The "Project"s

I can't win at life. I swear, if it was a game of chutes and ladders I would be the person who is still climbing the first ladder, while some over achiever kid has chuted past me like six times.

So, today I headed down for chores and found Dean walking on the way. As much as I wanted to smile politely, wave, and drive by- I did not. I stopped and picked him up and the talking began. After feeding Bart, WallE and friends and all the other hungry little (and big) critters I did a little cleaning up in the yard and milkhouse and then got my instructions for the day. Dean sent to the hayfield with Ross, and I got sent to Gordon to get corn.

First, Merle and I loaded up the fuel tank for Dean and Ross on the flatbed (Since we don't have much else runing now) and then we spent some time cleaning out Merle's pickup to put corn in. We couldn't find the boards that fit in the back tailgate to hold corn in because they must have gotten used for something else, so we added one more stop to my list.

I got the stuff I needed, fueled up, and headed for town. I stopped at the Fresh Start to grab a sandwich and saw Laura there. She was just going to pick up the boys and take them in to football camp....I bet that will be a joy. Then, I got back on track and stopped by the General Store and had them cut me a 2x10 and a 2x12 that fit in the tailgate slot. Then, I took off for Gordon. When I got there they sent me to a scale that had way too much going on in front of it...so I sat there for a while adn finally found a guy who told me he woudl weigh me at their other scale across the street. So, I backed out of that mess and weighed in over there. Then, I went and sat behind a truck in the feed mill bay for about 15 minutes until I realized that no one even knew I was there...so I went up to the office and told them I was waiting. They sent me in the bay the other direction and finally I was ready to load some corn. Then...he can't get the augar to push out corn. He scrapes and pushed and shovels until the pickup is about half full and then tells me that's all they have. Super...I came all the way to Gordon and we forgot to call ahead to tell them to crack some corn for us. I talked the guy into cracking some more corn while I waited. So..there I was trying to kill time again in Gordon, NE. This time, I just browsed the elevators retail section and dinked around on my cell phone for about a half hour until I saw him loading again. Finally, we got it loaded and ready to go. So, I headed back over to weigh and waited.

The truck in front of me sat there for 15 minutes until they probed it and got it out of the way. I quick weighed and grabbed my ticket and let the semi behind me get on the scale. I headed in to pay at the office and grab some salt to hold down the tarp and guess what...no salt. So, by this time I was so sick of waiting and things being complicated that I improvised and picked up some blocks instead. Finally, I got out of that busy place! I made a quick stop to Modern Farm to pick up some sickle sections that Merle had called for...but they didn't have it billed so that took some time too. When I got out of there I stopped at the gas station to grab some of their amazing ice cream. While I was in there i happened to run into Judd, Brandy's husband. We caught up for a bit and then I was off. I headed home pretty quick.

Before I did anything, I stopped at home for a quick lunch break. Instead of cooking or eating I took a 15 minute nap. I decided I had better eat something so I grabbed a microwaved egg and headed out. No one was around so I decided to tackle unloading corn by myself. After I set the blocks and sickles off at the shed, I went down and started getting the shed ready to put corn into. Getting the augar down was the best part. It is stored up in the ceiling of the chicken shed..at about one foot above my head. With some chain, a little woman power, an upside down grain tub, and a string of twine I managed to get it down and into to pickup without breaking anything or damaging myself too bad. I had plenty of trouble getting things where I wanted them and getting started but I finally go going (all the while it was sprinkling on the corn!). I got it started and pretty soon, Merle and Adrienne showed up from town and Merle came out and helped me finish getting it loaded in the shed. We had about 2 minutes worth of corn to scoop up yet when the pulley started slipping and it quit. The keystock had broke and it had a pretty crappy groove left on it so we went up to the shed to try and find a piece that would fit. Of course, we could only find the sizes we didn't need so Merle finally found and easy-out that you use on broken off bolts. It fit in there, not exactly the way it's suppsed to, but it got the job done. We finished unloading and then hooked up the red trailer and loaded some four wheelers.

We had a bull out in Hodsens along the road. So, we went up that way, created a let down in the fence, and sent him back over pretty easily. We foudn his holes in the fence, fixed them, loaded up, adn went back home. By then, it was chore time. We got them done and I was ready to start a new project when Merle said that him and Adrienne were going to go up to the Project (a fishing/camping area by the refuge) and fish for a while with Delbert and his familiy who were camping up there for last night and tonight. So, I rode along and off we went. It was a really nice night to fish off the bank and I even managed to catch four bullheads. We were all entertained y Angie's son Dante the entire time. He was sooo wound up about fishing and caught four or five off of his little tiny pole. Papa (Delbert) was helping him cast and unhook fish- I thought that woudl be pretty nice, just real em in and have Delbert do the rest- but I couldn't convince him to do the same for me! hahaha Dante told us all sorts of fish stories and a was really curious about Rylee the whole time. But, it got a little dark and late so we headed home.

Here I sit. Ready to shower and go to bed. Most things didn't go that well for me today, but at least I got to go along and catch some fish on a nice night!