A one-day vacation?

Today I took a whole day off from animal care, farm work and housework. My friend Ellen and I decided to make a trip to Point Roberts to pick up some SeaPet fish oil we had ordered for the dogs. We envisioned a nice little outing, a stroll on the beach, a gawk around the town, maybe a little shopping and a lunch out. Two good friends having a day out.

I left at 8:00 AM. I got home at 5:00 PM. We did drive around Point Bob and we did do lunch at Timmy’s and we did chat about everything and anything, but when I got home and unloaded my car, I realized that the day was still all about my life with the critters.

We spent an hour and a half standing in a line up in the freezing cold waiting to pick up the SeaPet oil at the mail drop in Point Bob (the things we do to save a few bucks courier charges!). We spent a half hour in Bosley’s in Tswassen where we shopped for treats and toys for the dogs. We picked up a dozen bags of pigfeed in New Westminster for Scotch, Soda and the babes. We also loaded two wooden pallets into the car so the straw, hay and alfalfa will be up off the barn floor and less likely to get damp.

We stopped at Lee Valley tools in Coquitlam so I could get bog boots and German garden clogs and ice grippers – for getting out to the barn in muddy, wet, or icy weather. While we were there, we signed up for a weekend woodworking course next month so I can become ever more efficient at the constant repairs and renovations required in the barn and the house to accommodate animals or to repair damage they have inadvertently caused.

We stopped at Sally Ann thrift store in Pitt Meadows so I could look for another barn jacket since mine has pretty much fallen apart and I am NOT wearing my good jackets where pigs put their muddy trotters and where I am constantly coated in a thick layer of dust and straw and hay and manure.

And when I finally returned home, I mucked out the stalls, fed and watered the pigs, fed the alpaca, took the dogs (who had been inside all day) for a quick run, fed the dogs and cat, and then realized that I had forgotten to pick up any cream for my much-needed cup of coffee!

I guess there’s no escaping it – my life has gone to the dogs…..and the pigs……and the cats……and the alpacas. Ah, but it’s worth it. It’s worth every minute of time and every cent of money I spend on them.

Now, if only I could teach them how to do the housework and farmwork while I am out for the day.