Heavy Metal

Last November Kristi and I drove to California for Thanksgiving Vacation. Vacation should always be capitalized by the way. We had a wonderful trip on the way out. In New Mexico for miles and miles we saw what looked like citrus vines growing on the ground. That didn't make any sense so when we arrived at a little town to buy gas Kristi asked about them. The are a kind of gourd the shopkeeper explained. A local lady gathers them up for crafts sometimes. Well one of Kristi's interests are gourds so we kept an eye peeled for the next hundred miles. Nothing. Not a single gourd or vine. We had exceeded the range of the plants. I volunteered several times to go back and get some but she would have none of it. Too bad.
We had a nice time visiting friends and relatives in California. As part of the deal we picked up a lathe and a milling machine. This was a favor for a friend, they wanted rid of them, it was a nuisance to them and a windfall for me. I had owned a tiny machine shop decades ago so I know my way around the metal working tools. Anyway the trip back was as bad as the trip out was good. I had surgery for a deviated septum (nose) a couple of weeks before and I was still healing. In a small town called Deming New Mexico I was just beginning to pump gas and blood began flooding out of my nose. Not just a little either. We stopped right there and got a motel room. The bleeding didn't stop and I went to emergency - luckily Deming had a hospital. They gave me an IV and stuck a couple of tampons in my nostrils. That was a quick $1100.00. I was dizzy and nauseous so Kristi got to drive most of the way back, towing an 18 foot trailer heavily loaded. One of the few times I drove I very nearly ran us out of gas. We made it to the worlds busiest gas station somewhere in West Texas. Remember it was Thanksgiving week. What an awful trip.
The memory of the trip is now fleeting but the machines are still on the trailer parked out in the yard. I refused to leave them there for a full year. That's just TOO LONG. So this weekend I resolved to move them into the garage. A friend of Kristi's gave us some bookshelves. These were perfect for holding tools and parts and tooling for the machines in the garage so that's where they went. Kristi generously helped organize everything and suddenly we had enough room to move the machines in. Aha! I said. I have vacation coming up. I can move them then! But my vacation is already spent 5 times over with the chores I need to get done. Repair the greenhouse from last years hail storm, Build benches and shelves in there to hold all the plants. Put in a gravel floor and water system both collected rainwater and city water, Reset the supports for the deck so they are not resting on the septic tank lid, build a storage rack for lumber and long items behind the shed, build a proper compost area. That's a partial list. There's more. A lot more. Get the electric fence working around the whole property, Replace some rotting fenceposts in the back yard, clean out the birdhouses, Sand and refinish the deck. There's still more. You get the idea. So we moved them today. I arranged to rent a forklift from my favorite rental company - San Marcos Rent All. It's my favorite forklift as I rent it for work from time to time. I picked it up on its trailer in San Marcos at 8am Saturday morning and towed it home. We moved the lathe first. I thought this would be the easier machine of the two and besides it had to go in first. There were problems that we got to solve and contraptions we got to make but eventully we got the machine set up in its new home. I will attach a picture as evidence.
The mill that I thought would be so difficult was merely tedious. We followed the fine example of the ancient Egyptions, setting the machine down on pipes and I pushed it along while Kristi would take up the pipes as the machine rolled off of them and replace the pipe at the front. This worked well and the machine is now in its new home.
Since this hasn't been much of a farm related post I will share a couple of minor farm items. Early in the day Kristi went chasing after the goats that had once again gotten into the front yard. There was much shouting and waving of arms. The goats left and the trees were saved. But...some have branches broken. All the leaves that were left have been stripped. That's not so good.
I was in the middle of cleanup, putting some lumber away when I heard rain hitting the tin roof above me. I went to get Kristi's golf cart to put it in the garage and Barbecue sat in the passenger side. Well my trip was only going to be a few feet and she had been good all day (mostly) so I gave her a ride around. We went around the fruit trees in the front yard and then into the garden area to survey the damage the frost had done. I rounded a corner past the tomato plants and there was an armadillo! We see the holes they leave as they look for grubs but only rarely do we see the animal. I got Barbecue to look at it and she took right off and chased it out of the yard. Strange creatures they are.