Please Don't Drink and Drive

Desert Boy is back today with a public service announcement: Please Don't Drink and Drive. As you look at the above photo, you can see that drinking is consuming all his attention, and he is not even paying attention to what's in front of him. He doesn't even have his hands on the steering wheel, for goodness' sake! His face has a content expression as the liquid warms his belly and spreads throughout his body. He has become relaxed, not caring what else is going on around him.

Then Desert Boy gets distracted by something behind him. Anyone or anything in front of him could be in grave danger. Trying to steer but looking in the wrong direction is an inherent danger while drinking and driving. He doesn't even seem to notice that he is performing a grievous mistake and continues chugging down the elixir. 

As he gulps out of his bottle, he has become a threat to society. So practice what Desert Boy preaches, not what he does. Obviously drinking and driving don't mix.

How Do You Get These Clothes Clean?

As my husband and I got to know each other while we were dating, I found that I had to dispel a lot of myths about what it is to be a rancher. I thought ranchers wore cowboy hats. My husband prefers baseball caps. I thought ranchers wore cowboy boots. My husband has some but say they pinch his toes and likes work boots better. I thought ranchers liked to ride horses. My husband says they're too unpredictable and likes riding his motorcycle much more. (Fortunately one of his brothers likes riding so can take care of that part of the operation.) 

One thing I never thought about was how dirty ranchers get.

Here's my dear husband after a normal day of work. His boots are muddy, his jeans are filthy, his shirt has a big grease spot on it, and his face is dark with dirt. Usually as soon as he comes home in the evening he changes his clothes so he can play with Desert Boy. A couple times a week I wash these stained clothes. I've given up trying to get the stains out; they seem to be so meshed into the fabric that they will never leave. I guess that's what happens when you're under farm machinery trying to fix it and then walk through manure and later go check hay. I just ask him to make sure he doesn't mix up his good clothes and his work clothes.  The stained clothes just keep getting more stained. Eventually they wear out and have to be replaced, and it's so strange seeing him go to work in a set of new work clothes. I know that in just one day they will be broken in, and his new work clothes will blend in with the rest.

Signs of Fall

Yep, it's hard to believe, but summer is fast coming to an end. I'm seeing so many signs of that around me. The rabbitbrush is blooming, putting out its beautiful yellow flowers. The are so pretty, but I find that I'm slightly allergic to them, so they stay outside. They're a happy looking flower, though, brightening the landscape when so many other flowers have lost their inflorescences and turned brown.

The rose hips on the rose bushes are bright and red. Supposedly you can make a tea from them, but I haven't tried that so far. I used to like roses until I came out here and had to bash my way through them to get to the creeks. They grow so thick that it's an adventure in getting scratched. I suppose that they beat poison ivy.

I'm hearing more and more geese as they stop by for some food and a rest as they travel south. They nearly always travel in flocks and their loud cries make me smile. The sandhill cranes seem to be flying around more now too, and my husband has called them pterodactyls so many times that now I seem to have adopted that name for them. Yikes. Many of the other birds have quieted down because they aren't looking for mates, so hearing these squawkers is refreshing. Little Desert Boy has developed an eye for spotting birds.

The yellow school bus is out and about early every morning and in the mid-afternoon, picking up and delivering the school kids. They are so excited to be back in school so they can see their friends, many of whom live far away. Aunt Tana drives one of the two buses for the community, spending several hours each day on the road to  get to the faraway ranches and three schools.

Here's one of the not-so-pleasant reminders of the end of summer: ragweed. It makes me sneeze like crazy. It's taken over the perimeter of my garden and the edges of the fields, so both my husband and I are in it daily and want to scratch our eyes out.

One of the best things about the end of summer is the cooler temperatures, especially at night, making it the perfect time to go camping. I'm still trying to convince my husband to go on a camping trip this fall. When we go camping, the most important thing is the food. We never skimp on the food. We eat more around a campfire in a day than we do in several days at home. Then we're so full we can't go hiking and just have to lay around and do nothing. That's my husband's ideal trip--eat and do nothing. He needs the rest after his busy schedule.

I'm noticing other signs of fall too, like the calves being weaned and brought into the feedyard, the brown tinge to the landscape, and a little frost on plants at higher elevations early in the morning. Fall is such a beautiful season in the desert and I'm really looking forward to it.

Driving Tractors Part III

I recently needed to find something to make Desert Boy happy, so we went and visited some tractors on the ranch. Like the first and second times we made these forays, he was absolutely beaming. 

Our first visit was to a John Deere 4755, a real powerhouse of a tractor. It gets used to pull all sorts of equipment, but on this day it was sitting empty. But not for long...

Desert Boy eagerly got up and started working the controls. Except he's a bit on the short side at 31 inches, so he can't exactly sit on the seat and work all the levers.

In the next vehicle he figured out a better way to drive, by standing on the seat. He may need to get leg extensions to work foot pedals, but it's okay with me if he doesn't drive for a few years. His attention span isn't too long.

The vehicle he's in is a John Deere grader. Our ranch roads get washboardy quickly, so a couple times a year they're graded. The grader is also used to help keep irrigation ditches clean.

Desert Boy got tired of the grader and wandered over to a bright red tractor. Once again he looks quite short in the cab, but he's alarmingly close to key level.

Here's a better view of the red tractor. It's towing the feed wagon.

We move over to another part of the lower yard and find a piece of equipment closer to Desert Boy's size. He can sit and steer. He is so happy.

You can see the glee in his expression. He thinks he's really big stuff. Never mind that his jeans are too big and about to fall off and his shoe is untied. That's just not important when you're driving ranch equipment.

So what's the piece of equipment his size? This fork lift. He is totally comfortable on it.

Despite all the neat machinery on the ranch, Desert Boy seems to be just as happy pretending he's driving this broken down lawn mower in our yard. It doesn't even have a steering wheel, but it has enough metal on it to seem like a real vehicle and warrant the full accompaniment of vroom, vroom noises.

Birthday Party at the Beach

My oldest niece had her birthday last week, and to celebrate she wanted to have a party at the beach. The beach is basically the exposed lake bottom of a nearby lake that partially dries out every summer. But we make the best of what we've got, so we'll just call it the beach! It has sand, shells, tracks, and lots of room to play. We brought out the lawn chairs, towels, swim toys, and got ready to party.

The remaining water in the lake is a huge draw, and this time of year you can walk out a hundred meters and still be only knee deep. Henry and Desert Boy were ready to take the plunge.

Some of the cousins and their friends were already in the water, racing around, playing on inner tubes and boogie boards, and just generally amusing themselves. The water was the perfect temperature for a hot desert afternoon.

While the other kids were occupied, Desert Boy grabbed his cousin's sandal. He must be taking lessons from his sidekick Henry, who is always stealing items of clothing and running away with them. He started walking and I wondered what he was going to do with the sandal. I figured that as long as he didn't start chewing on the sandal like Henry does, we'd be okay.

Here he's tossed the sandal into the water and is watching what it does. You can see the inquisitive look on his face. I think he will take after his Daddy in trying out lots of experiments just for the fun of it.

Then he finds one of the inner tubes the kids have abandoned and decides to put the sandal into the inner tube. 

He climbs in after it and finds a nice place to sit and relax. 

Meanwhile, the other kids have gotten bored just playing in the water and have started a huge mud fight. It goes on for what seems like forever, and they don't get tired of chasing each other around and throwing huge clumps of mud.

Cousin Tractor Buddy is nearly coated with mud and seems happy about it.

Of course Desert Boy can't stay away from all the commotion and goes to check it out. Mud!? He's happy to play too and soon his feet and hands are coated in mud.

And then the inevitable--he has to taste it. Yum, mud must be good because he got quite upset when I picked him up and moved him out of the mud zone. 

We went back to the party area and he soon forgot about the mud once he began eating Cheetos and watermelon. That's a balanced diet, right? It was a wonderful afternoon and a great spot for a party.