Coming together slowly

It seems like I've got about four or five major efforts ongoing just now. I've got new family stuff, fencing, thistle control, ranch house roof replacement, and medical/nerve pain stuff.

Here's a look at clover blooming on the south side of I-80 where it cuts through the ranch. Bumblebees! Milkweed!



It's all coming together nicely but there never seems to be enough time in the day to make the kind of progress I'd like.

Stock tanks leveled (ish)!





The lack of big progress in any one area is a pain, but it's the price of having many irons in the fire, as they say.

The roof is set to be done today, so that'll be big progress.

Also today I have an appointment for pain management which is supposed to include a nerve conduction test. Then on July 14 an appointment which should resolve (or make progress on resolving) access to neurosurgery.

The family stuff is coming together. As with everything else in the lives of ape-lizards it's a work in progress, but progress is being made.

The major cross fencing job is/has been on hold. Just not enough hours in the day. But that should change once the...

...thistle control progresses a bit more.









Of course daily chores continue as always, and as always, daily chores always reveal one or more items or situations which require a time/effort input to properly resolve (often quite temporarily.

It's true that I often feel I'm spinning my wheels while facing an impossibly long list of tasks. It's a situation which can feel overwhelming if I let it, and sometimes I do. Looked at in scale, context, and perspective, however, it's clear that I'm making very good progress where progress has been lacking for some time.

The situation we face vis-à-vis near- and long-term routine upkeep and maintenance projects is rather interesting and worth touching on.

My Dad was of course the owner of the ranch until his demise. I was the operational manager and my task/responsibility description continually expanded over time. Dad continued to have operational control until he passed, and he was reluctant to delegate  decision making on almost all non-daily tasking, so a lot of things were put on hold for much longer than they should have been. This is a very common thing in family farming and ranching.

Lots of stuff piled up over time and now I'm working away at reducing the pile. It's fair to say that had more upkeep been kept up with ranch operations would be simpler and the to-do lists would not run to so many volumes. But so what? Spending valuable time and effort worrying about what could have been or perhaps should have been will not in any way address what is, so it only makes sense to pass on that kind of speculation and concentrate on doing the job as it exists today, in reality.

Another complicating factor is that when it comes to working with or discussing ranch operations with family members, you just can't fix stupid. I say that in a loving way, but also with a good deal of vexation. The ground truth is that I have years of knowledge and experience seasoned with ongoing learning and formal training. The family members I work with have none of those things, which is fine. However, like almost every other 'merkin on the planet, they know without question and with absolute certainty that if there is anything in the universe they have not fully mastered, it's stuff that's simply not worth knowing. With the Holy Tee-Vee as their guide, they know far, far more about ranching on our particular ranch than I will ever know, and the proof is there for all to see -- I completely reject the teachings of the Holy Tee-Vee.

By Holy Tee-Vee, I mean the zeitgeist of today's simulacrum of America, complete immersion in the sea of media-government information management.

So whenever ranch discussions come up, I nearly always hear word for word repitition of what the Bringers Of Information pronounce on the Holy Tee-Vee. There's no room in that place for reality.

So be it. Crazy people driving themselves crazy, genuflecting in front of the Holy Tee-Vee, knowing in the core of their souls that they cannot be fooled. Emperor's New Clothes? That's just a kid's fairy tale, right? And the Holy Tee-Vee is pronouncing serious, grown-up stuff, right?

Well.

In reality we (my family and my fellow Americans and 'merkins) are all dealing with good solid challenges and opportunities to learn and grow. For me in particular I have lots and lots of stuff to keep me out of the death recliner, and that's a very good thing indeed. It'll be interesting to watch and see how many people across the land take the death ride all the way to the end.

As some of us do today when we think of the Good Germans of, oh, 1870 to 1945, history will look back on this time, I fear, and wonder how people could have done what they did.

Sorry about the rant. I didn't intend to do so, but I did.

Choices.

Be well and embrace the blessings of liberty.

Or not.