Missus Bacon has avoided it, but not the boys, who brought it home from school.It isn’t homework, it is a cold virus. Our little baby girl got it, and kept sitting on my lap… What could a father do? I would coddle her and keep her, and of course I got it. I knew I would! But she is worth it, right? I have it, and it has kept me under the weather a bit, but most devastating is the cabin fever that has set in due to being locked down under the baby. I try to get out in the yard each evening when possible to get some exercise and some air in my lungs. That’s okay because there is a project to work on out there anyhow.
The horses have done a fair job on the back fence, trying to get to the neighbor’s vegetation in the field between us. At the moment, the fence is bent up and standing at a 45 degree angle. Jordan has been helping me with the fix for the past couple of evenings. We have a fair number of rail crossties in the yard that were put down for landscaping, but because of the wind and blowing sand here, most of them have been buried, some so deep that we have only just discovered them. So we are digging them out in a dual effort. One is to see how the sand goes after the air damming effect of the crossties are gone, and the other is of course to use them to stop the horses knocking the back fence over. We are placing the ties 10 feet apart in three foot deep holes, making huge honkin’ fence posts out of them. We are lining them up 14 feet from the back property line in order to leave a dead zone between them for the moment, and planning an abatement program when the area does grow in, such as a goat, or a roadbed. The dead zone leaves an area wide enough to possibly bring the animal feed through when it is delivered, so there are possibilities there too. Also, it fits in with the future plans of removing the metal rail fencing and replacing it with wire, and then putting it eventually all around the arena and making a longing circle.
Having a cold and mending fences does not mix well, especially when said fences require 3 foot holes, but it is coming along, even if slowly.
Yesterday we found one of our ducks laying dead in their watering bucket. That was a bit of a bummer. The only thing we can think of is that the other male must have killed it, and probably on accident. It left a mess for me to clean up. Pin it to the “oh well” wall.
Lately, a lot of our lives has been devoted to mending the fences and tending the animals. The kids have really enjoyed it, and so has Missus. As for me, after spending most of the last eight years pinned inside because of the weather, or because I did not want to go outside and be among some of those who lived around me, frankly, this has been just about the best time of my life! It feels better than good. Getting out in the air, and being with the animals fills my lungs and my mind with life. (Yes, even when one of the ducks is floating belly up in the pool.) The weather this winter has been very tolerable overall, and as spring rolls in, there is a lot of gardening to do, and plenty of sunshine will be about for horseback riding. Jordan and I want to saddle Umber and Patches and go for a real ride out a few miles in the desert. In fact, hopefully that will be sooner than later, especially if this cold lets up on us all!
Ta for now!
Kelsey J Bacon