doin' chores

Twice a semester, each vet tech student is assigned to a group with about 4 or 5 other students to do chores on the farm. Each group is on duty one week at a time.

A couple weeks ago it was my turn, along with 4 other girls. It requires being there at 7am and 5pm on the weekdays, and 9am on the weekends. This gave me a LOT of time in between classes and let me just say that I got quite a bit of school work done that week. :)

I enjoyed doing the chores. It brought me back to when I was younger and still lived on the farm. I was a 4-H kid and daughter of a cattle farmer (well, he also farmed crops) and so livestock is nothing new to me.

While growing up on the farm, I "owned" 2 horses, a couple calves, a steer, and several sheep. The horses weren't bought by me. Dad already had Billy when I was born (which was one of the reasons my birth mom chose my parents to be my new family). He was a spectacular horse. He lived a long and happy life at the farm. Soon after he died, I received a horse for my 13th birthday.

You see, in our family, turning 13 was a big deal. A new chapter in life. You were, afterall, officially a teenager!

The celebratory tradition included a big party thrown in your honor (the whole 8th grade class came out to the farm for horseback and hayback rides, lots of food, and fun) and a bigger than usual present. Brad got a go-cart on his 13th. I got Poco. Troubles Poco Dell, to be exact! He was BEAUTIFUL! It was such a nice surprise. I remember it like yesterday.

But I digress.....

Doing chores on the farm reminded me how much I miss these large animals. I occasionally dream of having a small ranch someday. Just a few goats, a couple horses, maybe some chickens for fresh eggs, etc.

This is why doing these chores is a good thing. It forces reality onto you like a big slap in the face! A farm means feeding and watering these animals twice a day. EVERYDAY! You have to buy hay, feed, equipment, etc. Its not all romantic, you know.

Nonetheless, its good, healthy work. Its a peaceful and gorgeous time of day, when you do chores in the morning. Its so quiet. No hustle and bustle. No sound of students or cars. Just the rooster, goats baaahing, and horses snorting, out of hunger. I watched the sun rise over the mountain each day.

Glorious.

Hopefully, I can snap some better shots for you next round when I'm not so preoccupied with creating my own routine.




The main vet tech building is to the left. It holds 2 classrooms and the teachers' offices. The middle building was brand new last year. Its our new science building. It holds 2 separate lab classrooms. We are so thankful for this new addition. The building on the right is the small hospital we use. The small cage in front of the hospital is one of the raptor cages. It houses a golden eagle and a bald eagle - one of the features at this school that made me feel this is where I need to be.



Llamas sort of freak me out when they stare at me. Their eyes and eyelashes are so HUGE. They always look like they are plotting something.


No, his head is not stuck. :)