Hello friends!
We are officially in the “i really should move to phoenix” time of year. I am trying to remind myself of all the good things about winter time, but I AM COLD and being unnecessarily dramatic about it. I’m currently under two blankets, with Watson hiding between them, in front of my heater, hugging a mug of warm tea, and hunting and pecking at my keyboard in an attempt to uncover as little from the blanket as possible. Cold.
But I have very, very exciting news. My trailer is back! It was living temporarily with a gentleman across the river while he built a custom ramp so Nellie Belle could have an easier time getting in and out. He did a fantastic job, I’m so so so pleased!
Currently there is one small, teeny, itsy bitsy little problem to resolve before it’s absolutely perfect. It weighs more than me and as such, I can lower it down, but it’s unwieldy enough that I can’t quite get it back up on my own. I kinda think it’s as simple as adding a second grappling point so I’m not trying to lift it straight from the ground to eye level, instead I can maybe swap to a better hand position half way through. But Dad thinks for safety it might be better to have a little bit of an assist. I tend to agree since in my last determined attempt I dropped it on my leg and I have some pretty serious bruises. But it’s a fixable issue, I’m wondering about a pulley assist or maybe something spring-y? We just haven’t puzzled it through yet, but the trailer is still very much work in progress and as we are getting colder I’m not in a huge hurry. (If anyone has cool trailer ramp lift assist ideas, I wanna know, share please!)
But overall I can not overstate how truly happy I am with this ramp, it’s so nice. The guy put a really nice non-skid mat on it for Nellie and the angle is perfect and he reworked the door handles and latch system so everything lays flat when it’s all closed up and it’s so perfect! I cannot even express to you my excitement.
I have a couple more metal works projects I’ve been putting off on the farm so I fully intend to ask my “trailer guy” to help me out again (that’s the designation next to his name in my phone, does anyone else do that? I have “Name McName (New Farrier)” and “So and So (Grandma’s Friend with the Peaches)” for example). He was such a gentleman, first of all, which I really appreciated. While I consider myself a pretty independent human, I’ve taken to bringing my dad or brother with me when meeting with new people, especially guys, because so many don’t take a girl seriously (or worse, but we don’t need to have that conversation today). Around here it’s incredibly common for me to call a service professional only to hear “sure, but can I please speak to the man of the house?”. I hate that but I’ve also learned to roll with it a little more in order to get things done. My dad, for the record, is a total legend about that and when they ignore me to talk to him he just puts his hands up and says “talk to the boss, she’s in charge”, and refuses to answer the questions. I was a little more understanding when I was a fresh faced 20 year old trying to get stuff done, but uh, I’ve got some patina on me now, no one’s accused me of skipping class or truancy in a very long time.
But anyways, got off topic, my trailer guy is such a polite human, and absolutely went out of his way to help me out. He even delivered the trailer for me when he was done because he felt bad it took a while, even though we had decided it was no rush whatsoever (because he was doing a big job for one of the GIANT ranches around here and that’s the kinda job you want callbacks and referrals from). I really wanna get him some cookies or a coffee card or something to show some extra gratitude (I’ve mentioned before on this blog how important it is to be friendly with your favorite tradespeople, they truly make this world go ’round and can do things this girl can only dream of) but I’m worried about stepping on boundaries since he’s new and not used to my loud personality. Maybe I’ll just wait until I call him for the next project and give him something then.
Anyways, I’m off to go stare at my pretty trailer again, shout if you need me.
Until we chat again my friends!
The Farmer's Blogger 