Friday, November 14

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

A decent enough day outside. Cool but sunny. Most of the snow is gone.

Good sleep.

My Sweetie did some work outside on the pottery studio before heading off into the wild blue yonder to run errands, get a haircut, and to go to the climbing gym. He met with one of our friends and his teen daughter.

I talked with Trainwreck, mostly about plants and oddly for me, pottery. She's really enjoying her class, and was asking me about the kiln we're hoping to install, where we get our clay from, and ideas for hand built pottery.

She really seems to be enjoying the big sports/community center where the pottery class is, and talks a lot about it. I hope she keeps going there through the winter, it will give her somewhere large and open and bright to go during the darkness of winter.

It sounds like she's seeing a lot of her kids these days too, or at least the two sons who live close to her.

I was able to let everyone out into their larger pastures for a while, and to let Roxy wander around and snuffle things. I sat/walked in the pasture while I was on the phone. It's a nice way to talk to people.

Then I went to the barn. River was in a good mood today, and we worked a lot on mirroring again, and trying to get him to stay forward on his own.

I stayed to work with Poppy, a chubby creature who is very good at pretending to be unable to walk when being lunged. She's really convincing. I've never seen an animal work so hard at being slow; it's probably harder than just going forward.

This was during the young woman with health challenges' lesson. She is back after a bit of an absence, as she wasn't feeling well.

My Sweetie showed up as we were putting the animals away, and we all went upstairs for some kitten time.

Then we came home, and I made supper for myself as my Sweetie had already eaten, and we watched an episode of "Good Omens".

I had the diaper on Roxie in the house today, and she didn't seem to be leaking much, just a bit.

Comments

[ratunderpaper]

Is there still time to work on outside hometime projects?

There may be one or two warmish days here in the next week during which I might give the porch ceiling the second coat of paint, but it may be over. I doubt the balusters will be nailed into place or the stairs lifted - two projects I can't do.

[gottawonder]

Yes, he can still work on the sheds.

The new garden shed/wood shelter is mostly finished.

The pottery studio is finished on the outside, and indoor work is no longer weather dependent.

The car port is finished, I think.

Hiring this fellow Dan has been wonderful. My husband likes him, likes working with him, and when they commit to a day, they get a lot done together.

It has taken a couple of months of working steadily on the weekends and chipping away here and there during the week, but he's gotten a LOT done.

I really hope you can get your porch finished. You've certainly put in the effort, and it would be annoying to have it as a project to just take up again in the spring.

I'm sure it still looks nicer now, with even the first coat of paint.

[ratunderpaper]

If we don't get hit with snow in the next week, maybe the balusters can be nailed into place and the stairs straightened. Last week's storm was freakish and unwelcome.

[gottawonder]

I always think of those first little storms as our "last call". A warning to get serious about anything that needs doing.

I got after my husband about putting away and picking up/throwing away all the ring of crap around the sheds that has accumulated. I put away/tossed what I could, but I didn't know how he wanted building materials/tools/wood offcuts/extension cords organized, and of the leftovers, what was garbage and what had an ongoing purpose.

Some of it needed to be inside and protected from the weather, some of it was dangerous to leave laying around (sharp-edged remnants of steel siding, boards with nails, etc.) and all of it was going to cause issues with safe access to those buildings and the ability to use the snow blower once there was snow.

It was also strewn across the established path to the fire wood and the compost heap.

[ratunderpaper]

I hope he saw your point and cleared everything away.

Personal bugbears of mine are "boards with nails" and "pathways partly blocked by transitory stuff".

[gottawonder]

I hate those things at the best of times, and will not tolerate them once snow is imminent.

He did clear it up, which is good.

The trouble with "transitory stuff" is that he literally says "there's no reason to pick it up until the job is finished", because it's "there for a reason".

I'm trying to cultivate the mindset that at the end of every day of working, things are to be picked up, put away, paths clear.

You know, just like at his JOB, where that's a SAFETY PROTOCOL.

[ratunderpaper]

Agree - when I proofread and edit safety articles, I note the key to safety is always picking up tools/debris and keeping paths clear.

Never mind the laziness of leaving stuff out because "it's not bothering anyone".

[gottawonder]

It's very important to ME, because I will be the person doing most of the walking back and forth this winter to dump the compost, get wood, access the pottery shed, and so on.

I remember the first winter after bringing the house into our yard, how EVERYTHING was dumped, stored, or parked RIGHT on the pathways that I pretty much have to walk to get to the animals.

It was uncanny. A giant pile of lumber, a giant pile of dirt, another giant pile of concrete rubble, various debris, and an ENTIRE BACKHOE, all in the area that I most used to walk back and forth from the house to the barn and to feed the animals.

I had one narrow, treacherous track that I felt it was worth my life if I stepped off of it in the snow.

That next summer was all about cleaning it up, and I had to fight with him every step of the way, because somehow he thought it "wasn't a big deal".

There was a pile of concrete rubble enough to fill one of those huge dump trucks blocking one of the gate to the horse pasture, right smack in our yard, where you had to see it every time you drove into the yard or walked outside, and he was like "shrug, it's concrete, so it's not going to hurt anything".

Yet, he will often stand outside and look around and sigh "what a lovely place we have here. I'm so glad our yard is so nice."

The dust has settled on a lot of that now, but it's not really a "forgive and forget" for me. I'm always aware that if I ever stop hounding him, he won't ever pick it up to where it needs to be.

He literally doesn't perceive it.