Waffle House and a rainy day

To state the obvious it rained a lot today which kind of worked out in my favor. Don’t get me wrong, I am thoroughly enjoying rebuilding the barn with the family. It is really neat to see the changes taking place but when the alarm went off at 2:30 this morning I knew it was going to be a long day. Michelle and I made our delivery to Orlando and then we came back to Polk County and had a great breakfast at Waffle House. When you eat breakfast at 5:15 in the morning, even at Waffle House, you can have a restaurant to yourself. We beat the senior citizens to the feeding table this morning. By the time we left around 5:45 the old lady karaoke singer was meeting her old man husband, the security guard for some coffee and omelets. As we were walking out the door the old dude in his RV hauling Dodge dually was easing into the parking lot for early grub. Once we got back to Babson Park we headed to the barn for the morning feeding. The rain was becoming harder so we did what we needed to do but nixed the idea of staying and working. After awhile we were back at the house waiting on the ever present rain to pass. That just wasn’t going to happen immediately so Michelle curled up on the couch and immediately fell asleep. I started scrolling through the DVR and found last weeks 24 Hours of LeMans and figured I would watch the race. I really enjoy the endurance races and with the current schedule I have been keeping I just didn’t have a chance to watch it live. Even though I followed the race on twitter and facebook I still want to see the action, albeit later, and it was just nice time filler. Once I had seen the first segment I switched over to watch the tape delayed F1 race from Spain. At some point right after the race was over I flipped over to watch golf but there was wall-to-wall coverage of the bad weather hitting our area. I guess it was riveting because the next thing I knew the phone was ringing and when I finally came to I realized it was around 3:30. Oops, I guess the lack of sleep, boredom, or other factors finally took their toll on me. Michelle and I got ourselves going and headed to Wal-Mart to return some items we found out we actually didn’t need at the barn. Going to Wal-Mart is not my favorite trip but the only thing that makes it worthwhile is the incredibly cool people watching I get to do. Once we finished up our returning, shopping, and viewing the different world out there we headed to the barn to see if there was anything we could do and to feed for the evening. The rains continued to fall so work was minimal. The one positive with this rain is the fact that the pastures are getting much needed water. This is such a conflict of interest for me. I coach college tennis and need it not to rain so that I can do my job. On the other hand, I now need it to rain so that my pastures have enough water to sustain growth for the horses to graze on. Maybe we can work on a special agreement with the powers above so that my needs are met on the timeframe I need to do both jobs. We got the horses fed, worked with Brianna on driving the mule, and set a massive rat trap. Those damn traps are huge and scare me like the dickens. I’m always scared my fingers are going to fall victim to that massive spring loaded kill lever. Our new barn cat has disappeared so in a weird way we are all sad. I don’t really get it because he stayed around for 2 days, ate, and seemed to be adjusting well. I think something scared him or got him because his food has been eaten but he is nowhere to be seen. We have looked high, low, and everywhere else in between. I hope he comes back because even though I am not a massive cat person he was a cool cat. If he is gone we will go get another one because you can’t have a barn without a barn cat. We finished up early and Brianna even made the comment that she was excited we were leaving before dark. With the rain still coming down we settled in for a night at the house and a comfy bed waiting for my butt to hit it and get some more rest. Tomorrow brings the start of the second week and more work to knock out. If it ever stops raining the barn will finally get its new coat of paint. When it rains, put on your raincoat and go enjoy the change of scenery.