Getting It Done

Man, am I glad I'm not some kind of homesteading woman left behind to tend the homestead while Pa goes to work on the railroad so the family can have money for, like, shoes and a single stick of hoarhound candy for the children at Christmas.

Oh wait.  Did I lose you there?  Maybe I should back up a little bit.

Hey, remember that A. is a lawyer?  I wouldn't blame you if this is not something you immediately associate with the Woodchuck Man, but it's true.  He's a lawyer.  And a very good one at that.  He sometimes has to go to legal education things, and this week he went to one in Orlando.

Yeah.  Florida.  In January.  It would be cool if he wasn't sitting in a hotel ballroom with a bunch of other lawyers all day.  Downer.  But he says it's been informational and worthwhile, so that's okay*.

Anyway.  I have obviously been tasked with all the animal care while he's gone.  It's not so bad.  All I have to do is pull hay to the front of the feeder for the sheep in the morning and make sure they have unfrozen water every day, plus check on the chickens occasionally.

The only problem is that I have to do these things when not encumbered by children.

So if I'm lucky enough to get a dual nap in the middle of the day, I can rush out then and do it.  Or I can do what I did today, which was take both kids to the feed store because the chickens were out of food--a new bag of which A. bought before he left and then forgot about in the back of his car, which is currently in long-term parking at the airport--and then, while they were strapped in the car and thus immobilized, I took care of the sheep.

And when we got back from the feed store, I left them in the car again so I could do the chickens.

Really, if you think about it, the car is perfect.  It's warm; it's safe; they can't go anywhere; they're within sight of me the whole time through the windows.  I should do this every day, just strap 'em into their car seats and go about my garden chores or whatever.

Which brings me back to being glad I'm not a homesteading woman.  Because they didn't have cars, you know.  And probably they had way more children than I do.  Plus, you know, no running water or electricity or . . . Well.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: You can keep your good old days.  They sound like too much damn work to me.

* I talked to him this evening and he told me he was going to (re-) read The Lord of the Rings in his hotel room and then go to sleep.  I said I was going to can pickled beets.  We are the biggest nerds in the whole world, it appears.