Boys and their Toys...and other farm musings

Last night was chaos for me :) Anytime my schedule & routine side tracks, I get hectic. Throw snow into that mix and messy road conditions and it's all over!

So yesterday, the snow was comin' down. My boss allowed me to head out a little early from work because I had 4 kittens to get the Kitten Krazy for their trip to the Spay/Neuter Clinic today. Thank Goodness for my understanding, awesome boss!!

The roads were a mess, the kittens were all meowing and the bottoms of my pants were soaked :( UGH! By the time I dropped the kitties off and then maneuvered my way home, it was almost 6 fricking o'clock! Way behind schedule. And please, note to all owners of 4-Wheel Drive Vehicles.....NOT EVERYONE HAS A 4WD VEHICLE - so please, STAY OFF OUR A$$ES! Thanks much!!

So by the time I get home, and mind you, Allen was STILL at work, the dogs were nuts and the horses were all screaming for their hay. INSTANTLY.FRAZZLED!

I threw on my muck boots and took Whinny out to piddle. I decided to multi-task and throw the horses their hay too. Of course, since we have what seemed like 4 feet of snow, Whinny was hyper and excited and all she wanted to do was pounce. So dividing flakes and throwing them to the horses was exceedingly difficult. Then, Whinny decided to piddle on the barn floor aisle; not a big deal, it's dirt, but just irritating :) I then tried to balance two flakes on one arm while lasso'ing in Whinny to get over to the minis. Of course, with her tugging and pulling (Bad Whinny!), I dropped the flakes in the snow. Irritating!

I get to Romeo and see that all day, the snow must have been blowing into his stall :( POOR GUY! I am sure he was thrilled. *Note to self, when it is windy and snowing, Romeo's door has to be closed. You see, I have already suffered through one winter with the big guns, so I kinda know what I am in for, what to expect, come winter with them and their barn. With the minis, this is their first winter here with us and the first time their barn is in use so it is all brand new. A learning experience. Oh joy! Poor Rome!

After I gathered up all the hay I dropped in the snow and threw it to the minis, I proceeded with my dog routine. (Checking the clock....still no Allen!) Of course, when it was time to walk both the dogs, they were in rare form. Okay, maybe not really rare, but whatever. They were so excited over the snow that I felt like I was on a dog sled, only without the sled! I took them on an extra long walk since I was late getting home, but it only resulted in more chaos for myself as two crazy dogs in feet of snow was a tad hard to handle. Allen said to me later that evening, after I told him the story, that he saw our foot prints everywhere in the snow and was wondering what the heck was going on. Nice!

Now, onto the horses. Dogs were back in the house. Still No Allen. So I start with the mini's, which was like primitive times since we have no electric there yet. Oh what fun. After I cleaned their stalls, if that is what you call it in the dark, I decided it was probably best to peek in on the dogs. And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but two nut cases going to town on a fleece blanket on the couch. THAT's IT!!! I stormed in the house screaming at them like a lunatic in hopes that they'd get that this was NOT OK! I cleaned up the mess, put the blanket away, threw my muck boots back on and said a prayer as I walked back outside. Had it not been 19 degrees, I would have brought a glass of wine out with me. I may have made the sign of the cross too!

So now, onto the big guns. First I had to get their shavings out of my car. Rather than use the tractor, which would have made the most sense, I maneuvered the wheelbarrow to my car. It was a nightmare getting it through the snow and then balancing it back to the barn filled with bags of shavings. We had a couple falls along the way. But why, do you ask, did I not just use the tractor. Well, being the lovely wife that I am, I knew Allen was DYING to use his tractor for the first time in a big snow. I figured when (and if he would ever) make it home, and he saw tractor tracks in the snow, I would have ruined his moment by being the first to take it for a spin! He'd be like a big baby pouting because someone stole his toy *sigh*

Back to stall cleaning. Mind you, the horses are still filthy from their mud baths over the weekend. It was cute for a day, now it is ridiculous; especially since I have been grooming and they still look covered in mud. And Ms. Gypsy could roll herself in clean shavings and somehow manage to STILL be dirty! (Anyone in need of a cardio workout, come groom Gypsy!)

Somewhere during my time cleaning the big guns stalls, Allen came home. I figured he might be in a mood since he got home so late so I wasn't going to push it. I would just nicely ask him to check on the dogs when he came into the barn to say 'hello, I am home' to me. No such luck; he went straight to his man cave, aka, the back garage attached to the barn. I could hear him crack open a beer. Oh boy, must have been a stressful day at work. But he knows he needs to check on the dogs, it is routine. So I figured I would give it a minute. About 15 minutes later, I hear the tractor roar up. YOU have GOT to be kidding me! No hello, no can I help you and water the horses, no checking on the dogs, the 'kid' just hops right onto his tractor! I knew he was dying to take it out in the snow, but c'mon!!!! RESPONSIBILITIES!!!!! I wish I could have came home, poured some wine, and snuggled up with a good book!

So I continue to struggle with a full wheelbarrow of manure through mountains of snow (while he is on the tractor that has a bucket capable of moving the manure) and I continue to fill, lift, drag buckets of water to fill the horses up (while he rutts up grass trying to move unnecessary snow from the yard) and then I get the horses all feed and snugged in their stalls and bring the wild beasts out of the house for another walk. They drag me straight to Daddy, who didn't bother to say hello to them when he got home, because he was too busy playing around on his tractor, in the snow, screaming and yelling things I couldn't make out. It was like Santa in his sleigh yelling to his reindeer. Good Grief!

Their is no moral to this story! The night ended with patches of grass missing in the yard, the back door area a mess from mud and snow and paw prints and me exhausted from being stress for really not much of a reason as I reflect back, and Allen snoring happy as a baby because his belly was full and he got to play with his tractor in the snow. Gesh!

Oh, and did I mention with the wind storm of snow we seemed to have had during the day, some of it even blew into my hay barn and covered a few bales of hay! *DOUBLE SIGH* So I had to pull those out, dust 'em off, open 'em up, and then use them asap. *Sigh....again....*