Sweaty Work

Summers in Texas can be brutal, I keep hoping that I will get use to the humidity out here but I am just not so sure that will happen.  I worked out in the garden some yesterday and started cleaning up after the chickens and turkeys I have on the porch.  I don't think I had a dry spot on me when I called it a day.  Today was pretty much the same, taking care of pools and cleaning things, doing some Bumblefoot procedures and cutting Spurs off some of my Polish roosters.  I had sweat running down my arms, my shirt was soaked and even the top of my jeans were wet, down to my knees.  I really need to power wash my porch and the cages the chickens are in, but can't do that with them inside of the cages.  Finding places for 50 plus chickens while you clean is not easy, neither is catching them all and moving them...so it will have to wait.

Since I hatched so late into the year, I have a garden and canning to do at the same time as everything else, some things get put on hold for periods of time...too long sometimes, like cleaning under everything on the porch and moving everything and scrubbing down the porch.  I have been doing it twice a week, it takes me at least four hours, sometimes longer...way longer.  Like when it is 100 degrees in the shade.  Yesterday and the day before were like that.  I don't mind sweating, not really...the part I don't care for is the chafing if I do a lot of work.  I found something called a Friction Stick, it reminds me of a stick of deodorant, same shape and size and looks like deodorant too.  I wish I had remembered to use it yesterday.  I have slightly sensitive skin...and I cannot have any kind of rubber touching my skin for very long.  I had to switch to wearing cotton Sports bras in the warmer months, otherwise the bottom band of a t-shirt bra rubbed me raw, well...now sports bras are doing it if I forget to rub some of the Friction Stick on my skin.   One thing I did not count on was chafing under my arms from a wet t-shirt and chafing were my jeans fold at my inner thigh...or at my waist.

A lot of the time I work with wire, or around wire, and things that are super dirty...I am talking about dirt, poop, large quantities of thick dust, spider webs and flies/maggots.  I have been wearing men's jeans with no stretch to them, at all...and men's t-shirts.  Why?  Well...I can get a pair of men's work jeans for $12, and a mans t-shirt for about $3.50 or so....they offer more protection than the women's versions and are several dollars cheaper.  I can lean over a cage to try and catch a juvenile chick and get caught on the wire and rip holes in a woman's t-shirt...they are thinner and very lightweight compared to mens t-shirts.  Pretty much the same thing with jeans, I got some cheap women's jeans from Walmart, Riders I believe...although they are more comfortable with the stretch in them they do not hold up well when working with fence wire or hardware cloth, or even construction...carrying wood...I have several pairs with holes in them or the thighs have "pills"...those little balls that form when the material wears out.  They are Ok for sitting here n the lawnmower and cutting the lawn, and just general cleaning...I have to be careful though, first time I brush up against a fence, or squat down to clean and fill a chicken waterer, if they are worn at all they rip.  I was walking around with a good sized rip in the butt of one pair of jeans and I didn't even know it...my husband told me.  No telling when it happened, hopefully not when I went to buy feed.  I squatted down the other day and two holes popped open on one leg in a different pair of jeans...so, after not being able to find any non-stretchy women's jeans anyware...I guessed at my size in men's and bought a couple pair to try out.  So far so good, except the chafing part.  I guess I found a couple more areas to try to remember to rub the friction stick onto.  I never had an issue with chafing and jeans before, but I got these a little big so I could bend and stretch and they are not skin tight like some of my other jeans.

Being a farmer is not glamorous or easy, it is tough, dirty, sweaty work...easpecially in the summer.  I use to wonder why a lot of farmers looked such a mess most of the time, or why people's yards were such a mess, full of rusty metal and old things laying around...now I know.  When you get up early, work pretty much non-stop all day trying to get all of your necessary tasks completed, are not eating dinner until 9 at night, if you have an appetite at all and still have to go secure the animals for the night once you finish...you get tired, you start not sweating the small stuff, you spend more time with animals and plants than people and you get to the point that everything you own may have some rip or stain on it, but you haven't sold enough of your critters or crops to feed them, or you...so you just don't buy new stuff...I guess that is where the term "Sunday Best" came from...you save back at least one outfit to wear to church on Sundays...so it is not stained or torn, so you look presentable...but ya know what?  Animals don't care what you wear or if that feeder you accidentally left sitting on top of a table is rusted out...they just want you to bring them food and water and love on them for a few minutes out of your day...and it doesn't matter if you are sweaty or dirty and have wood shavings in your hair either.  I love it though...

So, next time you see a farmer or rancher...thank them.  If they didn't love doing what they do, you would not have food on your table...yeah, the majority of people don't think about why that steak costs so much, or the butter, eggs or bread...you just go to the store and buy it, not how much work goes into getting it to the consumer...I use to be one of them.  I have found timing is everything too...wait too long to pick your fruit or veggies and they are gone, all that work is eaten by the bugs or birds too...gather those eggs twice a day or they get broken or a snake might eat some.  I am learning the hard way...but you know what, when it happens...and you have fresh homegrown tomatoes canned, salsa and sauces made, pickles and watermelon and fresh green beans, corn or broccoli...and have enough to last a good while, it makes you proud that your hard work pays off...now to go cook myself an omelette with my farm fresh eggs and peppers from my garden!