Muck boots and a bathrobe
So there I was, 11PM and I'm outside in a pair of muck boots with ice creepers on the bottom and a bathrobe...
The day began early for us as the Millers were coming to work at 7AM, and a construction crew was coming to make a few repairs in preparation for blowing in more insulation into the attic crawl space. I took care of business here in the shop until lunch time, without really having my breakfast until noon. I had spent the afternoon and evening crawling around in the attic crawlspace running new wires and removing bizzare old ones (a topic for a whole 'nother post) and couldn't wait to get in the shower.
After the shower (10PM), I couldn't wait to cook my dinner and relax. I seldom actually get to relax, as there is always something pressing to do. In this case, I had orders from Wendy to come back down here to my desk and place an order with one of our vendors for more matchlocks. OK, so my dinner and relaxation gets put off.
I had shined the big flashlight out into the back yard to check on all the quacking, and saw that half a dozen big, stupid white Pekin ducks were out of the pen, and reminded myself to be sure to chase thme back into the pen before I went up to start my dinner. After placing the order, I put on my muck boots to go chase ducks.
So there I was, in my muck boots with ice creepers on them and a bathrobe. Chasing ducks. Here, there, everywhere. Quack-quack-quack!
I herded them toward the door of the pen. They ran the other way. I opened the door in anticipation of chasing thme back that way again, and who should decide to go out for a stroll? Rocky the ox. (he's in training, and technically a steer at the moment, but he's approaching 1/2 a ton and I call him an ox) Does he walk out, turn around and walk back in? Nope. He runs for it. Nearly 1000 pounds of beef running for the woods at top speed. So much for my dinner.
I wasn't about to go chasing a steer around the woods in the middle of the night as I was sore from my crawlspace ordeal, and just wanted my dinner. So I decided to think like a yearling steer...what is the most important thing in the world? FOOD! So I went inside and came out with a scoop of goat feed. Goat feed is covered in molasses and is sort of like crack to bovines, they would do ANYTHING to get it.
By now, Rocky is scaling the pile of boulders that leads up to the hill on the north side of the house. I shook the scoop to make the "food sound" and got his attention. He came back down off of the rocks towards me at full gallop, and crammed his nose into the scoop. I backed away and led him into the pen.
Then I began chasing ducks again. In the process, I wiped out on the ice and fell on my side. So much for my being nice-and-clean-shower-fresh. Still no dinner.
Now it's after midnight, and in the midst of all of this, I had to delay my dinner further as Wendy needed me to replace the ink tanks in her printer. I finally got to bed around 2AM, a 19 hour day.
This is a typical day. Between the weatherization guys and the water filtration contractor, the next three days should be pretty much the same too.
The day began early for us as the Millers were coming to work at 7AM, and a construction crew was coming to make a few repairs in preparation for blowing in more insulation into the attic crawl space. I took care of business here in the shop until lunch time, without really having my breakfast until noon. I had spent the afternoon and evening crawling around in the attic crawlspace running new wires and removing bizzare old ones (a topic for a whole 'nother post) and couldn't wait to get in the shower.
After the shower (10PM), I couldn't wait to cook my dinner and relax. I seldom actually get to relax, as there is always something pressing to do. In this case, I had orders from Wendy to come back down here to my desk and place an order with one of our vendors for more matchlocks. OK, so my dinner and relaxation gets put off.
I had shined the big flashlight out into the back yard to check on all the quacking, and saw that half a dozen big, stupid white Pekin ducks were out of the pen, and reminded myself to be sure to chase thme back into the pen before I went up to start my dinner. After placing the order, I put on my muck boots to go chase ducks.
So there I was, in my muck boots with ice creepers on them and a bathrobe. Chasing ducks. Here, there, everywhere. Quack-quack-quack!
I herded them toward the door of the pen. They ran the other way. I opened the door in anticipation of chasing thme back that way again, and who should decide to go out for a stroll? Rocky the ox. (he's in training, and technically a steer at the moment, but he's approaching 1/2 a ton and I call him an ox) Does he walk out, turn around and walk back in? Nope. He runs for it. Nearly 1000 pounds of beef running for the woods at top speed. So much for my dinner.
I wasn't about to go chasing a steer around the woods in the middle of the night as I was sore from my crawlspace ordeal, and just wanted my dinner. So I decided to think like a yearling steer...what is the most important thing in the world? FOOD! So I went inside and came out with a scoop of goat feed. Goat feed is covered in molasses and is sort of like crack to bovines, they would do ANYTHING to get it.
By now, Rocky is scaling the pile of boulders that leads up to the hill on the north side of the house. I shook the scoop to make the "food sound" and got his attention. He came back down off of the rocks towards me at full gallop, and crammed his nose into the scoop. I backed away and led him into the pen.
Then I began chasing ducks again. In the process, I wiped out on the ice and fell on my side. So much for my being nice-and-clean-shower-fresh. Still no dinner.
Now it's after midnight, and in the midst of all of this, I had to delay my dinner further as Wendy needed me to replace the ink tanks in her printer. I finally got to bed around 2AM, a 19 hour day.
This is a typical day. Between the weatherization guys and the water filtration contractor, the next three days should be pretty much the same too.
posted by MVTCoPete | 9:51 PM
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