Simply Adapting: Another weekend in the Dust…

Where in the heck do these weekends go? There is so much anticipation leading up to Friday evening that I get completely amped and then I blink and it’s Monday morning. Does anyone else feel like summer is flying by at 100mph?

Saturday was a day of rain, no complaining here, we really need the rain. I’m tired of looking at brown grass and the poor corn was starting to curl from the heat and lack of moisture in the ground. We took advantage of the day by going on a trip to Ames for Hog pen supplies. We really need to start getting our livestock before our insurance company takes us off the farmers insurance claim.

What I thought would take 2 hours turned into a whopping 4 hour trip to Theisens (Ty-sons… really?) and Lowes. Not completely our fault. We went to get a 12ft livestock gate and some lumber and while we were planning our pen out realized we should also get hog paneling. I called around everywhere and everyone was out of hog paneling but they had cattle paneling so we went to look to see if it would work. Wouldn’t you believe that when we pulled up that there was an entire pile of hog paneling in the back. Someone’s computers are not up to date with their inventory. Poor {G} when into Theisens 3 times to do exchanges because what we thought we bought was the wrong thing. We drove 30 mins for supplies so you better believe that we are getting what we need before we drive home.

The rest of the afternoon is a blur… all I remember is unloading the supplies and staying up to watch the Hangover Part two. {G} can’t even stay awake any longer for movies. We started the movie at 6:30 and he fell asleep during it by 8:00pm. We He is such an old fart anymore.

Sunday we went straight to the barn to start assembling the hog pen. Usually I love doing projects like this, sawing, drilling, hammering, I find it fun and a way to stay up to date on how to read rulers… fractions are not my strong point. Aren't 3/4 three forths the same as three quarters? Why does it have to be three quarters when you say it? Oh the dilemmas of my math skills.

As I said, usually, I find this stuff fun and challenging… however… working with my husband on these projects can certainly strike some nerves. Seriously, if you want couples counseling forget paying money to talk to a therapist and instead build something together. It will challenge every aspect of a relationship…. communication, listening, patience, problem solving, trust, etc and in the end you can really see how strong your relationship is by looking at how well you worked together. Did you argue over what length to cut the board… if so how did you fix the argument…. did you get frustrated and walk away or did you listen and talk through some troubleshooting points and come up with the solution?

{G} and I certainly do not see eye to eye on everything when working together but why would we? We may share a life together but not our brains. I will say that we make a great team though. We look at things from completely different angles and are able to stop and talk about our point of views. Instead of walking away and saying,“fine do it your way”, we are stubborn enough in our own ways to say, “No! explain to me what you are saying.” There are sometimes that you have to give a little, like when you think your way is the right way and he thinks his is and there is no way around it. Those are the times I think about what it is we are doing and say to myself (in this situation), “You’re the one who grew up with hogs so lets do it your way.” There is always going to be another argument (we’re married) that I can win and he will have to give in so I keep that on the back burner for when I need it.

We spent a good amount of time on Sunday building the pen and stopped half way to go to a local estate auction in Boone. After the auction we came home and I made some peach cobbler and grilled supper. We spent the rest of the evening just lounging around reading and enjoying what was left of the weekend. He even let me watch “Oprahs Next Chapter: The Kardashians… see what I meant by putting the argument on the back burner… (Yes, I know garbage TV but my argument was that “Pawn Stars” is to men’s garbage TV as “Real Housewives” is to women’s garbage TV, If I have to watch yours, you have to watch mine) WINNING!!!

{ Before photo of hog area in the barn }