Tonight the neighbor brought me 86 bales of straw to use for mulch in my garden. He gave me a good price, and included delivery. I told him I would have someone there to help unload it. Allen said he could come over and help. It was a good thing, because Androo was milking tonight, and it was the first time since the milk cows, the three pregnant heifers and the yearlings were all together. How would he sort out the five milkers from eleven animals, he wondered? I told him I would help. And of course, that was the exact time the neighbor showed up with the straw.
I went down to the garden and showed Kevin and Allen where to put the straw. I walked over to a spot south of the compost heap and pointed with my toe. Then I joined Androo to bring in the animals. By the time I got down to the garden, they were on the last few bales. They didn't stack them where I indicated they should go; the neighbor, in his infinite wisdom, decided to stack them within a few feet of the fence - a fence that was installed to keep the chickens out of the garden.
The pile of bales is about five feet tall; the fence around the garden is about six feet tall. There were several chickens running around on the bales of straw. Why none of them went over the fence I will never know. I went to the house grumbling to myself. Then I decided that the bales had to be moved - and right now. If just one chicken figured out that the bales were a great launching pad to get to the dinner in the garden, it would be all over. They can easily fly over a six foot fence, but they have enough to eat without that much effort. But now, of course, they were provided with a beautiful ladder of straw!
I went down to the garden and began moving bales. Androo came down and helped with the last dozen or so. I was really grumpy.
But then I came in the house and steamed the first stems of asparagus out of my garden while I whipped up some homemade Hollandaise sauce. Yes, that was compensation enough at the end of a frustrating evening.
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