cows get feed a concoction of goodies thrown together in the mixer. Regg is gonna load the mixer & then send me out to feed. Well, while mixing the 1st load….the saddle horses get out. Ellie is chilling with me in the tractor so we jump out to help capture the escapee. Escapee detained & back to the task at hand. The load is ready to go & I get my directions. I fed with a similar feed last winter in Nevada so I figured I could get the hang of it ok.
Ya……I can’t even get it to move forward! Ok, we get a little more schooling & off we go. My comprehension of the gears is not real good & I bounced Ellie’s pretty little head off the window a few times. She got to hold on when cousin Mindy was driving. A few cell calls later & I had it close to under control. Didn’t even hit the fence …but came real close…& all the directions about quantity & spacing of the hay…were a waste of breathe. I was just lucky to get the hay in the manger without hitting anything!
Go get another load mixed & head out to the big bunch of cows. Oscar has been following us in the tractor. Well, when we get out to the cows….that isn’t gonna work. David’s honky ol longhorn cows are good mommas & don’t like a dog being around. They are trying to stomp him into the ground & he is trying to take refuge under the tractor. I can’t even hardly move forward without hitting a cow trying to dive in after the dog. I stop the tractor…(which is amazing cuz I still don’t think I had it in neautral….really struggled to understand my gears) & hop out to load my dog. He, conviently won’t come to me & hides under the tractor. I reach under to grab & throw him in just as a honky white long horn is headed for the cab! Dang it! Stupid dog! I bang my elbow on the step of the tractor or something. Wow….now the feeding begins. I did ok. Got a little better with my starting without knocking Ellie off of her seat ; )
Not to worry, I fed for him again the other day & I was a pro. Shifted good, ran my PTO, put it in park when I stopped….I’m pretty much awesome now : )
Ellie & I takin pics in the tractor while Regg mixes a load of feed for us
Working on a Well
Regg calls & needs help at the neighbors working on the well. The neighbor is Tommy Thompson. He is an amazing man. Super handy & can fix anything. He has helped my family out on many occasions & anytime I can do something to return the favor I am more than happy to.
Well, here are some pictures.....Yes, It's as cool as it looks :) This is a cable that we hooked to the front of the pickup & it ran up to the top of the tractor. Regg stood on top of the roof attching the cable to the well pipes. Tommy stood down in the well directing the pipes into the hole. I drove the pickup forward & backward in accordance with Regg's hand signals.
Fixing Water Lines to HouseI was such good help with the well Tommy called to have me help get some water lines cleared out to get the water running in the old house behind there place. Don’t get me wrong…I AM NOT HANDY but this task I could handle. LOL…I stood down in the cold, damp well hole turning the water on & off as I was told to. I felt like I was Sloth from the goonies : )
Oscar looking down at me in the well....He did not think it was a good idea to be down there!
Cool rock walls & the pump in the well..or Sloths bedroom as I like to call it
Rockin the headlight ;)
No pictures, but throw in playing cards at Dad's, feeding with the team, dying easter eggs....add that to Well Fixer, Mouse Screamer, and Tractor driver....that's how I've been spending my spare time :) So just when you get to thinking that I might get get bored living here...there is never a dull moment with my neighbors!
Here are a few bonus pics from the last couple days.
1st Pic ~ My new shaggy puppies
2nd Pic ~ Ellie's new mode of transporation when the cows are on the fight :)
3rd Pic ~ New surprise baby...MULE at Dad's place ...lol...never a dull moment!
Wow. You have such an exciting life! That mouse story just gave me the willies. Nasty! That baby mule is adorable. :) BTW, you might want to check your spelling at the end of the tractor segment. Maybe. Pretty sure you meant to say "shifted good..." I could be wrong, though, LOL!
ReplyDeleteOh Mindy--you should sell your stories! Love, Gracie
ReplyDeleteMandy ~ Lol...ya, I changed it. My typos are half the fun ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Gracie xoxo