Old pipe liners never die; they just keep monkeying with their wrenches! My Thoreauian experiment living in the wilderness lasted about as long as Henry's. I loved being retired, living and working on my little ranch with the horses. I knew the money was going to be tight when I moved home, but I hadn't counted on prices for propane, electricity, insurance, gasoline and groceries all increasing at a phenomenal pace. I also hadn't anticipated the stock market crash and losing over 100K from my little retirement fund. When a former colleague called offering me a part-time job back on the pipelines, I jumped at it.
I had been looking for work here in the smallest county in the USA almost since I moved home, but opportunities are few and jumped on by many. The great thing about my new job is that they offered to pay mileage from the ranch, so I can base here, and per-diem when I have to stay elsewhere, so that made it workable. I thought I had erased all that data from my memory bank, but it all started coming back. I guess after 23 years, it's kind of etched in the old hard drive. All the old crew seemed happy to have me back, and the new guys were all friendly and helpful. I guess they are happy not to have to spend a lot of time training someone.
I will be working ten days a month, so that means I will still have twenty days a month at the ranch.
The weather has been fantastic this fall. I rode Jana again today, and I am so pleased with the way she is progressing. She stands still for saddling and mounting. She now knows what "whoa" means, backs when asked, and is starting to neck rein a little. Today I started working on side passing some. She doesn't like that, but I can reach out, open a gate while on her back, and ride through it. She's going to make some lucky kid a wonderful riding friend.
The fillies are growing like crazy. They are all getting gentler every day as I feed them and brush and mess around with them.
I had been looking for work here in the smallest county in the USA almost since I moved home, but opportunities are few and jumped on by many. The great thing about my new job is that they offered to pay mileage from the ranch, so I can base here, and per-diem when I have to stay elsewhere, so that made it workable. I thought I had erased all that data from my memory bank, but it all started coming back. I guess after 23 years, it's kind of etched in the old hard drive. All the old crew seemed happy to have me back, and the new guys were all friendly and helpful. I guess they are happy not to have to spend a lot of time training someone.
I will be working ten days a month, so that means I will still have twenty days a month at the ranch.
The weather has been fantastic this fall. I rode Jana again today, and I am so pleased with the way she is progressing. She stands still for saddling and mounting. She now knows what "whoa" means, backs when asked, and is starting to neck rein a little. Today I started working on side passing some. She doesn't like that, but I can reach out, open a gate while on her back, and ride through it. She's going to make some lucky kid a wonderful riding friend.
The fillies are growing like crazy. They are all getting gentler every day as I feed them and brush and mess around with them.
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