Gateless in Tennessee

It is never leading to good things when someone starts a conversation with the question "what kind of mood are you in?" This was the opening line of a phone call that Jason received from one of our employees a couple of days ago. It turned out he had caught the edge of one of two twelve foot gates that open into the rear barnyard a couple of days ago. A gust of wind caught the gate right as he was driving by on the tractor. The gate caught on the tractor, and, as I am sure you can imagine, the gate did not win that encounter. We appreciated him calling to tell us right away what had happened. That said it would have been very hard to not notice that the gate didn't look right the next time one of us went through it.

We seem to be having a run on gates at the farm as we had another gate, the one that goes into the front barnyard area, have an unfortunate, but less damaging, run-in with a delivery truck. The gate was fine when we left, and when we returned an hour later was not fine. It was still on the hinges, but instead of hanging a few inches off the ground the gate was on the ground and the post it hung on was partially splintered. What upset both of us about this scenario was not the gate, but the fact that the delivery driver did not bother to tell us, leave a note, call, or otherwise mention that he had clearly hit the gate.

So far the gates to our middle barn area are the only barnyard gates that have managed to avoid a mishap. I sincerely hope we do not make it three for three.  Since we do not have enough work on the farm these days (yes, everybody laugh with me) tomorrow will be gate replacement day. This sounds easy enough, but it will be time consuming. First the two old gate posts will need to be pulled out which is not all that easy since gate posts are set in concrete. Then you have to set two new gate posts in concrete, and finally hang the new gates.

A great way to describe a job like this is that it is not hard, but will undoubtedly lead to some of the most aggravating moments of your life. I fondly refer to these types of activities as marriage building exercises. The good news? I am off the hook for assisting with gate replacement duties tomorrow. Jason will have the help of our employee, the one who had the gate/tractor run-in, while I blissfully do something other than help with that job. There will be no marriage building exercises, funny stories, or pictures to memorialize the things that went wrong . . . at least that is my fervent hope.

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Norman grazing in the last of the morning fog

Tiny and Johnny waiting to be fed

Traveller and Silky having a grooming session

Rocky saying "I don't want my picture taken right now, I'm eating."

Sebastian is so cute

Wiz napping with Dutch grazing nearby; the horses showing us their best sides in the background are Africa, B-Rad, Alex, Darby and Lighty

Murphy napping, Renny hanging out

Noble hanging out,  Merlin totally out of it. It must have been a great party.