I have so many stupid little things that drive me crazy, mostly relating to the barn. I frequently have to remind myself to rein in the crazy or I would for sure lose my barn helpers. FOR SURE.
First up: Hoses
My wash stall hose has a nozzle on it. Thus, it's easy to forget to actually turn off the water. I guess anyway. I don't forget such things. Problem is, if you leave the water on with the nozzle closed, eventually the pressure builds and something is gonna leak. My helpers are generally 9 out of 10 for turning off the water. That's pretty decent! Good helpers. However, the other thing that drives me batty is when they turn off the water, but don't drain the hose. So you've got the nozzle closed but all this water in the hose, so it drips. And drips. And drips. Helpers are not so good on this front.
I have hoses at the stalls too. Short ones with no nozzles. So I would think draining those might be common sense. But alas. I'm the only one who let's the hose run dry when I water the horses. And then, more dripping. UGH! I try not to harp on people about it because in the grand scheme of things, these are not big issues. At least they're using the water right?
Next up: Floor
I'm certifiable when it comes to the cleanliness of my barn floor. Not so much my house. I'd eat off the barn floor before my kitchen floor probably... I am however, understanding of the difficulties in cleaning said barn floor. My barn flooring is rubber interlocking pavers. Rubber is tough to keep clean since by nature it's very grippy. The best way to clean my floor, is to use the blower first, then follow up with a good sweep. The good sweep must be done with the appropriate broom. My weekday helper is good about using the blower, but often forgets the follow up sweep. You can kind of get away with that when it's dry out, but when it's been raining for the last 10 million days you really can't. The hoof prints just stick to the floor. Weekend helper is kind of the opposite. She gives a final sweep but often forgoes the blower. Problem here is all the shavings that wind up stuck in the cracks. But alas, I try not to be crazy about it. Instead I silently whine about it while I do the mega floor cleaning at the end of the night. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE BIRD CRAP THIS TIME OF YEAR! Ugh.
Do you have any ridiculous pet peeves about farm care? I'm not talking about the obvious ones like latching gates and stall doors. I mean the ones that really don't matter that much but for whatever reason drive you bananas.
Hoses.... At work we have big, high pressure hoses to clean dog kennels. We have to roll them up and hang them from the wall with bungee cords. One of my coworkers can not roll it up to save her life. Drives me insane!
ReplyDeleteAt the barn I hate when people don't drain the hoses, especially in the cold. We've had hoses and pipes freeze in the barn and hauling buckets from the house is never a fun time
My helpers are not top notch in the hose rolling department either. It's really not a difficult task!
DeleteOh. My. Lort. As the morning barn feeder/worker at a busy lesson and boarding barn, my pet peeves run far and deep. Put the fucking right halter back on your horse. Leave a lead rope and fly mask on every horses stall. If you take a feed pan out to clean it, put it back in the stall when you're done. Roll the hose back up NEATLY. Basically STOP BEING LAZY SLOBS, YOU SPOILED CHILDREN!!!!
ReplyDeleteYES! All of these!
DeleteI hate hearing people talk about being on a farm and you always shut a gate. Always. Well... No. You should leave it as you found it because it could be access to water or shelter for a horse. Leave it as you found it is a better rule of thumb.
ReplyDeleteDirty water buckets. Scummy or not something I would drink from peeve me as well. Poor stall cleaning. Hang stuff up. Sweep. I could go on...
I always say if you opened it close it, and if you closed it open it!
DeleteYes, all of those things too... and some others probably!
Haha so I'm not the only one who gets twitchy about these things??
ReplyDeletehaha! Nope!
DeleteI'm very lazy and messy so little things like that don't bother me, but things affecting my horses care do. We clean our own stalls one day a week to cut costs and that's the only time the pasture gets cleaned as the day cleaner just cleans up around the stall and leaves, he just does not want to do any more than the bare minimum.
ReplyDeleteUgh, yes that. I can't stand laziness. Especially when it leads to lots of poop lying around. The bugs can get bad around here if we aren't on top of cleaning the poo!
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