May. 27, 2003 ~ Tuesday catch-up
One of our cows, Brownie Jo, had a calf today. That makes, let's see... five calves born within the past few weeks. Brownie's last calf was Hoppy, who broke his leg but recovered nicely. We've had a tough time with calves recently, so we are hoping that's all behind us now and it's smooth sailing for awhile. Brownie is a great mom and an excellent auntie. She babysits for other calves, and is good about chasing coyotes. She absolutely hates them, and will run them clean out of "her" pasture. Zero tolerance from her, which is good.
Misha had a bit of a rough weekend, tummy-wise, and may be having a problem today, too. We'd been giving him snacks, whatever he wanted (within reason), for a long time, and maybe it just caught up with him. Or maybe it's his ulcers, I don't know. On Sunday we were expecting a friend, and then Husband and I were to go with him to check out his new tractor. Moments before the friend arrived, I realized that Misha had a problem. Husband went on without me, and I stayed and gave Misha a bath, which made him absolutely miserable. I felt terrible about it, but it simply couldn't be helped. Then I gently toweled him dry. He was just so upset... poor boy. His blood sugar probably went sky-high from the stress, but there was nothing to be done about it.
He was very friendly today, and purred me awake. He snuggles right up next to me or gets next to my face and stares and purrs, stares and purrs, till I wake up. I was up late last night, reading, so wasn't able to bound out of bed at 5:30; instead I turned over and went back to sleep. It was after 9:00 before I finally dragged my lazy self out of bed! There are consequences for such behavior, and in this case I had to deal with all the wide-awake bees and wasps in the barn. It's good to get out there early, before they start moving around. This time I had to just hope for the best, as they flew all around me. Made it through without getting stung, but will need to be more careful in the future, and not stay in bed so late.
I seem to cycle between doing a LOT and doing nothing much. Don't know why I don't stick to just a middle of the road, average amount of work.
Now I have a confession to make. We all have areas where we excel, and areas where we could improve. One of my weaknesses is housework. Specifically, the lack of it. Oh, our house is sanitary (I hope), but it tends to be messy. I wash dishes, take out trash, sweep, and keep the bathrooms "decent," but our house rarely ever looks really tidy. Many years ago, people often commented that my home was like a hospital, that one could eat off the floors, it was so clean. No one has said anything like that in a long time! Most of this is my fault. Some of it is because my family members tend to leave stuff lying around, but I do that, too, and the clutter quickly builds up. Also, I'm finally resigned to the fact of having a bad back. It takes less to cause a problem, and much longer to recover, so I try to avoid activities which cause strain and pain, such as vacuuming. Husband hates vacuuming more than any other household chore, so it doesn't get done nearly as often as it should. I'd be embarrassed to tell you how often! Misha has a few problems, and because of this, we keep the furniture covered with towels, and an extra sheet over our bed. The towels and extra sheets get washed often. But anytime I know someone is coming over, I race around and pick up the towels (because I think they look tacky) and hide them in the bedroom. But we LOVE our cat, and are not about to have him put down just to have a cleaner house. Dusting is also an issue -- I hate to dust. But the clutter is the worst thing.
This weekend I cleaned off my desk, and found things which had been there WAY too long. I'm still excited, looking at the clean surface of the desk! It looks wonderful. Next, the drawers need cleaned out (they actually aren't in bad shape, just need tidying up), and then I need to tackle my file cabinet. Oy. It needs a major overhaul.
You would think that knowing of a weakness, or a personal fault, the logical thing would be to just stop doing whatever it is. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. There are lots and lots of people who struggle with their weight, who know they should eat less and exercise more, or should eat healthier food, and they still can't do it. It's not that they're weak or bad people, it's just a challenge for them. I struggle with my weight, but as it's a big part of my job, I manage to keep it under control. However, I am domestically challenged. And sometimes it depresses me. That said, I've never been to a funeral where they said of the deceased, "Her floors were so clean you could eat off of them." And I don't know of anyone who says, "Gee, I sure miss my mom's housekeeping. Wow, she could really fold laundry." People don't remember others for their housekeeping talents, do they? But there's bound to be a happy medium, something between spotless and messy. I just want to be able to have people drop in unexpectedly and me not panic, or feel like I need to do a major overhaul before we have overnight guests.
And if you are thinking that I could get up and DO something constructive, instead of writing about it, you'd be right. Off I go!
All rights reserved
_______________________________