A Truck Driver, Hot Chicks and a New Camera

Hows that for a title of a new post? Its been a busy week, I worked my last day at the Sheriff's Department yesterday and it was one of the busiest ever in the 5 months I worked there, Chris passed his CDL training and test and got his license and is now in Kansas City training with his new employer, and the Chickens are growing bigger everyday. And the third part of the thread title refers to the fact that we got a new Kodak digital camera. Its not real high end and we bought the display model so we got it for a good price (are we cheap or frugal?) but it has loads of settings for various conditions and it has a much higher resolution than the old camera.

I had a good experience working for the Sheriff but the job was just too boring and since it was an inside job (heh, heh) it drove me crazy. I have to be outdoors and have a lot of action and for me nothing fills the bill if there isnt some physical labor, danger, and uncertainty on what the day will bring. How do some of you work an office job or stay with the same job for years and years? I guess its one of my personal failings and I would no doubt be labeled with some acronym if a shrink got ahold of me but I NEED TO BE DOING THINGS OUTSIDE and not sitting still. Do they make Ritalin for adults?

As for Chris, he completed a 120 hour training course, then took his State CDL test and got his license and in a day was hired. He has been looking for a career and just has never found it but he seems to really like driving truck and now days, its about the only job around here that pays well. We are all proud of him.

The class for truck driving school normally runs about 4K but we were able to hook Chris up with the Missouri Dept of Vocational Rehabilitation who tested him and privided the direction and funding for this boot strap up. I am pretty much against many government handouts but programs where they help people become self sustaining are worthy of support in my book. The MO DVR provides a valuable service to this state and they have our thanks.

We finally have gotten some rain...but we got it all at once and the Fire Dept even had to do a water rescue (I wasnt on that one). We received 6.5 inches of rain in a 24 hour period according to our rain gage and as you can see in this picture, it was either over the roads and bridges or close to it.

This is normally just about a dry creek.

Holly and I are just about done trimming out the garage windows inside. These windows have added light and sound suppression and we like how they came out. Note the electrical outlet and conduit in this picture. When we rewired the house we took the old 60 amp breaker panel from the house and used it in the garage and then ran all wiring in conduit with steel junction boxes. We even added outside lights and a couple outside outlets and used the same conduit and I just like the look and cleaness of the installation using conduit. We will eventually paint the inside of the garage and install a lot more shelves......number 1345 on the project list.

Lots of stuff coming up in the garden including our Asparagas...green and purple Asparagas.

Poor Bandit enjoys playing in the various ponds (here in the small side pond/bird bath) but he is showing his age and is ofetn limping now and struggling to even jump up on the bed. Its hard to see an old friend suffer pain like that but sometimes like in this picture he is his old self and acting like the tough guy we all know and love.

This is kind of an experimental picture with the camera...trying to adjust the depth of field and all. We have many patches of honeysuckle on the farm and though some see them as weed bushes you can smell this one from 30 feet and its glorious.

We are almost done fencing this side pasture and we have been taking advantage of the rain softened ground.

This was taken while we were looking for Morrel mushrooms a couple days ago in one of our woodlots ...no mushrooms but we did find two previously undiscovered peach trees so it was a successful venture.

These iridescent Tulips are popping up all over and add a nice tough of colour to the yard. 

And today we drove Chis to the Greyhound bus stop in Lebanon to begin his journey to Kansas City (his new employer brings them to KC and puts them up in a hotel while they are training). Chris was just ready to go but the gals had to make a fuss and embarass him...we did talk them out of doing the whole huggy picture thing in front of the bus though...

And the bus stop was right on the historic Route 66 which we live very close to. The Munger Moss motel is a famous Route 66 icon and hasnt changed much since its zenith in the late 50s early 60s. Apprently the bathrooms still have pink and black tile etc.

Wrinks market has newly reopened (home of Arbuckle Coffee and fried pies) and it too is a Route 66 landmark. Someday soon we will take a Route 66 trip and further document some of the landmarks before they are all gone.

The chicks are doing well and growing everyday. You can see they are developing thier primary feathers and they in fact are trying to fly now.

We put them into the big water trough and they seem to like it. Probably another 3 weeks before they go to the pen outside though.

Happy, happy chicks

And finally, Whiskers likes to sit in the wood shed and watch what everyone is doing. He tried to catch 2 rabbirts today and almost succeeded...meanwhile we have moles galore.