May 16 2010 Sunday

Lordy, what a trial getting this second blog set up..


Monday will be one month I have been in a personal hell.. The lovely lady from Alaska that ran the four way stop and totaled my beautiful pick up has gone on with her life in Alaska.. Everyday is a struggle for me..



Fiances say that I go back to work, I have done so.. Hiring a local gal to pick me up and drive me to and from work.. this is a $20 a day fee and well worth it as I have a brace on my leg and can no longer drive a stick auto... I can not rent transportation as the lovely lady from Alaska was NOT insured.. my own insurance company has been totally worthless and seems I did not have uninsured motorist.. that is so hard to believe.. I do not remember signing off on that.. Going back to work is a story all by its self... from a employee that has been there thru several managers and different concession owners since July 1996..



As the current attorney has said I should keep a log as this may take a few years to get into court.. so here on this blog I will place the writings I have penciled down so far..

mind you I am 68 years old and was in top condition and proud and thankful for being so.. Let me tell you how my day used to go..



My work week: In the cool winter months I wake up at 4:30 AM and drive the pick up around the 5 ac. to feed and water then come in and readied my self for work as I needed to leave by 7:30 AM ( 50 mile drive) to open the barber shop in the main PX by 8 AM ( sweep the main floor, dump trash, clean the door glass and straighter the books and barber chairs) so we were up and ready by 5 minutes of 8 for the Army soldiers to get their hair cut and be on their way for their day..

At 5 PM on a regular day I would close up my personal station and head for home (the end of my 100 mile round trip) If it was a rotation day and we were short of help, I would stay to help out with out some one asking me, ie : short of barbers for some reason.. we do not get overtime pay so this is frowned on (we are percentage paid workers, I have also come in on days off to help with the rotation, as my work week is four days only, an extra day once in awhile is a plus) but it is a fast paced job and by 6 PM all are worn out even the 10 AM shift. I love our fighting men and try to do my part for them and our country...



On my drive home I would stop to add gas to my two truck tanks and sometimes go thru the Jack N the Box if just to tired and running late .


So now I am home by say 7 PM and notice the hot wire blinker is blinking so I drive around the out side of the property to see if a Raven sat on the wire catching it under the barbed wire.. this is any easy fix then unlock the gate drive in stop lock it back up as I do in the mornings and drive out to feed as maybe it is raining/snowing, or just dam windy ( clocked at 70 MPH).. So no raven , that means somewhere on the ranch some how -some way the wire is broken or caught so now starts the walk all over and sometimes all over again if I miss the break or catch.. now it is too dark and I have to give up and hope in the morning I can spot the trouble during the morning feed.

In the cool winter months I arrive home in the dark, so I use the headlights on my pick up to check the alfalfa in the to feed stations that do not have electric lights for mold or any other reason NOT to feed that bale.. I have been out here since 2003, hiring ranch help to build fences and wind breaks and tree trimming as needed but for the most part I do the hay hauling and stacking by my self and load the pick up with discarded 2 x 4's , plywood and 4 x 4's discarded at the base, along with the railroad ties the guys load on the pick up and I unload by myself at home... was proud and thankful to have the strength to do this.. to use these scrap lumber pieces in building here at Millennium Equus.. I have one large pipe corral that my stallion lives in while I am at work that I clean on weekends while I have put him out in his large paddock (180 x 90) If the mares are across from in him in their pipe corrals they will need to be cleaned.. all this for the love of my horses and to keep me young in body and soul.. now those days are perhaps ended as several horses are being placed/free in new homes or sold.

Plans for this blog are photos and dates of day by day life now.. I just have to capture my anger before I can write and make sence..

Love to my son Jerold ( who drives 300 miles rd trip to cart me to the doctors, feed store, food store, and of course Wal-Mart)and daughter Patricia in MN.. the lite of my life and to Sandi who is trapped in her truck taking me to work each day with me usually in a grey mood