I Love Progress

I love progress. I do so much better when there's momentum and I can see progress! Even something little is better than nothing.

 

I've spent this week making progress. Oh sure, it's really just little tasks that HAD to be done but I'd been putting them off because I wanted to give my full attention....you know, like writing Thank You cards to all our donors from Light the Night and doing those kinds of tasks. I am not good at multitasking so I want to make sure that what I do, I can focus all my attention.

 

We had to put hay in for the mares last night. I really don't mind putting in hay when it's light out. Even when I fight the hay net, there's really no grumbling because it's light and I can see. I guess I'm going to have to attach some glow lights to the hay net this winter when I'm doing chores in the dark all the time.

 

To put hay in, I had to go and pull the mares and Junior out and stall them (and let Rabbit wander). Then Mike has to go out and put the hay bale in and the ring on and I can go back out to finish my chores. The joys of having little kids.

 

Well, while Mike was out I asked him to finish filling the water tank AND get me a couple gallons of weed spray! I've been meaning to get those darn weeds sprayed for weeks but this past week was always rainy. But the sun came out for just a little bit and there was just enough sunlight left at the end of the day that I could get a few weeds sprayed. I was ecstatic last night. I went after every single burdock bush I could find and a ton of thistles. Most of the thistles popping up now are in the rosette stage. Next year they will actually bloom and then we'll be in a bigger mess. So I'm doing my best to attack thistles.

 

I only hit up the thistles near the house and yard. I still need to go after the ones in the pasture. That's going to be an all day task unfortunately. Anyone want to help me? This year I'm going to do some serious weed control. I'll let you drive the farm truck!

 

I'd gone out a couple years ago and sprayed the pasture but Mike had made it so weak that it didn't do a bit of good and I was pretty peeved. So this time I think Mike figured he'd better make it really strong. And I learned my lesson on applying the weed spray!

 

This morning when I went out to do morning chores, I noticed the burdock bushes up by the barn were looking wilted. It was hard to tell because we'd had a pretty good frost but usually up by the barn, things are protected. I hadn't expected to get a serious frost otherwise I would have covered some of my flowers. Hopefully they come out of it.

 

I'm going to take a walk this evening to see if the spray did any damage to the weeds and thistles by the house. Can't have little kids playing in thistle patches! Just knowing that I sprayed weeds made me happy. It's progress. Little progress but it's something. And it's something that *I* did. I've been waiting for others to do stuff and I'm not sure why. But I've learned that if it needs to be done, it has to be up to me. I really don't know why I thought someone else would do it. I guess because I always had Dad to rely on and he'd help. And the fact that the weeds (and other things ) weren't as bad as they've gotten. But now I see it and I'm making a difference. I know, it's a weird line of thinking all the way around.

 

Makes me happy to see progress. Now I'm simply waiting for our personal tax return and for the Ondura sheets to go on sale so I can start putting a new roof on the hay barn!! I will be EXCITED to get that task accomplished. The old cedar shingles are falling off left and right and the barn has been leaking for years. Now it's time to get it fixed. It's one of the five (I keep changing the number) major projects I want to get accomplished this year.

 

• Reroof the hay barn
• Reroof the old garage (which includes patching and fixing the weak spots in the roof)
• Putting the roof back on the run in shed (the one the tornado blew off)
• Painting the outbuildings (at least the barn and the tack room)
• Fencing (focusing on permanently dividing the big pasture into four sections. It'll ruin the visual appeal but it's what's going to make our pasture last)...and fence in the CRP that is now no longer in CRP... we gained 5 acres. It's not great pasture but it's at least more room for the horses to roam. Now we just have to get the fence back up! After 10 years of no maintenance on fences, things fall apart!

 

 Anyone want to help with any of those tasks? It's progress. Or maybe I should ask it a different way...anyone want to see me giddy and happy?