Feb. 16, 2013: Funny how things happen - Go out to do laundry on a Saturday morning to hear the water pumps just whining!! That's not a good sound. Shut everything down - do some self checking and call the professionals. Ends up the relay switch to the deep well pump is tripping. We are able to reset it throughout the weekend to have enough water for a shower - but no Laundry done and very few dishes.
Monday, Feb. 18: Professionals come out and do their test on Monday. There is a short in the deep well pump (+700' below ground) - we need to replace the pump. OK - They deliver us a tank of water and we'll be back in business in 1 day + several $$$ later. We get laundry and dishes done but should have waited.. OOPS - WRONG - more issues.
Tueday: Pulled the well pump - get stuck. Keep working at it and finally it releases. Yeah! Another day lost because of the troubles - will be back tomorrow.
Wednesday & Thursday: Back down the hole with the new well pump. Gets Stuck at 450'. Up and down / up and down - different tools for the small rig - still no success getting past the 'issue'. It appears when they pulled the pump out - it caught up on some cracked casing and the well walls seem to have collapsed around the water line (approx. 450'). Calling the Drillers (Big Rig) to go into the same hole to drill out the obstructions.
Friday: Management comes in with pricing and options!! YIKES!!! May be able to start on Monday or Tuesday - but there are a lot of trees needing trimming.
Saturday/Sunday - We choose to trim our own trees to save $$$'s. Really - we needed firewood anyway - so not a big deal - good physical exercise; but, just not in our spring time plans. Ultimately, we are ready when they show!
Monday thru Thursday (Feb. 25 - 28): Big Drilling Rig shows up and our purchased water is holding. We are being very conservative. Rig shows up with pipe trailer, generator, water truck and crew. Geez. Didn't realize how much it takes to re-drill a water well. Up and Down / up and down... obstruction and debris coming out of the hole -- but still not getting past 450'. Appears to break thru but only find out they are "directional drilling" off the vertical hole. NOT a good thing for water wells -- maybe oil - but not water.... the neighbor would not appreciate the tap into his supply ! There seems to be a linoleum casing that's clogging the hole and the drills can't push past. Decision made to abort and drill a new well. YIKES again!!! The OLD well has given up the ghost - but new rules force relocation away from property line. Scramble to find Deed of Trust, Property Plat and whatever else they need to get this going to pull permits with County. New well will cost $$$$$$ - amazing - we count our blessings. They will not remove the equipment and will get started as soon as all permits are processed -- Government!
Crew shows and relocates the equipment over new drill site. SIGH!! Here we go again. Neighbor says; "2 days - you'll have water!" - Yeah! I'm ready.
!!!WRONG!!! - Site prep for sludge. - Can't let the mud flow onto neighbor's property! REALLY? Just mud? Trenches dug and diverted the sludge into the pasture... what a mess.
Drilling - UP and DOWN -- up and down... the rig continues to go.
Saturday/Sunday (3/2-3/3): To save more $$ and time - we extend the trench to "save" the neighbor's property from the sludge! Ben just likes reasons to play on his tractor.
More Drilling - UP and DOWN -- up and down... and... and... finally hit 710' Wednesday March 6.
Casing dropped and some clean up - should have water in a day. (again WRONG)!
Monday 3/11 - Original crew shows up to drop new well and connections..
Tuesday 3/12 - Crew comes back Trenches and makes final connections --- We finally have water running into the Tank!!!
Concrete Slab poured several weeks later and the old well is finally plugged. Finally peace and quite again on the farm--- with water!
Segway note: The Driller "Charlie" ends up being a family friend! He deer hunted on a lease in Sisterdale with Ben's brothers and father for several years. Small World - Rucka in Boerne? Yard Art displays a sign "Life is too short to live in Houston" -- could they be related? YES - Ben's from Crosby and he's the brother. Charlie HATED being the bearer of bad news. But we have another friend in the area! Common interest and common connections (not like Facebook connection - a personal one!).
So when you come to visit; we'll offer you a beer or wine; because the water is Priceless!!!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Out with 2012 - In with 2013
Hello everyone - Happy New Year!
We were blessed with a pre-Christmas visit from Robert & Micha (Dec.20-23). Robert was able to go hunting and get 2 bucks. 1-8pt + 1-6pt. Nice weekend for all. We lite the barrel (outdoor fireplace) and let it burn for 4 days; enjoyed Mimosa, Food and Family!
The weekend of Dec. 29, we finished trimming out construction on the new carport. There was a transition where the house rock wall met up with new carport extension. Cleaned it up by putting a cleat shelf over the holes and imperfection, and patched the header above the back door.
Kicked in the 2013 New Year (Jan 1st) with a well needed cleansing task. Dismantled the OLD smoke house and burned it to the ground. This was a home to many stray cats, and I'm sure rodents and other varmints - too close to the houses. We are so glad to get rid of some of the "junk" around here.
I was on Holiday/Vacation from Dec. 31 thru Jan. 7th. It was a wonderful break and allowed me to 'reset' to face this new year.
Ben was able to take off work Friday & Monday; and my birthday present was to not have to do any farm chores for 4 day (unless I wanted to)! It was very nice to sleep late and not have to truge out into the cold to pick eggs or tend to the animals.
We are STILL harvesting tomatoes into January. I'm sharing with family & friends; then canning and making sauces to freeze for salsa or spaghetti with any leftovers.
Ben built a hay trough for the goats to keep them and the chickens from spreading the hay everywhere. So far it is working out perfectly. We made an adjustment and moved it into the barn so it wouldn't fill up with rain. We probably need to put more drain holes and get if off the ground a little bit if we put it back outside the barn. Design on the fly - work in progress.
I ended my vacation on my 53rd birthday! I don't feel 53 at all - thank goodness. Started the day with coffee & breakfast in bed, compliments of Ben; 9am visit from Mom bearing gifts and joining me for Mimosas; then we headed out the door for shopping (Bed Bath & Beyond + the New Whole Foods in San Antonio) and lunch (Sushi Zushi - the fried soft shell crab + Toronodo roll). By the time we got home it was 2pm - actually took a couple of catnaps while watching TV in bed. Paula & the kids surprised me with birthday wishes and kisses and several wonderful personal made gifts. We ended the day with grilled lobster tails and shrimp! A Wonderful Day! Back to work and routine tomorrow morning. :) Yeah!!!
 |
| Robert & 8pt Buck |
We were blessed with a pre-Christmas visit from Robert & Micha (Dec.20-23). Robert was able to go hunting and get 2 bucks. 1-8pt + 1-6pt. Nice weekend for all. We lite the barrel (outdoor fireplace) and let it burn for 4 days; enjoyed Mimosa, Food and Family!
 |
| Before with Cracks & Holes |
 |
| After - Refinished |
 |
| In Progress - Before |
Kicked in the 2013 New Year (Jan 1st) with a well needed cleansing task. Dismantled the OLD smoke house and burned it to the ground. This was a home to many stray cats, and I'm sure rodents and other varmints - too close to the houses. We are so glad to get rid of some of the "junk" around here.
I was on Holiday/Vacation from Dec. 31 thru Jan. 7th. It was a wonderful break and allowed me to 'reset' to face this new year.
 |
| Home Grown Tomatoes for Christmas |
We are STILL harvesting tomatoes into January. I'm sharing with family & friends; then canning and making sauces to freeze for salsa or spaghetti with any leftovers.
Ben built a hay trough for the goats to keep them and the chickens from spreading the hay everywhere. So far it is working out perfectly. We made an adjustment and moved it into the barn so it wouldn't fill up with rain. We probably need to put more drain holes and get if off the ground a little bit if we put it back outside the barn. Design on the fly - work in progress.
I ended my vacation on my 53rd birthday! I don't feel 53 at all - thank goodness. Started the day with coffee & breakfast in bed, compliments of Ben; 9am visit from Mom bearing gifts and joining me for Mimosas; then we headed out the door for shopping (Bed Bath & Beyond + the New Whole Foods in San Antonio) and lunch (Sushi Zushi - the fried soft shell crab + Toronodo roll). By the time we got home it was 2pm - actually took a couple of catnaps while watching TV in bed. Paula & the kids surprised me with birthday wishes and kisses and several wonderful personal made gifts. We ended the day with grilled lobster tails and shrimp! A Wonderful Day! Back to work and routine tomorrow morning. :) Yeah!!!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Merry Christmas 2012
Happy Holidays to our Dear Family & Friends,
Hope this annual letter finds you and your family doing well. 2012 has given us quite a few challenges, but we do count our many Blessings! I could write a book for this year; but would have you glazed over in no time. So to avoid the emotional overload, I’ll be as brief as possible and only share the things that were “eventful” to us and we’ll share the full stories when we get a chance to talk in person.
The Farm: Our farm dog, Hoss, continues to protect the farm; but loves the opportunity to come up to the house and sleep on the porch. About cats – at one time there were none and we couldn’t get one. Finally we adopted 2; and suddenly there were 6. Oops! A little later we noticed some strays hanging around stealing Hoss’ and our cats’ food. This ended up being 11 cats > totaling 17 cats! With patience and due-diligence we now have 4, Princess, Callie, Patti & Roni.
The momma goats started having their babies in late March into April (14 born within 2 weeks or each other). The last twins were born early July. The total headcount was 7 mommas and 18 kids. It was a busy spring and very fun watching them grow and play.
The chickens are chickens. Egg production fluctuates depending on weather, season, and construction projects. They were not too happy with the roofers being here. On good days, we average 18-20 eggs; and 1-3 eggs on the bad ones… It might be time to get some more layers started.
Despite the lack of rain, the garden did fair, and we harvested plenty of peaches along with a late batch of tomatoes.
Our Events: Remember the Garage we started last year which was supposed to be just a pole barn from the Craig’s List trusses? Well, we finally finished it after 1 year and 2 months. It is really FINISHED! So now we can start another project.
Our life’s motto is: “One project leads to another” – we couldn’t start renovations on our main house. Whenever we got rain, the roof leaked. So, we finally bit the bullet and put on a new roof; But, since we were going to have the roof off; we decided to change the 1-carport to a 2-carport without the “head knockers”. It looks great; but now, we have more projects waiting to get finished (painting, sealing the wood, etc). Yes, we have several started – which drives me nuts. But Honestly, I think if we ever did finish; I’ll find us something else to do or re-do.
We’ve been blessed with visits from family and friends throughout the year and always enjoy the company.
Ben’s Events: We have lived here in Boerne over 6 years and have managed to avoid any collision with the deer. Unfortunately, Ben’s luck changed and he challenged 3 deer in 3 months (starting in January). The first 2 were fairly uneventful; but the last one, he hit @ 65 MPH and put his truck out of commission for over 6 weeks. Fortunately, Ben wasn’t hurt.
BUT, he wasn’t so lucky when installing an attic fan. The blade flew off and sliced into his chest. After the trip to ER and 25 stitches with 15 staples later; we realized how lucky he was – considering it could have hit him anywhere else.
In conclusion, Ben lost his Father this year. Rudy is greatly missed.
Darla’s Events: My job travels have taken me from California to New York. I haven’t been able to ‘see the sites’ at my destinations; except for one evening in New York City. I would like to go back to all the places some day to ‘play’ and enjoy their attractions. My customers were great, but, getting to and from the destinations were NOT fun anymore.
TOO many negative airline and airport experiences prompted me to leave the Consulting/Project Management position and return to the Technical System Administration world. I still get to work from home, love the change of pace and technical mental challenges.
I have a new niece in my family. Holly, 14 months, is officially a Beaton (my sister Paula’s 5th child). I’m blessed to have her children in my life. They don’t even mind coming out to the farm and help me with the farm chores.
This has been a FULL year! One for the records – so I decided my New Year Resolution would be to better document our events as our life goes along. Who knows, I might start remembering some history and include it. Our website: “Rucka Farm” (http://ruckafarm.blogspot.com) will be including our life’s little and big events (the “book” version) and pictures.
We WELCOME 2013 and whatever challenges it wants to put our way.
All our Love,
Darla & Ben
Hope this annual letter finds you and your family doing well. 2012 has given us quite a few challenges, but we do count our many Blessings! I could write a book for this year; but would have you glazed over in no time. So to avoid the emotional overload, I’ll be as brief as possible and only share the things that were “eventful” to us and we’ll share the full stories when we get a chance to talk in person.
The Farm: Our farm dog, Hoss, continues to protect the farm; but loves the opportunity to come up to the house and sleep on the porch. About cats – at one time there were none and we couldn’t get one. Finally we adopted 2; and suddenly there were 6. Oops! A little later we noticed some strays hanging around stealing Hoss’ and our cats’ food. This ended up being 11 cats > totaling 17 cats! With patience and due-diligence we now have 4, Princess, Callie, Patti & Roni.
The momma goats started having their babies in late March into April (14 born within 2 weeks or each other). The last twins were born early July. The total headcount was 7 mommas and 18 kids. It was a busy spring and very fun watching them grow and play.
The chickens are chickens. Egg production fluctuates depending on weather, season, and construction projects. They were not too happy with the roofers being here. On good days, we average 18-20 eggs; and 1-3 eggs on the bad ones… It might be time to get some more layers started.
Despite the lack of rain, the garden did fair, and we harvested plenty of peaches along with a late batch of tomatoes.
Our Events: Remember the Garage we started last year which was supposed to be just a pole barn from the Craig’s List trusses? Well, we finally finished it after 1 year and 2 months. It is really FINISHED! So now we can start another project.
Our life’s motto is: “One project leads to another” – we couldn’t start renovations on our main house. Whenever we got rain, the roof leaked. So, we finally bit the bullet and put on a new roof; But, since we were going to have the roof off; we decided to change the 1-carport to a 2-carport without the “head knockers”. It looks great; but now, we have more projects waiting to get finished (painting, sealing the wood, etc). Yes, we have several started – which drives me nuts. But Honestly, I think if we ever did finish; I’ll find us something else to do or re-do.
We’ve been blessed with visits from family and friends throughout the year and always enjoy the company.
Ben’s Events: We have lived here in Boerne over 6 years and have managed to avoid any collision with the deer. Unfortunately, Ben’s luck changed and he challenged 3 deer in 3 months (starting in January). The first 2 were fairly uneventful; but the last one, he hit @ 65 MPH and put his truck out of commission for over 6 weeks. Fortunately, Ben wasn’t hurt.
BUT, he wasn’t so lucky when installing an attic fan. The blade flew off and sliced into his chest. After the trip to ER and 25 stitches with 15 staples later; we realized how lucky he was – considering it could have hit him anywhere else.
In conclusion, Ben lost his Father this year. Rudy is greatly missed.
Darla’s Events: My job travels have taken me from California to New York. I haven’t been able to ‘see the sites’ at my destinations; except for one evening in New York City. I would like to go back to all the places some day to ‘play’ and enjoy their attractions. My customers were great, but, getting to and from the destinations were NOT fun anymore.
TOO many negative airline and airport experiences prompted me to leave the Consulting/Project Management position and return to the Technical System Administration world. I still get to work from home, love the change of pace and technical mental challenges.
I have a new niece in my family. Holly, 14 months, is officially a Beaton (my sister Paula’s 5th child). I’m blessed to have her children in my life. They don’t even mind coming out to the farm and help me with the farm chores.
This has been a FULL year! One for the records – so I decided my New Year Resolution would be to better document our events as our life goes along. Who knows, I might start remembering some history and include it. Our website: “Rucka Farm” (http://ruckafarm.blogspot.com) will be including our life’s little and big events (the “book” version) and pictures.
We WELCOME 2013 and whatever challenges it wants to put our way.
All our Love,
Darla & Ben
Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Happy Holidays 2011
Dear Family & Friends,
I hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the
Holiday Season. We are doing great and
enjoying life in Boerne. We have been
living here over 5 years and still staying very busy with the DIY home
improvement projects, farming and gardening.
Pets: First, the sad
news – our 17 year old dog, Bogey, died in August. He outlived his sister by over 1-1/2
years. He was a much loved ‘housedog’
and is greatly missed. It is still hard to
not have any house pets; but I am adjusting.
Hoss, the farm dog (Great Pyrenees); is really a good dog. He learned quickly to stay with “his” goats
and he guards over the chickens. Knock on wood; Since we got him, we haven’t lost a chicken
to any predator. He’s a big lovable bear.
Just a month ago we acquired a couple of cats; only to have another one
show up. Two are scarce; rarely seen
during the day and the youngest is finally coming close enough to pet and get
acquainted. Too cute to see the 100# dog
and 1# kitten; nose to nose.
Farming: 2012 has
been an exciting one for us on Rucka Farms.
I honestly have experienced many things that I thought I would never
experience. February I kidded our first
goat. It was the coldest night of the
year (14 degrees). I braved the weather
and sat with the baby and mom in the barn until we were assured she would
survive. That’s when we learned to
“plan” the births instead of just letting them happen. The next fun came in
June, with two more kids. This mom did
it all on her own. Fortunately, all the
kids were girls so we get to keep them.
I’ve tried my hand at milking them; not too good at it yet; but still
learning. Want to learn to make goat
milk ‘stuff’ (in my spare time HA!). The
chicken egg production has been slow this year, at least that is what we
thought. But what we learned is mice and rats will steal them. When rat shot
and traps didn’t work, we increased our search for the cats. Now, we are getting more eggs and not even
seeing the rodents around. Yea!
Hopefully, the cats will win!.
Gardening: We
installed gutters on the house and a rain catchment system to supplement the
water for the garden. Ironically, we
haven’t gotten much rain to collect the water.
This year’s drought and heat played havoc on any attempt to have a garden. We did harvest peaches, jalapenos, garlic,
swiss chard, basil, lettuce, but very “few” tomatoes.
Home Improvements:
On-Going!!! The most recent project started July 4th weekend
when Ben purchased trusses off Craigslist. It was just suppose to be a pole
barn and has evolved into a fully enclosed garage. No, we still aren’t through and are still
married. We also gutted the fireplace
and re-stoned the façade with rocks from our property. Replace the firebox with a wood stove. This heats the house so well, when lit, we
definitely don’t need fire up the furnace.
Absolutely too many projects started; and very few getting finished; but
it all is fun.
May you be blessed thru this Holiday Season and into 2012.
With Love, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,
Ben & Darla Rucka
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Exterior Painting & Springtime
Spring is here so good weather for exterior painting. All 17 window screens need rebuild. Fortunately this is a RockHouse so we only have to paint the eaves and window/door trim. Ben's made great progress. The north side was the greatest challenge with the high roofline and all the electric, phone and utilites coming into the house on that side. Found scaffolding at a steal on Craigslist which made the job easier. Eaves completed end of June.
Ben helped me build a peoriod correct yard light from parts we found in the barn. At least it looks period appropriate to me ;). Exterior is really shaping up nicely; but would be much better if we would get some rain. NONE to speak of since Winter. We are in stage 4 water restrictions (which means only watering by hand on a certain day of the week). Fortunately the garden is still growing (amazingly).
This month he started prepping for painting the garage, doors and windows trim which is very tedious. Many years of build up. We removed the garage walls and doors, so all is open right now. We are investigating options on how to close it back in yet restore the craftsmans style of the home.
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