# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 59:
Private Road - Limited Access

Once the McAdam brothers had moved out and I had bought back their lease, I decided to actively seek out a family, or at least a couple, who could act as 'gatekeepers' for Mile High Ranch. Let's face the truth here, I was suspicious that Sandy and I might still be targets for retaliation by that radical church group from Calgary. I wanted to find a family who were willing to live on the former McAdam brother's lease and act as watchmen at the gate, not to stop anyone, but just to warn us if those nuts ever did come hunting Sandy or me. So with that idea in mind, I approached my friends and family over the problem, explaining that I wanted a to rent the house and acreage to a couple who wouldn't be easily intimidated by loud obnoxious idiots. Naturally the first people I approached were Art and Debbie Dumfries, since they would be the new couple's closest neighbours, then I approached several of the members of my family. Within hours I'd had four different people suggest the name of the same young couple - Al and Em Jeffries.

Sandy and I both liked that idea a lot and we knew the pair quite well, which made the idea even better. Al had worked for me the year we had put in the new access road from the plateau, he'd started out working for me as a blaster and had continued to work for me on the ranch most of that summer. Not only that, but Em was Charlie Engels daughter and Charlie was a 'shirt tail' relative, the grandchild of one of Grampa Bender's 'girlfriends,' Maggie Engels. The story I heard was that Maggie had spent one winter on the ranch and refused to live there any longer, but Grampa Bender wouldn't move to town, so they parted company.

An added bonus, as far as I was concerned was that Al and his wife, Em had a young son, but were living in a small single bedroom house so they wanted to move. I was smart though, I called Charlie Engels, since Al was working for him and asked if it would screw up his crews if Al lived in our area and got a very direct answer.

"Hell no! It would be doing me a favour. I could use him out on that side of town almost all summer and definitely all bloody winter. What are you thinking of doing, renting him the McAdam house?"

"Yep, I need someone there who has both brains and good judgement. I want somebody who can keep an eye on my gate and warn me if I have any intruders coming down to the ranch. I don't want anyone to get into fights or anything, I just need a human alarm to call down to the ranch if someone does show up, but Art and Debbie aren't home a lot of the time."

"Huh, after what 'Devil Bill" McAdam and those damn church freaks did to you and your family, I don't blame you. Just call Al and Em and tell them just what you told me, well, maybe you should show them that house and the yard first," Charlie advised, then chuckled. "Right now neither one of them is too happy with where they're living."

So as a result, Sandy and I arranged to meet Al and Em at the acreage the next day. I did warn them of my suspicions about those religious nuts, but Allan 'Boom Boom' Jeffries had been a semi-pro hockey player. He not only understood intimidation and retaliation, but he wasn't the type to be frightened off easily. Em wasn't that much different, besides she'd been raised in the country and felt stifled living in a tiny house in town. Both of them liked the McAdam place, but for different reasons. While Em was enthusiastic about the size of the house and all the appliances which had been left behind, Al was delighted by the fact that they were living on ten acres of land for a decent rental cost. They jumped on the chance of renting the place and acting as our 'distant early warning' system.

As a precaution, when Al and Em moved in he put up new chain-link fencing around the acreage, then brought in a pair of German Shepard-Rottweiler crossbred dogs and posted the property with 'Beware, Guard Dogs' signs. Once Al, Em, their son, Charlie and their two dogs were settled in, they held an open house and made sure the dogs were introduced to all of our friends and frequent visitors. As they explained it to me, if a 'Rotty cross' knew your friends it wouldn't bother anyone unless it was ordered to. Well, not unless you were dumb enough to attack either the dog or its master, so having everyone know the dogs was an excellent idea. Of course with the dogs inside a fence and a 'bump to pass' gate on the road to the ranch, all those two dogs really functioned as was a vocal alarm system, but with Em being at home every day that's all we needed. If a strange vehicle drove past, the dogs would bark and she could give us a call to warn us, which was all I really wanted.

I think Sandy was just a bit leery of the dogs when we first arrived at the party, at least until I set Toby on the floor beside the big male dog. Toby took one look at the dog and decided he was just a bigger version of Duke and since Duke was his buddy, this dog must be a buddy too. Ten seconds later Toby was using the dog as a handhold and holding the dog's shoulder as a brace while he patted the dog's head. I'll swear to this day that the dog had a grin on his face as he swung his head around to look at me, then he swung his head even further and licked Toby's face. Of course Toby squealed and I laughed, which drew both Sandy and Kristina's attention. Talk about opposite reactions - Sandy looked terrified while Kristina looked jealous because she thought Toby was having fun and she wasn't involved. Kristina wanted down, and she wanted down now! Luckily Em saw what was going on and came over to reassure Sandy that both dogs loved kids, which saved me from being shouted at right then. Sandy even let Kristina down to play after a minute or two. Of course the female dog decided that she wanted in on the fun about then and in short order both kids were patting and mauling the two dogs the same way they patted and crawled around Duke and Princess. Then Em went over to Al and took their son from his arms and set little Charlie on the floor as well. It turned out he was a friendly little tyke, so in seconds there was a muddle of three kids and two dogs in one corner of the room. What I found neat was the fact that the two dogs wouldn't let the kids squabble, if any two of those three kids got pushy, one of the dogs would stick a huge head between them and break it up.

"Some guard dogs those two are," George scoffed.

"Yeah, well don't get too cocky," I warned him. "If you were to take a swing at Al or Em, or acted like you planned to hurt one of those three kids, the dogs would probably tear you a new bunghole."

"Actually the dogs are both trained to watch Em's and my reaction to others," Al grinned, as he walked over and dropped an arm on Sandy's and my shoulders. "For instance they know we're friends with both Sandy and Chris, so they would be almost as protective of them and their family as they are toward us. Besides, they're trained not to bite unless they have to, instead they knock people down to put any threat out of action, then raise an alarm so we can check out the situation. Just think of them the same way you would a defenceman in a hockey game. If you're on their team, they won't interfere with you, but if you're playing on the other team, watch your butt. Okay?"

Thankfully, everyone who came to the party took Al's and my words to heart and as far as I know there were never any incidents with Al and Em's dogs.

There was one surprising development out of that party and our two kids reactions to those big dogs, but it didn't happen until a few months later. That's when Al and Em showed up at our door late one evening, but both of them were carrying a small pup in their hands.

"Hi, we came bearing gifts," Em smiled tentatively at Sandy and me. "These two pups are the runts of Majesty's first litter so we won't sell them, but we really don't want to have them put down either. They were so small that we haven't even advertised them, but you've got two kids that love dogs and we think they should each have a dog of their own. The pups are weaned, as well as fully house trained and they've had all their shots. The vet says they're perfectly healthy, just a little smaller than normal, but he says that sometimes happens on a first litter. We even brought them over late at night so the chance of the kids being up and around was slim, just in case you decide that you can't keep them. So what do you think, do you want a pair of free puppies or not?"

I really didn't know what to say, but one look at Sandy's face and I knew that Toby and Kristina were each going to have a dog, so I rolled my eyes as I looked directly at her. "You're choice dear, only remember, they may be runts, but they'll still grow to be bigger than Duke. Knowing that, I think if do we keep them they should be 'outside' dogs that can shelter in the barns in the winter, just like Duke and Princess do."

"Well, are they fixed?" Sandy demanded.

"Oh they're still much too young for that, but they are both females and as young as they are neither of your dogs will hurt them, in fact they'll protect them," Em smiled, because she knew she'd made a puppy sale, even if the pups were a gift. "I know Duke is a fully functional male, so you should have these girls neutered after they're about six or eight months old, but talk to the vet. He knows their age and can keep track of that for you, just in case you forget."

By that time both Duke and Princess were underfoot, whining and rubbing against both Sandy and me, wanting to meet the pups.

So Sandy reached out for the pup that Em was holding. Al winked as he handed me the other one, and it was a done deal - we'd added a pair of German Shepard-Rottweiler pups to our menagerie. Not surprisingly we were able to put the pups down with Duke and Princess in a very short time. They soon herded the pups over to the old blanket they slept on during the summer and in no time flat the four of them were settled in for the night.

Once we saw that the pups were settled with the two older dogs we invited Al and Em inside to chat and have a coffee.

The next morning when our kids went out on the front porch and saw those two pups I was soon wishing I had a movie camera. Both the kids and the pups were soon having a wonderful time and I quickly realised that our two little monsters weren't monsters at all, at least not when it came to handling the pups. Even at two years old they knew enough about young animals to pick up the pups so their backs were supported, instead of the way a normal two year old kid would grab a puppy or a kitten with a choke hold around its neck or belly. I think they must have absorbed our careful methods from watching all the grownups as we handled kids, calves, foals and piglets.

I'd only been watching for a moment or two before Toby came toddling over to me with one of the pups in his arms, giggling at his squirming burden as it tried to lick his face.

"What's 'is name, Papa?" he demanded with another giggle.

"I don't know, I don't think she has a name yet, but both pups are little girl dogs, so I guess they need girl names."

"Can Tina an' me call 'em what we want?" he asked hopefully, still having trouble pronouncing Kristina's name.

"I suppose so, but maybe you should ask Mommy that question?"

"'kay, Papa, I will," he grinned and carefully put the pup down, then scooted inside to find his mom.

Of course the pup tried to follow him, but didn't get to the doorway before the screen door had closed, so it scratched at the door and whined pitifully. Instead of letting it get bowled over when Toby came charging back outside, I scooped it up and sat down near Kristina and the other pup. I got a brief smile, but the pup squirming in her lap was the center of Kristina's attention, so for once she was being very quiet. As a result we were still sitting there when Toby and Sandy came back outside, then we had a talk about dog names, but didn't make any decision right then.

Eventually those two little pups became 'Uno' and 'Dos' - in other words numbers One and Two, in Spanish. In the same vein, Kristina adopted the nickname of Tina, which was pronounced 'Teena' and for some reason Sandy and I had become 'Mama' and 'Papa' - not Mom and Dad. But then, as I told Sandy, "Kids will be kids and our kids have minds of their own!"

The next time I saw Al was later that year, sometime in December, and he was with his father-in-law, Charlie Engels. They had come to see me about securing an long-term lease on the property where Al and Em lived, because they had only been renting up to that point. I'd already heard that they were considering the idea of making a few changes to their operation and I understood that those changes included building a large equipment shed on the lease in order to store some of Charlie's equipment there. As a result of the rumours I'd heard, I was somewhat prepared for their requests even before the meeting began and I'd done a little checking into how their requests might affect all of us. In fact the more I thought about it, the better I liked the idea, but there were a few small details that needed to be ironed out.

As usual Charlie was quick to start explaining why he and Al were there to see me. "There's a helluva lot of road work and construction being started in this area. Only it's a pain in the ass having to truck our equipment forty-odd miles from my place just to do a small job, then having to haul it all the way home again afterward. I can't afford to let those small jobs go though, or some other operator will move into this area and that would mean we'd have an even bigger pain in the rump." Charlie stated openly. "We'd like to lease that acreage and use it as our western base of operations with Allan in charge. We'd build a second access off the county road, about a hundred yards north of your main entrance, which means we wouldn't disturb your access in any way. Then we'd build a pair of equipment sheds, and bring in a semi and a lo-boy trailer, a couple of cats, a dump truck and a backhoe, that way we'd have a core of basic equipment in the area. Besides, as things are now Tom has to drive thirty-five miles to work on my equipment in the winter, but he'd be a lot closer to his work if we had a repair shop out here."

"On top of that, Em says the layout of the house is very strange right now and she'd love it if we made some changes to the interior, but we can't really do that if we're just renting on a month to month basis," Al jumped into the conversation then. "If we go ahead with this new base of operations, some of the equipment operators might be staying in the spare bedrooms during the work week. That means Em would be cooking for them as well, but right now the kitchen is just too small for that, so she'd like to expand it and make it handier."

"We'd want at least a ten year lease on the place though and twenty would be better. You'd gain by having some permanent neighbours, and on top of that you wouldn't need to plow the roads in the winter. We'd do that for you, right to your front yard if you want," Charlie added, then he looked a bit guilty. "I do have one additional question about the lease though. I know you've been working on improving those big fields up near the lease and I was wondering if you're going to be running animals on the grass you're growing there now?"

"No, I hadn't really planned on using that as grazing land because of the lack of water. I'm hoping to be able to get a decent crop of hay from that area in the next year or two though, but why do you ask?"

"Well, I'd like to lease more acreage from you so I could put in a landing strip and a hanger. The problem with that is the prevailing winds which seem to come from west-northwest. That would mean our airstrip would cut across your hayfield on an angle. It wouldn't be very wide, but it'd be quite long and the perfect spot for it starts just north of the present lease, so it almost cuts your field in half. It'd just be a grass surface, not pavement or anything, but the land has to be levelled a bit, then seeded to tough grass and mowed regularly. It wouldn't be raised much or ditched heavily, so your farming equipment could run right over it with no problem. We'd have to level some of the little knolls and bevel back the edges, but I promise we wouldn't dam up any low spots to make wet areas for you. It's really a simple project and dirt moving is what we do for a living, so this would be treated as a regular job by our guys and they know what they're doing."

"What's he's trying to tell you is Em has her pilot's license and she recently bought a small plane. She wants to be able to have it here so she can fly it more often and her Daddy is spoiling her again," Al grinned and winked. "More than that though, I think her daddy would like to be able to fly over to visit us if he gets the urge."

Since Al and Em were very good workers and I was certain they'd be good tenants, I went along with their basic ideas, but I did suggest we modify some of their proposals. In the first place I advised them that it would be cheaper for the company to take out a second lease of four or five acres for their new buildings, because the county would tax whatever area was leased to the company as commercial property. Secondly I offered to sell Al and Em all the buildings on the ten-acre lease, provided they kept that lease as a mini-farm, that way they could do what they wanted to the house or the sheds the McAdams had built. Third, I could see several advantages to having a landing strip close to the ranch, so I gave that my tentative approval, but with some minor modifications. I suggested they build the airplane hanger on the inside corner of the present lease, then have the airstrip start just outside that corner so the hanger was as far as possible from the county road and my access road. Finally I would rent them the area to put in their little landing strip, asking a reduced rent, but with the provision that I could ask for an occasional ride for me or my family. Of course I insisted they had to do all the grading, levelling, seeding and maintenance along the verges of the strip to my exact specifications. However, since I didn't know anything about seeding or caring for landing strips, what they did on the strip itself was up to them. I warned them that I was going to hold them to the concept that I had to be able to move my haying equipment across the airstrip without any problems and I insisted that they had to build the strip without creating any erosion or flooding problems.

I was surprised that they agreed to all of my combined offers and suggestions. It worked out darn well in most cases too. Charlie got his western base of operations, which was actually a large increase in potential for his business. Al got a boost in wages for running the western portion of Charlie's company. Em got a new kitchen and some other changes to the house, but she was keen to start a mini-farm operation of her own. Sandy had already given her some chickens, but we had a young Jersey heifer that was in calf and Em bought her from us, so her mini-farm was well under way in short order. Even Tom soon had a decent repair shop that was fully fitted out to do work on heavy machinery. The only project that seemed to become a lasting problem was the airstrip for Em's plane.

That airstrip must have cost Charlie a bundle in the long run. It started out to be one strip running west-northwest from the inner corner of their initial ten acre lease. Then Em found that at certain times of the year the wind shifted and came quite steadily from the west-southwest. That meant they needed a cross strip, so they came to see me about building a somewhat squashed X-shaped landing field. That took up additional space and cut down the amount of acreage I had for growing grass, and I felt I had to ask for some additional compensation. Charlie didn't mind the increase in his rental payments, but he was soon quite upset with his attempts to grow a decent cover of grass on the surface he'd levelled and prepared so well. He must have sunk a ton of money into that thing and the grass simply wouldn't grow in smoothly or thickly. In fact his grass didn't look as good as the rougher native grasses that I had growing well on most areas of the 'Frenchmen's' half-section. The difference was that I had worked with nature, whereas he had fought it.

The initial problem was the fact that I didn't want to lose all the work and effort we'd invested in establishing what grass we did have growing in that area. So I demanded to be there when Charlie had Mark Jackson come out to survey the proposed strip. By doing that I'd be able to see what problems I might have to face when Charlie made changes to the grades of my hayfield. Now that field was nowhere near perfectly level to start with, in fact it sloped gradually away from the county road and back toward 'Mile High' valley. Then to complicate matters there were several small swales and minor erosion gullies that Charlie's air-strip would cross as it ran from one side of the field to the other. Charlie's suggestion was to strip off the extra soil from the swales and small knolls, then use that soil to backfill the small erosion gullies he crossed. I agreed to that on one condition, that he had to have all that done before the last week of August so I could have any of those areas reseeded before the fall rains started. He argued with that time frame, but I was adamant, pointing out that once those rains started, so would erosion, but if I could get the seed down soon enough, the seedlings would prevent the damage from getting too bad. He finally went along with the idea, but had either Art or one of his other workers earn extra wages by working on that whenever they had a few hours free. I could work with that though. As Art finished grading one of those areas I'd have either Eddy or Manny take a load of manure from our stock pens and spread it on the surface, then disk it in. As a result we were able to seed all of those leveled areas by early September and we had a decent cover crop protecting the bare soil by the time the first snow fell.

Meanwhile Charlie had been working on the airstrip in his spare time, but he wasn't finished in time to seed it that fall. He'd started out by rough levelling the strip and bevelling the edges so I could drive right over it from almost any direction with my haying equipment. Once he had that done, he began to improve the soil on the strip by hauling in truckloads of sawdust and horse manure, spreading those in the areas where he wanted to plant his 'tough' grass. He cultivated those soil amendments into the ground, then in late spring he seeded the area and rolled the whole thing to pack it. The grass sprouted, grew an inch or so tall, then died in the summer heat. Even I knew that was from lack of moisture, since the roots hadn't developed enough or reached deeply enough to support the plants in hot weather. By mid July that 'X' was nearly all bare soil and the wind was stirring it into dust, which was not good news for me because that could bring on erosion and once erosion gets started, it spreads. I was already fighting erosion on that quarter section of land and I didn't need Charlie's mess to make my life more difficult. So I called up both Charlie and the District Agriculturalist, then had them meet me on the field one afternoon in late July of the second year.

Leo Burton, the DA, took one look at the mess and frowned, then turned to me and asked, "What the hell are you trying to do now, Chris? You sure screwed it up, whatever it was."

"It wasn't Chris that screwed up, this is my fault," Charlie admitted. "I rented this land from him to put in an airstrip so my daughter could land her airplane here, but it seems I did it all wrong. The bloody grass seed I bought just won't grow like it should because the rain isn't cooperating this summer and I can't think of any way to water it the way you would if it was a lawn. Meanwhile the cheap-shit grass Chris threw down last fall is growing like gang busters and making me look like a damn fool."

"You own this quarter section of land outright, don't you, Chris, so it won't have any effect on your lease if he plants cultivated grasses here will it?" Leo asked.

"That's right, I own this quarter." I nodded, as I leaned back against my pickup truck's fender. "The problem is Charlie went by the book, but when I seeded my areas I did it my way, because I've done this crap before. I already know better than to try to fight Mother Nature."

Leo looked at me and winked, using the eye Charlie couldn't see, then confronted Charlie with a frown on his face. After that I listened in as Charlie was educated about planting cover-crops and seeding grass at the right time of the year. Next he was tutored about seeding with annual rye grass and creeping clover, mixed with the bent grasses and fescues that are normally recommended for landing strips. He was also told to plant the seed in the early fall, not the late spring, that way the annual rye would provide a cover crop and allow the other grasses and clover to germinate in a protected environment.

"That's fine for next year, but this fucking mess is starting to erode from the wind and rain now," I stuck my two cents in when Leo paused, and I deliberately used strong language to get my point across. "Have you any bright ideas how to stop that shit, because the wind is already blowing the soil around and I'll be damned if I want to see the damage rains will cause in the fall. I sure as hell don't want to have any new gullies get started here in the middle of my hay field."

"Actually your hay field is what can provide the answer," Leo looked at me and winked again. "I know you're busy, but perhaps you could rent some haying equipment to Charlie, then he can hire some high-school students to cut part of your hay fields up here. They could spread the freshly cut grass on the bare ground and if they chose to cut the hay from areas where there are patches of scrub brush intruding into the hay fields, the twigs will help hold the grass in place. Then in mid-September Charlie can spread his seed on top of whatever grass hasn't rotted or blown away, then disk it in lightly, barely cutting the soil and afterward he can roll it to compact the whole lot. If anything compacting it will add protection and increase the odds of germination for the fresh seed. You just want to cut through the rotted grasses and skim the soil, in fact if the grass you put on top is fully rotted, just harrow the strip or else just roll the seed in. For gosh sakes do NOT disk the seed in deeply or it won't germinate, instead it will just rot."

I had Manny cut a small patch of hay with the flail mower each morning, then I rented Charlie an old dump rake and the old Massey tractor, along with my old Fordson Major and a manure spreader. He hired three kids to run the equipment and they spent two weeks raking the hay Manny mowed, then loading it into the manure spreader before spreading each load on the future landing strip. By the first week in August they had the whole strip covered in a layer of matted hay, which slowed the erosion that had been happening.

As far as I was concerned I felt the whole thing had been a waste of time and effort because Charlie went at it 'bass ackwards' in the first place. He tried to fight nature and any farmer or rancher knows that's a losing proposition from the start.

Em eventually got her landing strip, but by the time it was usable she was five months pregnant and she wasn't interested in flying right then. So in the long run, it was almost three years from the time Al and Em moved onto the lease before she landed her plane there and taxied it to her little hanger for the first time. Actually we had a celebration for the arrival of her plane and she took several of us up for a quick flight over the ranch. It wasn't until I saw Mile High Ranch from the air that I realised how big our place really was, or how much the whole ranch had changed in the last few years.

I'm almost certain that anyone who had seen the place in Grampa Bender's day would have had a hard time recognising Mile High Ranch by then. Not only were there two additional houses on the ranch, but we'd added two new barns, one for the mares who were close to foaling and one for the stallions that we were raising for sale. The dairy cattle and 'pet' horses were still kept in the old barn, but by that time we'd decided to stop increasing the size of our beef herd. Instead we'd keep the herd down to small numbers, while keeping the pedigree of our animals very strong. As a result the herd was small enough to shelter outdoors in the winter under a lean-to roof in a corral. Let's face it, cattle and horses just don't like to graze in the same area, but I'm a horse breeder at heart, so the horses won out and had the run of the most open pasture areas. I love to see prime Quarter Horses running free on an expanse of grass, but they were making us money too, in fact our Quarter Horses had probably become our prime cash crop in a few years. Our secondary income had to be the hay we grew and sold, but on top of that we usually managed to sell a few purebred cattle, a couple of little donkeys, a few goats, and a few dozen of Sandy's two breeds of 'Heritage' chickens each year.

Other improvements had been made as well. We'd built a new pigsty and two new chicken coops and all of them were wired for electricity. All three of them were insulated too, so they had both light and heat and we could keep the animals comfortable in the cold weather. The pigsty was small, just big enough for two or three hogs. I'd buy weaner pigs at a local auction each spring, then have them butchered in the fall instead of bothering to keep a sow year around, so we actually didn't need to heat the pigsty in the winter. Sandy still used her incubator to hatch chicks and was a member of a society that encourages people to keep the older breeds, but the two hen houses and chicken runs were only big enough for fifty to seventy-five hens. That meant we ate a lot of chicken when she culled out the cockerels each summer or culled out the older hens in the fall. I wasn't about to argue about that though, I like either roasted or fried chicken in the summer and chicken soup or chicken and dumplings in the winter.

We'd improve the storage for our farm machinery as well. We'd put up an additional lean-to shed with an open front to shelter any of the older equipment that we seldom used, but still wanted to preserve. As well as that, the original equipment shed had been expanded to handle every piece of equipment we used on a regular basis. We'd all developed the habit of washing down any farm machine when we'd finish using it and we'd make note of any problems or deficiencies on any machine before storing it. That meant repairs could be done as soon as possible and we seldom had broken equipment to contend with when we needed to use it. The fences were all kept in good shape and so were the buildings, in fact the whole place looked like a million bucks. We've often had customers come to look at our horses or cattle, then spend half of their time taking pictures of the ranch because it looked so neat and well cared for.

Sandy's and my lifestyle had changed quite a lot during the last few years, but I suppose raising children will do that to any couple. Toby and Tina had been joined by twin boys inside of two years, but the older two didn't seem to have any problems accepting Josh and John into the family. Of course Sandy had her hands full with four kids under three years old, but Conseula, Maria, Netty and Gabby were almost constantly around the house, so she did have plenty of help. In fact since grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles often dropped by as well, the kids certainly didn't lack for care and attention.

Our kids soon had lots of cousins and neighbourhood buddies too. Wil and Corinna's son, Johnathon Willard was born about eight months after they were married. Art and Debbie Dumfries had a baby boy they called Billy about a month later. Then Tom and Janis had a baby girl they called Arlene about a month before our twins were born. Al and Em Jeffries had their second child within days of our twins - a little girl they named Ellen. Jerry and Lucille had a baby boy, Gerald Franklin in born in mid-December of the year the twins were born. Six months after that Beth and George's first son, Robert Christopher joined the bunch. In other words, there was a population explosion in our neighbourhood.

I don't think Toby and Tina were much more than three years old before Juan and Maria had them riding on the little donkeys and of course they taught them to ride bareback. Six months after that Frank Dolens and John Coulter appeared one morning with a pair of Welsh Ponies, completely outfitted with pony-sized saddles, bridles and halters. Since the two ponies were both mares, and were both in foal, by the next spring the kids had four Welsh ponies. Then Dad showed up the next spring with a little Welsh Pony stud and another mare, with the result that Mile High Ranch was suddenly involved in the Welsh Pony business. I had mediocre feelings about Welsh Ponies and felt that since Maria seemed to love the ponies, she'd do a far better job of caring for them. So I talked it over with Sandy, Juan and Conseula, then called her in and offered her a job.

"Maria, it looks as if their Grandad has given Toby, Tina and the boys the chance to be Welsh Pony breeders, but the kids need someone a little more adult as a helper and advisor. I know you're only eighteen and you'll be off to your studies this fall, but you've been around animals all your life, so Sandy and I would like to offer you the job. Now, it's up to you, but I imagine Gabby would like to be involved as well, only I'd like you to be the person who leads the way. Of course we'll be here to advise you and you can always ask for a little help from your folks, but you'd be in charge of teaching the kids about the horse's care and breeding. What do you think?"

"I think I'd like to try it, but you're right, I would like Gabby to be involved too. Only what about after we go off to Ontario?" she asked. "Gabby will be finished her OSA courses in a couple of months, just like me, and we're both planning to go to Guelph this fall."

"Your dad and I can teach the kids and help out when you're not here, but we want you to get them started," I smiled. "First things first though, if you agree to treat this as a business, we'll set up a separate pony barn, riding ring and pasture for them. We'll even have to set up a breeding pasture for you, so we don't get any cross bred ponies showing up by accident. We want to keep the Welsh mares separate from our Quarter Horse studs and we want to keep the Welsh stud away from our mares. I don't know how long the kids will be interested in raising Welsh Ponies, but we'd like to have it done properly from the start to teach them all the ins and outs of breeding, raising and selling animals. You'll be in charge, with Gabby as a helper, but we want the four kids to do as much of the care and feeding as they can so they learn to take on responsibility and develop good herd skills. I'll be honest though, I think you're worst job will be teaching the four of them to ask for help, because they seem to want to tackle jobs they just aren't physically capable of doing."

Maria and Gabby jumped on the idea and ran with it, but were very good about asking for advise when they had any problems or difficulties. In other words they did an excellent job, but then they were following their families' tradition of excellence. Actually both girls had their futures quite well planned by that time. Once Maria and Gabby graduated from high school they had enrolled in several ranch management and animal husbandry courses at Olds and both of them did well there. As well as that they had arranged to enroll in the University of Guelph in preliminary veterinary courses and Maria had already asked me if she would be able to set up her future veterinary practise on our land. She eventually wants to lease ten acres of the 'Frenchmen's' half section, down the county road from Debby and Art's lease, which would give the western community a local veterinarian. Meanwhile Gabby was considering the idea of becoming either a veterinarian or a veterinary researcher, but she definitely wants to be involved with animal care in some way. At the time this was written neither of them have completed their educations, but they're both well under way. Of course Sandy and I have provided financial support to both of them, but then they've long since earned that.

Actually we'll be following a tradition that we started with the McAdam brothers, then continued with Gabby's brothers. The winter following their family's arrival on Mile High Ranch, we supported both Eddy and Manny when they wanted to enroll in OSA by paying for their room and board as well as their tuition. In return we've gained tremendously. Marco and Netty are dedicated workers here on the ranch and since both Eddy and Manny have graduated from OSA, they've been absorbed into the local ranching scene too. Eddy moved down to the lower lease and works for Dad, Wil and George. Meanwhile Manny has remained on Mile High Ranch and is now in charge of the mares and helps with the breeding program for our Quarter Horses. As well as that he often works with me doing the mechanical maintenance of our equipment.

Life outside of our little valley has improved for our family and friends as well. As I mentioned we have friends living on both of the upper leases and both of the families do an excellent job of looking after their mini-farms. You can tell they're doing quite well just by looking at the houses and yards, but I think they're a bit competitive. They've both trimmed and maintained the caragana hedges all along the outer edges of their acreages and both of them have brought in shade trees, ornamental bushes and flowering plants to plant near their homes. In fact both properties look almost as if they've been there forever.

About a year after Al and Em moved in, the county of Mountview improved the main access road to the upper plateau as well, eliminating the long S-curve, replacing the narrow bridge and gravelling the road. Once all that was done they included it in their regular maintenance list, but even then Al Jeffries or one of his men often do the snow plowing in the winter, but the job is a lot simpler and easier than before. As a result we're seldom snowed in for more than a day or two even in the worst storms of the winter.

Even without the improved county road we wouldn't be stuck at home for long because Al, Wil and I used our bulldozers and Al's backhoe to create a useable trail that links Mile High Ranch to the lower farm. We didn't tackle Dad's idea of blasting out a trail down the big cliff below Mile High Ranch though. Instead our trail starts on the upper plateau just past the junction of the hydro road leading to the Dumfries Ranch and the roadway leading down to Mile High Ranch. From there it leads across the upper plateau, then near the south-western corner of the 'Frenchman's' half section it turns and runs down one side of the largest erosion gully leading to the lower lease. We made sure that our path followed the side of the erosion gully which was farthest from the prevailing wind, that way it doesn't drift in very badly during a blizzard. That new trail isn't meant for normal cars and trucks though, just for high-clearance four-wheel drives, tractors and motorcycles in the summer, or snowmobiles, skis and snowshoes in the winter. Still it does give us an alternate route to get from one lease to the other. The main advantage of the new trail is that it allows us to move supplies, equipment and livestock between Mile High Ranch and the lower lease much easier than before. We no longer have to worry about holding up traffic on the county road when we move heavy loads, livestock or equipment from one ranch to the other.

The ranch land on the lower lease is operated by the 'B-C-G Cattle Company' - in other words the Bender, Crawford and Grant families - who are often the buyers of any extra hay produced by Mile High Ranch now. They also buy any steers or feeder cattle that we cull from our purebred herd, but in return we buy almost all of our bedding straw and most of our feed grain from them. Actually, the two ranches work so closely together and have such a balanced trade that very little money actually changes hands between the two businesses, except on paper. Our largest land tax and government lease payments are shared between the two ranches because of the way the lease is set up and we've managed to keep our businesses free of any major debt. Of course like any farming or ranching business it hasn't always been easy and quite often our purchases are rather expensive, so we usually have to budget for them.

We still have a propensity to purchase used machines and equipment at auction or during the off season, then we rebuild worn equipment to like new condition in the family shops during the winter. However on occasion you simply have to buy replacement equipment and that's when having a large family who work closely with each other can be a major benefit. The reason for that is simple, large groups often have capital in one form or other. Usually that capital is in the form of either cash or negotiable goods, but it can also be a very good credit rating. Luckily for my family, the last time we had to make any large purchases we had all three forms of capital available to us and we used that to our advantage.

Recently we were all struggling with several pieces of equipment that had reached the point where they were quite badly worn just at the time when weather and ambition conspired against a local equipment dealer. In late July all the farms in our area had appeared to have a bumper crop underway, so the local equipment dealer considered the situation and had seen many people using badly worn equipment. He decided to gamble and increased his standing inventory in anticipation of fall sales after local farmers had harvested bumper crops. Then in late August, just before people were about to start harvesting their crops, a series of high winds, heavy rains and vicious hailstorms hit the area. Since we specialize in hay production for much of our cash crop, we had already harvested the basis of our yearly income and what grain fields Dad, Uncle Tom and Bob Grant grew hadn't been hit very hard by the passing storms. As a result, between the sale of both feed and animals from our two ranches, as well as our other business ventures, the family made out extremely well that year and the family had capital to burn. That meant we either needed to spend some money to replace some of our older equipment, or we'd be dishing it out to the government in taxes.

That fall Dad and Will needed a new mid-sized tractor, the two Toms needed a similar tractor, while I needed a slightly smaller tractor, and we could all use a round baler and a hay conditioner, so we thought we'd try dealing for the lot as a group. Then when we heard about the dealer's overstock problem, so we thought we might just drop around for a visit and see what sort of prices he'd quote us on a 'fleet' sale. We actually made a deal that ended up saving a bundle when we purchased two lightly used mid-sized tractors, a somewhat smaller used tractor, a used mower/conditioner and a new round baler. It took us two days of negotiations and a special trip to the bank, but I'm sure we upset the finance company who normally handled the dealer's sales because they made no money on our purchase. We paid him the full amount for all five pieces of equipment with one large certified cheque, probably the largest denomination cheque I'd ever signed. I don't think that dealer had ever been happier to receive a large cheque, because while we were waiting for two flat deck trucks to arrive to take our equipment home, he rushed off to the bank.

In fact the dealer was back from depositing the cheque before we had both of Charlie Engels' trucks loaded, but now he was all smiles. That's when he told us that our purchase had made all the difference between going bankrupt and being able to remain in operation for another year or two and perhaps more.

"Well, please don't spread around the fact that we paid in cash," Dad smiled. "Admittedly we had a good year, but still we don't want to be up to our eyeballs in salesmen who've had a bad year, with them wanting to sell us something we don't really need."

"Oh no, I'd never do that. Your payment is privileged information. You know about it, I know about it and the bank knows about it. Other than that, it's no one else's business," the dealer smiled back at Dad.

And we believed him - until a few days later when Dad and I happened to be sitting in the Chinese café having a coffee with Cyrus Ambrose, our lawyer. It was raining that day and we'd been lucky to get a seat because it looked as if half the farmers in the county had developed the urge to have a coffee at the same time, so we were all there having a gab fest. Our coffee time discussion was interrupted for a short time when Don Davis came in with his wife, but for once he was out of uniform. Don and his wife sat behind us at the only empty booth left in the café, but first we all greeted him and since we'd never met her, he introduced his wife to Dad and me. That was only a short break though, then we resumed our discussion about some new federal taxes which we all felt were unfair to farmers and ranchers alike.

Not more than two minutes later we had to break off our discussion once more, but the second interruption was nowhere near as pleasant.

Instead a fat slug of a man walked in and I recognised him. He was a guy I'd seen before when the group of religious nuts had been hunting for Sandy and her sisters, but at that time he'd been in the company of several thugs. This time it seemed he was with B. J. Pratt, the skinny lawyer who'd made a fool of himself by trying to contest the reading of Grampa Bender's will. That slimy lawyer had a smirk on his face, but the self-satisfied look on the fat slob's face was almost enough to make me puke. Somehow I knew we were in for trouble though because they were walking toward Dad and I with greedy looking smirks on their faces.

"Oh no," I sighed deeply. "Here come Mutt 'n Jeff and I'll bet they're gonna make trouble."

Cyrus turned to look up the aisle, then snorted. "Why hello there, Councillor Pratt? Have you come back to our little town to avail yourself of another lesson in jurisprudence?"

"No, I'm not here to take part in more of your shenanigans, Ambrose. I'm here to confront young Mr. Crawford. It is the contention of Bishop Samuels that young Crawford has somehow managed to abscond with the funds formerly held by William McAdam. Unfortunately those funds actually belong to the Church of the 'United Brethren of Apostolical Unity' and Bishop Samuels is their leader."

"What in Hell are you yammering about, you ..." I started to say, then tried to rise to my feet. Only a hand reached out from behind me and pressed me back into my seat, so I glanced over and saw Don Davis just pulling back his hand and shaking his head.

"Chris! Let me handle this blowhard," Cyrus barked, interrupting me at the same time as Don pushed me down, then turned to the skinny shyster. "Pratt, you had better have undeniable proof of that accusation because there must be thirty people in this room that just heard you accuse one of the most honest men I have ever met of being a thief. If you don't have proof, then you've slandered him and I will do my best to convince my client to sue you for everything you have, including every loney you have hidden from public knowledge."

"I have the proof right here," Pratt reached in his pocket and waved around a piece of paper. "This is a copy of a certified cheque the silly fool wrote yesterday for over two hundred thousand dollars worth of farming equipment. He had to be using the money Bill McAdam stole, which young Crawford then stole from McAdam, because everyone knows that all the crops in this area were wiped out by hail this fall. I'm going to have him investigated, then we'll trace back how he and his family managed to pilfer those church funds and laundered them to make it look as if they had earned them."

"You stupid ass!" Jason Dumfries hollered from a nearby booth. "Chris sold over eighty thousand dollars worth of hay from his ranch this year as well as selling about forty or fifty purebred animals, each one worth several grand. On top of that, he holds the lease on another twenty thousand acres that his father and the rest of his family ranch. They had a great hay crop too, so between all of them, they cut the hay on a whole bloody township of land, you stupid dolt! That hay crop was cut, bailed, sold and hauled off to storage long before the rain and hail even started. Not only that, but the worst of that damn storm missed them completely, so there's no damn way they'd have to steal any stupid church's money. Besides, I've seen that asshole you're with when he was in town last spring. Only then he was menacing little old ladies and scaring young kids by threatening them with his damn thugs. I've half a mind to call the cops and have them arrest both of you for stupidity.

"No need to call cops. I do myaself alleady," Fong broke in loudly, coming from the kitchen and waving his cleaver as he marched toward Pratt and his bishop buddy. "I lememba dese two, come in heeya befo, eat big suppa. They leave, no pay fo nutin' - I tell dem den to neva come back - if they do I have lock up. Hey! Aleady you risten, you heah siren, poreese come now. Take cheap-skate t'iefs away! Put behine bars, prees. I chawge for run way, no pay."

"Easy, Fong. I'll handle this," Don Davis said in a quiet voice that still seemed to carry, then he stood and turned toward Pratt and Samuels, and held up his hand. "In case you are wondering, gentlemen, and I use that word legally, not literally, I happen to be an off duty RCMP officer, but today I am also a witness to your slander. The constables who are coming up behind you as I speak will escort you to our cell block where you will be held until I return there as the Chief Constable of the local RCMP detachment. It will then be my pleasure to oversee my constables while they deal with your case. Hopefully the constables will take sworn depositions of your libellous statements from each and every person in this room, including myself. Since you have caused trouble in this community at previous times, I have hopes that our local lawyer, Cyrus Ambrose will convince Mr. Crawford to charge you with slander and whatever additional indictments he feels applicable.

"Oh yes, Mr. Pratt, before I forget. Would you please pass that sheet of paper you were waving around previously to the constable at your elbow? I happened to notice that it looked very much like it was a copy of a certified cheque. If I find that in truth it is such an item, it will be needed as evidence and is the primary reason I am involved in seeing that you are taken into custody. It is my duty as a federal officer of the law to charge you for possession of a federally protected financial document and you will be charged under the federal banking act.

"Officers, please arrest these men on suspicion of misuse of a certified financial document with the intent of coercion, intimidation and blackmail. Please place them in separate cells so they cannot communicate with each other. As well have each of them searched thoroughly for any other illicit documents as well as any dangerous or suspicious objects which might be used as weapons. Also, if they have any vehicles in this town, please confiscate those vehicles and have them searched thoroughly for any other illegal items. I have a suspicion that we have two very large fish on our hands, so I want them hooked, netted and landed."

I didn't know exactly what to expect after that, but only a moment later as Pratt and Samuels were escorted out in handcuffs there was a loud cheer from the crowd in the café, loud enough to rattle the plates in Fong's kitchen. Then everyone started talking at once and it seemed everyone in the room was advising me to sue both men. Cyrus was the most vocal on that score, but I knew he disliked Pratt. In fact I was certain of that even before the reading of Grampa Bender's will, just from the way he had greeted his fellow lawyer then. So, feeling curious, I asked about it as soon as I had the opportunity.

"B. J. Pratt had very well to do parents, in fact his father was a politician, but the son isn't anywhere near as intelligent or as skilled with words as his father was. Instead he's a hedonist and a wastrel, who I've unfortunately known since we were both in law school. He was a year behind me, but even then he threw money around like it was confetti and he was at a wedding. With his money, a fancy car and his father's influence, he was able to get the attention of the best looking women on campus. In fact he made a name for himself as a womanizer who wooed beautiful women, then once he'd had his way with them, he'd drop them and moved on to a new conquest.

"After Pratt had articled in the law, his father drew him into a few shady political manoeuvres and several poor investments, then the stock market fell into a recession. Pratt and his father no longer had as much influence and the younger Pratt was virtually broke. He became something of an ambulance chaser for a while and unfortunately, he's never really recovered from the sleazy shylock mindset he developed then. It's not that he isn't a good lawyer in certain fields, but he's lazy and he takes shortcuts which usually end up being used against him when his cases come to court. But then just look at his choice of clients at the present time, first your uncle William, then this sleazy third grade preacher from some wild, no-name church!"

"Actually that church is an offshoot of the Mormons," I snorted. "The preacher who was here is from a branch which started out as a polygamist offshoot of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. At first they were members of a branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or just the FLDS, which still believes in polygyny. These guys split from that, so who knows what they really are or what they believe now, but although I'd have a hard time proving it, I know they still believe that they each have the right to have several wives."

"How do you know all about that?" Cyrus questioned.

"Easy, Jackie and her brothers told me all about it, since that's the group they were running from when they first came here. Well actually the boys were sort of chased out, because they were becoming men. If they'd had sex with a young woman that would cut down on number of the young women available to the church elders, who are poorly hidden polygynists. Jackie sabotaged their chances to snare her, because she had sex with a young guy when she was only fourteen, which meant she was 'spoiled goods' to those bastards in their sick church. Bill McAdam sent her to live with Sam and Ann to see if they couldn't marry her off. Then when Jackie was hurt in that first accident and Sam killed himself in the second one, Bill sent his sons to kidnap her, planning to ship her off to Bountiful, the FLDS enclave in BC. Between Lucille having the guys arrested and my family hiring them, then paying them a living wage, we put the kibosh to that nonsense though. Unfortunately Bill had a long memory and was a vindictive bastard, so he came out here to wipe the slate clean and in the process had the accident that killed him. I suspect he was a crook though and was siphoning off their funds, then I guess the church couldn't find where he'd hidden their money after he died, so the bishop is pissed off."

"Now I understand," Cyrus nodded slowly. "I also understand why that fake Bishop is so riled with you, your wife, her sisters and the McAdam brothers. You are probably his primary enemy because you have changed the minds of several of the youth of his church, meanwhile your wife and her sisters represent his loss to you. In his mind you are effectively stealing his power. Over and above that though, I'd be willing to wager that he had an arrangement with Bill McAdam to turn the churches funds into real estate, possibly as a form of money laundering. You were even involved with Bill McAdam's death, ergo he's become certain that you stole the money, or at least that might be how he twists the facts to develop an excuse to harass you."

"So how do we get him and his thugs off my butt?"

"Sue him, then sue the lawyer, the church and whoever was responsible for them getting their hands on that copy of your cheque," Cyrus snarled, reminding me of a mad dog. "I'll take the case for five percent of the court settlement as a fee, but I wager I'll still have enough money to retire from that small percentage."

"Fine, I'll sue them just to shut them up, but I don't want their money. I consider it dirty money, because I view the way they treat their wives and children as a form of slavery."

"Then make it impossible for them to continue treating their families in that manner. Bankrupt them and use the money to create a foundation that gives out scholarships to the needy, or give it to some other charity. You don't have to gain any personal benefit from the lawsuit, but I think you need to strip them of their resources and hidden funds so they will be forced to leave you alone."

"Dad, what do you think?"

"I agree with Cyrus. You have to stop them from ruining more people's lives. Look what a single member of that twisted church did to your friends. He killed three of those friends and destroyed the lives of three more. On top of that you and Sandy live in fear, and don't try to tell me otherwise, I've seen you eyeball each and every car that comes down the hill to your ranch. I also know that there is a rifle and a shotgun right by the front door of your house and that Al Jeffries gets cheap rent because you've hired him to watch the road and warn you if trouble is on the way. You, my daughter-in-law, my grand-children and my friends who live and work at your ranch shouldn't have to live like that," he spoke quietly. "I think you should sue the sons-a-bitches for every dollar you can get and then some, but it would be even better if you could put them all in jail."

"I believe Officer Don Davis will see to the latter," Cyrus smiled his shark smile again. "You see he has the evidence and testimony of several people that those two broke federal banking rules and regulations. If you bankrupt them in civil court over defamation of character, harassment and any other charges I can think of, then they go to criminal court over breaking the banking laws, they will be literally emasculated. For the time being, just go over to the RCMP detachment and charge them with defamation of character and harassment, but tell the officer there that more charges might well be forthcoming."

"Just like that?" I asked.

"Just like that," he nodded.

So I did.

Then I drove home and late that night, after the kids were in bed and asleep, I told Sandy all about what had happened. She listened patiently and agreed with me that we didn't want their money, but she thought Cyrus might be right about starting a fund for a charitable cause or a foundation to assist students get an education. Then she frowned deeply.

"If Uncle Bill had so much of the church's money, where do you think it went? How did it all disappear?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I think Matt, Mark and Luke have it, but that's a secret between you and me," I grinned. "Remember all the fuss I went through just after they were awake and functioning in the hospital, right after they were shot? They asked me to get all of their Dad's clothes and everything from the police, but when I gave it to them, they tossed away the lot, except for his suitcase, his briefcase, his boots and his wallet. I heard later that they even flushed his ashes down the toilet and smashed the urn the ashes came in, so I'm positive they didn't want any of his possessions for sentimental reasons. I think those guys are a lot smarter than anyone gave them credit for. I'm almost positive that the items they did keep gave them a way to gain access to the money and I think they knew just what to look for, then worked out a way to slip away with it. To be honest though, I'd much rather they had the money than that slimy bishop. I think they earned every penny just to pay them back for the pain and problems they've gone through."

"Yeah, I think I agree with you, but I'd like to know for sure that they did get it. We could always call them, you know. I have their phone number and address in Creston."

"Oh they're not there any longer," I snorted. "Just as soon as I got home today I went into my office and called their number, planning to tell them about what had happened in town. The operator came on the line and told me that number was disconnected. Then I called their neighbour's number, the one that the guys gave as an alternate emergency number, the woman there told me that they'd sold everything and moved away months ago. They didn't leave a forwarding address or a contact number either, so I called Clarence, just in case, but he hasn't heard from them either. In fact I think their move to Creston may have been another red herring because I can't see how they could have done much to hurt the enclave out in BC. It's far too deeply intrenched for anyone to do much to them without government assistance."

"Those sneaky buggers," she snickered. "I agree with you though. I hope they got the money and I hope it gives them some sort of satisfaction. After all they've been through, they certainly deserve that much."

"Well, I have to think they did and I think perhaps I know how, but if I tell you my thoughts, I don't want you to pass them on to anyone, alright?"

"Oh, that's guaranteed, but what makes you think you're smarter than the RCMP were, I'll bet Don Davis went over Uncle Bill's possessions with a fine tooth comb?"

"Actually when I picked up his ashes I discovered two things that I don't think Don even looked at. Somehow he didn't find that old bastard's second wallet, which was in a pocket inside his shirt and I doubt if he looked at Bill McAdam's boots, but I think those two items were all that the guys needed." I raised a hand to stop the protest Sandy seemed ready to make. "I recall reading a book that feature a spy who had hidden a code to gain access to his safety deposit box in his wallet, by using a message written on his 'lucky' dollar bill and he kept a key to the safety deposit box in the heel of his shoe. Now I'm not positive that your uncle read the same story that I did, but if he did ..."

"Oh God! Of course, Uncle Bill's bloody boots!" Sandy interrupted me. "He wore those same damn boots whenever he was involved in a big business deal because he said they were his good luck charm, but Matt, Mark, Luke and John would have known that. But you know what? There's no way we'll ever know for sure. Still, I think I'm going to sleep better tonight, because I think you're right, so thank you for telling me."

Now I don't really know if I was right or not and I don't suppose I ever will, but if explaining my reasoning to Sandy gave her any peace of mind, then I was satisfied. Not only that, but I felt they deserved any of Bill McAdam's ill gotten gains they had found and after considering the way they had been treated by their father and his 'church,' I hoped it was millions.

### Chapter 60