Friday 18 June 2010

This weekend's project

I am still mulling over this self-sabotage business as I know I won't be able to stop picking away at it until it is straight in my head.

This morning was totally chaotic. I took the Land Rover in for its MOT test yesterday. It was late, of course, as I hadn't managed to get it to the garage before I went away. Then I had a call this morning - there was a crack in the windscreen and it wouldn't pass until it was fixed.

No problem, I rang the number on my insurance policy to get someone to come out to the garage and replace the windscreen. Which they were happy to do, only no one could come out until next Thursday at the earliest.

And I need the Land Rover to pick up the new pigs on Monday.

Cue a lot of frantic phone calls to the garage, insurance broker, insurance company and various windscreen repair companies. Eventually I found one that could replace it tomorrow morning if I get it there by 8.30. Phew!
And in between all this I had to proofread two jobs for delivery and take Moose to the vet for a check-up on his dicky shoulder and to pick up some meds. The morning was a little fraught to say the least!

Where does the self-sabotage come in to all this?

Well, I had known about the crack in the windscreen for a couple of months, and was fairly sure that it would be an issue in the MOT test. The car is fully insured, and it would only have taken a single phone call to sort the problem at any time. So why didn't I do it?

The only explanation I can find is that this used to be one of the things that R would do in our unspoken division of labour in the household. Despite knowing full well that I have to do these things now, I am still pretending to myself that they aren't my responsibility, that they will somehow mysteriously get done as they used to in the past. Even though I know that they won't.
Perhaps it really is a case of JFDI.

But in the meantime, I have something much more fun to busy myself with this weekend: I need to set up the run and repair the pig ark for the new weaners.

The ground has been standing unused for nearly two and a half years. I will need to set up the electric fence, and cut down the grass and weeds so that the wires don't short out. Some of those posts need straightening as well.

The pig ark needs a bit of fettling too. The first step will be to evict the sheep that have taken up residence! Then I need to give it a good scrub out and finally replace the section of floor that the last pair of pigs managed to wreck. The new chaps will also need some food and straw for bedding, so I will have to pick that up at some point in the weekend as well.

Now this sort of work I have no problem motivating myself to do as it always has fallen within my remit. It is also a lot more fun than sorting out paperwork or car repairs!

I wonder what this little chap will make of the new arrivals on Monday?





5 comments:

  1. Ah yes, the silent division of labour that one I know well. Your land looks so lush and green to Aussie eyes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My husband worked in the auto industry, so he used to get our vehicles serviced at his workplace. Now, with all of the wandering I do, I have to stay on top of maintenance and repairs. I worked in that industry for many years too - although not recently - so I do some of the work myself, but find it difficult to get motivated to take the van to a garage when necessary. After two years of slogging along alone, one would think I'd be getting better at this, but not so. *sigh*
    I was just doing a bit of catch-up reading at your cooking blog. You do prepare such wonderful dishes. The chicken-of-the-woods looked great. They were fairly common in the area where we had our farm. I have not yet seen any here near the house in Nova Scotia, but it should be around.
    Wonderful photo of the lamb. He looks rather thoughtful. We used to keep a couple of sheep along with our herd of dairy goats and the lambs were such characters - quite different from goat kids.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Rose: It is definitely lush here. This year has been great so far - rain overnight and sunny days. That happens about one year in five. Mostly it just rains!

    @Bev: I wish I knew more of the basic car maintenance stuff. When I took my car in for its MOT, the brake pads had totally worn away and the metal blocks were in contact with the the disks. The mechanic was appalled!
    I'm glad you enjoy the food blog. It is almost entirely useless as a source of reference, but I enjoy rambling away about food and the memories associated with it.
    As for the lamb, I was pleased with the photo. The sheep are almost impossible to photograph satisfactorily - being black doesn't help. But that little chap is anything but thoughtful. He is the bold one of this year's crop, and I suspect he is going to be a rather bumptious nuisance a couple of months down the line. He is rather adorable now, though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't miss those MOTs one bit, just another of life's headaches . . . and isn't it something how a few small things can meld into one huge nuisance.

    That little black sheep is adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:23

    I do admire you very much.

    Sue/coffeee

    ReplyDelete