Now that I get home from work at 5:30PM (EST), I have about an hour of sun light in which to do any outdoor activities. Included in this 1 hour time frame is milking goats, shutting in goats and chickens for the night, making sure that the goats have hay, greeting my family (1 wife, 2 sons) and anything else that I need to get “caught up on” ( I put this phrase in parentheses, since it has become both the joke and bane of my existence).
Along with shoveling, feeding, milking, etc., there is still a considerable amount of weeding, fence building or mending, barn additions, winter chicken housing, greenhouse mending (thanks to Ike, our friendly hurricane-in-passing last month), wood stacking, wood splitting, watering, planting (winter crops to be grown in the basement with the pellet stove and lights), house maintenance, yard cleanup and other assorted duties that even urban dwellers must contend with every day.
Add to that, auto repairs and craft shows – This is a very busy season for us, since all of the high schools in the Greater Cincinnati area run craft shows in the fall, holiday season. We have a lot of “value-added” products we make, like soap and lotion with our dairy goat’s milk, candles, lip balms, lotion bars, etc., with the beeswax from our bee hives, honey – bottled and labeled for sale – you get the picture.
We figure we could spend a few dollars for “advertising” at craft shows – with the cost of our booth – and actually make some money out of the deal. We wind up getting paid for “advertising” in a certain neighborhood, so we select our “targeted markets” (craft shows) so that we get personal exposure in the entire 275 beltway, which encompasses the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati areas.
Anyway, we have at least 1 craft show per weekend, and in some cases, 2 – starting around the first weekend of October and running into early December. Whenever we have more than 1 craft show per weekend, Marilyn and I split up, and I take the lesser show.
This week, it has caused a bit of stress… You see, we have a craft show in Northern KY that we have to stock, but they provide the people to run the show, and run the cash registers – so we aren’t necessarily obligated to attend, just setup, tear down, and volunteer for a certain number of hours. As a result, we now have 2 additional craft shows this weekend – both on Saturday, in different locations, and, to top it all off, my front brakes are shot and I need to replace them.
I was going over my schedule for the week, to see where I could fit in my front brake job, as I got into my F250 3/4 ton 4wd truck to head to work. I turned the key and “click” it said -”Huh?’ I said. “CLICK” it said again, as I turned off, and back on the ignition key.
Well, that was a good indication that the truck was NOT going to start for me. Probably corroded wires, since the Starter Relay responded. But, I have to take time to investigate – and it’s Tuesday already!
So, in order to do this show on Saturday, which is in Ohio, I now have to fix the starter system on the truck so it’ll “get up and go”, and I have to replace the front brake pads, so it’ll stop. Plus, I have to do all of the day-to-day things aforementioned – all in 1 hour of daylight.
Looks like I need to buy halogen work lights and a lot of coffee…
Love the blog daddy! Will be checking back in every so often!