One Day with Men I Admire

Deer Creek 7am

Back from the orange bloom

A walnut growing wild. The farmer just disks around it.

Mr. K, who kindly allows us to use their property for one load of bees,

is a third generation farmer in Pixley.

His grandfather came from Germany and farmed here with mules.

As I jogged along the creek, a strange smell assaulted my senses.
I figured some chemical was being sprayed -- till I smelled this bloom.

As my old chemistry lesson informed me, everything is made out of chemicals.

Horehound Growing Wild

The Creek is muddy.



Victor says the irrigation district must have just let the water in.


My sweet brothers unloaded my trailer first to let me go on home.

Victor even turned it around for me because it was a tight spot.



But, getting off the tractor tracks, it got stuck in soft dirt,

Lance to the rescue!


Lift

GO!!Then I put in my key, since Vic had taken his...

Dead.

A gopher pushed up dirt in the path ahead. Just missed getting his pic!

I hung around, finishing my jog before telling Lance that the van was a goner,

since I thought he would have to tow me home.

When I told him,

he came over and turned his key.

It STARTED!

"Just keep my key," he said.

I think the jog gave it time to cool down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C Clamps

Marvin's Shop, 10:30 am

Under the work bench A man who knows his trade

Legs for the church nursery table.

They looked so perfect, I thought he bought them.

"No," Marvin's grandson told me, "he turned them on the lathe."

Tools of the Trade

Shavings
"Pat do I have this phone number written somewhere else?"

(Besides our picture envelope)
Treasured Wood

Bowls for a lathe

Pat's piano tips

Hair Cutting Lesson

A gentle man, who is apt to teach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Jewelry Scale

Carlos' Shop

We first met Carlos when we bought Joshua's wedding band

and needed it sized before he arrived for a visit and the betrothal ceremony.

The jewelry store said it would take a couple weeks.

We could not wait for that, so they sent us directly to him.

Tools of a Jeweler

Skillful fingers

Farm Show

Here is a different kind of Jackrabbit.

This is the vacuum machine that picks up rows of shaken almonds

and channels them into a trailer for hauling.

The salesman explained a better way to use the Rodenator.

This machine pumps propane and oxygen into squirrel holes

and ignites causing a shock wave

that kills squirrels and other rodents.

Ground squirrels can empty entire rows of almond trees before the nuts even mature.

Now that's a cotton picker.

75-80 years ago Grandma Mary and her family picked cotton.

She learned her spelling words by leaving the book at one end of a row

and practicing her word as she worked

her way down and back to the speller.

HummerBee forklifts are improving their design every year.

Dave gives Lance and Victor tips on how things work.

I like this tractor!

Home again -- with Farm Show hats and a high reach pruner.