Truth is when our minds correspond with reality.
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Gooseneck
Gooseneck trailers are the way to go, especially if you've got a big load to haul. I put this bad boy together back in my Helena Montana days. Since then, she's served the ranch well.
From the ground up she is homemade. I picked her up from a buddy outside of town. She was longer and all sorts of bent up. She was also set up for a fifth wheel which meant she was probably pulled by a semi, hence the over loading. After straightening, reenforcing, and shortening the trailer, we then put a gooseneck on her for pulling with a pickup.
My main objective back then was to haul my little bulldozer around. The trailer actually hauled it well, but that is just a heck of a load for a pickup.
With tandem duals, she is rated for 20k gvw. The problem with that is keeping the tires aired up and ready for work. Since Dad mainly just uses her around the place to haul hay anymore, the eight tires are not necessary. So we set out to just put singles on her.
She is old school. The axles were once drivers off a military truck of sorts. The guys before us rigged them up to just be dollies. They have the old mac nuts which require their own tire iron.
Underneath her defines contraption. When I first took off with a load years ago, the axles would shift side to side when you turned and rub the tires on the frame. It took a lot of sunflower seeds to come up with this cross-chain idea. Not sure it'd pass a DOT inspection, but it sure solved the problem.
There she be. The mac set up allows you to run singles too. So we put together some solid 14 ply tires and flipped the inside rims around. Less rubber on the ground means less friction to drag. It also means four less tires to try to maintain.
Ranch ready.
Every ranch needs a good gooseneck around to haul whatever whenever. This 26' homemade beast serves that purpose well. I like character. What fun would it be to have a manufactured trailer that never needs maintenance? This black beauty keeps us on our toes. It's never too early to be thinking about spring.
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Monday, January 2, 2023
Hamburger Helper
One of God's greatest gifts to a bachelor's household is Hamburger Helper. So simple yet so good. Plus, you can stretch one dish into three meals. Perfect for a Catholic Cowboy priest.
There's many varieties ranging from Stroganoff to Cheesy Hash Browns. I like the old standard Cheeseburger Macaroni.
The cool thing is that it comes with instructions right on the back of the box. Though I do have the process down by now, I still need the specific measurements of milk and water to get the dish just right.
The key to a good Hamburger Helper meal is the hamburger. LBCC.LLC grass fattened.
A cowboy doesn't plan his meal until he's hungry. Therefore, he usually has to thaw things out before he can get started. Defrosting frozen hamburger in a sink full of room temp water is quick and effective.
Now it's time to get to work.
Browning is an art. I know you're hungry, but not everything has to be cooked on high.
Muy Bien.
Here's some tricks I've learned over the years: Add the milk, then the sauce mix, then pour the water over them both. This allows you to better integrate the sauce mix.
After you stir those ingredients together, then add the macaroni. This way the sauce mix powder doesn't cling to the mac.
Bring it to a boil then let it simmer for 10 min or so.
In that down time I like to have a little cowboy appetizer.
Knowing when to kill the heat and serve is crucial. Some of this takes trial and error, but I like to shoot for my macaroni to be al dente.
Bon appetit.
There's been more than one cowboy out there who has kept his belly fueled by Hamburger Helper. I dig it. Any meal that only requires one tool to handle, I'm down with. The beauty of this kind of cooking is now I have two more meals awaiting me that only require reheating. Life is good. Thank God for Hamburger Helper!
Christian
There is no such thing as a lone Christian. To be Christian means to be part of the Body of Christ, the Church. We need each other.
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Year in Review: 2022
On to the next one!
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Friday, December 30, 2022
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Sno Cat
If you want to roll around the mountains in December, you better be geared up. Mom and Dad are. The only time their cabin is hard to get to is May and November when the snow is melting or starting to fall. Other than that, they can get in all year long. For winter travel, their sno-cat is the vehicle of choice.
They bought this beauty about 10 years ago. She's a 1971 model. Dad's done well to keep her maintained, which includes greasing the some 250 roller bearings on the tracks each year.
Tucker continues to make sno-cats, though their technology has vastly improved. You have to start somewhere though.
Though she's simple, the engineering is quite remarkable. She has a flat head 6 with a four speed. If your are going over 10mph, you better slower down a notch.
You can haul gear in the back, or a band of your buddies.
She runs good on groomed trails.
And breaking trails.
The four pontoons are what make her float, while the paddle tracks give her traction.
She may be slow, but she'll get you where you want to go.
Modern machines have allowed man to get to areas in the winter where only the moose and squirrels roamed. Thanks to their Tucker Sno-Cat, Mom and Dad can enjoy their Big Horn getaway all year long.
Monday, December 26, 2022
Fire in the Hole
Dad and I have been waiting for the right opportunity to burn our old corral piles from last summer. Well the feast of St. Stephen proved to be the perfect day.
We had 5 piles of old lumber from around the ranch needing to be burned and buried. Not wanting to mess with a prairie fire, we decided to wait until snow was on the ground. To get them burning hot we dumped about 10 gallons of diesel/gasoline mixture in the center and around the base of the pile.
To ignite it we pulled out one of Dad's old oilfield tricks: Put a little dirt on a shovel and douse it in gasoline...
Throw a match at it...
Once lit...
Carry it to the pile...
Give it a good aimed toss...
Then stand back.
That old wood really burned nice.
Perfect for marshmallows and hotdogs.
Or beer and beef jerky.
That's my kind of feast day. Every boy likes to play with fire. And when it has a purpose, all the better. A lot of work went up in smoke today. This ranch was a labor of love for my granddad. But wood just doesn't last forever. To everything turn, turn, turn. Wood was yesterday. Steel is today. Thanks Grandps, we'll make you proud.
Sunday, December 25, 2022
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