Cowboy Training

Cowboy Training

 

Groundhogs, Fleas, and a .22

Groundhog, fleas, and a .22

One more obstacle to moving in... The house has been infested with fleas since we began working on it.  We have bombed the house numerous times, bombed under the house, vacuumed to many times to count (poor girls this takes hours with our shop vac), called cook's pest out several times, and now I'm taking it to the next level.  After many nights of hanging out on google I believe the issue is critters under the house.  Critters like mice and groundhogs.  I have already caught 10 mice and now I'm on to the groundhogs.

Water Problems - Will this farm ever get going?

Psalm 20:7

⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

My shop door opens, "Hey Dad some lady just drove down our drive in a white truck."  Cowgirl 2 my second oldest child announced still squinting from the morning sun.  I'm still looking over my emails from the previous day and hadn't really listened to what she was saying.  I take a sip of my morning coffee and turn toward her trying to rewind what she said as to not get caught once again not listening.  Somehow I'm able to hang on to her words long enough for them to register.  "Are they still here?" I ask with a sense of relief that I was able to remember what she said.

She casually walks into the shop, "No, she asked if my parents were home and if the old man still lives here?"  My interest perks and I look out the window just behind my laptop but all I see is the long gravel drive going back to our one bedroom house.

I quickly get up and push out the door just in time to see the white truck pulling onto the highway.  What could they have wanted and who was this old man they referred to?  I watched the late model dodge truck drive past our house.  I wanted whoever was in that vehicle to know that I was watching them drive away from my property.  Why?  Maybe as the protector of my home I felt it my duty to puff up my chest!  Anyways, I noticed a small circle seal on the side of the vehicle and I knew they were from the government.

What or who were they looking for?  In that moment I tried to think if the government could be after me for something.  I thought on this for a second and then when back to answering my emails.  A couple minutes later there's a knock at the door of my shop and I can see a heavy set, butch looking woman waving me out.  I smile and try to figure out what she could be wanting.

"Hey how are you?" I ask kindly.  She replies in a more manly voice than I would have expected, "Good, saw you watchin us as we drove off and figured we better come back.  Wanted to let you know that you have a water leak somewhere on this farm.  Noticed it when we were checking your meter."  There's no way their mistaken I thought to myself.  I just fixed a water leak when we moved in a month ago.  She continues to talk but my mind has already taken the mental vacation.  Another expense?  I wonder if I can pull money or if paypal will release enough.  Man I'm not going to get any money making work done today.  God I know your in control.

My mental vacation is quickly interrupted when she says, "Yall didn't buy this place did yall?"  her face was scowled like she had eaten something sour.  I noticed a couple of her teeth were rotten  "Uh.. Yeah were doing a..."  She interrupts, "I could tell you some crazy stories about this place.  Problem after problem.  Did yall know the old man who lived here before yous?  Well I did and he had all kinds of problems.  Yall know if you have a leak on this property your going to have a huge bill and the water dept. don't really help out with that."  She seemed to be loaded with all kinds of great news...ugh...please don't tell me any more stories.

"So are yall going to do any farming?"  There was a pause, she stopped talking I thought to myself, "Yes were going to give it a try but first we have to finish remodeling this old house.  The people who lived here before us had left it in pretty rough shape.  My wife and I have 5 kids and are living in the one bedroom guest house until were finished.  It gets kind of interesting."  She looked down the toward the one bedroom house and said, "You know they raised camels here several years back?"  "Yeah, I heard that."  She walked over to the truck and asked if I wanted to hear any horror stories to just give her a call.  I smiled one of those fake polite smiles that we do down here in the south and she drove off.

Our little house

I walked quickly back into the shop and picked up the phone and dialed the little house number.  "Hey babe, just found out we have a water leak on the property you want to come down here?"  I hung up the phone and walked out toward the water meter by highway.  What am I doing?  I don't know anything about anything.  I take several deep breaths and  let them out slowly.  I look up and notice the crisp white clouds painted across the bright blue backdrop.  God, I know your in charge and I know you have a purpose in all things.  Help me to be faithful.  Give me the wisdom I need.  I look down at the triangular needle spinning round and round.  I count off 10 seconds in my head and the needle has spun around an entire revolution.  That's 1 gallon every 10 seconds...6 gallons a minute...6 times 6 is 360 gallons an hour... I wish I had a calculator.  I'll figure it up later but its going to be expensive.  I really can't afford a big bill right now.  I need to keep that money turning over in our business.

"Hey babe!"  Something about them boots that are working...  she's walking toward me in a pair of shorts and cowgirl boots.  "So there's a leak?"
"Yup!"
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
"We'll figure it out.  I'm not worried about it."
"I'm worried about it... You needed to get some real work done today."

I took in whole expanse of the farm, the beautiful red barns.  This leak could be anywhere but yet I feel peace.   It took several hours and many phone calls to a friend but were found the leak in the well house.

A little bit more info:

While digging a 4 foot deep hole today looking for a water line and finding the shut off valve right next to my hole it came to me.  I need to blog everything that we are doing on the development of this farming idea.  I am an entrepreneur at heart and have had many different nitche businesses.  I have sold computer parts on ebay for 10 years, started and ran an internet t-shirt business, and several other successful internet ventures, now I'm considering farming... you know since we have 40 acres.  I want to come up with a way to make the land pay for itself.  At least that's the plan.  The thing is that I'm a computer guy so this is going to be fun and funny.

So please take part in journey as our family.  Wait! Wait!  I first need to introduce my family.  My wife Sweet Thang or Babe is my best friend.  She has a great love for the Lord and the mother of my 5 beautiful children with one on the way.  Did I mention we are all living in a one bedroom house on the property...(temporarily that is).  She and I have been sweet on each other since we were 13 and we were married at 18.  We will be celebrating our 15th anniversary this August, Praise God! 

My Children:  My oldest daughter is Cowgirl 1 age 14 (A horse lover) so hopefully we will get some horses, then there is Cowgirl 2 age (12) (A girl who loves to be hugged), Cowgirl 3 age 10 is our third and has a sense of humor like her fathers, Little Man 1 is 3 and Little Man 2 is 1 both keep Sweet Thang very busy.

In my next post I will tell you how we came to make this transition from city to county and my plan to farm... HELP!!  What should we farm?