Tractor Pulling & Curious Cowboys

I worked like a dog over the weekend. Well, not like my dogs. They sleep all day and only come alive when they hear me in the kitchen. Suddenly, I'm their best friend.

Saturday was filled with errands and cleaning. But Sunday had me for breakfast and then spit me out in pieces. Yoga was first on the agenda and I had an instructor who might've had a little Marquis de Sade going on. My muscles were screaming when it was over. But it's all good, right? No pain, no gain.

Then I came home and worked on the back forty. It needed mowing. A lot of the late season weeds had sprung up after we had put the mower away last year. So I was a good girl and got the Bad Boy mower out. 

Greg bought this mower a few years ago and it's a dream to operate...unless you get it stuck.

Somehow I had come across a patch of mud that stealthfully hid under a crusty surface. No matter what I did I could not get that thing out of there. Having been in these situations before I tried all the regular options. I dug the mud off the wheels and wedged pieces of wood underneath to try to give it traction.

No dice. It was a thousand pound paperweight. And Greg was still nine days away.

If I was going to get it out I'd have to pull out the big guns. I had to get the tractor. 

I must've been quite a sight, me strapping the back end of the Bad Boy with a piece of chain, then maneuvering the tractor into position. 

I even had a man on a horse stop and watch me for a while. I waved at him to let him know I had it under control. I didn't want to trouble him--or his horse. He finally mosied off.

The mower was in so deep even the tractor couldn't drag it. I had to winch it up with the bucket and then drag it out of the maw of that mower-sucking pit. 

Finally, success! 

I probably should've called it a day after that ordeal, but it was such a pretty day, I hated to waste it and not get any work done. I got everything trimmed, but gave a wide berth to that pit of despair. 

After I showered I managed to get a little freelance work done. Book Cover Diva is starting to get some lovin' and I'm beginning to pick up some gigs. Designing covers is such a pleasure. I can lose myself in my work and never feel a bit tired.

It was a productive weekend, but it wore me out. I need a husband.

***

How was your weekend? Hope you weren't involved in any tractor pulls.

***

Oh, and don't forget. Mistress of the Stone is in the running for BEST BOOK of the YEAR at LASR. I was so pleased when it received a BEST BOOK rating last year. Vote for it, okay? Go here for the list. It should be in the middle.



I think I'm going to take it easy today.


Comments

Jennifer Shirk saidā€¦
Wow that was a rough weekend!

CONGRATS on the nomination! I'm going to vote now!
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Jennifer: Thanks!

I'm feeling the effects of that weekend now. LOL. But I'm glad I did it. It raining!
Stacy McKitrick saidā€¦
Mowing? I envy you and your warm weather! My grass is all white right now.

Shelley Munro saidā€¦
Stuck machinery usually makes me mutter naughty words. You sounded remarkably calm. I've already voted. Good luck!
Anonymous saidā€¦
My weekend? Compared to yours, a lazy weekend by the pool. Without the pool, LOL.

You exhaust me woman!

Glad the design work is picking up and you're enjoying the work :)
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Stacy: It's just the scraggly stuff right now. It should green up in a few weeks. Then I can enjoy mowing all the time. Ha!
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Shelley: Well, it does no good to cuss to myself. I do stay pretty calm though. The only time I lose my temper is if I've tried all my options without reaching a resolution.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Raelyn: You need to remedy that pool situation. But then that might invite more kids than you have already. :o)

Much as it tired me out, at least it was a productive weekend. And the weather is nice.
Carol Kilgore saidā€¦
No tractor pulls. My weekend highlight was watching the Ravens win :)
Jackie saidā€¦
First "weed mow" for me was Friday. Weekend was pretty laid back as enjoyed new computer while hubs studied his realtor information. He is trying hard to get ready for preparing for realtor exam so when he hits 55 in 2015 he already has a job waiting after he retires from present PIA job.

Maria where are photos? LOL :-)

I really hope you actually did "take it easy " as after all that you needed a break from manual labor that extreme!
Sarah Ahiers saidā€¦
holy crap. I'm exhausted just reading this
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Carol: Was that you screaming when they won? :) I was keeping tabs on the game through FB.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Jackie: I know. Greg was asking me about photos too. LOL. I guess I could've asked the cowboy to take some action shots. I should've at least taken pictures of the ruts.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Sarah: Believe me. It wore me out. It's tough having to do everything by yourself. I could've used an extra person.
Jenny Schwartz saidā€¦
Nice of the cowboy to stop and watch!!! grrrr I hate being observed when I'm temper tantruming and dealing with mess-ups. But maybe you were super-cool and competent? :)
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Jenny: I think he was waiting for me to call him over, but I don't like to ask for help until I've exhausted all my possibilities. I was very proud of myself that I got it out all by my lonesome. :)
Voted for your book. I don't think Yoga workouts are supposed to be painful.
Haven't started any outside work yet.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Thanks, Susan!

Re: yoga
Yoga is as much strength building as it is stretching. One of my favorite postures is Triangle because it's so challenging yet has done wonders for strengthening my knees. I can hold that posture for a full minute without fading, but I could swear he made it last longer than that. LOL.

It's a workout. Friends have even commented that I seem to be losing weight.
Angela Brown saidā€¦
You do have the most grand adventures with weighty vehicles lol!

Glad to hear Book Diva is getting some action - in a not-naughty way lol!!
LD Masterson saidā€¦
You're lucky the guy on the horse didn't have a video camera. Sounds like YouTube material for sure.
Jayne saidā€¦
Woah! That sounds like an exhaustively busy Sunday! But - how cool, Maria! Big mowers, tractors, winching things out of mud - my London city self is very wide-eyed.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Angela: Grand isn't exactly the word I would use. LOL.

I was pretty beat afterward.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Linda: Ironically, I didn't do anything YouTube worthy. It was a slow ponderous day of trial and error until I could get that puppy out.

By the look of the cowboy he was debating whether to help me, but I prefer to work things out for myself if I can.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Jayne! How lovely it is to hear from you again! Are you still blogging? Nothing has come up on my Reader in a while.

I'll go check in a minute.

The one thing I'm grateful for is that the weather was so nice. Of course, I probably wouldn't be mowing at any other time. :)
Are you still walking after the garden effort, and then yoga. Congrats on the nominee. I've voted.

You will have to show us some phototgraphs of your property. I love propertities. :)
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Suzanne: I should take photos of the ruts. I might go out there later if the drizzle lets up.

Thanks for the vote!
Unknown saidā€¦
Maria, Mikki did that exact thing one time when I was traveling. She was stuck so deep in mud that she then got our tractor stuck trying to get it out. (a big 46 HP Kubota) It had to sit for a week while the ground dried, then we had to pull out the winch. All I said to her was, thank God I was traveling.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Jim: Sometimes that's all you can do but wait for the mud to dry--especially where you live. Whenever I go back to east Texas, my fingers regrow their webbing. :)
Angelina Rain saidā€¦
Congrats on the book nomination!

And that must have been a hard weekend. I would love to live out south and have a little farm land, but I'm so much of a city girl that I'd probably go crazy trying to figure things out on a farm. Than again, you don't know until you try and I plan on trying the country life eventually.
Gwen Gardner saidā€¦
You are one busy lady! Mowers and tractors and such. Did your dogs come out to watch?

Glad to hear Book Cover Diva is getting some action. Indie Services - meh. The only thing I'm doing is a free picture book format because I wanted to learn how to do it :)
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Angelina: Look at it this way. I grew up in Chicago too--and now I'm here. :o)

Like everything else, I learned what I needed one step at a time.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Gwen: Ooh, picture books. Now that is interesting. I imagine there are a lot of details that regular books don't have to worry about.

Re: the dogs
Sheesh! I came dragging in and nobody even opened one eye. LOL.
Barbara Ann Wright saidā€¦
No tractor pulls for me. When my family grew hay when I was young, I remember some days like that, though. The field may be turned to mud, but there are still chores to do.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Barbara: Exactly! Nature waits for no man--or woman.
Mike Keyton saidā€¦
You probably made that cowboy's day: 'crazy lady playing with tractors'

Little did your parents know all those years ago they were bringing 'frontier-lady' into the world.

It's good you have yoga and the less physically demanding bookcover work to keep you engaged.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Mike: My parents never understood my love of 'getting back to the land'.

They always considered me oddly curious. But now that I'm getting older, I can call myself eccentric. :)