During a spate of midwinter thaw, I clambored into the bottom of the barn to dig up some topdressing for my houseplants. It took a large dose of cabin fever to squelch the claustrophobia that permeates my being, but I ventured down into that sinking relic of a barn. The ceiling tilted crazily only inches over my head, held up, barely, by rotting timbers buried in five feet of manure.
I took the silage fork I'd gotten for Christmas, the wheelbarrow and a compost screen back into and against the north wall. There were drive-through doors there, with gaps through broken boards that hinted at the open space beyond.
FLASHBACK: While living in the city on our one acre lot, we spent lots of money on landscaping products, including manure. We bought manure by the bag; it took four bags to fill the wheelbarrow. We bought tons of ..it.
I spent all that day digging out manure; using hand and rake and shovel to push it through the screen and into the wheelbarrow; then rolling the topdress-quality compost into the concrete block milkhouse in the opposite corner of the barn. After digging, sifting and moving nearly 20 loads I'd only cleared a section 2 feet wide by four feet long.
I realized that with a 40x60 (or thereabouts) barn, sinking in five feet of manure, that I had a large pile of ..it here. All I need do is bag ..it and market ..it. Think of the thousands (maybe billions) of dollars I could shovel in just by shoveling out our barn, and then other folks' barns and .... and ... and
The next morning I woke with a lot of muscle pain and little upper body mobility. I decided that the manure in our dear old barn would be a fine little nestegg. One I should save.... for my social-security-free years.
Black Walnut
Manitoba Maple:
the weed tree
of the Kickapoo
An introvert that extroverts with laughter (so I've heard)
It seems when I'm an introvert, in serious situations
The lack of humor in the air enhances my frustrations
So for relief that's less than finesse
maturity scattering under duress
professionalism gets lost on the way
but abundance of stress can brook no delay
I can't remember people's names so I avoid their eye
It surely makes them testy - to be avoided thus
I then resort to laughter to avoid unseemly fuss
I create relief with less than finesse
maturity scattering under duress
professionalism is lost on the way
but it covers my shame and saves the day
