The Morning Routine

I've wanted to blog about this for a while, but something always came up that was better.  Well, nothing is better at the moment, so here we go.

Every morning, I'm woken up by my mom around 7 o'clock.  I get up and put on my shoes- boots, as of late.  It's super muddy.  I load the wagon with our milking supplies.  The "blue room", named for its bright blue walls, is where the milking supplies are stored.   Mom puts them there for me.  I load the tub containing the claw and tubes of the milking machine, the silver bucket that the milk flows into, the two 5-gallon buckets with cleaning water in them(not all the way full), some additional cleaner for the claw, and the two buckets that we pour the milk into once we're done milking.  Phew.  All this up and down rickety stairs.

Then, I pull the wagon to the back.  It's about 50 yards from the back of the house to the beginning of the back of the property.  Does that make sense?  The back is where most of the milking/cow stuff takes place.  Then, I go back to the shed and get the two buckets of feed for Buttercup and Lil' Bit.  Some days, this is no big deal.  Some days, they seem especially heavy.  Regardless of how heavy the buckets feel, my heart is pounding at this point.  It's just too early for this kind of work.

Once I've hauled the feed to the back, I set it right outside the cow gate.  Mom takes a scoop out of Buttercup's bucket and gives it to her in a separate bowl so that I can get Lil' Bit into her stall without Buttercup sneaking around & trying to get in first.  I make my way through the muddiness, get to the stall, get in quickly and latch it shut, put the bucket in the feed holder, let Lil' Bit in, and put the rod behind her.  The rod is so if she gets crazy and tries to back out, she can't.  She hasn't done that in a very long time.

If Mom is doing her job, she should have already wheeled the wagon through the gate.  Occasionally, she'll wheel it to the stall herself, but as it's been suck-your-shoes-off muddy, I've been doing it.  I wheel it in and straighten it out so that it takes up as little space as possible.  Mom grabs the tube that hooks up to the machine that has been hanging outside.  We let it dry.

I'm off to fill up the water buckets.  I enjoy this to some small degree.  I just stand around in the shade and let the hose do its job.  Mom is cleaning Lil' Bit's udder, and after she's done, she starts the milking machine.  I finish filling the buckets a few minutes before the milking machine is done.  I go into the stall and get Lil' Bit out.  Sometimes a little patting is enough, but lately, I've had to kick her bucket so it makes a loud noise.  It doesn't hurt her one bit; it lets her know that I mean business.  After she backs out, I take her food and put it out in the "pasture" so she can finish eating.  Then, I go and get Buttercup's food, and do what I did with Lil' Bit's food.  I let her in.

During this round of milking, I feed TidBit his three bottles of milk.  I have to go back twice to let Mom refill his 2-quart bottle.  He eats, and by the time he's done, the milking is done too.  But wait, there's more.

Mom has to clean all the equipment, so I undo the lids to the cleaner.  Mom sucks it up with the claw.  I go and check on how much Lil' Bit has eaten.  I hope she finishes before Buttercup does.  Buttercup is the boss, and when she finishes eating, she runs over to Lil' Bit to steal the remains of her food.  There's only a little bit left, usually.  Get it?  Little bit left of Lil' Bit's food?  Ha. Ha. Ha.

Alright, we're in the process of finishing up.  I dump the cleaning water into the grass, and we're off.  We wheel the wagon out of the stall(Mom always says, "Let's get this bad boy out of here."  It 's like a tradition) and pull it back to the house.  Or should I say, I pull it back to the house, all the while hoping that I don't get killed by a snake.

It's all downhill from here.  I unload all the milking supplies(with extremely full milk buckets) and Mom takes it from there.  She strains the milk and does whatever else farm women do.  I get on the computer and start blogging.

You now have an insight into the first hour of my day.