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Pipi’s Pasture: Doing chores in the wind

By Diane Prather

Doing the chores during a 50 to 60 mile per hour wind is an adventure, indeed. That’s how hard the wind was blowing here at Pipi’s Pasture one afternoon this past week.

I waited as long as I could before going down to the corral. I wore my jacket so I could put the hood over my hair. It wasn’t so bad going down to the corral because I was facing north, and the wind was blowing out of the south. I thought maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad after all. Guess what?

Feeding the first pen of animals means puling hay off a big round bale with a pitchfork and putting it over a pole fence. First of all, the wind had already “pulled” a bunch of hay off the bale. That didn’t make the job any easier because it was all bunched up along the bottom. Secondly, the hay kept blowing off the fork. And I couldn’t throw the hay over the fence because it blew right back on me. I had to push it through the spaces between the poles. Even then, the hay blew back out of the pen.

Putting the hay into the second corral was easier because I’m feeding baled hay there. All I had to do was pick it up and plunk it over the fence. I didn’t have any problems putting old Ucky into her pen where she can eat her grain in peace (away from her corral mates). She was ready to get out of the wind.

The next job was filling the stock tanks. To turn on the water hydrant I had to face south. I was pelted by little pieces of hay, dirt from the feedlot (some of it felt like little rocks), and twigs. The hay pierced my clothes. My hood flew off — so much for protecting my hair.

Twigs ( from the trees that surround the corral), dirt, leaves, and hay swam around on the water surfaces of the tanks. I attempted to get them off the tanks with spray from the hose, but the water just blew everywhere. I did manage to fill the tanks, though.

Back at the house I washed up and brushed the dirt, twigs, and grass out of my hair. There was enough dirt in my ears to plant something in them.

The next morning was cool—33 degrees according to our thermometer. There was no wind, though, so doing the chores was much easier. Before I came to the house I set water on some rows I had just planted in the garden.

Half an hour later I hurried out of the house to change the water. I didn’t wear a jacket. Big mistake! The wind came up again. It was COLD. No changing the water for me. I shut it off. By the time I got back to the house I was shivering. I have seen lots of different weather in June, including hail and even snow, but I can’t remember ever getting so cold in such a short period of time. I had to crawl under a blanket to warm up. It’s a good thing that the corral chores were done!

It’s June here at Pipi’s Pasture.

 

 


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