Hot and Sweaty

It's hot. It's sticky. It's sweaty. It's grimy. 

Lately, when I am in the barn of an evening to milk I have been taking a photo of the barn thermometer since we are in the heat of summer.  Perhaps I'm a little bit of a masochist since I find it kind of fun to see what we are going through documented like this.

Last night it was 112 or 113.  I'm not 100% sure which because within seconds the sweat was rolling down my flesh in rivers as well as dripping into my eyes.  My clothes were soaked and I was a little bit tremble-y. 

This is Texas, and it's going to be hot in the summer and that's really O.K.  However, when it's this HOT. SWEATY. and GRITTY. one tends to question their own sanity.  I hadn't even really *done* anything and I had already sweat through my jeans. What I wanted was to go up to the deck and strip off, then douse myself head to toe with the hose.  What I did was feed animals then sit there in the sweltering heat of the barn and milk a goat.

There have been times in winter when we were carrying buckets of warm honey water out of the house to the barn to ensure sure everyone was hydrating, and keeping their electrolytes up.  There were other bitter cold days where the goats flinched from my frozen hands when I touched their teats, and I took great pleasure in warming my hands on them. What I wanted was to sit in front of a fire and sip hot tea. 

Those aren't things you want to have to do, but you do them. 

So why do we do it?  Maybe it's because we need that earthiness to our lives that we lack in our brick buildings and air conditioned offices.  Perhaps it's partly because it IS crazy to take all of this on, and we need a little bit of crazy in our lives.  More than likely it is in largest part due to our need for simple, honest labor that benefits our lives, and hopefully a few other lives too. 

It's a much more primal challenge than keeping up on paperwork, and it feels like what we do is of value.  The price includes little things like not going out to a late party because we are needed at home, in addition to sweating buckets in the summer or sticking hands in icy winter trough water.

However, nothing beats the sense of satisfaction at the end of the evening chores when we sit in the sunshine and feel the sweat run down our backs and a light breeze tease us, nor will anything beat the sweet nuzzling of our animals because we are their providers and knowing that what we do matters.