Hay & Diesel

January 14, 2024

Howdy folks,

Well, along with the turning of the year, we ourselves have had a turning of mind, so to speak, and suddenly have some new goals in sight.  The boss has some extra hay available and it's been up to me to find a home for it and get it all sold.  So, I've been using my local contacts to do just this very thing and have been quite successful with it thus far.  And, when I say that I've been using my contacts, don't think for a second that I'm on LinkedIn or anything like that, quite to the contrary.  In fact, most of the sales have just come from stopping at the local bar here in San Jose to pick up some six-packs.  There are only three stores in San Jose, mind you: one being the post office and one being the gas station.  Otherwise, you're only other option, is El Alto, our little bar here.  Not only do they sell alcohol there, of course, but they also sell dog food, cracked corn, snacks, sodas, eggs and, on any given day of the week, just about anything else that you can think of.  I've gotten to know the owner over the last few years since we've been here, and as this area is still quite agricultural(even the smallest house might still have chickens, if not some goats or something larger), talk quite often turns to hay, feed, animal issues, etc.  So, we've been having some issues with the horses, largely from us feeding such a high amount of alfalfa to them.  One has seemed really tender on his feet and his hooves seem to be getting a little shaggy, so we're wondering if we're dealing with laminitis.  In any event, we got a whole tractor trailer load of a bagged, cultured alfalfa hay from Texas that the boss is quite fond of.  The problem is that in order to head off some nutritional issues like laminitis, we need to cut down on the alfalfa and feed more of the grass hay.  So, upon picking up a six-pack the other day, I was talking with the owner and letting him know that we have a few hundred bales of this Chaffhaye to sell and, before you knew it, he was interested and wanted to try 20 bales of it.  He has goats and used to have llamas and is always looking for a nice alfalfa hay.  And, being 25 minutes from Las Vegas and 45 minutes from Santa Fe, having something like that readily available right here in our little village is a big deal.  So, after our initial deal was done, he also got some bales of straight alfalfa from us.  We used to get 50/50 mixed bales of alfalfa & grass and also would mix our own with whole bales of alfalfa & grass, so with some hoof issues starting to look likely, it's out the door for all of that stuff!  A few other bar customers have now gotten a few bales, too, and for a time we started wondering if this little village needed a feed store here!

I think we have almost immediately pulled back from that idea, but, for a brief while it seemed like quite the plan.  We thought that we could store the hay in one of our storage units, use our other local contacts and acquaintances to sell some of it and, before you knew it, we'd be local hay millionaires.  Also, another item that mixes in with this is an old gas station that's for sale nearby and is all set up for selling diesel.  Between our three little stores in San Jose, you can buy stamps, postage to ship packages, gasoline, snacks, food, random supplies at the gas station and all the other things that I mentioned that El Alto has.  But, missing from all of that, is hay...and diesel!  Now, we should know better and put our college degrees to work to come up with some master plan that's long on pay and short on hard work, but we just can't help ourselves.  Erin grew up in a family with a print shop and I grew up in a family with a feed mill, and the rest is history.  Erin's been working since she was 12(14 for me) and even had multiple businesses of her own before we met, and then we first ran our feed mill together and later owned it together.  So, amidst our idylls here on this ranch that is nearly continuously drenched in sunshine, we itch to quit doing basic ranch work and house cleaning so that we could become business owners again!  Just think of it...San Jose Hay & Diesel.  I think that we would make a killing, but...with not enough zeroes in the bank account, much of this is relegated to strictly being a pipe dream.  Still, could you just imagine it, a little hay and feed store where you could also fill up your diesel truck.  Oh, well, clearly the best thing for us is to continue on here at the ranch, doing our daily chores and keeping our heads down while we continue to pay off all of our debts(we'll be debt-free in two years).  However, on a lot of days this is a much taller order than one might think.  On others, most of them, it's just not that hard to keep doing what we're doing.

So, here now is another new batch of pictures for everyone's enjoyment.  First up, three shots of the horses out eating breakfast on a windy morning when they didn't want to be exposed out where the feeders are.  Then, two shots of the barn at night: first, with the buggy shining its light on the hay; then, the flashlight I use when loading the buggy catching Willow climbing up on top of the bales.  Next, two shots of our front door area: first, our door with a wreath of chiles and a ceramic sun that I found here on the ranch, lying out in the field; then, the chair next to the door with all of our found trophies from hiking around on the ranch.  Then, a big line of choppers on their way from Colorado Springs to Albuquerque...quite a frequent site out here. Next, three different landscape shots: two different days showing that day's sunrise; and, a shot from the top of our backyard looking north over the top of the barns towards the Rockies.  And, lastly, five different shots from my travels hither and thither throughout the week: first, two shots of Pecos River Station in San Jose; and, then, three different random street shots from Santa Fe, showing the mountains that always loom in the distance and the last picture catching the Rail Runner, the passenger train that runs back and forth between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  And, that's all for this time.

Take care.