Summer Time Swing

I have a complete double gloved golfer’s tan, even though I haven’t played golf in years. I wear work gloves almost all the time. The exception this week, would be when My Loving Spouse and I had to rub Bag Balm on Agnes’ udder, milk her and unblock her teats. It was greasy, hot and messy. Agnes was not happy about being in the head catch & squeeze. My Loving Spouse was not happy about being on his knees in the floor of the barn with a cow’s teat in his hand. She did try to kick us and peed and pooped and swished her tail making everything even more messy. We finally got her unblocked and milk flowing freely for little Ike.

It would not have been so bad, but Ike spent day two of his life eating from only one ‘faucet’….so, we had to do it again. Agnes was not the only frustrated, irritated animal in the barn! Day three, My Loving Spouse declared them ‘on their own…I’m not milking that beef cow again’! Luckily, for us all, Ike seems to have figured it out.

This has allowed us to view our happy herd from the side of the house, where we have been installing cedar siding. In theory, this is not too hard. If the boards were not a tad warped, it would have made the job much easier.

My Loving Spouse was in charge of whacking one piece of siding into the ridge of the lower piece of siding for a necessary snug fit. My job was to use the very heavy nailing gun to nail it all in place. No one got ‘nailed’ or fell off of a ladder, so it is all good, very good.

We run the nail gun off of the compressor we call “Puffin’ Billy”, because it has a steady quiet popping rumble to it. We snagged this great little compressor at a garage sale for $20.

My Loving Spouse was in charge of figuring out how much cedar we needed. He tried to explain board feet, which is different than linear feet….(not to mention tired feet), but honestly, I just was too exhausted to care. He makes a few careful notations.

The electricians did the same thing making notes in handy spots.

We are at a sweet spot in our remodel progress, where each step really feels like a large accomplishment.

The porch gets laid out….and voila!

Our days have often started with My Loving Spouse in the morning telling me how nice and easy today’s job is and how quickly it is going to go. The end of the evening he is usually telling me, “I’m too old for this.”

The Dry Wall team was dropping off the heavy sheet rock. (They are our favorite, because 1. They do dry wall. 2. They showed up 3. They keep saying “No big deal, don’t worry”) My Loving Spouse told the head guy, “I’m too old to be hauling dry wall around”.

‘You’re not old!‘

“I just turned 70!” My Loving Spouse explained.

‘Sh&$ You are old!’

We might be old, but we are a formidable team…and we indeed are blessed.