this woulda come in handy 7 years ago...

91,99,71,0,B

smart chicken...

Ran errands all morning then went visiting.  Stopped off to see a few folks downtown (east side of 118).  Nice hot day today - perfect for watching other people work.  Checked in on the Mt. McKenna container complex.  Today was the day for them to marry a 20 footer with a 40 footer.  All you need is some chain, a tractor, and brute strength to get them lined up for welding.  Picked up a baby cement mixer from "Just Me" to get me back in the game.  For some reason she hasn't named it yet so I am open to suggestions.

On the way out of Alpine yesterday, I stopped off at Blue Water Natural Foods  http://www.bluewaternf.com/.  Decided I would try some pricey organic chicken...$4.95/lb.  Grilled it up tonight and it was a lot more flavorful than the industrial chicken I have been eating.  http://www.smartchicken.com/    Now that the government is involved in the business of labeling food organic - I can't help but think the big players are gonna sway what that really means.  I read a passage in The Omnivore's Dilemma about "organic" chickens living in similar circumstances to their industrial brothers.  Federal rules say that organic chicken should have "access to the outdoors" - but most of these farms keep the doors shut until the birds are at least 5 weeks old at which point they are set in their ways and there is little chance of them venturing out into the fresh air and sunlight.  The bottom line is: unless you grow it yourself - can you really be sure what is was fed and how it was raised?  103,111,69,0,C

work?

The cousins left bright and early this morning. They called me from their motel at 7:15AM to let me know they were on the way out so I could meet them at the corner. Being woke up by the phone was almost like having an alarm clock. ( I haven't used one in years ) No wonder this world is such a mess with the multitudes having to start their waking hours with a loud noise to get up'n'atem. They stopped only long enough for a couple of photos and a quick goodbye just as the sun was rising. Gave Markus an old longhorn bone I found, much to his pleasure.

Had a long breakfast at the GrubShack then headed home. Benita stayed right in front of my house all night and has been here all day. We got all caught up on the past 5 months. She was quite impressed with all the progress here....as for her, it's been pretty much business as usual for an old longhorn. She doesn't appear to be pregnant so perhaps her breeding days have ended at 20+ years old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUe-d7hFdmw

Headed over to one of the unfortunate junk yards that has occurred out in the desert to pick up a couple of chunks of rusty steel I've had my eye on and more Sotol stalks for my shower door. Spent the afternoon adjusting my green containers to line them up. Set container 3 down off its' extra blocks set for the concrete pour and twisted it a bit to line it up with container 2 ( which still has to scoot about 3/4" toward container 3 to leave me with three perfectly aligned containers. A tightly stretched piece of string, two hefty chunks of chain, a 2 ton come-along, a 6 ton bottle jack, and an attentive longhorn made easy work of it.

The Final Four

Low overnight was 41 and the high today was 96. Began the early morning with the first longhorn arrival for breakfast. This one is named Angelina. She usually shows up before the others but keeps her distance. Another productive work day identical to Wednesday. Container #4 delivery exactly the same as #3. Shot another video but it looks just like the last one so no need to post it. The trucker had just enough room to pull the truck through, squeezing between my house and the fire pit - inching by the shower out my new driveway path. I rewarded him with a chunk of Field Lab Solar Oven Bread for another job well done. Chuck came by to watch the offload and nudge the container a bit with his Kubota ATV. Once it was close to the mark, he took off back east to the busy side of town. Only took 2 hours today to fine tune the position and set 'er up on blocks. Spent most of the rest of the day cleaning up the grounds and spent at least a couple of hours just admiring my two new 5000lb additions to the Field Lab and dreaming about the next step. Now that the final 4 are in position, I can finally get to work on the greenhouse courtyard. Got a lot to do before the HOT summer days arrive.

Press update: My Marfa Public Radio interview to air on Monday, March 2nd....10AM and 6:30PM central time...no promises at this point.