A Hundred Little Things
Don’t look to me for advice on organization, I’m flying by the seat of my pants here.
Is everything getting done? Not by a long shot. But I keep on keeping on as the days zoom by and what doesn’t get done today gets moved to tomorrow on the calendar … or maybe to next week. And you know what, that’s ok.
Of course, I do prioritize. If the animals need something, it gets addressed right away because those living creatures depend on me to live. And if there is a repair needed somewhere that is critical, well it moves to the top of the list. But barring those circumstances, if the morning dishes don’t get done till night, if the floor needs swept and I put it off till tomorrow, if there’s a pile of laundry but I still have something clean to wear, I can live with it.
Why? Because a hundred little things happen each day that need attention and they may be routine or they may be surprises but they fill the hours from when I wake up to when I collapse,
Another thing to add to the mix is that I am a creator. My creative muse wears many different outfits and she changes her mind often so it appears to those outside of my head that I’m a disorganized mess who doesn’t finish anything. But that’s not at all correct if you look closely. I finish a lot of things but a task list is like a hydra, chop off one and two more grow in it’s place. The real problem is that there are only 24 hours in a day when there needs to be at least 48, and my energy level needs a boost to deal with those 48 hours that I want in order to accomplish all the things on my calendar.
I’ve been in a mode of creating the new website and blog, and the new youtube channel, and learning videography and editing. All of this has a learning curve and I’m singularly focused when absorbing new information. So, the writing (unless it’s the blog) and the painting have taken a back burner. The gardening and cooking (unless directly related to a video) have been set aside. And added to my schedule are 2 or 3 videos a week and a couple blogs to let you know I’m still here and how the farm is getting along.
So let’s do a farm life update on what’s been keeping me busy -
A few days ago the feed store ran out of grass hay. My rabbits and goats need hay, preferrably alfalfa but that hadn’t been available for months, for roughage so their little insides will work right. So I panicked for a minute. We ended up hand cutting a lot of the TALL grass in the yard (which is out of control because the mower and weedwacker needed repairs, and all the rain, and Dan hurt his back) to feed them till hay was delivered. As of yesterday they have new bales of alfalfa and the critters are happy. A time-consuming task associated with feeding the critters from the yard and gardens is looking everything up to see what’s good for them and what’s toxic. I chopped off a pile of vines today, some from the wild morning glory and some from my passion plant, both of which are growing faster than the plant in Little Shop of Horrors, and was about to feed them to goats and rabbits but remembered to Google them first. Good thing I did, both are poison for livestock. We have a burn pile for these things.
The nightly deluges of rain make everything soggy and muddy and puddle-y. We have new leaks, I have a goat coughing again, and my white ducks are mostly muddy brown but their egg count is increasing as their summer molt ends and they are happy little quackers. I have a waiting list for the eggs. Funny how supply and demand works, when I’m getting two dozen eggs a day my fridge is full and I can’t sell them fast enough even at a reduced price to keep up with production. When the ducks molt and I might get six eggs a day, people are unhappy they have to wait. Sorry, but squeezing the ducks just doesn’t make them lay eggs faster!
Yesterday, as I was leaving for my weekly Tuesday breakfast with friends, I saw I had a very low tire. The shop we go to is just minutes from home so I drove there and they had it off, checked, nail located, hole patched, and back on in about 15 minutes and it cost me the equivalent of $5 US including tip. People here keep patching tires till they just won’t patch anymore before buying new. For driving here at lakeside I’m ok with that but if I was driving long distance I don’t think I’d trust it.
I saw a post on FB by a woman I know that she just rescued a Great Pyreneese dog. Sadly, there had been two wandering the highway and one was hit and killed. Having one of my own, I felt compelled to help her find a home for this furry girl so I spent time posting and reaching out to homesteaders around Mexico to see if we could get her to a farm. We’re still working on it and the photo you see with this blog is her. I think she is actually a sister of my dog because of circumstances I won’t go into.
As do most expats here, I keep an eye on the daily dollar to peso conversion rate so I know when to transfer money to my best advantage. It’s been improving so I need to make a bank visit asap. When you’re on a fixed income you need to pay attention to these things. I came to Mexico debt free and remain that way except for the land I purchased to build our homestead on which was partially financed by the seller with zero interest. This is mostly a cash society. If I need something, I get it when I have the cash for it, and the land will be paid off in just seven more months.
Trying to find and hire help for the yard and gardens is a never ending task. I am now fully aware and facing the fact that I cannot handle what I did fifty years ago, or even twenty, My limitations have increased, my endurance has decreased, and I’m now at the point where I want things done so I can enjoy gardens and trees and yard, but i want someone else to do the work. Getting crochety in my old age, aren’t I? Hahaha. So if you are reading this and live in my area, please let me know if you can recommend a gardener/yard man.
And there goes my calendar plan for today. Just got a call for a full pan of my moringa brownies. I love how these health benefit yummies have caught on with the seniors here. I hadn’t planned to bake today but I will and I’m glad I thought ahead to make extra moringa butter I keep in the freezer. All the money I take in from my baking goes to buying feed for our animals so I don’t turn down an opportunity and this pan of brownies will buy two big bags of dog and cat food or almost nine bales of alfalfa.
Buen Dia! Mucho trabajo por hacer.
