Work day

So today, like yesterday, I worked for someone else. Mom stayed home on the farm and worked on a few things she has going on and started the Thanksgiving cleaning. Some new soaps and a new trellis to mention a few. And of course it is coming to the end of the year and we are working to Freshen the Web pages. So she was also stuck at the computer a bit more then she likes.

So I went to a lady’s house that is a single Mom and spent the day helping her get the outside of her house back in order. Sometimes being a Cowboy means being a gentleman and helping out where you can. So Cowboy or not I ran a weed-eater, climbed on a roof and even torched piles of dead grass and leaves. I will say that I am no wiz with the weed-eater and there is a reason that Mom runs the one here on the farm. However, give me a lawn torch and man can I get things done. It was really awesome to use and I Loved it. There is nothing like throwing flames around to clear brush and weeds. I did get her horses rode so that part was Cowboy.

I was gone all day and got home after dark to find that Dad had already done the chores. I also found that Mom had made a new soap. I have to admit it is pretty cool. She made Loofah soaps this time. For those of you who don’t know Loofah soaps are handmade soaps with Loofah incorporated into the soap.

That means Mom first grew the Loofah. Then just weeks ago her and I harvested and peeled them. Peeling a loofah is somewhat of an art but we learned as we went and got the job done. Then for I don’t know how long the harvested, peeled loofah have been drying on the rack in the laundry room. From time to time Mom would go in and turn them and fuss with them but for the most part they just laid there drying.

Then today she picked one that was all the way dry. She cut it into the size of her mold and then fixed up her wonderful goat’s milk soap. Then she dunked the loofah into the liquid soap set them into the molds and proceeded to fill the mold. Now, I honestly have no idea how these loofah soaps will turn out but Mom is worried about air bubbles and the look of the tops of them. She says they aren’t her prettiest soaps she has made but it is her first batch so we will see.

Mom also put part of the two new trellises together. She loaded one in the back of her truck and one she put in the wagon and pulled to the garden. Friday, Mom and I will be going to meet the Community Garden Manager in the garden to set up the one we are donating and sponsoring there. I will have to help Mom put her’s in the ground at some point as her hand got to hurting from moving the heavy blocks that hold the legs in place.

The rest of Mom’s day was spent cleaning up the web page and finding new pictures and stuff like that. I think I am going to put a new Theme to mine as well because those clouds look a bit kid like to me.

Coming Back

So I have had some trouble writing this blog post. I don’t know why though. Is it because I haven’t blogged in so long? Is it the nature of the topic? I honestly couldn’t tell you. What I do know is that what I am about to share has made me stop and think.

Each October here on the farm we change from summer hours to winter hours. What does that mean? Well, in the winter we are what we call “open by appointment” Which means you just give us a call and if there isn’t anything going on we will give you a tour. Most people don’t stay to long or play in the barn with the centers as it isn’t heated. Then we spend most of the month of October fixing on things and getting ready for Winter before moving on to making improvements and building things.

This year things are running a bit behind since the truck was in the shop for so long. That has made November more of our work month. It hasn’t really been a big problem but it leads me to my story. With October being our normal work month Mom had extra time to price the things we needed to get the new stalls built. She did some shopping around and has saved us some money on the whole deal. We ended up getting the best deal at Lowes. But we also learned that some prices change from store to store and Lowes won’t price match their own store. So to get the best price you have to go to the Lowes with the best price. In our case the tin was a whole lot cheaper in Claremore so that is where we went.

The only problem that Mom ran into is she used to be able to put in an order for store pick up and pay when you get there. Well, Lowes changed their online shopping and there is no way to use it and pay with cash. So Mom printed her “cart” and we headed out to the actual store. When we got there Mom gave her list to the clerk and she called someone to get them to set about getting our order ready. After all no one can push 12 foot and 8 foot panels of tin around to gather over 20 – 12 foot 2X6s (or at least I can’t without making a mess of the store) Anyway to make this story a bit shorter, apparently those doing the gathering did it so slowly we ended up waiting for over 2 hours to get our order. Mom had already paid for it way before we actually got it.

Mom finally got a manager to come help us and get the order done and loaded. She explained that while the prices might bring her 45 minutes away from the house having to wait hours wouldn’t. It was a large order and the manager realized that it was one that they didn’t want to lose. So he called the guy that supervises the others that were suppose to get the order together for us and together they got to the bottom of things and made things right. Mom and the two guys chatted as things were finally brought to the front of the store for us to load. Once those two guys got involved things started to get done. While we were loading things in the trailer one guy saw our 4-H emblem on the back of the truck. The guy was talking to Mom and asked things like where we drove in from and such. When Mom told them we had come from Lenapah, one guy asked Mom what my name was. She told him and he said that his siblings used to know a kid named RJ from our area but that kid had a blog. Mom grinned and said “That’s him and he still does when he actually posts”

When I got done tying things down in the trailer I came over and asked what his sibling’s names were. Turns out I did know them. However, I never knew they read my blog. Back when I started this Blog is was part of my English Class. I was required to write every day. It was school work. I never really thought about the people that read it and never commented though. Let along if I personally knew any of them. I knew a few grown ups read it but the thought of kids my age reading it never really crossed my mind.

Another thing that I never thought about was the number of people who paid attention to my blog. You see when no one comments It appears as though no one is reading. Therefor when I graduated Mom tried to convince me to keep blogging but I didn’t really think anyone read it so I didn’t see the point. I really thought that people had some how grown tired of it over the years. Then off and on over the last year I have tried to get back in the habit of blogging but I also try to find some deeper topics to blog about. Turns out I really don’t have anything but my life to blog about and that brings me back to – Is anyone really reading anyway if they aren’t commenting?

Well, the truth is … it was weird to actually meet someone face to face who read my blog. For some reason it now feels as though I have let someone down by not blogging. And the worst part is that someone has a face … and I really know them. Not just someone that I know online but someone I have spent time with and share common interests with. Yup, it really was weird.

That being said. I think I am going to stop trying to Look for interesting things to blog about and just go back to what goes on around the farm each day. As most people say write about what you know and I know this farm. So that is just what I am going to do.

(And if for some reason you are reading this … you know who you are … Your big brother works at the Lowes in Claremore…. Hi … hope things are going okay for you)