Chores and the Escape

Taking Advantage of the Weather

Nice day today, so I decided to get some outside work done.  The big task was getting the big tree branch off the lawn and out to the woods. For this, I needed the tractor. And the tractor needed to get through the gate into the paddock with the branch dragged behind.  And that meant the gate had to be opened for a little bit with me in the tractor seat instead of in control of the gate.

Of course, the Boys thought this was all great entertainment. They were all hanging out in the front paddock, watching my every move. This time it was Toby who took advantage and made for the gate as it was swinging shut after tractor and tree were through.  It was almost closed all the way when my clever boy shoved it with his nose and made his great escape out onto the back lawn. Tucker and Chance were quite miffed about that as there is at least a little nice green grass out there and Toby immediately dropped his head to graze.

Since I do have the gates across the driveway and Toby still respects them--as long as Chance is not taking the lead, I left him to enjoy himself while I dragged the branch out to the field and rolled it into the woods.  At that point, Tucker and Chance galloped out to the front paddock where I'd put some flakes of hay and settled themselves down to eat and keep an eye on Toby.

That left me to make another trip back and forth to get the rest of the tree limbs out to the woods without worrying too much about the gate.  Once I finished that, I cleaned the loose and wet hay out from under the run in shed--only one tractor bucketful and pondered my next move.

I decided to cut it short--stacking the manure pile was one option--and go back out to the lawn to pull the arena drag back into its proper parking spot where the tree branch had been lying.

I was about to park the tractor back under the roof area by the tack room when I realized that the hay had piled up there pretty badly and the whole area needed a cleaning.  Once again, I discovered that baling twine reproduces like rabbits.  Nearly every forkful of old hay had some twine in it, even though I had been putting the twine I'd pulled off the baled I'd fed the horses into the garbage can. I am quite convinced that two strings of twine have a litter of about ten as soon as you allow them to lie about instead of being properly contained.

At any rate, the garbage can is now full of twine, the  hay is pretty much cleaned up, and the tractor is once again parked where it belongs.

Toby was quite willing to come back into the barn for his dinner and all's well with the world.

I have a feeling my knees are going to complain about all this work, but so be it. They need to earn their living too.