Getting Stuff Done

I was feeling rather confident this weekend and even up to this morning. And then reality hit me in the face and I'm feeling overwhelmed again. One step forward, two steps back. I just have to remember, it'll all get done (or it won't) and in the long run, it doesn't really matter...well...sorta. It does matter when there's no shingles on a roof and the barn roof is leaking I noticed this weekend that the hay barn is missing shingles. I knew it leaked but now it's going to leak even more. I have a third of the materials to do one side of the roof. I am not sure if I can get up there or not but I guess I have to. It's simply a matter of time. I'll need the tractor and a good solid few hours to put the ondura sheeting on to cover the hole. I guess I'm going to be pushing for that project as well. It never ends.


But I'll get there. Slow and steady.


With the long holiday, I spent Veteran's Day celebrating with my family, relaxing and enjoying the nice weather. It was nice to get away from the stresses (even if they were still bouncing around in my head).


Saturday Mike worked on the flatbed trailer. He put a whole new floor in it. Now if I could just figure out how to convince him to put a new floor in the horse trailer. It'll need to be done soon. I wish we could have had more time before the weather turns bad to tackle one last outside project (ok two).


Sunday we hauled hay. My hay guy is my uncle and he's also a farmer so I can't get irritated with him by not having my entire load of hay delivered. We used to do big squares and those had to be out of the field immediately. Switching to rounds has been a game changer for me. Not all the hay is delivered at the same time (logic of my uncle's) but it makes it tricky to get it to the Sanctuary.


We'd been doing the onsy, twosy trips up to pick up a couple of bales but I NEEDED to get a full load brought down before the first snow flies. I don't want to try to maneuver around our yard with a trailer and tractor when there's snow (and mud).


So we were able to finagle two loads of hay. But it meant going up and getting it ourselves. No problem! Luckily my uncle had the first load loaded up on the flatbed and we used his truck and trailer. His trailer holds 11 and our trailer holds 3. Big difference. But it takes a half an hour to drive up and another half an hour to drive back home. Do that three times and you've got a solid three hours just in drive time (but imagine going a little slower because you're hauling hay AND borrowing someone else's equipment). Then there's unloading, which for us takes awhile. It probably took us a solid 45 minutes or so to unload the 11 bales, where it takes my uncle maybe 10. I won't complain. I'm happy to have a tractor with a loader rather than just the old chevy, using the pull and drag method.


I'd made arrangements earlier in the day to have my farrier come out and do a quick trim on King and Tommy. I need to find a different farrier who can work with Rabbit. She needs to be trimmed every four weeks (my farrier is looking to retire). So we squeezed in two quick trims and two loads of hay.


It felt good to have half of our winter hay sitting in the yard. Now to get it all paid for.


I still need to send out thank you notes and receipts for the fundraisers from last month. I'm so far behind. I'm hoping that I can tackle those projects this week. I'm tired of being behind on everything. Who needs to sleep right? I am hoping the stress from the paying job is about over (at least for this big push on a project). So instead of having to work 3-4 hours every night on the paying job projects, I can work 2-3 hours on Sanctuary and household projects. The garage is still full of stuff from my sister's house (from when she moved last month) and it all needs to get in to the house before it snows. I do not want to scrape my car every morning and push off snow. So there's yet more tasks that have to be done before Friday morning. A bit of a challenge to clear out the garage to get cars in. Wherever there's a flat surface, junk piles up. I also need to move the ponies to their winter pen. It'll mean hauling water a shorter distance and not having to wander in the dark as far. I'm hoping to cut my chores down in the morning to a minimum. I'll get there. Just a matter of time...although I'm limited on that and the threat of snow is causing me some stress.


I am ready to go back on vacation. Who's with me?