Back to Labouring

(Post by Jason) Six weeks ago today I showed up at our local hospital to have a small but troublesome congenital hernia repaired. The surgery was a breeze, I showed up at 6:30 am and four hours later I was sitting in this chair typing inanities on my computer.

The six week recovery and fifteen pound lifting limit that accompanied my short and successful surgery has been frustrating at times. For awhile it seemed like every time I attempted a farm related task, even those that I had thought through beforehand, I ran up on the fifteen pound lifting limit. I can now say with experience that it's not possible to do any sort of real labour on a farm with this sort of restriction in place. Either the restriction is going to get severely violated or the work isn't going to get done, at least not by me. Since I have zero desire to repeat this surgical procedure and accompanying recovery I chose to delegate all the heavy tasks. Thus, Melissa and our employees have been "labour" while I have been "management".  Almost all of the work I could not do has been covered by Melissa. This has not gone particularly well from either side. I fully admit I am an inept task delegator.

I can say with clarity that middle Tennessee is no place to be a male chauvinist. About a week after my surgery Melissa, Carter and I went on a shopping trip to Costco. As most of you know, nearly everything sold in Costco comes in quantities that instantly violate my fifteen pound lifting limit. As such, Melissa got the task of carrying Carter, pushing the cart and lifting items from the shelf to the cart and from the cart to the car. My role that day was to walk around completely unencumbered and receive a multitude of dirty looks. At least one individual was disgusted enough by my behaviour to approach me and say, "Boy, you're a real a----le." before turning and abruptly walking away. My friends suggested that I looked too healthy and needed a cane or some other kind of prop. One suggested I needed a walker. Thanks ! :)

In truth what I actually needed was to be able to lift more than fifteen pounds in order that I could resume my life. Today marks the first day that has been possible. It was great to be able to lift and hug Carter without fear of damaging myself and it's just as good that I can fix stuff and work away just as I have done for most of my life. I also can't wait for our next trip to Costco. :)

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Darby, B-Rad and Alex

Tiny and Johnny

Largo and Rocky

Elfin, Homer and Tony grazing in the rain

Moe, Apollo and Trigger grazing in the rain. The horses quite enjoyed our last two days of off and on rain, the people not so much.

Stormy

Cuffie took advantage of the rain to get dirty

 Africa and Johnny

Sebastian

Chili and Sam

Winston and Romeo

 Maisie, MyLight and Calimba