Write What You Know: Farming II // Winter Chores


  • Pajama pants and oversized rubber boots are chore clothes.
      
  • The rubber boots live in a large pile or line by the back door or in a mudroom and it can be hard to find YOUR boots.
      
  • If you have small enough feet, any boot is your boot. You just slide them on and shuffle out.
  • If there is deep mud, you may accidentally suck a boot off. If you're not paying attention, you may already have taken the next step with your now sock-clad foot.
       
  • They WILL fill with hay, alas.
      
  • And so will the insides of your shirt and your pockets.
      
  • You may also have a horse treat, dog treat, peppermint candy or old wrapper in your pockets too.
     
  • And probably a piece of wire or a nail that you found on the ground and picked up and never got around to throwing away.
     
  • And maybe a lip balm or spare five dollar bill or whatever else you keep in your pockets. When you need these things, you will probably accidentally pull out a bunch of hay and some other random object. 
       
  • SPILLING. COLD. WATER. IN. YOUR. BOOTS. DURING. JANUARY.  
     
  • Plowing the driveway with the tractor
     
  • Possibly plowing a neighbors driveway if they don't have a tractor
     
  • HOW DO I BUCKLE THIS STUPID BLANKET ON WITH GLOVES?
     
  • HOW DO I KEEP MY HORSE FROM EATING MY GLOVES ONCE I TAKE THEM OFF TO BUCKLE THE BLANKET?
     
  • WHY ARE THE BUCKLES SO COLD?
     
  • Driving a big round bale of hay out through the snow to the cattle
     
  • Sitting up in the barn on the stack of small square bales and thinking how warm and cozy they are and completely forgetting what a pain they were to stack in the heat last summer. SWEAT AND HAY ARE NOT FUN!
     
  • DROPPING YOUR KNIFE DOWN THE HAY PILE
     
  • Learning the secret to opening a small bale with nothing more than another piece of twine. (FRICTION!!!)
     
  • Cuddling up with a cat and hot chocolate and watching the horses run and play in a snowy field and remember why you put up with all the horrors of winter. 


             -MK




Comments