Scored

Yesterday was my day off and I needed to get a load of horse manure for the worms, They are eating their little tails off (and making lots of babies!). So I got up early (wanted to beat the heat) and took the truck over to Janets (Lady who owns the horse's) house. The reason I do this on my day off is it takes me a couple of hours to load by wheelbarrow. So I got there about 0900 and no one was home, So I drove Thu the gate to the area where they dump the manure. I had loaded about 4 loads into the back of the truck when Janet got home. She came out to talk for a bit and asked if I wanted her to load up the truck using her tractor (SCORE!). So she went off to feed the horse's (She has 4 Arabians) and that gave me enough time to move the truck and get the ramp I was using out of the way.
And what usually takes me upwards of 3 hours, She did in 20 minuets (Thanks Janet!!!). And she loaded allot more into the truck then I normally get loaded with the wheelbarrow. The springs on the truck were pretty low, But the truck was up to the challenge.
On the drive home I was thinking that I really don't like the fact of the grass and weeds encroaching into the manure before I get the chance to use it all. It sometimes hides the last of the manure and its allot of work to clear it away to get to the good stuff. So when I got home, I parked the truck near the garden area and went looking for the roll of plastic I knew was somewhere up stairs. Well I found it and went back out to the tractor shed (carport?) and unhooked the finishing mower and hook up the tiller. There was an area of the garden that had been planted with summer squash, But with no rain and the weeds taking over again this year (just like last year and the year before!. We will try something different next year, another post). I tilled that area and another area along side the garden and opened the roll of plastic. It was a sheet of 3.5 mil and I held it down with bags of cut grass and took the compost tumbler (last post) apart and moved it to one end of the new manure storage area. It was over run with weeds too!. So I emptied the barrels and moved everything to its new home. I got about two wheelbarrow loads of nearly finished compost from the two barrels.
By that time it was getting to hot to do much more (yesterday was 98 degrees in the shade, and as you know there is no shade on my place!). So I went in and took a shower.
After running my water bill up a bit ( wish I had a well!), I spent some time with the dogs and then went next door to Terri's house intending to get some laundry done. But she was taking a nap, So I went home and did the same!
She called me about 1600 (woke me from a great sleep!) and said that the laundry still needed doing. So up I get and back to her house. Got laundry started and we started talking about "Whats for dinner?". I wanted to fire up the grill and do a BEER BUTT CHICKEN, But no chicken in the house. So we decided to try a new recipe, "Oat and apple pancakes and homemade sausage". So....... You guest it, no apple sauce, So we used bananas instead. To use one of Terri's favorite lines "BOY WAS THAT YUCK'N FUMMY!. With fried eggs on the side and a big glass of ice tea. And chilled watermelon for desert!
So we settled down to watch the L.A. Dodgers beat the snot out of the Marlins (7 - 3, GO DODGERS!). Then home to feed and water the dogs and the cats and then walk the dogs and let them do the thing. Then bed (the game didn't get over until after 0100!).
I woke up this morning knowing there was something I had to do before I went to work. And after I sat down with my first glass of ice coffee and turned on Sports Center, It hit me! I have to unload the truck and do it before it gets too hot!
So up I get and get into some work duds and go check on the worms first. I opened the bed and pulled the cover layer of grass clippings away and was happy to see worms of all sizes working over the last of the food ( cantaloupe rind, banana skins and egg cartons). There wasn't allot left, so after checking on numbers, I took a wheelbarrow load of that nearly finished compost and put it in the bed, watered the whole thing real well. Closed it up and went to work on the truck.
Because Janet loaded my truck with her tractor (Thanks again Janet), there was allot more to this load then what I use too. This load nearly filled one end of that sheet of plastic (its 10' x 25 ') and the head of my manure fork started coming off the handle! But I got it done and went to Terri's to get their compost bucket and loaded the compost tumbler back up. There was a lot of watermelon rind in the bucket, so that went to the worms along with other things they seem to like. The rest went into the barrel to be turned every couple days until its done and can be used in the flower beds.
As you can see I had to come to work just to rest up.
So that's it for now, I promace pictures in the next post.