Chapter 45

I was busily milking a cow along with Esteban, his wife and kids, and Sissy the next morning, when Bert tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Which one of you guys can I relieve to do other chores? I've been milking these critters all of their lives."

Esteban's oldest son stood up and said, "Take my place, Sir, so that I may finish feeding the outdoor stock and hogs. There should only be one more group after these."

In order to milk so many at one time, we had rigged some rope halters to keep the cows facing in one direction and put buckets with grain in front of them. They didn't care about the strange conditions since they were being fed the good grain and getting their udders emptied.

While milking, Bert chatted, "What time did you folks begin milking this morning? My goodness, it isn't even six yet and you're almost done."

Esteban told Bert, "When we got here a little after five, Mike had already washed the milk buckets and cans, and let in the first batch of cows. The man sure doesn't waste any time."

Bert chuckled, "Just the man to take my farm over. I hope you don't mind if I help out some, Esteban. I don't think I can give up getting up and doing some morning chores."

When we finished, I noticed the springhouse we used to cool the milk was totally filled with cans. I would make a run to the market to sell as much as possible this morning. When I mentioned this, Bert said, "Just haul what you have up to Mount Sterling. The dairy up there will buy your milk in cans. They don't dock you unless the temperature is too high. With the butterfat content you have, they will pay you a fair price. You might even talk to them about buying your bulk milk if you want. I know you're planning on pasteurizing a lot of what you produce, but you're not going to be able to sell that much milk at the market."

We cleaned behind the cows and washed all the equipment before going to the house for breakfast. There was a pretty good crowd for breakfast, but there was more than enough ham, eggs, potatoes, biscuits, and gravy for everyone.

When we finished breakfast, Esteban said he needed to go to Bert's to meet Raul and help finish the forms to pour the foundations for the dairy barn, pole barn, and house. He advised me that John, the other bulldozer operator, and some of the other men were going to show up with equipment and salt trucks to clear the burned out barn area. Knowing how eager Esteban was to get the new buildings up, I knew he would be pushing hard.

I headed to town with my pickup full of milk cans. Before I left, Bert asked if he could ride along to direct me to the dairy. I knew he would be fun company.

The Kitchen wanted a ten gallon can of milk and said they would skim the cream. I was able to sell a couple of more cans at the market and pick up some clean empties before heading to Mount Sterling.

The dairy there tested the milk for temperature, cleanliness, and butterfat, before buying all I had. They told me that if what I brought was always like it was today, they would give me grade A prices for premium milk. Instead of waiting for a daily check, I elected to have them pay me electronically to make it easier. I would have to tell Maude about where the new money was coming from. I also made arrangements to have milk picked up when the new dairy operation was built. They had several contract drivers that hauled in our area.

I stopped by to see Coop when we left the dairy. He was bent over blueprints as usual, but he was looking at the floor plans for the clinic addition this time. He looked up at me and said, "Just the man I need to see. Come here and let me show you a few things."

After I introduced Bert, Coop showed me a couple of areas where the architect didn't include some state mandated items. He next showed me an area where he thought the space could be better used in another way. I told him, "You know a lot more about this stuff than I do, so take it to Doc Rivers and show it to her. Give Benson a call so that he can meet you when you can see the Doc. Do a handwritten addendum to whatever contract you have so that you don't waste a lot of time."

Coop was smiling as he said, "Your man, Jose, told me that he only has half of his crew working here and they're already more than half done. I think he's waiting for material to finish. I like his work and the way he follows the plans precisely. I think you and I are going to have a long term relationship."

It was my turn to smile. Raul and Jose were more than capable of handling their own business, but neither felt confident being the front man. Coop took us on a ten minute tour of the strip center building before we left. There's not much to look at for someone like me who isn't involved in construction.

Since it was raining, I stopped by to see Pedro and Jesus at Ben's old place on the way home. They were in good spirits and told me they had a couple of other big clearing jobs coming up next month. I mentioned about building at the new farm, and Jesus said, "Why don't you use half of us to help Raul with the construction? Some of the men have some construction experience and it might give them a chance to impress Raul and Jose. Harold has some more men who want work, so we could have a third crew if we get another good leader."

I told them, "Talk to Raul and Jose to see how many they can use. Just make sure you send them men who want to work and who are not drunks. He's not very nice to men who goof off."

Pedro smiled, "We aren't either. This is good honest work and the men are well paid. Many may want to work with us, but only those who show that they will work hard every day are allowed to stay. The regular workers tell the rules to the new men, so they know them very quickly."

As Bert and I got back into the truck, he asked, "How many men do you have working on logging now?"

"I don't know for sure, Bert, but it's at least thirty right now. That group is paying for themselves and their equipment. Ezra taught Pedro and Jesus, and I now have two complete crews. You heard him about the bulldozers. They are more than five miles ahead of the cutting group, so both Jet and John are going over to clear your place. If they decided to work in the rain, I'll bet your place is cleared, graded, and formed by the end of the day. They will pour concrete tomorrow and start building on Monday. I imagine Raul will be starting on the house after church on Sunday."

Bert looked at me, "How do you keep track of everything you have going on, Mike? You have so many fires burning that you have to be going nuts sometimes."

I pulled out my little spiral notebook and said, "I make a list of everything I need to check on everyday, and add to it as the day progresses. What I have to do is easy because there is someone who leads everywhere that something is going on."

We pulled up to the milk house so that I could unload the milk cans from the truck. I saw that the Jeep was gone, so assumed Esteban was using it. We needed one other vehicle, at least.

Inside, Bert and I had a cup of coffee while I was given an update of what was going on. Sissy told me that Mom called and they were having a great time. She said, "Mom didn't believe me that everything was moving right along. She also didn't believe that you bought another farm. She told me to tell you that she would paddle you good for telling fibs when she gets home."

We all got a laugh out of that.

Esteban's wife came from the summer kitchen and told me, "We've been making more butter, and we've separated some milk to begin the cheese process. I hope this works so that we can have even more products to market."

"You should wait until we get the pasteurization equipment in so we don't have a problem with the cheese," I said. "The state could get on us for selling raw milk. Unless, that is, they'll issue us a special permit to make raw milk cheeses for the gourmet trade."

Shirley told me, "Jimmy took the kids to his shop this morning. The girls insisted on going and Sissy said that she used to work on equipment with your dad. I hope they don't get hurt. They are just little girls."

Sissy and I exchanged looks, as we both knew how hardy the little girls were when they were in the fields or helping with equipment. Sissy said, "You can bet the sweet little girls will get as greasy as the boys."

When my cell phone rang, I saw that it was Bernie, so I pushed the speakerphone button, "Hey, Bernie, what can I do for you?"

Bernie told me, "The guys who will build your tower and bring power and fiber up to your tower are here. How about I bring them out for lunch so we can talk about what needs to be done? They advised me of a few things that are important."

"Bernie," I talked back into my phone, "It's raining outside and they won't be able to go up to see the place. They might want to wait for a better day."

"Mike, oh Mike, how soon you forget and get soft. These are guys who haven't been out of the Army for six months yet and are used to building anything in any kind of weather. Get your raingear out, because you're going to be giving a mountain tour. We'll be out there in about thirty minutes; can we get lunch there?"

I looked up at Millie who smiled and vigorously nodded. As a group, all of the women standing there turned toward the kitchen and began pulling pans out.

I told Bernie, "Come on out. How many are you bringing and are you going up on the mountain, too? Those rocks might be a little slick for you up there."

"I'll stay down and dry, Dude. You take the four guys I'm bringing up there. Get a couple of go carts out and ready."

By the time Bernie and the cable men showed up, the ladies had a huge pot of vegetable beef soup and lots of sliced roast beef, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade bread to fill their tummies.

Sissy was standing there with her hand out when I pulled my rain suit out. "I want to go. You have to take two carts, so there's enough room for me."

I shook my head and grimaced, "It's a tough climb to get up there and the wet rocks are going to make it more difficult."

"I'm going with you, Bro; live with it. I want to see what's up there."

The group walked out to the equipment cave and I checked the fuel on two of the four-passenger carts. I led the other cart around the mountain, but down the hill and back up, since I didn't know whether or not the high game trail would be too soft.

We parked at the boulders in front of the caves. I had brought a couple of lanterns along to get us through to the other side. I explained to the guys; "There is a ledge that leads around, but it might be too slick on a day like today. You need to see this cave anyway, since this is where the equipment and batteries are going to be."

The men were fascinated with the caves and the story I told. I promised them a look through the picture scrapbook when we finished. I led everyone up the steep path to the top of the mountain in the slow drizzle. It felt like you could reach out and touch the bottom of the clouds when we got to the peak.

I showed the men the lower terrace and told them that was where I thought a tower should be built to allow more room and space for guy wires.

One of the men had carried a surveyor's transit up with him, and he set up to begin getting dimensions. He directed another man to go to one side of the far end of the lower terrace, and then waved him over to the other side. The man came forward to put his sighting pole on one near end side, then the other.

The four men huddled together, and then the surveyor began looking down the mountain and toward the house through binoculars. He turned toward the main road we had passed and scanned that area. All four were taking notes from time to time, and when they all seemed to be done, the one who appeared to be the leader said, "You will need a tower about a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty feet high. You should be able to accommodate everyone in the area with that height, including a TV station if you want to. You know, you might be able to get your signals up here via microwave instead of fiber. The only disadvantage could be that heavy weather can disrupt microwave. We have pictures and dimensions; let's go back to the house where it's dry and figure this out."

The guys had to check the other cave out as we left. I told them there were other caves on the mountain, and that there was even a cabin built into a cave at a lower level. They were very curious about the Civil War history, and I promised them we would look at the album.

Back at the house, the leader brought out some large graph paper and sketched a diagram using the dimensions they had taken. Bernie was there with a couple of big manuals that he said contained all the federal requirements for everything that we wanted to do.

Two of the men asked if they could use one of the carts to follow the electrical, telephone, and cable wires down to the where they met the road. I told them they knew where they were, so the guys put their boots and raingear back on and left.

Bernie and the other two men discussed and debated for almost two hours while I played with John, Mato, and Minya. The two older kids were playing with crayons and coloring books that had appeared, while John wanted to taste the colorful sticks and attempt to imitate the older kids by scribbling on pieces of paper. The woven rug where the kids were didn't have many crayon marks on it so far. It was fun to play with the kids.

Bernie had me come back to the table so that they could lay everything out for me and give me a schedule. They described the equipment that would be installed, and how they would enclose the two cave openings to secure the equipment. Their schedule would be to begin bringing the fiber from where both the cable company and the telephone company had junction boxes. I could use either one for transmission that way. While that was being completed, they would work on proper grounding, as it could be expected to have some lightning problems from time to time.

By the time the tower arrived and its construction began, they should have the two wind turbine generators built and online. It was expected to take between a month to six weeks to complete the job and connect all of the broadcast and two-way equipment. Each item had a backup, and the law enforcement equipment would have two redundant units to be safe.

Bernie sat back and asked, "You see the number there, Mike. Are you willing to put that kind of cash up to do this?"

I was staring at a number that was probably fair, but it sure was a hell of a lot higher than what I had running around in my head.

Bernie slid a piece of paper in front of me and said, "This is the P & L outlook for the tower and equipment you will provide. Please note the nine month payback on investment. This is with you giving the Sheriff's radio stuff and local ambulance service away. You're going to make your money from the state agencies, radio station, and cellular companies. You can probably sell tower space to some companies that need a microwave link. Now what do you think?"

I looked up at Bernie and had a question. "Bernie, I thought AM station towers had to be on a flat ground. Is this going to work for your station?"

The man grinned as he vigorously nodded his head and answered, "Remember that I told you I had a new license for twenty-four hours and the ability to have enough power to get to Philly? That's all FM, Baby. I have the new license for more power to the AM side, but the FM station will be hot. It means I can sell advertising to Lexington companies as soon as I can prove listeners. We won't be all simulcast, but we'll have the FM station be more mainstream music for the middle crowd. The AM station will remain the down home place where the locals can get all of their news and gossip. This is going to work, Mike. The station is going to be big."

When I smiled at the men and said, "Do it", there was a sigh and the expelling of breath throughout the cabin. The women were all listening to see what I was going to answer.

Bernie said, "Go get your Civil War photo albums to show these guys. The other two should be back any minute. I need to go pick Sheryl up so that she can come out to eat tonight. The guys can stay for supper, can't they?"

I saw Sissy grinning at Millie and knew this was going to be another night with both tables full.

Sissy said, "Let's go out and help with the evening milking now that you've made these men's day."

Jimmy and the road guys were back with the four kids by the time we finished milking. The kids were covered in grease and oil, so they had to be scrubbed before dinner. Jet and John showed up with Raul to tell me of their progress. The barn area was cleared and graded, as well as where the house was to be built. They had already dug the hole for the septic system, as well as the ditches for the leach field and a retention pond for the waste from the barn and milking station. The pasture waste would not be a problem, but we could harvest the manure from the buildings for sale to local farmers and gardeners, or our own use. Raul said they would be pouring the foundations tomorrow. The rain had not slowed them down at all.

When supper was over, the kitchen clean, and all were sitting around chatting, I noticed Millie having a talk with Sheryl. Sheryl waved me over and said, "Millie says she hasn't been examined while she's been carrying this baby. She already is a little larger than she was before, but she is eating more regularly and has gained some weight. She doesn't want to sit in the waiting room, so bring her in at seven tomorrow morning and I'll give her a going over. I'll use the ultrasound to see if her thinking she has a boy is correct. Can you do that?"

When I nodded, Sheryl said, "Bring your little Indians in and I'll check them out too. If you were given their shot records, let me record them at the clinic so we can keep them up. You might as well bring John in too, since it's time for one of his booster shots."

Tomorrow morning was going to be busy.

When Bert got ready to leave, he grabbed my hand and said, "I promise to not make a nuisance of myself, but being around you folks is exciting. You're all busy, but happy. I'll stay home and bother the construction men tomorrow. I might come out for supper; I'll see how I feel."

I tried to assure Bert that he wasn't a problem and that we enjoyed having him. He just smiled and went out to his truck.