Friday morning, Shane hopped into the truck with his clothes, school work, and birthday tablet from Nana and Pop. He was en route to Charlotte, NC where Pop and Bruce would pick him up for two weeks of virtual school in SC.
Carrie and Grandma wouldn't stop there. The trailer was hooked up to the truck and they were bound for Charleston, SC to pick up Nibs. From there, they'd transport Nibs to a farm near Orlando, FL before returning home.
I wasn't going anywhere. It was a work day for me and someone had to manage the barn and feed six hungry horses.
There's usually at least two hours of work every morning provided that things are handled properly the last time chores were done.
For example, Magic gets beet pulp at his meals. It starts as pellets, but when given time to soak expands tremendously.
The idea is to set the beet pulp soaking for the future feeding each time meals are made.
Little things like that can add time to the process if not handled.
I'd say the main bulk of the chores are: Feeding, scooping, throwing hay, and picking up stems. Those usually take at least an hour and a half. Then there's usually odds and ends like running the spreader, picking up stalls, stuffing hay bags, or stall waters that pop up and fill the other half hour.
Ernie's off stall rest now, so the workload should lessen some. It's more work to clean a stall than it is scoop in the dry lot.
I have to walk the stall mess and bedding to the woods and dump it by hand rather than use the spreader.
When all the horses are allowed back out into the pastures then the workload should lessen even further. The horses are all locked from the fields as they baby grass takes root. We were told to keep them off of it for two months and I'm looking forward to December.
Loki was my happy companion, throughout. He disappears when I'm with a horse, but shows back up when called. He's taken an interest in the hose and washing the buckets lately.
Loki would prefer to stay right beside me as I teach virtually, but he has to hang out with the cats instead.
Friday was remarkable for Loki, because he got to sniff a new person. An appraiser came by to examine the house for a refinancing.
And he came in the house, too. Socializing is a little more awkward these days. If the appraiser wanted to stop and chat I was happy to. But if he wanted to get his job done quick and get out of the house I was fine with that, too!
I took a picture or two of him taking pictures for my lunch break. He didn't stay for long and I had to get back to work and grab Shane's supply drop from the bus.
Laura came out later to walk Ernie and let him eat some clover. Loki's a big fan of Laura if not the horses.
Dumplings and rice have become my standard bachelor meal when the day ends. This time, I had beef mandu instead of gyoza and a ginger beer to wash it down.
I was either outside or locked up working all day, so I laid down on the couch for a little bit. The cats swarmed me. They like their space, but with Carrie and Shane gone it must've been too much space for them!
Saturday morning, I noticed Loki trying to eat shadows on the wall. He wasn't very successful.
He's got a much higher success rate with catching his tail!
I started to miss Shane when I went to scoop the cat poop myself. The kittens are potent!
They supervised, too (and nearly went for a swim).
Normally, Carrie would've let the cats outside to play, but I was taking no chances without her there. Loki was my only companion (and wheel-biting hindrance) as I wheeled down they hay for the day and did barn chores.
I don't know how it got there, but there was a log in the girls' dry lot. Other than that, it was business as usual.
Barbara and Heidi came out to ride later on.
I played host and checked in on them before going back to work and housework.
Which included dishes and cleaning up after the cats.
Thanks, kittens.
There's really not much exciting things I can write about doing laundry and taking care of business. Without my family around, I get bored and take care of things.
My only adventure of the weekend came Saturday night. I tried to do some chores ahead of time, because I knew I wouldn't get home until after 8 PM (Barbara was nice and scoop Maddy's dry lot before she left. Thanks, Barbara!).
In a typical case of "Opportunities happen simultaneously just to make it difficult," I made two social calls. The first was to meet my co-teacher, Marcell, in person. I showed up on his back porch while his kids napped. He's a little hard of hearing, so it was hard to talk at just the right level and not wake anyone up!
However, my book club decided to meet at the same time. I talked for a little bit before scooting along and arriving late to that...partly because Carrie had said, "Goodbye! I love you! Oh, and the rear driver's side tire on the Subaru is low and the fuel light came on if you're going to go anywhere." I made it to Costco on fumes.
Gas prices are low, at least.
When I got home, I had to finish the barn chores and make supplement cups for the morning. I made an oops, too. Carrie reorganized things since the last time I'd made the cups. Do you see a difference between these pellets?
I certainly couldn't. They even smelled the same. On one side, the pellets were magnesium. On the other, they were a joint supplement.
I sat down on the couch at the end of a long day and was immediately swarmed by cats again. Happy literally got in my face and started licking my nose.
I'd have been happy to go to the bedroom, but keeping the animals happy and healthy is part of watching the house.
Our cats seem to actually care about us, too. Aria waited for me to sit down Sunday morning for my morning routine.
Loki tried to catch her shadow on the wall! I thought it was funny enough to take a picture!
Laura and Amy arrived to do their round of barn chores. Loki and I went out to help. I was more useful, but he was more photogenic.
While I am not enamored with all the chores, I do like having a reason for people to visit our property. I like being part of a neighborhood/community. I stayed out, helped, and chatted most of the time Laura and Amy were around. I got to see Laura try to run around with Ernie in the arena after I told her Carrie had started letting him exercise some 'at liberty!'
I treated the rest of the afternoon as a sabbath. The work has been constant since school started and it's vital to be still sometimes.
I did work on chores, transferred pictures to get ready to update the blog, and eventually hopped on the computer to do grading in the evening.
Carrie got home in the evening, and our tales rejoined but that's another post.
No comments:
Post a Comment