Exhausted, but smiling!

[Kay/NC]

Winn and I got the hired man going this morning after their hog chores.  This is the week when they have no loads out, so no washing; thus, lots of free hours for other chores!!!!!

We took everything out of the pool shed, threw junk away, sent the stash of sheep dewormer drench to the farm shop, got the floor shop vac'd, and everything that belonged back in straightened out.  My husband has a tendency to put anything he doesn't want to freeze into the pool shed, which is insulated and has a heat exchanger from the boiler in it. 

Mike had told me that  pool deck was ready to seal today...but, NO!!! (He is not much on prep work....) It had to be pressure washed first, so that got done, too.  While that was running, I organized all the paint cans, and labeled the ones for different door colors. 

Then, we moved to the pile of gardening junk by the kennel shed...all is now de-junked, and what was to keep moved to the new garden shed we built last year.  I will not know how to act, with all my gardening things in one spot, instead of scattered everywhere. 

That left two sheds, and I picked the yard shed that had the heavy new trampoline box in it...that's moved to the setup spot now, waiting for assembly, maybe Friday.  We got EVERYTHING out of that one, pumped up all the slack tires on bikes and such, and cleared it completely out. 

The pig cooker, whcih we pulled out, needs refurbishing, so the hired man is pressure washing that right now, getting it ready for a new coat of hi-temp black paint.  Mike just moved our small strawchopper out of the yard shed, to the composter shed in the farm, where it really belongs.  I now have SO much empty space out there, it is unbelievable. 

We still have one more mess to go - the lean-to off the garage - but, it is time to quit for the day.  I have gathered some nice, big blue flowerpots to go to Jenna's tomorrow morning, and loaded them in the car trunk.  

There is need for a load of gravel for paving all this open parking area now.  As soon as we agree on where to dump it, I will call in the truck.  

I think a couple of hours will get the last shed done on Friday, if the rain has passed by then. Tomorrow is an away day for Mike and me, at long last.  He didn't get to travel when the haying was in high gear, the past two weeks. 

This will be his first view of the new bathroom tile tub surround that son did at Jenna's house.  He told me not to show him a photo, to let him enjoy it in full size, with the newly-epoxied tub shining beneath it.  

I am about as pooped as a woman can be.  Keeping two men moving most of the day, a good part of it with Winn in the backpack, has been a strain on my knees.  They hurt like two gigantic toothaches, but I don't care! 

Best news yet...Mike found a good replacement for the hired man, whose last day is a week from Friday.  (I am going to see if his wife can help me a day or so next week with housework, since their teenager is home from school then , and can watch the two smaller ones.)  

The new guy has been helping our daughter around the farm for a couple of years now, and so we feel we know him pretty well.  He graduates on Saturday, then starts shadowing the crew early next week, to learn the ropes of the hog operation.   

The workload doesn't normalize until at least Wednesday, so, if weather permits, I hope to get him to finish painting the doors on the house and office.  Then, there is that pool deck to seal. 

We will actually have two hired men for most of the week, and less work on the hog farm than usual...so, I am smelling a chance to get a LOT of chores done around here.  Time to start checking that list we cut a big chunk off of today,, and see what needs to be added.   

Do you ever get to this point, where you would keep going until you drop, if you didn't want to kill your helpers from overwork?  I would have gone on until dark today, but Mike would be MIA  at choretime for months if I did.