What a week 4. It's been a very interesting week of campers and situations....and of course it's been HOT! Not just almost 100 degree days but intense humidity with no breeze at the EC for relief. Sunday was an odd day for check-in as an intense downpour (finally!) hit us as the campers were going to check-in. We stayed inside and decided to interview campers at the pool instead. As we got over to the pool and a few cabins were getting their swim check, distant thunder forced everyone back inside. I got my 3 cabins interviewed then walked the circle to help Amie with her cabins. It was a relatively early night as I was done and home by 11 pm. Yeah, that's early for us. Monday was NUTS! First off, tons of radio calls concerning calf bottles, missing horsemanship campers, and a camper with breathing issues kept taking my concentration away from the tasks at hand. We have a very young and inexperienced (and unfocused) group of campers who know nothing about how to tack up and have to be monitored and helped at all times. After the craziness of Monday morning, I decided that I needed to grab Amie and head to Monticello to eat some Taco Bell and run a few errands. We decided to move our clinics to Monday/Tuesday this week and I am glad we did as it was nice to do it in the low 90's rather than the high 90's. :-) You know, there is a difference....haha. Monday was vaulting, clipping and braiding, medieval games, race relay, and equitation. I helped with vaulting and there was no air flow in the barn so even though I was just lunging a horse, I was dripping with sweat. We had fun trying different ways to vault onto our pommel horse. Monday evening was finishing chores, having at least one person cry on my shoulder, and patch up one horse's eye. I had noticed that my eye was burning a bit that day and was hoping that eye drops would cure the burning (but that would not be the case). Another growing problem was the irritation from always being in sweaty clothes but thankfully, dry clothes and a little bit of Gold Bond were going to do the trick.
Tuesday morning brought the usual trail ride, lessons with my 3 girls (one of whom is quite ADHD and is absolutely hilarious to have in class), and clinics of driving, MTO, bathing, and bareback. Definitely glad by this point that we were going to have clinics over by the time the dangerous heat indexes arrived because it was already feeling miserable. A strange occurrance was that our haflinger pony, while pulling the cart for the driving clinic, bucked and cantered while in the cart and broke the shaft. Odd behavior definitely and that cast a mood over the clinic but the kids still got a kick out of driving the other two carts (one with a team of minis driving it). We finish up the clinic and head to dinner, My eye was tearing up a lot more and red and discharging by dinner and thankfully my dad, after hearing that the nurse thought it was pink eye, wrote me a script to get drops. After dinner and trading post, we head back up top to see if we can fix the cart at all and to wait for the tons of grain that were about to be delivered. We fussed with the cart to see if there was anything we could do to make is usable again but a new shaft will have to be made. I headed to Delphi really quick to see if I could pick up my prescription and pick up some milk. I get to the pharmacy to find out that while they've had the prescription for over an hour, they haven't gotten it done yet so I could come back tomorrow or closer to closing time. Frustrated that I'll have to drive back in in an hour, I drive on back home to help unload 3 ton of grain in 50 pound bags into the observation room and I drive back into town to pick up the eye drops. I come back to help finish unloading the grain into the hopper and trash cans at Main stables. After finishing up a few loose ends, I watch Amie's kids while she drives the cart around camp and then help hose off the ponies and head to bed!
Wednesday morning I awoke with a goopy eye and head off to my trail ride with Crow. It went okay except for being very late in getting out the door. Kids this week were just not as experienced as other weeks, or rather there were fewer experienced kids so it takes them twice as long to do everything. Classes with my hyper active children went well...they were hot but they went well. It was also the 4th of July but there's no days off in the summer, even holidays. After lunch, we decided that we should get our chores done as quickly as possible and then take advantage of the pool. Our barn staff and us (plus Ben and the kids) were able to hit the pool and relax and feel cool for about an hour then headed up to the house for root beer floats. After dinner, Forrest, Mark, Steven and I rounded up some counselors and we had a movie night with Up and Talledega Nights. Just nice to do nothing for the evening and sit in air conditioning! And I love giving my counselors a place to go to be away from the kids.
Thursday morning trail ride was....hot......and late. When you get back from your trail ride in the morning and find yourself sweating up a storm, it just isn't right! I was frustrated with the time it took us to do everything and I was frustrated with drama that was occurring within our staff. Classes went well again and by this time we were very very glad that we had changed clinic times. Amie went to go pick up grain in Francesville so I picked up her kids from day camp and we hung out at the house. They watched a movie and I finished up a couple of chores then headed inside to work. We head to the pool (again! two days in a row!) right before dinner then off to the cookout we go. After helping Amie out with a few chores after dinner (a few more chores than expected), I head back up to watch a movie with Mark. We'd spent all week looking for the Muppets movie but couldn't find it anywhere till I had an epiphany and we found it in the back room. One Muppets movie later and we are off to bed! Week 4 is almost over! Heat wave not quite over.
Friday classes went well with my girls getting to experience some jumping. That always makes them ecstatic. The amount of sweat I poured out that day was ridiculous. The temperature is over a hundred, the heat index is well over a hundred, and the arenas were like saunas. Hot stagnant air. I finish up chores after lunch then pick up the kids while she goes and gets horses from one of our barn staff's place. While I work on tests at the house, I hear some chatter on the radio about sprinklers, alarms, and sirens going off and after a little bit more chatter, I figure out that Scheumann had a pipe burst in the ceiling and there was water everywhere! Dave called me to bring the scoop shovels so that they could work on getting the water off the carpet but someone found a carpet machine to pull up water but all the taxidermy, furniture, and electronics got soaked when it burst. I had NO appetite for dinner after the week of heat and it's almost time for the parade where I will carry my grandpa's flag. Even the horses were rebelling with my standard mount for the flag is trying her best to overheat. We cool her down a bit and after we dressed her in polos and me in a vest, shirt, jeans, and chaps, off we go. It was so hot wearing the whole getup. I carry it to campfire then take the flag on stage during the anthem. Duchess was pretty good about it and she stood mostly still on the stage. After working on a majority of the tests, I decide that some could wait till the morning because Steve was coming at 7:30 to work on front shoes and I needed to be somewhat coherent for him. So off to bed I went.
Saturday I was up early with Steve our farrier and even got a few chores done before anyone else arrived. Also, a gentleman was here to unload our manure pit so the barn was a happening place. Fed horses, swept, did odd and ends chores, and took some pictures with the campers. Definitely a hot day! I got done at 12:30 and was going to watch the kids for the afternoon while Amie worked and Ben had a softball game. Fell asleep watching Rookie then we headed to the pool which felt like hot bath water instead of refreshing cool water. Back to Scheumann for dinner and Amie, Sara, and I spent some time just chatting about the previous weeks in Kampen. We fed the rest of the horses and mini-farm about 11:30 pm and then it was off to bed. Sunday morning I woke up a bit earlier than I wanted (unfortunately with a headache) and did the mountain of dishes that had been accumulating. Made Sara and myself breakfast and soon it was time to head off to the meeting. Week 4 in the bag. It was a hot one but a successful one.
What a week 4. It's been a very interesting week of campers and situations....and of course it's been HOT! Not just almost 100 degree days but intense humidity with no breeze at the EC for relief. Sunday was an odd day for check-in as an intense downpour (finally!) hit us as the campers were going to check-in. We stayed inside and decided to interview campers at the pool instead. As we got over to the pool and a few cabins were getting their swim check, distant thunder forced everyone back inside. I got my 3 cabins interviewed then walked the circle to help Amie with her cabins. It was a relatively early night as I was done and home by 11 pm. Yeah, that's early for us. Monday was NUTS! First off, tons of radio calls concerning calf bottles, missing horsemanship campers, and a camper with breathing issues kept taking my concentration away from the tasks at hand. We have a very young and inexperienced (and unfocused) group of campers who know nothing about how to tack up and have to be monitored and helped at all times. After the craziness of Monday morning, I decided that I needed to grab Amie and head to Monticello to eat some Taco Bell and run a few errands. We decided to move our clinics to Monday/Tuesday this week and I am glad we did as it was nice to do it in the low 90's rather than the high 90's. :-) You know, there is a difference....haha. Monday was vaulting, clipping and braiding, medieval games, race relay, and equitation. I helped with vaulting and there was no air flow in the barn so even though I was just lunging a horse, I was dripping with sweat. We had fun trying different ways to vault onto our pommel horse. Monday evening was finishing chores, having at least one person cry on my shoulder, and patch up one horse's eye. I had noticed that my eye was burning a bit that day and was hoping that eye drops would cure the burning (but that would not be the case). Another growing problem was the irritation from always being in sweaty clothes but thankfully, dry clothes and a little bit of Gold Bond were going to do the trick.
Wednesday morning I awoke with a goopy eye and head off to my trail ride with Crow. It went okay except for being very late in getting out the door. Kids this week were just not as experienced as other weeks, or rather there were fewer experienced kids so it takes them twice as long to do everything. Classes with my hyper active children went well...they were hot but they went well. It was also the 4th of July but there's no days off in the summer, even holidays. After lunch, we decided that we should get our chores done as quickly as possible and then take advantage of the pool. Our barn staff and us (plus Ben and the kids) were able to hit the pool and relax and feel cool for about an hour then headed up to the house for root beer floats. After dinner, Forrest, Mark, Steven and I rounded up some counselors and we had a movie night with Up and Talledega Nights. Just nice to do nothing for the evening and sit in air conditioning! And I love giving my counselors a place to go to be away from the kids.
Friday classes went well with my girls getting to experience some jumping. That always makes them ecstatic. The amount of sweat I poured out that day was ridiculous. The temperature is over a hundred, the heat index is well over a hundred, and the arenas were like saunas. Hot stagnant air. I finish up chores after lunch then pick up the kids while she goes and gets horses from one of our barn staff's place. While I work on tests at the house, I hear some chatter on the radio about sprinklers, alarms, and sirens going off and after a little bit more chatter, I figure out that Scheumann had a pipe burst in the ceiling and there was water everywhere! Dave called me to bring the scoop shovels so that they could work on getting the water off the carpet but someone found a carpet machine to pull up water but all the taxidermy, furniture, and electronics got soaked when it burst. I had NO appetite for dinner after the week of heat and it's almost time for the parade where I will carry my grandpa's flag. Even the horses were rebelling with my standard mount for the flag is trying her best to overheat. We cool her down a bit and after we dressed her in polos and me in a vest, shirt, jeans, and chaps, off we go. It was so hot wearing the whole getup. I carry it to campfire then take the flag on stage during the anthem. Duchess was pretty good about it and she stood mostly still on the stage. After working on a majority of the tests, I decide that some could wait till the morning because Steve was coming at 7:30 to work on front shoes and I needed to be somewhat coherent for him. So off to bed I went. 
Saturday I was up early with Steve our farrier and even got a few chores done before anyone else arrived. Also, a gentleman was here to unload our manure pit so the barn was a happening place. Fed horses, swept, did odd and ends chores, and took some pictures with the campers. Definitely a hot day! I got done at 12:30 and was going to watch the kids for the afternoon while Amie worked and Ben had a softball game. Fell asleep watching Rookie then we headed to the pool which felt like hot bath water instead of refreshing cool water. Back to Scheumann for dinner and Amie, Sara, and I spent some time just chatting about the previous weeks in Kampen. We fed the rest of the horses and mini-farm about 11:30 pm and then it was off to bed. Sunday morning I woke up a bit earlier than I wanted (unfortunately with a headache) and did the mountain of dishes that had been accumulating. Made Sara and myself breakfast and soon it was time to head off to the meeting. Week 4 in the bag. It was a hot one but a successful one.
Mary Anne, just reading about all that you do makes me tired. You are a superhero!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Although last week was rough with the heat, I'd take that over the week we just had even though it was cooler. That post is forthcoming. ;-) Thanks for reading!
ReplyDelete