I Procrastinated

Yep, it was me. As the title suggested, I procrastinated and I got away with it. I knew winter was coming. I've known winter comes every year. I've listened to the science, even to the part that told me the world is warming. I was hoping this was the year winter wouldn't show up, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. But still, I waited.

Living where I live, and having the life my wife has chosen for me, I have many chores around the property to prepare for winter. (OK, Elaine has not chosen my life's choices. She has given me the keys to the car and told me I can leave anytime) I'm talking about every year's chores. I usually start preparing for winter in late August, so I am not surprised by an early September snowstorm.

The biggest and most physically taxing pre-winter chore is securing enough hay for the winter to feed the yak and llama. Truthfully, I like to receive help for this job, which I can usually get if I mention to Boy Twin that I need to get some hay.

Since my back surgery, my doctors have told me to not make a habit of lifting more than forty or fifty pounds very often. "Small" hay bales can weigh eighty pounds. Can you see why it's nice to have a Boy Twin around every once in a while?

I procrastinated. I didn't order any hay until last weekend. When I say I, I didn't really mean I, me, or myself, I meant Elaine. Elaine didn't order any hay until last week.

Elaine: HI Barry, It's Elaine, we need to order some hay in small bales.

Barry, (the hay guy, not Obama): I have sold all of my small bales, I have only large round bales.

Elaine: I'll talk to Monner and see how many rounds we need.

Me: We can't use large round bales, see if he has large square bales or where we can find small bales.

I know some of you are wondering what is the difference between round or square bales, and I could explain it to you, but then you would get bored, stop reading, and tell all your friends Monner has become crazy and boring. The next thing you know I'm up every Sunday morning writing crap that no one reads. So, let's just say there is a big difference in the shape of the bales when feeding livestock.

Sorry about that. Back to Barry, the hay guy.

Barry: OK, I have a small number of small bales. If you can get me a check they are yours.

Elaine: Monner will pick them up tomorrow.

Normally, I would mention to Boy Twin that I was picking up hay on the weekend, but I needed to get this hay the next day. Normally, I could have taken the check to Barry and still picked up the hay later, on the weekend. But the (construction language) weatherman ruined that idea. He/she/?they predicted a storm on the weekend. How did procrastinating work for you on that, Monner? You almost didn't get hay and now you are loading it without Boy Twin.

Imagine if you would, a man, an almost elderly man placing eighty-pound bales in the back of a pickup truck, Each bale lifted and placed on the waist-high bed of a truck, Imagine if you would, the next level of hay being eighteen inches above the waist-high bed of a pickup truck. Imagine if you would, the next level of hay being thirty-six inches above the waist-high bed of a pickup truck. This is why a Boy Twin comes in handy. That is no problem for that kid. I regretted my procrastination.

Sometimes you learn quickly from procrastination. You improvise, I took a trailer, a much lower trailer. It didn't lessen the weight of the bales, but I didn't need to lift them as high. I've tried to follow the doctor's advice and not lift over forty or fifty pounds, but sometimes that doesn't work. But man, does it hurt for a day or two.

If you think that taught me a lesson, well, I've known I needed to board up the windows of the chicken coop. I procrastinated on that one, too. This time the (construction language) weatherperson got me. He/she/they said it was going to be "warm" until the weekend. the cold front arrived early and I hadn't boarded up the coop. Their water was freezing, the wind was blowing through the coop and I had been inside watching the Big Valley, The Weather Channel, and the news channels. (All of them) I waited until it was cold to board up the coop. Insulated coveralls, gloves, and help from Elaine made all the television shows worthwhile. Take that, weatherperson.

I don't procrastinate with yarn orders. (Elaine won't let me) No old Western is going to keep me from my job.

Buy yarn, love ya, God bless!

Our crazy lives!

Monner