When all else fails

Sometimes running a farm, or maybe I should say attempting to run life, feels like an exercise in practicing one step forward, two steps back. We’ve been having one of those stretches where we are presented with more problems than solutions (thankfully any problems relating to horses have been very solvable!). As I watched Ewen running in a circle chasing his tail, I felt like I was watching an analogy of my life lately. Sometimes you just get fed up with flat tires, broken equipment, broken fence boards, and the horses that would prefer that you didn’t administer their oral meds today.

Yesterday I was walking past the shop and heard Jason beating away on something. I genuinely thought he might simply be taking his frustrations in life and beating on nothing specific. It really has been that irritating around here lately. However, upon closer inspection I realized Jason was beating on the tractor with not one, but two, hammers. He wasn’t actually beating on the tractor, but on the bar of the hay spear. I’m not sure if this approach to equipment management was completely necessary or even effective, but it did seem to be satisfying to Jason if nothing else.

This reflection about life is brought to you by Jason: when all else fails, pick up a couple of hammers and start beating on something.

I should mention that one thing we haven’t been able to complain about this week is the weather. It was almost 80 degrees when the clouds gave way and the sun came out this afternoon. Jason had to change from jeans to shorts while complaining that he was too hot. I pointed out to him that in the grand scheme of things this did not qualify as a “problem.”

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Jason beating on things with not one but two hammers