Productive

That's me, today!

I'm house-sitting for Mom and Dad. Some friends that they've known for 40 years, Tom and Nita, are celebrating their 50th anniversary this weekend, so Mom and Dad flew to San Diego to help celebrate. Last night there was a big barbecue, and tonight is the big party. Mom was excited that she and Dad got to sit and talk with Mike Davis, a former head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He is married to Tom's niece, and is, apparently, a nice guy.

Anyway, I'm in Lincoln, holding the fort down. It's not a very hard fort to hold--the most strenuous thing that is required of me is to keep the litter boxes clean, and the morning cookies doled out.

So I made plans to escape the loneliness of being in a huge house (okay, it's not huge, but it's twice the size of my apartment, so it feels massive) by helping out at my favorite farm, A Chance For Bliss.

I got up at about 7:30 this morning, and hung out three loads of laundry that I washed last night. Then I made an omelette for breakfast, put my hair in a ponytail, and slathered on the sunscreen. By 9:15, I was at the farm. Deanna was happy to see me, and I was happy to help out.

I helped put alfalfa cubes out for the horses to eat, and watched, laughing and directing traffic, as nine horses were transfered from the front pasture to the back, where breakfast was waiting. They know the drill, and they waste no time getting to the food.

Once they were munching, I grabbed a shovel and a bucket-on-wheels and set out into the front pasture to scoop up horse poop. It's physical work, but it's good work. I was sweating like crazy, but other than that, it doesn't bother me. Deanna said, "God love you," and I smiled and replied, "This smells a hell of a lot better than what I scoop out of the litter boxes at home."

And it's true. Cat poop is stinky--and their urine is even worse!

Once the pasture was cleaned up, there wasn't much else that needed doing, so I went back and groomed a few of the more mellow horses. Deanna and Woody were off to get hay, and though there were people in the house having a class, I am always aware that horses are not above getting spooked, so I'm cautious about being alone with them. I went to the back pasture, where the "mellower" croud hangs out, and acquainted myself with Hanauma (Ha-nah-oo-mah) and Stevie, two newer residents among the 21 horses.

Stevie is the most recent arrival, and he's blind. He was abandoned, and no one knows his back story. Still, he's a sweet horse, and he's bonded with Hana. Apparently, he hates leaving her side, and though she sometimes "hides" from him when she needs a break, she also freaks out when she is forced to separate from him. I approached them slowly, talking the whole time, and let them sniff me a little before scratching ears, noses and necks. They both let me brush them a little--mostly I just aimed to get the dirt and dried sweat off their backs.

I also paid some attention to Wilbe and Ranger, and my favorite old gentleman, Odie.

(Didn't get a chance to say hi to Zulu, the very lovely horse I rode last month.)

I didn't stay too long for the grooming--it was nearing noon and heating up. We're supposed to reach 106 degrees today. I got a little too spoiled by a cooler-than-usual June, so this heat is NOT pretty.

When I got home I left my shoes in the garage, then stripped in the laundry room and put my jeans, t-shirt and sports bra directly into the washing machine. Since then, I have showered, cleaned out the fridge (you're welcome, Mom), run a couple more loads of laundry, walked down to get the mail, and cleaned the litter boxes. I figure I'm due some lazy time, as soon as I hang up my sheets to dry (I bring my bed linens from my apartment solely to wash them here and hang them to dry on Mom and Dad's line because I love the smell of line-dried laundry).

It's been a very nice day!