What did you do today?

[deschutes dawn]

Today was the hottest day of the year and I was feeling it. We also haves fires all around us so it was really smoky to top it off. Went out early to take care of watering the garden and landscaping and was dripping with sweat with in 10 minutes. Still cleaning up after the massive hailstorm we had Sunday. The veggie garden got shredded! I hope our Central Oregon short growing season allows it time to recover. Checked in with a place I had an application for a job in between outdoor duties. I am going in tomorrow to fill out the hiring paperwork! That will help with hay costs. Back outside to clean runs and work with youngsters. Amore' is warming up to people more and more. Elsa, Ahna, and Churro all think they are lap goats which is fine when it's not 98 degrees out! Solari, Olaf and Kristoff were their normal darling little selves with the very short amount of time they got today. Mom's weight is holding steady although she is lighter than I would like to see. Worked a little on a sturdier version of a goater boy playground then ran out of energy. Had to come in but had plenty to do inside. Simple dinner then crash on the couch. Supposed to cool off a little this weekend so I sure hope to get the boys out on the trail.

[Charlie Horse]

I hardly talk about my many side projects other than my goat adventures.... So since I worked on one today...

On and off over the last 6 years I've been restoring an old Lotus Europa race car for a friend as part of a work trade, and just for fun. I finished sanding the primer today. Here's a pic from about 2 years ago when we first put some epoxy on it:



We're at the point where we need to buy paint, and we've done a lot of photoshop brainstorming to come up with the paint scheme we're going to go with. I've done over 20 variations and all kinds of colors...

Like British Racing Green


Black and gold are classic Lotus racing colors


And Red/White with Gold is what Lotus used when they were sponsored by a cigarette company


We decided on 2000 Corvette Millennium Yellow, which we saw at a car show. When we went to get the paint we found out it didnt have pearl or metalics like the one we saw, so we're going to have to add that. I photoshopped the car from the front with the Porsche Rainforest Green stripe and gold trim like we had planned. Then I added .... a goat related graphic. I thought it was fun. My friend doesn't think its very British. Its an ugly car anyhow so why not go nuts... but alas no evil goat head and runes this time. Booooo!



BTW, this Europa has been modified -- We've given it some haunches and flared the fenders and moved some lights around so its not so hard on the eyes. It was even uglier originally, with squared off wheelwells and slab sides. But it is ultra aerodynamic and insanely light, at about 1,350lbs and this one has about 170hp. Thats like half the weight of a Miata with all the same power. Its all fiberglass with only a metal backbone with suspension hanging off the corners. Even the seat bolts right to a fiberglass floor kinda like it was a boat. Despite its looks, I do like a car that can do a 90 degree corner at 90 mph, stops like a watch, and runs like a raped ape. This one has been too much work, though, and I have lots of other car projects I could talk about someday!

[Nanno]

That is so cool, Charlie Horse! I personally like the black with red, white, and gold best, but yellow is also very nice. I wish you were really putting a goat on the hood though! That would be awesome! I'd love to see pictures when ya'll are finished.

[deschutes dawn]

OMG! Just found out a wheat field fire just took out my friend's stallion barn! The horses were rescued before it burned but 2 stallions were taken to the vet for smoke inhalation. Thank goodness the mare and foal barn was located in the opposite direction from the flames. Also the main house at the ranch was spared. I think I'm ready for Fall and no fire season. Scary.

[Charlie Horse]

Wow. Now that is scary! I'm the kind of guy that would for sure rush to any barn in the path of a fire. Stallions generally get less access to escape, too. Close one.

A few days ago we had a very very strong wind and I was driving through the neighborhood and saw billows of black smoke from behind a house. I ran back there and it was just some idiots burning some kind of trash. I told them they had attracted a crowd and that they'd be getting a visit from the FD shortly (I knew they had been called by a neighbor). The smoke was blowing so sideways it was engulfing nearby homes.

[Teckelhut]

OMG Charlene. Was this local?

[deschutes dawn]

It's in Wasco. The ranch is a 4th generation wheat farm and 3rd generation performance Arabian ranch. My two best endurance geldings are from the Van Gilder ranch and both my mares are Van Gilder related. I've been there in the past when wheat fires were going on in other areas. They start and run like crazy with the gorge winds. Extremely difficult to stop if there is dry wheat fuel. The barn was an historic marker and still in (well, was) excellent condition.

[Teckelhut]

I know Van Glider horses. I used to raise and show Arabians years ago. The last mare I had I imported from Egypt. She was a good girl. That was a long time ago.

[Nanno]

Yikes! I'm glad they got the horses out! That's too bad about the old barn.

I spent this afternoon wrangling goats. Apparently my goats have been wandering and then bringing themselves home before I notice they're missing. Well today they got caught! My neighbor's ranch hand came over today and informed me that my goats were at his place. He said they were in the road near the end of our driveway when he drove his goats by for their morning browse. My neighbors have 500 head of meat goats that they take around the ranch every morning to clear brush and weeds. This morning my goats got too close to them and the ranch Border Collie rounded mine up and put them in his herd (much to Daisy's dismay). Apparently his dog and Daisy got in a fight over the goats, so the goats panicked and ended up mingling into the larger herd. I was busy all morning and didn't notice them missing, and the ranch hand came over around 3:00 to inform us that my goats had made the rounds with his and were now in his goat pen. He further informed us that he's been getting calls from other neighbors about wandering goats, and that every report has been about ours, not his. One of these calls was from someone who lives almost a mile from our house! I wish he'd told me before now. Of course, I'd have had a hard time believing him since I've never noticed them missing!

So Phil and I got in the truck and headed down there to fetch our truants home. They were huddled in the corner as close to our property as they could get and Daisy was laying with them. I stood at the gate and called them and they came bounding down the hill looking very relieved. Apparently they did not enjoy mingling with the other herd. We got them all in the truck and brought them home. We've had a lot of rain lately and the neighbor's goat pen was knee-deep in mud. I'm not sure how healthy those goats are, so all my goats got their legs scrubbed clean in a bucket of bleach water as soon as we got them home.

Funny enough, Cuzco is the only goat that didn't wander. I'm not sure if he was napping in the shed when they left or if he brought himself home when he saw all those other goats. He doesn't like other goats very much. In fact, when I saw him hanging around by himself (a not uncommon occurrence), I invited him to spend the afternoon with me on the porch while I talked on the phone, so I can't blame Cuzco. Although, come to think of it, it's quite possible he told the others to "go play in the road" and then high tailed it back to enjoy some peace and quiet.

And here I've been telling everybody how nice it is to have goats because they don't wander.

[Charlie Horse]

Made a T shirt using the design from the Lotus paint photoshop.





I had a shirt I wore on one hike up Timp a couple weeks ago. When I pulled it out of the wash it was sun faded and sweat stained. I figured I'd have some fun with it and see if I could make use of its "distressed" nature.