Calvinists Just Want to Have Fun

 

We have a good friend who has on several occasions referred to Bob and I as Calvinists. I am certain that his facetious reference alludes to what he sees as a sober, hard-working couple whose idea of fun is well, sober and hard-working. I don't know about the "sober" aspect (as we do enjoy our tipple!) but I suppose the hard-working label has some truth to it. I offer the above picture for illustration.

One end of my riding area is low and because I have to squeeze every square foot of available flat land to use for my equestrian pursuits (*1), I thought to raise this end up by adding dirt. But before dirt must come rocks to stabilize and fill in some of that space that needs raising.

This requires moving rocks- of which we have plenty!- from point A to point B. There's a heap of rocks where several large trees fell down at the edge of the horse field, fortunately not too far from my low area. This necessitates pilling the rocks into the wheel barrow. Oh! We love our wheel barrows! Probably one of our most useful tools...

I transport the rocks in smaller "lady-like" loads as I am a small Calvinist and not as strong as my male counterpart. But I get the job done, singing stirring Calvinist hymns as I go. Many barrowsful did I schlepp today! Along with "contami-poop" (*2) as dirt is in short supply. The "contami-poop" fills in the spaces between the rocks and cover them. I will then add more dirt on top. Use what you have!

Yes, I realize the partially broken down manure will settle and sink, but it's available and there's more to add if it sinks a whole lot. In the meantime, I'm making progress and having a blast. I don't know about you, but even if something is hard physically, it can still be pleasant. Besides, I get the pleasure of knowing that a bit of labor makes my riding experience more fun. Anyone interested in a real good time can feel free to come on over and help me work!

(*1) The "official" size of a small dressage arena is 60' x 120' I am a tad tight on one end width-wise... the end I'm attempting to make higher. When you're piloting a 1000 pound beast around at speed, every foot counts!

(*2) "Contami-poop" is the horse manure I sequestered while Neko was on antibiotics for her Lyme disease. I also save aside the manure produced when I administer horse wormer (Yes! Ivermectin! Hard to find these days because of (ahem) alternative use as a COVID therapy. So this manure is not good for use in composting for garden use, but perfect for filling holes.

 

 

You Tote 16 Tons...

 

Bob gets a steel delivery fairly often as he makes his metal supports for plants out of various strips and rods. Often, the amount he gets is "reasonable"and he simply drags it on a wheelie cart down to his studio. But if he gets a particularly large, heavy shipment and the ground is firm enough, he drives it down. Fortunately, the ground was still frozen, as the above delivery was particularly large! Apparently, the steel company either did a job and the measurement was wrong or there was a serious amount of "drops" (*1) and they offered them to Bob cheap. He jumped at the opportunity to get a slew of steel in a size he often uses... but it was a really big load!

Maybe this doesn't look like a huge amount to you but believe me, it was a ton (literally!) of steel. I like to help Bob out by assisting him in relocating the steel from our driveway, down to his studio. I can't even imagine how hard that would be to schlepp all of that metal by oneself, let alone how long it would take. Besides, it was supposed to rain tomorrow and Bob didn't want the steel to get wet and then rust making for a lot more clean up.

So step one was simply picking all that steel up and loading it onto the truck. (We did about a third of it on the previous day as there was waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to consider doing all in one morning.) So we made four trips down with approximately the same amount of steel bands, picking them up from the driveway and then unloading them at Bob's studio.

Above, an interior shot of Bob's studio, where all that steel was being stored. Just for context, there were 672 bands of steel, each about 68 inches long. It felt like more! I off-loaded them from the truck and Bob stacked them in the above corner of his studio. Need I tell you we're both pretty tired now? But at least the steel is where it needed to be and we don't have to do anything like this again, any time soon!

There's Bob and his glow-in-the-dark hands, standing on a pile of 20 foot lengths. We'll sleep well tonight!

(*1)  Drops are the left over "scraps" after the size that was ordered was cut from the 20' piece.