Just another day in paradise

As I approach another click on the birthday clock, I sometimes wonder how long I will be able to manage the day-to-day activities of ranch living. But to wonder is not to worry - I've banked enough good karma in my account that I'm confident if there comes a day that I can't lift a bale of hay or stack a cord of wood, I will still find a way to get 'r done.

My friend Joey once told me "you get more done by 9 a.m. on Saturday than most people do in an entire weekend." And that's when I lived in the city and all I had to worry about was making sure there were fresh flowers on the table, or that the the garden was weeded, or the dry cleaning dropped off. Compare that to today's timeline:

6:30 a.m. - begrudgingly come out from under the covers (had it been summer, I would have jumped out of bed at 5:30)
- let Smooch out
- brush teeth, get dressed - it's the first two-pairs-of-socks-day of the season
- feed cats
- add outerwear...coveralls, scarf, hat with ear flaps, insulated gloves, boots...I expend 100 calories per trip to the barn just getting dressed!
- feed Smooch on the back porch
- let Wynonna out of the barn and feed her on the front porch
- hug George, then scoop 10 hours' worth of burro poop out of George and Alan's stall. Nevermind that they have an entire corral in which to leave their deposits...overnight they prefer to poop in the shelter of their stall.
- enjoy the calm and shelter of the feed room and measure out breakfast for Hank, Lyle, George and Alan
- feed Lyle, then Hank, then George and Alan – my safety and the herd heirarchy being the order of the day
- feed Willie
- scoop poop from the general vicinity
- let Wynonna off of the porch
- scoop poop from the not-so-general vicinity, including behind the barn, the greater horse corral, and the dog and pig zones around the house
- fill stock tank
- remove outerwear
- scoop poop out of the cat box
- MAKE COFFEE. After 25 months of cursing the poorly designed Farberware coffee maker, I bought a new Mr. Coffee yesterday. This entailed a rearrangement of the kitchen this morning, however, since the glow from the built-in clock was enough to illuminate the entire house last night and I was forced to reposition the coffee maker such as to confine the glow. The trickle-down effect (moving the coffee filters, moving the sugar bowl, rearranging the countertops) to accommodate this seemingly simple act was not what I needed pre-caffeine.
7:30 - DRINK COFFEE and read today's headlines on the internet

What did you do in your first waking hour today?

(to be continued)