Weekend at the Ranch

The office organization had to take a break for the weekend while I took the kiddos and headed to the ranch.

My brother (we'll just call him Uncle Dave), suggested we all, meaning my mother (we'll just call her Grandma Anna), all the kids (we'll call them Brad, Charlie, and Zoey), and his wife (we'll call her Aunt Missy) go down to the 2C Ranch for the afternoon to check the cattle, let the kids play, and we MIGHT work on a project.

I should have known this was a trick from the beginning, but I believed Uncle Dave would be true to his word and not care if we spent serious time laboring at the ranch.

HA!

We got to the ranch and immediately the orders began to fly..."Herd the cattle out, Close the gates, Get the cubes in the bunks, Let the cattle back in, I'm going to get the tractor - you follow me in the pick-up, Move the pick-up and trailer over here so I can weld these posts for a new fence and gate."

Now, my next set of orders were, "Walk this fence line, and nail these loose wires up to these wooden posts. You're going to have to pull the wire tight as you go, and try to pull the wires as high as you can, too."

So I started walking the fence line to nail the barbed wire into the posts. I didn't make it to the FIRST post before Uncle Dave followed behind me, took the hammer away, and began to nail the wires himself and instruct me on the "right" way to do it. So I tried to do it his way. The nails bent in every direction instead of around the wire and into the post. So he dragged me to the next post, and the next post, and the next...you get the idea.

Halfway down the fence line, I was furious, he was frustrated at my lack of proper nailing technique, and we argued non-stop until Aunt Missy arrived to shoo him away and help me out. And when I finally got to nail a couple of the wires in place, doing it my way, it was time to go.

But to give Uncle Dave credit, he is great at what he does. He can ride a horse, work the cattle, weld metal and make just about anything, he's good at carpentry, and especially good at fixing/building fence.

Even though I was frustrated and wanted to do it my way, he really does know what he's talking about. Maybe next time if I take his advice, we can get more done in less time.