We put the birds away and went to town for hamburgers right away, since they were both starving. When we got back, the three of us talked for an hour so, and it became clear they were exhausted from the trip. I made up the couch and the loft bed, thinking they could each pick one, but they both chose to sleep in the loft bed. Around 3:00 a.m. I awoke to the sounds of laughter and the two of them going at it like wild cats. I guess I should have known. Anyway, I shoved my pillow over my head and went back to sleep. Poor Frodo thought the world was coming to an end.
June 12, 2013
The next morning was a little awkward, but Benj apologized for the noise, and we spent the day working and goofing off around the farm. The dogs got a great workout, chasing balls and sticks (and Benj). In the evening, I went into town and picked up a couple of pizzas for dinner, and we chatted and watched an old movie. Benj told me that he was working at a pot farm near Greeley. When Chloe asked him to take the trip with her, he decided to just move to Seattle with her. He was sick of his right-wing family and being in a dead-end job. He thought he could find a better farm or dispensary in Seattle, one where he would be appreciated. It’s so weird, but Benj is very health conscious, turning down all but one slice of pizza for some of Dad’s canned peaches. Unlike Chloe, he is not afraid to get his hands dirty, and we ended up playing with the dogs for about two hours. Even Lucy got tired.
June 13, 2013
Chloe spent a lot of time on her phone today, while Benj and I went out and helped Elliot with repairing some fence posts that had been ruined over the winter. Benj was like a madman with the posthole diggers. He dug three of them in the time it took me to dig one, and Benj didn’t look like a wilted piece of lettuce like I did when we were done.
“How do you do it?” Trying to match Benj and failing miserably. Shove, huff.
Benj smiled at me between graceful downward thrusts of the diggers. “Well-developed biceps and pure joy.” Shove, huff. Grin.
“Ugh.” Shove, huff.
“I love this shit. Stick me outside any day, and I’ll thrive. Behind a counter or a desk, I’ll go crazy.” Shove, huff.
Leaning on the diggers, I wiped a wall of sweat from my forehead and neck.
Benj threw the diggers in one more time and appraised the mark on the handle. “Done!”
“Crap!”
“You want me to finish yours, sweetie?” He was only giving me shit.
“Nope.” I tried not to sound like a jerk. I called to Elliot, who was connecting fencing to a nearby post, “Do we need anything else?”
“That’s all the holes, but we could use some more wire. I didn’t think we’d get his much done before lunchtime.”
“I’m on it!” Benj ran like a maniac, high stepping across the field and back to the shed.” I laughed in spite of myself.
“That’s a live wire, there.” Elliot nodded towards Benj. “I couldn’t move like that even after basic training, not that I would’ve wanted to.”
“Yep.” I shoved my diggers down into the hole. Another foot to go.
We finished before lunch and all four of us sat down to a bowl of goat stew. Chloe talked almost non-stop, but Benj and I got a few words in. Elliot was mostly quiet, with a yep, nope, or sounds good thrown in to hold up his side of the conversation. Finally, he had to go so he could clean up to go out to a Chamber of Commerce dinner with Frankie.
On the porch, Elliot stopped for a moment. “Hey, I just wanted to tell you, me and Frankie are going on a trip next week, down to Flagstaff, to pick up a horse she’s gonna rehab. Leaving mid-week and returning about the same time next week, unless it takes longer. You got anything you think needs help, I can probably get to it tomorrow or Monday. Heck, if Benj is helping us, we can kick out a couple of extra projects tomorrow. I’ll load everybody up on feed and stuff. I don’t think you’ll have too much on your hands ‘cept the chicks. And I’ll catch you up on the watering schedule.”
“Oh, hey, that’s really cool, Elliot. I’m glad you’re getting away for a while. I’ll be fine. You want a ride?”
“No, I’m good.”
Elliot headed home, and I went back to my houseguests. Chloe was sprawled out on the couch, thumbing through her phone again, but Benj was ready for round two. We left Chloe to her own device(s) and started a project Elliot and I had been putting off: wing clipping.
“Okay, so it’s not a big deal, and it doesn’t hurt the bird, but it gets everybody upset. We just cut the end feathers so they can’t get out of the pens or fly into places where they could get hurt.”
I showed Benj how to catch the birds by hemming them into a corner, getting low, and holding your hands out wide. If they’re just standing there, you can grab the bird straight up, but if they are running around crazy, you have to go for the legs. I pulled up an empty bucket to sit on and had Benj bring me a chicken. I took the clippers and laid the bird with its head down towards my feet.
“So you just trim the primary feathers,” I spread the wing out and showed him where they split. “A couple of inches down, about right here.” I clipped the wing and then
