Back At The Ranch

The wife announced she was going to town, and did I need anything.

Man, that is so loaded with “reading between the lines” and other “subtleties” that I dared not touch it.

My response was to please get some whipping cream for my coffee…note: not whipped cream, whipping cream.

I also volunteered to removed the gates accessing the front yard from the carport.

And haul a bag of mulch from the garden I did not use, for her ‘shell garden’.

OK.

I still have yet to change my tire.

The weedeater is not feeding the string as I had hoped…when I ‘tap’ the head on the ground to feed some line, it sucks it all back inside. WTF? I have already reloaded it twice, and then got out the owner’s manual; yeah, I’m doing it right.

I removed the double gate to the front yard. The lag bolts holding the gate hinges pulled right out with some finagling, as the hole in the 4×4 post was rotted.

A friend of ours for many years, brought a spineless prickly pear for us to grow in a bucket, and keep safe here. They live in an apartment in San Antonio.

The spineless prickly pear is also known in the Mexican culture as nopales, which can be prepared and eaten. The nopales are the new growth on the prickly pear; the small ‘pears’ if you will, and are peeled and cooked.

I have never eaten them, but a buddy of mine once said that he thought eating nopales was what the color ‘green’ tasted like.

The nopal plant we kept in the front yard to keep the deer from it. Without the gates, now the front yard is open to the deer, so I moved the plant to the patio.

Prickly pear cactus, if left unattended, will grow into a huge colony. I have seen them the size of a Volkswagen. Ranchers hate them because cattle like them too, and get their mouths full of spines.

There is a tool called a “pear burner” that is basically a propane flame thrower that is used to burn off the spines so the cattle will not get a mouthful. I happen to have one of those…one has to carry the propane tank too whilst burning; depending on how long the hose is.

I next moved a bag of mulch from the garden to the west side garden at the house. The wife gave up planting her mother-in-law-tongues (snake plants) as the deer will pull them up, but not eat them; killing them anyway.

She wants to put her collection of conch shells on the mulch, in the skinny garden.

We have a nice wagon that we use to haul stuff around the ranch grounds; branches, cut firewood, and the like. I hauled the mulch with that.

OK, easy stuff aside. Now for the flattening tire.

I’ve spent so much time on  me knees lately working on the r/o system that the skin on my knees is raw. I have strap on knee pads that I used to work on the truck tire.

I was fully ready to just change out the tire, knowing I have a spare that has never been used.

After digging out the jack and finding out that my impact wrench did not have the correct size for the lugs, I got them off with the one provided with the jack.

After removing the wheel, I studied the tire, and finally found a nail. I poured a little water on it, and sure enough, it was leaking there.

The tubeless tire kit was produced, and I fished out the nail with a pair of dikes. Using the T handle rat tail file, I pushed into the hole and ground it out some.

Then using the T-handle plug tool, forced the plug into the hole with a tad of rubber cement on it.

I got it installed, and just to be sure….just in case…I poured some more water on the plug…damn! still leaking.

I can only surmise that I made a new hole next to the nail hole, and plugged that.

Yawn!

OK, so I plugged the original hole, and it did not leak. I installed the tire, and we’re done..

Or are we? Some of you guys out there have a better long range view of things…should I just replace the tire? now with two plugs literally side by side, I am thinking that it may be a little weak there.

The set of tires is 7 years old, but only has about 30k miles on them.

I am old school and believe that one never replaces just one tire… replace all of them is my thinking, but who’s got $750 lying around?

I would go with Michelin light truck tires, I think. These Wranglers are what the truck came with originally, but are really not very good tires for the price.

After all that, I was done in yesterday…only 92 outside.

I am taking it a little easier today, being Father’s Day and all.

I received texts from my two boys for Father’s Day…better than nothing, I suppose.

I just found out my youngest, who is in the Air Force, is now stationed in Korea. He’s a mechanic, and works on the A-10. Probably more by now, but that was his original training.

The oldest is getting married next month, has just bought a house, and has become a techno wizard in the installation of alarms. He said he’s been working 50-60 hours a week lately. Now he has a contract job working in Colorado Springs for three months.

The forecast tonight is thunderstorms.

When my SS check comes in Tuesday, I’ll be heading to town to stock up the pantry. I’ll also take back my faulty security light to HD. A haircut is in order, and will have to get another next month before we go to Colorado for the wedding…if we go. I have issues with my oldest, but that’s another post.

Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads out there. If your kids live close and want to take you to dinner or bbq for you…do it. Smile a lot, and talk to them. I wish mine were closer.

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Poor Bastards In Maine

Actually, they are just the latest good citizens of our once great country, forcibly indoctrinated into the growing club of “poor bastards”.

Fresh off the press, this just in

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/african-migrants-pass-through-san-antonio-and-swiftly-fan-out-across-the-country?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/africa-san-antonio-mexico-border-illegal-immigration

Yep. Most of the Illegal African “refugees” dropped off at San Antonio, are urged to move on to Portland, Maine. Some even get their tickets paid for by the local Catholic organization.

I wonder what a life change like that does to a person; from tropical weather to minus 20 below in winter with snow and ice for months.

Well I guess if the frickin’ Somalians can stand Minneapolis, others from Afrika can stand New England.

But what about the New Englanders? and the Minnesotans? Idahoans?

Why not Wyoming? because it’s a frickin’ desert!!! at least it would be like ‘home’…you know, in Afrika.

If the Feds keep transplanting illegal aliens in places where the citizens do not want them, eventually, there is going to be blood.

Someday, citizens will be saying

 

Congress Contemplating Pay Raise For Themselves

Pelosi denies saying it is a Cost Of Living Adjustment

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/pelosi-its-not-pay-raise-its-cola-increase

Tell me something Nancy, what the fuck difference does $4500 a year make to someone who already is making $174,000? and that’s just on the books!

I’d bet ten bucks that all Congress will show up for that vote…re-elect any one who votes against it.

How do we stop them?

I Didn’t Sign Up For This

Dammit.

Those of you who read my previous posts about the proximity of the ever growing illegal immigration problem to us, will understand where I’m coming from.

We moved away from the Tex-Mex border last year; lock schlock and barrel, after buying this place in 2015.

Inside, I was jumping up and down to finally get away from that hell hole, given that we were 7 miles from the Mexican border.

So, in the slightly more than a year we’ve been here, we are now faced with an increasingly urgent problem.

30 years ago when my dad bought this place, it was ideal retirement area. Many folks out here were wealthy. The Texas Hill Country was a much sought after area to live. Very rural, yet not far from small towns. Mostly conservative people. The average po’ folk couldn’t afford to buy land out here…then some wiseass decided to install RV hookups in little lots on his property, and so gave birth to trailer park trash. Since then, crime has increased in this rural area.

In all fairness, the park that was on top of the hill above us, was closed down. I don’t know why, but I did hear that the sheriff department was up there a lot for various misdemeanors.

OK, OK to the  point, X.

If we have hundreds of illegals getting dumped 50 miles away from us, then our situation has not changed; at least in my mind. The numbers will increase, and spread; in our direction.

I did not sign up to have to walk perimeter on our property on a daily basis, and kill indiscriminately those who would trespass with foul or evil intentions. I am not opposed to doing just that, but I cannot do it alone.

I am just beginning to realize that this place may be too much for us to take care of.

The rear of our property is a solid brush line of trees, oaks, cedars, and mesquite with underbrush; great cover for in insurgence. No way in hell we could defend against that, shooting from inside our house.

So what do we do? cut down and burn all the brush? Bulldoze it all, and burn it?

Should we sell?…and move away; dammit.

I am so tired of moving. This was supposed to be my last move. I don’t want to spend it having to carry firearms every time I go to the bunkhouse; being wary that someone may have broken in and is squatting there.

This is not the peaceful retirement for which I had hoped.

The vegetable gardens were a lofty goal of mine. 5 years ago, I had much success with growing vegetables; but I was out there every single day.

I planted the corn field the same time that year. I was out of town a week, and upon my return, I spent a week on my hands and knees pulling weeds between the corn plants..every day all day.

This year, I got so damned tired of fighting the never ending growth of weeds, I just said ‘fuck it’. NO MORE!

So what is the answer? Move? Again? Holy crap I hope not. Every time I have moved in my life, I have gotten rid of stuff that I really liked; I just didn’t want the hassle of moving it.

The wife actually had a great idea:

if you’re so tired of upkeep, why not take down the fence around the orchard? You don’t grow anything there anyway. The deer jump the fence. Just take down the fence, and have one continuous piece of land. You can’t mow the upper five acres anyway…leave it. You can mow the orchard and pasture. Clean out the cow shed, and mow the ‘cow yard’. There is no livestock. Just because that stuff was here, doesn’t mean we have to keep it the way it was.

Always good to have alternatives.

It won’t solve the encroaching illegal alien problem.

At what point will someone stand up and say ENOUGH!

Stop the illegal aliens, or I will stop them. There is only one way, as I see it.

It may come to just that. I could be that someone. I don’t wanna be, but I am so tired of the lame ass excuses brought out by the bleeding heart liberal democrats that the illegals need our help.

Drop the illegals off in Pelosi’s district! or Schumer’s! or Swillary’s! or Occasional Cortex’s! or CNN HQ!

Maybe some mayor ought to stand up and define their city as a non-sanctuary city.

We all know why they’re letting them in; to get votes, so the liberals will win elections, and turn the rest of us into slaves. Then the democrats will turn their newly found illegal aliens into slaves as well.

Illegal immigration on the souther border used to be Mexicans, looking for a better way of life; mostly.

Now we have illegal immigrants from Africa; specifically from the Ebola infected Congo, among other African nations, which I cannot name.

Now we have raghead terrorists swimming the river, and getting into the country; some get caught, others don’t.

Most of the new surge of illegal aliens are from Central America. How does an immigrant from Central America end up in the United States overweight with a cell phone?

The latest I have is 26 cases of mumps reported in Hidalgo county, Texas (on the border) in one of the detention centers…mumps, measles. TB is on the upswing.

How many thousands of illegals have babies within a year of getting into the US?

So what’s the answer? Kill ’em all at the border? Just line ’em up and shoot them? Open season on illegals? Let’s see your green card…No?  Boom!

Then what?  burn ’em? Feed ’em to the hog farms?

Send ’em out in big boats into the Atlantic and sink them?

How else would we send the message

We don’t want your sorry asses here. Get the hell out and tell your friends back home, we don’t want them either.

 

A wise man recently told me in a comment

‘Looks like if we want anything done with illegal immigration, it’ll be up to us…

I think that was exactly what I was trying to say.

Now I gotta go change a tire on my truck. I aired it up yesterday, and it’s already flat.

Sigh.

It never ends.

Closer To Home Than I Thought

The illegal alien crisis is closer than we thought

The Illegal Alien Crisis in Uvalde

The base article

Border crisis: Texas town overrun with crime & disease, and this mayor has had ENOUGH

 

Uvalde is less than an hour’s drive from here.

I am rethinking my OpSec strategies.