COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Shane's Done!

Monday was 'collection day' at Shane's school. 

Teachers were spread out through the parking lot at grade level stations to hand parents bags full of student stuff. There was a string of tables at the front of lost-and-found items.

I drove the loop and Ms. Katie, an afterschool teacher, was at the 3rd grade table. She couldn't find Shane's bag, so they must have given me all of his stuff when I picked up his laptop.

It only took a few minutes, but I was happy to see people. Ms Katie asked how Shane as doing and then I had to scoot on. 

Virtual School has been a good way to keep Shane busy in the mornings. It gave me a task to say "Do this if you want any electronics." 

Shane's favorite part of virtual school had to be the zoom chats on Tuesday and Thursday nights. His favorite thing to do was to turn on virtual backgrounds and make it to where all sorts of odd pictures showed around him and on his shirt.

I loved the zoom chats, too, because it was like an hour of virtual baby-sitting! 

Carrie surprised us both with a bit of spontaneity on the last chat. 

We've had that costume in our bedroom for months! I think Carrie bought it for Halloween and then never used it. My contribution was to sneak out and get the batteries and take some pictures.

And thus, 3rd grade ended. It was an odd end to the year, but at least there was something to mark it!

COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Hay Day

Carrie spotted a deal: First-cut, small bales of hay for $5.50 each and less than an hour away. 

We payed $8.50 per bale for delivery from past Lynchburg. We hadn't used up all of that yet, but Carrie wanted to have the hay on hand in case of another drought like last summer. The savings were nice, too (assuming we use it all).

We drove into Louisa a bit past Zion's Crossroads and turned on to a long driveway.

The house was being renovated.

It was the first hay season for the property. We were at ground zero of a possible steady hay source. The owner's neighbor had the equipment and brought it over for them to put their land to use.

It was supposed to rain, so Carrie wanted to go into action ASAP.

Shane's not big enough to lift bales on his own and not old enough to leave at home, so he had to come along for the ride.

That's okay, though. There was a dog!

"You can't run away with the stick!" Shane yelled.

"That's what dogs do!"

We laid down a tarp and went to work. In retrospect, I should have worn long sleeves despite the heat and humidity.

We stuffed 74 bales into the back of the trailer if I remember correctly (20 - 24 - 24 and then 6 vertical). 

The back of the truck was next.

My beautiful wife was very pleased with the hay quality.

She was so pleased, she wanted to fit more hay into the tack room. We ended up with exactly 100 bales of hay!

Meanwhile, Shane did his normal thing: He declared he needed to do an emergency poop.

Again, there were no barn bathrooms. If he'd waited 20 minutes we could've been on the road! The guys were nice enough to let Shane use their house bathroom if he didn't comment on the mess.

....and again, Shane was in there forever. We finished loading up all the hay and then stood around wondering, "Where is that kid?" I eventually went looking for him!

The work was only half done putting the hay in the trailer. When we got home we had to pull it all back out.

It was a lot of work (about 2 tons to be exact at around 40 lbs a bale!)

We weren't done, though. It was going to rain and Carrie wanted to replace our shredded rain guard.

We didn't have a ladder large enough so we had to improvise.

Does using a step ladder on the back of a truck make you a genius or a redneck?

Whatever you answered, you were talking about Carrie! I hope you were kind! My job was to hold up the tarp and watch the stepladder to make her job easy. She drove the truck to reposition as necessary while I made sure nothing shifted.

We drilled and installed eye hooks instead for a more permanent setup than last time.

Especially at the bottom. We learned the hard way last time that tying the tarp off to pallets didn't work!

It wasn't 8 hours, but it counted as a full day's worth of work to me!

We're stocked for the summer and beyond. Let us know if you want hay. There's hay for everyone! 

COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Poor Sam

Sam's diet has helped thin him down, but it's been rough on muzzles. They've been broken or slipped off and left in the field (He doesn't exactly bring them back when requested).

The muzzle has also cost Sam his position as alpha out in the fields. Magic's been emboldened. He can get lippy with Sam and Sam can't bite back!

Worse than that, the muzzle gives Magic something he can grip. He bites the muzzle (while Sam bites air inside the muzzle) and then shakes it around. This pulls muzzles into all sorts of interesting positions until they come off and/or break.

Carrie caught Magic in the act here. If there was audio, you'd hear, "Knock it off!" 

Magic would've sounded like a stooge running off, "Woo-woo-woo!"

Or maybe he reads like Dory, "Es-cop-pay!"

And it happens all too frequently. Sam was standing in the field with his muzzle in his mouth when I took this picture.

He couldn't get it off. He just kept eating with it. 

I can imagine him wondering why the grass tasted funny, shrugging, and keeping right on at it.

Sams's still the alpha when it comes to getting food. He will push past anyone if he thinks it will get him a spec of grain a second sooner! 

Sam and Magic are still buds, though. They pick, but they can't stay away from each other.

UPDATE: The muzzle's status can change in a heartbeat! I put Sam out with his muzzle one morning.

He had it on when I went to do some work and checked. I took maybe 10 minutes and found this.

The problem was created and fixed in under a minute each time!

Muzzles aren't free, either. I think Carrie said she spent $40 on a muzzle that the boys broke in two days. She gets to figure out ways to fix them, because that's a rate we can't afford to sustain!

COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Mother's Day Gardening

Shane and I wanted to surprise Carrie for Mother's Day, but it's hard to pull off when no one leaves the house.

We started making cards when she went out to check on the horses. I didn't say anything beforehand, because I was still hoping for a surprise.

We got beat. Carrie hadn't forgotten it was Mother's Day. She had been wondering if we'd say something and went to the barn disappointed. While she was there, Jason, the contractor, a Happy Mother's Day text! 

In retrospect, the surprise would've been better if we started the night before...

I had Shane work on another card we could text to Nana.

He made a card for Grandma afterward, but we didn't need to text. Grandpa and Grandma hung around for the weekend to work on the yard!

Here, Carrie is modeling different shades for a potential deck awning.

Saturday was spent on preparation work.

We weeded, raked, moved dirt, and jumped whenever Grandma said, "Jump!"

The walkway guys never came back. The last I saw them they had tried to stain the walkway and were using a giant heater to try and dry it in the winter. The weather never seemed to cooperate and the sun never shone enough. I guess they cut their losses and walked away.

I think we paid at least half. I'm okay with what we paid for the quality we got (I would have been okay without a walkway, so maybe I'm not the best person to ask about it!).

It looks better with the landscaping rising up to meet it.

We continued on Mother's Day. Grandma was in full 'work mode' when Shane rand up and handed her a Mother's Day letter. She kept giving out instructions while the adults started to signal, "Look at the letter!"

She did and Shane got a big hug.

But then it was back to organizing the troops. Grandma has a passion for planting.

Unfortunately, we had a spring freeze hit several nights over the week. The crops we planted last week didn't make it.

I worked with Grandma and Grandpa putting plants in the ground.

Carrie mowed.

Shane 'helped' Patrick. Patrick's been a hard worker and nice to Shane, so I'd recommend him to anyone else looking for a landscaper.

Shane wore out before Patrick did!

One day, when we're 'done' (if we ever are), I'll post pictures of the yard. For now, know that I put lots of sweat into Mother's Day this year.

Shane may have sweat some, but he was more wet from playing with the hose!

COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Gardening Weekend

Ah, the weekend. A time for family! A time for rest and re.....

Wait a minute.

Carrie, Shane, and Grandma played some rummy while Grandpa and I unloaded materials.

The Gardener General gave us instructions and we started to assemble raised beds for planting. 

It was a work weekend! Coats came off as the weather and the workers warmed up.

Grandpa had pre-assembled some parts of the raised beds, so the assembly went quickly.

We got Shane to help some raking mulch.

Loki supervised.

We picked up carryout from Tavern on the James for lunch. Grandpa continued to shed layers!

That's not me in the hat, by the way. That's Gay's step-son, Patrick. He's a landscaper and was happy to pick up an extra job with the pandemic going on. He was hard at work throughout the front yard, but joined us for lunch (He 'got' the name of our farm which made Carrie very happy!).

After lunch, it was back to work.

Shane shows an interest in plants. Much more than I think I ever have.

Grandma directed Grandpa and I's efforts.

Shane was happy to tag along as Grandma's assistant. We staged all the plants to see how they'd fit in the beds before we called it a day.

Carrie did barn type things and talked with boarders while we were gardening. Loki ran back and forth between everybody and got very excited when Buddha showed up.

We gave a good effort on Saturday, but one day was not enough for Grandma's plans! They returned Sunday for Round 2.

Grandpa and I unloaded wave 2 of supplies and the planting began in earnest.

Carrie happily sacrificed many of my old undershirts to the cause. "They're not even white anymore!"

The shirts were cut in half and put into the bottom of the garden bins.

The real hero of the weekend was the gator. I was about to grab a wheelbarrow when Grandpa asked, "Why don't we use that?"

My first inclination was to say, "Nah, we don't need it." Then, I stopped to think about it.

Grandpa was right. We bought the gator to use, so why not use it? 

We hauled materials around the house, shoveled dirt, and saved ourselves a ton of effort for probably less than a couple bucks of gas.

I put the gator to use moving more of the lumber while I was waiting for gardening directions.

It sure beat carrying them one by one.

I cleared away the fallen black locust branch and continued under the fenceline.

Darn, black locust got me. That name is now stuck in me.

The prick motivated me to be cautious with the logs. That's why I noticed this gal.

Gay and her husband, John, came by to chat, talk horses, and see Patrick. Gay supported Carrie with a horse talk, too. 

I was happy for the visitors! There weren't masks, but we were outside and kept our distances. Carrie's not letting anyone in the house. Grandma has to use the barn toilet if the urge strikes!

We got a lot done, but it looks like I already know our plans for next weekend: More gardening!