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Tweak says, "I'm sorry, Chocolates!"

_eliot_spencer (_eliot_spencer) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2011-12-13 19:29:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2011 12, character: alexis castle, character: april kepner, character: brian kinney, character: derek morgan, character: dominic vail, character: eliot spencer, character: emily prentiss, character: g callen, character: john connor, character: marty deeks, character: nell jones, character: robert callen, character: sam hanna, character: savannah monroe, character: sean hanna, character: tim riggins, character: troy bolton, dead: eric beale, dead: jenna hanna, dead: kensi blye, dead: leon vance, dead: mike renko, dead: nick green, dead: sheldon cooper, dead: spencer reid, dead: tyra collette

RP: Everyone
Who: Everyone
When: 12-13-11
Where: Main house
Summary: Eliot has a query to make at the first evening group meeting.

Leon had called the twice daily meetings to start today. It seemed to be very informal. Now that they had supplies, even without furniture, warm drinks, cookies, and blankets kept them comfortable. Eliot wasn't too excited to be there, but at least he could get his question answered all at once.

"There'll be three horses coming along with the cattle," Eliot said. Leon had showed him the contract, and it brought Eliot right back to his childhood. He was not that kid anymore, but the memories were ingrained and this was something he could do and do well. "How many of you already know how to ride? And does anyone besides April have experience on a farm or ranch?"

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r_callen
2011-12-14 02:27 am UTC (link)

Robert looked at Spencer when he asked the first question, and then frowned when he asked the second, because the two seemed very unrelated to him. He grew up in Los Angeles, not a farm, and liked it that way.

"I can ride," he said, "when it's not snowing like this, and there's a bottle of champagne involved, but I can ride."

Savannah snorted, knowing that Robert's riding was very different than what Eliot meant. "I know how to ride too, but I don't know if-" She waved a hand in front of her. "Still, I can ride."

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leon_vance
2011-12-14 03:41 am UTC (link)

"Before we go any further," he said, knowing that there would be many objections to Savannah riding, objections that would take them off course. "Eliot," he started, and he truly hated using first names, but the sooner he got into the habit, the better, "will be in charge of the ranch. Many of us have no experience at all in terms of what it entails, and while I'm sure some of us had researched it, reading about it and knowing it are very different things."

He looked at their new ranch foreman, and it seemed this cover was as perfect as it got. "Why don't you tell everyone what it entails? I must add that while the cattle and horses has been kept for us until we got possession of the ranch, there is only so much I can postpone if we are to keep our cover. If we're lucky, we might get until after Christmas, but that's not certain for now. Eliot, you have the floor."

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_eliot_spencer
2011-12-14 06:05 pm UTC (link)

Eliot was surprised. Usually when he brought his knowledge forward, he either got told off or got a pat on the head and sent on his way. It hadn’t endeared anyone to him. Leon had garnered Eliot’s respect from the moment he took charge at the safehouse. There was no dick waving or enigmatic need-to-know games. It was “this is what we need to do and why” in a concise, straightforward manner.

“All right,” Eliot said, setting his mug down beside him on the floor. “Running an outfit like this takes a lot of work, more so in the winter than the rest of the year. There’s chores that need to be done every day in order for the cattle to survive, plus taking care of the horses.

“I’ve checked and it looks like the ranch came fully equipped, including hay and feed for the animals. We’ll need to get at least one ATV and a pick-up for the chores, but they can double for security. We’ll also need at least four trained cattle dogs and will have to take care of them, too.”

Eliot looked around the quasi-circle through his Oakleys. He kinda wished he could see their expressions when he told them the next part. “Daily chores include cleaning the horse stalls, feeding the horses, grooming them, checking the tack, and riding out to check on the fence line for repairs, for predators, for cattle that have wandered off, and for other land issues.

“As for the cattle, in the winter the hay feeder needs to be kept full, which means forking hay into each of them three to four times a day. The silo troughs need to be visibly checked to make sure the water hasn’t frozen, usually right after you fork the hay. The cattle will tend to stay close to the hay feeders but some do wander off and will have to be retrieved, and that’s a daily thing. Then there’s checking their individual health regularly, making sure the pregnant ones aren’t having complications, and the like.”

Eliot paused a moment to let it sink in, then gave them the good news. “Once the grass starts growing, the hay feeders only need to be kept a quarter full. The cattle will begin grazing the rangeland and drink from other water sources like creeks. We’ll have to ride out to move them from pasture to pasture, but feeding them becomes less work-heavy. The other chores stay about the same, plus then there’s the vaccinations, de-worming, making sure they don’t get face flies, calving in the spring and fall, earmarking and branding, weaning the calves at eight months, insemination, pregnancy testing, herding those into the corrals for the feedyard, and eventually mowing the fields when they brown so we have hay for next winter.”

Eliot stopped again, thought for a moment, then finished. “That’s about it. Aside from training folks to ride, that is. Which brings me back to: who has horseback riding experience, and does anyone have ranch or farm experience besides April?”

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april_kepner
2011-12-14 07:19 pm UTC (link)

April did have the luxury of seeing people's expressions as Eliot spoke, and carefully watched them as he told them what needed to be done. Some seemed to expect this, others clearly had had no clue on what kind of work a farm needed. She tried not to chuckle at some of the expressions on their faces. As no one else spoke, she decided that she might as well.

"I grew up on a corn farm," she said, looking around the room. "It's not cattle, far from it, but we had animals and many neighbors were milk farmers. I can ride, I know enough about farm animals to be able to handle the basics immediately and if I can just order the right books and get someone to assist me, I believe I can handle most of the medical needs of the animals," she said, a part of her refusing to believe that she was about to turn herself into a vet. It was what they needed however, and she'd do what she could to help.

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leon_vance
2011-12-14 08:44 pm UTC (link)

Leon waited until both Tim and Tyra mentioned that they could both ride, before addressing Eliot again. "Not to diminish your input, but you'll find that when talking about horses, most of us are thinking about the horse power under the hood of our cars," Leon said.

"And some of our cars are very nice, and fast, much nicer and faster than horses," Robert put in.

"Thank you, Colonel, that is very enlightening, but my point was that we might need a more definite schedule," he said, smiling in Robert's direction. "If you and April can take care of the medical part, since most of us can tell there is a problem when the cow is dead, perhaps you can give us a list of what you need and when. I don't mean names, but things like from this time to that time, 2 people for this. After I have that, we can assign jobs based on abilities and other responsibilities. One thing for sure, there will be a lot of work, and we need to continue training. In addition, with no support, we'll have to do the retrieval by ourselves. Until now, we've tried to teach everyone to do everything, because we didn't know what would happen, but from now on, we're back to specializing. There's no reason why individual talents should be squandered when there's no government to please. In the upcoming days, we'll come up with new routines, and hopefully we can have things set up before the arrival of the cattle. Mr. Morgan, Mr. Callen, I want to see you tomorrow, and perhaps we can have a clearer idea of who's available for each job. Mr. Spencer, do let me have that list as soon as possible including what else we need besides the pick-up and the ATV. In fact, if the ATVs can substitute horses or decrease their number that might be a good idea because we do have plenty of people that can ride those and they are certainly less work than animal."

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	_eliot_spencer 2011-12-14 09:33 pm UTC (link)
	"ATVs aren't reliable for moving the cattle themselves, or retrieving strays, but would be fine for the other chores so long as they can get through any woods on the property," Eliot said. "Otherwise, I'll work up the list you want tomorrow." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	leon_vance 2011-12-14 09:46 pm UTC (link)
	"All right, we'll get those ATVs. You let me know how few horses we can get away with. Now, unless there's something else, we can go on about our days. If anyone has any input on this, please speak with Eliot." He looked around. "You're dismissed." (Reply to this) (Parent)