Work Day

I'm pretty sure Lu-Lu thinks I'm nuts! Work doesn't seem to be a term she can comprehend (unless you consider chasing Robins, work).

Yesterday afternoon Tera, the kids, Lu-Lu and I (and Alan and Elizabeth, who were on a change-of-scenery walk) went up the Ranch hill to work on the spring-fed water trough. The cows have been rough on it this spring, and it was high time to address the situation.

First we cleared out a lot of the junk, old watering troughs, deadfall, posts, etc.

Next, we began digging channels to demuck the standing water. That was only somewhat successful because, sometime during the last week or so, the cows had completely overturned the trough, bent the supply pipe, and torn through the barb-wire fence that had been loosely encircling the whole mess. When we got there, the pristine spring water was flowing out of the bent pipe into a bog of mud, dung and urine that was not only difficult to work in, but unbelievably foul smelling as well. So, we dug and slopped and cut and cleared away the debris and carved a path for the runoff. With two rags, a length of old electric wire and a Pepsi can, Alan, Nicholas and Korin MacGuyvered the supply line together with a random plastic pipe to divert the clean water around the wallow and allow all the putrid, standing water to drain off.

Then we went about digging post holes. Once we'd set on of three of three posts, everyone but Lu-Lu and me went back down the hill. I guess it was dinner time, but we were left to continue. After stretching wire, cutting and affixing poles, driving a steel post, resetting the trough (and nearly knocking my front teeth out with a rogue strand of barb wire in the process), I finished the project at just about 9pm.

When it was all said and done, I was satisfied to see the order I'd imposed as a result of all that work. As for Lu-Lu, she seemed to be indifferent, at best.

next post...How Tera got the Pump Going