Got your 1st questions!

The Walker family, May 2011.

I'm glad to hear you guys got to look at my blog!  I'm also glad you guys had some questions for me.  I'll do my best to answer all of them. 1st of all, my family.  I am married to Kasey & we have been married for 6 years.  We have a 13 month old daughter named Lindsey!  We have an English bulldog named Bailey (she's a girl) and we have a huge gray and white cat named Ashton (he's a boy). 



Robbie, Kasey & Lindsey at my Grandmother's house in Nevada.





One of our cows with a calf.

Crops & Livestock on the farm.  Typically we have about 30 mother cows on the farm at any given time.  They will have calves (babies) every year.  Crops we have been growing have been sorghum (milo), sudan hay, wheat, and cotton.  This year, our fields were planted in cotton.  We have been experiencing a drought this summer that is one of the worst in history.  We haven't had any rain at the farm since OCTOBER of last year!!  The cotton didn't come up, so we just plowed it up.  Right now, our fields are empty.  Also, the cows ran out of pasture to graze on and since the drought is going on right now, there has been no hay.  Sadly, we had to sell all of our cows recently.  We started that herd with descendents from our 1st herd of cows we had on a ranch in New Mexico in 1994!!  We bred our cows to be very gentle and long-legged.  Traits that are desired for cattlemen trying to buy our calves each year. 



I do haul other things that scrap metal.  The company I work for also sells pipe.  I will take truckloads of pipe to customers all over West Texas.  I also haul copper for them.  Copper is a very valuable commodity right now, the price is high.  When it's high, my company buys and sells a LOT of it.  I usually take copper to Stephenville, TX about 3 hours away from Snyder.  I also haul alluminum for them.  Cans and large pieces.  Sometimes, I will haul an entire 18-wheeler full of old smashed up soda cans!  I will definately get pictures of that next time.  I will tell you more about my company later on.  On my own and for my family, I have hauled a lot of hay, yellow corn (for animals to eat), white corn (for people to eat), wheat, silage (immature corn that is chopped up and stored wet for cattle to eat), cattle, horses, steel, machinery, and farm equipment. 



Load of hay



Today, I made another trip to Waco.  I left at 4:30 AM and got back at 3:00 PM.  It took me a bit longer to get back because I had to get my truck washed.  We try to wash them once a week because they can get pretty gross with road grime, bugs, and dirt.  This gave me a great opportunity to get you a picture of truck 7!!  I got re-loaded with shredder in Sweetwater and I am to leave around 4:00 AM again Wednesday morning.  I am told this is my routine all this week unless something comes up. 



Truck 7 in the wash bay in Tye, TX.



Truck 7.  Anything different from Truck 24 that you notice?

I did see something interestning today.  I was following a dry van trailer for a while.  A dry van is like a great big box.  They haul lots of goods that need to stay dry and are okay with extreme heat and cold.  Things like paper, wood, clothes, furniture, and glass.  I haul copper and aluminum cans in a dry van.  I will get pictures in the future.  Anyways, after a few miles of following this truck, I noticed something on the back.  See it? 

Maybe in the next close-up picture?  It's an Alaska license plate!  ALASKA!!  All the way down here in Texas.  I'm a bit of a license plate nerd.  I have a collection of probably 80 license plates from all over.  New York to Alaska to Florida to California!  This close up is when we stopped in Hico, TX. 

Alaska plate!  Yellow on the left above the left tail lights.  Might have to really look hard. 

I really liked getting questions from you through Mrs. Hnizdo.  If you have the opportunity & permission, you can email me questions at:  robbieroywalker@gmail.com.  I think it would probably be easier to have Mrs. Hnizdo email your questions, but I will leave that up to her!  I hope your 1st week of class is going great!  --Robbie Walker