School has started back up for the kids again. Everything seems to be going just fine, with the exception of the groaning and moaning the first week or so contained. That and the almost 2-year-old baby had suddenly become a real person, with real opinions, and wants, and needs, and wants, and wants... She has made things a little difficult.
The kids have started swim lessons at the rec center in town too. While these are on, the waiting area is filled with other home school moms and this is the opportunity for Partner #2 to socialize and talk about home school stuff with other parents who get it. I am definitely not that person. Also, I'm not the kind of person to sit around with a bunch of other hens and cluck about our little chicks for an hour, either.... (No offense to other moms who do like to do that! I chalk up my disinterest to being a mediocre parent).So I got a pass to go work out while the kids are swimming. Yesterday was the first day, and although I can barely make it up the stairs today, I count it as a success!
We had a calf kick the proverbial bucket a couple weeks ago, so in the interest of not being wasteful, he was butchered and provided dog food for a couple days. Problem is, now there is dismembered calf parts scattered all over the place.... Sometimes I feel like I've stepped into a horror movie, and then I remember, "Oh yeah, it's just ranch things". I honestly think I could start a series of memes with that tag line... food for a future endeavor. Your driving down the driveway when you pass a severed calf head to your right - Just ranch things! When you come home from a long day in town and you have to side step half a leg - Just ranch things! Luckily, I think a guy, appropriately nicknamed Wolf Bait Franky, is coming to pick up the rest of the scraps, so I can sleep at night....
Our herd of horses has decided that they are immune to electric fencing and have plowed through 3 or 4 fences in the last couple months. The most recent fence they crossed put them in with the cows. So during coffee break, Partner #1 went out there with the snowmobile and in a most impressive display of snowmobile riding skills and herdmanship (not sure that's a real word) he managed to separate 30-odd horses from 200-odd cows and chase them back over the fence! Partner #2 and I had pulled up our chairs and sat with coffee in hand watching the whole thing unfold. Seriously, it was impressive.
In crossing all these fences, the horses have gotten themselves into fields overgrown with burdock, or the devil's weed as I call it, and now they are all completely matted with burrs. So soon Partner #1 is going to bring them all in to give them hair cuts! I am rather excited and I've volunteered to help. Since a good chunk of the horses we have are not exactly people friendly, it should make for a good time! I will have camera ready, of coarse, and be planning out the follow up blog post as I'm trying not to get kicked. Because I'm just that dedicated...
Oddly enough, the root of the burdock plant is sold for ridiculous amounts of money in health food stores and is touted as being "anti-oxidant, disease preventing, and [has] health promoting properties". I think if I cared enough to harvest the stuff, I could make a killing with the amount we have here on the property. And here we are cutting it down, torching it, poisoning it, or gathering it on our horses....
And that's kind of it... Just same old boring stuff. Another regular day in paradise. I couldn't imagine trying to write a blog about my old life "Today, I did the dishes for the first time in 2 weeks...."; "Today, another disgruntled customer reamed me out about the price of apples again".... It just doesn't have the same effect that "Today, I avoided a driving over a head lying in the road" has. Even when my life is boring, it's interesting.
