Thursday This and That

 

Let 'er fly!

The cycle continues. 

Horses eat. 

Horses drop apples in their bedding.

Horse owners shovel bedding and apples from stalls.

Wheel barrow loads of the blend of bedding and apples go to a pile.  

The pile grows and grows over the course of a year. 

Then, the pile goes. 

Load by load, it's scooped up and dropped into what seem to always be "old" manure spreaders.

When the spreader's full, it's off to a field where that blend of bedding and apples goes flying over the soil. 

Its purpose: to fertilize so that richer soil will help grass grow the next year and horses can eat. 

In the meantime, the pile once again grows, sometimes letting off plumes of hot steam on cold days, causing passerby to worry and drive to a house, knock on a door early in the morning and suggest that the manure pile's on fire. 

This reaction is similar to other visits from strangers worried about a dead horse in the field, when all it's doing is sleeping in the warmth of the sun. 

Anyway, the "let 'er fly" portion of the cycle was in full action yesterday at my sisters' farm. 

They're enjoying the fact that Tony, "the wizard" fixed their manure spreader, and it's working like a dream.

Cooler days have allowed such activities, and I'm guessing my sisters love this as much as any aspect of farming. 

Getting to drive tractors tends to do that. 

I happened to drive by and see this project after spending a good portion of the day here at the computer.  

It's story writing time for a magazine, and this week, with nothing on the calendar, has allowed me time to go over notes and bang out some stories. 

I've reached the fun phase of this project where the bulk of each story is complete.  Now, it's time to tweak and do my best to perfect the product. 

I love that stage of writing, probably about as much as my sisters enjoy flinging their fertilizer.

Another fun aspect of yesterday occurred at the living room window bird feeder, which I started restocking this week. 

It hasn't taken the winged and 4-legged creatures long to discover that there are seeds in "them thar feeders."  

And, for me, their need to eat fuels my need for simple entertainment. 

The adorable little pine squirrel put on quite a show last night.

Overall, twas a good day for getting things done and to forget the worries of the world by enjoying life and the rural beauty around our neighborhood. 

Happy Thursday.