My Ranch Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Inspections

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

In America, a city’s size and economy is not determined by how much land it covers or the size of it’s population.

You can see this during NBA compet.i.tions. The Suns are from Phoenix, America’s 6th largest city in terms of population, but it’s really not a big city. The Spurs come from San Antonio, who rank 9th, also not a large city. The 10th ranked Detroit, 12th ranked Indianapolis, 21st ranked Seattle, 22nd Denver and so on. All of these cities can’t be considered big cities. Big cities are determined by the size of their metropolis.

Currently in America there are only 10 cities that can be considered to be major cities of the country (1). First on the list is of course New York. All of New York state, Long Island, and north New Jersey can all be considered part of New York city. Next would be Greater Los Angeles. Its metropolitan area consists of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana. Greater Chicago area include Naperville and Michigan City. Was.h.i.+ngton metropolitan area consist of Was.h.i.+nton DC, Arlington and Alexandria. Houston, Sugar Land, and The Woodlands make up Greater Houston. Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington form the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Greater Philadelphia is made up of Philadelphia, Camden and Wilmington. There is also the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area (San Francisco Metropolitan Area), the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area (Metro Atlanta). And lastly Greater Boston made up of Boston, Worcester, and Providence.

To be specific, the city of Boston is really small. It is also the smallest city out of all the major cities. The city was constructed when the Europeans first settled here. At the time the city was perfectly fine. But if you look at the city now, then the city can only be said to be short and small. It’s streets are also clogged with traffic, sometimes it’s even worse than the traffic jam in Beijing (2).

It might be because people are paying special attention to Boston. So towns.h.i.+ps like Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Avery, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton and Quincy who all surround Boston call also be considered to be part of Greater Boston. This is just like districts within China’s cities. The actual city is only a small part of the district, everyone else is added in later on. Which also explains the later existence of county level regions.

Jiang Hai is currently living in Winthrop, so if he says he’s living in Boston, then he is in Boston but also not really in Boston. Everyone has their own view on this matter.

After confirming the things on the priority list, Jiang Hai and his one and only employee went on an examination of the current state of the estate the second day. They also made a list of what needs to be replaced and what can still be used.

Currently, there can be said to be a lot of stuff in the estate, but not really. A total of 4 ATVs, which have been in operation for more than 10 years. The fact that it can still be ridden makes it quite a miracle. Hence they need to be replaced. At current market price of 20 to 30 thousand USD, it isn’t that bad. A lawn mower, that still can be used but need spare parts. In Jiang Hai’s view you might as well replace it. A large tractor which can still be considered new even after 10 years. The previous owner’s thoughts were pretty well rounded, if the beef market is bad then he can sell the wheat and other vegetables grown in the fields. Sadly he went broke and now everything belongs to Jiang Hai.

There is also a shed for cows and a shed for horses. It was originally built to be very st.u.r.dy, so during renovations, Lewis (3) had people fix up these two sheds with some of the leftover materials. Now, all they need is to have some people clean up the place and it’s good for use.

As for the fishery, Robins doesn’t have much knowledge in this field. So Jiang Hai went for a swim in the sea during noon. He can breathe underwater so of course he can stay out for a long time, but he is still afraid to travel too far from land.

There are many dangers underwater. Let us not even mention those tiger sharks and killer whales. Solely by poisonous jellyfish, sea snake and the like are enough to wreck him underwater. Jiang Hai does not know if his tattoo is enough to handle these creatures, but if a several meter long shark shows up then he’s got absolutely no chance of victory. At least, until he ranks up.

Therefore he didn’t swim too far out. However Jiang Hai is pretty happy with the current state of the fishery. This is a privately owned fishery; in the seven years this place stayed in the hands of Phillips, it’s ma.s.sive amount of petty lawyers kept this place’s environment well protected.

Soon, Jiang Hai saw lots of coral reefs. Although his fishery and the reef aren’t connected yet, it is still great for both the scenery as well as the fish. From the looks of things, there is no need to grow more corals, all he has to do safeguard it. There are lot of fish species living within the reef. There are some which Jiang Hai can identify, such as the atlantic cod that he previously ate. This species is slightly different from its counterpart in the pacific as it is slightly larger in ma.s.s.

In particular, after seven years of protection, there are thousands of cod within the region. They are divided into many different shoals, swimming around near the surface. Shockingly the largest of these has already grow to over two meters long. Apart from large cod, there is also large amounts of herring. This species is also much sought after in western society mainly due to having only a soft spine, sadly, it’s just too d.a.m.n small (4).

There are also many other species. Down on the seabed, there are many flounders, and in the mid-upper layer are lots of sea ba.s.s, sea breams, abnormal amounts of barracuda and croakers, red in colour as well as the occasional grey ones. In coastal waters, there are also many anadromous species such as the chum salmon or the pacific salmon and so on.

What really peaked Jiang Hai’s interest is not these, but rather it is the big sea cuc.u.mbers, giant sea crabs, and those giant lobsters on the seabed. Especially when lobsters from the Boston region can be considered to be the world’s greatest lobster. These lobsters are called Boston lobster, but also commonly known as Maine lobster. The flavour is traditionally known to be top notch, but Jiang Hai has never tasted it before. Just as he was about to take a couple back for a taste test, his body suddenly froze.

Having this much marine animals here, then there will always be predators. For example sharks. What Jiang Hai saw right at that moment is a three meter long shark. Without even figuring what type it is, he was scared s.h.i.+tless and quickly swam back to sh.o.r.e. Although he returned empty handed, but he is also happy. From the looks of things, he doesn’t have to worry about having nothing to eat.

Happily returning back to the mansion, Jiang Hai, along with Robins drove that old pickup of his, headed towards Winthrop. If he wants to hire people, just posting some posters is not enough in this region. You must go find them in town. Winthrop is located on the east side of Boston. It’s separated in the middle by Logan international airport. Because it is kind of far from central Boston, thus most people here operate family farms. As such the town isn’t very big, since most people who work in Boston would rather live in areas closer to the city, such as Chelsea, Cambridge, Somerville and the likes. If the town was on west coast then it will be lucky to have a couple thousand people living there, but since the east coast is closer to Europe thus all towns in the east have a single point in common. They are all bigger than towns in the west.

While on the road, Robins explained the situation within Winthrop to Jiang Hai. This town houses a total of around 30,000 people. The town has everything you might need; supermarkets, dealers.h.i.+ps, gun shops, boat yards and so on. Nearly everything Jiang Hai needs to buy can be bought here, saving him the long trip to Boston. Their first stop in Winthrop is a cowboy’s watering hole; called Cowboy’s Song.

“Alright boss, we’re here, time to get off” Robins told Jiang Hai as he parked the car.

“Right” Answered Jiang Hai as he jumped down from the pick up.

At first glance, this dilapidated bar clearly has seen it’s years. The bar has only one floor and the whole building appears to be made from wood. There is also a wooden sign above the main doors, but it has been burnt black. If it wasn’t for the surrounding lights, then Jiang Hai will have no idea what is written on there. However it is especially because of these light that makes the bar appear even more shabby.

Notes

1. Go check wikipedia. It has all the info you will ever need. If you need peer reviewed sources then check out their reference section, there is a bunch there.
2. Holy s.h.i.+t that’s seriously bad, like a normal hour long trip take 2-3 hours there. Now you’re saying that it can be worse than that? I am seriously proud of your achievements america, very proud. *double thumbs up*
3. A person from the construction company
4. Dat’s what she said!! :p