Burn Baby burn

  Today I got to do something that most people don't really get to do. I got to set fire to 250 acres of dry grass using what was essentially a flamethrower whilst riding in the back a truck. This is actually not an uncommon practice, farmers and such often will burn down stubble and such instead of trying to get rid of it any other way, its just cheaper, easier, and actually pretty good for the the ground. Still I don't think that most people have had this experience and I thought it was pretty cool. A massive column of smoke erupted from the ground as the flame roared across the field. There was just enough wind to push the flames like wildfire. In just a few minutes though the flames died down and the smoke began to dissipate leaving a black, ashen plane in it's wake. Every so often the heat would meet the breeze and suck the ashed into twisting dust devils. It was a very cool experience for me.  I took some pictures of the aftermath sadly none of them are of the inferno itself. I was a little busy working the torch didn't think of taking any until after the flames had died down. Hopefully I get them on here in a bit.

  So last time I wrote I talked about the dirty dash and all that. So I guess I'll continue on with the other stuff I did this summer. 

  Here I'll tell you what I've doing as my job here at the ranch. So during my senior year I signed up for a diesel technology class and tried to learn how to be a mechanic. I think I did pretty well but i'm certain there is a lot more for me to learn. (of course there is it was only one year) So the class got me really interested in mechanicking and so I asked my grandpa if there was any need to someone to help out in the shop at the ranch he manages. He was a little hesitant at first because he said that his mechanic might not want someone else messing around with his stuff, but later he came back and said that if I really wanted to then there was a spot there for me. I thought this was very cool and immediately took advantage of it. Meaning I graduated high school on a Thursday, the very next Monday I was working at the ranch and living at my grandparents house. And that has been most of my summer. Other than a few trips home for weekends I have spent most of my time here working from 7 to 10 hours a day and just having a good time doing it.

  

It definitely hasn't been boring. Like I described earlier sometimes I get odd jobs like burning down fields which aren't in the regular mechanic area but even when I'm not doing that I'm still enjoying myself fixing or performing maintenance of all kinds of different vehicles and motors. There is I wide range of work to be done. I've done things as small as weed whacker services or rebuilding single cylinder engines in ATV's to oil and filter changes on semi's or repairing hydraulic leaks on a man-lift, and pretty much completely rebuilding a forty foot trailer.

  So yeah it's been pretty exciting, I think next time I'll be more specific about some of the interesting things that have happened. Hmm I think I talk about The Truck That Ran Away.