Tuesday, July 12

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

I was able to get more hay today.

First when I texted, the hay guy said the rest was spoken for, so I was caught off guard when he texted around 5 pm that someone had cancelled, and there was enough available for me to come get a load.

Luckily I had unloaded the truck and trailer last night, and could go again today.

I had to get fuel first, but was otherwise ready to go.

So, forty one bales today (picked up one straggler that would have just been annoying to the hay guy to pick up later), and I parked the whole thing inside the barn at home in case it rained.

I need to make some kind of platform for the hay to get it up off the ground, since the floor of the barn has been damp. I might wait until my Sweetie is home.

So, between the two loads, I have enough hay for about 2.5 months. A good start.

This meant I was pretty late to see River, but I made sure it was okay with R first. It might have been for the best, since today was pretty hot. Working in the evening was cooler.

I also hosed him down a bit first, to cool him down, and he seemed to enjoy it. I might try to do that more often. Not shocking cold water, just tepid.

I ended up working a lot on him turning on the hindquarters again, and while he did a bit better, I don't know if it would be above a 3/5 if I were scoring it. Not sure why the communication/willingness is lacking on this movement, we sure have spent a lot of time on it.

Other than that we did well.

I came home, and it was late enough that I did not turn anyone out into their pastures. I hate trying to bring them back in and it's dark.

I learned about The Great Stink, an event in Central London in July and August 1858 during which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent (what they call industrial effluent at that time was indeed some chemicals, but mainly unusable guts and such from the enormous meat-packing district, and manure, and blood, and feathers, and chicken feet, etc.) that was present on the banks of the River Thames. The problem had been mounting for some years, with an ageing and inadequate sewer system that emptied directly into the Thames. The miasma from the effluent was thought to transmit contagious diseases, and three outbreaks of cholera before the Great Stink were blamed on the ongoing problems with the river.

Over time, reforms were made to the system so that the waste was no longer dumped into the river within the city, but out of the city. ( I don't know, wouldn't this mean that it was still disgusting but further away?
Apparently it WAS a lot closer to the sea... At least London stank less?)

Anyhow, the incredibly elaborate, difficult, and expensive renovation of the sewer system in London mostly eliminated Cholera outbreaks, and made the whole place a lot less disgusting.

Joseph Bazalgette was the civil engineer in charge of the project, and ended up being knighted for his service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stink

To this day, London still has problems with their sewer system, and there are still storms that overwhelm the drains and cause enormous amounts of raw sewage to drain directly into the Thames. Eww.

Comments

[ratunderpaper]

Here we are at that time of year when "the cool of the evening" means there's still enough light to get chores done at a comfortable temperature.

To go along with The Big Stink, I recommend reading on London's fatbergs.

[gottawonder]

I know about fatbergs in general, and it is an incredible phenomenon!

[ratunderpaper]

When the kitchen sink gets plugged, we usually say it's a fatberg.

[ratunderpaper]

Maybe when Morrissey sang of "drinking tea with the taste of the Thames", in Come Back to Camden, he meant this.

[gottawonder]

Probably means the tea was disgusting!

[ratunderpaper]

It would explain why he says he was drinking it "sullenly". I can picture it.