Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

farmerjan

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OOOPS... The ones I saw in Walmart are winter temp... down to -20 or something.... with the bug remover stuff in them... coulda sworn they were purplish.....???? Maybe I need glasses... oh yeah, I already wear them.... :hide :lol:

I'm going to have to go look at the stuff next time I'm back in there... :rolleyes::rolleyes::he:he:he:th:th:smack
 
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Ridgetop

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Me too. I wonder if the bug repelling stuff with the "Water beading technology provides better visibility" would keep the exterior of my windows from getting as water spotted in winter.

We are back from Amarillo where we met DS1 to exchange our car for the truck. DS1 had the truck in Texas and we had the car out here in California. The stock trailer is here in CA and we need the truck to haul it to Texas in November with the rest of our stuff. In November DS1 will drive to Texas in the car to send Thanksgiving and Cristmas with his siblings. We will stay in Texas and DDIL2 and her family (now living in Wylie, TX) will come to us for the holiday dinners. DH will fly out in January for his last cataract recheck and lung appointments Then he will drive back with DS1. We took a detour through some really pretty country in Arizona and northern New Mexico and met up wth DS1 on Monday evening. Out to dinner, spent the night, and back on the road home Tuesday. Went through the Painted Desert which was pretty but not as pretty as some other roads we were on. The colors seemed a little faded from what I remember 40 years ago, maybe needs repainting after a milion years? LOL Spent the night in Kingman and home by 2pm on Wednesday.

DDIL2 has been at her mom's house since we left. Robert had swollen glands and slight fever on Saturday am. I told her if the fever shot up to 102/103 probably strep. Sure enough he has strep. The first antibiotic prescription did nothing so she returned on Tuesday to the pediatrician for a different antibiotic. Told DH to be grateful that she is not here with sick children (it is only a matter of time before Nicholas comes down with it). I remember when mine got strep and were very cranky, screaming, etc. Also, selfishly, we don't want to catch it.

About 10 of the ewes have remarked with Junior. However, it is pssible that he is just a loving ram and wants to cuddle. DS1 keeps sending me the numbers so I can put them in my calendar for lambing dates. And second lambing dates. I sent the breeding/lambing white board to Texas, but will ark them on my 2025 calendar.

Talked to Cody yesterday about well water. He said that he has a well for his house and the water is excellent. So whether we connect it to the house or not we will probably drill a new well. That will give us the option to connect to the house. If the old well can be saved with a new tank, we might look into that but I wouldnt spend the money to drill a well if we couldn't drink the water. With a potable well, a generator, and our garden we will be ok. We discussed putting the well on solar, but we wondered if an old fashioned windmill would be even better. For now electricity wil be fine. LOL

Tomorrow I go back to PT. I am not looking forward to it since my knee stiffened up on the trip. On the other hand, I have lost a pant size which I did not realize until I put on my old jeans before the trip. :D =D
 

Ridgetop

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Today is very disheartening. I think we made a big mistake moving anywhere. Both of us are depressed and upset. :hit

Yesterday DH took DS2's punctured tire to get it repaired. The truck's battery light came on. DS1 had said that he was having a problem with the battery but that he would tighten the cables and it would start. Then the radio and gps stopped wprking. ds1 looked at the engine and found that the window washer fluid container cap had popped off and fluid had spilled on the engine. He bought a new cap then found the original iin the engine copartment. The radio dried out overnight and started working again. The radio died on the way back from tx but came back on again then died again yesterday morning. It did not recover this time. The battery warning light came on in the afternoon when DH was taking the tire to the tireshop. He went to our friendly Galpin dealer :mad: who told him to leave the truck. They promptly told him it was probably the alternator. At that point they had not even inspected it! :mad::mad:🤬 Not happy at this point. Told DH that they could see the $$$!

This morning DS1 called and said that our garage ready freezer quit working yesterday. 😡😡😡He turned it off and rebooted but still not working this morning. He can't get the repairman out until Monday so called about buying another freezer (we wanted a second one anyway). He suggested getting a convertible refrigeratorto freezer since we were interested in that for the vet meds. (Since then I have reconsidered the convertible and will probably just get a garage ready fridge for the meds.) However, since we have the truck with us in California now, he as to arrange delivery for a charge. Could get it delivered by tomorrow but will take 24 hours to cool down for transfer of food. :mad: Told him to get dry ice and keep everything cold until we decided what to do. I am supposed to be looking at freezers and choose one for him to order. The repairman is coming out on Mondy but DS1 thinks that the dust from having it in the milk shed in California, and then on the porch in Yantis may have caused dirt and dust to get in the motor and burn it up. When the repairman comes out, there will be a service charge and we will find out if he can repair it. The freezer is only about 4-5 years old since we bought it during the last year of Covid.

In the meantime he called back and found a locker in Quitman that can keep the food for ONE week for $50. At the end of one week she needs the storage space for other customers. Deer season maybe? So he needs to see if the freezer can be repaired before that week is up, or get a new one delivered, plugged in and chilled. 😖 More $$$!

Second, the tree trimmer that was supposed to come out last year and kept putting us off and not showing up showed up this morning. He showed up 2 weeks ago but his equpment wasn't working properly so he left and returned this am. He gave us a bid and for the past year has reaffirmed the bid of $1800 to trim the dead wood from the trees. Now he showed up and said the bid is $2500. Trees have to be trimmed so DH said just go ahead before the dead branches fall on the house and damage the roof this winter. :mad::mad:🤬 Even more $$$!
At this point, I told DH that we made a mistake moving to Texas and God was telling us so! :barnie
Time for a tranquilizer.

On the up side, I tested Cody who said he was already ahying the cows. He said he had plenty of hay for us to buy wen we run out this winter. I also asked him if he had a well and he said he did and the water was wonderful. However, with the additional expenses - truck, freezer, trees - my well is moving further into the future. Also new flooring, new windows, etc.
Maybe 2 tranquilizers. :th
 

Margali

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Baymule

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If yall were at the ranch, you would be handling all of this. Trying to do this long distance IS disheartening.

It may be time to let Twinkle go. Sell Twinkle for cash, take whatever you can get. Buy the Black Dragon from your son. Problem solved. Or fly back to Texas, buy a truck in Texas and DH1 can drive it back for the holidays.
 

Ridgetop

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Don't want the Black Dragon since it sits much higher than standard 4WD dually. We can hardly get in and out of it. Also when it has temper tantrums it won't put out the electrical ruDS1 almost fell out of it one time when it was acting up! Also takes X-large tires, and wider wheel base somehow than standard.

The Sulphur Springs dealership was doing great for us. They replaced the Turbo and found the problem which had been making the engine light come on for several years (which Galpin had failed to find and fix in spite of thousands of dollars fixing anything they could think of which cost us a bundle!) However the turbo was covered by warranty and we paid for it not realizing the warranty was still in effect. Then the Suphur Springs Ford people refused to refund the $$ even though Galpin wanted to reimburse them. Galpin would not reimburse us so we are caught between the two companies. We planned to buy a second truck in Texas but now DH is mad at the Suphur Springs Ford dealership. 🤬 We can't get rid of Twinkles since she has a practically new engine, new tubo, etc. We do need a second truck, probably a Ford 250 4WD but not a dually and gas not diesel.

At any rate, with having to come back out here for several more doctor appointments in January and May etc. for DH - eyes and knee - and myself - knee, I am very stressed. On the other hand, we can blend the May trip with the Western States Dorper show in Boise, ID.

I forgot to take a tranquilizer - been busy on line with DS1 about freezers! No wonder I feel so stressed. The little boys are back home and the house is noisy again which makes DH upset and he expects me to fix everything. I need drugs . . . .
 
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