Sunday

Well, I had every intention of baking today.  No, really!  I did!  But it just didn't happen.  Oh, well.  As long as I get something made by Wednesday, that's good enough.  (That's when everyone at work exchanges presents.)

What I DID do today was clean out stalls all afternoon.  Obviously, this picture was NOT taken today, but back in the day when I felt a single pile of poo required immediate clean-up.  Since the pastures flooded, I've been just raking everything over into a corner of each stall since both manure carts were sitting there filled to overflowing by someone else, then not taken out and dumped because it was too muddy to get to the dump site.  So instead of a few small piles as pictured, what was actually there to be cleaned up in each stall were HUGE piles about 4 feet X 4 feet X 3 feet high in the back of each stall!  So yesterday I left Al a note telling him that the last time I tried to haul a load of manure out to where we had been dumping it under the tower, the mud was so thick it sucked off one of my boots and could he PLEASE designate a more accessible spot temporarily!   He called me around noon today to say he had picked out a spot near the barn for us to dump the stuff for the duration, so I headed over to the barn to clean things up.  Now having a handy new spot to dump manure may not seem all that exciting to most folks, but believe me, for me that was the PERFECT Christmas present!  I made at least six trips out to the new "designated location" with loaded carts this afternoon, then spread Stall Dry over all the now-pristine stall surfaces.  Of course it's going to start raining again on Tuesday night or Wednesday and the stalls will be filthy again in no time, but hey . . . for today, they look great.  And as for all the work of cleaning up . . . well, that WAS why we initially got the horses after all -- so we would get some exercise instead of spending all our time perched in front of the TV or the computer. 

Speaking of which -- while I was over at the barn, John was getting our new Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit Plus hooked up for us.  That thing is a HOOT!   After I did the initial log-in, giving it my height and age, it did an initial evaluation of me.  Hrrmph!   The darned thing told me that I am (1) "obese," (2) "unbalanced" (off to the right), and (3) that its balance exercises are obviously "not my thing."  Actually, it said that my balance was terrible and "did I trip much when I walked"???  I hope that smart-ass "virtual" trainer doesn't piss me off to the point that I throw something at the TV.  Just kidding.  Actually, I think I'm really going to enjoy that kind of feed-back, or harrassment, or whatever you want to call it!  

I didn't get to spend a lot of time with the Wii today -- too many other things to do.  But it really does look like it's going to be a lot of fun.  Hey, it MIGHT even do me some good.  I'm looking forward to really getting into it once everyone is gone.  (I don't want to look like a complete idiot in front of an audience -- at least not to begin with.)   And what the heck -- even if we end up not using it that much, at least it's less obtrusive than a treadmill.  And it can't end up as an expensive clothes rack like the treadmills of some of our friends!