Welcome Back...to Chores!

After over 2 weeks of cousins and play time galore, Shane returned home to chores. The mornings are cool out, too, so he had to wear a coat!

Scooping horse poop in the cool is a big change from Pop Tarts and TV time in the morning! 

Don't worry too much about Shane. We really don't work him that hard. If I get half an hour of effort out of him, it's fine. Chores are a good excuse to make Shane outside. He usually has to hang out for an hour, but he chases bugs, twirls in circles, or runs with the dog for a chunk of it. Shane likes to talk and be around people anyway.

Sometimes funny things happen if you're observant. We heard some odd noises while we were working. It was Maddy.

You have to be clever about scratching your butt when you have no hands! We got a good laugh out of it.

And then I sent Shane to run and collect the bucket before it got bent out of shape!

The cats were out while we worked. Aria kept Shane and I company from a hay feeder.

From there it became a normal school day. I went to work and Shane.....Shane's computer broke. 

A fan failed and there were all sorts of error bleeps. Thankfully, Shane doesn't do anything other than zoom and browse the internet, so it functioned for the day. We'll need to contact tech support and get a loaner at some point. It's a short week, so it won't happen until after break. 

Shane was in class until around 3 PM and took care of his Japanese practice. I got off work near 5 PM, we did evening chores, and then relaxed with electronics for the night. A much quieter day than he's probably used to, but normal for here.

Some of the cats may have gotten complacent while Shane was out of town. That's not a smart place to sleep, Moose.

I was talking in general, too. I gave in to temptation and his the start button on the walking machine...

It led to Loki showing off his treadmill skills. 

Loki learned, because of Shane! 

Shane ran with Loki some and it wasn't really all the quiet. You can definitely tell Shane's home!

Last Days "Off"

"Have fun on your 2nd honeymoon," Grandma said.

If she thought we'd have lots of spare time with Shane being away, she wrong. Shane being out of the house gave us an extra hour or two tops! There were lots of chores and work to do!

I took this picture when I was picking up stems from a feeder. It reminded me of a boneyard.

I spent a large chunk of my Friday making up a unit test for triangles after my office hours. I probably could've got done faster, but I got the idea in my head to add superhero stick figures to some of the questions.

Hopefully, I won't get sued.

I don't have the time or talent to make them all myself, so the internet came to the rescue. It wont' be enough to make anyone who hates trig like it, but if I can get a smile where there normally wouldn't have been one, I'll take it.

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Virtual school has only gotten more draining with time. I probably work at least 65 hours a week between it and the barn (and paid for 36.25!). 

It's gotten more frustrating, too. I have students who don't show up at all and others who do maybe 10 minutes of work for the week. Meanwhile, I think 5-6 hours of work a week is fair. Split between 4 classes, that's an expectation of 20-24 hours per week....and the students who actually give a consistent effort have made progress and can usually finish faster than that. In physical school, I could hunt slackers down, but in virtual school it's much harder. 

Saturday I got to take a break from grading to do something I've wanted to do for a while: We went to the dump!

Some tasks are 'Carrie-locked.' She knows how to haul and she's good at it. We need to get the small trailer inspected, so we can haul the gator and mower to get serviced. But for today, I got to help put on my first hitch lock.

Then I filled up the back of the truck with over 200 lbs of trash (according to the dump's scale). 

Including at least 20 lbs of cat waste (according to "That's a lot of poop!"). We left the metal trash can at the dump when I realized there was nothing to brace it against once I threw out all the bags. The cat pee had corroded the inside and it had warped over time, but it still felt a little wasteful. 

Shane going to my parents didn't give us a ton of time off, but the time it did give us off helped. For me, it was one less thing to juggle. I knew he was getting the best care and attention and I got to turn my focus elsewhere.....but apparently not to blogging! My last post was right before Shane got home and I didn't start to catch back up until Thanksgiving break! But it wasn't that I didn't have ideas of what to write.

I took this picture while trying to scoop poop in the waning light. There's still plenty of light to see and walk around, but the turns start to blend with the dirt in the shadows. It all sort of blurs. The big piles are easy enough to distinguish, but sometimes I'm scooping at nothing looking for little bits while stepping over (or on) others.  

I imagine it feels similar to slowly losing your vision. You think you see well enough most of the time, but then you find you're missing more and more little bits and it gets harder and harder.

And the metaphor could be extended to being desensitized to something. Or to having the right tools for the job, like light!

Sometimes mundane tasks are great for having time to think. I work in the quiet when mulling something over, but will put on music or the Dice Tower to fill time, as well.

It got cold

It wasn't a surprise the weather turned cold. Maddy flipping her hay bag over the electric fence, so she couldn't eat was a surprise.

Mid-November mornings dropping below freezing? Par for the course. Maddy's had a thin skin of ice I broke through, so she could drink for the day.

We haven't had much freezing weather this year. Freezing weather means extra work. It's less comfortable to do the extra work in, too. We have to make sure water buckets aren't frozen, break ice when they are, and be vigilant about draining the hoses and water heater to prevent water freezing in them.

We ran out of propane early in the week. I had to haul down buckets of hot water from the house. Shane's bathtub is right next to the water heater, so the water heats quickly. It's a lot heavier than it looks to lug down to the barn, though.

Horse blankets are the other source of new work. Whenever the weather dips below a certain threshold (which varies depending on precipitation), the horses get blanketed. Most have two different blanks for different situations and some of them got new gear this year.

Laura got Ernie a new heavy blanket with a 'scarf' for his neck.

Carrie bought Eowyn a fancy, clearance blanket with a neck extension, too. Eowyn's clipped, so she's almost always blanketed at night.

The hope is that if properly blanketed the horses will stay warm, healthy, and eat a little bit less (They eat "to get their engine going" and stay warm).

As you might expect, the blanket situation changes with the weather. Carrie was out and I got the call to "Please change out Ernie's blanket" on my lunch break.

I'd swapped him into his light blanket and Ernie decided it was a great time to pee. 

He must have failed to appreciate what I was doing for him.

The blanketing situation is going to be on and off for the next several months. By the time spring rolls around, I'll be thrilled to put the blankets away and turn the horses loose on fresh grass!

Walking Through

Everybody was happy Carrie was home Monday morning. The cats all waited at the bedroom door, hoping to go outside.

They didn't, but Loki did.

Carrie and I tackled morning chores together! It goes much faster with two!

But in typical Carrie fashion, change was on the horizon. Carrie had us close the curtain doors on Pockets and Abby.

Why? Because she decided it was time to switch things up. The three boys were heading over to the girl's lot.

She led the boys through Maddy's old stall while Abby and Pockets watched.

And Abby was not happy. She doesn't like change.

She started to run around her stall and....well, it looked like this:

Meanwhile, the boys were as happy as could be. They started stretching their legs, exploring, and sniffing poop piles right away.

When Abby calmed down, we completed the switch and moved the girls over.

Something always changes when Shane's away for a couple of weeks. This was a start, but not the end of things.

Machinery Shennanigans

Machines can be fun. The guys who dropped off the excavator for Jason finally came to reclaim their equipment.

I noticed the keys were still in it and had to fight the urge to take it for a spin all weekend.

A younger me would of. My older, wiser self is only 25% sad.

Though I wonder if an even older me would've hopped in, turned the key, and "taught the young'ins a lesson!"

The replacement part should arrive soon for the spreader. Things were going too well, so it was about time something went wrong. Shane was talking me ears off about ants while I was cutting the old twine. One string got stuck, so I lifted the boom to get at it and gravity took over!

I didn't get a picture of the hopper laying down, boom straight in the air, because I was too busy righting it and trying to prevent all the crap from careening out!

I asked Shane to get me a fork to scoop it up. He got one...and then talked me ear off about the "nuptial flights" that lead to a new nest being formed.

I was nearly done (and he was talking about how the queen ant may need to go without food for a week) when I asked, "Were you planning on talking and watching me work the whole time or helping?"

It was talking. Definitely talking. He kept at it when I started to retie the hopper to the hitch.

I decided to experiment. I wanted to see if I could get away with only using one piece of twine and if there was a way to tie it to allow for a better turn radius.

I tied a couple of twine in the old style just in case my masterplan turned into a fool's debacle.

It pulled well, but somehow we ran out of yard before all the poop was deposited. It was the front's turn for a deposit and I had to put the brakes on when we hit the driveway.

What we found was surprising. 

And just in case it's not obvious....

The bottom and back drained while somehow the front defied gravity. Not only that, it formed a pact with a stripe down the middle to build a bridge.....all in the shape of a capital T. 

What that means, I couldn't tell you.

I can tell you I was wise to tie my failsafe twines. Those two twines held up while my experiment with the hitch failed.

Those failsafe twines held up when Carrie and I did a final run in the dark. The remnants of Hurricane Zeta were expected to pass through and we wanted to scoop and spread all we could before it became a cold, wet, muddy mess. 

Loki was the only loser in our efforts. I threw him in the tack room both runs to keep him from trying to herd the gator. The second time, I had to run inside the moment we were done to start Wednesday Night Work hours.

I was talking to kids and Burrough when Carrie opened the door about an hour later. "Did you ever let Loki out?" She asked.

Whoops. Sorry, bud.

Chores, work, more chores, and then more work! It's a busy season. Things should slow down next week. Ernie will start to transition out of stall rest, I'll fix the spreader, and there will be two less days of virtual class. I'm almost caught back up on the blog, too! 

Shane's first week back home

 Shane was happy to go out with the animals his first morning home.

He was less thrilled when I put him to work!

There are less cousins and more chores as the homestead.

Virtual school was mostly the same. Shane had less supervision, but maybe that will make him appreciate the next time Nana lays down the law (He is a social one!). 

Shane's been half bummed and half pumped about the tablet Nana and Pop gave him. He really wants full access to the internet and Roblox on it. Carrie has stated "over my dead body," so he's had to settle for Angry Birds instead!

I was going to make 'mini-pizzas' on tortillas for dinner one night (a lazy man's pizza dough). We were out of sauce and ended up making pepperonni quesadillas instead.

Sounds crazy, but Shane's a fan! I made one for myself, too. 

It was a busy week with school, chores, and Shane coming home. I actually forgot about his soccer practice! I had it written down, but he two weeks off broke my routine.

We did make it to the game on Saturday. Shane and I donned our yellow and he ran out proud.

Shane played defender 1st half.

There was a lack of hustling all around the field, but the kids were happy to be there.

"Drone!" Shane yelled.

If he can spot a random drone in the sky, you'd think he could keep his eagle eye on the ball!

The 'Banana Slammas' scored a goal near the end and Shane yelled, "We're winning!"

The other team scored a few minutes later and Shane dropped to his knees. I suppose the loss cut him to the core.

Shane was in the goal second half. I thought he played decently.

He was scored on three times, but he made a play on all of the balls. 

The first time, a girl dribbled in and half his team surrounded her. No one pounced. She dithered and then kicked a high air ball. Shane said he tried to get his way through the pack.

The second time, it was a lone attacker charging the goal from half field. There was another yellow player running behind, but it was basically Shane on his own. He charged out of the goal and almost out of the box! The kid kicked a rocke. Shane jumped and got both hands on the ball, but it deflected up and backwards and bounced into the goal.  

The third time...well, I don't think it counted. A player charged the goal after a sloppy goal kick. Shane dived for the ball and I guess he got his hand stepped on? I didn't see anything foul, but the refs checked on Shane for a bit and then let him do another goal kick.

Shane had some blocks and a couple beautiful throws. Instead of posing and waiting for everyone to look at him, he set the tempo. He scooped the ball, ran, and threw it past the other team. He was playing further forward than he should have most of the game, but I was happy he was trying to be active. I make a big deal out of how proud I am when he tries to make a play on anything. He was bummed about the shot he jumped and missed, but I went on about it was the first time I'd seen him jump and land both hands on the shot.

We have one practice and one game left. I wish there were more.

The game was the big social event of the weekend. I was hoping to get Shane a playdate, but the three main friends I tried were all unavailable (Henry, Dylan, and Hazel). 

We did get a visit from Landie Saturday. Ellie rode Magic and I ended up babysitting for a couple of hours.

I took the tablet away at first when Shane and Landie raided snacks without permission. They played on the treadmill and did hide and seek. 

I gave the tablet back at the end. Landie was interested for a little bit, but then she really wanted to watch My Little Ponies (and guess who got sucked out of tablet land by the flashing lights?)

Our house is far cry from partyland in SC, but it's home. Shane and Carrie watched a lot of Teen Titans together (the original series!). I've been trading texts and I'm hoping to have more social opportunities next weekend when it's Halloween!