Whatcha do today

So the other day I found a David Bradley Tractor on Craig's List out of St Louis.

Now growing up we had ten acres outside the town of Defiance MO.
One of the tools bought for that acreage was a David Bradley 2 wheel tractor with all sorts of implements.

So the one I find outside St Louis has all the same implements, and is the same year time frame. The Bus and I digressed on the subject of me buying it, him going and getting it. After a couple days, we decided that we would only be buying memories and that it would get no real use here on the farm, or at his City House. So we passed on it.

Glad I did. Barngoddess found a ramp for the back of our horse trailer on Craig's List this afternoon. Located in Clever MO (why someone would name their town clever is a different story altogether) about 20 miles from here.

So after getting home and doing a quick mowing of the east paddock, the front yard, back yard and around the garden, the Barngoddess and I jump in the Little Big Mule and head for Clever.

Yep, it will work perfectly.

Got home and with the assistance of Sharks Angel and the Little Princess......

yep it's on the back of the trailer already. Only two bolts holding it on for now, but will finish later this week.

So the Barngoddess will not have to have her little horses jump into the trailer anymore.

A picture of it in the stow position:



and a picture in the load position with my noble assistant demonstrating


and FOOT DUN IT graphics has a large flat area to put more graphics on the trailer so you all traveling the highways and byways will know that our rig passed you.

The best is that I got the ramp for less than the David Bradley was going to cost me, AND
we will use that ramp more than we ever would the DB.

And that's how we

CELEBRATE LIFE

A place to remember

Longroff and Jeep

couldn't resist passing this on:

http://www.autoblog.nl/image-gallery?file=0_Divers/Mustang_Kerkhof/

is that a flat fendered jeep?



is that another long roof transporter?



is this the newest addition to the Barngoddess's fleet....
a truly unique camping adventure?




and we continue to

Celebrate life

The rest of the story

I saw this and finally figured out the answer to that long standing question the Bus and I frequently delve into lengthy in-depth discussions (and that is before we have a can of pop.



Thanks to fellow blogger
"Knuckledraggin my life away"
@ http://ogdaa.blogspot.com
and thanks to his provider

"Thanks, Mom
Posted by wirecutter at 4/15/2009"

It's been a long time

today marks

35 years

that the Barngoddess and I have been married.

Looking back over all those years takes time.

Know what? I wouldn't trade my Barngoddess
for anything else in the world.

Hope we get to spend 35 more with each other.

Love ya Barngoddess

Thanks Bits and Pieces

I love this and couldn't resist putting here for you to enjoy.

Irish priest Father O’Malley rose from his bed one morning. It was a fine spring day in his new Texas mission parish. He walked to the window of his bedroom to get a deep breath of the beautiful day outside. He then noticed there was a jackass lying dead in the middle of his front lawn.

He promptly called the local police station……

The conversation went like this:

’Good morning. This is Sergeant Jones. How might I help you?’

‘And the best of the day te yerself. This is Father O’Malley at St. Ann’s Catholic Church. There’s a jackass lying dead in me front lawn and would ye be so kind as to send a couple o’yer lads to take care of the matter?’

Sergeant Jones, considering himself to be quite a wit, replied with a smirk, ‘Well now Father, it was always my impression that you people took care of the last rites!’

There was dead silence on the line for a long moment….

Father O’Malley then replied: ‘Aye, ’tis certainly true; but we are also obliged to notify the next of kin.’

(Don’t mess with an Irish Priest!)

Thanks Gene

Priceless

A great tree planting adventure.. trees on sale $20 @
A great ball game that came down to the ninth.... tickets $50.00
Arriving early for great parking spot ... Nada
A big hot dog $3.50
A couple of cokes... $7.00
A bag of kettle corn... $4.50

Dentist bill for fixing tooth broken off eating kettle corn $1,250.00

A day with wife and grand-daughter CELEBRATING LIFE .... priceless

Easter and the Rains came

I woke up at 10:26 am. Ky3 said it was going to start raining at noon. Let me tell ya'll something. They were wrong. When I woke up it was pouring. The rain stopped long enough, so Mom and I could go over to Papa's house. I wanted to see the ginny eggs that Grandma and I dyed, were gone. Papa made me do an easter egg hunt.



Well after the egg hunt Papa and I went to put up the cows becuase they were wet and shivering. We got wet and cold and came into a great Sunday breakfast.
Now we sit and watch the rain.

Great day to,
Celibrate Life.

Another Great Saturday

Today, I got up at eight o'clock. A guy named Kevin was going to come at 9 to get some calves. Mom and I were supposed to go over to Papa's at 8:30. While we were waiting Papa decided that we were going to plant trees. We have an apple, peach, and pear tree that were planted.

{note: 3 standing around while one works! Looks like government to me}


In the middle of the last tree, Kevin came. Grandma and I went to help Kevin while Mom and Papa finished planting.

After we got done with the planting and cow selling (Kevin bought 3 calves, then talked to his buddy on the phone and took two more). We sold 5 calves today, great! I went to take a shower to get ready to go to the ball park. Papa, Grandma, and I were going to watch the Springfield Cardinals going against the Frisco Rough Riders. The game started at 2:10 so we left at noon. We got there around 12:45 but we had to pick up our tickets.
The gates opened at 1:10, they were having a hat give away and Papa got green, and Grandma and I got white.

We were section M right past the dougout, row 3, seats 23, 24, and 25. I took a picture of the field before the game.

We watched as they cleaned the field and wet it down.

There were a few foul balls but we could not catch one or catch any things Louie and his cheerleaders threw out. I got Louie, a Cardinal mascot
, and a couple of Frisco players to sing my hat too
. The game was real exciting! At the top of the ninth Frisco got three runs which took us to 5-4 Cardinals leading.
{NOTE: and that is how the game ended. 5-4 Cards win again.}

Drafted, typed and written by My Noble Assistant, the Little Princess.

So What we did last night

We did this 4/09/09, but finally getting to post on 4/10/09.

Awe, wonderment, excitement, adventure, screaming and yelling, and the boom of fireworks.

This all spelled what we did 4/09/09 in the Queen City of the Ozarks.

Of course the day went crazy, so arriving home at 5 pm, I mentioned to my Noble Assistant (the Little Princess) that we should go to the ballgame tonight.
Now a kid in a candy store is no match for the NA aka LP when it comes to ball games.

AND TONIGHT is the opening game for the 2009 season of the Springfield Cardinals.

Standing in the living room at 6 pm, with game time of 7:10, and we're 45 minutes from the stadium, can really create havoc when the words "lets go, what are you waiting for, get your cap and coat and we're off" WE were on the road less than 5 minutes later.

Got great seats, 12th roll back from the Cardinal dugout, seats on the aisle. Perfect seats for the game.

Couple pics from our seats. Ready to play ball.


Cards did great and by the top of the 3rd, game was 6 to 2 in favor of the Cards. Then I get a call from Sharks Angel... she stayed home doing homework and guarding the homestead against cattle rustlers. She stated she was in the tornado shelter due to warnings, and tornadoes just north of the farm near Halltown.

funny, no rain here, no lightening, great night for baseball ................... what was that?
a single lightening bolt in the western sky and the sky opened up. Rain came in buckets. We were prepared as we had our golf umbrellas ready and we didn't get wet.

Side note: Ky3 news at 6, 4/10/09, sports section had video of game and we were on it. Standing watching the rain.

WE stayed around watching the tornados on the TV monitors, calling the Bus to find out anymore news, and finally after an hour and a half, of rain, we called it quits and headed home. The NA (aka Little Princess) was getting cold, and to tell the truth this old man was getting cold also.

this morning find out the rain delay was 2 1/2 hours, game getting over at 1 am. Score: 16 Cards, 4 Frisco. What a game......

So $36.00 for tickets, $7.00 to park, $16.00 in drinks, popcorn, and a pretzel, and we came home cold and wet. Priceless to see the Little Princess screeaming when a Card hit a home run for her.

So it's Friday and cold and damp and we are staying home. Tomorrow to be in the 60s, game time is 2:10 pm, and you can bet your sweet britches the Little Princess and the Horsefarmer, along with the Barngoddess1 will be at the ballpark, rooting the Cards along.

What a way to Celebrate Life.


and why there was a delay...


And thats what we did on 4/09/09 in Southwest Mo.

My Noble Assistant was supposed to do this Blog, but she got called home to bath and get a good nights sleep so we can go to the game tomorrow.

Celebrate Life

Quote of the Day

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all

Great Stimulus Idea = why not?

So apparently a newspaper or radio or some media down somewhere in the east or southeast came up with an idea for a promo
"What is a better stimulus package for America?"

The winner came up with a great idea and I back it 100%
There are about 40 million Americans in the work force who are over 50.

So give each of these 40 million Americans, who are over 50, in the work force $1,000,000,000.00 Thats right one million dollars each.

Now the clincher

1. Each one of these people will have to retire from their job within 3 months.
BINGO; 40 million new jobs for the unemployed.

2. Each one of these people will have to buy a new car or truck from one of the big three (Ford Chrysler or GM).
BINGO: 40 million new cars, thus supporting the Auto industry.

3. Each one of these people will have to pay off their mortgage, or buy a new house.
BINGO: What better way to stimulate the banks and lending organizations.

WHAT A GREAT IDEA.

Why bail out those who made bad loans, when we could give the money to those directly and thus help our economy and help America too.

that's my two cents for the day.

HEY BARACK, HEY CLAIRE, HEY KIT, HEY ROY.... Any takers???????

A weekend away from the RATs and the RATRACE

The phone call went something like this:

"Lets take off for the weekend".
"Where to"
"I dunno, somewhere we haven't been"
"ok"

So Friday at 5:00 PM, the Barngoddess and I pile into the big little mule and head out of the Farm enroute to a lazy weekend "somewhere".

6 hours later we arrive at our destination. Temp outside was cold and damp, we got everything in to the cabin and couldn't find the heater. Found the fireplace, so I went to the store and bought firewood. Paid an arm and a leg to discover I had bought "green" firewood. The type that doesn't burn and only causes a lot of smoke. It was so cold that I didn't need ice for my evening G&T. And that was inside the cabin. Barngoddess finally found the heater (it was in the air conditioner) and we got some heat, but the window heater (alias a/c unit) made more noise than the dogs chasing the cats.

Woke up cold, but had good breakfast of Bacon (fresh from our latest pig slaughter), Eggs (fresh from the Coup) and good ole coffee, all hot and plenty good.

So our destination was one that I remember going to as a child. Don't remember shit about the trip or where we were or "well nothing", but we decided to have good memories this trip.



This sign says it all




Being good citizens and wanting to enjoy the Same E. Baker State Park, the Barngoddess and I took a stroll along one of the many hiking trails that crisscross the park.

Here is where we are going



And here is where we were:


Or maybe it is the other way around. Needless to say we finally got to the place that we was a going to and having traveled around this big globe of ours, from Hong Kong, to Edinburg Scotland, to Perth, Australia, to Guam, San Crox and Hawaii, we are seldom awed by what we find. In Hawaii we drove the Hana Highway (the curviest road ever) to look at the 7 falls. I'd link here, but am too bored to even think Hawaii's 7 falls anywhere near compared with the seven falls located along the Big Creek (not the Big River of our younger days), but the Big Creek that wanders thru the Sam A. Baker SP. If you count them, there are at least 7 falls here


If you only find 6, look again, for the 7th is there too.
Our walk continued for 1.7 miles and we ended up on a huge gravel bar. Yes I remember gravel bars from my first trip to Sam Baker SP, but I am sure this gravel bar wasn't here and the rocks we strolled on weren't even a twinkle in their daddy rock's eyes when I was here last. The Barngoddess did what she does best at times like these.... gathered rocks for her rock garden back at the farm.


Now the many rocks we have at the farm cannot be threatened by a few small rocks the Barngoddess collected. But is it considered theft of State Property to take rocks from the gravel bar that is in the Sam Baker SP? Any old State Troopers around that will discuss this in depth????

The walk was great, we took the low road compared to the side of that high hill path

yes there is a path right on top of those bluffs.

Anyway I told the Barngoddess that the next time I wanted to visit this gravel bar, we would drive 12 miles north on 143, put in a canoe and float down the Big Creek. Walking through the woods was great relaxation though. I look forward to going back and hiking up to the fire tower. Now when I do that, I will hike up the road that goes to the tower, not the paths that go up and down thru ravines etc.

After our walk, we decided to take that MO SH 143 and see where the put in was for Big Creek and how long it would take to float to Sam Baker. Along the way we found a couple items for the LongRoof and the Jeep and the Bus.
So I present them in no particular order:







Returning to the park, we saw this little deere not ten feet from the road. It just watched as we stopped and shot this pic.


the Barngoddess had me stop to take this picture... not of our cabin, but one you can almost rent..... It was the old two holer down in the woods.


So traveling north on 143, became south on 49 to Piedmont, MO. Home of "whoknowwhat" and a place that sells seasoned firewood. Enroute 49 became 34 and then left on 143 and we were back to our temporary home. Built a fire in the fire place that made the cabin comfy warm and toasty. Had dinner, found an old Reader's Digest condensed book and read the short story "The Property of the Gentleman". Cute little story worth reading if you are sitting in front of a warm fire, with iced to perfection martinis and a good looking chick next to you.

Woke this morning to rain and we decided to head home "Oleragtop" style. Now for those of you that don't follow the Oleragtop, he hardly ever drives a 4 land highway, prefering out of the way 2 lanes that date back to his birth.

Anyway, for those of you who would like to know.......
143 becomes 49, becomes 34, becomes 21, becomes 106, becomes bridge over the Current, becomes bridge over the Jacks Fork, and becomes Eminence MO, becomes 106 still and somewhere we said enough of the 35 mph curves and the ups and downs and ended up on 60 between Winona and Birch Tree. Took the old highway thru Willow, Cabool and Mountain Grove then beat feet for home. The winds had picked up and were gusting enough to make the Little Big Mule blow around on the 4 lane.
572 miles later, (got 17 mpg on this trip) 47 hours later, we are finally home and after putting a sick calf in the stable, inside to warmth and writing stories for others to enjoy.

More later, but this weekend the Barngoddess and I did truly

Celebrate Life.

ADD THIS ONE TOO

LONGROOF

add this one to your collection



extra points if you can tell where it was taken, City and State is close enough.
double points if you can name the little roofless version on the left

ps: you have been thru this town numerous times, of late and of early

tom