Sunday, August 13, 2017

Thanks, But No Thanks

A certain Canadian faction desperately wishes I would hang up my pitchfork for a briefcase.  They're attempting to kill me with kindness.  This is what I want to do and this is where I want to be.
Slice in the life... Jamie's Saturday:
Take the dogs for a two mile hike before heading to the barn.  Can't start the day with an amped up Dax!

After feeding horses, begin a complete cleaning of all 10 stalls that will take good part of the day.

Then, scoop out all the shavings in the galley down to the earth.

In between stalls, reattach boards that the horses broke down during the night.

Three of our horses have itchy butts and rub themselves on the fences.  Prompting me to apply cortisone around anuses.  Yes, I'd rather do this than be desked.

One horse can't sweat in this extreme humidity and heat, so he gets special treatment.

And an air conditioned stall when cold showers aren't enough.

The temperatures lately have been bareable, but the humidity makes it feel 20' hotter.

So what do I do on my lunch break?  Hide in my air conditioned house?  Nah, the demon spawn and I spend some quality time in the garden pulling weeds (he mostly spends it destroying lotus ponds).

Then back to cleaning stalls in the afternoon.  With some other projects in the mix.  Like finishing up the carpet steam cleaning job of the previous day.

The dogs assist/observe the work with stoicism.

Pete is doing a great job of showing the little one how to stay out of trouble.

Mostly.
Before the last feeding of the day, I squeeze in fertilizing one of the pastures.

I recognize many people wouldn't want to put their hands once where I put my hands every day.  To each their own!

One more feeding for the day.

More kisses, more butt ointment all around!

Then I can finish my stalls.
By 8 PM, it's cooled off enough outside for Titan to come out of his Ice Box.

And Smith crew can go home.
Feed my oxen, chickens and catch up on laundry.

So you see, the only indoors I want to be is in a barn or in the cab of a tractor.
This Sunday is cleaning day: cleaning the office, the feed room, buckets, water tanks, scrubbing the barn aisle (yes, so you can eat off of it) and fertilizing all the shrubbery on the property.
This, dear people, is what you would get if you put me in an office: