Just got back from Farm-sitting for five days with a snow storm thrown in!

At first there is trepidation to farm-sitting. This must be my sixth time I would guess. There are "dog politics" as I call it. I was told one dog was in heat and so another dog might follow me in order to get at the dog in heat. I was told to "keep walking" after I feed the dog that might follow me.

Last time I "farmsat" I had a problem with this dog - it's the "alpha dog" and we are buddies. When he was a youngster he was so playful that he would jump full onto my chest! Luckily I had on my snowsuit. He and his kids - his offspring - do not bark at me once they see me. So I guess I hold that in their favor.

Anyway I didn't want to take any chances so I had a couple "ploys" in mind - to play against the "dog politics." I had to take the lead here based on the warnings I was given. And it seemed to pay off - I didn't have to "kennel" the dog as I was told was the worst case scenario - because this "alpha dog" is now very big and he fights fiercely - as I discovered during my last farmsitting. He fought with his son - so it wasn't even a real fight - but I definitely would not want to be close to that. He growls fiercely if you go towards him while he's wolfing down his food. haha.

So having passed that big first test I felt a big sense of relief. Shhh - the way I passed the test involved me running - but don't tell anyone. I'm not that good at running - especially while holding a bucket full of dog food containers - and running over an uneven field with frozen cow-paddies, etc.

Now on day two I had one of the steer start kicking up at me. It wasn't trying to hit me - more like an instinctive attempt to not be afraid. So I realized I had to play it more careful. The steer were very curious at the bucket I was using as it must have had some residue of some sort. 

Anyway so I put the bucket on top of the bale as I cut the baling twine - but one steer jumped up to get at the bucket. haha. Luckily today the storm was so bad that NO steer followed me. Yet suddenly a baby calf appeared - so curious as to be oblivious to any sense of fear. Very cute. It ran away as soon as I discovered it.

I was too busy just making sure I got the twine all removed so that no baby calves would get tangled up - as I was warned off. What else?

I stacked three pallets of wood that had been split - so that was a good workout but what made it fun was the "tiger kitty" as I call her. She was having the most fun I've seen in a long time - as the wood pile was perfect to sharpen her claws and go into "attack mode." What she was pretending to hunt for two hours - we'll never know? The grass was prey - and any holes in the wood or the pallets potentially hide further prey. She was proud of her imaginary hunting and then would come to me for affection.

Finally she asked me to go inside - and that was the final cute touch to the whole experience. So I carried her back indoors.

The wood stove definitely does lung damage from breathing in the smoke - as the smoke normally has to go down as a reverse down draft for a reburn. That lung damage, as per qigong, causes sadness and if serious can cause depression. So I had to do qigong meditation to heal the smoke damage.

The chimney is thus at the bottom and therefore with the door open the smoke bellows out. Yes we turn on the boiler "fan" to clear out the smoke but it works only so well - so best to hold the breath as best as possible. That means maybe not fully loading the wood stove boiler - and that means more trips to open it more frequently. haha. 

The best plan is to wait the full "12 hours" before reloading so that it's only coals with no smoke! But if you wait just a bit TOO long then you have to restart the whole fire again - and that defeats the whole purpose of an infinite energy device! haha. Starting up a new fire is also a big bother - getting newspaper, kindling, etc.

Still it's a very efficient heating system to heat water that is piped through the floors because water stores heat the best and heat rises. So it's a win-win situation. I helped put in the second water pipe that is insulated - to go to the house. So that way this year the wood boiler is "up to capacity" and so the fire burns better without just "smoldering" as last year. When it smoldered all the time then it would smoke even more and go out even more frequently.

Also it's a very alchemical setup as I've explained before. And since I had the farm to myself then I was able to meditate - full lotus with the "small universe" meditation and some standing active meditation also. I got a lot of standing active exercise of course. So the key secret is the fire goes under the water - just as with this wood boiler system.

In fact the farm chores are pretty much non-stop. Today with the snowstorm I started before the sun came up and kept going nonstop. Lots of shoveling and then a miracle happened. I saw a truck drive by with a plow - it passed me as I was shoveling. I thought - too bad I didn't "flag it down" - and I kept shoveling the road. The snow was too deep for their farm plow that was not working well - on an atv. 

So I had used the new 2 horsepower 10 gauge cord 13 amp snowblower for the parking area "round about" but the cord only goes so far. I still have to shovel the quarter mile road!! The snow was 10 inches deep by my estimation and the local news later corroborated my claim with 12 inches snow fall in that region.

So anyway luckily the plow truck showed up after it turned around and I said, "How much do you need?" He shrugged it off so I offered all the cash I had in my wallet. And he even plowed pass the wood piles so that a trail did not need to be made to the wood pile for the wood stove boiler. And he took "my" money - and I got his name and passed it on. (I had counted the money that morning and put the thought out to the universe that the money was just enough to pay for a snow plow...)

So it was a miracle indeed because luckily I had shoveled far enough where he could see me as he drove past - and that means I had shoveled 3/4 of the distance to the main road. But that path was just about two shovel loads WIDE and I needed to clear enough for a car or truck to get through - and it was deep snow with a very strong wind. 

Anyway I had already shoveled out around the concrete water "hole" set up for the cattle-sheep that I helped put in a few years ago - as I was told to do. The sheep dogs were just watching me as I shoveled out the snow on the concrete. I love to think how the dogs think how stupid we humans are. I'm sure the dogs feel sorry for us. Even one dog today that always barks at me - when I called her name she actually suddenly stopped barking. A miracle indeed. First time in years!! 

I blame the snowstorm for the sudden sympathy of the other animals towards me - I could barely trudge through the snow. Most of the animals didn't even go outside! The chickens stayed inside their hut - first time I ever saw that. The house dog didn't want to stay outside long - first time I ever saw that - she went back inside. The house cat that always goes out - she went back inside. She tried a second time and I discouraged her. 

The cattle were not even going to the watering hole - instead they hunkered down into a protection herd to stay warm from the strong wind. Yes it was a fierce day on the farm but in a kind of beautiful way. Even one time the sheep guard dogs did not bark as I approached! They could not hear me in the deep snow and strong wind and they were all curled up to stay warm - with their noses under their tails. Kind of amazing how they survive the elements sleeping out in the open!!

I was glad to have escaped because the work was overwhelming but it was a lot of fun for four nights and four days - give or take an evening or morning.