Ugghhh...

It has been a trying few days.

For starters - my van wouldn't start. It worked just fine last Friday when we went to the Fair, but when I tried to start it up on Sunday to make a run for chicken feed it said "No way". The battery was low, so I recharged it. Darn thing still wouldn't start. Recharged it again. Same story.

Finally called my son-in-law for advice, and he (bless his heart) came out and replaced the battery. So now the van runs. I had to make two runs for animal feed, because the bins had got really empty. Ken and I were emptying the feed from the second run into the bins, when the hydraulic whatever-the-thing-is that holds the rear door up when it's open broke out of it's attachment. The door closes, sort of, and can be propped open when needed but it is very inconvenient as it is. Jim says he will take a look at it next week if I bring it in to the shop, thank goodness.

Then there is the question of the weather. It has rained pretty well non-stop for the last 36 hours. We have had a rainfall of somewhere around five inches. And it is COLD. I don't mind dry cold, I don't mind warm rain. But I hate cold and rainy with a purple passion. My hands feel as if they will never be warm again.

And another thing. The goats are getting all too clever at getting out of the north field. I need to get that fence fixed (it has a couple of areas that are very slack) and wired hot enough to fry them if they so much as think of testing it. It is one thing to slog through the rain carrying feed buckets, it is quite another slogging through rain carrying a feed bucket and having a gaggle of goats trying to feed out of it.

Ken is valiantly fighting the weather, finishing off the shed for the pigs to get out of the wet. I will go get more hay and put that down for them as soon as he has finished the roof. Painting will have to wait till it dries up some. The whole place is soggy. The one bright point is that the rain made it even easier for the pigs to finish tilling up the summer garden-to-be.

OK. End of Pity Party. I feel better now I shared. (g)