The Saga Continues

It would seem my run of luck, be it good or bad depending on how you look at it, is continuing.

After work I decided to change the oil in the van and car. Starting with the car, I jacked it up, put the jack stand in place then discover I couldn’t get the drip pan in place to catch the oil. I had to reposition the jack. The cats, that aren’t mine, seem to enjoy using a corner of the barn for their bowel releasing pleasure. As I am changing the oil the reek of cat poop is nasty. They have 30 acres to use and they decide to use the inside of the barn.

After smelling and stepping in their droppings I decide to run them out of the barn brandishing a shovel. In and out they run. I finally get the oil changed in the car and start on the van. After loosening the oil filter and receiving a hot oil bath, not enjoyable at the least, I finally get finished with the oil changes.

My back still hurts from chain sawing Sunday. I get an early start on chores. It is about 6:00 PM when I finish with the vehicles. I get the cages I am using to keep my roosters in. I have 1 rooster per cage. They each have their own food & water bowl. These birds live better than I do. I throw some feed into the cages and luckily they congregate around the cages. I quickly grab them using my cat-like reflexes and put them in their respective cages.

Meanwhile the hens are in the coop during the day so they can remember to lay the eggs in the nestboxes instead of all over the farm, are getting excited seeing me throw feed to the roosters. They figure they are next to feast. I open the coop and let the hens out for some exercise. They run to where the roosters are and start trying to get the feed. I shake my head. I look in the nestbox and see 3 eggs. Better than finding 1 egg the other day. I feed them and move the roosters’ cages into the coop. I don’t trust those raccoons around here. I lock up the coop. The cats are back in the barn! I say a few choice words to encourage them to vacate the premises.

Kathy calls to me and says there is water standing in front of her parents’ trailer. Great. I finish up with the chickens and head over to the trailer. As I approach, Kathy tells me the toilet has been over-flowing and the inside is soaked. Again, Great…just what we need. The flapper in the tank stuck open and there must have been a clog in the toilet drain. The water just kept running. Sort of like my electric bill since the water pump is on my meter. Grrr.

Kathy gets to work cleaning up the place. Her parents are off RVing for the week so no one was at home when this happened. I’m sure Kathy won’t get any thank you’s from her mom. It will somehow be our fault that this happened. Her mom will blame someone else like she always does. She won’t appreciate what Kathy has done. Anyway, it happened.

I head over to the other barn and feed the goats. Peaches is still limping but not as bad. I get some 2X4’s down from the rafters so I can make the kidding pens Tuesday after work. I have to coyote-proof my goat pen before the kids arrive. As I am carrying the wood across the pond damn I see my dog with something hanging out her mouth. It is a small rabbit. That dog is a good hunter. I congratulate her on her hunting prowess and continue to the main barn carrying my 2X4’s.

Randy meets me half way and asks me to help him with the lawn tractor. We have to get a tensioner spring on the mower deck to connect onto a post. We end up putting a ratcheting strap on the movable tension bar and the stationary post and tightening the strap. It worked great. We did however have to cut the strap off.

After that and sending another 15 minutes chasing the cats back out of the barn I decided to head home. It is 8:30 now. Time to eat some pasta and fresh green beans. My mother-in-law had made supper earlier, before the flooding episode. I’ll miss her when her and my father-in-law leaves for the winter. My wife was at the studio during all this. Who wants to be me? I do! What a day. I can’t wait to see what Tuesday brings.