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Image: Free Wallpaper from http://www.scenicreflections.com/ ~Sephrena.

Author's Note: Thank you Hope for your encouragement and help in editing. Thank you Sephrena for making the post appear professional. Most of all thank you to all who have commented or left Kudos. For those who have left comments, I answer them with what I hope is something witty and appreciated. ~Barbara.

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Chapter 44: Gail
 
The eggs were brought into the house and put in the refrigerator. The little girl was given the basket, and they walked to the garden behind the barn. Jesse was working the garden to feed the ranch hands and put up vegetables for the winter. They had a small greenhouse they used to start some of the summer vegetables early. Jesse was looking at the greenhouse guessing at the size. “Teacher, I think if we work this right we can expand the greenhouse and have fresh vegetables all year. We will need some grow lights and growing medium.”

“Powering grow lights can be expensive.”

“True, but have you noticed how the wind blows down the valley. I think we can produce our own power and if we cover the south side of the barn with solar panels we could almost get off grid. It's just a concept right now. If I do everything I want to do, I am going to keep the engineering firm in town busy for awhile. Lets get the greens picked and head back in. I want to call the engineer and have him come out where we can discuss plans and how much things will cost.”

They picked the fresh tender young leaves until they had enough for a salad for the ranch hands supper. There weren't enough chickens yet to start harvesting them for suppers, but it wouldn't be long before their order of chicks would arrive and they could start raising chickens in earnest. For now, they would rely on the beef and wild hogs to get them through. There were other game animals that they could hunt and fishing wasn't out of the question. The ranchers could make do with what they had and run to town for staples such as flour, salt, and sugar.

With greens washed and put away, Jess figured this would be a good time to call Gail and check up on George. Gail had a cell phone though it didn't work well on the ranch. There weren't enough people around to warrant putting cell towers in the area. That is why the farm used radios, satellite phones and phones still hooked to a wire on poles. The young woman sat in her office and looked up Gail's number and punched the buttons on the phone. The phone she was calling went straight to voice mail. “This is Gail. I can't take your call at the moment. Please leave a number and I will call you back.” Jesse waited for the tone, “Hi Gail, This is Jesse. I called to check up on you and George. Call me when you get a few minutes, on the satellite phone. We will be out riding this afternoon. Here's the number.” After leaving the number, she hung up the phone and started looking through the mail.

There was a letter from the lawyer back east in which he reported that her father receive four years in prison. He wasn't sure that would be long enough to repress her father's anger. He would monitor the prison term and warn her when her father got out of prison.

Another letter was from Dr. Jones stating that he wanted to see Merry, Wednesday the next week. He had Doc Henley's x-rays and MRI's. Knowing she was going to Helena the next week she would call her new cook and see if she was ready for life on a ranch. The rest of the letters were bills and fliers advertising everything from apples to tractors to women's clothes.

She looked up the phone number for the engineering firm in town. A receptionist answered the phone, “Hamilton and Associates. How may I direct your call?”

“Hello. This is Jesse Hartman and I need some engineering work at my ranch. My foreman George Schilling may have called earlier to discuss one of the projects.”

“Yes, I remember. The engineer he spoke with was Ronald Hamilton, Jr. Let me see if Mr. Hamilton is available.” She put the wolf on hold while she contacted Mr. Hamilton. “Hello, This is Ron. How may I help you?”

“Yes, This is Jesse Hartman. I am the granddaughter of the late Bill Hartman. I inherited the ranch and I have a few projects that I would like to discuss with you.”

“Can you tell me a little of what you have in mind?”

“I want to build a small mobile home park for my ranch hands, I have a green house that I want to expand, and I want set up some wind mills and solar panels for power generation. Are these projects with which you can help?”

“Yes, we can perform those tasks.”

“Good. I would like for you to come out and look over the projects where we can determine costs and get you started.”

“When would you like for us to come out.”

“How about Monday next week. I have to be in Helena Wednesday. I can meet early Tuesday, but that may rush things.”

“How about 1:00 Monday Afternoon?”

“Okay, here's how to get to the ranch.” They hung up after she gave directions and said their goodbyes.

The phone rang just as the young woman was getting up to get her ledger off the bookshelf. “Hello. This is Jesse.”

“Hello, it's Gail. I thought I would try and catch you before you left the house. How are things at the ranch?”

“We're muddling through. Things don't run quite as smooth with you and George gone. How are you holding up?”

“I'm much better now that George is out of danger. It was rough when they first brought him in. He was so dehydrated that they had to be careful about getting too much water in him too quick.”

“Really? Why was that?”

“The doctors told me that if they put too much water in him with out the required electrolytes, he could suffer brain damage or worse. He could drown if they were not careful. His kidneys were shutting down because of the lack of water, so they put him on dialysis to protect his kidneys. I thought I was going to lose him.”

The girl could here the anguish in the voice of the older woman, “You take as much time as you need to get George well again. Merry and I will be there Wednesday and we will stop in.”

“George may still be in the hospital. They have him in ICU and are monitoring him until he can urinate on his own. They are still having to use the dialysis machine on him. He is making progress as his color looks better.”

“Good. How is that grandbaby doing? I bet she is growing like weed.”

“Not so much that I can tell. About all they do at her age is lie around, eat and poo. Kinda like some people I know. She just now discovered her thumb and hand. She keeps it stuck in her mouth when she's awake. I guess it'll be her foot next. When they stick their foot in their mouth at this age no one gets embarrassed.”

The younger woman laughed at the joke. “I'll see if I can leave early enough to drop Merry off at Cindy's and then we will go see George. Do I need to bring you anything?”

“Not really, but some fresh eggs, meat, or vegetables would be nice. These store bought eggs just don't taste the same.”

“I'll bring a CARE package when I come. See you Tuesday.” They said their goodbyes, and Jesse walked back into the main house to check on Merry. The older girl found the child in the kitchen where she had let Skipper in the house. He was laying in the middle of the floor with his legs in the air and the little girl was rubbing his tummy. One could see how happy the dog was with is tongue hanging out and a smile on his face. The old shaman was sitting at the table reading while making sure the little one stayed out of trouble.

“I'm sorry, Teacher. I should have asked you to watch Merry while I was in the den. Thank you.”

“I was happy to do it. I didn't know if you let the dog in the house, but Merry asked if her friend could come in. I wouldn't let them run in the house. She was scratching him behind the ears and the next thing I knew he was on his back begging for a tummy rub. She has been like this for awhile. Every time she tries to quit, the dog lets out this pitiful whine that she rubs him some more.”

“Merry, would you like to play a game of Candyland with Two bears and me.”

“Can Skipper play too?”

“Dogs can't play Candyland. They're like wolves. They can't see colors.”

“Will he have to go back outside?”

“Probably. He likes being outside. That's where most of his friends are. We are going to take a ride this afternoon. He can tag along. Do you think you would like that?”

“I think Skipper would like that too.”

“I think so. I'll play with you some. Then Two Bears can play with you. I've some work in the office. After that, I'll fix us some lunch. Debbie and Gabriel should be back by then. While Gabe is saddling the horses, we can take a short nap.” The little girl was satisfied with the arrangements, so they played a short game of Candyland. The young woman went to her office where she called Dr. Jones to set up the appointment. Then she called Joan her new cook to see if she is ready to move to the ranch.

“I've been ready since I turned in my two weeks. They said I could leave when ever you were ready for me to come out.”

“Okay, get packed and and we'll leave for the ranch Thursday.”

“Amanda hasn't stopped talking about riding a horse since we met you. And she is doing much better. Thank you for helping her.”

“I think it was a team effort with your heritage. I'll pick you up Thursday. By the way, have you told your husband yet?”

“Yes. He is excited about getting to meet you. He will have to find work when he gets home.”

“What is he qualified to do and when will he be home?”

“He's a diesel mechanic for the army, but he can fix just about anything. He'll be overseas for the next nine months, but this is his last tour. He says he'll get out now that Amanda is doing well. As long as she was sick, he was going to stay in the service where we are getting free health care.”

“You say he is a mechanic? My other mechanic told me he had enough of the bitter cold up here and decided to move to Arizona. I think his wife has some to do with it too. Any way. Your husband has a job here as soon as he gets out.”

“He is going to love that news. I'll tell him next time he calls. Thank you. You have been very kind to us.”

“Well you are going to be a big help to me. Thank you for agreeing to help Gail with the cooking.”

They said their goodbyes and finished the call. The wolf walked into the kitchen with a grin on her face. The old bear looked at her, “What are you grinning about?”

“I have just got off the phone with my new cook and have found a new mechanic in the bargain.”

“What happened to your old mechanic?”

“He was with the others when they were caught by the rustlers. He says he is moving to Arizona to get out of the bitter cold up here, but I think he is still having trouble with nightmares. It'll be good to get some fresh blood on the ranch, and I'll be helping out a veteran at the same time.

“I'll start lunch by the time I'm finished maybe the others will be back.” The girl wasn't going to make anything fancy, just sandwiches, but as they baked their own bread on the ranch it would have to be sliced and the meat and cheeses needed to be sliced too. “Teacher, you wouldn't happen to know how to make cheese or sausages?”

“My mother had a recipe for sausage and cheese. I'm sorry I don't remember them. I can call my niece . Her mother may have passed the old recipe box down to her. There were many natural remedies as well as recipes for the traditional food.”

“This is your sister's girl?”

“Yes. My sister passed some time back. I still keep in contact with my niece. I was going to ask if could borrow your phone.”

“You didn't have to ask, but thank you for being considerate. Take as much time as you need to speak with her. Let me write down my e-mail address and you can give it to her. If she has the old recipes she can either e-mail them to me or send me the box. I'll scan them into the computer and send the box back to her with a copy of the recipes on a disk.”

“I'll call her tonight. She lives between here and Helena. Maybe you can drop me off on the way and pick me back up on your way back.”

“That sounds like a deal”

“What sounds like a deal?” asked the young rancher as he walked in with his sister.

“I'm taking Merry to see Dr. Jones next week. Two Bears' niece lives along the way, so I will drop him off on the way and pick him up on the way back. I've fixed some lunch if you two haven't eaten.”

“I haven't, but I think Debbie grabbed something at the house.”

“After we eat, Merry and I are going to lay down while you saddle the horses. Merry is too little to ride the larger horses. We need to get her a pony.”

“I still have my old pony from when I was little,” the sister replied. “He was a bit ornery when he was younger, but he's mellowed some what. He might have a few years left in him and he may like the attention. That is how I tamed him. When he acted up I would ignore him and put him in isolation from the other horses. He soon learned that if he didn't behave he would be lonely. I still take him an apple as a treat when I get home on weekends. I believe the saddle is still in good shape.”

“May be Gabriel can bring the pony over here later. This trip Merry will ride with me on Big Spot.” They finished lunch and while Gabe got the horses ready the two wolves lay down for a nap.

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To Be Continued...