I can do anything for 15 minutes!

A few year ago I found a popular website who's motto is you can do anything for 15 minutes! I LOVE that because I think for lots of things I need to do that's all the attention span I have! I likely have add, but I think that's why I love my life and all that I do, if there is something I don't particularly enjoy I will usually only have to do it for a short while, then something else needs doing! Take for example the rock wall.... ugh! I swear at night all the barn animals jump out of the fencing and run down to it and deposit loads of manure along it as I cannot believe how quickly it all grows! It's one of those things that you see needs attention, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do it all, so some things slide until they look like this.... This bugs me as it partially blocks my view, which is one of the three reason we bought this home. The barn, the view and the land. The house was just a bonus! I was especially bugged tonight because it's been raining a lot again lately which make things that need doing outside get pushed further and further back... So tonight I said screw it, I can just as easily lop in the rain as not and the bugs won't be so bad; I grabbed a pair of gloves, the new loppers I just bought for this purpose, (once again it's all about having the right tool for the job!) set my timer for 15 minutes (alright it was the alarm on my phone) and walked to the wall. What joy and satisfaction did I find in lopping this mess away tonight! It was FUN! I made a pile of lopped down brush, to haul away in another 15 minutes later.You can see why it may bug me, I'm all about privacy, (which is why I cannot figure out why I spill my guts on here?! Weird huh!?) but I cannot see out to the glorious field which lies just on the other side of that wall. So I went to town lop, lop, lop!
And 15 minutes later I has results! This was 15 minutes well spent! Instant gratification, simple pleasures, call it what you will I was pleased and will certainly do another 15 minutes soon! Look at what I got done! Alright it was 20 minutes, because when the alarm went off I set it for another 5 because I 'just wanted to get this one last....' those of you who are like me will understand that and those of you who are not....well, I'm sorry, I just had to!

Did you see the building in the first picture?! Nope! me either and I know it's there! Yikes that is a lot of brush!

FUV - Farm Utility Vehicle

One of the things my children received for Christmas was this heavy duty wagon, also know as farm utility vehicle. They put it together almost completely by themselves, they did need a little guidance from Mommy and Daddy helped with the wheels, they had a great time and worked together beautifully!

making sure Daddy had it just right

This wagon has already carried lots of things:

a sense of accomplishment for having done a great job building it....

......each other.......they have even worn the harness that I've used on the dogs with reins attached and each of them had been the horse or the goat.......and they convinced me to try to, as "It's FUN Mommy!" (awww shucks, I didn't get a picture of that.....)

....200 pounds of grain for the animals........

.........maple sap, and has even been used to muck out stalls! Of course not while carrying sap.

Now that we've used this for many things I cannot imagine not having it. Before I'd of had to unload the truck in four trips to the grain room, (on a good day just two) now I can just pop it in that make one trip! In the future I'm sure Buckley will somehow manage to be harnessed to this wagon as it is our intention for him to do some draft work, I say our intention as I'm not sure he'll go along with it, he seems more content to be a lap goat.

My new best friend

Right now it seems as though it's snowed here everyday for the past three years. I'm sore, (from falling off the ladder while climbing onto the roof to shovel it off), tired (of many things, including the snow) and ready for spring. However, I am so thankful I was able to get the snow blower fixed this fall because I know I would be all of these things tenfold if I had to shovel all this. Moreover, I'm moved to tears in appreciation to my children, because they've been right out there with me helping without complaining and I never even asked for their help.

I'm going to peruse my stack of seed catalogs for about three minutes before I drift off to a much needed night of slumber. Here's to hoping the sun comes out tomorrow!