Midian Ranch Blog

This is the web log for Midian Ranch, an isolated homestead in rural Nevada. It is owned by Jason and Tina Walters, whom are also its regular posters. This blog is exclusively for the enlightenment and edification of our friends, family, and colleagues.

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Location: Gerlach, Nevada, United States

Monday, September 19, 2005

September 16 Weekend

This past weekend was a “goofing off” weekend. Lyn (Jason’s mom) wanted to see the ranch. She flew into Reno about 10 pm Friday night. We rented a SUV and caravanned to the ranch. Saturday morning we all went for a hike so Lyn could get a really good view of the valley. We collected rocks and bones and took loads of pictures then came back to have breakfast.

After breakfast we unloaded our new propane refrigerator from the truck YIPPY!!!!! We then decided to do a bit of site seeing and neighbor visiting. Ron and Dahlia convinced us we needed to take Lyn to Soldier Meadows, so we hopped in the SUV and decided to take drive the playa as far as we could to Soldier Meadows the drive was beautiful. Next time we’ll start out a lot earlier. Lyn took some awesome pictures, we saw some Mustang pretty close up and a few mule deer I swear ran up to great us as soon as we drove into Soldier Meadows. We collected some whole obsidian rocks and just had an all around nice afternoon. We jammed back to the ranch so I could cook up the salmon we brought. After our delicious dinner and some nice conversation we decided to turn in. Sunday we successfully installed our fridge, yes, folks you heard it right successfully… It takes a really long time for it to get to the making part of the show but when we left at about 5pm Sunday we had ice. We gave our electric fridge to Ron and Dahlia. After that quick stop we put on our bathing suits and went for a soak in the Fly Geyser. We had an uncomfortable moment when we drove up and saw Dave “entertaining” in the pool. It was all cool and the five of us all soaked together. We caravanned back to Reno dropped off the SUV and since Lyn was staying at the Atlantis for the night we deiced to have a very nice dinner at Atlantis Seafood Steakhouse. We said our goodbyes and Jason and I drove back to Richmond.

This trip was mainly for visiting and site seeing and the weather was perfect. Did I mention we have a fridge now?

POSTSCRIPT FROM JASON
We also got within about 30 feet of a herd of wild horses on the way out to Soldier Meadows. It was the closest "safe" distance we could manage; the herd's stallion came out to challenge us while his mares, foals, and some adolescent males cautiously retreated. Although I was concerned about getting charged he seemed to be every bit as curious about us as we were about him. A very mystical experience

Labor Day Weekend

My first time at Midian alone:

Jaime and I went to Burning Man together and were planning on hanging out at Midian, Sunday night (Labor Day Eve). As I was preparing for my long holiday weekend, I found out the books that didn’t show up last Friday would be delivered SOMETIME next week (Sept. 6th - Sept 9th) even though we told the printer since they messed up they had to hold the books and have them delivered on Sept 16th. So, since our books were already in Sparks, the easiest thing to do would be for me to wait for the delivery. So after Burning man Jaime, Keri, Bob and I meet Jason at the ranch. Jaime, Keri and Bob leave Monday morning and Jason and I spend Monday together. Ron and Dahlia invited us for dinner, so Jason decided he’d stay the night at the ranch and leave at like 4am Tuesday and go to work late. Then it was just me 'n Snap.

I called the trucking company to see if they had an ETA. They tell me probably Wednesday but no later then Thursday. So I had Tuesday all to myself. I stepped outside and saw a rabbit about 20 feet in front of me just nibbling away at some breakfast. I thought "Well, heck, I could totally shoot him." Then of course I thought "What then heck then; I don’t like the taste of rabbit and he’d be a lot less cute then." So I watched him for a while and tried to see just how close I could get to him.

I decided to putter around the house on Tuesday. I wanted to sweep, mop, and generaly tidy since Lynn (Jason’s mom) was coming for her first visit. Our internet was great that day, so checked my email and did some IM’ing then went about my chores for the day hoping the delivery would arrive early-ish Wednesday.

At 4pm I decide to go back to the computer and the internet to see how Jason was doing. I looked out the window and there was a semi pulling inn! I threw on my shoes, jumped in the car, and jammed down to the warehouse. Dude didn’t have a lift gate and his pallet jack was broken. He broke open the pallets and brought the boxes to the edge of the truck for me to grab and put on the pallets in the warehouse. 30 minutes and 3500 lbs later we had three new titles living in the Hero Games warehouse... PHEW…

I went back to the house until it cooled down a bit and those dang flies were gone. Once it cooled down, I went back to the warehouse stacked the new books better then called it quits. I watched some movies, had some dinner, and went to bed. My plan was to leave at around noon since the books showed up early… um late… um SHOWED UP. I was packed, shut everything off, set the drip feed system and was out the door at 11:45.

I really enjoyed my time alone there. I had the “TEST DAY” freak out before Jason left, but once he was gone. I remembered how to do everything. The only thing I forgot was to bring the bread home EWWWWWWW.

POSTSCRIPT FROM JASON
I am very proud of my wife. As always she hung tough and did a good job.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

September 25, 26, 27, and 28

All right, I’m annoyed. Tina and I drove out to Midian on Thursday, September 25th for the explicit purpose of accepting three pallets of books from a truck driver on Friday the 26th. As we pull into Reno we get a call from Hero Game’s office telling us that the trucker is still in Canada somewhere. Nobody from the printer bothered to call and tell us this, even though the date had been set well in advance. Bah!

In any case we still had a productive three-day weekend. I worked on the tractor, which seems to be running fairly well for its age. I also worked on the jeep, unfortunately meeting with considerably less success. It has some real electrical problems. Tina finally got a chance to construct the mammoth cooler she has envisioned creating for some months now. It works quite well, better than a commercial one in fact. I put an initial coat of paint on the front and sides of the office building. I seriously hope to complete painting that within a month so I can move on to my next big project: putting in the triple insulated stovepipes that will connect our wood burning stove to the roof. I want that sucker working -- and working safely -- before the winter.

Our new Coleman 6500 watt generator is turning out to be something of a pain in the rump. I had high hopes for it, too, as it’s lighter, quieter, and more fuel-efficient than the old Porter and Cable generator we have been using. Unfortunately, it is also a lot more heat sensitive, with this computer controlled automatic gearing that’s supposed to protect the engine from suffering any heat damage. Works too: the damn thing turns itself off at the slightest provocation. It’s almost useless.