On a typical day during the winter months the morning chores run about an hour or better depending on the snow depth. There is hay to get out, water to top off or break the ice to get at, load bedding for the run-ins, feed for the chickens, equipment to be started, let to run and shut down, that kind of thing. Breakfast is the reward and then the day’s projects or obligations begin and depending on the day of the week they usually run until dark. If a storm is coming, if the projects take us off the farm or if there are school related obligations the day can go well into the evening before we get together for another meal. If I’m lucky.
I have been told more than once that I write about what we do in a way that makes it seem more like a fantasy than reality. I don’t see it that way. On more than one occasion I have written about the losses and heartbreaks associated with what we do and anyone who wants to read about them can find it if they’re interested somewhere on this blog. The truth is that the multitude of things that don’t go according to plan or frustrations and mishaps are the kinds of things that seem — to me at least — to be whiny and indulgent.
I’m not a big fan of harping on the negative, I’ve done enough of it in my previous life and it’s fruitless. It’s also annoying to listen to someone go on about problems that they cause themselves and most of the negative experiences in life are not random acts of malevolent forces imposed from the outside, they’re failures on the part of the individual either to plan or to prepare. We live in a time when most people believe the polar opposite. That forces in society and from outside conspire to keep people in a perpetual state of discomfort and victimhood is the accepted belief system that must be overcome for people to reach a state of nirvana.
That it is their own fault or responsibility is inconceivable. I’d rather accept my role in whatever happens and try to learn from it than to look for someone or something to blame it on. I’m a pretty lucky man, but I am also my own worst enemy and that’s not the kind of thing I like to share with everyone, especially at my age so I keep those things to myself more often than not.
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