May. 22, 2002 ~ Running on empty
I am beyond exhausted. The past two nights I was so tired that I fell asleep with a book or magazine in my hands, and awoke in the middle of the night, wondering why the lights were still on. That's not so unusual, except that I hadn't even read a single paragraph. Must have passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Oh, well. Husband is out of town, which means double duties in some areas, and we have that sick baby calf.
He's still hanging in there, though I don't know how much longer he can last. Susan does not expect him to make it. He had a birth defect which led to an infection, and that infection seems to have spread throughout his system. It's in his joints, in his lungs... probably everywhere.
On a positive note, he is nursing his mother now, so I don't have to bottle feed him. He needs a lot of medical care, though, and he's a big boy... heavy. Hard to handle. Oh, and he kicks, sometimes. That's a good sign, but one has to be careful.
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"Let's wait and clean out their pen after the heifers are weaned," he said.
"Why?" I wondered.
"Why not? What difference does it make?" Husband asked.
Well, I'm here to tell you that it makes a HUGE difference. I'd forgotten what happens when you don't clean a stall every day. The wasted hay and the manure sticks together and forms a nearly impenetrable mass... think of adobe. That stuff is practically brick!
Our little heifers are out of the pen now, so I started the task of cleaning up the mess. And, oh, what a mess it is. It's backbreaking work, removing just a little of the stuff at a time. It's solid, all one piece, and it's hard to break it apart. I'm sure this is more than you wanted to know, but hey. Such is life on the farm. If I work at it for two hours a day... an hour each morning and evening, I might be finished in a week.
In the future, there's absolutely no doubt about this, we WILL clean that pen daily. That's a very simple task, and there's absolutely no reason not to do it. Live and learn, I guess.
We seem to do that a lot.
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I sprayed those stupid pond weeds again. Oh, wait... last time I wrote, I think they were "pretty" pond weeds, or maybe even "lovely." Now they're just bratty and obnoxious, stubbornly refusing to die, giving me SUCH a hard time. This is the third time I've sprayed some areas, and I am done. No more. Not until next year, that's for sure.
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Did I tell you that the big nasty oil company sent us another oil lease? This one is in our names, at least, so they acknowledge that we own the mineral rights in question. Doesn't matter. I'm still not signing the lease, and they still aren't drilling on our property. There's a rumor that the oil company is pulling out of this area, anyway, which would suit me just fine, thanks.
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