How Many Things Can You Fix in Two Weeks?

This morning the toilet chose to block. This was the latest in a long line of malfunctioning things going on at home, which has kept pft busier than he's ever been. Of course we're supposed to be leaving on vacation at the end of the week, and supposed to be packing for that, but so far, other than make a list of "things to take", no packing has happened.

In the last few weeks, in no particular order, he's had to fix:

• Brakes on truck
• Intermittent miss on the miata (still ongoing, after several things replaced)
• Completely re-doing 55 foot of fencing
• Repairing electric fence
• Cutting down a tree leaning on the electric fence
• Killing a rattlesnake that was in the horse paddock
• Dealing with a well-pump controller problem which meant we kept losing all our water pressure on a daily basis
• Fixing the freezer that chose to start leaking when a hose went bad (on a 100°F day)(possibly related to the above)
• Assembling a multiple-mtn-bike-travelling-mount for the truck
• Wrapping my chook crêche in chicken wire to prevent a) babby chooks falling out between the bars* and b) raccoons extracting babby chooks and their mothers out through the bars
• Fetching hay
• Cleaning the house ready for guests who won't arrive for another four weeks, but we won't be around much to do it closer to the time
• Re-riveting the running board on the trailer that popped off when we had to do a tight U-turn camping a few weeks ago and ended up dragging through some earth (actually not done yet, not needed for a couple of weeks, but it's on the list).

(* this happened earlier in the week when I was trimming Hopi - all the chickens were suddenly  making a ruckus, so I came up for air to see what the fuss was, only to find the latest addition walking around on the ground looking traumatized.)

* * *

I've been trying to keep things going at my end by performing at least one task every morning.

A poor exhausted Roo after nearly two miles.
Miraculously cured on the way home.

Monday I took Roop on his first outing in 7 weeks (unless you count the day I led him down the driveway to close the gate at the bottom, and then rode him back up to the top, bareback). He was awful on the way out, weaving and seemingly having a hard time staying on the road - that is until pft on his mtn bike and the dogs took off down a hill and left him behind - at which point he suddenly developed some impulsion. And of course on the way home, he was raring to go, even if he was travelling in a banana-shape... no idea what that's about.

Tuesday I was relieved to finally get around to trim a long-overdue* Hopi - and we finished on a good note, despite discovering when I came indoors that it had been 109°F out there in the barn  (wondered why I was dripping so much). I stopped before he got pissy and, although that meant his back toes didn't get rolled, at least they are short and de-chipped.

(* Hopi always ends up being overdue because he's difficult to trim, has kicked me at least once and I've never forgiven him, so I don't look forwards to it, so can usually find something else to do instead. Luckily he has the best feet of all of them, so even when he overgrows, I can trim and - voila - his feet look perfect again).

Wednesday I lopped branches and vines away from the electric fence. This proved a mistake. I've had some chronic tendonitis (at least that's what I assume it is) going on in my left elbow and it turns out that it really dislikes weed-whacking and lopping (it hurts enough that I can't pick up a glass of water at certain angles... phooey).

And this morning I re-spliced the electric fence where the weed whacker inevitably leapt and grabbed it. At this point the fence should be intact again and we can turn it back on.

* * *

Oh, and backtracking to Sunday evening, pft and I waited until it cooled off and then took Small Thing and a mtn bike out to Cool for an hour's ride. Around dusk (8:45 pm ish) we came across this little guy in the grass right next to the trail. He was a bit surprised by us, I think, and bounded off a ways before stopping to check us out - standing up on his back legs for a better look through the tall grass.

Needless to say, ST was more concerned by the water trough (Instrument of Torture) at the trailhead that I tried to persuade him to drink out of than the bear (Mildly Interesting) - he doesn't suffer histrionics very often.

This was the first time he'd worn back boots in probably over a year and there was much bucking going on. In retrospect, the pastern straps were probably also too tight - I'm gradually learning the new boots and hopefully the next excursion will go a little smoother.

Oh - and I had to laugh at this pic (below) that pft took of us following last week's post about how his feet grow funny. Wonder why that would be?

He can stand normally, I promise. He was just miffed that we should be Getting On With It.