Little Life on An American Ranch

Whether a dog is a dog or not is not the matter in front of him, Jian Heng thought as he walked, after inspecting the fence of his own ranch, the eastern sky has turned pale.

The whole person was so sleepy that I couldn't keep my eyes open. When I got home, I didn't have the energy to choose a place. I took the bison and the little white lion into the space, got a blanket to cover my body, and fell asleep quickly. pig like.

When he opened his eyes, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon. Jian Heng brushed his teeth, casually touched two fruits to fill his stomach, and then walked along the road to the town.

Jian Heng really wanted to ride a horse, but the appearance of South African horses was a bit too abrupt, and the bison was even more inappropriate. As for the car, it was still in Zhang Jialiang's hands.

Fortunately, Jian Heng was lucky, he ran into an old acquaintance in less than five minutes after walking out the door——Old Gavin.

"Henry?!" Old Gavin parked the car in front of Jian Heng, and happily reached out and patted the door.

"Gavin, you are still the same! You are still so handsome with a beard!" Jian Heng smiled and praised the old man.

The old Gavin, surnamed Martinez, is a Mexican, with a mustache on his mouth, a bit of the bearded style that was popular during World War I.

The old man came to the United States from Mexico to seek a living when he was young, and he succeeded in the end, saving a family business here in Montana.

Old Gavin's family ran a farm, which mainly produced corn and flowers. The whole family lived on the farm and worked on the farm. Although the work was hard, the family worked together to live a good life.

"These years have been a lot whiter, by the way, where are you going, I'll take you for a while." After speaking, he signaled Jian Heng to come up.

While stretching out his hand to pull the car door, Jian Heng replied, "I'm going to go to Sarah's tavern in the town."

"That's just right, I'm going to the city and I happened to pass by there." Old Gavin saw Jian Heng got into the car, so he continued to drive along the road, chatting with Jian Heng while walking.

"Did you really take over the ranch?" Elder Gavin asked.

"Hmm! How's the profit of running the ranch now?" Jian Heng asked casually, just chatting and talking about whatever he thought of.

Old Gavin said: "It's not very good. The beef market is still the same these years without you. Everything has gone up, even beef. The price of food has not risen and it has remained at the price of a few years ago. The competition is getting bigger and bigger, and the young people in the town don't like to stay in the countryside to run ranches. They all run to the city, which reduces the labor force in the town. It turns out that they can secretly hire some odd jobs Yes, now that Trump is on stage, hey!"

The old man said that the part-time workers are black households, that is, illegal immigrants. These people only need to have a job, and their salary requirements are much lower than that of Americans.

Jian Heng nodded as he listened. Some people may think that the family’s 10,000 mu of land does not know how rich they are. In fact, they really need to rely on the land for food, and they have to have a climate like Texas.

Where is Montana, it snows for less than half of the year, especially in the middle of this mountain range, the harvest of crops is naturally not as good as that of the warm and humid southern continents.

The climate is a little bit, and the current development of agricultural technology in the United States is really too fast. No one is farming, and the tractor does not need to be driven. GPS positioning will automatically start plowing. Tens of thousands of acres of land can be cast on the computer. Without human hands, the machine does the work by itself.

After the seeds are sown, the helicopter fixed-point fertilization can accurately reach each plant, and the entire process of agricultural production is controlled on the computer. Such high-tech cultivation and animal husbandry companies have formed a very big problem for single-handed farmers and ranchers. pressure.

"How are Dylan and the others? Still working on the farm?" Jian Heng asked.

"Where else can they go? When they were sent to school before, none of them could get into the book. Where else can they go if they don't work on the farm?" Old Gavin said so,

But there was a little smugness on his face.

Now the farm income of the old Gavin’s family in the town is very good. The four sons Randy, Caleb, Mason and Joss are honest and honest boys, and all of them are strong laborers who are willing to work. I don’t know how much The old rancher admired that old Gavin had four wonderful sons.

"Look at your pride!" Jian Heng teased Old Gavin.

"Hahaha!" Old Gavin smiled happily, and then asked, "By the way, are you busy here alone now? Your buddy is nice, but he seems to be a little out of his mind!"

As he said that, old Gavin raised his hand on the steering wheel and waved it twice, indicating that Zhang Jialiang was a bit stupid.

"He's smart, but you people don't remind him, let him dress up like he came out of a circus." Jian Heng couldn't answer whether he was crying or laughing.

"It's very interesting! Dressed up like a hippie in the bar every day, everyone's mood is better!" Old Gavin said happily, as if thinking of Zhang Jialiang's dress, he immediately became happy again , the breath that came out of his mouth made his beard tremble.

The two chatted and arrived in the town after a while. Old Gavin put Jian Heng on the road and drove directly to Batavia.

Jian Heng waited for old Gavin's car to leave, and then he walked towards the tavern in the small town.

The small town here is really a small town, and few people can be seen in broad daylight. Almost all the buildings are along the road, so it looks sparse and has no momentum at all.

The tavern is not big, a wooden bungalow, less than 200 bungalows, white walls and gray roofs are similar to other buildings, except that there is a wine glass sign at the door, which says how many bars are in Sarah's bar? Character.

Looking from Jian Heng's current position, he may also see the silver old car behind the house, which is the residence of the bar proprietress Sarah.

Everything is almost exactly the same as Jian Heng left a few years ago, nothing changed from Ben.

Pushing open the door of the bar, Jian Heng's familiar taste immediately appeared in front of Jian Heng's eyes. There is nothing fancy in a small country bar. There is a bar counter, a dozen tables, and a karaoke machine in one corner. The kind that orders songs, this thing is very old, and the kind that just hits the button directly, probably appeared older than Jian Heng's old man. In addition, there is a tabloid shelf in the corner, where newspapers are placed for people to read when they are idle.

There were two or three old alcoholics sitting on the bar. When Jian Heng was working on the ranch, these three people were already there. They came here almost every day when the bar opened and left when it closed, as if they were working in the bar. It's still the same now, and even the clothes on several people don't feel like they've changed much.

"Hi Henry"

One of the old alcoholics recognized Jian Heng, raised his hand to say hello, and continued to drink his own wine.

"Hi, Barr!"

Jian Heng greeted him, then leaned over and sat on the seat in front of the Batai, and patted the table lightly: "Same as usual!"

At this moment, Sara was arranging the wine racks with her back to Jian Heng. She turned her head when she heard a guest asking for wine. When she saw that it was Jian Heng, she immediately stretched out her hands happily: "Hi, Henry!"

Jian Heng warmly hugged her: "Long time no see, Sara! You are still so beautiful!"

"You can talk, little Henry! Looks like I'm going to have another customer in my bar," Sara said with a smile.

"As you wish!" Jian Heng said with a smile.

"Or whiskey?" Sarah said.

Seeing Jian Heng nodded, Sarah went back to the bar and put an empty wine in front of Jian Heng, then added ice cubes and poured wine, and pushed the wine away after finishing all these. In front of Heng.

Taking a sip of the wine, Jian Heng tasted the familiar taste, so he praised Sarah.

"Are you coming back this time?" Sara started chatting with Jian Heng while wiping the wine utensils.

"Don't go!" After Jian Heng finished speaking, he took another sip of the wine, let the liquid swirl in his mouth, and then swallowed it: "By the way, Sarah, when will there be a livestock auction, I want to buy A few horses and a batch of cows."

After hearing this, Sarah stretched out her fingers to the newspaper rack at the bar: "It's there, I just remember that Marion's cattle auction will be in the middle of next month, you want to read the newspaper recently, I don't remember much."

At this time, a drunkard who was lying on the table said, "This Saturday, Marion has a game."

After speaking, he fell headlong on the bar table and seemed to continue to sleep again.

Jian Heng glanced at him: "Old Bruce is still like this?"

Sarah spread her hands lightly and shrugged helplessly.

Jian Heng can't just listen to a drunkard here, he turned around and read the latest issue on the newspaper rack. As expected, there was an article in the middle of the newspaper about this Saturday's Marion Livestock Auction. It says that the scope of shooting is cattle and horses, as well as some sheep and the like.

With the information he wanted, Jian Heng returned the newspaper, and then asked Sarah, is there anyone in the town who wants to do odd jobs, Jian Heng's ranch is going to make a big move now, it can't be done without manpower, if you If only the builders were counted on, the barn work would not be completed on time.

"It's very easy to find someone now. Both the ranch and the farm have just finished their work. Let me tell you your price!" Sarah took out a small whiteboard, laid it on the bar, picked up the oil-based pen and started Wait for Jian Heng to talk about the requirements and conditions of odd jobs.

Anyone who has done farm work can do this job. It is nothing more than cutting some wood, using a hammer, reinforcing the outer wall, and then putting wind and heat insulation materials between the walls.

The work is not heavy, as long as you have patience and work carefully.

Of course, such a professional thing as separating the second floor has to be done by a professional company. If Jian Heng does it by himself, if the intensity is not enough, and the students fall asleep and fall asleep from the second floor to the first floor, then it will be terrible. It's troublesome.