Some Days

It doesn't pay to try to get anything done. I accomplished a little bit o' bill paying and chores yesterday and that is all. First thing in the morning I checked my Facebook. (Along with several of you and lots of family, Alan's best friend's mom is my friend on there). Her post shared the horrible news that Alan's friend's uncle and his wife, who farm with his dad, lost their whole house in a terrible fire. I feel so bad for them. I hope there will be some kind of community outreach for them that we can add to in some way.

Then the wind and rain hit. I grabbed a pic of this surprising January rainbow, thought it was all over, and wham, the next thing I knew the boss was hollering that tin was coming off the barn roof.
It was, necessitating several trips to Hands for canvas for emergency patches. No sooner had he left when Liz and her BF left too to go get some stuff and feed his horse. They got as far as the side of the house when the big attic window blew out with a crash. That meant that we had to steal the piece of plywood Liz uses to separate the cow stalls at the Altamont Fair and find nails (ours were in her truck, which her dad took to Hands) to put it over the blown out window before the howling gale lifted the house roof.

The phone rang and rang and rang. Normally we never use call waiting even though we have it. Did yesterday though, several times. The boss went over to put the canvas in place and found that the cows had broken the main water line from the milk house and were getting a shower...as was everything in that end of the barn. I had some plumbing parts under the sink, but not enough of course, so it was back to Hands for the third...fourth....I dunno, time. We shoveled out some stalls at chore time, and put in sand and some chaff to try to dry them up a bit. Thankfully, all the water didn't harm any of the wiring for the milkers so we could milk all right.




The craziness went on and on. We heard that a milk truck split in half at a farm not far from here, spilling thousands of gallons of milk on the road. Liz's BF found out that he had lost the second of his friends in two weeks in a car accident...too many funerals for sure. He and Liz just went to one last Saturday.....

Sirens and fire whistles went off all day. The whole valley echoed with them...sometimes the latter for half an hour at a time...it was just one of those days that you are glad when it is over. I sure hope today is calmer for everybody in the region.