RANCH WORK, MY ACHY FEET, MY ACHY BACK!

Hoppy and Richard, his neighbor have been bull dozing ground. Hoppy got out of cattle a long time ago. Over the last couple of years he has gotten back into them. In the meantime the ground grew up with cactus, mesquite trees and sticky and prickly tumbleweed type bushes.

First the ground was bull dozed. Next came the root plow.

Here is the "Root Plow". It looks wicked doesn't it? Well the root plow goes in the ground a couple of feet and pulls the mesquite tree roots up.

So we lent a hand and became ranch hands for the day. Richard, Ralph and I jumped on the trailer and Hoppy hauled us out to the field.

OOPS! Another side ways picture.

The picture here does not do it justice. The rows were deep and the pile on each side of the row was fluffy and you would sink down several inches. This made walking difficult and tiring.

We gathered pieces of mesquite roots, cactus and other thorny branches. When the trailer was loaded up Hoppy took it to the burn pile where we unloaded it. We will have a huge bonfire at a later date.

There is a saying in Texas......"Everything that grows in Texas will either bite you, stick you or prick you!" Thank goodness for heavy leather gloves.

We did a couple of hours in the morning, a break for lunch and a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Let me tell you, I was beat! The bottoms of my feet hurt. The sides of my feet hurt. My lower back hurt. My legs started to get shaky and unsteady during the last 45 minutes.

Oh, yeah, now I remember why we sold our farm!

All fun aside, we were more than happy to help. The more the merrier and it makes is easier if their are several people sharing the work.

Next step will be to harrow the ground a few times and try to level it up. Hoppy will plant a hay grass in the spring.

Here is the Big Guy with some of his harem. He kept an eye on us.

I am so glad we drove the truck to the field. It  would have been about 3/10ths of a mile walk back to the RV. I think Ralph would have had to carry me.

Heading home. Some of the longhorns are quite inquisitive.

Until next time, Happy Trails....................