Bliss

I guess I wouldn't say I was in total bliss last night. I wasn't riding a horse or messing with the senior horses. But I would consider it my second best bliss. We had no wind while doing chores, so no hay in my hair, in my eyes, or down my clothes. The horses were all respectful of their spaces and my space. The horses were also very patient and didn't try my last nerves like they'd done the night before. The quiet while doing chores was wonderful. No wind howling through the bare trees.  No stomping hooves to demand grain. Nothing but quiet and with an almost full moon, chores were easy.

The best part about last night, I didn't have to haul water! I'm guessing that's why I was in such a state of bliss. My parents were down watching my son (grandma and grandpa day!) and Mike volunteered to haul water. I was so grateful. I hadn't kept up the night before with the water. And with warmer weather, Mayhem drinks a LOT more water. So I knew I was faced with hauling at minimum eight buckets back. It turned out to be ten buckets filled between four and five gallons full. With Mike hauling, he probably filled them closer to five gallons full, whereas I do just over four gallons. Darn tendinitis gets in the way of so much these days.

Chores still took an hour to finish but I didn't have to lift an arm once to haul water. I'd say that was the best night for chores in a very long time. I won't take it for granted either. I know I won't have a "water boy" again for awhile so I'll take advantage of the opportunities when they come by.

And I found out this morning, best news ever! We had someone donate to Junior's last bale of hay! He is completely paid for on his hay! Now the hard part, finding hay this time of year. I've been searching for hay but nothing local. I'm going to wait a little bit longer but I expect I'll be working with our hay guy to see if he has any available. He's out of the hospital now so it should be easier to negotiate getting hay. Last night I also wrote the dreaded check for the 2013 hay. You're probably wondering why it would take so long to pay for hay that is already gone. Our hay guy prefers that we wait until the next year so that we don't mess up his records. It's a bit of a pain for us but I'll if it keeps our hay guy happy, I'll do it. With all the medical bills and such that we had last year, finding the funds to pay for hay was very tough this year, even with all the fundraising we did. So it took until now to pay for last year's hay. And now I'll be struggling to pay for this year's hay. Luckily our hay guys is really great about waiting for the money but I'd feel better if it was paid for by January 1. Goal for 2016? I am expecting that the 2014 hay will cost about the same as 2013's hay and that was $3,600 (we get a good guy discount).  I may start looking at doing some online fundraising in the very near future to help offset the hay. So keep an eye out for it soon!

Now back to my bliss of remembering chores with no wind and not having to haul water (we had wind this morning and I had to haul water). Short lived bliss but oh so worth it.