Under Construction

Well, this is the longest I've gone in updating my blog.  It's not that nothing has been happening- to contrary, a lot of things have been happening, but it's just been the same thing over and over and over and over, in a seemingly never-ending repeat.  You ever see "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray?  Something like that.   It seems like I've been building stuff all summer long.  And it seems that way because that's exactly what I've been doing!  First the hawk house, then the shop, then working on the buildings that got emptied when I moved into the shop, then re-arranging the house where stuff got moved out, and on and on and on and on.  In the middle of all this, there's a ranch to run, antelope hunters to take care of, taxes to pay, deaths, births, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and on and on and on and on.  Whew, I'm already tired.  But wait!  There's more! I've been flying both falcons, too.  Teal season opened this week and we've trying to catch one.  So far, no luck, but the falcons are flying better, sticking around, coming to the lure, and just getting better and better trained.

Enough chit-chat, let's get to the pictures...

Nearly Finished!

The hawk house is nearly finished.  All the metal is up, the exposed wood is painted to match the roof, and all that's really left to do is put flashing on the corners.  But I'm tired of spending money, so that'll just have to wait until next year.  For now, the building is solid and comfortable.  There's the prairie falcon sitting up against the window to the left.

Birds, Boxes, and Band saws.

Benches upon benches!

Working on skirting

Inside the shop, I am pretty well full.  I have tables, benches, saws, box racks, and falcon perches.  The shop makes a pretty place to park the prairie before going flying.  Outside, I'm in the process of putting in Z-flashing to protect the top of the skirting, and digging the skirting about 2" into the (hard) ground to help keep rodents out.  It's slow work, but I should be finished with it tomorrow.  I'm backing the north skirting with some insulation and this should help a lot this winter.

Guitar work has been coming along well.  I find that it's nice having all my stuff in one room, but since I have 3 benches, I tend to get tools scattered around the place and I walk around a lot more to get this or that tool.

New bridge and saddle

Neck reset and setup

In the process of doing guitars, I've also recorded a few videos for the customers.  Here's the top guitar in action:

And here's the other one:

And finally, on the Davidic Front, mom and David are off to ABQ this afternoon.  David's hemoglobin was 5.1 gm/dl today, almost what it was back in May when we started looking for a solution to his anemia.  I don't know what we'll find when they get to the doctor's tomorrow, but if you want to keep up, follow me on Facebook.  Speaking of Facebook after years and years of resisting, I've signed up.  Probably part of the reason I haven't updated my blog is 'cause I've been busy kicking around FB to see what it'll do.

OH YEAH, let's not forget the RAIN!!!

Last week we got 2" on the west side of the ranch and 3" on the rest.  It will let the grass grow just a bit longer, but it also filled up the creeks and ponds so that the cattle can spread out a lot more and get to grass they haven't grazed all summer.  It also means that I'll have some ducks to fly with the falcons!

Heading to the field

 I think that's enough for now!  Upcoming this week, I need to ride the pastures and get a complete count of cattle on the grounds in preparation for shipping sometime next month.