Busy....for us! Not him

Shane may have gotten bored some this summer, but I haven't had time to! Between Shane, Carrie, Kila, and chores there's plenty to do. I am taking them at more of a summer pace, so I'm not in danger of burning out.

I spent many days last week weeding. I set a 2 hour goal for each day and went to it.

This was what it looked like behind the hay barn.

We wouldn't care except that the weeds reach up to the electric fence. When there's enough of them, they ground it out.

So they had to go. I loaded up everything I pulled in the back of the gator, made a few trips to poop land, and dumped the weeds in the woods.

The arena was the other big project. It was starting to get overgrown in a couple of corners and along the western and southern fence boards. I let the dogs stay out with me for part of the time to kill two birds with one stone. I got to weed and it counted as watching/exercising the puppy!

A couple of times, it counted as Shane care, too. He surprised me with how productive he was the first day he came out (before he realized weeding was boring!). He came out a couple other times to run a message from Carrie or bring the dogs. I gave him my phone and he took a picture of me (and Kilah) at work.

Taking pictures isn't the same as helping weed, but it kept Shane and Kilah outdoors and out of Carrie's hair for a few. 

Carrie took a picture of me on the porch when I was done. Then she told me to take off the clothes, because they were too dirty to come in the house!

I think she just wanted a show.

I took Shane to the pool later that day. That's kind of work. He runs off and I sit in the heat half watching him and half playing on my phone. We haven't gone anywhere near as much as last year, but it's still good to have the option.

We've been meaning to go on a dump run for a while. The trim boards had been in nice stacks, but Maddy thought they might be good for itching.

Carrie cut the trim down with a chainsaw and I loaded up the last wave of trash onto the trailer.

The drive to the dump was more exciting than it's ever been before. A piece of trim caught the wind and flew up! It got caught by the back guard, and we pulled over. I tried a quick restructure on the side of the road, but an empty plastic drawer shifted and caught some wind as we drove off again! It and a plastic bin fell out. There was nowhere to stop then, but we stopped again once we reached a parking lot for a more thorough look over.

We watched the load like hawks the rest of the way. Normally, I'd have loaded all the light stuff under the heavier stuff, but I loaded the trailer a while back. The trim and the drawer were all things Carrie decided to thin down from the house later. 

The rest of the trip went without issue. Shane helped with recycling. An attendant and I did the trash. We looked for the two errant pieces of plastic on the way home (I recovered one, but never found the other).

Carrie took Shane to Busch Gardens again on Monday (8/1). It gave me another chance to catch up on the blog AND they picked up Bucket on the way home. Bucket will be staying with us for about a month (Grandma and Grandpa have back to back trips).

All of the weeding from the end of July was to get ready to pull out the sprayer. We hadn't used it in a long time, so I needed to clean, drain, and figure out if it even worked.

The goal was to clear the driveway and the arena. Carrie drug the arena while I worked on the sprayer (Unfortunately, waves have developed I'll probably have to work on by hand. Bah!).

I got the sprayer hooked up, but it didn't. Our troubleshooting led us to think it was the motor.

Which we replaced. Carrie had to drive out to Richmond to pick up the replacement for me to install.

As a bonus, she went to Costco and bought me natural peanut butter. However, it it just me or does the packaging look like it was decorated for toilet paper instead of peanut butter? Smooth, my ***.

Anyway, the new motor worked. We were in business! Carrie sprayed and I went inside to wrangle all the "children."

This is what the driveway looked after Carrie mowed to prepare for spraying.

36 hours later everything was considerably more brown.

It looked like a great success!

Unfortunately, four days later the green was coming back. Life is fragile, but life is tough! It finds a way! We'll have to do a second pass.

These projects were in addition to all the other barn duties like making supplement cups.

Shane's been getting out of barn chores lately. He's been on Kila duty instead. The kid has it easier than he realizes!

Good News: Carrie's riding again! Her energy levels are slowly returning. She went out on a Wednesday morning to ride with her hunt group.

Carrie rode one other time this summer. It was in June. She hopped on Lilly "to remind her she had a job," and then came in holding back a stream of emotion. "It wasn't fun," she said. "I didn't enjoy it."

This ride went well. I'm glad Carrie's getting back on the saddle again.

However, she should make sure she has her saddle whenever she does go off property to ride! Carrie loaded up Lilly for a second ride after the first attempt went so well. I got a panicked call that she forgot her saddle and asked if I could bring it to her! I woke up Shane to let him know he was in charge of the dogs and rushed out.

Shane acted like he'd been in charge for nearly and hour when I returned home. I had photographic proof of how long and how far I'd been gone, though! It was 26 minutes.

And so the summer goes. Too busy to be bored, but not busy enough to drive me insane or make me long for school to start. I am looking forward to Autumn weather. I won't miss the humid heat when it passes.