Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

She won't be left out in the cold for sure. She's a fantastic person and a fantastic instructor. We've got some students who are hard to reach and her motto is "if you have a student's heart - you will also have their mind" and it's so true. She brings out the best in all her students and is never anything but kind, loving and cheerful. It was an easy decision to want to help her.

 

[sumi]

Bless you for helping her, FEM. She sounds like a wonderful person!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

She sounds like a wonderful person!

She is!

Going to finish this cup of coffee and get outside to get busy. We're supposed to have some of that horrible African dust headed our way. Last summer it nearly wiped me out...double ear infections, sinus infection, upper respiratory infection....badness! I'll be starting my day outside today with a bit of Flonase...maybe a mask. I may look dumb, but if it keeps me healthy it'll be worth it. Besides - goats don't care if I look silly - as long as I have food, lol.

 

[sumi]

I was thinking "mask" before I read you are considering it. Better be safe out there, even if you look a bit silly

 

[sumi]

FEM, if your DH still has issues with cataracts (I can't remember now, sorry!) this may be of interest to him:

https://www.the-open-mind.com/goodbye-surgery-scientists-made-eye-drops-that-dissolve-cataracts/

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks @sumi! I'll send him the link. But - hopefully he has had his last eye surgery. Both of his cataracts have been removed and new lenses have been implanted in his eyes. He has a laser procedure next week - but that will likely be the end. He and his eye surgeon had a pretty serious discussion his appointment this week and they both decided that they've pretty much exhausted all options with his eye issues. All of these issues were caused by bleeds inside his eye and with the exception of one last laser procedure next week the plan is to close the door on this. After this procedure he will get a new prescription for glasses that should give him the final improvement in hi vision. Yay!

I got up at a decent hour this morning and tackled the main chore of the day - getting those three big bales out of the trailer. This doesn't sound like a huge chore - but it took me a couple of hours to get it done and things mostly went pretty well. First step was to hook the trailer to the truck so the trailer wouldn't get pulled backwards when I was pulling the bales out. I just got the hitch down on the ball and didn't go to all the mess of locking the trailer on. When my dad owned this trailer he had jack-knifed it once and it twisted the whole front hitch assembly and it's tough to get the locking mechanism down without a hammer to get it on and a hammer to get it off....grrr. But, I can't complain about a free trailer.

Then I had to go get the tractor out of the pasture. That means I have to get all the animals out of that area. Two pigs that weren't even supposed to be in there really didn't want to leave. That was cuss-inducer problem #1. Got them moved and got on the tractor and headed to the gate. Started to open the gate and noticed dogs eyeballing the open gate....grrrrrr! Got the female dog secured. Can't really tie up Cowboy because he will chew through a rope in a nano-second. But, he's not really a problem around gates any more. I can give him "the look" and a long drawn out "aaaaaaaannnnntttt" and he stays put. So, opened the gate again and got on the tractor. Drove through...got off the tractor to close the gate. Backed tractor up to the trailer and slip the hay forks under the bale, lift it out and drive to the gate. Get off the tractor, open the gate, get on the tractor drive through the gate, get off the tractor and close the gate. Find a pallet to deposit the bale on...Yay! Bale #1 is offa the tractor and parked on a pallet. Drive to the gate, get off of the tractor, open the gate, drive through, close the gate.

Next bale - the middle one - is always the biggest challenge to get out. You have to be able to get a big strap between that bale and the third bale and sometimes they're so pushed together that it's hard to get the strap down low enough to pull the bale out. The strap wants to slide up and if it doesn't slide off it will tip the bale up on edge instead of pulling it out. So, get the strap around the bale after 3 or 4 attempts. Get the strap around the FEL and begin to slide it out. Get it to the edge of the trailer and get off the tractor to unhook the straps. Get back on the tractor to turn it around and get the hay forks under it. Got it out - drive to the gate - get off the tractor and open the gate - get on the tractor and drive through - get off the tractor and close the gate. Lower the bale to the ground while I go get a pallet. Get the pallet in place and leveled. Get on the tractor, pick up the bale which is not totally seated on the forks and it falls off and flips up to the flat end. Sigh... Turn the tractor around - use the bucket to flip the bale back over - turn the tractor around and get the hay forks under it AGAIN and get it set on the pallet. Yay - bale #2 done. Drive to the gate, get off of the tractor, open the gate, get on the tractor and drive through the gate. (Cowboy is such a good boy - he doesn't even look at the open gate - it's too hot!

I'm hot and tired and want a drink of water - but determined to get the last bale off.

Drive the tractor to the trailer again - get the strap around the last bale and start pulling it to the end. Everything is going great - but remember when I said I didn't lock the trailer hitch onto the truck? At this point the weight of the last bale tips the trailer up - argh. I push the bale back in and decide I'd better move my truck and just put 4 x 4's behind the trailer tires so it doesn't move. Get back on the tractor - turn it around - get the forks under the bale and away we go. Go to the gate - get off of the tractor - open the gate - get back on the tractor - drive through - get off of the tractor and close the gate. I need a drink of water, another cup of coffee and something to eat so the last bale is sitting on the hay forks waiting for it's semi-permanent home.

I didn't count all the ups and downs off and on the tractor but that tractor step is probably at least 18 - 24 inches high and climbing up and down offa that thing is a great leg/a$$ workout!

Just a little blow-by-blow of my first chore this morning. Tractor is the best tool on the farm - but there's some people work involved with it too. I'd give a gazillion dollars to have an automatic gate opener. I think I'll check into that!

 

[sumi]

You're welcome I really, really hope his last procedure will be his LAST now. The poor man went through so much with his eyes.

Goodness, you had your work cut out moving those bales! It would've been handy if you had someone that could at least get those gates for you...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It would've been handy if you had someone that could at least get those gates for you...

I know! "Someone" was still in bed and "someone" shouldn't have opened his mouth when I came inside. I was told "you've got that bale moving down to a fine art don't you?" My response - "It's not a fine art - it's hard a$$ work!" LOL!

And my next chore was to mow...front, back, side, and front barnyard are looking spiffy now. And - "someone" was kind enough to go out and move hoses and dog toys for me. He can be handy when he's awake!

I'm going to stay inside for the next 4 or 5 hours. Heat index is a mere 112 - but I need to do a couple things in the kitchen. I have a small pork shoulder that I'm about to get seasoned up and started and I need to make bread. I've fallen into the routine of baking bread just about every weekend now. I enjoy it and I make it high fiber and put as much whole wheat flour in it as possible. Too much and I have trouble with the bread being too dense - but I think I've got it pretty well balanced now. It's soooo good!

This evening I want to get the push mower and do some much needed trimming in areas that haven't been trimmed in a while. When DH gets a few more weeks of healing (or more) on that wrist he might be able to start actually using the trimmer and catching up on that. I feel like I'm living my life "behind" these days. Want. To. Get. Caught. UP!

 

[baymule]

At least your tractor will move round bales, mine is too small. To get Chore A done, first you must do B, C, D, and E. Then to accomplish Chore A you must do Step F, G, H and I. Rinse repeat, over and over. But look at it this way, you are burning calories! LOL

 

[sumi]

Oh man, he could've gone out and helped you with the gates! Sheesh. I hear you on catching up... I'm so far behind with outside chores here, it's not even funny...