The Big Garden

Other than his colorful shirt ...
this guy has nothing to do with gardening.

This guy is really proud of his restored John Deere tractor.

This is what is actually being used to plow the garden.
I'm still uncertain as to which are rows and which are the spots the tractor wheels are supposed to go ...

This is called planting the seeds ...
That's 2 partial rows of potatoes on the left.
This all happened between 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Makes you wonder what happened with the rest of the day?

Passed the Tests !

Started the day by going to the State Troopers office to take the tests. Passed both of the tests for passenger and school bus endorsements. The state trooper said, "That was really quick!" I replied, "It really helps if you've studied." :-)

One grandson and I rode bicycles over to the local "jungle" to cut some bamboo to make fishing poles for a couple of the grandkids. On the way back, grandson decided to ride thru a water puddle ... it had been sitting there a long time and there was lots of mud. He got stuck in the middle ... tires bogged down in the mud ... his shoe stuck in the mud after it sucked it off his foot. Retrieved the bicycle, boy, and shoe from the mud ... hosed off shoes and bicycle back at the house.

Climbed into my neighbors truck and did a little 500+ mile round-trip (in 12 hours) to deliver his load and return home. It was about 5 hours to get there and 5 hours back. Yes, the trip could have been shorter (time wise), but waiting to deliver, get unloaded, and get paperwork all eats up time. Was home by 01:00 a.m. this morning.

Missing ...

A little something missing in your life?
This is why I have problems texting ...

Wanting to have every endorsement possible ...
I went to the local county school board and obtained information on how to get the bus/passenger endorsement on my CDL (having hazmat is not enough).

If you can't tell, I'm busy studying for the test ... chapters 1-5 & 10 in the CDL study guide. Once I have sufficiently crammed that in ... I can go take the written (computer) test ... then get the performance part checked off at the school bus place ... and even take the 12 hr class that certifies me as a state school bus driver. Woo-Hoo!!

Back to studying ... talk to you again later ... :-)

Out in the Garden

I was out in the garden picking weeds out of the row of dirt that I had just hoed. Three little 54 ft. rows. One is all tomato plants.

Anyway ...

I looked up into the sky and saw that amazing picture up above. There was no rain ... no rainbow ... and the aurora borealis doesn't come south to L.A.

I have no idea what it was ... but it was spectacular.

That's all I have to say about it ... excuse me while I go eat something ... or read. :-)

Hazmat License

It's official ... got the letter from TSA
so now hazmat and motorcycle have been added back onto my license ... question: will that help me get a job??
I now have a paper license ... in full color
waiting for the plastic one to show up.

Yep, somebody got a haricut ...

Hoeing Thistles in the Cow Pastures

Thistles will take over a cow pasture ...
because the cows won't eat them.
And soon you have a stickery mess with nothing for the cows to eat.
For some reason goats think they are tasty and will eat them before they consider eating grass. We don't have any goats. So we have to hoe the thistles to keep them under control. Sister Jones also likes to spray them with Roundup weed killer.

They reproduce like crazy ... faster than bunny rabbits.
Their seed blows all over - on the wind.

This is the face of the enemy!

Walking through the woods.

Polliwogs in the pond.

Cows looking up from their grazing ...
wanting to know what I'm doing.

This little guy has had enough walking and is going to rest for awhile.

One-Time Run

I haven't driven a truck in over 8 months. My neighbor called when he was 5 hours away and asked, "You want to take this load tonight and run it down to deliver it? I'll pay you. I've got to take the cab-over and go pick up a load of peanuts tomorrow."

So I grabbed my bedroll, pillow, and logbook ... hopped into the truck at 8:00 p.m. ... had to re-familiarize myself with where all the controls and switches are located ... and drove it to it's final destination last night to deliver the load. My neighbor assured me that they would take delivery as soon as I showed up. I arrived at 1:30 a.m. ... they wrote down my information ... told me the delivery appointment was for 1:00 p.m. 11-1/2 hours from then. Told me to park over there in the lot, sleep until 10:00 a.m., then turn my CB on to Chnl 7 ... and wait for a call to deliver.

Things seemed kind of slow, so at noon I walked over and asked if I still had to wait another hour. They asked, "Do you have a dry load? (as opposed to a frozen load with the reefer running)" "Yes." "Okay, then get in line and come on in."

Backed into door D105, walked my paperwork into the receiving office, got back to the truck and suddenly it felt like 2 forklift operators were rapidly jerking the load off. Within minutes they called me to come back inside and pick up my paperwork.

Then I just had the long drive home ... dropped the trailer off at Thermo-King to fix the cooling motor ... and made it home this evening. EXHAUSTED! End of employment again.

The sound of water draining

No video with sound on this one ...
The local river, which is normally a stream, is flowing high and wide. The stick in the water is a log ... compare it to the tree trunks on the left.

Out in the yard, I heard the sound of water draining into a pipe. I couldn't see a pipe, but I pinpointed the sound and removed some grass. And this is what I found. This hole drops down into a larger pipe ... no idea where it goes. My neighbor doesn't know either. Another one of those little mysteries from times past.