Feeling Like Fall

The last couple of days it's felt like fall. The monarchs are gathering, the geese are flying, and there's a nip in the air. The weatherman is saying we'll go back to super hot weather in a day or two. In fact this weekend we are supposed to be in the 90s again. It's a hard shift to go from upper 80s to low 70s to 90s but that's South Dakota in the summer time.


The nip in the air though has me scurrying around like crazy trying to get things done. We never know what winter will bring us or when winter will arrive but this year has been so crazy that I need to be ready for anything.


I'm going to have to start pushing others to make phone calls and to get a few things done around here. I have a few projects I want done and I don't have the connections to get them lined up or done so that means pushing others. I'm not good at pushing others.


Right now, there's a lot of fixing and repairing things that have deteriorated over the past eight years. Everything sort of went on hold when we started having kids so now that we are done having kids and they are getting a little older (enough where I don't have to hang on to them at all hours of the day and night), I'm trying to get a few projects done that have needed to get done all along (but I didn't have the energy or money to do them. Well, I still don't have the money but that's a different story).


While it's not specifically Sanctuary related, I am painting our house. I would have much preferred hiring someone but that wasn't in the cards. I guess no one wants to paint an old farm house so it's up to me. Luckily we have a small house so hopefully I can do it. I started last fall and got one side done but now I'm left with getting the other sides done. As with the barn, I started on our house this year with the bottom because I KNEW I could get that part done while watching kids. The second story is a different beast. Weekends are meant to be with kids and doing adventures with them so juggling fun activities with getting stuff done is a bit tricky. I'm sure to be in a panic soon. At least this year I'm working from home so the tight grip on my chest with all the worry of getting everything done isn't there (yet).


We don't have any more cleanup days scheduled and actually August is off limits for doing pretty much anything other than kids stuff what with birthdays and school starting (it's even worse in a pandemic). But I'm going to keep plugging along. This past weekend I added a temporary ally way to the bottom pasture and opened the bottom up for the horses to graze as the other parts of the pasture were done. It's a new method and the horses haven't quite figured it out (or don't like it). Hopefully the bottom pasture will hold for another month and then in September, I can open the entire pasture up and they can graze what's left over. I'd hoped to implement what I'd learned during my pasture management class but could only do a little and even then I STILL did a few things wrong. Time and energy are my worst enemy at this point (well, and lack of funds but that's a given). I need and want to go out with a clippers and cut down the thistles that I didn't get a chance to spray, along with the burdock in the other pasture so that I have a fighting chance of not dealing with cockleburs this fall. We'll see if I get a chance to get any of that done.


I also had helpers last week when it was hot to wash a few blankets. Of course the novelty wore off quickly (more so because I had an almost 5 and almost 2 year old helping me and they have no staying power). But I at least got three blankets done and two waterproofed. But I still have more to go. The weatherman is talking hot temps again so I'll be dragging out more blankets to get them washed and waterproofed. I still need to get them repaired but I can do that at night too (if I still have any energy.) I can't remember how hard the horses were on the blankets. Sadly, the blankets sort of ended up wherever they were taken off (inside buildings) so I never really remembered what kind of condition they were in. It's not the method I like or want to use with the blankets but its' the reality I live in right now.


We are going to take a pause in posting much on social media (more so than lately). So if you happen to not see us, it's that we are super busy doing kids stuff, prepping for school, and getting stuff done around the place and by the time I can sit down, I'm too exhausted to post pictures or to even think.


Fingers crossed that this cold snap is a friendly reminder but that winter holds off and gives me a couple of months to get things done before the first snow flakes start flying.