Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What one thing

What's the one thing (could be minor like mine) if you sit back and think let you know you made it? Maybe not to the top, but to a point where you take a breath and smile and say fugg yeah, life don't suck.

When I was able to buy my wife our first good vehicle to drive, I was on cloud nine.
When I signed papers on my first house, I thought I had the world by the balls.

But honestly, being able to pay someone else to shoe my fugking horses makes me realize I have achieved something. Wife's gelding threw a shoe and farrier won't come till next week. She took time off work and really wanted to ride, so I pulled my tools out and did his hinds. Christ almighty. LMAO I used to do 3-4 in a morning then whatever work there was to do for whichever outfit I was working for. Or I'd spend all day doing a string. Did my own for years, but that's only a couple at a time. Been a few years now, and just doing half of one about whipped my ass. Didn't help he jerked his foot and gave me a decent scratch before I twisted off one of the nails. He almost crossed the rainbow bridge with a hammer in his head.

I’m still on this side of the ground. I’m good with that.

My retirement checks...

I do envy you that. 8.5 years........

We’ll have a sip or two when you do...

I definitely pay a farrier...grin..

BillyGoatGruff;
Good afternoon to you sir, I'm hoping that other than having to shoe the horse that your day is going acceptably and you and yours are well.

As a former horse guy, my hat's off to you for shoeing your own too. We always had a chap come in and hot shoe them, but I'd take them off in the winter. Our old Quarter Horse gelding was a "leaner" and my goodness it was tiring getting the backs off of him...

He'd buck once in awhile too, but was very transparent about that, so other than those two vices he was a pretty good horse. Fantastic cow horse the couple times I had him up doing that.

Anyway to your question, I'm not sure it was as much a monetary thing with me personally as it was family milestones, you know?

If we take away any personal religious beliefs, I've long believed that the most important task we have here - if we choose to have kids or not - is to make good replacement humans.

We started our married life losing everything in the first couple years farming, then drifted west and lived a pretty hand to mouth sort of life for a good while, but eventually we amassed enough wealth that there's more "things" around to fix than I want to repair anymore. The "stuff" didn't mean that much to me before and means increasingly less now, though it's part of our lifestyle here in the west I believe.

So to answer your question, I'd say that when our youngest daughter graduated high school with honors and a full ride scholarship to her choice of 2 universities and our eldest had good steady work was likely when I thought that if my number was up I'd have considered my work down here successful more or less.

The youngest got her first degree, she graduated with honors again and is going for her second one now and the eldest is married, working at a better place and they bought a house which they're paying down in stellar fashion, so again that reinforces my sense of peace in where I'm at on the road of life more or less.

While I'm not sure the answer I've given was what you'd intended, it's nonetheless where I'm finding myself, so hopefully it's okay that I've phrased it in those terms.

On the retirement thing, I'm now into my 4th month at my first kick at it and I've been going flat out on projects the entire time sir! I have no concept of how I got anything done before working 45 plus hours a week!

Thanks for the thread and all the best to you folks.

Dwayne

No mortgage payments.

Haven’t gotten there.
Don’t really expect to get there.
I’ve accepted that.
I ain’t really wanting for much.
Find a pulse every morning, so far!
Life’s good!

Bought my wife her first decent car. Ours came with payments.
House. 30 year sentence looming over me.


For me, last mortgage payment,
or the 2 year old car bought with cash.

Now, im 50 with 13 and 17 year old girls, retirement looms.
The IRA guy and the 401 guy both tell me I'm in great shape.
Then compare me to the average Schmo who has $12.91 in savings.

When the girls are settled and I'm securely retired, I will have made it.
If I see it.

“Fond” memories!😳
I shod for years. Now only my own. Did my pards horses until he died in January.

Once had an A-rab stallion take a hind away just as I was about to wring. The nail went through the ‘fat’ of my ring finger between my hand and first knuckle. I had to follow that foot to the ground and carefully extract my hand. Fortunately, he put his foot down and left it in one spot.

I do all the mechanic work out here.

All the handy man stuff too. Electrical, plumbing, heating....ect.

I cook...I can clean. I do my own laundry.


I kill the pets and animals that need killed.

If it's a nasty job....Jim does it.



I do NOT mechanic on horses. Nope.

Wife bought a knife and a couple rasps....handed em to me.


I asks her if she is gonna rebuild that transmission and split the IH.

She says no.......I hands back the rasp and knife.

When insurance, accounting, banking and investment firms started sending me checks in the mail, don't know what they're for, and DGAS today, I just throw em on the desk and let Wife put em up, and yes, smiles come easy on 'life's work' reflection, for a myriad of reasons.

Funny what will trigger a fond memory... All of my grand parents passed before I was born. However, my mother used to tell the story of her father working with a mule. The mule got "mule headed" about something. My grand father took the single tree and smacked the mule between the eyes. ... At which point the mule "crossed the rainbow bridge."

Retired and knowing I don’t have to worry about monthly bills. Been like that for about ten years now even before retirement. Ed k

The day I landed right at 5 o'clock within walking distance to the bar.

i have no more kids in school

The wife has each one of their pictures framed in a K-12 16x20 frame

13 little pics and then cap/gown pic in center.


Was looking at this morn

They still have a lot growing up to do.

I think my kids are less mature than me and their mother at the same age. Way way less.

At 20, had two car notes, a young wife, parents in Kenya, night classes at university, a 7-4 factory job, a side business roofing and started building our home on weekends.

My mother used to shoe our horses when I was a kid. My job was to twist that twitch on their nose. Ha!!

That nose will almost go upside down. 👍

I still have her brass gauge and a couple other tools.

When I realized I had no clue which day was or wasn’t payday.

When we became debt free and had everything we needed.