Weekend Work

It was a busy weekend, but not with school work. Shane was supposed to go down to Nana and Pop's, but he ended up staying with us out of an abundance of caution.

Saturday, the weather was nice so Carrie and I put the gator to work. 

She came out after I had all the horses stalled for breakfast, I flipped the tines, opened up fields, and then she went at it.

Carrie was a little worried about driving around one handed (Her right hand/wrist is immobilized for the next 2 weeks), but she tore around well enough!

We just got the gator serviced, but I'm wondering how much they really did. I can still hear the front right wheel squeaking shrilly and the exhaust looks and smells like some oil may be burning off. 

We need to check on that, but for Saturday we also needed to finish what we started. I cleared the arena and Carrie dragged it. 

Then I tried to get some action shots!

Chores and gator work took a little under 3 hours from start to finish. It looked good!

Shane was already bummed about not going to SC, so we let him goof off with electronics for much of it.

The horses were bummed that we closed the fields. Carrie likes to let them recover for a day after dragging it. We're almost out of the 'older' hay, so we threw it out liberally to keep them occupied.

I got a shot of Eddy and Ernie laying in the mud for their Sunday morning siestas. 

Sundays are the one day I don't have to do heavy chores, but I end up down at the barn some. I was the one who hooked up the hot water for Amy and Laura, dumped poo buckets, etc. Carrie is the face of the barn, so she socializes and stays around whenever people come by. Such as when Jacqui came by to visit Pockets! Pockets did a good job working with her in the arena and should ship out sometime in February.

However, there were other things that needed doing. Rain was on the forecast and we needed to protect the new hay. Carrie bought a lighter, larger tarp this time. She wanted to run the nylon string from my homemade bows through the grommets to prevent too much force on any single one. 

We needed to take down the old tarps first, though. That was ladder work, so I didn't draft Shane.

I tried to keep Carrie from climbing, but "Mrs. Doesn't Know When To Quit" doesn't know when to quit. She didn't seem to overtax herself this time.

We got the tarp up as little flurries of snow started to fall around us. 

The wind still catches it like a sail, but we recessed as much as we could. Lots of trials and lots of errors, but maybe this time the protection will last!

There was one last big project of the weekend. It started Saturday evening (As you can see from the old tarps) when Carrie picked up a box. A BIG box.

I got it down solo, but I had to be smart about it! 

Saturday night, the box was in the garage. Sunday afternoon, I disassembled the bed in the guest bedroom we never use.

I opened up the box in the garage and hauled all the parts in piecemeal. 

After dinner (and tarp installation), I drafted Shane to help me put the elliptical together.

Shane asked why he had to (and it does make everything take longer), but I want him to be helpful rather than helpless.

He hummed, played, and (sorta) helped for a while until I told him he'd earned back some electronics.

The elliptical had taken shape by the time he moved on. And to be honest, I was getting frustrated with it! I figured it was better to let him move on, so I could focus.

There were several wires that were too short and required a left-handed installation. I'm right-handed, so I guess I got to feel what lefties feel in a righty world!

I finished Steps 1 through 3 Sunday night. That's right, this was only a 3 step operation.

Which is a blatant lie. This was "Step 4."

I took one look and said, "Tomorrow." It was all of the plastic covering bits, so the machine was functional as is if not as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

Carrie finished it Monday while I was in class. Loki and I came to check it (and her!) in action.

Not a lot of Shane pictures since he drowned his sorrows in electronics. I'd already told people he'd be out of of town so we didn't have any social events lined up. 

Overall, a productive weekend!