I scheduled a fishing trip with a couple of my amigos, and it was agreed that it was my time to drive. I informed the Boss Lady of the arrangement and she commented it was good because taking other people around was the ONLY time I ever really cleaned up and out Old Whitey.
In retrospect, like most things she is not wrong. I always taught in my real estate marketing classes, as well as practiced in my own long ranch sales career that people don’t mind their own dirt but don’t like other folk’s messes.
In doing that “clean up and out” project I got to thinking me and my truck are a lot alike. I never did like change too much and so pretty much bought the same “make up” of truck for over 40 years. Same design, with a few improvements as they came along, same color, same most everything.
The current one has been “kept around” longer than the others because there is now much less time with “my bucket in the bucket seats” due to retirement. In truck years I guess we are about the same age. WELL past our prime, neither are nearly attractive nor powerful as when we were newer. Scarred up with a good many bumps and bruises adorning our carriages, both internal and external.
But we both “start up” MOST days and can still rumble on down the road. Maybe a little slower and with more maintenance than in times past. We have pulled some pretty heavy loads with livestock or farm equipment in or on a trailer behind us. And gotten into some pretty “hairy” drives in deep sand and mud or on a few rocky slopes.
But we made it out most of the time without incident and the few times we did not make it, not a lot of serious help or repair were needed.
And I reckon we BOTH could be replaced, but I don’t think it would be worth the time, trouble, and cost to trade either of us in just yet!
Yep, me and that old truck sure do seem to have several things in common!
Heifer Hunting
With the start of a new school year, it is a bit more complicated to arrange trips down into La Brasada with my Grand Kids. The 3rd Grade and Kindergartener girls have scholastic duties that outrank our country runaways. The nearly 3 year one is not quite so restricted with his weekday obligations.
Our daughter said she was taking the kids down on Saturday to feed the gentle heifers we have on the place before they go back to their “real home” next week. On Friday I left a bag of cubes and some corn out there so they could feed the livestock and wildlife. Much to my dismay we had obligations that precluded me enjoying the weekend event with them.
I asked Jesscia to report back to us after their adventure and it seemed like in a fairly short period of time, we received a video call from our Home Place. As luck would have it the cattle were around the Water Trough by our Pens not far from the front gate. So “the hunt” was not too hard. There was a great debate on who saw the animals first between the two oldest. The youngest seemed happy to be yelling into the phone “Look Mimi, Look Poppi, it’s the “Hifers”!
After a quick count we agreed there was one missing. Our nearly 6 year old said it was because she was mad at her Friends. The older one was afraid she got lost or was hurt. The youngest seemed to have no concern about the absence. That, in a nutshell, tells you where those 3 are in this phase of personality and life development.
There was a significant debate on where to put out the corn and who got to carry the Big Old Coffee Can that is our official deer corn holder when feeding by hand. I wisely decided to let their Mom sort that out without my interference in such an important negotiation.
On a “just today” level, I am hopeful they had a real good time. But on a longer- term point of view, involvement with those activities has a different perspective for me. It is my fervent desire for those precious little ones to develop a deep- seated love and connection with that place and the animals who roam around on it. That way heifer hunting and other similar activities can continue, Lord Willing, for another generation or more.
Seems like 5 generations is just a good “getting started” goal for our involvement out there on our little piece of red dirt and creek bottom country.