40mph Wind and Patience of a Saint

I really do have to give Mike major credit and Dad for that matter. Mike decided, since work was slow, that he could take Wednesday afternoon off and start working on the manure pile. I unfortunately couldn’t take time off of work to help out. Luckily Dad came down and let Bob out and put the other horses in the barn. Luckily the big herd didn’t tear apart the barn like I was afraid. They were all pretty calm.

Unfortunately, the wind was blowing so strong yesterday. Mike had to fight it all day. After three hours of being outside my patience was gone. I can’t imagine how Mike handled the wind and the poo flying in his face every time he dumped a load into the manure spreader. The wind was about 40mph and Mike and Dad diligently worked on that pile all afternoon. I think Mike worked on it from about 1:30pm until 8:30pm. By the time he went in for the night, he was a total zombie. I would be too. I had to laugh. When I got home, Mike had a “tan” to his skin. At first I thought maybe it was wind burn but the more I think about it, the more I think it was just poo flakes.

Unfortunately the wind was out of the west and Mike had to drive the Massey up the hill, around the barn and dump the load. And the tractor was facing west with the wind blowing everything directly at the tractor and Mike. I owe him big time! I even mentioned it to him but I think he was in such a daze he couldn’t respond.

Mike would get on the Massey and scoop the poo up and drive it over to the waiting spreader. Once the spreader was full, Mike would climb down off the Massey, climb up on the Alis, and head out to the field, fighting the wind the entire time. I can’t imagine how exhausted he must have been by the end of the day.

By the end of the day both Mike and the Massey were done in. The Massey has always been hard to steer (so Mike says). Dad even got on the Massey to get the pile loosened up for scooping and said it was hard to steer. By the end of the night, the Massey steering was going completely out. I can’t imagine how Mike could even get the Massey to move. It’s way beyond my weenie arms.

Mike was able to get everything but about one last load out of the big pile. What’s left is stuff that is too close to the fence. So I guess I’ll spend my Friday, filling up either the Massey bucket or the actual manure spreader. I’m thinking the spreader would make life easier on Mike if the steering is gone on the tractor. I haven’t quite figured out how I’ll swing the shovel up and over the sides of the spreader but I’ll figure something out.

Mike was hoping to get the bottom poo pile out of there too but I’m not sure that we’ll have enough time. We only have until Sunday night to be done with everything. The farmer friend is going to get in the field I guess on Monday. I’m just happy that the fresher pile in the horse pen will be gone.

Now it means I’ll have to truck everything on down the hill. I guess I’ll get my exercise that way. I do still have to clean out the leanto portion but that should be fairly easy. I cleaned it out once before but again it got away from me.

I really do think Mike and Dad must have patience of a saint. There’s no way I could have spent as many hours as they did shovel, scooping, and fighting the vicious wind all afternoon. I big thank you goes out to Mike, Dad, and our farmer friend (for letting us use his tractor and field for this “experience”.) Hopefully next year we will be able to keep ahead of the piles and not have to go through so much pain and suffering to get the pens cleaned out.

Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain on Friday so that I can get the rest of the pen cleaned out and the leanto. I think with that bit, we’ll have the last load of poo ready to go out to the field. Mike can decide then if he wants to tackle the bottom pile. Dad and I will be gone on Saturday to a trail ride. I’m not sure if Mike will be able to rope a coworker into helping or not. I bribe of grilled steak might just be a good enough bribe. We’ll see.