what a day what a day...

itsmecindi · Aug 23, 2003

...all day long pushing mud from one place to another trying to divert water from where it shouldn't be to where it will be better tolerated.

Another litter of baby pigs waiting on us first thing this morning so that's three down and twelve more to go.

The good news is a nice man from Highlands County came and bought four show pigs this morning! These pigs are only ten days old and he says they're gorgeous... gave us a two hundred dollar deposit so finally some of our hard efforts are beginning to pay off!

Lost four hundred pounds of feed to mold due to the constant wet, and had no idea where we were going to come up with the money to replace it until Mr. Pig Buyer came along. Whalah. There it is, two hundred dollars, one ton of fresh feed. Hu-yah!

Got stuck in the mud several times, both on foot and on tire, but I actually rocked myself out in the truck TWICE so my mud handling skills are improving. The absolute best piece of news I have, all things considered, is the fact that we had NO rain today. I am exhausted but not too exhausted to be smiling over that. And how was YOUR Saturday? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bird · Aug 24, 2003

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( And how was YOUR Saturday? )</font>

Hot, humid, but otherwise dry and miserable. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif So I did the lawn edging early in the morning and little else all day. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

wasabi · Aug 24, 2003

I puttered away on design details for our cabin and then went fly fishing for redfish in the evening. Got skunked, but the water, marsh and sunset made it worthwhile. It was nice to take a break after a pretty rough week including finding out my car needs a replacement transfer case. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Congrats on the pig sale. It all eventually works out, eh?

Sabi

itsmecindi · Aug 25, 2003

I spoke too soon. It came a gulley washer, pie floater, gutter flusher (fill in your favorite quote) last night. I had to pull Mr Fred out of the mud twice this morning at five thirty with the tractor so that he could go to work and it was not a happy set of circumstances for either of us.

The skeeters were rampant, so we were swattin' and cussin' and tryin' to hook up the snatch chain from the truck to the tractor then he had the NERVE to holler at me for almost scraping the side of his truck with the blade that HE left on the back of the tractor.

To top it off, when I asked him how to find reverse on the tractor in the dark, he YELLED at me that it was where it always was and I had to yell back at him that if I knew where the *%!! it always was I wouldn't have to ASK, now would I, punctuated with a few more choice words and non-verbal guttural exclamations, as I ground around trying to find 'back up'

"Straight up! It's straight UP!"

Suddenly he came hip hopping through the mud almost falling twice and generously showed me where reverse was. Somehow the sound of those gears grinding put a giddyup in his getalong and suddenly he couldn't be helpful enough.

Okay, so we switch places. Then it was...'Don't run over the CHAIN...get OFF the brake! Let me pull you....don't do anything, just steer, no GAS, you're digging a HOLE, give it some gas! No....STOP! Get OFF the brake I SAID! Keep it in the road, go over to the right, no the LEFT the LEFT!'

When he looked back for the last time to see the single finger wave I was sending him he bent over the steering wheel of the tractor and laughed til I thought the top of his head was going to fly off.

Once we were safely out of the mud he came back and tried to do damage repair.

"Ahm sorry, I know I get tense..."

"You also know I'm mud challenged! You know I don't know what to do! All I need is simple DIRECTIONS! That's all just simple instructions! Don't....don't you DARE touch me."

By now he's following me around the truck trying to placate me.

"You did fine, you did GREAT, everything is okay, I couldn't have gotten out without you."

I have my back to him, arms folded over my breast, as impenetrable as Fort Knox.

"Just....go....to....work."

"Not til you tell me you love me."

I glanced down at my shins, the only thing visible above the mud and sniff loudly.

"You know I love you. I just hate it when you yell at me."

"I know it, and I hate it when I yell at you too, but how many times do I have to tell you..."

"Oh DON'T even go there. How many times do I have to tell you what day is trash pickup day?! Fred....what day is trash pickup day?"

Long, long silence.

"Uhhh...okay. Touche', you win."

"Okay I love you. Now go to work."

Sheesh. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

wasabi · Aug 25, 2003

I'm beginning to wonder if you are having sidebar communications with my wife... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Your material is uncannily familiar