2010 - Day Nine...

Let's start today's monologue with a discussion about digital pagers, shall we? Digital pagers...the nearly extinct electronic leash that was VERY POPULAR in the 1980's. I only know of one digital pager in use today, and I am carrying it this month. Think back...first there were pagers...they would go off, and there was only one number to call. Then there were voice-pagers, that the caller could leave an undecipherable message into, and you had to call no one because you did not know whom to call. Then there were digital pagers. You enter your telephone number for a call back, and there you go. Of course, when these devices were in vogue, you had to find a pay phone and pull over. Of course, there are people alive today who have no idea what a pay phone is...and yes, Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. ANYWAY, this is my month to carry the pager, we have a pager for emergencies, since we are property managers, and things happen. So far today, I have been paged four or five times, by two different sets of people who cannot follow directions. When the pager goes off and I look at the number entered, 783 is not really that helpful. And then they try again, and this time they enter 512-968-64[0448[036. This is not helpful for my cause either. I say, if you cannot work a pager, you do not deserve to rent a property, PERIOD. Okay, whatever...I could go on and on, but why waste the Ethernet?

Our nuclear weather device was reporting 18.6 degrees this morning, so that means the actual temperature was somewhere between 13 and 15 degrees. Pretty darn cold. There will really be only one more night of hard freezes for this go around. Tonight should pretty much be the end of it, and the forecast low for Sunday night (in Austin) is 30 degrees, which means about 25-28 here...not that terrible. We have come through the last couple days without too much trouble, so I hope all will be well for the next few days. The temperatures are supposed to be in the 40's today with lots of sunshine, so the troughs should un-freeze pretty well during the day. I made egg loaf this morning and that was yummy. It also looked like there was ice on the middle tank (see below) and indeed there was. The tank is pretty darn deep, and I was actually amazed that it would freeze over, even a little bit. It was not thick enough to skate on or anything like that, but it was iced over.

Jody and I went into Taylor this morning because I did not get the correct cattle feed last week...I am keeping and using what I got, but I wanted some of the feed with molasses and cotton seed in it, because it keeps the cattle warmer in this kind of weather. Anyway, while we were there, I stopped at Tractor Supply and got a new part for one of the water tanks, and then we decided to go and see what time the Dairy Queen opened (10:30, we were FIRST). Anyway, on the way to the DQ the second round of digital pager F-ups began, but I am calm now! When we got home, I took the feed and put it is the feed shed, and I will feed them tomorrow. While I was out there, I broke up the ice in the troughs (again) and that ice was thick enough to skate on. It is broken up pretty well right now, and later this afternoon I will go out there with a pitch fork and scoop what ice is left out, and refill the troughs with fresh water (so it can all freeze again tonight). Whatever...

I am about to wrap up this post. I took a little nap (while watching a NetFlix something). Anyway, when I woke up there was another program on about Hoarding. I am fascinated with that. I finished the book (on CD) of Homer and Langley, and found it was loosely based on two actual brothers, although the author took great literary license to have their lives span a much longer period of time. Who cares.

I got all the ice out of the troughs (see the photo above) , and the cattle, as usual were very curious. I am not sure if it is curiosity as much as it is wanting to be fed. At any rate, they will not be fed until tomorrow, so they can just wait, but the ice should be easier to break up tomorrow, too. There is still ice in the tank, and that is really a surprise to me. I am not sure what in the hell the old man was out there trying to cultivate, but he has dirt on both horns, so he was looking pretty darn stupid! Heading out to Fire Bowl for dinner, so that will be good. Tomorrow I will be doing some review for a couple classes I will be teaching on Thursday, and also getting ready to go to College Station (Aggieland) on Monday to take an Instructors Update class. It will be fun driving there and back, and listening to the new book on CD I got yesterday.

Deeds, Kindnesses, Actions, Changes, FUN!