Friday Nite Check In

 I mentioned last week..., "Here on The Ranch it looks like..., and feels like..., the Monsoon Season has arrived."  This week I say that it not only "arrived"..., it stuck around all week with wind and rain and two power outages.  

We must have received a good inch of rain last Friday and got a little break with the wind and rain overnight and early Saturday..., until around noon.  Then we got light but steady rain and heavy wind with gusts of up to 46 mph until around 6pm..., when the power went out.  And the weather station at the old Quillayute Airport conked out..., until Tuesday.  So I don't have specific numbers for those other days..., but the video above is from Monday and we must have received nearly 4 inches of rain that day..., based on old history days when the "puddles" turn into "ponds" in the pastures.  

The power outage didn't last that long..., it came back on before noon on Sunday..., so I got to see the Seahawks get back on the winning track..., and the rain and wind wasn't quite as severe Sunday.  The power outage was not a big problem..., the temperatures were well into the 50's..., even overnight..., and the propane range allows hot food and coffee.  

As I mentioned.., Monday was a real deluge, but the wind wasn't quite so bad.  And I was glad..., because I didn't really want to venture out to pick up apples in that rain..., and didn't venture out to clean up horse manure either.  Tuesday was another light but steady rain day with moderated wind gusts..., but overnight the wind really picked up with many 40+ wind gusts..., and maybe 50+..., but I can't verify that with statistics that are unavailable.  Luckily..., the rain let up a little around daylight on Wednesday..., so I could get out and clean up several bags full of apples before Charlie Horse got to them.  

I can't be sure just how much rain or wind we got after about 1:30 am on Wednesday..., because the power went out again at that time..., of course the Quillayute weather station that had come back on for a while went out again.  The power came back on around 7 am but not the weather station stats.  Thursday was kind of nice..., if you like breezy weather.  There wasn't any rain so the wind kind of dried things out and I was able to get out in my leather boots to catch up on chores..., and actually catch a bit of sunshine...,  that had been neglected the last few days.  

Evidently when the power goes out at the old Airport Weather Station it has to be restarted manually..., and the station is not manned full time.  There must have been a power blip to shut it down about 4 pm on Thursday..., and it just came back on about 2 pm today.  We got some heavy showers this morning..., then a short break this afternoon for me to make my Scotty Appleseed delivery to town along with groceries and mail.  I did about half the horse manure chore when I got back..., but more showers chased me into cover..., so I could get this FNCI posted before we have another power outage..., or a least that was what I told Logan, Che, Charley..., and you 😀

I guess we could call these The Gales of November instead of The Monsoons..., so me might as well feature Gordon Lightfoot again..., and his song about those Gales of November for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Friday Nite Check In

 Well..., I am getting some of the leaves cleaned up..., the Alder trees are pretty well stripped of leaves now..., but some species are hanging in there..., and the Apple trees have hardly even started to turn.

Speaking of turning..., we had one heck of a turning on Tuesday..., and it isn't completely over just yet.  I must admit that I was never a fan of The Chump or the Rep-Ugly-Cons..., so I was glad to see them both get a small taste of what they have had coming for years.  But I want to make clear that I am no fan of the Dumb-O-Creeps either.  I make that point because I once penned a piece severely criticizing The Big O..., Obama..., and that is not an "oh" for Obama..., it is a "zero"..., and anyway..., that led an old friend to think that I was a real Republican supporter.  I may have been a bit harsh in my correction of that mistake.  I do admit that in the long past..., I did believe that the Democrats were the "lesser evil"..., but our last three Democrat Presidents and the last two failed presidential candidates nominated by that party have absolutely put that old belief to rest.  The two parties are nothing more than the left and right wings of the same predatory and vulgar Vulture that preys on the weak and defenseless for it's gluttenary ways.  Both parties..., with very few individual exceptions..., are only in it for the money..., pure and simple.

Wall Street went all exuberant and the markets all shot up big time the day after the election..., but turned around and gave it all back..., and then some..., on the day after that.  I guess folks realized..., like me..., that it really doesn't matter which party is in power..., the oligarchs are in charge.  Chris Hedges says it better than I can..., and said it the day after the election.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/11/05/thoughts-on-the-midterms/ 

Here's a little teaser..., you really should read the whole thing..,

The Democratic Party hierarchy will see the results not as a repudiation of Trump, but an endorsement of the flaccid and ineffectual position of a party that stands for little and fights for less. This would be yet another betrayal by the Democrats of voters. It would keep alive the very real prospect of another fascist, one better organized and more intelligent, taking the White House in two years.

Of course, this fight will mean not only jettisoning a corrupt Democratic Party leadership, but turning on the mega-donors, lobbyists and corporations that fund and control the Democratic Party.

The effort to wrest the party back from the hands of corporations and oligarchs will be vicious and difficult. It will require us to rely on the power of mass movements to sever these bonds. Nothing else will work.

If we fail, our anemic democracy will not be saved by these midterm elections but doomed.

Here on The Ranch it looks..., and feels..., like the Monsoon Season has arrived.  The wind and the rain are trying to strip the Apple Trees of the remaining apples and it was doing such a good job that I couldn't keep ahead of Charley Horse..., so I put him in The Barnyard and let the apples pile up until the rain let up to finish bagging them up.  Of course the wind gusts wouldn't cooperate while the movie was being shot and you don't get to see the apples falling to the ground...,

I guess a good song for your Friday Nite Music Video would be B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"..., but I would include..., "apples falling on my head" a few times during my early efforts to deny Charley Horse an over indulgence...,

Friday Nite Check In

 These two cats kept their distance and were pretty skittish while my Dude cat was still around..., but he disappeared about six months ago.  Dude adopted me when the new neighbors moved in next door..., must have been a good ten years..., or more ago.   I am not sure why he thought our place was a more suitable environment with all our dogs and other assorted critters roaming The Ranch..., but he moved into the horse trailer where I was storing hay bales that wouldn't fit in The Barn.  The neighbors asked me if I  had seen him and I said yes..., and he didn't make a fuss when I picked him up and took him to them.  They were happy to see him and that was when I found out his name.  Just a day or two later he was back in the horse trailer and I had a little more difficult time capturing him and taking him back "home".  When he soon showed up in the horse trailer again I figured that he had his mind made up where he was going to live and who's kitty he was.  After we built The Back Porch I began feeing him there..., and of course some of my step daughters other cats began showing up..., including the two above.  I had tried to "hiss" the other cats away..., and still do..., but Fuzzy (the black one) and Ghost (the tan one) were a little harder to discourage and I soon added another bowl for cat food out there.

As you can see above..., Dude always managed to get more than his share of the feed.  After Dude left the scene I guess Ghost must have figured that I need a new kitty and started letting me pet him..., and Fuzzy wasn't far behind.  And now they have decided that the couch in the burnt out double wide is a little better accommodation than the couch on The Back Porch.

Considering the weather..., I think they made a wise choice.  Actually it has been a really nice Fall.  Historically the monsoon rains start in early October..., but this year has been really dry..., though it is trying to catch up this last week.  The US Climate Date website shows that Forks usually gets 4.03 inches of rain in September..., but October generally nearly triples that amount with 11.80 inches.  This year we only have 3.4 inches with one day left in the month of October.  Usually all the colorful leaves have been stripped off by the wind and rain before we get into November.  I am looking forward to scenic drive on Monday when I make my Costco - Walmart run to Port Angeles.  Seeing that crude oil prices are hitting yearly highs the last two days..., I don't think that I will be looking forward to gassing up the Tacoma though. 

Since we are talking about rain..., and expecting November to make up for some of the October shortfall..., I think this Gordon Lightfoot song is an appropriate Friday Nite Music Video...,

 

Friday Nite Check In

 

Well..., it might not look like much work got done on the leaf raking..., but that's not the way it feels.  It's not only looking a lot like Fall now..., it is starting to feel like Fall.  A couple of frosting mornings lately..., and a long sleeve shirt isn't too warm in the afternoon sunshine..., especially in the shade.  

Speaking of Fall..., this might be a quick post since the Fall Classic will be starting in not much more than an hour.  The Milwaukee Brewers vs Tampa Bay Rays..., so I will naturally be rooting for the Brewers while I am sipping ice cold brews while watching..., though I wasn't rooting for them against my all time favorite team since childhood that began with John R. Tunis Brooklyn Dodger novels.  There are several that I wasn't able to procure as a kid..., but now that I am retired I may have to correct that deficiency. 

Another thing that came up recently was the box office bomb of a movie starring and produce by  Tom Cruise called "Digger".  I was never a big Tom Cruise fan..., I have seen a few of his films..., Top Gun, Rain Man and at least one of the Mission Impossible movies come to mind..., but his acting never sold me on the character he was playing..., I was always aware that I was watching Tom Cruise playing a role.  Except for The Color of Money..., in that role I felt like he was really portraying himself as flakey as he is in real life.  So I was kind of thinking that the critics who slammed him and the film had finally figured him out..., and I wasn't too interested in the movie.  Then I saw that Neil Young had declared it, "The best film I have ever seen".   I have an awful lot of respect for Neil Young..., so I was interested enough to read a piece by Thom Hartmann, who called it a "brilliant movie about one of the most important issues of our time".   Given those two recommendations I will probably make sure to view it on pay per view in not too long since it didn't do well in theaters at all.

I guess I better get the Friday Nite Music Video posted and get ready for Game 1 of the 2026 World Series..., so here is John Fogerty for ya...,

Friday Nite Check In

 Well..., the alder trees are thinking that it is Fall..., but we hit 72 on the thermometer yesterday..., and notched 68 today.  Yeah..., it doesn't take much effort to work up a sweat when you are raking leaves in that kind of weather.

Maybe the weather will cool off a little and I will be able to get with the program and not worry so much about the sweat dripping in my eyes.  My little rebel, Che, was offering to help..., or maybe just wondering why the hell all those leaves are still on the ground..., and not out in The Garden already.  In my defense..., I contend that the the trees are not done shedding all their leaves just yet..., and I don't want to cover the same ground twice.

I think I have enough horse manure composting in The Garden..., but I will probably mix more leaves in before I close the gate for the winter.  

The apple trees still haven't even shed all their apples..., and the leaves haven't even began to turn..., let alone shed.  I have to keep on my toes to keep Charlie Horse from getting too many of them.  

On the inflation front..., gas is still over $5 and change here in Forks..., and Rib Steaks are still running $18.99 a pound.  My supplemental medical coverage is only going up $21.00 a month..., but that pencils out to a 17% jump..., and Medicare Part B only jumped up 3.5% ($6.60) a month.  I'll be checking on the beer price at Walmart in the near future..., so far it has remained steady..., but I will have to purchase many cases to save enough money between the Walmart price and the Forks price to equal the price for gas to make that run.  Oh well..., I guess some sacrifices need to be made these days..., and the Tacoma is rated at a half ton carrying capacity 😀

..., and once again I will have to admit that I really can't complain.., and will treat you to one of my favorite Cody Jinks songs for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Friday Nite Check In

 Well..., I didn't let those damn spiders get this big this year..., I started "taking care" of them early.  I wrote about the spiders last year around this time..., noting that I dispatched 57 of the bastards in one day.

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2025/10/friday-nite-check-in-on-saturday-yet.html

I have probably killed that many over the last month or so..., but only a few most every day.  I have to admit..., I sometimes think that I resemble Woody Allen when I am killing spiders...,

Other than that, it has been a pretty good week weather wise and the .4 inches of rain last night was timed just right so it didn't interfere with getting the chores done.  The alder trees are losing leaves so I have plenty to mix with the horse manure for garden compost..., and plenty more on top of that to keep me busy.  The apple trees are shedding the apples that I couldn't reach with the rake now and I have to keep on my toes to keep Charlie Horse from eating them all.

Can't think of much more for now..., so I will just hope that I am making all the right moves for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Lyrics

All of a sudden now you're back again
I thought you were happy with whoever or did you dream about me now and then
Did you look up at the stars and feel something for the constellations
All those lovers circling round their loves
Slings and arrows, dogs and lions, rivers separating touch from touch
The comedy of distance, the tragedy of separation

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

I said how is it that you come back to me?
You don't need the stories of my scars or in the stars to tell you nothing's free
I traded all the innocence I ever had for hesitation
I said won't you tell me where you been?
You put a finger to my lips and then you kissed me once and once again
The crickets all leapt up and met the moon with a standing ovation

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

I heard the night birds picking up the song
You threw your hair back and sang along
And I realized that I might lose you you might lose me
Drift apart in the night and never know why and not know how
I said what if we are like the Northern sky?
What if there are things that come between us that we can't take back and we can't make right?
You said I don't know darlin' but I'm here with you
And we're coming to the chorus now!

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Joshua Ritter

Friday Nite Check In

 The big spruce trees were shedding cones to the point that I was almost wading through them..., and I got a pretty good workout filling up the wheelbarrow five or six times and wheeling it around to the cut bank above the county highway.  

It's looking pretty good now..., but I didn't get to finish up back in the corner on the left side of the big trees.  Even after that, those wheelbarrow loads don't do much good a shoring up the cut bank..., but my neighbor made a big contribution to that again this week.  He hauled six or seven loads of limbs in the dump bed trailer for me.  On the way back from my Friday Town Run I took the long way home so I could see how the effort looked from the county road..., and to make sure that those limbs didn't try to make their way down to the highway.  I am happy to report that it isn't all that noticeable..., unless you are looking for it..., and I think things will settle in just fine. 

In other news..., who knows what is going to happen in this crazy world?  An old friend from Minnesota emailed me with a link to a story in the New York Times..., titled "If You Think That Rising Oil Prices Are Bad, Just Wait for the  Inevitable Crash".  I responded:

Hey Bocho..., The NY Times is behind a paywall..., so I couldn't read it there.  I tried Googling it thinking it might be available on a different site..., no luck on that..., but Google's brief description seemed to indicate that once this Iran war ends there would be a big oil glut and the price per barrel would drop to $30 a barrel instead of the current nearly $100 a barrel price.  That drop in price would make fracking, shale oil and tar sands oil unable to make a profit and cause an oil shortage that would be worse that this current one.

I don't "buy" that scenario..., but the current $40 Trillion debt is cause for alarm.  "We" never solved the 2008 Great Financial Crisis..., we just went further into debt and the interest payments on that debt are now damn near unsustainable.  That crisis coupled with this oil crisis that I have come to believe is all about oil..., Trump stole Venezuela's oil..., and is looking to steal Iran's.  I think "peak oil" is happening now and that coupled with another financial crisis does not bode well for the future.

But I have been saying similar things for years now..., how many years have I been growing potatoes and storing a huge supply?  As I often say..., the problems that I stay prepared for never happen..., I will take credit for keeping the US and the World from catastrophe..., so far..., but I am worried about it now.

SRS

Yeah..., I am old enough to remember the Oil Shock in the early 70's when the price skyrocketed and the loss of supply caused long lines at the pumps..., if there was gas to be had..., and we have survived the financial bubbles of the Dot.Com era in 2000 and the more recent Housing Bubble in '07 and '08..., but I don't recall facing bursting bubbles of oil and finance simultaneously..., and an on going war in Iran. 

And so..., I guess I should advise you to "hang on..., and I do mean..., hang on tight" once again..., just as I did in 2017 in:  Another Trip Around the Sun ..., and in 2020 in: Rumination - 2020 ..., and in 2022 in: A Pirate Looks at 70 !!!

So..., I guess I will leave you with Jackson Browne and "Lives in the Balance for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Friday Nite Check In

 Well..., I promised to post some more potato pictures for you this week in my piece last week.  I hope I don't overdose you 😉  I started harvesting the second row early this week..., I would have preferred to wait a bit longer to let the skins toughen up a little..., but the weather forecast for later in the week and beyond induced me to get busy in the dry dirt instead of the mud..., and I am glad I did.  We got about half an inch of rain on Thursday..., it kind of drizzled all day long and I even wussed out on the dog shit and horse manure chores and Charlie Horse Playpen duties.  Today we got 1.1 inches of rain before noon..., but it turned off nice and even sunny in the afternoon..., so did double duty on the outdoor chores..., and I decided to hold off on sacking up the spuds until tomorrow 😁.   These are the dandies from the first days diggings that I will save for seed potatoes.

They can't all be seed potato size and quality..., but there are a few here that wouldn't fit on the Ridge Runner Warming Table for the first picture.

The second days harvest produced lots more of those seed potatoes...,

Once again..., there just wasn't enough room on the Ridge Runner Warming Table for all the seed potatoes..., and they can't all be big spuds.

I got this shot of The Garden before I dug up the last few plant hills at the end of the second row..., it is gone now..., and the results are pictured below.

Here's the last batch of the season..., still a little damp from the washing process..., about average for one five gallon bucket for the day.  The previous two days were two bucket days..., and I am happy have the harvest completed before the monsoon season hits.  In the early years I had waited to harvest until the first killing frost had killed back the green plants because I had read that somewhere..., but that made for some muddy harvests and I don't think it made any better spuds than I get with the earlier harvests.

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/search?q=killing+frost

I noticed that I must have been in a hurry last week..., and neglected to post a Friday Nite Music Video.  This week I was thinking of a song that I had posted long ago on Facebook..., and low and behold my Google News Feed posted a link to a story about the artist that sang the song that was written by Neil Young.  A sad story of a gal who passed away way too early..., Nicolette Larson.

https://parade.com/entertainment/beloved-70s-singer-who-sang-with-linda-ronstadt-and-neil-young-was-all-but-forgotten-after-her-death-at-45

There is a link in the story to a YouTube video of the song..., but I will link to it here as well..., I am not sure how long the Google link will be available to view.

Friday Nite Check In

 

That's a load of limbs from Dave Soha's property across the road from The Ranch getting ready to head on down our driveway.  I had previously written about hauling a few loads of limbs from the tree you can that is trimmed up.  Those limbs were blocking the road and I thought it was a good idea to lend a neighborly hand..., I mentioned that I could use the limbs to shore up the cut bank on south side of the property above the county road that was slowly sloughing off...,

 https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2026/06/friday-nite-check-in_0285770381.html

And I also wrote about depositing some of my own limbs over the eroding bank...,

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2026/07/friday-nite-check-in_030836265.html

Not only that..., about a year ago I trimmed up some apple trees and made some major deposits over the bank...,

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2025/08/friday-nite-check-in_8.html

So when Dave took down another hazard tree back behind the old house, he offered to haul some of the limbs over in his big dump trailer..., and I told him to, "Go ahead on 'er!".

Once you get through the brushy and narrow part of the driveway...,

There is a bit more area for maneuverability.

Since I had been making deposits along one portion of the bank already..., it was built up enough that the dump trailer would leave a portion of the load up on level ground..., but I had the chain saw handy and could munch up the limbs into sizes that I could pitch further over the bank.

That wasn't a problem with the next two loads..., I had cut down the berry bushes further along the bank where that hadn't been any prior deposits...,

Yeah..., both of those loads disappeared with no help from me..., or the chain saw 👍

I was feeling pretty frisky after getting away with no work for me on the last two loads..., that in a fit of "temporary" (I hope) insanity..., I had Dave dump the last load up on the other end where I could chunk it up and throw it over in areas where we can't get the trailer.  And in the interest of full disclosure..., I wasn't feeling quite frisky enough to tackle that pile until the next day 😊

I promised to let you know how the last row of taters were looking in last weeks post..., I dug about half a dozen hills and couldn't be more please with the results..., but I better save the pictures for next weeks post..., I should be recovered sufficiently from the "limbing" by then to get some more digging done..., 

Friday Nite Check In

 In the comments last week I mentioned that the elk used to help me clean up the apples before the neighbors put in the campground / RV park in the upper left of this picture.

Here's a little closer look.  These photos were taken on 9/12/16..., ten years ago..., and it was just about the last time they paid us a visit.  They were getting the easy to reach apples in this photo session..., at other times they would rear up on their hind legs to reach the upper level apples.  I have to admit that they could be kind of hard on the fences.  There used to be about a four foot walk through swing gate between a couple of railroad ties that I used for corner posts in the pastures..., but the herd got spooked one time and took out one of the railroad ties trying to crowd through the open gate.  Another time the herd was leaving the pastures and one cow didn't quite clear the top wire with it's hind legs and those legs caught the next lower wire and scissored her legs between the two wires.  I watched her struggle on her side to free herself for a minute or two and decided that I was going to have to go up and cut some wire to free her.  I didn't have to get too close before she really panicked and kicked her way free.

In more recent news..., "my" heron was back for a visit today.  I tried to get to the camera while he was still in full view on the edge of the pond..., but I am old and slow these days..., and he was in the pond before I got it.  You can just see his head sticking up..., eyeing the big multicolored duck.

I am still waiting for the potato skins to toughen up at bit before I dive into the dirt of the last row of spuds..., the green stocks were cut back a week ago..., I will check out the progress before my next dispatch and let you know if I am going full bore on the harvest.

For your Friday Nite Music Video I was thinking that I should post a record setting number one country song called "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley..., but after listening and watching the video I kind of wondered why it was such a big hit?  But the lyrics "He always loved "Amarillo by Morning"..., made me think of that song..., and that it is a much better song..., by many orders of magnitude..., so here's George Strait.  In the interest of full disclosure..., I posted this song once before..., and noted that I would change one word in the song..., he says, "I lost a wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way".  I would change "girlfriend" to "best friend"..., it would lend a bit of ambiguity to the song..., does he mean that he thought of his wife as his best friend..., or did he lose his wife to a man he once considered his best friend?