The second most feared words in my world, (the first being, Where's the plunger?) are: I think we left the water on. This means that the water was left running into the horse water tank. Which is in the barn. Which is only a seventy-five gallon tank. In November. When it get cold.
I went out to survey the damage. The barn was six inches deep in water. This is the second time in about a month that the kids have flooded the barn. The first time, I dug a hole next to the concrete footer. I dug a matching hole on the outside of the barn. We managed to connect the two and made something of a poor man's sump, but even with the water (mostly) drained out, the resulting sludge was not healthy for horses.
I decreed that after church, we would come straight home and work on bringing dirt into the barn. Earlier this year the wind moved a great deal of dirt from most of New Mexico and deposited it along my fence line. I decided that the easiest (insert cheapest) way to provide the horses with a proper barn floor would be to move said dirt into the barn and spread it out. In order for this to work, we borrowed a handy piece of equipment from my parents. We borrowed the trailer that is hitched to the lawn tractor. It has a removable gate and a tilt mechanism to dump the dirt.
In theory, it was going to be great! Sadly, we should all know by now that
nothing I do goes as planned!!
We started with a cranky lawn tractor. It gasped, blew smoke and reluctantly chugged forward to the fence line. The children started with basic picking up of loose baling twine. Steve and I started shoveling the dirt in. It was working, and easily! This is great! Steve starts up the tractor, backs it into the barn and we learned you really need to unhook the tailgate prior to tipping the dump.
Okay, we can shovel.
Then we discovered that due to the blade guard, we couldn't pull the tractor forward through the narrow gate back into the pasture.
Bad words were said. Adults got grumpy. We discovered that it could pull through the side gate (after I learned about the all important
slow gear on the tractor and I was no longer in danger of killing everyone) so we drove through the side gate (had to have a kid lock it), drove around the front of the barn, have a kid lower the ropes for the pasture truck gate, pull into the pasture to the fence line for dirt.
Okay! Back in action. We can make this work.
Steve feels confident enough that he goes out to the station to help the engineer on a project (something quasi important, just the EBS system). I feel puffed up with the success of one dirt load and bounce through the pasture to the fence. I stop and start loading the dirt in. Slower with just me doing the shoveling, it is still done in quick order.
I then discover why Dad sent along his bike pump. Both of the tires on the trailer were now flat.
Son of a biscuit.
Due to extreme stickers, we have tire issues on all of our equipment. Bike tires are slimed more often then my van gets an oil change. These stickers are also referred to as sand spurs and goat heads and they are all evil.
I pump up the tires, now encrusted with stickers because that seems to be all I have grown this season. I feel good, fire up the tractor and trundle back to the barn.
Our barn entrance is five feet wide. The gate to the corral that fronts the barn is only about 42 inches. Well, Steve got it through.
I pulled forward, lined up the trailer and put it in reverse. I started backing up. The trailer zigged to the right, so I corrected. The trailer positively swung to the right, so I corrected the other way. Nope. Not gonna do it.
I pulled forward. I started to back up. Trailer zagged left. I corrected. Trailer swung fully left. WHAT!! THE!! BLEEP!!!
Kids are watching me, trying to motion with little hand signals which direction I should go. This is often helpful in a car or a truck, but on the tractor, I am seeing everything and what I can see is that I
cannot back up a lawn trailer to
save my life!
What gives?!?! I can successfully grab a round bale with either a truck or large tractor with the round bale carrier. I can successfully back up a 16 foot stock trailer around a curve and up a hill (I don't care how hard it is to put back, I am terribly grateful to my friend, Carol, for letting me borrow her trailer!). I have mastered horses fighting in a trailer, horses falling in a trailer. I backed up the stock trailer into a chute when Belles wouldn't load to come home from the vet and I am being
defeated by a Craftsman lawn tractor and John Deere trailer. Shoot me now.
FINE!
I use a shovel and smash a wee bitty piece of concrete and prepare to turn the tractor around to pull it forward into the corral and dump the dirt at the barn entrance. I sigh, make a face and turn the key on the tractor.
Whirrrr, whirrr, cough, whirrr, whirrr.
Huh?
I slap it. I stomp my foot.
Whrrrr, whrrrr.
Now what?
Determined that my horses
will have fresh dirt, I send the children to fetch the two plastic toboggans. I figured we could "sled" the dirt to the barn.
I texted Steve the latest drama.
Does it need gas?
Gas? OH! I run back to the shed and fetch the gas can. The tractor gulps it up, soaks it up, slurps it up and burps for me.
I turn the key. Whirrrrr, cough, pop,growl!!!!
Back in business! I turn it around and
squeeze through the gate and turned sharply to have the back of the dump near the barn door.
This time we remembered to unlatch the gate and then tilt the dump. Whoosh! Dirt in the doorway!
The other two kids have trundled back with the sleds, and gathered rakes and shovels.
I pulled through the side gate, around the front of the barn, through the truck gate and over to the pasture fence.
I loaded up another load of dirt, inflated the tires and bounced back to the barn. I pulled through the gate, turned and discovered that the kids were working really hard at moving the dirt from the pile to the barn.
LIGHT BULB!
I pull up, position a sled under the dump and unlatched the gate! SCORE! The dirt piled into the sled, was dragged into the barn and dumped in the exact place needed. Yes! We have learned!
We repeated the process several times. It was made easier when Steve came home and proceeded to help with the shoveling parts.
Shovel, inflate, bounce, squeeze, dump, pull, tip and spread! BOO YEAH!!
This whole process was helped along with horses that were very curious. They were in the barn, next to the tractor, behind the dump. in the dirt pile and trying to escape the through the gates.
In the end, the barn is now filled with soft,
dry dirt. The lawn trailer was tucked into the shed, and the dump trailer was returned with with inflated tires and a collection of stickers.
What have learned?
TURN THE WATER OFF!
And how was your day?
