Another Week Goes By…

 …and my nose is still above water (although that feels tenuous) - on Saturday P & I slopped through the mud to get a round bale put out for the horses, it was a genuine Keystone Kops episode!

Peran will continue to rub it in - he encouraged me to go get my round bale Thursday (before it started raining), but I was trying to stretch things out as long as I possibly could. The problem is, our small tractor  “ItsyBitsi” (it’s a Mitsubishi hence the nickname) cannot move round bales - my usual routine is to drive out into the pasture & “bowl” it off the bed of my truck. It rained all day Friday so that wasn’t happening; my first mistake was getting my truck stuck as I attempted to turn around in the front yard. When P got me pulled out, I suggested that I back the truck through the barn (which has a concrete center aisle, thanks Dad!) so we can bowl the hay bale out the back gate. Of course it rolled all the way to the fence, fortunately not busting through! but then flopped on its side. We then had to get down there with straps on Itsy & painstakingly pull the bale away from the fence & get it set back up (we don’t have a hay ring either, but the ponies don’t seem to waste too much). By the time this was all said & done, we were both coated in mud and at some point I strained my left shoulder. Merry Christmas ponies!

More thunderstorms rolled through Sat night, and rain leaked through the master bathroom vent - when I creaked into the bathroom at 6:30 AM, I slipped & busted my butt on the (wet, cold) bathroom floor. Fortunately only bruised as I contemplated poor Adela, struggling through her miserable recovery from her broken hip - she has been moved to rehab hospital which seems to be managing her nausea & pain control better. Yesterday was another form of endurance event, as I made scalloped potatoes & spicy greens, loaded up Xmas for the kids & trekked over to the Goldsmith’s where the young’uns had organized Christmas dinner. Zach & Victoria baked a ham & made green bean casserole & cornbread dressing (I gave V my recipe which she duplicated very well), we had tamales & posole, and V’s dad brought smoked turkey & elk sausage. I didn’t manage to get my mom out, but set her up with some tamales & PBS travel programs on her TV. I still cannot manage to be in more than one place at a time!

Happy Boxing Day y’all… My last amusing anecdote is how Willow decided to shred some gift bags & make a nest in our new set of bath towels (P & I had a very pared-down Christmas: he bought me a new crockpot & I bought us new towels which were desperately needed). I should’ve taken a picture before shooing her out - they needed to be washed anyway.