good fences make good slumber

ivan and i began today by picking apricots. it was fun. apricots are really pretty; they're small, round, smooth, and have a wonderful yellow-orange color to them with just a hint of red one one side. not all of them were in great condition though, so we had to throw those away. but that made finding the perfect ones really exciting. whenever i would see one up on a branch just waiting to be picked, i got really happy. it was fun, and kind of a reminder about how we really do need the bad in order to appreciate the good. the bad isn't just something to be tolerated or wished away, but rather, something necessary. i realized this all thanks to the apricots. thank you, apricots.

later, ivan and i were to build a wire fence around a new pasture. the goats are being moved to a larger pasture (yay goats!), but we must fence it in. its an electric fence, so the poor little goaties get shocked when they go near it. that made me sad and i wished it weren't the case. but nonetheless, this was the chore at hand.

in short, this project took us more than 2 hours. it was tedious, hot, and things kept going wrong. it would have been fine if we hadn't encountered so many problems. but you see, it was a large field, and we had to attach the wire onto poles along each side of the pasture. the problem was that we had to pull the wire tight, and oftentimes it would rip off of one of the poles without our knowledge. so we'd make it to the end, thinking we were done, only to find out that the wire had detached several points along the way. argh! fixing this was another extravaganza which i'm not going to bother explaining...but just note that it was lengthy, hot and irritating. even ivan, who is as even tempered as a cow, was getting worked up about it. you could only imagine what i was doing.

ahhh, the joys of farm life. thankfully, we had lunch after this, and post-lunch we only had to plant seeds, which we could do indoors while sitting. this was actually kind of fun. we planted them in those teeny little planters that you see at gardening stores (where you buy your transplants for your garden). apparently, they will sprout in 2 days! isn't that wild?

i came home and took a 2 hour nap, then emily (the new intern) arrived. she's from boston but went to school in ithaca at cornell. studied biology. she just graduated 3 weeks ago and is very nice and laid back. i think that we'll get along well. i am relieved about this, to say the least.

but that fence situation sucked the life out of me. afterwards i had trouble moving around. even right now i feel totally exhausted. emily went for a walk earlier (a short one, at that) and i didn't have the energy to go with her. oof.

something tells me i'll sleep good tonight.