Setting Up

Setting up MSP's exhibit(s) at the fair wore me out today. Complicated by something strained in my foot, which left me knowing I should be sitting somewhere with it elevated and iced, the day went something like this;

7am New alarm clock goes off. While the CD player included does not work, the alarm certainly does. Sit bolt up in bed, sure a runaway semi is coming through the bedroom wall.
7:10am Hit the snooze...again
7:20-8am Up, out of bed, browsing through my usual morning websites.
8am Have a quick cup of coffee with JP4, who is mid-commute. It's a tough one; he works for our neighbor, in their home office.
8:20-9am Try to get in some exercise. The foot won't let me walk, so I ride the nasty exercise bike instead. Nasty.
9am-12:30pm I have no idea what happened to this time. I know I helped MSP finish trimming the kids, and we did some other stuff. What it is is beyond me. Why does time work like that?
12:30-1:15pm Have lunch with JP4, who wonders how he's going to handle his killer commute and then the long walk down the hill for free lunch with his mom. I tell him, "It may not always be free. One day you may show up and I'll say, "Oh, lunchtime! Where are you taking me?" Lunchtime entertainment provided by Chad Vader.
1-2pm Run out for gasoline and to pick up straw for stall bedding. Fill the truck tank but forget (until I open the tailgate to load straw) the mower tank, which was in the back.
2-4pm Return home to find MSP and her fair equipment sitting patiently by the barn door. Load the gate, two hog panels. to keep the kids from squirting through the sides of their pen, and show box into back seat of truck. Load a bale of hay in with the straw in the back. Realize the doors won't shut with the hog panels in the back seat. Pull them out and try to slide them under the bales. Try to shove them under. Get MSP to climb in and lift the bales so you can try again. Shove again. Yes! They make it! Load 2 adult goats and 2 kids into the back of the pickup. Head to the fairgrounds. Two miles down the road, realize you've left the veterinary health report--necessary for check-in--in the house. Turn around, get the papers, and head back out. Arrive at fair. Unload straw into pens, fluffing appropriately. Fit hog panels into sides of pen. They don't fit, and you have no fence cutters. Try another configuration, and it works. Tie panels in place, and realize that the end of one sticks into the aisle. Wonder if visitors will see it. Re-tie, because they probably won't, and you don't want your daughter's pen to be the site of injury this weekend. Water goats. Chase goat in neighboring pen away from your goats' hay, and relocate hay. Head over to the poultry barn, to drop off egg exhibit and discuss lack of pullorum testing. Learn that three birds still at home are young enough to not need it. Helpful superintendent of poultry barn tells you, "You can just go get them and bring them back." Daughter says, "Oh, good." You do not.
4-6pm Hit grocery store for buns for tonight's burgers. Run home for three chickens. Return them to the fair, installing them in their pen. Run into friends and have a chat. Feed goats grain, change water, and head home. Try really hard to stay awake; actually, not too hard, as daughter is chattering about how HORRIBLY TIRED she is. Start grill and wait for dinner.
7-9pm Eat dinner, take garbage to the street, and clean kitchen. Head for shower. Notice bruises and think about extreme fatigue. Panic about leukemia symptoms. Hit self upside the head, remembering all the loading, unloading and reloading that certainly caused bruises...and fatigue.

I LOVE the fair.