Hired Hand

<a href="http://www.davidmsc.com/">David</a> asked the other day on my <a href="http://www.nowherethoughts.net/sarpysam/archives/000401.html">Boyz</a> post if that was the Hired Hand or me. It most definitely was the Hired Hand, I am quite a bit larger than he is. After I snapped the picture he asked me why I was taking so many pictures. I tried to explain blogging to him, he thinks computers are the spawn of Satan and should all go on the trash heap of history, and finally summarized it by saying it was kind of like a diary. He then asked if everybody had heard the story about him killing the pickup and having to walk home. I assured him I hadn't but it got me to thinking, if it is like a diary. maybe I should record more of this kind of information.<br />n<!–more–><br />nKilling the pickup was no big deal. It wasn't really even his fault. He took the pickup that he uses out late one afternoon and ended up coming home in a tractor. I never even realized it until the next morning when I saw the tractor in the yard, I sleep fairly hard, and wondered what happened. The lucky thing for him was he only had to walk a couple of miles. By chance we had a tractor close by to drive home or it would have been closer to 7-8 miles to get home.<br />n<br />nOne other story I failed to tell is a little different. You have to remember, when a big event like branding is going to happen I get really focused on the event and other things don't intrude on my mind too much. So this is a branding story. I get up fairly early for a branding so going to bed early helps me try to get a little rest. Luckily I hadn't gone to bed quite yet on the night before my branding, I was on my way, when a van load of drunk, drugged up Indians, Native Americans to you politically correct commandos out there, pulled into my yard and started creating havoc. They drove out in the pasture where I have my old kids horse and were looking for a way out when I caught up with them and stopped them. I blocked the gate out of the pasture with a vehicle and confronted them. My Darling wife was calling the authorities while I was doing this. Six of them got out of this van and staggered around telling me how this was there place and to leave them alone. One guy kept threatening to kill me but I just ignored him. When I told them the cops were coming one guy, I found out later he had spent time as a guest of the state in Deer Lodge, got real excited and tried to get the others loaded up. One listened to him and the rest didn't and he jumped in the vehicle and drove off across country driving through fences and any thing else in his way to get away. That left me there with four irate Indians while the others were on a rampage. My Darling Wife got a hold of the neighbors and they started looking for the ones in the van, they were on their property anyway, while I tried to keep track of the four I had corralled. After about 30 minutes the police showed up and arrested the 4 I had and then were going to search for the other ones in the van. The neighbors eventually found the van by the trail of busted fences it left and lead the police to it later. They had killed the van with there cross country, fence tearing journey about 4 miles away from the house. They arrested 3 more people in the van but the man who wanted to run was no where to be found. The police know who he is but have yet to corral him. I didn't mention this before since it didn't seem like that big of deal. The branding now, was a big deal and I talked about it but this story is important in its own way I guess and now, since I have written about it, it won't be forgotten.<br />n<br />n<b>My stories run up and bite me on the leg-I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off. Ray Bradbury</b>