Long and busy

Today was one of those days. Long and busy. Seems like there have been a lot of those lately and it's a good problem to have, for the most part.

One of the downsides is that long and busy doesn't always leave time for writing. I've got some navy stories that I really want to get posted up but stuff keeps happening and the fun writing keeps getting shoved onto the back burner. I'll get there at some point, but that point is proving to be elusive.

But again, good problem to have.

It was pretty out and bright and clear this morning but also pretty cold at first. Got down to 4 degrees overnight and that makes for hard ice. Which makes chopping ice a good workout. I tried something different this morning, using my camera rather than my phone.



In some ways the camera is better. The video quality is better, and the sound is better. The lens is micro-pitted and that really shows up in bright, direct lighting conditions, especially sunlight. But I guess it makes for interesting and somewhat colorful artifacts. Such as a red pentagon. Where the hell did that come from?



Went back to the cell phone and babbling. Also did a quick and dirty field expedient cow health assessment, for what it's worth.



A discussion of cow drinking habits and a demonstration of my incredible math prowess.



And what good is it being a rancher if you don't have a little fence to fix?



As it turned out I had a good bit of fence to fix, which kept me busy most of the day. As the fence-crossing snow drifts melt down they can cause problems. Sometimes they just melt away without disturbing the fence, but when they freeze-thaw-freeze, they turn to ice, and when the drift melts the ice pulls wires down and often snaps them. So I had a lot of that to fix today. I should have taken pics or videos, but I did not.

Also had a lot of drunk bullshit to deal with today. Drunks can cause a remarkable amount of turmoil. But I'm the one who wants it hard and challenging, right? And I still do, because it's where you grow and where you have the best chance to do good work. At some point it'll be someone else's turn and when that happens I probably won't whine very much.

Be well and enjoy the blessings of liberty.