Monday, December 29, 2008

Needs Must

A phrase often used by my grandmother. Over the past week it applied to my use of a large Rubbermaid container, a nylon tie-down and brute force to move manure from the paddock down to the compost pile. The snow is simply too deep to push a wheelbarrow, and I am simply too conscientious to allow the manure to pile up. This is the result:

Considering how many animals we work hard to feed and house you would think that one or two of them would be helpful for this kind of thing, but there were no volunteers.


Grey Horse Matters said...

That looks like a job no one wants, it's too bad your equine friends can't be taught to pull it down to the dumpster. Then again mine wouldn't do it either. That's a lot of snow.My niece lives in Vancouver, wonder if she's socked in with that much too.

Funder said...

Yep, when I got my truck stuck, the first thing I thought was "Why did I never buy a harness for Poppy?!"

I guess you have all spring to select a hapless victim and summer to train it. Who will it be? The traditional horse-drawn sleigh? A three goat team? Titan? Or even... David???

zoombi: A very fast cartoon deer.

Anonymous said...

Well, if not David, maybe one of the dogs? I'm not so sure that the horses would be so willing to cooperate here...

Black Jack's Carol said...

At least, you'll never need to do gym time. Is the word game with Funder an in thing? It seems interesting.

Carole said...

Dollar for dollar, one of the best investments I ever made was one of these. It hauls hay, manure, firewood, bales of shavings - you name it. And it's really really durable - I've used it every day in the winter for the last four years. I got mine at Canadian Tire but if you can't find one, your local ag supply place will sell you a calf sled - basically the same thing, just more rectangular.

EvenSong said...

I have a $6 kid's plastic sled that I have been known to use for hauling hay around in, but it obviously wouldn't be tall enuf by itself for poop-patrol.

We used a similar one to drive a half Percheron mare we used to have in Montana--hooked it to the tugs (?) of her harness, sat on a bale of hay in the sled, and had all sorts of fun--maybe more than when she actually pulled the sleigh!

There was a time, in another lifetime, long, long ago, that my first hubby and I hauled groceries, water, laundry, and babies a quarter mile in and out of our "back-to-the-land" dream home in the up-side-down hood of a defunct VW Beetle!

Goodness! You guys have more snow there than we do! I think the storm pattern is just skirting us to the east--Spokane is getting nailed!

Funder said...

Carol - we're just defining the made-up word you have to type for word verification.

cerecce: Christina Ricci's "secret" name.

Black Jack's Carol said...

Thanks, Funder:)

Brandy said...

I think the goaties would appreciate the pathways you have created!

Yea, I'm enjoying the word verification game, sometimes you get a 'fitting' sort of word - like my word!

Oh, wanna see some brand new cuteness? Check out


Blizigoo: What animal droppings become after snowmelt! Eww!

dp said...

Thanks for your comments everyone! My sister and her family are here for the week, so maybe the nephews will volunteer, though I somehow doubt it. Of all the animals at Farcical Farm I would vote Tonka most likely to be helpful. Three goats would be a disaster in the making.

Thanks for the link, Carole. You always have the handiest information. How's the -50C weather treating you?

EvenSong: one of my best friends grew up as one of those kinds of babies. It makes for interesting offspring, I think.

Funder: 6 things, I know. I'm getting there. My sis showed up a day early and threw the whole place into a tailspin.

Funder said...

Ehh, it took me a week to do mine. Take your time, and enjoy your visit from your sis!

InGlyCho: One of the three megacorps that controls the world in 2050 in some futuristic scifi novel.