BABY SITTING A ROAD WITH THE COWS

Tomorrow we will begin our fourth week at this same gate.  If exciting can be boring-then that defines this gate. We are still very much newbies at gate guarding and yet we feel like we have done this forever.

We are actually guarding a private road along with two other guards. The road was used to cross several pastures with big trucks while a bridge is being worked on on the other side. The road is a little over 4 miles long with us on one end and another guard on the far end.  The third guard is in the middle to make sure what little traffic we have doesn't stop or get lost. While we don't have a lot of traffic coming in here, we have A LOT of truck drivers asking for directions.  I think they figure we should know where all the sites are on this road.

You would think their dispatchers would give them better directions but I think a lot of the directions go like this: " Go down this here road for a piece until you get to where ol' Bill's store burned down twenty years ago. Then turn left and go to where the bull used to be in the field where the creek is and hang a right." It's a wonder some of these guys get to where they are going.

Speaking of roads, here is a YouTube video of a ride down the public road to our site.

Our road out of Cuero

Turn up your volume---Enjoy the extended version of Pretty Woman courtesy of Van Halen.

Our biggest excitement is chasing cows away from the trailer. I like them coming around to keep the grass cut down and hopefully eliminate any cover for mice but sometimes they get a little close.





The company we are working for takes a lot of pride in their equipment and keeping up with the fuel and water. As often as they come out to fill us up with both, you would think we were paying for it.
Here is the equipment trailers sharing our "site"

The generator is a 13k Kubota. The black tank is the  550 gallon water tank and the fuel tank in front.

And here is the all important septic tank! It uses a 50 gallon collection box with a lift pump inside to put the "used products" into the 1000 gallon tank.

Sometimes we do let the cows get a little close to trim the grass.

But sometimes there are just too many of them. Where is Burger King when you need them?

These cows are just yearlings. They are more curious than anything else but they are not very bright.

I guess that's why they are cows.

NOTE:  I have only uploaded two videos to You Tube. I am not responsible for any other videos that show up with mine.

OUR FIRST CATTLE DRIVE

If you have been following our blog, you know that we are gate guarding in Cuero Texas.

We almost decided not to work this year but Sam wanted to get this under our belt this summer. It is definitely an experience for both of us. The job itself is easy but because we are on a slow gate, it does get a little boring. I am so glad we installed the satellite and the cell amplifier. For me the hardest thing to get used to is being in one place for so long. Back in S.C., I was used to driving from one job to another with LOTS of freedom. But there are quite a few plus's doing this also so none of this is a complaint.

We did get to see a cattle drive-up close and real personal. Sunday morning the rancher  and a few guys showed up about 6:30 along with  four or five horses. The rancher let me know that he was going to bring his yearlings up from a few pastures away and put them in the pasture we are in.

Just a note: a few pastures away equates to several miles down here in Texas.  They were gone all morning but about noon time the first cow came over the hill.

They were all following the feeder behind the truck. The truck also had a siren and every once in awhile the driver would set it off. When he did, the cows made a beeline towards the truck. Must be their signal for "Dinner Time!".





We actually got closer to this drive than we wanted to be. I was told to move my truck to a far corner of the poasture---sure glad I did.

Even though I lived in Texas for four years during my college years, I never got to see any of this. I was fascinated by the cowboys (and cowgirls) on how easy they could make the cattle move.

The boss just kind of hung back and watched.It was pretty obvious this was not his first rodeo....sorry couldn't resist!

Part of the staging area was behind our trailer.

More staging area.  There was probably 75 all together.








They spent a couple of days in our pasture and they were absolutely fascinated by our trailer. I did my best to keep them away but was not very successful at it. They just looked at me and kept chewing. They would not move for me no matter how much I yelled or swooshed a towel at them.  But let Sam walk out of the trailer and they began running in the opposite direction. I don't get it but Sam became the official cattle mover.

This morning I finally got my revenge!! The cowboys showed back up this morning and said they were shipping them out....HAHA, it's steak time guys!

I never did get to see the truck. They had to drive the cattle over a couple of hills to get to the pens...but that's ok, I don't think the cows and I were that close to say good bye to each other.

It was all pretty interesting but I don't think I am cut out to be a cowboy. I think I will stick with my sneakers and baseball cap.

DODGE "UPFITTER" SWITCHES

     OK, for you Ford fans,  I borrowed that term from Ford.  These are extra accessory switches that can be installed either when the truck is built or  after the fact. Both Dodge and Ford do sell the switches that fit their specific vehicle but they aren't the cheapest buying them after the sale.

    I know that Ford has a plug and play setup-meaning the wiring harness for the switches and relays are already in the truck whether you have the Upfitter switches or not. I do not know about Dodge but I suspect somewhere in the harness it is there.

    I decided to go a different route though. I came across this company: OTRATTW . Kind of a strange name until you find out what it stands for: Over the River and Through The Woods.  Whats not to like about that name?

OTRATTW has many different types of switches including some really funny ones. This one has to be my favorite:

But this one is a close second:

   I can only imagine the candle power behind either one of these switches. LOL

   Anyway I wanted to install a bank of these switches in our Dodge. I had some aftermarket switches installed but I never liked the way they looked. I like things to look as factory as possible. What I had did not look nice at all.

    I also wanted to plan for the future. I have had the dash apart on  the Dodge more times than I care to remember. I wanted to do it one more time to install these switches and plan for the future with the addition of a fuel pump switch and a camera on the back of our Landmark.

Here are the six switches I bought

This is the frame that the switches fit in. 

Buying this frame for the switches just makes the installation look that much more professional.










Before installing the switches I wanted all the switches to be pre-wired . Just makes for a cleaner install and it is a lot easier to wire sitting at a table than sitting inside the truck fighting with the steering wheel.

White is ground, yellow is hot feed and red is hot to each relay mounted under the hood. I used 18 gauge wire which can carry 13 amps ( depending on length of run). The relays I already have installed take just over 1 amp to engage so even if with all six switches are on I still have a pretty large safety margin.  There is a non-switched fused  hot in the dash that was unused so became  my power source. The hot is fused with a 10 amp fuse. I guess Dodge knew I was going to need that wire so they installed it for me.



   One more time the bezel had to be removed from the dash. One thing about Dodge pickups, there is LOTS of room inside the dash! That makes wiring so easy!!!

Completely removing the bezel I was able to bring it inside to cut it for the new switch frame.

You can see the old switches on the bottom of the bezel. They look all right but not factory by any stretch. 

And here is the frame and switches installed in the bezel.

Back side of the bezel with the switches installed.

The pre-wired hot and ground were fitted with male and female spade connectors so if I ever want to pull the bezel back out I do not have take all the wires off the switches.  I did not have a shielded female spade so I used a piece of heat shrink to make a shield.

Heat shrink in place around spade.








All the hot wires feeding the relays were run out from the center console in a split loom.

In the future once I add a hauler bed to the truck,I will also add an auxiliary fuel tank .Now, the hot wire for the relay is already run where access to it is very easy and can very quickly be hooked up.The same holds true for the camera switch.

I think the finished product is very close to a "factory look".

The switches have built in LED lights. A little hard to see in a picture taken with the sun shining in the cab but you get the idea. All the switches were SPST (single pole single throw) except the horn switch which is a momentary  switch. The led does light when pushed.

I really like the feel of these switches and the size of them  fits the dash layout very well. OTRATTW has  many other switches with different designs and etchings.

If anyone does consider installing aftermarket switches I can recommend OTRATTW. Shipping was very fast and the price was very reasonable. For the six switches and the frame it was just over $100.00.

Adding switches for accessories can be done with very basic hand tools.  Depending on your project you will need the following:

TOOLS:

Screwdrivers: both Phillips and flat blade. You may also need a Torx or square drive depending on the make of your vehicle.
Wire cutters
Wire crimpers or soldering gun.
Dremel or Multi tool to  modify dash for the switches. 

MATERIAL:
Switches
Wire-color coded depending on use.
Crimp wire  connectors.
Black tape.

Remember; always run the load ( lights, horns etc.) through a relay and always make sure both the switch circuit and relay circuit (load) is properly fused.

As always; thanks for reading.

WE ARE FINALLY GATE GUARDING

Last Thursday we got called by our gate company and said we would have a gate either over the weekend or on Monday. A couple of minutes later they called back and asked if we could be in Cuero; an 80 mile drive;  by 9AM Friday morning.  You bet!!!!!

Cuero is a nice town with an H.E.B. ( grocery store) and a small WalMart ( Chinese for we got your money!).  There is also a Dollar General so Sam is happy.

 We met the company man in town and followed him about 8 miles to our gate. This site has 4 gates on it. We are kind of the back door. It is only used for heavy trucks. There is a bridge being repaired on the other way in and they want the big trucks to use this gate.

We do not know what stage the site is in. This gate does not have a lot of traffic. I did drive the 2 miles through the pasture to the next guard. I really think our purpose here is to open and close the gates. There are cattle guards but there are also actually gates . I did not go down to the site which was another 2 miles down the private gravel road.

Here is our set up. We are 8 miles from town with good cell service, internet ( through the cell phone as a hot spot) and Satellite!. The fridge is full , there is little traffic and we get paid for this!

Life is good.

ALADO CREEK GREENWAY

Yesterday, while we were still at the San Antonio KOA, Sam and I rode part of the Alado Creek Greenway. It is a series of bike trails that total 16 miles.

It is easy peddling within a flood control area. Every so often they have a little sign that says Flood exit. I thought to myself that this area may flood but it would take a lot of rain to do it.

We probably covered about 4 miles on a semi lush part of the trail. Every once in a while we would go through a developed area which was a little noisy but still a very enjoyable ride.

Ran across this little fella crossing the bike path . I didn't see him at first but Sam spotted him right away.

By the time I stopped and got the picture he was headed into the weeds. I think he is an Eastern Coral snake.  He was only about 16" long and I guess looking for sun or dinner.

 We finished our little ride and put the bikes up for our short travel day.

We had a 2 hour storm last last with small hail (2nd day in a row with hail) and lots of rain. Here was the trail this morning after the storm.

Wow, now I know what these signs meant.

Have a good day and thanks for reading.

EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS

 The Alamo

Last Friday we moved from Beaumont to San Antonio.  Houston was a breeze even though we hit it at 8am Friday morning. I suspect Good Friday had a lot to do with it. We stayed on I-10 all the way through. I  followed a flat bed through the city with two semis behind me. When the flatbed changed lanes, I did too. He looked like a local haul so I figured he knew which lanes to be in and when. In fact, Katy had worse traffic in it than Houston.

A few more layers of ramps and Houston will start looking like Atlanta.









San Antonio is an interesting city. It kind of reminds me of a kid out growing his britches. Road work and construction all over the place trying to catch up with the booming oil industry and commercial building. Interesting; I just don't see a lot in the way of residential construction.

We are staying at the San Antonio KOA. Not really sure why. KOAs seem to be expensive but maybe I picked it for location-don't really remember. This one is in the middle of an industrial section of town but it is ok for a few days.





 We did spend some time on the River Walk-WOW, this is one very cool tourist attraction that is worth going to. For $8.25 you can get about an hour long boat ride rather than trying to walk the whole thing. The captain was hilarious and had lots of information of all the buildings and the history of the river walk.

We did ride the city bus to the River Walk. All the buses pay tribute to a very brave young woman in Alabama. You can read more about Rosa Parks here.

The beginning of our River Walk adventure.

 Beautiful art work on the buildings. Each tile is 1" square and the entire mural is 250' long . Someone had lots of patience.

The five bronze bells stand for the 5 missions that once operated in the San Antonio area, the Alamo being the most well known.

This is Saint Anthony who the city is named after.

This is Casa Rio , the first restaurant on the River Walk. It has operated every day since 1946.

The food was amazing. Definitely a different taste than the Mexican restaurants we are used to.

Couldn't resist adding another picture of Sam's Taco Salad.

Just some really cool buildings in down town.

A very Gothic building complete with operating Gargoyles.

The local park patrol. I can tell you for having such a cool job, this guy is NOT happy.




Yesterday we both did something totally new to us. We went to the main Police Station in downtown San Antonio and had our finger prints taken.

We had to pay $10.00 per set and I had to redo mine a couple of times because I didn't do it right. .  Of course, I think if you have experience having your finger prints taken, you might want to question some of your life choices.

Today went to the Natural Bridge Caverns.

This is only the second time I have been in large caverns. Sam has been down quite a few but still enjoyed this one.

Their name sake. This is the beginning of the tour underground. The guide said these caverns are probably 100 million years old. They were "discovered" around 1960 and developed shortly after.

92' down in one hole.

I guess this is where our old subdivision got it's name from????  Too bad there was no water in the lake.-just one big hole.





So I think we are done sight seeing for a while. We are waiting to get our first gate with Primo Gate Guard Services. That is why we had to have finger prints-we are to be Level 2 security guards at oil and gas gates. We are looking forward to it and after not being very productive for the last 8 weeks I for one need to get back to work-no matter what it is.