Whatcha Up To???

[w_r_ranch]

Sprayed 3 coats of satin black paint on the target base. Then fabricated the 2X4 upright/cross pieces (lap jointed them) & got this assembly primed. Man, it's HOT on that side of the house!!!

Made stuffed jalapenos.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Took both Jeeps to town to top off their fuel tanks. Also stopped at the packinghouse & picked up a nice brisket for the weekend.

Sprayed 3 coats of satin black paint on the target stand upright assembly.

 

[Bellas Pop]

Waiting for the new Axis A22 Surf boat to arrive hopefully this week so we can take it to the lake this weekend for a christening ceremony. Custom 100% per our specs and they started the hand laid hull on 8/19 so it should be here NOW!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Refilled the redbird feeders.

Watered the porch pots, hanging baskets, flower beds, asparagus bed & trees/grass in the backyard.

Completed assembly of the target stand. It's now ready to go.

​

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made bread.

Prepped the brisket for smoking tomorrow.

 

[wolffman]

Made bread.

Prepped the brisket for smoking tomorrow.

That sounds like a good idea. I'd hate to see the price of a decent brisket these days. I'll see if the wife can check on her lunch break.

 

[wolffman]

Well, the wife says I have spent waaay too much time on my business over the last 5 years and it's time to focus more on the family. She is right, but I'm not real thrilled about her solution to this. That empty spot in the backyard will soon be a pool for the kids. I've spent the last few weekends hand digging a 150' trench for water/electric to save a little money on the install. She works for a pool/landscape company and the owner is setting her up with an at-cost pool which is basically 1/2 the price of what one would normally pay for something like this. Anyway, the diggers should be here next week. I have a feeling this is going to end up being my third child, but never moves away to college.

 

[w_r_ranch]

That sounds like a good idea. I'd hate to see the price of a decent briskt these days. I'll see if the wife can check on her lunch break.

The grocery store here are nuts, when I checked the were $5.99/lb. I got mine at the packinghouse for $3.99/lb & it was trimmed. The days of $.99/lb brisket are a thing of the past I afraid.

Even the price of pork shoulders has also quadrupled to $3.99/lb & a rack of ribs is now running $20.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Well, the wife says I have spent waaay too much time on my business over the last 5 years and it's time to focus more on the family. She is right, but I'm not real thrilled about her solution to this. That empty spot in the backyard will soon be a pool for the kids.

There are going to be a lot of leaves in that pool. Just say'in.

 

[wolffman]

There are going to be a lot of leaves in that pool. Just say'in.

Yeah, i'm making her buy one of these new robot cleaners to help with that situation. I told her I'm not tearing down many more trees.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Brought up & cleaned potatoes so Mrs. Ranch can make potato salad.

Put the brisket on the smoker, where it will cook at 225 degrees over post oak & hickory coals for the next 10 hrs.

Got 28 yards of 'select fill' delivered this afternoon to fill in the low spots in the cattle pen.

The fall hummingbird migration has commenced, a number of them have arrived.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Put up 6 more hummingbird feeders (in addition to the 2 I keep up year round).

Made a butter cake w/chocolate frosting for dessert.

Sliced & vacuum packed the brisket from yesterday, holding back enough for the next 3 suppers.

Started spreading the fill dirt in the cattle pen.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Cut the grass.

 

[w_r_ranch]

The only thing on my agenda is spending the day kicking back with Mrs. Ranch & Dieter.

It's fixing to rain (1620 hrs), I'm glad I smoked the brisket the other day... Got 0.70" out of that cell.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Since it's too wet to work, I did the weekly shopping up in La Grange.

Made bread.

Refilled the 4 hummingbird feeders on the front porh as they sucked them dry.

Ordered seed tapes for fall garden (lettuce, carrots, swiss card, radish & green onions).

Order the fabric backed wall covering per Mrs, Ranch's request. I'll put it up when the weather inhibits me from doing outside work.

 

[wolffman]

The only thing on my agenda is spending the day kicking back with Mrs. Ranch & Dieter.

It's fixing to rain (1620 hrs), I'm glad I smoked the brisket the other day... Got 0.70" out of that cell.

I had the same plan but ended up mowing most of the yard. Downed a few beers while I was doing it though! There is this beer called Yuengling that just made it's appearance in TX. It's popular in the eastern areas. Pretty good stuff.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Replaced the filter in the well house & added 240 lbs of salt to the water softener.

One of the bigger oaks across the tank next to the house is dying all of a sudden (last 24 hours). It looks like it suffered a big lightning strike during the storm on Labor Day as the bark has a 2-3" split in it.

The canopy kit for the smaller tractor finally shipped.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Burned the trash.

Fixed a leak in the well house.

My Jeep has been getting poor gas mileage lately, so I thought I'd do a tuneup. I got the plugs gapped & set them aside until Saturday. I then replaced the air filter & believe I may have discovered the problem... I pulled out 3 mud dauber nests the size of my fist out of the air tube that supplies air to the filter box.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made bread.

Did the weekly shopping.

Refilled the hummingbird feeders.

Replaced the air filter & cleaned the throttle body on Mrs. Ranch's Jeep. She didn't have any mud dauber nests at all...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Since it's suppose to rain most of next week, I finished shredding the front pasture (and started the middle pastures) instead of working on my Jeep (which I can do in the garage during that time).

Made a cake for dessert.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Y'all need to keep an eye on the storm forming in the Bay of Campeche. 'Invest 94L' has a chance to become a reasonably strong tropical storm by Tuesday. If it hugs the coast, we are going to get a lot of rain... guest I'll be planting my fall potatoes later that I planned...

UPDATE: It is now officially a tropical storm. I hope this one isn't another one like 'Allison' (26+")...

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Seasoned up a bunch of chicken that I'll put on the smoker this afternoon. I figured that since it's going to rain most of the week, I'd get enough done to see us through this period.

 

[wolffman]

Hahaha, I am so screwed. The gunite crew promised they would shoot the pool on Saturday. We checked with them all week long. Nope, they cancelled late Friday. So, I’ve spent an entire weekend covering up a hole in the ground. Some serious 1st world problems over here.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Updated storm track puts us directly in the path. I took the flags & the hanging baskets down as a precautionary measure, although I think this is pretty much going to be a non-event...

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Refilled the hummingbird feeders.

Received my tractor canopy finally.

 

[wolffman]

Well, the owner of the gunite company called first thing this morning and said he had a crew on the way to “flash” the pool. This is a skim coat to hold the dirt in place. When the crew got here, they said this was the best covering job they’d ever seen and would be best to leave it in place. They better cut me a discount when they finally do the job.

 

[wolffman]

‘Survived’ the storm with only about 1.5” rain. It stayed just to the south of us the whole way thru. Plenty of dead branches to pick up.