This NaBloPoMo certainly taxes you at times, a fact which has us scratching our heads a tad. Surely, we thought when embarking on the challenge, it would be a cinch coming up with a daily snippet of something newsworthy; after all, our days are packed to the rafters with stuff; lots of stuff. More stuff than we can ever dream of accomplishing in the 15 or so daylight hours we’re enjoying at the moment (although we keep trying). Some days just don’t measure up, however.
Take today for example. Mondays are all-in housework day, anyone who is on the Homestead on a Monday morning is expected to do their bit towards keeping the place looking half decent. Farm Girl has been known to beg to go to school on Teacher Only days that fall on Mondays, such is her loathing of the bucket and mop. Conversely, Cousin Minter is always eager to spend a school holiday Monday or two on the Homestead buffing up the wood burner which just goes to show that there’s just no accounting for taste when it comes to leisure activities.
Stuck with the housework today were our two regular scourers, The Goat Herd and Milk Maid, plus The Renovator, for whom school is now out. Having one of “the boys” on board for this task is akin to having Petr Cech in goal: it gives you a bit of height. To that end, the bathroom ceilings have been given the once over and that spider web in the hallway that moved so alluringly in the breeze is now a thing of the past. Job done, and in record time, but not exactly newsworthy and besides, how do you take a photo of a clean house? That is, unless you do a before and after shot which would just be too humiliating to share with you good people.
After lunch (cheese on toast and rosemary tea – nothing exciting in that), the ladies continued with the task of weeding (they’ve now moved around the back of the house) while The Renovator cleaned the hay out of the inside of the Homestead Mobile. It is The Renovator’s curse that he alone feels great shame at the appearance of our vehicles. In fact, for his recent birthday one of his wishes was for a tin of Turtlewax and to be left alone to polish the fleet. Because it was his birthday, we didn’t even heckle him – much.
A phone call from Pop had things hotting up a bit. He wanted to drop round some wood so that he and Uncle Trevor can make a start on stage two of The Farmer’s bedroom makeover. We will say no more; that’s a potential newsworthy story for tomorrow which we don’t want to squander (save to say that he stayed for a cup of tea and a bit of a chat).
That brought us to school pick up, dinner preparation, goat milking and waving The Renovator off on a Christmas Work Do bus trip. Again, another potential story (perhaps even with pictures) depending onthe state of him on his return.
As we type this we are awaiting the arrival of The Farmer, Bean Counter and The Elders who always partake of the Monday evening meal on the Homestead. Tonight on the menu we have potatoes, cabbage, salad, barbecued vegetables and Irish pork sausages with chocolate brownie for dessert. Everyone should be able to find something to their liking in that line-up.
So, there you have it: a very run-of-the-mill Monday on the Homestead. All that remains is for us to illustrate the post and so, in the absence of anything else, here’s a photo of the number two cat, Dave.
He loves eating, sleeping, taunting the goats by walking along the top of their fence and The Farmer, not necessarily in that order. His hunting abilities are an embarrassment, his meow pathetic, and he has the nasty habit of using the Ezekiel Tiger-lily sandpit as a toilet. Despite all that, he’s still a very important part of the Homestead menagerie and plans are afoot to construct a conciliatory sandpit cover for next door in the very near future.
NaBloPoMo is taxing me too. Not sure why I decided it was a good idea but slog on I must — a goal needs to be met! Your Monday seems quite busy. I am hoping for a relatively quiet day given there is our Thanksgiving holiday this week. Soldier on!
I’ve been totally impressed by your ability to stick with NaPoBloMo all this way, and you’re more than halfway now, almost in the home stretch. You haven’t even cheated with a Wordless Wednesday or a Throwback Thursday! Mundane Mondays are the stuff of life, frankly and I’m glad you gave an account of yours. It’s why some of us (me, anyway) like to read other people’s blogs – to get a glimpse of how the other half live. If I get rained out on today’s outdoor projects (day off, yippee), I might do a MM post myself, just to show the blog is still alive.
Not to knock your clearly helpful menfolk on the homestead, but feline males are, in my experience, professional loafers. In fact if you have a male and a female, the male probably won’t hunt at all, but will take over the catch that the female brings home with nary a grateful purr, just a shoulder check and a flick of the tail. The thing is, all of my male cats have been far more affectionate than my busy, hunting females – it’s a big redeeming feature which they clearly use to their advantage. I’ve only got one little black cat just now, and she fills the role of both – she’s a hunter and lap sitter, bless her.
I am the tall member of the household who is around on housecleaning days, and so it’s me who stands on the step stool and struggles with the bathroom ceiling (moths seem to get stuck to it in the fall, despite a screen on the window). It is uncanny how often hubby has work in town on those days. I must say too, that my mundane Monday is very unlikely to include that task, even though it needs doing – I’ve got time before Christmas, right?.
Peeking into other peoples life is definitely the reason I do this whole blog thing…it just seems everyone else’s seem a little more interesting 🙂
Pah to cleaning the suicidal moths off your bathroom ceiling, that sort of cleaning is totally over rated. It like window cleaning – when it’s done no one notices it. I’m tempted to do only half the windows as a sort of “see how much I had to clean off” kind of way.
Dave the cat is exactly as you say – he leaves all the hard yards to Mel, stuffs up any of her hunting manoeuvres he stumbles upon, hogs the food and only comes with The Farmer calls.
Hope you have/had decent weather for your day off
What you think is boring sounds just great to others. Life here is ramping up in the fast lane with a least 8 diggers counted at the new school site today ranging from the little orange digger to the huge digger. More dramas with demo men but the disability ramps are progressing. Only one teacher asked how to pack a box today ( an improvement) and then there is the 2 hour stop work meeting that the Minister of Ed has turned into a full student free day and everyone wants to know “WHAT DO WE DO WITH OUR CHILDREN!!!” at some stage the weekend will come and go and then another week will start. Sometimes I would much rather be at home cleaning the windows!!! Love to you all on the homestead xxxx
Union Homestead 
Well, that sounds like a very busy Monday. I feel tired just reading of all you achieved.
from the other side of the world: my monday is just starting and I feel inspired by your story…I will have cheese on toast too!
Cheese on toast…you just can’t go past it 🙂
NaBloPoMo is taxing me too. Not sure why I decided it was a good idea but slog on I must — a goal needs to be met! Your Monday seems quite busy. I am hoping for a relatively quiet day given there is our Thanksgiving holiday this week. Soldier on!
I’ve been totally impressed by your ability to stick with NaPoBloMo all this way, and you’re more than halfway now, almost in the home stretch. You haven’t even cheated with a Wordless Wednesday or a Throwback Thursday! Mundane Mondays are the stuff of life, frankly and I’m glad you gave an account of yours. It’s why some of us (me, anyway) like to read other people’s blogs – to get a glimpse of how the other half live. If I get rained out on today’s outdoor projects (day off, yippee), I might do a MM post myself, just to show the blog is still alive.
Not to knock your clearly helpful menfolk on the homestead, but feline males are, in my experience, professional loafers. In fact if you have a male and a female, the male probably won’t hunt at all, but will take over the catch that the female brings home with nary a grateful purr, just a shoulder check and a flick of the tail. The thing is, all of my male cats have been far more affectionate than my busy, hunting females – it’s a big redeeming feature which they clearly use to their advantage. I’ve only got one little black cat just now, and she fills the role of both – she’s a hunter and lap sitter, bless her.
I am the tall member of the household who is around on housecleaning days, and so it’s me who stands on the step stool and struggles with the bathroom ceiling (moths seem to get stuck to it in the fall, despite a screen on the window). It is uncanny how often hubby has work in town on those days. I must say too, that my mundane Monday is very unlikely to include that task, even though it needs doing – I’ve got time before Christmas, right?.
Peeking into other peoples life is definitely the reason I do this whole blog thing…it just seems everyone else’s seem a little more interesting 🙂
Pah to cleaning the suicidal moths off your bathroom ceiling, that sort of cleaning is totally over rated. It like window cleaning – when it’s done no one notices it. I’m tempted to do only half the windows as a sort of “see how much I had to clean off” kind of way.
Dave the cat is exactly as you say – he leaves all the hard yards to Mel, stuffs up any of her hunting manoeuvres he stumbles upon, hogs the food and only comes with The Farmer calls.
Hope you have/had decent weather for your day off
That sandpit cover looks like a very good idea. Blogging about the mundane is my staple so your feast of activity and usefulness made my head whirl.
a propos of nothing at all…here’s a video that was in my FB newsfeed that made me think of Farm Girl…
http://carrotoke.org/post/102605981145/members-of-the-town-of-westford-massachusetts#.VHPrSovF_nE
Always good to hear what you are up to.
What you think is boring sounds just great to others. Life here is ramping up in the fast lane with a least 8 diggers counted at the new school site today ranging from the little orange digger to the huge digger. More dramas with demo men but the disability ramps are progressing. Only one teacher asked how to pack a box today ( an improvement) and then there is the 2 hour stop work meeting that the Minister of Ed has turned into a full student free day and everyone wants to know “WHAT DO WE DO WITH OUR CHILDREN!!!” at some stage the weekend will come and go and then another week will start. Sometimes I would much rather be at home cleaning the windows!!! Love to you all on the homestead xxxx
Love right back at you, Lady B. Lot and lots of love cos it sounds like you need it xxx