Bad Day at Block Rock - errrr - Make it Bad Year.

[crash325]

Let's please not derail Jim's thread.

THANK YOU DRAGON

If you folks want to discuss dogs & problems please start your own thread.

Just some fun stuff.
Had or may still have 2 king snakes. Long one (5') & shorter 1. Went to feed the birds & there lay the long snake. Tossing seeds & they are falling on its head. It does not even move.

Bobby at barn door, sounding snake alert. Sure enough a Bull Snake on its way in. Think its still around.

Got to see a baby dove leave its nest. Hung on some shade cloth, just beating its wings. Soon let go & fluttered to the ground. Bobby ran & picked it up. Told her to let it go, she dropped it & came back. It sat there for quite a while. Next day, mom & dad are back at nest calling & calling. In a while a dove about 1/2 their size shows up.

Hole in the Ground.
Dig for a couple of hours & it looks like nothing has been done. Dirt piles getting bigger. Hard stuff after soaking a couple of days, was just dirt. Did not think dirt could get that hard.

More fun stories later about the old days (50's).

Have fun
Jim

 

[Depmandog]

We have rabbits galore. I usually have no idea where their birthing nest / burrow is until I hit it with the mower. I hate that, little bunnies all maimed, some still alive.

However this year we saw a momma bunny making a nest out in front of the house. The grandkids had a blast watching the whole process and chasing the little bunnies around.






(Safety police - chill out. That outlet is non- functional.)

 

[crash325]

Time to put a few things to rest. Dog issues as in my dogs & what to do with them
There is no livestock or even chickens in my area. far more dangerous is Javelina Hogs. Dangerous even to humans & very destructive to plants, fences & you name it.
Lots of coyotes also around, they love chickens, cats & small dogs, as well as rabbits & quail.
When I want advice on dogs I will ask for it,

Moved a lot of dirt today. Moved the big pile away from the hole. Had to to keep it from falling back in about as fast as it came out. Dug a little more, but came back to some more real hard stuff.

2 Lions & 1 bear summer.

Just dad & I at the WJ's. Hot dry summer, ride out before dawn, hot soon as the sun comes up. It had rained a little and left a small puddle in the shale rock. Get off the mules & throw hounds out of it, so I could drink. A few water skippers & a little green moss.

Riding down a very narrow, deep stream bed, even the hounds have their heads down & tongues hanging out. Walking up the little canyon is a lion in about the same condition. Nearly face to face with the mule before it or the mule even knows the other is there It was at a bend in the canyon & after a really big rain water had cut a straight line & formed a small pointed island with 1 small tree at the top. Lion broke for the island & up the tree. Hounds confused, don't know where to look. Dad got them straightened out & they went up the island, Lion broke & across the canyon it went, hounds close behind & dad close behind them. Brush was so thick it would be hard for anything to get through. I could hear the hounds trailing towards Turkey creek & just rode down the canyon. When I got to turkey creek they were barking treed, Dad was there & handed me the rifle, a little 25/35 or maybe a 25/20. He says it shoots low & to the left, short shot maybe 15 feet. Aim at the lions ear. 1 inch low & 1 inch left, just above the eye. Idt came out of the tree dead before it hit the ground. Hounds got their treat by chewing on & mauling the lion.

That is all I remember about that day. This happened over 60 years ago, sort of hard to remember all the details.
Later the other lion & the bear stories.

Have Fun
Jim

 

[GreenYellow]

Hope all is well, Jim! Looking forward to more "once upon a time" stories.
Hope ya ain't got a blister on your typing finger.

 

[crash325]

Lots of happenings, none good.

First the little bit f fun & trivia. Got to see young dove leave the nest. It hung onto some shade cloth, lost its grip & fluttered to the ground. Mother Bobby ran & picked it up, dropped it when I told her to. After a while it disappeared. A few days later mother dove sat on nest & called. After a little while a small dove showed up.
Didn't think doves ever used the same nest twice, but they are back & a new egg in the nest.

Lots of rain, sort of, 2 nasty storms, more wind than water. Lots of almost rain, more of a heavy mist. Several days amounted to 1.5".

Cooler motor been acting up for over a year. It had to be kick started, then worked pretty good. Then it had to be peddled up to get it running & not near full speed.
New motor another $100 spent, Working pretty good now.

Have a temporary solution to sewer problems, Not very good but better than going out side. Some day may build an out house, mostly for fun, but useful.
Went 2 town twice for pvc pipe parts. Have learned that in common use there are 3 sizes of pipe. Sched 40, 20 & sewer, none of them fit each other. Every time I think that I have it right something will not fit.

Problems with well. For years the tank would get water logged & need draining. Now its gone the other way & is sucking in too much air. Every few days need to bleed off the air & add water. Pain in the butt. Faucets blowing more air than water are no fun.

Will get back to fun stories in a while. Not in a good mood at the moment.

Jim

 

[dragoneggs]

Jim, I can feel the 'downer' attitude in your writing at the moment... hang in like weather it will change... hopefully soon. How about a eating some food around a fire pit and re-energize?

 

[crash325]

The most fun or interesting thing id the dove parents egg has hatched. At 3 or 4 am 1 was just sitting the egg. around 7 am a tiny little head popped up to eat. A little later one of the doves picked up the shell & flew away with it. Mom & Dad do take turns sitting the nest & taking care of the baby.

Ha a real rain, sort of. It had sprinkled almost every day for a week or more. Some times 2 or 3 times in 1 day. One nasty hard storm that didn't last long, left 1/2 inch.
Rain started about 2 am, nice steady rain for about 1/2 hour, then quit. About 1/2 hour later hard rain started in a while it settled down to a steady rain,. 1.5" total, but with the ground being wet it ran water, enough to scour parts of the driveway & was in lots of silt in other places.

Washed out a friends driveway & uncovered a water pipe. He is gone until fall. Since we rarely agree on how to fix things I took a saw horse over & set across his drive. Put an old cylinder head on it to keep it from washing away if a real storm should hit.

Grand kid is gone. Went to town & got grocery's, lots more than normal since he eats 2 or 3 times as much as I do. When I get home his real dad, who he had never seen sent him a buss ticket to Flagstaff. Been about 10 days & not a word. Have no idea how long he will be gone.

Haven't worked on the big hole, just too wet.

The WJ'S place.
Old house was built on an old Indian camp ground, found perfect arrow heads in the yard. Yard about 1 or 2 acre or little bigger in size sloped north east. House faced north & front porch was quite high. Back porch was almost level with the ground. Out house about 60 feet behind the house. Small spring another 60 or so feet further on. Dipped water slowly with a 2# coffee can to fill buckets & carry to house & dogs.

Barn & corrals about 150' in front of house. Dog houses were there also. Long ways to carry 2 buckets of water, arms felt like they would pull off before you got there. Each hound had it's own house, when getting back from a hunt each one would go to their house to be tied up.

There was no real road to the WJ'S, just a creek bed that you drove up. Lots of big rocks & ruts. When mom had her car there (49 Buick ) it wwas parked by the dirt road & you had to walk a mile or 2 over some little hills & canyons & carry what ever you got in town. ( Some where between 60 & 70 miles away. )

Lion #2 & bear later.

Jim

 

[crash325]

For the birds.
Dove parents raised 2 babies. They left the nest early this AM. 1 Was gone, the other was sitting about 15' away. Parents were really tending to him. Fed, harassed it until it flew away. Will they try the same nest again???

Water
Rain of some sort almost every day. From a few drops up to about 1/2".

200 Pounds of dog food. Bought 3 50# bags & had to go get a forth. By next trip it will be almost gone.

Lion #2.
Rode out before daylight, through John Slaughter's yard. Gentle up hill for a few miles. Came upon a lion guarding its kill. When the hounds jumped it. it ran out on a ledge. Dad shot it and it fell 50/60 feet onto some jagged rocks. Hounds & dad went off the cliff after it. Told me to ride up a ways until I could find a place to get down with the mules. Took me 20 or 30 minutes t get there. When I arrived dad was standing on its neck to keep it from hurting the hounds. It finally died, took it to Slaughter's yard & dropped it off. This was the only time I ever saw J.S. older man & quite slim. 1 Weird thing he was cutting plug chewing tobacco 7 loading gis pipe with it. Side note: He was no relation to Texas John Slaughter.

Bear story later.

Jim

 

[crash325]

Well life is good again. Well almost.
5, 30 Packs of Beer.
5 Little cigars
5, 50# 0f dog food. 4TH sack ran out yesterday.
2 50# of bird seeds.
1 Big bottle of Sangria.
Big ham, cured & cooked, skin on. NO Water Added. I hat paying big $$$ for ham that's 25%+ water. )n sale $1.49 #.
36 Tomalies.
Guess fall is here, less time with cooler on.

Not so good.
Carried 1 sack of dog food in barn. Killed my back. Took over 1/2 hour for pain to ease up.
No milk at store. They had 1%, not much better tan water.

Back with fun stories later.
Jim

 

[farm boy00]

Well life is good again. Well almost.
5, 30 Packs of Beer.
5 Little cigars
5, 50# 0f dog food. 4TH sack ran out yesterday.
2 50# of bird seeds.
1 Big bottle of Sangria.
Big ham, cured & cooked, skin on. NO Water Added. I hat paying big $$$ for ham that's 25%+ water. )n sale $1.49 #.
36 Tomalies.
Guess fall is here, less time with cooler on.

Not so good.
Carried 1 sack of dog food in barn. Killed my back. Took over 1/2 hour for pain to ease up.
No milk at store. They had 1%, not much better tan water.

Back with fun stories later.
Jim

That's good but bad about pain. We just had tiles for our septic break. So now it is our turn to dig