Posts Tagged With: Sparky

How Sparky got his nickname

Posted on May 16, 2012 by bigvalleylonghornranch

How did Sparky get his nickname you may ask?  That goes back to hot July afternoon some years back. Our old used lawn mower finally kicked the bucket so I promised the Mrs. I would get her a new one. Actually being a conservative (tight wad) I got her a used one; however it was new to her because she hadn’t used it yet.  Everyone knows that when a previous owner gets rid of something used there is a reason for it of course.  This one had a wiring problem.  Well, I was too busy to fix it, the grass was getting taller and the wife was complaining the lawn looked like a hay field.  So the pressure was on to let the hired man fix it.  Well I just assumed that everybody knew that when you work on electrical wiring that you disconnected the power source first.  NOT Sparky!  Alias Bright Eyes, smoky hair Sparky likes to learn by hands on.  No big deal though.  It wasn’t nothing five hours in the local lawn mower repair shop couldn’t fix.

Everybody has an action figure hero; Superman, the Lone Ranger, or Wonder woman.  We have Sparky.  For who else could we get to keep inventory of the moths that visit our porch light.  I don’t have time; I’m too busy trying to tag calves.

Categories: Farming | Tags: , , , , , ,

Sparky vs. a cow named Nuisance

Posted on May 10, 2012 by bigvalleylonghornranch

Sometimes Sparky could be a good source of entertainment. One cold December day we were cleaning the steer lot. This one particular steer, we called Nuisance. For some reason Nuisance always wanted to play games with us. He trained us to expect it. He was a problem child since the day he came to the farm. Every time we went through the gate with the tractor, he would make his break for the gate. He wouldn’t run very far, only about 40 feet then he would just stand there and make us put him back in while trying to keep the rest of the cattle from coming out. This particular day was no different. We were ready to drive out of the lot, so we checked to see where Nuisance was. With all the other steers in the lot, we really weren’t sure where he was so we made a run for it. Before Sparky could get the gates shut Nuisance beat him to the draw. The day before it had snowed and the wind had blown drifts around the corners of the buildings. Nuisance stopped and stood at his usual spot. The other steers in the lot were eying the open gate. Nuisance was eying Sparky. Sparky was trying to calculate whether he could run around Nuisance and chase him back through the gate before the other steers decided to make their move. I was ready to jump off the tractor and help if needed however I could tell Sparky was actually thinking this situation out. To get around Nuisance, Sparky had to run around a round bale of hay and through hip deep snow in between the bale and the corn crib a few feet away. From the tractor cab it looked like a game of chess.

Sparky made his move and went running around the hay bale, hit the snow drift, lost his balance running into the bale then back across to the corn crib back through the drift and into the bale again before regaining his balance. He looked like he was stuck inside a pin ball machine. Nuisance just stood there casually watching this spectacle and then casually walked back to his pen looking totally satisfied with himself. This made my day! I was still laughing about it when I went to bed that night.

Categories: Farming | Tags: , , , , , ,

True Story…I can’t make this stuff up

Posted on April 26, 2012 by bigvalleylonghornranch

One of my first jobs I gave my hired man, Sparky was to nail the floor boards down on a loft we were putting in the old barn. The joist were already in place, so thinking it was impossible to mess up, I left Sparky to the task as I went on to other chores. An hour later, I came back to check on Sparky and noticed nails sticking down through the boards every where not even hitting the joist. I asked how can you miss them when you can see them. Frustrated I left again scratching my head. Later I returned and to my surprise not another nail had missed the joist. I asked what happened. To this Sparky replies; I figured out that if the nail drives in hard all the way then it hit the joist. (Important tip for all you contractors)

Even a simple task such as having Sparky digging a post hole can turn into a disaster. How can anyone mess up digging a hole you may ask! For Sparky it comes natural. The post hole was to be dug to replace a post into the corral. I had already cut the length of the boards which was shortened to accommodate the wider gate in the fence. I even started digging the post hole so nothing could go wrong. All Sparky had to do was dig a hole 10” diameter straight down to 3 feet deep. To this task, I now left Sparky unattended. An hour later I returned to find Sparky still not done digging. How deep is the hole I asked? Looking at me like my bubble was slightly off center, he replays; All the way to the bottom. I had left the chain saw setting close by and the ends of the fence boards were bothering him so he cut about 8” off the boards. Now the boards couldn’t reach the post. We couldn’t move the post as it had to accommodate the gate. I ended up finishing the hole, setting the post, and then I had to nail 2X6 boards on the side of the post to nail the corral boards to. Sparky claimed that this would make the fence much stronger. (Important tip for all you engineers)

 

Categories: Farming | Tags: , , , , ,

Part II Continued

Posted on March 31, 2012 by bigvalleylonghornranch

I think back to some of the earlier days after hiring Sparky. I hadn’t realized that Sparky hadn’t much experience in farming or anything else for the matter! I think I probably hired him mostly because I’m a conservative. For those of you who don’t know what a conservative is, Webster’s dictionary defines it as “TIGHT WAD” noun. I since taught him everything I know and he still doesn’t know much???

 

Before hiring someone you should always ask for a reference from their previous employer. Since Sparky was my first hired man I didn’t even think to ask! One day he told me himself, however. A few weeks later I bumped into his former boss and was telling him about Sparky working for me. He thought that was comical and started telling me about the first day at work at his farm. It was milking time and he asked Sparky if he knew how to wash cows. YEP he knew. So he told him, to go down each row and wash the first and the third cow in each row. After assembly the milkers he walked into the barn. And there was the first cow jumping around in the stanchion soaking wet with Sparky scrubbing its back. It really was his employers fault though, because he should have been more specific and told him to wash the utter not the cow. The next day Sparky’s job was delivering coffee to the rest of the workers.

Categories: Farming | Tags: , , , , ,

Blog at WordPress.com.