A "Simple" Task

Lately, I have had a lot of seemingly simple tasks become not-so-simple. It all started on Memorial Day weekend when I was doing a big spring cleaning (not that you could tell anymore). I was tired of the egg cartons and dozens of eggs on my counter, so I thought I would move them to a counter in the mudroom. That counter had 2 boxes on it: potatoes and garlic. The potatoes were storage potatoes that I was supposed to use over the winter but forgot about. I grabbed the box from the bottom - taking them outside was such a simple task - until I start to feel the ooze, all over my fingers. The ooze that meant the simple task was going to go very, very wrong. I quickly realized the potatoes had rotted and while I bolted for the door as fast as possible, I still had potato goo dropping all over me. I made it just outside the door when the bottom of the box broke open and all the potatoes fell out. Oh, the smell!!!! Disgusting. I was gagging the entire time. Luke was cutting the lawn, and he saw me shaking my hands and screaming in anger. He pulled over and asked what was wrong, and after I told him, he sort of chuckled and said, "sorry about that." I went and put on latex gloves, and slowly cleaned up the mess. I had to hose down the porch, scrub the mudroom rugs with carpet cleaner, and Swiffer the mudroom floor. That "simple" task was anything but! At least now I don't have the eggs in the kitchen anymore! And, the mudroom was very clean.

Then today, another simple task. Luke called me at around 5:00 and asked me to plug in the fridge/freezer in the garage in preparation for chicken butchering tomorrow. I plugged it in, and then opened the freezer. The freezer was all clean, but there was a weird smell from the area. Then, I opened the fridge door. This was NOT a simple task. It seemed that Luke and/or his employee Austin left their lunch and a few sodas in there last fall before unplugging the fridge for the winter. They obviously didn't check that the fridge was empty when it was unplugged, and disaster occurred. The winter caused the soda cans to freeze and explode, and then the spring heat caused the soda and lunch bag to mold. YUCK! What an utter disaster. I again grabbed some latex gloves (thank goodness we have those lying around), grabbed the lysol, a roll of paper towel, and a garbage bag. 20 minutes later and the fridge was clean, but yuck! Thankfully we don't use the fridge portion at all, just the freezer, but still, what a chore. All off the simple question "Can you plug in the fridge?"

Well, then of course my hypochondriac self needed to have a minor freak-out session. You see, my stress level is directly correlated with how much I worry, and I am VERY stressed out right now so I was bound to have a hypochondriac moment. It has been such a busy week - this was my first week off, so I took over restaurant deliveries, CSA deliveries, market set-up, am now assisting more with farm duties, plus just the regular business of cleaning the house, teaching summer school, etc - yea, my stress level is up there! And because of that, I did spend a serious 30 minutes after cleaning the fridge worrying about the mold I had cleaned up - what if I inhaled a spore?!?! Luke and my mom quickly talked me out of it, thank goodness.

Well, Luke got home, and we ate dinner around 8:45 at night. In preparation for chicken butchering, we needed to separate the 40 chickens we were going to butcher. So...a SIMPLE question - "Mel, will you spend 20 minutes and help me move chickens?" I'm definitely my father's daughter - I can't say no to helping, so of course I agreed. I put on my rubber boots, my deerskin gloves, and I was ready to go. It was going pretty swiftly - Luke would hand me a chicken, and he would grab another, and we would walk over to the other cage and set the birds in there. Besides my initial panic of how to hold them and keep them calm, Luke and I were enjoying ourselves. Then - it happened. He happened - a nasty little rooster. He freaked out in my arms and was flapping all over - and his claws were digging into my left arm pretty incessantly. I couldn't get him to calm and my arm hurt! He settled after about five seconds, and I walked over to drop him in the cage. Heading back to see my arm in the light of the four-wheeler, I could tell he had done some damage. Three solid scrapes, one deep enough to draw blood.

Luke could tell that I was very much nearing the edge that I don't reach to often, and the stress breakdown was definitely in sight. Luke said (and this is a very dark humor), "Don't worry Mel, no one messes with my wife, I'll kill him tomorrow. Literally, I'll kill him." I laughed so hard - it was perfect. Exactly what I needed to hear and my mood was instantly better. Even in all the stress and all the hardships lately, Luke knows exactly what to say to make me laugh! That is one of the reasons I love him!

The rest of chicken drop off went well, right until the very end. One more rooster got my left arm pretty good, he also drew blood. To add insult to injury, he pooped on my shirt. At that point I didn't care anymore. Luke and I were having a great time together, which was exactly what I needed. But as I put that last rooster in the cage I told him "Little shit - you may have won this battle, but tomorrow I win the war." Okay - again, a little dark, but those chickens have had a good life, better than most chickens that people eat. And they will be food for a family, a couple, a person, who can rest assured that these are healthy delicious birds that lived the right way.

Now, that I think of it - I better go - I better put hydrogen peroxide on my arm - chickens have a lot of bacteria....oh boy - don't want to go there. I need a good night sleep for the big day tomorrow. Now, just don't go around asking me to do a "simple" task, because I won't believe you.