"If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer." - Yogi Berra

The worst job in the military: testing for duds.

That quote up there by Yogi shows rare wisdom. That's why we have no shortage of fertilizer. 

What a challenging day.

I'll spare you the details but Stella is driving me CRAZY. I've partitioned off one end of the barn so the kids can have access to grain and alfalfa hay, the latter "free choice" (whenever they want it). Stella proves to be incredibly determined at getting into that area despite the fact I narrowed the opening to no more than 9". It started out at 12" and I've repeatedly narrowed it but she still gets through. At Mart's suggestion I switched to a horizontal barrier and discovered a determined goat who wants access to grain and alfalfa will get down on her front knees and once she has the front half under the barrier she'll stand up and drag her rear half through. She is not a small goat but has managed to get under a barrier 10" off the floor. 

Of course once through she can't get back, only because the motivation is gone. So I have to take the barrier down each time, get her out, and then put it back up narrower and lower. I've done that at least a dozen times, and it is now so low and narrow that the two kids can barely get through. 

I spent the better part of the morning cleaning up and painting the tailpiece of the tranny that burned up so I could list it here on eBay. 

After lunch I spent two hours trying to get the failed wiper motor out of the truck. It's still there. My left hand got too sore from being forced through the ash tray opening trying to twist a box wrench while my right hand reached up from underneath to hold a Phillips screwdriver on the back side. 

I apparently left the key in the ON position last time parked the truck and the battery is now dead. Plugged in my charger and discovered it has died, so I can't charge the battery. 

Uff-dah.

Tomorrow I'll use the Kia to jump start the truck and let it run long enough to (hopefully) charge the battery. Now is not a good time to buy a new charger, or anything else for that matter. It IS a good time to sell a T-5 tailpiece, so feel free to snag that one off of eBay. 

Add to the day's mix of activities giving bottles to goats, bringing around firewood and kindling, and some computer work like editing the pictures for that eBay listing and somehow the day disapeared with a good deal of frustration in its place.

HOWEVER...!

We got news today that someone we love very, very much got a "negative" report on a critical medical test. All the frustrations of this or any other day are totally insignificant by comparison. This is one of those juxtapositions that puts things in perspective and reminds us that what we too often see as big stuff doesn't really matter compared to what is truly important. 

T''ank you, Fadder. T'ank you SO much.