BLOG.V6RANCH.COM

A Day for Gossip

May 4, 2013

              This blog is dedicated to bragging about my grandchildren and if through the course of this blog you find your eyelids getting heavy  and your simply bored to tears after the first few sentences you have my permission to sell out for the Boob Tube or maybe some honey do jobs. My wife and I are at the Santa Ynez Equestrian Center watching our 6 grandchildren compete in a West Coast Jr. Rodeo and the time is 9 AM. Our granddaughter Sage Massey just ran her horse Olie through the pole bending course and is now setting in 2nd place. Whoops, Sage was just moved to third by a hundredth of a second. Wait the announcer is announcing the results of the pole bending Sage Massey ends up in fourth place.  Grandpa is pleased. You know this rodeo is better watching than the Kentucky Derby because where else will  you get to watch a Dust Devil, that at this very moment, is dancing the Jitter Bug with an awning fastened to a motor home and has spun it around and then turned it upside down. I wonder why we are always fascinated with someone else's misery.

                    Cade Varian age 9 has just now come a running on his horse Shelzee and is weaving his way through the pole bending course and at present is in 1st place but this race for Cade isn't over yet, he has crossed the finish line still going 90 and now a very quick stop at the fence by Shlezee and there goes Cade catapulted out of his saddle and headed for the ground. Everything is OK.  He is up and walking away. Folks in aviation circles tell me any landing you get to walk away from is a good one.

                    One of the highlights of junior rodeo is how much time we all get to spend watching the big green John Deere tractor level the playing field so many times that any grain of sand that had sharp edges at the start of the day will find them rounded at the end of the day but we will relax knowing that every mothers little cow person will have an equal chance. Time is the coin of your life be careful how you spend it. I'm spending my coin watching my grandchildren and loving it. Why I can even see the value as Mr. Tractor grinds sharp edges from grains of sand.

                       It's 7 minutes to 1 o’clock PM and my belly is starting to rumble. I've worked up an appetite shifting my Fannie from side to side in this folding chair that looked like an orphan so I adopted it but comfort is sure not its middle name. There you go Jack looking a gift horse in the mouth.  Why don't you just stand up all day?

                            Brinan Varian just came out of the Bulldogging chute hanging on to a 700lbs steer, his job is to take his 150 lb body and twist this steer to the ground with all 4 feet pointed in the same direction. Since the opening of the gate which starts the time clock 3 second has gone by and the steer is on his side. Brinan your 1st place has lasted about 2 minutes.  Someone else just put his steer down in 2 seconds and change.

                              Flash!

The announcer has just announced that Cade has won the all around cowboy title for his age group and one of his female competitors seems to have her eye on him but I could be mistaken.

                             Another flash!

                      Zack and Rhett just went to the lead in the team roping but cousin Sage Massey is throwing her head loop right now, son of a gun, she just missed.

                       Zack and Rhett you just finished in 3rd place in the team roping and Brinan your effort was good for 6th place. The time is now 5 PM.  Only 2 more hours to go as we are now into the ribbon roping and Brinan and Sister Katherine went to the lead and kept the lead to finish 1st. Grandma and Grandpa are having quite a day.




                          I'm getting tired now so if there are any readers still left that want to find out how grandma and grandpa’s little darlings performed here goes. The munchkins had quite a bunch of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6ths and the most coveted title of all, All-Around Cowboy and Cowgirl for their age group were Brinan, Kathryn, and Cade Varian.



                                             See Ya,

                                             Jack
Posted by V6 Ranch at 5/9/2013 8:00 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

I've got the Walmart Blues…Part 2


               
  Just when I thought that Walmart had defied the laws of human greed I was rewarded when I happened across an article in a magazine that I want to believe reports more accurately than most the facts of a story. The article that caught my eye was found in Bloomberg Businessweek, the April 1, 2013 issue, "What good are low prices if the shelves are empty”. It seems as though the world's largest retailer has added 455 new U.S. Walmart stores in the past 5 years a 13% increase according to company filings. In the same period its total U.S. workforce, which includes employees at Sam's Club warehouse stores, dropped by about 20,000, or 1.4%. Now I don't know how important service and convenience are when you've run almost every other retailer out of business and can now shuck these qualities that got you there to sell your wares. I will grant that Walmart is at its zenith right now and I'm sure that the board of directors are giving high 5's all around for they have done what no other retailer has ever done, they have added 455 new stores and at the same time canned 20,000 workers. But just when you think all is lost and that they can now screw their customers with impunity that's when the “Peter Principle” enters the scene which says. “Any business no matter how large will eventually rise to its level of incompetence!" On my last trip to Walmart I had a feeling that the “Peter Principle” was starting to work as our friendly Walmart greeter was missing and the shopping cart I pulled from an almost empty rack had a square wheel that was quite annoying.  As I entered the main concourse I found an ever more crowded obstacle course of stuff on pallets with people moving just like rush hour traffic in Los Angeles; stop and go. So I took a side street as I had to get all the way to the other end of the store where I would hopefully find our dog’s favorite food but to no avail.  I was not going to run the gauntlet at another time so I settled for Brand X that I knew would not make my K9 friends happy.


                       
The Bloomberg article for me was vindication that, thank God, the “Peter Principal” is still alive and well. "The retailer says reports of stocking problems are overblown which is based on comments of a handful of people, is inaccurate and not representative of what is happening in our stores across the country.” This to me is a sure sign that even the biggest can be in denial and this flaw will surly bring them to their knees I.E. Sears, General Motors, Leman Brothers and many more who have scuttled their ships on the rocks of ineptitude. So if you are worried that these bulky hulks will engulf us all with stuff, fear not for these are humans at the helm of the Titanic and with some patients on our part we can watch as they shoot themselves in the foot.


                  

  See Ya,
                      Jack

Posted by V6 Ranch at 4/19/2013 8:09 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

C.Y.A. at the Expense of our Children


                    The other night I was again to be found half asleep in my recliner as the local news visited our nightly crime scene full of murder and mayhem that has become so common place that I find myself jaded to a point where my emotions are I guess nonplussed . But that's when our anchorman changed topics and said that the Orcutt Union School District was going to stop their grammar school students from playing TAG as it was too dangerous. What murder and mayhem could not do to my rage meter the abolishment of tag made the hairs on the back of my neck stick straight out. How could they, how could the people involved in this decision call themselves educators.

              Now if I was in the position to monitor the success or lack thereof a school system I would give credit to a few bumps and bruises and that maybe the school nurse might have to open the band-aid cabinet and issue a few little band-aid badges that say, “I'm in grammar school; that I'm full of vim and vigor; and I like to play tag just like generations of children before me enjoyed."

             This kind of decision making validates why we see more home schooling, more charter schools, and private schools that see their enrollment moving up. I think because of this type of “cover your rear” policy I would think long and hard about what other fuzzy thinking is going at the Orcutt Union School.



                          See Ya,

                            Jack


Posted by V6 Ranch at 4/16/2013 11:46 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

A New Lease for the Horse


                  

 Boy it's easy to get jaded now a day’s what with so many people walking around almost stepping on their lower lip with "ain't it awful "spelled out clearly with their body language.  Well I'm here to tell you that our dear friend the horse has two occasions on their horizon that can make them once again affordable to the middle class horse lover.
                 The first is Hydroponics and it has been a known technology for many years. The era will be pre -recession 2008 when jobs were plentiful and things like gas and food for both horse and people were a lot cheaper than they are today so Hydroponics sat on the shelf unnoticed but now it's 2013 and lots of the populace are suffering from recession shock. Gas is no longer in the $2 range and hay is no longer in the $100 to $200 category but rather now hovers in the $300/ton delivered in truck load lots and a gallon of gas will cost you $4 to $4.50 for the cheap stuff.
                     It's time to take a hard look at FODDER the name given to the sprouting of seeds, with water in a controlled environment, like barley, oats, wheat, and even alfalfa. At this point in time barley seed is the most popular choice to grow FODDER. So what does a person need to start growing feed for your horse? You will need a shallow trough 6" to 8" in depth that you can spread the seed in and then you just add enough water to keep the seeds wet for 6 to 7 days in a lighted 24 hour a day environment that temperature is maintained between 68 and 72 degrees. What you will get is a feed that for every pound of seed, 6 lbs of a good for your horse carpet of green grass held together by roots and spent seed hulls which your horse will love and it's very nutritious.



                     There are two companies that I know of that manufacture fodder machines. First is FarmTek, internet address www.farmtek.com and the second is fodder solutions, internet address www.foddersolutions.net. If you’re a computer whiz I'm sure there are other manufacturers out in internet land.
                      The cost of growing fodder is mostly dependent on the price to be paid for the seed. At the time of this blog barley seed will cost as low as $300/ton in bulk and twice that amount by the sack in a feed store. I think most people will probably buy the sack which will amount to .30/lbs to produce 6 lbs of fodder which will make the cost $ 100/ton. It is necessary to feed some hay to keep your horse from getting the scours and there will be a power bill to keep the UV lights on and the temperature constant. I think a reasonable guess that an owner would expect to pay for a ton of feed for their horse would be $150/ ton a 50% savings.
                      Second, I think that the tide is turning in favor of the reopening of an abattoir to harvest horses instead of having to send an unwanted horse to Mexico or Canada where conditions are unknown. People are beginning to realize that horses like all living things do die and many times the kind thing to do for a horse in constant pain like severe arthritis is to put them down. But not all people can afford to have a vet do it and then pay the tallow works to dispose of the carcass. The abattoir won't cost but will offer a viable exit strategy.



                     I think if these two ideas go mainstream we will once again have a vigorous horse industry that is affordable to those who would like to have a horse of their own.
                            See Ya,
                             Jack

Posted by V6 Ranch at 3/7/2013 8:30 AM | Add Comment

What You Think of Me is None of My Business

I have always known my father-in-law was exceptional.  For twenty-two years I have witnessed his ideas take shape with a genius only time, trials, and wisdom can perfect.  Life’s experience is that clay that we shape, chisel, and mold continually.  In this deeply personal and honest writing you can see that Jack’s mold was complex but it has created something of the utmost beauty for us all.  Enjoy this writing and take away what you need to continue to shape your mold.  I know I certainly will.
Barb Varian


          
My 1st encounter with sheer terror took place when I was about 8 years old. The year 1943 would locate my family in the town of Garden City, New York during World War 2. As gas was rationed long trips meaning 25 miles or more were out of the question. My dad came home one day after work and announced that he and a friend from his work place Sperry Gyroscope Co. had learned of an old abandon gravel quarry that because of a high water table caused its closing. A good size pond had formed that was at least 20 feet deep and perhaps a quarter mile wide of very inviting water. Our soon to be new swimming hole for the duration of the war was but about 5 or 6 miles from our home. I was a pretty good swimmer and always looked forward to our summer outings there. One particular summer evening I had swam out toward the middle of the lake and was in the process of turning back toward the shore when this overwhelming feeling that something was grabbing my ankles and was going to pull me under the water overcame me. I began to scream in an uncontrollable fashion. Hearing my screams my father immediately dove into the water and came to my rescue and as he approached me the fright that had engulfed me subsided as quickly as it came leaving me embarrassed and somewhat ashamed. The next time I was overtaken with what in my mind was unreasonable fear happened that same summer. My sister and I decided that good fun would be to gather some rocks and take them up on the roof of our house and throw them into a puddle that was left over from a thunder storm the night before. My sister was sitting on the roof above me and as I stood up to throw a rock my sister had just released her rock which struck me in the back of the head and in an instant blood was gushing from the wound. My sister looked at the wound and as she looked, I asked, "Am I going to die?"  Her reply of," I don't think so," was of little comfort. It wasn't until my mother washed off all the blood and had assured me that I was not going to die and that head wounds bleed a lot and it was not even worth a trip to see the doctor that a feeling of relief came over me but I was left with another questioning thought, "Was I a coward?”
                  It was several months until a new paranoia took center stage; this one only happened when it was time to go to bed and I was alone. There must be something under my bed that was going to grab my legs. So for the next several years I would run and from maybe 3 feet distance jump into bed which reinforced the idea that I might be a coward. This had to be kept a secret as my father was such a daredevil and so brave that he would be disappointed.
                  What I felt I needed now were some kind of injures that were not life threatening and that I could enjoy and would also garner me some attention from my peers reassuring that I wasn't a coward. Broken bones would be the answer. So in my teenage years I managed to break my arms three times; from skiing, falling out of a tree, and off a horse and one leg tripping over a pipe. I wonder if this was a self- fulfilling prophecy.
              It was in my teenage years that being popular in high school became very important to me and one of my self-imposed conditions for being cool was to get poor grades but at a subconscious level I knew I was pretty smart so by cracking very few books I slid through high school with a bunch of C's and some B's enough to get me into Cal Poly college, but in my senior year fear still lurked in my being but I had ways of disguising it. One was to always take my car when it was time to go cruising and looking for girls and it was endorsed by my parents as they knew I was a pretty good driver. Sports came in the form of being on the swim team and I was pretty average. Thank goodness I didn't have to play football or wrestle as you could still be cool and not be a jock. My summer job working on a cattle ranch further endorsed that I was no coward but secretly I was a closet one, why I was even afraid of the dark.
                I hope the exposé to follow will be helpful to those out there who have struggled with unreasonable fear that diminishes your joy and quality of life and will find comfort and strength from some of my struggles so that you might better deal with your demons.
                

The year is 1957 and in order to meet my selective service commitment I joined the Army Reserve that summer and reported to Fort Ord, California for 6 months of active duty training. The first 8 weeks of basic training went well and after the first week of training  I was given the duty to be the  platoon guide for our company which gave me a certain amount of authority that I tried to use judiciously over my fellow grunts as we were known by our drill sergeant and my own private room. The Next 8 weeks I was to spend in advanced infantry training when paranoia again overwhelmed me but  in the Army you don't just walk away to be out of harm's way. Somehow my mind washed my memory clean of the event and that placed me in the Ft. Ord Psychiatric Ward. What a devastating and disgraceful time this was. The doctor who came to talk to me about what to do next (which I had no answer for) thankfully had one. "Are you mechanically inclined," he asked. I replied," It's right up my alley as I loved working on cars in high school." Well that sealed it and the next day I found myself in a Motor Pool Unit Classroom learning to repair trucks the Army way. But panic would not let me go and a claustrophobic fear overwhelmed me again. Back to the Psychiatric Ward again, where my same doctor came to visit me. This time he said, “You know Jack the Army isn't meant for everybody so I'm going to discharge you as I know that you can do more for our country as a useful citizen." I doubt if the famous World War 2 General George C Patton would agree.
                     I was discharged with a small suitcase that contained some clothes, a bar of soap and my tooth brush and a great dearth of emotional baggage that was to lead me down many roads in search of peace and usefulness.
                     The fall quarter at Cal Poly was about to start and I wanted to finish school which I could accomplish by finishing the regular year and one quarter of summer school. Zera my wife to be, to my surprise, hung in there with me and on June 21, 1958 we were married in Corona, California and with a few more weeks of summer school I graduated from Cal Poly with a B.S. in Animal Husbandry.
                       With some help from my folks Zee and I were able to buy a 2,700 acre ranch west of Paso Robles CA for $70,000. This purchase proved the old saying "you get what you pay for" which in my case was not much but it was a start. I was like the young man digging in a pile of horse manure and was heard to say, "What with all this poop there must be a pony here someplace." Well Zee and I looked for that pony for three years and never found him so we decided to look for greener pastures before we went broke. We spent a couple of weeks looking around our western states but the thought of spending six months of each year shoveling snow to a native California didn't sound very appealing so home we came. We weren't home a week when a friend of ours who was also in the cattle business said that his brother who was a realtor had a listing on a ranch near Parkfield, CA. Compared to the brush pile we called home this was Camelot and now 51 years latter we couldn't have made a better choice.
 In spite of a beautiful wife, family and a great ranch to ply my ranching skills unreasonable fear still haunted me and a still hidden demon turned every moment of triumph into a "you don't deserve it moment”. A graphic example of a "you don't deserve it" occurrence happened in the spring of 1978. It was a wonderful year having had generous amounts of rain and a very strong cattle market to frost the cake. Quick Jack get a cattle buyer who had the connections to place 10,000 head of feeder steers. Phil Stadtler was my man who could sell all my cattle making me enough money to pay off both ranches we now owned and to deposit a million dollars in the bank. Instead of hugging Phil when he said, "I'll take them" I replied, "I think I need to talk to my accountant."   Phil said, "The offer goes with me and it may not be there when you get done talking to your bean counter." But I was in a cavalier mood and replied, "We've got a great market and all experts say it should last." You guessed it the market proceeded to take a dump along with Phil's offer but I was still full of bravado and told all in earshot I'm going to feed them out and sell them as fat cattle. This exercise on how to repudiate common sense took 20 years to heal my pocketbook but there was a silver lining for me and eight years of anxiety for my family while I traveled down a lot of dead end streets. So to all the players that helped me search for meaning and to feel worthwhile in my skin thank you. Each helped me to expose my demons that have caused me to do lots of stupid, absurd, stupefying deeds. Thank God what came next was a belief that it was my responsibility to change how I react to life situations. For the opposite which is to say it's not my fault takes the blame and gives it to someone else or some event which the person has no control over so a chance for a better life is diminished considerably. What followed for me, were piles of self-help books, psychiatrists, psychologists, religion, biofeedback, Yoga, exercise, friends, work and most helpful of all was a teaching called Support Group Network as taught by Dr. Robert Simmons.
                     You start by bring just yourself, no spouse, relatives and for me no friend I wanted the group I would be a part of to be totally anonymous to me. Dr. Simmons lectured us for the next several months on how we might full fill our expectation toward a more satisfying life.
                       After our formal training was complete we broke up into groups. My group was thirteen in number with the ladies out numbering the men two to one.  The first order of business was to have a name for our group that we could rally around. How do you come up with a name that everybody from different walks of life could agree on? Well it was easy, for one of my new friends a lady with no makeup and hair in her armpits stood up and said let's be EGG BOK'S. It stands for “everything is going to be okay”. Well it sure sounded good to me and to the rest of the group as well. So this started my five year journey of every Monday night meetings that started promptly at 8 pm and ended at 10 pm with a rotation to each member’s house that could accommodate us EGGBOK'S.
                     The first year of my journey was most illuminating as I was to learn that other people in the group had problems besides me and that each of us was encouraged to discuss any and all problems and situations with no judgments only helpful ideas imparted. There was one exception and that was criminal behavior was not to be brought before the group. For various and sundry reasons the first year saw our ranks depleted to seven. But for me, I was hooked and looked forward to each Monday night and I always felt that my time was well spent. By the end of our 2nd year our ranks would shrink to five and this number would remain constant until our 5th year neared the end. With many of our groups personal demons now lying dead or dying it became obvious by some grand design that each of the last of us decided that we had gained enough life skills to venture out on our own each to our own new worlds, with views quite different than the old ones we once held.
                            I believe the year we EGGBOK’S disbanded was 1987. I was ready to turn 52 and still had a large debt with Farm Credit to cure. I was just about ready to present to the public Varian Ranch a new way to develop land and hopefully pay off my debts. My vision for this development was to leave a much smaller footprint on the land. The homes would be clustered on one corner of the ranch leaving the rest of the land with its open space in tack and its agricultural value retained which amounted to 98% of the land open in perpetuity.
                          With just a couple of months needed to complete the project I received a call one day from the new manager at Farm Credit to inform me that I no longer had the line of credit that I needed to finish the project. In the 1980'S the U.S. farm credit system was in just as bad a shape as I was. That meant anybody that didn't fit their new formula for credit worthiness got the ax.
                           What to do! What to do! First you gulp then gulp again then you ask the caller, "Are you sure you have the right Varian?” The voice replies in what I was sure had a gleeful tone to it, "Your line of credit is cancelled as of this moment.” Jack, remember all the old sayings that you thought so much of, well you better hope they work and you can start right now. Winners never quit and quitters never win, never yell whoa in a bad place, when you’re at the bottom the only way is up and I'm sure that each of you out there in Blog Land have your own way to make the best of a bad situation. My mantra did work as I found financing and finished the project that went on to win “The Best in the West 1988 Gold Nugget Award for a Residential Land Plan on 25 Acres or More”. The rest was now easy as the project was well received by the buying public so Farm Credit got paid off completely and all the rest who put off collecting their bills could now take their checks to the bank and the many that supported me as I worked to implement this new and kinder way to have people who work in the city but want to live a rural lifestyle got their wish. A heartfelt thank you to all!
                            It was now time to get back to doing what I enjoy most, running our home ranch in Parkfield and Varian Ranch that I reserved the right to lease back for thirty years. My years in the 1980's were a very enlightening time which meant that decision making could no longer be dogmatic or "it's my way or the highway “and I knew that I couldn't find the answers I needed in the traditional cattle world.
                           The year is now 1991 and California had been plagued with six years of subnormal rainfall and I had cut the numbers of cattle that I stocked the 2 ranches with significantly, but Zee and I knew we had to find new ways to keep the wolf from the door. Well much to my good luck I received a phone call from a close friend of mine and he asked if  I would like to attended a seminar in Paso Robles that's agenda was new ways to make decisions about how you manage the land that your steward of. Holistic Management is the name of this organization and was founded by Allen Savory who hailed from South Africa and who saw things in a totally new and refreshing way. The person that he had trained and was to be our instructor was a lady (I can't remember her name) but I will always remember her message and by the third and last day of the school I was a true believer.  I was now free to look in all directions for other ways that didn't violate my holistic beliefs that could add income to pay the bills. Again, luck was with me as Zee and I had just recently watched the movie City Slicker starring Billy Crystal. "Zee we can do that, we have the horses, the land, and the cattle," and so this year will be our 20th year having guest contributing to our economic well being and in return our family, the beauty of the Cholame Valley and lots of nice horses and cattle to work with for 3 days leaves most knowing they had just participated in something meaningful, unique, and fun.
                                        The 1990's saw the passing of our dry years and into a decade of friendly ones that had lots of rain in their clouds and this afforded me running room to practice what I had looked for so long and that was permission to throw all those methods out that no longer met the goals of Holistic Management and replace them with ones that did. After several years I was able to come up with a simple sentence that made the ranch management decision making process easier to monitor… "SLOW DOWN WATER". If the decision that you made increases the velocity of water it's most likely wrong and if your decision tends to slow the speed of water it's most likely right.
                                     My demon that has caused me a lot of grief in my life has been hiding out for quite awhile now probably deep in my subconscious  laying in wait like a dormant virus for the right circumstance to then show himself but what Mr. Demon doesn't know is that over time I've developed new ways to cope so that when he shows himself I can recognize him early on and knock him out of my mind before he gets a head of steam, like old times, when he could sound very beguiling and believable but this time around I've got the tools to send him back into hiding and each time he shows himself he is much less the grand combatant and more a tired warrior whose time has passed.


                                
My hope is that for those of you that could be suffering from any or all of my now receding travails I hope you might find one or two pearls of wisdom for your life's puzzle and feel the wind at your back more often.

                              See Ya
                                 Jack

             P.S.  If the time comes when it is necessary for me to act bravely I think I will but I could falter I dearly hope not.

Posted by V6 Ranch at 3/4/2013 4:30 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

If I Had My Life To Live Over...



I was reading an article in one of my magazines this evening that really caught my attention for what an 82 year old man would do if he could lead his life over again. His words follow and then this story will close with some of my thoughts.

          "If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things that I would not take a chance on. I'd take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. As you can see I was one of those people who lived prophylactically and sensibly and sanely, hour after hour and day after day. Oh, I've had my moments and if I had it to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them. In fact, I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. I've been one of those people who never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people, and pick more flowers, and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again, but you see I can't I'm an 82 year old man, dying and accepting death." Taken from the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.

                             There is so much of this testimonial that I love, like leaving my thermometer  and parachute at home when I start my day and I will save my thermometer for when I have a real honest to goodness fever and not the imaginary one. I will not consider that when I hear some talk about cancer or heart disease or all matter of tumors and all the other diseases that can kill you that I surly have the worst one and I will fly without white knuckles so I will not need a parachute.  I will spend more days living in the present recognizing that the best place to be is where I'm at and I'm going to do my best to  always look for the silver lining and all the other positive ways I can lead my life.

                           But there is a great part of my life that I wouldn't change for anything and it's about considering the welfare of others.  Number one is my wife and family that is a part of me and I'm a part of them. Choosing a life's work that you are passionate about, that you look forward to each day and that will produce a body of work that you will look back on and say “I have no regrets".

                           My father told me on several occasions that democracies are a very messy way to govern and without ordinary decent people volunteering to make our form of government work it will fail. In my case, and it wasn't always sweetness and light but, I can look back and feel that my 14 years on the Shandon Unified School Board was time well spent. My stewardship of our family ranch has been very satisfying these past 50 years. So if at some juncture in your life you happen to be reflecting over your line of work and you don't like the direction your going in we'll how about changing direction. I now will close with this wish that giving and receiving will be of such a balance that when each of us gets to the end of our life we can look back and say it was a wonderful journey.

                           See Ya,

                             Jack

           P.S. I think most of us would like the journey to go on and on but end it must hopefully with few regrets.
Posted by V6 Ranch at 1/25/2013 8:17 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

What Air Molecules Have To Do With Relationships...

Have you ever talked to a molecule of air? They certainly are an independent lot. Zee and I have just returned from seeing a somewhat risqué movie whos title was This is 40. The message that dysfunctional families can grow to appreciate each other was heartening but that is not what this blog is about. It’s really about the trip on our way to see this movie and my side of our new-used car (used because the hit to my pocket book was just too great to own a new one). Buying a used car was a decision that Zee and I readily agreed upon. However, this was not the case when it came to the temperature that our new used minivan was going to be maintained at.



Zee’s body temp was running on the low side and mine was leaning toward the high side. Now this is where the manufacturer of our car, Chrysler Corp., needed to consult their public relations department. They would surely have known that you must first consult the air molecules to see if they will obey and if they will stay on the proper sides of the cabin; cold ones on my side warm ones on Zee’s side.  I think that Zee and I are representative of a bigger problem when they put two temperature controls creating a his and her situation and the igniter of a response when one person tries to regulate the other guys sacred temperature control valve without permission. This could be as little as a laugh to one and as serious as leaving the toilet seat up to another. So think seriously about how harmonious your relationship will be the next time you go to buy a car and the salesman wants to know if you would like to have two heater controls.

 

                  See Ya

                  Jack
Posted by V6 Ranch at 1/17/2013 10:42 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

2012: A Year Review

       A Christmas Photo From the Past               

                    I feel like I'm cheating by skipping our family Christmas card and taking the easy way out, by sending, all who might stumble across this blog a merriest of Christmas's and a Happy New Year and a lot of Parkfield Magic mixed in.

                     So much is being said today on the T.V. news about the fiscal cliff and what might happen to all of us come 1/1/13 if our President and congress decide to let us all thunder over that cliff. Well, I have a test that will reveal your political strip if you would like to know which camp you will jump of the cliff with. If you’re a republican you will sign on the front side of a check and if you’re a democrat you will endorse it on the back side!!

                       Let's see, now that we've put politics behind us. Last April 12th Zera had the horse that she was riding jump out from under her and she lit on the left side of her fanny doing great harm. This harm turned into a volleyball sized hematoma that abscessed and she had to have surgery in June. But there is a silver Lining, Zee as of December 12th climbed back into the saddle to once again ride the horses she loves so much.

                       Travel we did. In June we found ourselves watching our granddaughter Sage Massey compete in the California High School Rodeo finals at Bishop, California. Next came our Mid State Fair held in Paso Robles where we again watched our grandchildren 7 in number this time and we got to commute from our home at our V6 Ranch. The middle of November we found ourselves staying one night in beautiful downtown Kingman, Arizona on our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We were headed to a grass growing convention and if you’re wondering, it was not the kind you smoke. We have just finished our last trip which took us to Las Vegas, Nevada to watch 2 nights of National Finals Rodeo that was sure good watching and then a little side trip to Axtell, Utah to load a cattle squeeze on a flatbed trailer that we had been towing from California so that the trip had a little utility thrown in.

                           I'm now reclining in my easy chair watching the Miss Universe contest, my there certainly is a lot of fine chest work to view. I guess that about sums it up except to say "Why me Lord? Why have I been so blessed?" Zee sends her Christmas blessing to all and wishes that in the New Year you will each in your own way treat yourself kindly.

                              See Ya,

                              Jack and Zee
Posted by V6 Ranch at 12/24/2012 12:55 PM | View Comments (4) | Add Comment

First Comes the Soil Part 2

                        I just finished reading the non fiction novel The Worst Hard Time. The story unfolds during the great dust bowl of the 1930's. What has caused me to write first comes the soil part 2 was a passage in the book that a fellow by the name of Don Hartwell records in his diary. A summary of the year 1936, he wrote in his diary, was the driest year ever in Webster County Nebraska. He wanted to spend New Year's Eve at a dance in the town of Red Cloud, to put behind him the past 12 months of misery. But a cold drizzle and then a northern packing dust and snow kept Hartwell and his wife at home near Inavale. They ate cornmeal and ham and went to bed early. On New Year’s Day he recorded in his diary the simple facts of life on the farm, the wind at 22 miles per hour and dust filling the air. But Don Hartwell just tightened his grip on the land in order to fend off complete failure by losing the farm to the bank, losing his wife, and all his dreams for the future dissolving. What struck me about Don's travails was a common denominator for all of the dust bowl BARE GROUND and how tenacious these farmers hung on to farming practices  that caused so much death, destruction, and misery and with not so much as a thought given, that maybe there might be a better way to care for the soil.

                           Don records in his diary on July 2, 1937…I laid a thermometer on the ground at the base of a hill of corn today, it registered 137 degrees! And on July 15…I placed a thermometer out in the field beside a stalk of corn, it registered 140 degrees! No wonder things burn! A carnival is in Red Cloud and I haven't been to one for a long time.

                            So for Don with all those years of misery the soil never came first. I think that it was a given that the soil would always be there and all the dust bowl needed was some timely rain and everything would be just fine. Well everything won't be just fine as long as the idea prevails that you can have millions of acres of Mother Nature’s skin exposed to the elements without some consequences. People that hold this view are delusional.

                            For me Holistic Management entered my being at a time when I was in need of a new trail to follow.  Holistic Management offered one up by making me ask the question, maybe my decision on how I'm managing my ranch might be wrong. It gave me permission in fact demanded that I use this new found freedom to question all my ranch practiced and throw out the ones that don't put the soil first and keep the ones that do.

                            Thank goodness today is different than the 1930's for there is so much information available on how to put the soil first and for those that choose to march to a different drum there is support and acceptance for your journey. In closing what to me is so ironic is that these better methods that need to be accepted and that are both profitable and soil building are so slow to have their day center stage.

                           See Ya

                               Jack

             P.S. It only took the British Navy almost 200 years of knowing before passing out food to their sailors containing some vitamin C to stop Scurvy!
Posted by V6 Ranch at 12/4/2012 11:56 AM | Add Comment

Between a Rock and a Hard Place!

                     I have just had my right front tire on my pickup blow out. Cell phone service is not very good in Vineyard Canyon my route to Paso Robles to get 3 tires fixed that had ailments as small as a nail to a sidewall on one that had its heart torn out by a rock. So I'm waiting for somebody to pass by. I'm in luck only a half hour since the blow out and here comes a low bed truck going toward Parkfield. I recognize the rig as Matt Cary pulls to a stop.

                    "Hi Jack, it looks like your between a rock and a hard place." 

                    "Well I was headed to Paso with 3 flat tires to be fixed and now the 4th tire blows out. I sure thought that the tire that blew would get me to town even though it had a bubble on the sidewall the size of an egg. Matt,” I said, “When you get to Parkfield see if you can track down one of my sons and have him come with a good tire. Thank you.”


                    I don't know where this blog is going but I can tell you that I'm writing this dictum from the passenger side of my truck using a cardboard box for a table that says the banana count is 18 and the box for some unknown reason is telling me to be patient. It was, I'm sure, good advice but my mind takes me to, I've got lots to do. I have no time for a blow out, also, I'm a brand new 77 year old who could have a heart attack waiting to be rescued, to a guy who has been very fortunate in his life, to whatever will be will be, to flecks of terror, to all the times I've been and a-- hole, to the times I've thought of myself as a decent sort with a somewhat checkered past. I'm running out of paper which is the back side of and invoice. I’m still waiting to be rescued.

                            See Ya,
 
                            Jack

      P.S. One hour later I was plucked from my state of imagination by my son Greg who arrived with spare tire in hand and in no time I was on the road again.  “Just can't wait to get on the road again,” as Willy Nelson said in song.
Posted by V6 Ranch at 11/27/2012 8:30 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment
Older Posts
Copyright BLOG.V6RANCH.COM 2010, all rights reserved.
Blog Software
Blog Software