Sunday, September 29, 2013

Last of the Easy Days... Tomorrow It's Time to Jump Some Gullies!

Finished up the early "training" bit with the "research" beets from the USDA Friday evening... and then had the weekend "off"... to be ready to Rock and Roll the 12 hour days, seven days a week... starting Monday morning!

I have a bit of a sneaky suspicion that Monday is gonna get a mite western. The past three nights we'd had a bit of an "escapade" with co-ordination  'tween all the moving parts. Uh huh.. getting juuuuust a touch out of the proper rhythm ~ As in the bovine processed vegetable matter was coming into opposition with the air recirculation device. Uh Huh... can you spell SPLATTER?

Ha ha... yeah... each tub of beets to be tested has a ticket... specific to it... and they can't be allowed to get crossed up with some other bucket... and... yup... they did... DEFCON 5! DIVE DIVE DIVE!!! HONNNNK HONNNNNK HONNNNNNK!!! INCOMING INCOMING!!! MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!!! :)

WHOOOOOEE! Kind of a grinner to see ever'body scramblin' 'round with a look on their face like Mother Theresa just got caught at the Motel 6 with a schoolboy.

Soooo... Monday we hit the pilers in the stackyard for six hours or so... then an hour break and crank up the "tare lab" come sundown and work that till the work is done... Hopefully not much after ten or so... then...

Get up the next morning for the next 18 or 23 days and do it all over again!


Yesterday afternoon we had a bit of a camp/crew potluck here at the fairgrounds for all the folks camped here working the harvest.

Had a bit of a downer this week as well. A long time reader of this blog turned up here unexpectedly to work the harvest.

John Davidson walked up our first day here and introduced himself. I'd no idea he was going to be here. I've "known" John for five or six years, though I'd never seen his face, only his truck! ;)

He sent me the confidence that my idea to "retard" the hitch on the truck so I could carry my motorcycle behind the cab would work just fine; contrary to all the nay sayers warning me of catastrophe. His old truck has been a part of the main website for several years! (yeah... I know... in finding the page his rig was posted on... I discovered yet another page requiring rebuilding ~ no rest for the wicked huh?)

Well, his wife Colleen got sick the very first night of work in the lab. The next thing we knew she was in Intensive care in the local hospital. They turned her loose yesterday and this morning they hitched up their toad and headed for home over in Washington with a weeks worth of medication to get 'em there.

We're all wishin' 'em well, safe travels and a quick mending from the infection she suffered. They had a nice sunrise this morning to send 'em off on their journey west...

*Sunrise over the sugar beet harvest*


'Course... red sky in the morning, sailor's warning... kinda says they might be drivin' into a bit of weather 'tween here and home.

In amongst all the things goin' on I got my latest volume of the Ben Jensen Series published and up live at Amazon where it's selling modestly well. Considering all the competition a guy has, that's a pretty pleasant place to be.

Mary left this review today on the first story of the series ~ A Pair of Second Chances~ ;  "I could not get Sam Elliott out of my head! Love to read westerns and love stories. So add suspense and real life adventure -I'm hooked! Usually not interested in a love story written by a guy. This one is different. Not sourly sweet. Could not put this down. Love me some cowboy and this just proves old cowboys never die. Highly recommended."

Wow... There's a lady who knows how to make a writer feel damn Fine! I'm gonna have to exercise some extra care to keep my ego under control! ;)

If you haven't got your copy or have never read the first volume, follow that link and you can get Your copy of ~ A Pair of Second Chances ~ FREE at Amazon! Then you'll be in great shape for the continuing story in ~ Shadow on the Mountain~. ... "A Pair" is also available free at Barnes & Noble for those of you with NOOKS. "Shadow" will be coming up Live in the NOOK store shortly as well. It just hasn't worked it's way through the distribution channels yet.

Be sure to pass on the links for the FREE series Starters and the next books to your mystery and suspense with a bit of action and romance loving friends. This Ol' Buster will be forever grateful! ...

If you read the stories, please, Remember to travel back to the store where you bought it and leave a review. Many many people make their purchases based on those. So authors are Very Grateful for the ones you leave... But, Be Honest with 'em too!

Well... It's what we used to call "Ruck Time" in the army... gotta check my gear bag to make sure I'm set up for whatever weather comes down on us tomorrow when we get to Pilin' sugar beets!

Writin' and Pilin' and Weighin' and Grinnin'
Brian



3 comments:

Pam said...

Brian, I took advantage of the free offer on "A Pair of Second Chances" and I'm so glad I did! I cannot put it down! I love it and will most certainly follow up with the other books you've written. Thanks for the freebie! I promise to support your writing financially in the future as I know it ain't easy doing what you're doing. I hope to retire in a little more than a year and hit the road. God bless!

Brian said...

Many Thanks Pam! go back and leave a review! heh heh! I've been told by a couple that the following book in that series is better so at this point I can't be happier!

It's pretty fine to be hitting the High Point at this place in life... Thanks Again!

Unknown said...

Good luck with them beets!
I sure can relate the mayhem your about to encounter as I grow their little cousins, the cranberry. Aside from beets being bigger we go through the same procedure. Bring 'me to the plant wait for them to get inspected and then wait to dump 'em. Fun, fun!! Two weeks of chaos regardless of the weather.
Stay safe.