dec 22 2022

  between  holidays ---and COVID ---and flu and colds --- And age in general December is always a challenge------- Both service dog project and equine rescue network have people out sick for one reason or another ----simple things like broken leg ---And whatever they say about Employees, when the **** hits the fan the problems fall upward in an outfit like this Involving the care of animals daily.. fortunately all that falls on.lynn. and Janine and not me..----- as of last night Lyn seemed strong and healthy. and Janine said in an e-mail that she planned on being better today.. my personal opinion she just got rung out standing   or carrying around. 40 pound  bales of hay.. at meridith farm... ERN project..doesn’t matter... must get done...

 

since I have been in on the feeding process at Meredith.. there are a lot of animals over there --all need at least  hay  and water---my guess is 18 or 20 .. And since I have spent a few days in my nice warm car doing paperwork while Janine feeds.. I've had a pretty good look at the process --so that kept me up last night... as I wondered if it didn't need rethinking.. 

 

Let's think of the life of 10 Bales of hay.. It starts in my car at the hay dealer who loads it and ties it down for me... I then deliver it to Meredith where I dump it and somebody comes along with two Wheelers and restacked it in the barn...  or I deliver it to service dog project where we have a hay elevator which carries the hay up into the hayloft.. Either of these processes involve two people--  one of whom has a broken leg.

now if I take it to Meredith and it gets stacked in the 1806 huge   barn it then gets put in a heavy duty 4 wheeled laundry wagon.. which then gets dragged  2 at a time. to the bee barn...aand back to 1806 ....then to meredith's icehouse..  ...aand back to 1806 ....the two mules across the street... ...aand back to 1806 .... the sheep and goat pasture.. ...aand back to 1806 .... And eventually the two stalls in the barn.  In that 1806 barn

that deltvers 10 bales.... me in a warm car. Janine  in the cold/rain/ now ailing .

 

and I wonder... if we put all the hay in our barn here requiring 2 people scheduled weekly. ( which. is a lot different than daily feeding) ---and a $5.00 bill in the windshield wiper of janine’s truck-- would someone take the 5er and drop 10 bales  in her truck.. she could then go. To meridith in a warm truck.. jump out and throw hay to the  5 different groups of animals and between groups RIDE IN HER WARM TRUCK. If she managed to have 50  pounds of grain in the. Back of the truck... (which she could  have someone else put in the back of her truck on. The way past the grain store) .... she could bucket that out as she goes around- leaving ther schlepping water in jerrycans  which could be added to that process most of the time...   then she would only have to pick the poop—for that I do not know of a short  cut.. but the  factor of  exposure to the elements  would be significantly reduced  plus she could. Hkeep her cherished  cuppa coffee in the truck to warm her innards..

 

so the hay  problem  would be reduced to lifting into our hayloft. ( 2  random people and the elevator) and dropping into her truck which would happen for $5  if she left her truck under the hay door....

 

that is how I see it—

but change is  always frightening and subject to objection—the comfort of a routine is gone.

we gotta do something..

****

passing on a word of wisdom???

petroleum jelly along the rubber seals for the driver's side car doors so they don't freeze shut!

my weekly load of hay