Manic Monday

I wake up early to SNOW......which means I have to hurry so I can have everything nailed down before I leave for work. You just never know if it is going to really snow or just come and go. I can't take chances.
I decide I should feed at both barns in case anyone has trouble getting there......I cannot remember if Brenda has an early morning today or just what....so I leave and feed at our borrowed barn first....Everything is okay........no frozen pipes...no bleeding horses...all noses are accounted for and hot grain is fed.
Off to the next place.
Did I mention my four wheel drive is not working? It isn't. So I take the car....all wheel drive.....but not really a farm vehicle......just the same, it gets me there.
I pull up to barn number two.....
let chickens out, let cat out, get Bonnie out.......take insulation off water faucet, hook hot water up........soak alfalfa cubes......throw hay...feed Bonnie, decide it is too cold for Bonnie to hang in her underwear....put her back in cat room with water/food....mix grain........check water, throw chicken scratch, put cat food out..fill up squirrel feeder......check alfalfa cubes...squeeze alfalfa cubes....shred alfalfa cubes......I decide I HATE alfalfa cubes.....so labor intensive. Grace cannot chew hay.....and so she must eat slop........senior grain, beet pulp, either hay pellets (soaked) or alf cubes (soaked).......I am allergic to alfalfa. Supposed to wear gloves.....but I don't take the time this morning and my hands swell.....then itch.....turn red.......then I decide to put the gloves on....but my hands are wet and I struggle with the damn latex gloves for a while....in the meanwhile I have touched my face.....and now my face itches....
I have two shirts on so that I can make it to work in a clean shirt....and I have a coat on.
I decide that I should move the gas can from the shed to outside the barn. I pick up the gas can by the spout and pull it up and towards me......it sprays me with gas.
I look at my watch.......no time to go home......my gloves let the gas go right through and to my skin. Great.
I go to the sink and run hot water over hands with soap......they are bright red now.
I smell like gas...that ought to be popular at work.
Do I have clothes in my car? Nope...they are in the truck.
Okay...I am ready to leave........I pour Grace her soaked slop and then decide to undo the hose. It has a quick connect.
I reach down and un do it......I am sprayed on the leg with water. ...I forgot to turn the spicket handle.
I give up.
I am short on time and must get going.
Into the car....I smell like gas.
I shed one shirt. My forearm smells like gas...not the shirt.
I put another jacket on. Look in the mirror.....my nose is bright red. Great...I am Bozo the clown.
I think about allergy shots.

Off to work. It snows on and off all day, but nothing really sticks. It is cold when I return to the barn.
Greeted by our real barn cat.......she is hungry......I put her in the cat room with Bonnie, close them in...feed the horses and go through the same routine with Grace's slop.....but I have gloves on.
Pretty soon I hear the profound wailing of the stray feral cat who comes and eats/sleeps in the barn at night. He/she is hungry and anxious for me to leave the barn, so he/she can eat. I call to him/her and he/she answers but will not come in the barn. I make a bed out of hay and horse blankets......hoping he/she can get warm.....I leave plenty of food out and some fresh water. I wondered where the mouse carcasses were from....not from our real cat....she doesn't catch mice.

I close the barn up, take hay to the pony down the street.......go home........glad to get into clothes that don't smell like gas....

just another day.

Pony Up fortune for tomorrow:

an old friend will call.