Git 'Er Done!

Oh, man...I was on a roll.  I was geared up and pedal down.  It was going to be a great "git 'er done!" day.  By eight o'clock I had the computer work done, the trash down to the big road, all chickens fed, watered, and released, the front yard mowed, and the better part of a cord of split wood (that the guys had just thrown down in a pile) neatly stacked on pallets.  Like department stores that start selling parkas in July, we are always planning for the next season.  I was so pleased that I'd be able to get to the barn early, get those chores done, and maybe mow the side yard before it got way too hot.  Bess and I went back into the house for a little breather before gathering up the milk buckets.  She flopped, panting, on the cool hearth. 

While I'd been stacking wood, she'd been running around under the oak, looking up and barking, telling me that there was something that didn't belong there in the tree.  It wasn't a "Danger!" bark; more, "I see you and I want you gone!"  I try to show respect for Bessie's instincts and go look when she gives a warning.  She's not a yapping dog, so I listen to her.  It might just be the sound of the first rain drops that set her off, but sometimes there's actually something out there.  The raccoon has been visiting almost nightly even though the recycle bag has been moved.  Try as I might, I couldn't see anything in the branches, no give-away movement or sound.  It could have been a squirrel.  At any rate, break time over, I reached down to give my early-warning system a belly rub as I headed to the kitchen...and it all came to a screeching halt.  I hadn't gotten all of the dreaded, dreadful bracken pulled from under the live oak, and Bessie Anne was covered in bijillions of tiny, tiny daggers, and I'm not exaggerating for effect.  Hadn't we just gone through this with the Velcro burrs?  We went out on the porch and I spent the next hour brushing seeds out of her coat and from between her toes.  Ambition drained with every stroke.  Not only was I not early to the barn, I was way behind schedule.  So much for git 'er done.

After bedtime barn chores, Bess enjoys laying on the porch in the cool of evening while I wash up the baby bottles.  Last night she did a perimeter check before coming in and...was covered in burrs again.  Deja vu.