Battle of the Screws: A Beautiful Tale of a Fixing and Bonding.....hahahaha!

"We're going outside to fix the gate to the chicken coop and the fence the horses broke," I told my youngest son. "And I'm bringing my iPhone with for taking pictures of our progress so I can write a blog about it."

Yep. That's what I told the boy who had slept in until almost noon. I suppose I could've woke him up hours before, but, every so often, a mother likes to have some extra peace in the house. Yesterday was one of those days. I ate breakfast ALONE. I sipped my coffee ALONE. I unsubscribed from unwanted emails ALONE, and I browsed through Pinterest ALONE. Ahhhh....the peace.

Now, it's not my fault that we headed out to work at the hottest part of the most humid day we've had so far. I mean, he could've been up earlier, right? But when we both walked outside, the blast of heat almost knocked us right back on our behinds (preferably on a couch in the wonderfully air-conditioned house).

I had told him to grab the power screw driver and fix the little white gate leading to the chicken coop, which, by the way, I'm pretty sure he is responsible for breaking in the first place. It was a simple task. All he needed to do was take out the four existing screws and screw them into a new location, since the wood had rotted around their current location. After hearing him make multiple runs from the workshop to the coop on his four-wheeler, and after hearing the sound of a hammer, I decided to check in with him.

"It's not gonna work," he said quickly. "We'll have to let Dad fix it."

If you're a parent, you'll recognize this as an excuse for a 12-year-old boy to get out of work.

"Why?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"The screws have nowhere to put the screwdriver. They have flat heads like a nail," he answered.

The third board from the left is now secure!

Determined to make this boy work, I walked over to check out this rare type of flat-headed screw. I had purchased this little gate at a wonderful local antique shop in town called The Junk Asylum, and it had been painted with a nice fresh coat of white paint. The screws had collected a fair amount of the paint, giving them the appearance of being filled in. So after a small amount of chiseling, the screw was exposed and we made the repair.

Next on our list was to repair the two boards the horses had broken. I assume this happened while they were all huddled together swatting at the excessive amount of flies that have recently taken over the acreage. In any case, we needed two 1x6 boards that were eight feet long.

Finding the boards was easy. I had my helper measure out the correct length.

"Measure twice," I told him. "Cut once."

Cutting them with the circular saw was easy too.

Carrying them to the barn was easy. (Well, my helper did have a small setback here as he claimed a board suddenly nailed his hip bone, causing him to drop to the ground. This may have been an attempt to rest.)

What was surprisingly difficult was identifying which screwdriver tip needed to be put into the drill. On those two measly boards, THREE different types of screws had been used. THREE! A few required a phillips; I can handle that. But suddenly, there are screws with squares and screws with stars? It was like a kindergarten matching game for adult carpenters! Can you imagine how long it took me to find the square and star attachments in just the right size? Ugh!

Just what is the purpose of this?

I'm clearly not ready for new shapes.

Two new boards and one new headache

By now, we were both sweaty and short-fused. The horses were trying to help us, and if we were really on task, the flies would bite our arms and legs, causing us to drop a screw or board. My son claimed he had allergies, and the grand vision I had of us happily working together to fix things had quickly turned into the reality that kids don't naturally want to work very hard.

I had to laugh at what my son said when I told him we were finished with our job.

"It actually was kinda fun fixing stuff," he said as he smiled and rode quickly away on his four-wheeler.

I suppose, in a way, it really was fun. :)

Sharon
P.S. Notice how there are no pictures of us working. There's a reason for that; we weren't really in the mood for photo ops. LOL

See you on Vine

Ok....does anyone out there have the Vine app on their iPhone? I love it!

It's so fun to create little videos of the farm happenings. Like the other night when we were playing a very rustic game of horseshoes in the barn....it's fun to have a way to share it with you all. :)

Just hover over the image below, be sure to click the volume button on the top left of the image so you can hear the sound, then click on the image.




Anyway, if you have a Vine account, I'd love to have you follow me at DewKistGirl so I can follow you back.

Meanwhile, enjoy the next clip I recorded during tonight's feeding time.

Searching for Used Saddles on eBay

Over the winter months, I spent some time searching for a new dressage saddle. Years ago, I had purchased a "synthetic leather" brand that just never felt right. Rather than feeling like I was sitting on a horse, I felt like I was sitting on plastic. So, it became my goal to look for a Stubben saddle.

My budget didn't allow for a new Stubben, but eBay was full of used ones ranging from very worn to gently used condition. The price range varied too, from $400 all the way to $1300. Because I had already measured my horses for the correct size, I was certain that what I was looking for was a Stubben Tristan 17.5" dressage saddle with a 32 cm tree.

After a few minutes of looking, it became clear that photographs made it very difficult to determine the condition of a saddle. By the end of the night, I felt comfortable about one in particular and purchased it. At the exact moment I completed the purchase, I worried that I had taken too great a risk.

But all was well. The saddle arrived at the post office in just a few days, and the fit was just what I had hoped for the horses.

Interestingly enough, I called Stubben with the serial number of this particular saddle in hopes of discovering its age. The Stubben representative quickly contacted me with the news that it was over nineteen years old. The previous owner must have taken great care of it, as it looks like its only a few years old. 

I took some time last weekend to clean up all the tack in the barn. With country music on the radio and my favorite leather conditioner in hand, it made for a very nice day. 

Don't be too leery of purchasing a used saddle online. As long as you do adequate research on what you need and take measurements of your horse(s), the purchase should be a good one.

Sharon

More Sugar. Less Sugar

It was warm.

Now it's cold.

Mother Nature appears to be menopausal this spring.

But for the few days of heaven that we experienced less than one week ago, I was able to work with the horses. I feel bad because I seem to only photograph my own horses, and I rarely photograph my son's horse, Sugar.

Truth is...

She's obese.

So I seem to take pictures of my fit horses. Shame on me. :(

The good news is that we've been working with Sugar for a couple of months now. She's on a diet and exercise program.

Here's the transformation. Pay special attention to her belly.

Before

More Sugar

I find it funny that in the picture above, Sugar is eating. Then, in the picture below, she's exercising. We could all learn something from this. :)

After

Less Sugar

I'll try to take pictures of Sugar a little more often. She really does like the attention, and she'll make a great halter horse for the show ring.  I've bonded with her over these past few months, but you'll never see me riding her. You see, Sugar only allows men to steer her from above. She's put me in my place. Apparently, my place is on the ground. 

More pictures of Sugar to come.

Sharon