I know you can’t tell by looking at pictures like this but I am getting older. Just this week we celebrated the 71st anniversary of my birth. I had planned to just let it pass but there was somebody else to consider here.
Sally was born six months before I was. With both of us now at 71 that’s a pretty close match. It allows me to call her the older woman from December till June. Then she becomes my youthful bride from June till December. She doesn’t seem to want me to miss the fact that I have suddenly caught up.
Then there was that other problem. A year ago my granddaughter Alex helped me fence off about two acres that belong to my neighbor. Of course Alex didn’t stick around and went off to school in Florida. http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/alexs-trip
My neighbor just agreed to sell that property so the fence had to come back down. Can't complain as the Donkeys and Llama have used it for a year for the cost of two rolls of barbed wire and some effort. With no Alex to bother, I tackled the job by myself. After one day Sally thought the job just about killed me. She is pretty protective that way but I was ok. Couldn't tell her that.
She put out a call to the family to come to the farm on Saturday (my birthday) June 21st. with working clothes on. It's a big family with seven blended offspring and two dozen grandkids. Folks came from Conroe, Spring, Tomball, Galveston and probably more.
Sally was born six months before I was. With both of us now at 71 that’s a pretty close match. It allows me to call her the older woman from December till June. Then she becomes my youthful bride from June till December. She doesn’t seem to want me to miss the fact that I have suddenly caught up.
Then there was that other problem. A year ago my granddaughter Alex helped me fence off about two acres that belong to my neighbor. Of course Alex didn’t stick around and went off to school in Florida. http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/alexs-trip
My neighbor just agreed to sell that property so the fence had to come back down. Can't complain as the Donkeys and Llama have used it for a year for the cost of two rolls of barbed wire and some effort. With no Alex to bother, I tackled the job by myself. After one day Sally thought the job just about killed me. She is pretty protective that way but I was ok. Couldn't tell her that.
She put out a call to the family to come to the farm on Saturday (my birthday) June 21st. with working clothes on. It's a big family with seven blended offspring and two dozen grandkids. Folks came from Conroe, Spring, Tomball, Galveston and probably more.
She had asked our son Dave to bring a truck, trailer, and chainsaw. I know she had something else in mind to do first but I'm not sure what. There are two homes on our property with a well between them. There were four large, tall, and dead trees standing in that area. I could see four possibilities if they fell. Three possibilities were very bad and the fourth wasn't that good. Didn't know if I would ever have the chance to get them down again.
Dave cut them down and avoided the bad things. I might be biased but I think that was a very scary job done very well.
This is the first trailer load to be removed. The tires were starting to look flat.
I was the only guy with an old man car. I didn’t take pictures of the Miatas, Terraines, Passats or other young guy cars. No sense embarrassing myself any more than I have to. Everyone that came was a worker that you would want to hire.
I don't ask for help almost ever but I was real happy to see them.
The Toyota and this Jeep spent a lot of time in the back yard. Actually the back yard is much like the National Forest in a two acre package. It’s tough to navigate.
You know what they say. All work and no play makes Dave a dull boy. Well Dave is not dull so draw your own conclusions.
Dave knew how to use that chainsaw. There was a lot of dead timber dropped Saturday.
He wasn’t the only one. However, you cannot include me. I stayed away. Possibly because they called my 12” cordless chainsaw a toy. Perhaps because I had fence to tear down.
It also could have been that the saw is pretty long and can yank your back out by the roots. This operator (Al) is over six foot if it gives you perspective. I might deny getting old but I’m not stupid and that’s a lot of saw to operate.
It also could have been that the saw is pretty long and can yank your back out by the roots. This operator (Al) is over six foot if it gives you perspective. I might deny getting old but I’m not stupid and that’s a lot of saw to operate.
This is something I didn’t see much of. They were all standing still but really they were planning. The main plan was that if the drought had killed a tree, take it down.
You never know what a dead tree can kill with an unplanned fall.
Here you have two young guys with impressive muscles that like to lift heavy things in a gym for entertainment. One (red cap) is our son Jon from Galveston and the other (blue shirt) is Danny from Spring who is scheduled to become a grandson this year. He has already passed the family test.
I am unsure how lifting heavy things becomes entertainment. For years I have attempted to get machines to do the heavy lifting for me. I suppose the differences in physiques makes that obvious.
I think Kelly is clowning for his wife who happens to be the person (Rosa) with the camera. I think that because I saw him both before and afterwards and there was a lot more wood in his arms.
Boys, if you are man enough this girl is what one calls a keeper. She is pretty and she is smart. She can also probably do more pushups than you, spike you into the floor with a volleyball, and I bet with very little practice she could dunk over you.
Furthermore the smile wasn't just for the camera. She comes that way.
By the way, I'm not biased, I swear.
Her sister is normally just as involved but the youngest member of the Galveston chapter of the clan occupied her time. She was holding this big guy about every time I saw her and when she wasn't she was being followed by the littler kids or various and assorted farm animals. A pied piper.
I've already written about her here but the growth since the story has been more than impressive and it was just last year. http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/amies-love-story
I've already written about her here but the growth since the story has been more than impressive and it was just last year. http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/amies-love-story
This is the oldest brother in the Galveston branch. He didn't work much but he did spend a lot of quality time with Aunt Rosa (also known as the photographer). When he wasn't with her it was Amie, or any animal who would let him hang around.
Not his younger brother. I don’t know what he is going to be but I think he can do whatever he wants. He is determined. Right here he is determined to be like his Dad (bent over in white shirt). Hate to tell you this Dad but I don't remember his Dad or Grandpa working that hard till they were adults.
This is one who didn’t have to be here. Well really nobody did. He is the boyfriend of one of our granddaughters who was out of state at the time. It’s really tough not thinking of him as a grandson. Even tougher because he carries my Mom’s maiden name around with him. He works like he belongs.
We will see but I do know this. He knows how to work.
So, what about the fence?
This was the fence crew. Somehow I don’t have a picture of Heather who was called away before the camera came. In the picture, two of us are rolling barbed wire and the third (on the left) is cutting our rolls loose. If any of you think girls can’t work I will be happy to introduce you to the fence crew. Actually though, I think a couple of us have retired and may be unwilling to display our skills.
This young lady (our daughter Teri) did all the cutting, therefore she had to do the extra walking. She never complained.
And this young lady who was last seen toting logs was the other roller. One of us would grab a wire and the cutter would cut it. We then rolled to the other end of the strand where she would cut us loose. It would have been a little easier with two cutters but it was a lot faster than when I was by myself.
We wound up removing all this barbed wire. If it was attached to a pole and not a tree, we removed the pole as well.
The most common pole was a tree because none of them had needed to be driven.
This picture will have to do for now. I will make something that does a better job contrasting size and change it later.
The guys moved some wood.Virtually all of it was killed over the past couple years by the drought.
The pile is bigger than the four wheeled trailer you can almost see on the left even if you put the black bear on top. That's Bob, the head of security. I have to get a better picture.
The guys moved some wood.Virtually all of it was killed over the past couple years by the drought.
The pile is bigger than the four wheeled trailer you can almost see on the left even if you put the black bear on top. That's Bob, the head of security. I have to get a better picture.
I had handprints of a bunch of grandchildren but some were missing. Some really young ones had declined the opportunity to stick their hands in the mud.
Today in the heat of the moment even the young ones joined in without fussing. We have two dozen grand and great grandkids and I don't intend to chase the adults down.
It was a wonderful day.
Today in the heat of the moment even the young ones joined in without fussing. We have two dozen grand and great grandkids and I don't intend to chase the adults down.
It was a wonderful day.
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