This blog has been online for six + years.  There are over 1200 posts on here.  It works out to about 4 posts per week.  Some weeks have been more prolific than others (in all things, not just dispensing crap).

I often think about pulling the plug on this deal as it isn’t easy to come up with stuff to write about.  By the time you delete some content, keep it clean and yeah, that would just piss off too many people…well, that don’t leave much.  I realize that people like to pick up a tidbit or two as far as the goat industry is concerned.  They also like to keep up with some random happenings.  But they really like it when I go off.  We are 6 months past the posts regarding OYE, cheaters and dirty pool.  But this is still the topic that has people holler at me.  Fine.  Obviously, I ain’t the only person that doesn’t like some of this crap.

But then, I did the unthinkable.  I attended the ABGA part of the Tulsa State Fair.  Why?  For starters, Duke and I could load hort, ag mechs and ag comm projects after 7 am on Sunday.  Two, I wanted to go to the midway.  Three–Schovanec’s were showing.   On Saturday evening….state fair, midway, concerts, people watching, etc. etc.  So we did.  Duke didn’t spend much time on the midway.

I hope to not attend another ABGA show for awhile.  But I did talk to some cool people.  Some were strangers, some were not.  The bucks at these shows stink.  They SMELL like real bad.  I couldn’t take it.  So, I went and watched a concert on the midway.  As an added bonus, I judged livestock while on the midway.  Yes, we looked for Miss Skank Oklahoma.  It was a perfect evening for this event.  But, my experience has proved that the skankier midway is at the State Fair of OK as compared to Tulsa.  However, I did shake my head a lot and wonder, “What makes people wear the clothes, or lack thereof, when they are heading out to the fair?”

Speaking of skank.  I used ultra-boss, prolate and Ivomec to treat a skin deal on a buck.  I don’t know if it will work.

Have a good one today and a better one tomorrow.

I hadn’t been near the keyboard for over a week.  Been at Tulsa for part of that week.  Getting ready to go back again.  We didn’t show much stock this time.  In Shattuck, with fast-pitch softball and football, these kids have enough going on this time of year.  We will be ready to show later.

Speaking of softball, Shattuck is playing in the state finals this afternoon.  They are facing off against Arnett.  Two towns, 15 miles apart, playing for the gold.  Two big-time stock show girls will be the starting pitchers.

No, Duke did not show at Tulsa.  He has a pair that needed to go but he didn’t want to go.  He already won an ag mechanics plaque for the 2017 Tulsa State Fair.  He allowed that he didn’t need another one.  He wouldn’t have won the goat show but he would have been competitive.  I was told by Julie Focht that Duke told her that he doesn’t like shows that have a midway.  I asked him about this.  Too many people was his reply.

I had a pair of brothers enter the broiler show.  We used to fight this show and won it several times but it had been years since I had dealt with it.  These boys wanted to try it.  They ended up showing all the way into the finals.  Their pens of 3 placed 15th and 16th.  Not bad.

It is kind of cool to watch the broiler show.  People help each other.  There is some “trash talking” all in fun.  No politics.  No money.  No whining.  Just the distinct possibility of getting some chicken crap on you.  This show is all about proper feed and care and maybe just a bit of luck.

Huge congrats to the Schovanec family on the donkey kicking of a doe show.  They won 4 classes and showed the grand doe.  Heck of an end to Halie’s career.  Oh, and Carson also showed the reserve Duroc barrow.

This spring, Duke sold his wether Gentleman Red in our Broke2Show online wether sale. Mia McCool bought him.  She did a fantastic job working and showing this wether.  It paid off for her as Gentleman Red made the premium sale at Tulsa.  Not many goats qualify for OYE and Tulsa premium sales.

I need to head back east to T-Town.  At least I will get to eat at Tally’s again.  Have a good one.

For years, I have heard that death comes in groups of 3.  Maybe this only works for small-town newspapers.  I don’t know.  And I don’t know what to expect around here.  Why?

Well, we lost K9 last week and I’ve been expecting another one to be done.  But not the one that I found dead under the red barn.  B22, the last Harley daughter, was dead this evening.  She had raised some good ones.  Banner hanging wethers at Tulsa and OYE, productive does and buck prospects.  Very profitable doe.  Although, she was not a kind doe.  She beat up other goats and destroyed panels.

The question is….what is the 3rd one?  K9 and B22 classify as great ones.  Does Hugh Hefner count as the third one?  Some would call him an icon.  The playboy brand is definitely iconic.  I even saw a text that  had a pic of Hef with a pile of playmates and it read, “Nobody is saying that Hugh Hefner is now in a better place.”  I laughed, but…..No matter what you think of Playboy and/or Hugh Hefner, you have to appreciate that he had a vision, a goal and then worked towards those goals.  And it worked.

Yes.  Yes, I have looked at a Playboy magazine before.  My dad made me climb up into a multi-story fort of my middle brother’s making back in the 80s.  That fort was filled with cigarettes, playboy magazines and a few empty cans of beers.  I had to crawl back down the snow-chain ladder and report back.  “Dad, I don’t think that you want to go up there.”

Ironically, the only issue of Playboy that I ever actually owned was bought by the Dragon Lady.  I was serving a 3 year sentence teaching at Billings, OK.  (’93 to ’96—great people, great place for me to start a career, school…..??)  Tammy was still in school at OSU.  She asked if I needed anything from Stillwater.  Sure, bring me back a magazine of baseball or good rock music.  She brought me back a Playboy with an iconic Elle Macpherson photo shoot that also just happened to have the previews of the MLB season and an article about the band KISS.  Order delivered!

If my memory serves me right, the Playboy experts picked the Texas Rangers to win the world series that year.  I still remember quotes from Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.  Yes!  Yes, I read the articles and the comics.  I also saw the very tasteful pics, although topless pics of one smoking hot Elle Macpherson.  I still do not know if Tammy knew what she bought or if she just went to Hastings and said “Give me a magazine with something baseball, music and my husband will like it.”  If that was the case, mission accomplished.

I had that magazine for a couple of years.  It stayed in the middle of my magazine rack that stayed next to the throne.  It was always sandwiched in between Sports Illustrated, Ag Youth and Purple Circle magazines.  I lost that whole rack at Waynoka in the flood of ’98.  I liked to re-read the articles about KISS.  And….and look for new hairstyles.

Here’s to hoping that Joe Dirt is still going and not the third one.  Here’s to betting that the Rangers still won’t win the series.  And I bet KISS could still give a memorable interview or a concert.  And according to the internet, Elle Macpherson is posing again…at almost 50.  Hunh?!  Wait.  I’m almost 50.  Probably not the same.  Some age better than others.

I haven’t been a big fan of the nfl since Earl Campbell quit playing for the Houston Oilers.  I have always enjoyed the highlights, kept tabs of the former Okie State players and I watched the super bowl commercials.  I don’t own any nfl jerseys, tshirts, caps or other paraphernalia that they sell.  I have not been a big supporter–I just really didn’t care.  Same with the nba.  Simply put, I would rather watch college sports.

I do not disagree with what the POTUS said.  However, I do think that he could have said it more “presidential”.  It sounded more like something that would come out of my mouth.  But, he isn’t wrong.  I enjoyed watching the Brandon Tatum video on Facebook.  That dude said it as good as any.  And of course, Donnie Baker’s take on this whole kneeling crap is pretty much spot on.    There is only one way to make a statement, if that is your goal, with the nfl.  Don’t watch it.  Don’t buy their crap.  State Law.

Sunday evening, I made a quick trip to OKC to pick up kid’s state fair entries.  Made it home about 11 pm.  Then, Monday afternoon, I made a quick dash to Tulsa to take these entries over there.  Got home sometime after 11 pm.  Then I left Shattuck with a suburban on Tuesday morning before 6 am to go to Enid for COLT conference.  I haven’t been anywhere cool but I’ve logged some miles.  And this nfl crap has clogged up the XM radio talk waves that I normally like to listen to while driving.

Here’s what I know.  These kids that I deal with won’t kneel during the national anthem.  I’m not worried about this “next generation”.  I actually think that they might be better than my generation.  I hope and pray that they are.  Even though they are bombarded with SO MUCH media.  These kids have a filter and know what is right and what is wrong.  All of you that read this know what I mean.  When I am bragging on my kids/students/friends, I am talking about yours as well.  You know what I mean.  I sat with an ag teacher today at Five Guys burgers in Enid.  The manager came out to tell us how well behaved our group of kids were.  She had heard of Shattuck and knew that Balko was near Slapout.  But, she liked our kids.  People, when they are wearing blue & gold or green & white, they do it right.  And regardless of what these athletes are paid, they have forgotten what is right or they didn’t learn it right in the first place.

I may have very well have hauled six future millionaires today.  A future CEO, comedian, welder, designer, extreme veterinarian and entrepreneur.  And this comedian or extreme vet could be big time.  No matter what and without argument, I was associated with more class, honor and respect than the entire nfl has to offer.  And for that matter, I hope there is a future politician in the crew.  Somebody has to fix this crap.

You go ahead and watch your pro teams.  I’m good without them.  Have a good one and a better tomorrow.  I’m going to.

p.s.  The ground is wet, the turnips are jumping out of the ground, the weather is cool, mama made tater soup and I ain’t had any bourbon since the month of May.  I’ve been well behaved.  Mr. Heshelman, I feel a toast coming in the near future.

The name of the game in the show goat industry is and always has been bucks.  If you have a bonafide producer of a buck, then you’re going to have fun.  Plus, you need a lot of bucks to gather those quality of bucks.

In 2010, we had built a herd founded on Turner, Harbour, Powell/Holman and Kelly females.  I had used the Harley buck from Kelly and the X Factor buck from Powell/Holman to sire the females that served us for years to come.  I knew that we needed bucks.

I began working on it early in the year.  This included trying to make a clone.  We had DNA on ice with Viagen.  They were trying to make a clone of two different wethers for us.  They were unsuccessful after numerous attempts.  This was a “cheap” experiment.  Currently, I have this year’s bill to continue keeping that DNA stored with Viagen for future use.

We were regularly talking to Mike Kelly.  About bucks, wethers, business, etc.  We were feeding several wethers from him at that time.  In fact, the grand at OYE 2010 was a Smokestack wether for Kelly’s that was shown by Chance Greenroyd.  The grand wether at Enid District 2009 had been a Showtime wether shown by Meaghan Rhodes.  That spring, he hinted that he might let me use a buck–no names mentioned.

In March, I was in south Texas hunting older wethers.  I looked at some November born flush kids at Mike Halffman’s.  He had the nuts left in several of them.  He priced them.  There was one that I liked but I had lots of miles to go.  Plus, I felt safe that buck would not leave there anytime quick.  So, the hunt for bucks continued.

On a Friday afternoon in May 2010, I purchased a freshly weaned Freaky kid from Gallagher’s.  He wasn’t cheap.  Looking back, the price doesn’t seem that high but values have changed since then.  I was pretty pumped about this purchase and looked forward to the future of the buck that would become Freak On A Leash.

The next morning, I sorted through all of the first crop of 191 kids at Helms.  He had them priced.  Some of them were full ownership, some for 1/2.  They were priced reasonable.  But, there was a greener goat that was a flush mate to all of the good bloomy ones.  I asked his price.  It kind of caught Kenneth off guard as that wasn’t one that he thought that I would be interested in but he had a price.  We agreed on the deal.  That flush included a 1315, 1325, Red Cape and the 2011 res. grand wether at OYE.  My purchase came to be known as Joe Dirt.

Two weeks after purchasing Joe Dirt and Freak On A Leash, I was back in Texas.  Poe, Milligan, Thompson and I were studying skinny wethers and doe kids at Mike Halfmann’s.  Actually, Thompson was n’t studying them.   He hates looking at skinny goats.  That buck was still there.  Poe and I discussed it.  I told him that we needed that buck but that I was about tapped out–the combination of cloning, buying FreakOnA Leash and Joe Dirt hadn’t taken it’s toll on my bank account.  He was getting ready to have a kid so he was a little bit strapped as well.

So we made a call or two.  Found a partner with Allen Miller and we bought another buck.  This buck was not named at the time of purchase.  But later happenings that evening in Sonora, TX led to this buck being named Rainman the next morning.

A week later in June 2010, we were at Kelly’s wether sale.  We were told that we would be taking a buck home to use.  I was hoping for Showtime.  We had to wait till after the sale to get him.  Not an issue. It wasn’t Showtime but I was pleased.  I had been the first Okie to go to Kelly’s.  We bought wethers, does and trusted him to buy Harley.   More importantly, I had brought numerous customers with me that spent lots of cash for wethers over the years.  We had lots of success with Kelly wethers and this led to us getting to use this buck.  The only restriction was to not call the buck by name.  No problem.  It was pretty easy to figure out which buck it was.

We only had the buck for 3 weeks and he had to go home.  Luckily, on the 5th of July, there was a cool spell followed by a couple of days of light rain.   Several does came into heat and that buck was busy.  We had a nice set of kids born in November/December 2010.

I left the nuts in 5 of those “Black Sabbath” sired kids.  I also sold a good set of wethers online in April 2011.  Four of those five wethers made the sale at Tulsa, including 2 res. div. champs.

As for those 5 buck prospects, I decided to sell 1/2 interest in them.  I did not advertise them.  Anybody that had hit me up about a buck that winter/spring was allowed to look at them before OYE 2011.  Helms, Tolson/Lenhart, Pullan and Nation, Seelkes, Poe, Pat Lyons and Allen Miller all looked.  I told them that we would sell them the Saturday afternoon at OYE.  I would contact them with place and time.  I got Milligan to auctioneer.  Helms couldn’t be there so he was on the phone.  We all met at one of the empty horse stalls and went over terms.

The first buck was sold–1/2 interest for $13,500.  The next was 1/2 for $7,250.  Then another for $5,000.  I had a home for one of them in Texas at $2,500.  This left one as a PO.

Milligan still says that this is the most effed-up sale that he has ever heard of.  He auctioned goats that weren’t there and he had never seen.  Several prominent breeders jumped me after the sale why they weren’t invited.  That was easy–they hadn’t asked me about bucks.  I didn’t leave anyone out.  I just included those that had inquired.

I sent the PO buck to Poe and told him to lease him out and split the proceeds with me and Thompson.  This worked well.  This buck became known as Blackjack.  Blackjack sired a div. champion doe at Tulsa in his first crop.  Poe then sold Blackjack to Brillhart’s in KS.  I just recently found out that Blackjack is still going and he sired the 5th overall wether at the 2017 KS State Fair.

The $2,500 buck worked in south TX for several years.  I still keep tabs on this dude’s off spring and whereabouts.

The $5,000 buck became known as “Pocket”.  He sired a div. champ doe at OYE and made good kids for Miller, Lyons and then Kesters.

The “$7,250 kid became known as Fade2Black.  He has sired numerous div. champs, class winners, bucks and premium sale goats at OYE, Tulsa, Enid & Woodward.  He is the sire of Black Rhino and Black Market’s maternal grand-dad.

The best goat in that sale was the high dollar one that went to Tolson and an un-named partner.  His mother was one of the wicked good All Jacked Up daughters that I had–MB2.  I never got to see that goat again.  But, his legacy is still around.  He became known as “2nd Mortgage”.  He was the maternal grandsire of the 2015 res. grand wether at Tulsa.

And those purchased bucks?  FreakOnALeash sired the 2013 grand wether at OYE for Schneberger.  That goat did not make the wethers that I hoped for but he did leave a bomb set of females that are still generating.  I sold him back to Gallagher’s.  Joe Dirt and Rainman—well, I would need more space to write what those dudes have done.  Especially, their daughters.

I don’t know if I could ever replicate 2010 in terms of gathering buck power.  The market and the industry has changed.  Too many that aren’t allowed to sell bucks, too many that don’t want to sell to me and maybe there aren’t very many good ones to be had.  I would spend the money on the right one(s).  And as a result of all of those previous bucks mentioned, I have some pretty good bucks of my own.  So, maybe I will just sit here in my little corner of NW OK.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Have a good one.

Yes, we are offering some bucks for lease in an online sale on Monday, Sept. 25.  Yes, we may offer more at later dates but nothing set at this time.

Speaking of bucks, I just found out that one of the old ones is still siring winners.  Rainman sired the res. grand wether at the Kansas State Fair.  That old fart has established a resume that will stack up with the best of them.

I finally got around to breeding some does this past week.  Easy Decision, Gambler and a yet-to-be-named Easy Decision son got some action.

Think of Chill Wills character in McLintock!     “Drago”  would gather the people round as he yelled “People, People, People.”  I love that movie.  I mean I LOVE that movie!  Gets me in a good mood.

Well, people, I am here to tell you that I am a little bit wound up.  We just got home from the 1st annual Shattuck FFA barnyard olympics.  HOLY JEEMINY, son-of-a that deal was fun.  I’ll be honest.  I really didn’t know what or how we were going to do it but we needed something for almost a 100 kids to be involved in.  Well, it worked.  We split them up into teams via a draft.  That too was wicked awesome!

1–T Post driving relay contest

2–Round bale rolling race

3–Water bucket brigade relay

4–Tug of war with a mud pit

5–Hog calling contest—This should have been filmed.  CLASSIC!

Hundreds of hot dogs, hot links and hamburgers consumed.  HUGE fun!

Major league huge thanks to Hoss and Timmy Manske for hosting this event.  These dudes are always supporters for anything kids, especially FFA and 4H kiddos.  I have lots of stories about the Manske family and they are ALL good stories.  And they have none on me as I was always just a little bystander, sitting back and watching–behaving.

Big props to William and Dusty Frazier, Kim Hamaker and the Dragon Lady for helping.  We had spectators but we didn’t advertise it that we were going to do it.  We just found a quasi- clear date on the Shattuck school calendar (damn neart impossible).  And People, it worked.  Real well.  I got a feeling the next time will be an even bigger event.  Hoss already wants to know the plans for the winter olympics.  Tammy got lots of awesome pics.  People, can you tell that I am wound up?

As an ag teacher, over the course of several tours of duties, I have had the honor of dealing with students that won majors shows in every species.  We’ve won some CDE stuff and a couple proficiency awards and I have been able to be the chauffeur to a couple of national semi-finalist public speakers.  We could list more stuff but no, this deal was about the kids and it was wicked awesome!

People, I’m just the jockey.  I ain’t the horse, the owner or the trainer.  But, I do know that it takes help and I do know when kids are wound up and having fun.  I have had to change as a teacher from what I was in previous sentences.  People, I am smart enough to realize when I am that one that needs to change.  Kids are not worse these days.  They are just different.  And as a jockey, there is a time to use the whip, a time to steer and a time to give them the reins and let them run.  People, people, people……

And just to top off a good day.  I got a LONG text from the favorite daughter.  She is working on some show/movie/ commercial–heck, I don’t know.  I can’t keep up.  Some actor that looked good in the 80s, 90s, 00s, and this decade is part of this deal.  No, I do not know his capacity nor care.  I only care that one of my kids is chasing her dream–and that dream is making shows in Hollywood.  The following is all from said text.  Don’t know location, time, place or just like real life, I know nothing.  People, I did have to edit some of this.  People, I am telling you that this kid likes her jobs.  People, I’ll shut up and reprint this crap.

Random thoughts while working today at a location where numerous famous films have been shot.

“Kela you should watch for snakes out here.”   “Oh you can bet my ass I’ll be watching for snakes and I promise I’ll see them before they see me.”

We have a snake wrangler on set today.

“WTF, seriously ummmm.   No, I do not need to know that person.  Wait….that person is a lady.  And she likes to be referred to as snake bitch?  He!! to the freaking NO.  She’s caught how many snakes today?  SIX?!  F NO!”

“Wow!  Rob Lowe truly is ridiculously good looking.”

The fake smoke being used to make this forest look like it’s on fire smells like incense from church.

OMG Rob Lowe is handsome.

“Hey sir!  What are you burning to make the fake smoke?”

Ha funny you ask as it’s literally the same thing from a Catholic mass if you’ve ever been.

“I knew it.”

Kela can you drive the gator?

“OH most definitely….and that’s not a “gator”.  That’s a kubota.”

Yeah, I know that this blog is getting long.  Yeah, I know that you can click somewhere else if you don’t like it.  Yeah, I have re-read this deal three times.  I love it!

People, all I got is Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

People.  I had a better day than most, if not all.

People.  Here’s to nothing but horseshoes, shamrocks and a tomorrow that will be better than today.  Here’s to wishing you the same.

I knew that the days were numbered.  Saturday, it became apparent that we were talking single digit days.  The old K9 doe has been fading fast.  And now, it is done. She was just a tick over 10 years old.  She had a good run.  She may not have been the best but she was better than most.  And she wasn’t a fighter or a destroyer of panels.  Now, you better have your A game when it was time to catch her.  But once you snagged a horn, she wasn’t bad to deal with.  Time finally caught her.

I know that we are nearing the end with another one.  Joe Dirt still has some molars left.  His health is good but he has aged fast this summer.  He has probably bred his last doe.  That dude ain’t never cost me any grief.  He’s just made good livestock.  Time gets all of us. It happens.

We had planned on taking a wether to the OYE sale.  Duke got him sheared off on Friday night.  I knew that he was good but he sheared off real good.  Duke and I talked about just keeping him.  We decided to wait until Saturday AM to make up our minds.  On Saturday morning, we had the Dragon Lady give her opinion.  She allowed that we were idiots to sell one like that.  So, we just decided to keep that wether.  Instead of going to that sale, Tammy and I delivered a bull.  Productive day that didn’t cost me much money.

Woke up to a bit of rain this morning.  Just a 1/4″ but we will take it.  Have a good one.

On Wednesday after school, I made a quick trip to OKC to drop off state fair entries.  Plant displays, horticulture entries, ag mechanics projects, FFA news boards and photography entries.  They had to be there by 7 pm.  I was done unloading about 6:45 pm.  I then grabbed a burger and headed home.

Today, I left Shattuck at 6 am in one suburban while Daryle Greer drove another suburban headed back to OKC for the livestock judging contest.  Due to some tabulation problems, we don’t know final results, but I am real sure that we didn’t win.  There was a bred Hereford heifer class that caused a lot of us problems.  It happens.

However, we did go check out the results in the FFA barn.  Ag Mechanics did not go as hoped, but AJ won a division and Duke had a 2nd.  Kaylee had a 6th in the news board division.  Okay.

In the sunflower plant life cycle display, Shattuck kids were 2nd, 4th and 5th.  There are literally hundreds of these entered.  Of course, I am partial, but we should have had 1st, 2nd and 3rd–my opinion.  And remember, I’m not opinionated–I’m just always right.

Even though we busted a class or two today judging, we had a GREAT day.  In my suburban, I hauled (6) 8th grade boys that think that they really like livestock judging.  DUDE!  It was invigorating to listen to them talk before and after the contest.  I drove west down I-40 with a stupid grin on my face as they went through and re-figured their placings scores–old school style.  It won’t be long till they realize that there is an app for that.  They compared dropped points and then talked crap to each other.  They asked questions about livestock, contests and scholarships.  And in true 8th grade boys fashion, they had a “who has the most armpit hair contest.”   That was a new one for this old dog.  One of these boys did have the grand watermelon at the State Fair of OK.  He raised it himself.   The other boys gave him “props” for his grand melon.  People, a grand is a grand, no matter the show.

I talked to several other ag teachers that have 20 years of experience on me.  One of which is getting ready to start teaching the third generation of a family in his community.  WOW!   I asked him when he was going to retire.  His reply, “I don’t know.  I really like what I am doing.”  I don’t care what your career is….that, my friends, speaks volumes.

I watched another old fart as he was taking pictures of students’ projects that placed high and won.  This dude has had lots of winning teams, livestock, speakers, etc.  He is in his 4th decade of teaching.  I said, “This ain’t all bad not worrying about money, politics or the rest of the crap like in the stock show barn.” I got a wink, a grin and “No doubt.”

And then we found the grand champion photo board.  One of Shattuck’s finest was grand champion overall in that division.  So what?  How is that agriculture?  RUSM?!  First off, there were hundreds in this division.  Another Shattuck kid was 5th.  Yes, I stress photography for ag sales.  Why?  Have you watched any online sales?  Look at the number of online sales, websites and Facebook pages devoted to photos of equipment, tractors, combines, etc.  The livestock world all wants “the pic”.   Our world revolves around the photos dedicated to the products that we are selling.  Besides the kids, the stock and the crops, next in importance is the photos of those kids, stock and crops.

Duke spends his spare time with Braden Schovanec clipping, setting up and photoing goats–for money.  People–that is a huge part of modern agriculture.  We, as buyers and sellers, have developed and cultivated this market.

Common lingo heard in the present ag world.

Look at pics on this phone.  Is he over-photoed?  Can you send me pics? Can you get me another angle?  Get me pics of the tires.  PM me a price and more pics.  Get me a backdrop photo.

Don’t read too much into this post.  This was just some observations from a road weary, high mileage unit that liked dealing with people today.

I had a good day.  I hope Friday will be even better.  If not, I will wish it would have been.

There has been a leaning windmill tower on our place since 2013.  Somebody (not me) hit it with a plow that summer.  It has been leaning a bit more every year.  Duke and I were going to set an anchor and hold it into place but we didn’t get around to it.  Just never was that big of a priority.  Now, it has been taken down.  We no longer have the leaning tower.

Only about 50 yards southeast of that windmill tower, there has been a dead spot in the ground all summer.  The ground was really soft in that spot.  I knew that there was an old saltwater disposal line that run through that field, so I didn’t think much of it.  However, on Sunday morning, I was on a tractor moving round bales out of the field.  As I passed this dead spot, on the down wind side, I smelled gas–as in natural gas.  Sure enough, this spot was right in line with 3 different fence post risers that mark a gas line.  There is a T in the pipeline at that point.  I called the 1-888 # on the risers.  Sure enough, there is now a marker from the pipeline company marking the leak.