Hanging with Heather

It's been awhile since I updated my poor little blog.  And that's 'cause I've been pretty busy.  Let's catch up.... In Feb, I mostly worked on guitars and rode dirt bikes a bit.  The weather was decent and we got a fair amount of riding done. Then in early March, our friend Heather stopped by for a visit. Being that she has quite a bit of ranch and livestock experience, I put her to work and her visit turned into a 6-week stay.

First course of action was building fence. I have 2 miles of fence between two pastures that was in pretty bad shape and has been since I got to the ranch nearly 20 years ago (I need to let that sink in for a minute... nearly TWENTY years ago...). I wanted it fixed up.  To that end, I bought a Danuser T3 post driver for my Case skid steer. We worked about 2-3 days/week on the fence and got it all spiffied up with steel posts, re-stretched wire, and some new braces. After some initial hiccups, the Danuser worked beautifully. At one spot, I pounded posts by hand into a dry lake bed.  Later, I drove by with the skid steer and decided to see how much further I could get the very tall posts.  I drove them an additional 2' without even actuating the "pound" part of the driver!  That's when I got impressed.

Miles of fence ahead

Stripping wire, pulling posts, driving new ones

Since Heather has experience with livestock auctions and Derek had some money in the bank to invest, we went to town a couple of times to buy cattle for him. I met with a local rancher the first time and got both his and Heather's opinions on the cattle.  When a likely bunch came up, we bid and won and suddenly Derek was a cattleman!  Back home, we branded, vaccinated, and sprayed with insecticide, all firsts for us.  We ended up buying 6 yearling steers in all. We'll let these gain weight on grass all summer and sell them in the fall, making a (hopeful) profit on the gain. This is a test run to see if we want to buy 20-50-100 yearlings in upcoming years.

I'm holding the gate shut...

.....Heather applies the iron.  Derek and Georgia are go-fers.

In addition to the yearlings, Derek has a herd of 8 momma cows and they started calving this past month. With these, we'll likely keep the heifer calves to build the herd and sell the steers this fall to generate money with which we'll buy more cattle next spring. If all goes well, by the time Derek's ready for college, he'll have a good fund built up.

The first home-grown calf of the year

Another thing we did was go hawking.  Since I met Heather thru falconry and since she brought 3 Harris' hawks with her, flying them seemed the logical thing to do. We flew them mostly in my Cedar Creek canyon which is a pinyon/juniper lined canyon. Bunnies aren't plentiful, but we got 2-4 decent flights every time and caught 1 bunny and a jackrabbit. We also saw a Barbary sheep ewe with a very small lamb in the canyon, a first for everyone. And we got a lot of much needed exercise! I think we fired up to fly Harris's again and I've put an order in for 2 birds for myself for this fall.  So, hopefully, we'll have some news on that later this summer.

Jackrabbit down!

And then we went fishing.  Being originally from Minnesota, H has some fishing tricks up her sleeve including The Art of Filleting, something which we'd never done. We fished pretty much once a week and caught lots of trout.  Derek caught his first walleye, smallmouth, and largemouth bass all in one day at Ute Lake.

Derek with walleye and bass

The above fish, about to be 'et.

I left out a bunch of other fun things- "walking" up to the top of the local mountain (pretty sure I said "climb" but everyone thought they heard "walk"...), looking for prairie falcons, playing Scrabble, visiting Las Vegas NM, feeding cattle, sitting in front of the fire talking, listening to music, and more, but I think you get the idea. We all learned a lot of things from each other, had fun, and it was, in short, A Most Excellent Visit.

Sitting on top of the world....

Alas, all good things must come to end and, in no time at all, it was time for Heather to head home to Montana. After lunch one day we said our "see you in awhile"'s (no "goodbyes", nope!), sent her down the road, and started getting back into our normal routine. That, of course, was quickly punctuated by incoming cattle (going into the pasture which fence we'd just fixed) and just like that, another ranching season begins.

Until next time

First one off the truck

Feed us!

And that brings us up to speed. Every year is an adventure.  What will this one bring?

There is one more thing. We observed what would have been David's 15th birthday with a visit to his grave. Tears were shed, funny stories were told, and- as always- we try to look forward in hope.

Back in the saddle again!

Awhile back, I wrote this on my web site:

I started riding dirt bikes in Jr. High in 1973 with a Honda XR75 and continued to ride through High School (upgrading to a Honda XL125 which I immediately tricked out for dirt riding). I raced a Suzuki RM125 during my last two years of High School (79-80), but sold it to buy my 1st Martin guitar. I bought a very used Honda SL175 (for $175!) while in college and rode it for awhile, but then was bikeless (a sad state of affairs) until about 1987 when I got a 1984 Honda XR200R. Not long afterwards, I bought a 1984 Honda XL200R as a second bike for commuting and for my wife to ride. I sold both bikes about 2 years later, to buy falconry telemetry (these hobbies are all inter-twined!). A long, dry period lasted until March 21, 1998 when I bought a brand-new 1996 Honda XR250 with proceeds from various writing projects, including the Falconry Equipment book (see what I mean about being intertwined?? <g>). The first thing I did upon getting it home was go out and catch some air!  That got me going again and since then I have been bike-less for just a short period.

In Fall 2010 at age 48, I decided it was time to hang up the dirt bike boots while all my joints and bones are still intact.  It was a great ride!

Well, never say "never", I guess.  After a 5 year break, we're back in the game.  Derek, you see, had been making noise about wanting to ride dirt bikes. I think there's a lot to be learned from them besides the actual riding skills (which are useful in themselves). There's mechanic work, trouble-shooting, economics, time-management, and more. I freely credit my dirt biking with many of the skills I have today, a large chunk of which have enabled me to do guitar repair.

Talking about dirt bikes during Christmas, we did a little quick research and settled on a few candidates- the Honda CRF150F or Kawasaki KLX140 for him and a Yamaha TT-R 230 or Honda CRF230F for me. A quick look at Craigslist later and I found a single buyer selling both an '08 Honda CRF150F and a Yamaha TT-R 230, for an excellent combined price. The Santa Fe Yamaha dealer was open and we took a look at a new TT-R 230 and they even had a used CRF150F.(for too much money). That visit put the TT-R 125 LE on my radar, too.

 But I wanted to shop and think. The biggest issue in buying a used dirt bike is the title. Here in NM, you have to have a registration sticker to ride on public lands (.e.g. US Forest Service) and since nearby Red River, NM is a fun and popular are to ride, I sure don't want to exclude it. However, bikes in Colorado and TX don't have titles. Problem. But,the original pair that I saw on CL's did have titles and long story short, we drove down there one Thursday and bought them. Even better, the following Monday, we got them titled!  Some gear and jetting later, we're riding.

Fresh off the truck

Derek's never ridden a dirt bike but he does have bicycle and ATV experience. He's picked it up pretty quickly, learning to use a manual clutch and shift gears. His Honda is a great bike- I wish I'd had one of these to start on!  Likewise, I'm really happy with my Yamaha.  I'm not going to do much jumping or racing anymore- we just want to putt around and have fun.

Got gear?  Got dirt!

It's good to be back on the bike.

The Life of a Guitar Repair Wizard

I know some people think I'm like this Guitar Repairman Wizard or something, but this week, I had a bad day in the shop and, my blog needing an update, I’m going to tell you all about it.

A while ago, I got in a '67 Martin D-28 that just needed a neck reset and some frets. Easy job.  I did the frets and did the reset.  When I strung it up to check the action to set the saddle height, the front of the stock bridge snapped clean off. In 15 years, 150 guitars/year, I've NEVER had that happen. So I informed the owner and offered to make him a new bridge for free. I don't like making bridges- it's one of my least favorite things, especially when I have to make an _exact_ replica of something in order for it to work. I just hate blowing it and wasting a bridge blank. Irks me to death. Anyway....

After spending most of the previous day meticulously measuring and fitting the new bridge(*) to fit precisely in the stock footprint, and drilling the pin holes in a nice precise clean line so that they’d line exactly with the stock pin holes, today I was routing the saddle slot, which I always do last so that I put it exactly where I want it for good intonation.  Something felt funny. The router was making strange noises and I could feel it struggling. “Well, it’s a hard piece of ebony”, I thought. Then I took another look and noticed the router bit wobbling, so I quickly stopped the router and got it out of the way. Turns out the bit had worked its way loose from the router collet and dug deeply, widely, and sloppily into the bridge, ruining it. I've NEVER had that happen.

I decided to try to fill and re-cut the slot just to see how good I could make it look. Hours later, it looked great, so I strung the guitar up, but guess what? The bridge was .020" too low. The  stock bridge was really tall and I never got to test my reset 'cause the stock bridge broke as I was putting a test saddle in it. For guitars to work correctly, the neck angle has to agree with the combined height of the bridge and saddle. My new, repaired, bridge was too short, making the new saddle too tall and.... it just wasn't gonna work. So, 2 days worth of work went down the drain.  If you’re paying attention, you’ll note that, being too short, this bridge was really doomed from the start. The wayward router bit just finished the job.

I just hate going to bed with unfinished work, so after throwing tools and crying and tearing my shirt, I pulled the meticulously made repaired bridge and started on another one.  After spending all evening on it, I got a new bridge made and fit before quitting for the day so hopefully I've managed to take 1 step forward after 2 steps back. The next day I successfully cut a nice saddle slot in Bridge #2 and the guitar is currently strung up, awaiting final adjustment. I’m not claiming “success” just yet, though.  Not until a week has passed. 

This little mark is all that remains of the jagged slot

The original bridge, cracked

L-R: The new new bridge, the wobbly slot bridge, the original.

Bridge and saddle together determine string height-
they have to match the neck angle.

I watched a couple of these and felt better about my "bad day".

(*)In case you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, this is another bridge (that I made). The wood part is the "bridge", the bone part in the middle is the "saddle", and the black things are "pins".

A Good Day

Another Good Day

To make this right, you gotta get the curves in the wings just right- clean and sharp with a C shape. The overall height of the bridge and saddle have to match the neck angle of the guitar perfectly. The holes for the pins have to be the perfect distance from the saddle and perfectly spaced and in line. In the case of today's guitar, the new bridge needs to fit precisely into the old footprint on the top- that means that all curves and widths have to be exactly right. If they're not, I re-do it.

These bridges look good. I got lucky those days.  I’ll take lucky. It's what Wizards are made  up of. Luck. Luck and ebony dust.

Oh yeah.... the book is done! I took a couple of boxes to the North American Falconer's Association meet in Kansas and sold a bunch of 'em.

Unloading off the truck

Loading into the Ranger

1st box opened!

In case you go looking for it:

Falconry Equipment book

Whipped at Winfield

The "Big Fast Train" has done come and gone. Just as I said in that post, there was a point at Winfield where I had to actually sit down onstage and start playing the tunes I'd been practicing for months. Georgia documented it (below). There was a lot that needed to happen before then, though, and no, I didn't really get "whipped" at Winfield. It's just a fun alliteration. I'd use "Winning at Winfield!" (with more exclamation marks) but I didn't win.

The trip to Dallas to pick up our new Casita went well. We stopped in Clarendon and had lunch with Brianna and Quenten which turned out to be a good thing as they ended up moving (to Claremore...what's next?  "Clareless"? "Clarefree"? "Clare-by-the-sea"?) the week I was at Winfield. We picked up the camper- another undramatic event, except that I had a blown fuse which was promptly fixed at the factory- and headed north to my half-sister's place near Pilot Point, TX. I'd asked for all kinds of advice for traveling through Dallas and we ended up taking 45 to 75 to 380. That was a good route but I have to say, north Dallas was the worst part of the whole trip!  Lots of traffic, lots of construction, fast drivers. However, it still all went without event and we even managed to stop at the Cabela's in Allen, TX.

The Motherlode of Egg Campers

Checking out floor models while waiting

Getting together for the first time.

Out in the lot, ready to roll!

We'd stopped at Cabela's in Fort Worth on the way in and were disappointed. The place was full of screaming kids, merchandise was on the floor, and we just didn't find anything we wanted. Plus, we only had an hour before they closed and when they close at 7 pm, that means they empty the floor at 6:30 pm. The Cabela's in Allen TX was a lot better to us. The former is 250,000 sq ft and the latter "only" 100,000 sq ft, but the Allen store was cleaner, neater, and.... better. Maybe it helped that it was Monday morning and not Sunday afternoon. We scored all kinds of stuff on our list including a Benjamin Titan NP air rifle with a slightly cracked stock for less than 1/2 price. Derek's been wanting one of these for ages but I didn't want to spend $160 on one. This one was marked to $80 and we put it in the basket along with a pair of camo overalls for $20. We found a lot of things and the stop here was well worth our time. We also managed a stop at In 'n Out Burger but, honestly... it was just okay. I like Five Guys' fries better.

Cabela's in Allen TX

After that, it was to my sister's place, whom I haven't seen in 12 years or so, although we talk on Facebook. Her and her husband train, raise, and sell horses and we had a fun, although way too short visit. Derek and I slept in the Casita for the first time and started figuring things out.

Derek, Bryan, and Ky after a successful meal

We took off at first light for Winfield and stopped at Bass Pro in OKC on the way. Prior to this trip, I'd bought a Garmin GPS and, while I'm good with maps, this proved to be a useful purchase for navigating big cities. The main thing is that it warns you of upcoming exits and you get a little picture of what the exit looks like. Armed and empowered with this technology, we navigated into Bass Pro where we spent more money!

Bass Pro in OKC

And then, on to Winfield! Our GPS was pretty helpful here. I'd never come to Winfield from the south and didn't realize that I-35 turns in a toll road. So, we bailed an exit early and the GPS helpfully suggested a road that ran straight to the road I wanted. Finally, around 2 pm, we parked the Casita and breathed a big sigh.

One of my antelope hunters had given Derek a really nice fly-tying kit and I knew there plenty of experienced fly-ty'ers in our camp.

Coy and Derek tying flies

Proulxs and Donohues

The Casita. Camping.

The Famous John Beaver

Dugas and Moe

"Are you SURE you want to learn to play banjo?"

The evening flight of turkey vultures coming to roost

Winfield was fun. I didn't place in either contest and there was no question about that. I did better in the mandolin contest than I did guitar and got a lot of nice comments. One of the most appreciated was when Steve Kaufman- the original and for a long time only 3-time winner of the guitar contest- came over, pointed his breakfast banana at me and said "You played great in the mandolin contest! Smooth, clean, interesting... that was good!" 

Advice from Steve before the contest

Wanna hear my contest tune? Video!

I drew next to last in the guitar contest and that gave me about 2.5 hours to listen to the other guys, get tense, and think about what I should've done. I played pretty good, but my arrangements and execution, honestly, are not up to Winfield standards. But I paid attention and brought some lessons home. This year was tough.  Of the 5 finalists, 4 were previous winners. And at least 3 previous winners did not make the cut, as well as a few professional musicians there to try their hand at the contest. So, it was no dishonor to not make it. I think I could've played better and done more, though. Next year, maybe I will.

Here comes that train!

Picking away!

Warming up for the guitar contest

I didn't play well, but here I am.

My view

Derek slept well.

That was Winfield. It was a fun but tiring week and we drove 1400 miles round trip. On the way home, I decided that 2015 would be my last year. Next year, I'm going elk bowhunting or fishing or whatever. It's getting really hard to hear in noisy environments and I had a hard time participating in anything other than very small group conversations. So, I'm done. Of course, when I got home, I started learning new tunes and practicing. Maybe I'll go but just not say anything.

This is long enough.  Next time, I'll talk about cattle shipping and the End of The Year. Maybe I'll even have a photo of me opening a box of the Revised and Updated 2nd Edition of "Falconry Equipment".  We'll see.

The Big Fast Train

The big fast train is here.  "What", you ask, "is 'the big fast train'?" It's a concept that I use to describe events that are a long time in the future and seem like they'll never get here.  Then, suddenly, they are here. I don't know if you've ever been out West (where the horizons are a long ways off) and watched a train coming, but you'll often see them way out there, sometimes as nothing more than a dot, a million miles away. You can sit beside the track and spit your tobacco (if you chew, and you really should quit if you do) and wait. Nothing happens. The dot doesn't seem to get closer but if you keep waiting, after awhile you'll start feeling the tracks vibrate a little. The train still seems a long ways off. When it gets closer, you can start making out details. Closer still and maybe the conductor will blow the whistle to warn you to get your foot off the track where you've been feeling for vibrations. And then, with a lot of noise and rumbling and flying cinders and whooshing air, the train is HERE! The ground shakes, the rails flex, your eardrums scream at the noise and commotion and then...WHOOSH!!!!.... it's gone. And off into the distance it goes until it becomes a small dot on the other horizon and before long maybe you don't trust that your memory was all that good and it really wasn't all that. So, wait for another train.

That's what long-anticipated events are like. You plan and prepare and it seems like the date will never get here and then, suddenly, it's here and like a fully loaded train, it sometimes threatens to just flat-out run you over.

My big train right now is "Winfield" or, as it's more formally called, the Walnut Valley Festival. This is home of the National Flatpicking Guitar (and other instruments) contest and this year, I'm entered in both mandolin and guitar. I did the guitar contest 4x- 1994, '97, '98, '99- and the mandolin once ('99, I think) but then quit contesting and just focused on playing. There is a maximum of 40 contestants, each of whom play 2 tunes. From these, 5 "make the cut" to the finals where they play 2 more tunes and from here, 3 are winners. It's a very prestigious contest and hard, too. On any given year, there will be 3-9 former winners and your first job, if you wanna make the cut, is to beat them. Also on any given year, only 1-2 of those former winners will make the cut themselves. It used to bother me that I competed for 4 years and didn't make the cut and then I thought harder about the fact that a lot of great players don't make it either.

This year, I needed some motivation to practice guitar and I was starting to feel semi-creative again after a long non-creative period, so in March, I signed up for the contest.  This kicked me into a frenzy of tune preparation and practicing. I could see the big train down the line and knew it was coming and I wanted to be ready. The train isn't quite here yet, but the tracks are shaking. Our truck is loaded up and tomorrow, Derek and I head off to Dallas TX and then up to Winfield. Once I get to Winfield, I'll be able to see the conductor and hear the whistle. At the end of the week- on Friday, at approx 1 pm- after being intimidated by 15 year old hot-shots backstage, I will step on the mandolin stage, sit down in front of the mic, adjust my chair, look at my rhythm guitar player, and then...I'll play the first note of my first tune. At that point, the train will be upon me. I'll be a little nervous, but with any luck, I won't forget, mid-stream, what tune I'm playing like I did in the guitar contest one year when I had to just rip around in the scale for a few seconds until I remembered and got back on track. On Saturday morning, I'll do it again in the guitar contest, but having- hopefully- survived the mandolin contest, I should be more relaxed. My goal is to simply make the cut. If I make the cut in either contest, I will pass out backstage and be the first person in the history of the contest to fail to make the finals because he's passed out backstage from excitement.

If you want to hear quick recordings of my contest tunes, go here. These were done with a simple digital recorder sitting on my desk, just so I could hear how the tunes actually sounded.

In May, I noticed that I'd started to put finish wear on the top of my mandolin neck. I bought this mandolin new in 2002 and I've never worn a mandolin neck before- 2 guitar necks, yes, but never a mandolin. I took pictures.

Finish wear in June

Finish wear in Sept

Underside of neck. 

So, why I am going to Winfield via Dallas?  Well, several months ago, I got it into my head that we needed a Casita travel trailer. Derek and I have been doing a lot more fishing, archery shoots, and just getting out and I would really, really like to have a little trailer that I don't have to pop-up and which has a bathroom and shower. The Casita fits the bill. The family was a little hesitant but one day we headed off to Clayton Lake to go fishing and I brought up the topic. As we came down the hill to the lake, lo and behold, can you believe it? There was a Casita travel trailer! The owner kindly gave the family a quick tour and our fate was sealed.

This is not our trailer. This is what they look like.

We're getting a 16' for the lower weight

I started earnestly searching for a used one but they are hard to find and the only ones I found were 7-9 hour drives away and, yeah the pictures look good, but who knows what condition they were really in? I decided to check prices on new ones and what do you know? Casita is having a sale. The price quoted for a brand-new trailer was barely higher than what I was looking at for 10 year old trailers. I figured that in 10 years, I'd have a 10-year old trailer instead of a 20-year old trailer, and so, thanks to generous financial donation from my mother, I ordered a new one. Lead time was 2.5 months and there, folks, is another big fast train. After all this anticipation and preparation, Monday, Lord willing!, we will hook the new trailer to our truck.

In other news, Derek and I have been fly fishing. After testing the waters ourselves, I decided to hire a guide and jump start the process. We ended up selling 2 of our doe pronghorn permits and using that money to finance a full day's fishing on our local waters. We learned a LOT and had a lot of fun. I hope this is something that we'll be doing more of in upcoming years. Thanks to Eagle Nest Fly Shack in, appropriately, Eagle Nest, NM

Derek's first Brown trout (yes, the fish was back in the water quickly)

Stalking fish pre-guide

Derek and guide

Last bit of news... "Falconry Equipment" is being edited by my co-author Jim Hodge as we speak. When I get back from Winfield- Lord willing- I will make suggested corrections and send it off to the printer. I should have copies in hand by mid-October, if all goes well.

It's been a great summer. I'm looking forward to fall.