Bare Essentials
Every time I‘m compelled invited encouraged commanded begged I go out for farm stuff, there are certain things I must take with me. By now you’d think I’d a) know exactly what I need; or at the very least b) have a spot for all these things. But no. That’s not how my amazing brain works. See, the longer it takes me to remember, but more importantly find these essentials, the longer I delay the inevitable. Sometimes I go so far as to get to the job site, only to have to return for something. Just writing about it amazes me - this is exactly what totally annoys me about my kids - their endless delay tactics. Hmmmm. They DO learn by example (note to self: only use delay tactics when kids aren’t watching).
It’s hard to say which one has highest priority. The things I most easily grab are
and
because these are things I grab every time I leave the house, regardless of my activity.
The other thing that should be fairly natural and habitual for me, but isn’t is: 
I need to be taking these every day because life without them is just a drip drag. I can’t make sense of what exactly I’m allergic to, because sometimes I’m exposed to NOTHING and I about drown in my own . . . you know. And other times I’m out there working my butt off and breathing in all kinds of toxins, and I’m totally fine. I’m putting an end to that - hopefully - with a visit to a new allergist lady from Egypt who started taking patients in a nearby office. Appointment is made. Hope she knows her stuff, because . . . because I need her to.
The next item that usually is a no-brainer for me to grab, and I basically know where it is (at least one of three places it probably got put) is my favorite hat. I actually put this in Prince Farming’s Christmas stocking one year, but I have since annexed it back. I like it because it has a good fit, my pony tail can hang out the back, and the bill/shade thingy is long enough to keep the sun off my face mostly. And I also LOVE what it says (which is why I bought it in the first place, but obviously "Boss-hood" has switched hands..jpg)
Now come the things that I struggle with. Not on purpose. Not because I want to. It just happens. I really need to ALWAYS take these with me
so that my nails don’t look worse than this when I get back from work (this was obviously a SHORT work time - normally I have to go mining to make them look almost this good).
Actually I count myself lucky. With a trip coming up, I could have BET that a nail would break or get ripped off at the quik. Most of the time my nails break doing something that should not cause such damage. Harmless things like closing the trunk on my car or filling the tank with gas. I’m holding my breath - only 2 days to go. Watch me break a nail in the airport.
I have been known to start working without gloves, and then remember that they are part of my essential set, so I buzz back up to the house and grab them. And a drink. And switch the laundry over from the washer to the dryer. And check to make sure my son flushed his toilet. And clean my sunglasses. And put the last few dishes in the dishwasher and start it. And then buzz back down to wherever Prince Farming has me working. Of course it’s not long before I desperately need this
. I don’t always buy water, because we have fantastic spring water on the farm. Mostly I have bottled water and then refill the bottles several times till they’re just too trashed to be used anymore. I always have bought water on hand because sometimes the rain causes our water to get muddy cloudy. But that’s a post all on it’s own.
One of Prince Farming’s pet peeves is when I show up ill-equipped to work. Most of the time the cause is probably my feet. I’ve already told you I don’t want a boot tan. So I farm in flip flops (sorry - forgot the picture for that one - might insert it later). But in a perfect world on a perfect farm day, I’d show up for Prince Farming fully dressed, including (but not limited to) these:
Tags: allergies, blackberry, boots, cell phone, farm, gloves, hat, medicine, Nails, sunglasses, waterbottles, work
July 30th, 2008 at 11:11 am
You know what Deirdre? Sounds to me like you need a going out to farm checklist. Kind of like the ones pilots use before they take off mind you but for the farming thing. What do you think? Hope the allergies get better. I never had them until I came to Houston. Here it seems like all the allergies in the world have found me. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll by the way. I’ve put you in mine too.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
You know I want to live on a farm. But I’m just not sure I could adhere to a Prince Farming’s schedule. It would have to be on my own schedule. I’m sure that would go over big.
The nails? I’m impressed. Mine have never been that long. E.V.E.R. Every now and then I think they’re going to do it and I start imagining what nice shade of nail polish I might put on them, then the. very. next. day they start ripping off. One at a time.
Maybe sometime I’ll post about my previous farm days (as a college student–you know the summers in between) when I “farmed” in pink high heels.