Hired Help?

 

You can't see her. But there is my 'hired' part time farm hand. Her name is Molly and she has spent the last 3 years working and training in show barns along with a second job. She has partially completed her Equine Management Degree and I am going to push her to finish it. 

I taught her to ride in 2018 and she IS a natural. 

[She has a tough backround which I won't go into. But she has a natural ability with animals. She has worked and been on her own for 3 years.  The price of renting an apartment got to be too expensive so she moved back home to get on her feet. LUCKY for me!]

With the extra care it takes me right now to help out hubby, I have not been able to keep up with grooming and working with my fabulous mules. 

Molly has extensive knowledge of each mule and the horse we have. I offered her a part time job-ish to come out and groom them, clean the goat pen, help fence, exercise Sunshine and Siera along with other jobs like worming and clipping. All things I can do, but easier with a second hand to get it done.

She also will work with Sundance to see if we can't finish her off with getting steady under saddle. This she wants to do on her own. She also sees the horse as a good challenge to test her training skills. I'm all good with that.

A real upside to this?

Hubby sits right up and becomes sociable when Molly arrives. Yesterday HE came outside and did some work with the skid steer while Molly helped me with a fencing job. BONUS! 

We put up a temporary paddock. I do this one each summer to lessen the mowing. It generally takes me all day to unravel the wire and set things up. It took less than two hours with Molly. 

I've always felt like I wasn't doing my equine justice the last two years. Is it worth paying someone to help so I can garden, care for hubby, and reap the benefits? 

Is it worth it? Yes.

To see my husband perk up ... to see my animals groomed and slick? To see the equine given the attention they deserve? Oh, heck yes!

Oh yes. One more bonus. I have someone I can go riding with! 

When she gets her full time job, it will be less hours but right now, the extra hand IS fantabulous.

Molly on Siera Monday night. The two of them were getting reacquainted.

Will this be permanent? No. Molly will do as Molly does and she will move on again once she is back on top of her boots. 

It is working for right now and that what I can ask for and it is a good thing.

Break Time!

Late Thursday night/early Friday morning my son Ed showed up with his dog Teslin.
Teslin and Morris have known each other since they were pups and are about the same age.

Ed wanted to come and visit and help me clear some brush back from the fence on the Merry Meadow Pasture.
He brought his brush cutter and very powerful weed wacker.

He worked on Friday from his laptop and as the day heated up, I turned the air on. What a temperature change! It went from cool and nice to HOT.

When he finished work, we went at the berry briers and multiflora rose which seems to creep in from the forest.

The dogs had gone with us. Morris wore his bell which has really helped me figure out where he is all of the time without having to look. The dogs tongues were hanging out and they kept trying to get comfortable in the shade. Teslin thought that she should dip into the thick underbrush for shade.

We stopped for a rest. I looked at what we had done in such a short time. I was impressed. Without Ed's brush cutter, I wouldn't have gotten far on my own.

I thought it was too hot to continue. Besides, it was my birthday and I'd planned a nice meal for us.

Ed and Rich visited while I made supper. I looked at the forecast for Saturday and decided that we really wouldn't do much then either. The forecast was for very hot conditions again. However the humidity would be very low.
I figured that this weather with no rain and good breezes would make the farmers very happy. A lot of farming would get done in hopes of catching up to a cold wet May.

And as expected. The heat was on for Saturday. LaCrosse, Wisconsin broke a heat record of 97 degrees.

However after breakfast Saturday we were out on the porch waiting for the neighbors to come down and visit when a red Mini Cooper drove into the yard.
Ed's wife had come to surprise us!

The look on Rich's face was priceless and I'm sure that I was surprised also. I ran across the yard and gave Joy a huge hug. She'd been on duty as a firefighter the previous 24 hours and had left work to drive up and surprise us.

Sunday came too early. Ed and Joy helped me finish up some much needed work that I hadn't attended to as I'd been too busy with doctor appointments and other errands.

Finally things were just starting to feel like they were getting pulled together.

After the kids left, Rich went to lay down and I sat on the porch and "Painted some cheer" on some of the wood blocks left over from last year's house remodel.

I pondered my upcoming week as I picked colors out and swiped them onto the wood.
Appointments, phone calls, taking the car in for maintenance work, garden, fencing, ads for sale, hay, ...
A day away from the farm would be nice too. A day hiking by myself with my camera would work out perfect.  Okay, maybe just a few hours.

Thanks thanks...and thanks so much...

To my eldest son who came out to help for a day on the farm.

Oh yeah...I did find a two spots that need some chainsaw work...wonder why I never checked that fence?  I will do a line over those sections.  There is always a way to jury rig things so they work...right?

Here is son trimming along the fence line.  

Our supervisor, Teslin kept an eye on everyone.

Even hubby got in on the act, feeling well enough to come out and talk and even ride the mower for a bit.

After hubby went to take an afternoon nap, I decided to go check fences and walk with the camera.

It was nice just to wander a bit around the woods and pastures.
Even the 'girls' were excited to see me.

All I can say is that all the work that got done was such a relief.

And seeing hubby out and about was worth it...

So thank you Ed, your are amazing!