I think it's fair to say that I don't crumble easily when life gets intense. Usually I stay calm, remain clear headed, barrel through it all, then fall apart at some later date, leaving everyone wondering -- what's wrong with her?
You couldn't call this day cataclysmic, but at the very least, it is crazy. I mean, nutty crazy.
Except for breakfast. Which is normal and cozy.
Our weather outside? Twenty degrees below normal and wet. Yuk.
(feed me, feed me!)
(wet)
Some of today's issues are of nobody's making. Others? I take the blame. Ed, too, had his fingers in the pie. In other words -- life, all in one day.
We have before us an early morning appointment on the other side of town. Ed found a kids play structure on Craigslist. He thinks it would be a wonderful thing to put into the goat field: both goats and children could romp! Win win!
Never one to discourage him in his interest in kids (of the human and goat kind), I said -- let's do it!
Do what, you ask. Well, someone was willing to part with an expensive play structure for a tiny fraction of its original cost. All the buyer had to do was take it apart, carry it off, and put it back together again. No instructions available.
Ed's truck is barely holding onto its insides and I absolutely refuse to ride in it, so I follow along by car, ignoring the noise, the fumes, the horrible tilt of the truck in front of me.
It's drizzling and cold when we arrive at the home with the structure. Ed has his tool box. We expect it to take many hours.
We look it over. Ed is excited. Me? Less so.
The goats can't climb this!
We could build a slanted board... And look! If we enclose the downstairs part, it could serve as a goat shed!
I dont see it. It's too low.
We could raise it on cinder blocks.
Then the (already steep) slide would be dangerous.
But wouldn't it be clever?
No.
(Judge for yourselves...)
We were to visit Snowdrop and Sparrow, but now that this project is scrapped, Ed wants to move on with our other tasks. Snowdrop is disappointed. Ed waffles.
But we can't stop. I promise I will drop by later! In the mean time, he and I move on to Menards -- a store that sells home building stuff. And sheds. We are thinking that perhaps the good compromise to the goat shelter is to put up one of those sheds people use for tools.
How would you anchor it?
I'll work that out...
So we're making progress! Goat shelter -- yes, an agreement is reached. We now go to Farm and Fleet to pick up buckets, minerals, goat candy (this is a term used for goat bribes/lures/rewards). Ed suggests I get a Farm and Fleet frequent buyer card. I sweat.
What about fencing? -- I ask.
No good answer is offered. I have watched too many videos on electric fences. I have talked to Madison's expert goat person who believes in the product. I am not convinced. I am at a loss as to where I can find a person to drive a standard woven wire fence into the ground.
You can do it -- Ed tells me.
I want to glare at him, except that he is already on board with building the shelter for me.
We part ways. He returns home in his rickety truck, I scoot over to my mom's place, tidy things up there, and pick up stuff for her -- she is in the hospital undergoing tests in order to better understand her medicine schedule going forward. She is in good form, but we need a better solution for her issues.
Afterwards, I head over to the grocery store, because I'd left off the list on Friday items that Ed lives on in my absence. From there, I go to the young family's home to say hi, as promised. Hi back at you, gogs!
(she is so into art...)
(he is so into everything...)
(gogs comes with cherries...)
And now I am finally home and it is evening and I take out the ingredients to cook up a pot of chili for us, and for Ed in my absence.
I exhale, trying to ignore the fact that I was to pack today (I'm leaving Tuesday and have no time for it tomorrow).
So, a bit nutty, no? But, the family is fine and the cats were fed and the cheepers are hiding in the barn and the goat project is moving forward. If only I could bribe someone to build me a fence in the next couple of weeks...
You couldn't call this day cataclysmic, but at the very least, it is crazy. I mean, nutty crazy.
Except for breakfast. Which is normal and cozy.
Our weather outside? Twenty degrees below normal and wet. Yuk.
(feed me, feed me!)
(wet)
Some of today's issues are of nobody's making. Others? I take the blame. Ed, too, had his fingers in the pie. In other words -- life, all in one day.
We have before us an early morning appointment on the other side of town. Ed found a kids play structure on Craigslist. He thinks it would be a wonderful thing to put into the goat field: both goats and children could romp! Win win!
Never one to discourage him in his interest in kids (of the human and goat kind), I said -- let's do it!
Do what, you ask. Well, someone was willing to part with an expensive play structure for a tiny fraction of its original cost. All the buyer had to do was take it apart, carry it off, and put it back together again. No instructions available.
Ed's truck is barely holding onto its insides and I absolutely refuse to ride in it, so I follow along by car, ignoring the noise, the fumes, the horrible tilt of the truck in front of me.
It's drizzling and cold when we arrive at the home with the structure. Ed has his tool box. We expect it to take many hours.
We look it over. Ed is excited. Me? Less so.
The goats can't climb this!
We could build a slanted board... And look! If we enclose the downstairs part, it could serve as a goat shed!
I dont see it. It's too low.
We could raise it on cinder blocks.
Then the (already steep) slide would be dangerous.
But wouldn't it be clever?
No.
(Judge for yourselves...)
We were to visit Snowdrop and Sparrow, but now that this project is scrapped, Ed wants to move on with our other tasks. Snowdrop is disappointed. Ed waffles.
But we can't stop. I promise I will drop by later! In the mean time, he and I move on to Menards -- a store that sells home building stuff. And sheds. We are thinking that perhaps the good compromise to the goat shelter is to put up one of those sheds people use for tools.
How would you anchor it?
I'll work that out...
So we're making progress! Goat shelter -- yes, an agreement is reached. We now go to Farm and Fleet to pick up buckets, minerals, goat candy (this is a term used for goat bribes/lures/rewards). Ed suggests I get a Farm and Fleet frequent buyer card. I sweat.
What about fencing? -- I ask.
No good answer is offered. I have watched too many videos on electric fences. I have talked to Madison's expert goat person who believes in the product. I am not convinced. I am at a loss as to where I can find a person to drive a standard woven wire fence into the ground.
You can do it -- Ed tells me.
I want to glare at him, except that he is already on board with building the shelter for me.
We part ways. He returns home in his rickety truck, I scoot over to my mom's place, tidy things up there, and pick up stuff for her -- she is in the hospital undergoing tests in order to better understand her medicine schedule going forward. She is in good form, but we need a better solution for her issues.
Afterwards, I head over to the grocery store, because I'd left off the list on Friday items that Ed lives on in my absence. From there, I go to the young family's home to say hi, as promised. Hi back at you, gogs!
(she is so into art...)
(he is so into everything...)
(gogs comes with cherries...)
And now I am finally home and it is evening and I take out the ingredients to cook up a pot of chili for us, and for Ed in my absence.
I exhale, trying to ignore the fact that I was to pack today (I'm leaving Tuesday and have no time for it tomorrow).
So, a bit nutty, no? But, the family is fine and the cats were fed and the cheepers are hiding in the barn and the goat project is moving forward. If only I could bribe someone to build me a fence in the next couple of weeks...
