OO-RAH!

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning at six-thirty. The sun was starting to peek out from the horizon, making the sky turn a bright orange. I went downstairs to start making my breakfast. I grabbed bacon--the bacon that didn't get burned at least-- and sausage from the fridge along with two eggs. I fried up the eggs in one skillet and the sausage and bacon in the other. I opened the kitchen window to let the early morning summer breeze come in the house. My kitchen was suddenly filled with the sounds of the horses "talking" and the birds chirping in the trees. The rumbling of tractors sounded off in the distance as I finished up my breakfast. 

I went back upstairs to throw on a pair of jeans and a forest green t-shirt that said "Raleigh Barrel Racing Tournament Championship" on the front in fading white print. Pulled my hair up in a ponytail and put my old North Carolina Tar Heels baseball hat on my head before brushing my teeth and slipping on my boots. As I walked downstairs, I grabbed my to-do list for the farm today and went outside. Even though it was the middle of June with about three more months before harvest season, the corn still needed to be checked for any kind of infestations and I needed to check if the field was up to date on the pest repellent. I had to feed, wash, brush, and shoe the horses, feed and milk three of the four cows, feed the chickens and check for eggs, and feed the pigs while I clean out their pens. 

My family's farm consisted of four horses, three cows, twenty chickens, and five pigs. The cattle were used for milk, the chicken we used for eggs and sometimes poultry--depending on if we had a successful breeding year and needed to get rid of a few, typically the older hens--and we rented our hogs out to truffle hunters when the season comes around. They pay us for however many hogs they want to use, then take them out to the woods and hunt for truffles and all sorts of mushrooms all day. As for the horses, they were for personal use. Sometimes we'd bring them to the town fair and let kids ride them for a dollar, but after a while the horses starting getting irritated with the bratty kids that always pulled their manes and kicked their sides to make them go faster, so we agreed that we wouldn't be offering rides anymore. 

After inspecting the first two rows of corn, i moved on to feeding the animals. One I sprinkled the pasture for the cows so they'd start eating the healthier grass, I moved on to feeding the pigs. I dumped buckets full of uneaten vegetables and left overs that weren't meat or fruit, and quickly shoveled out their pen while they ate. It sounds like a lot of work, but really you're just shoveling shit into a buck and putting in the fertilizer pile for next year's crops. When I was done with the pigs, I moved on to the chickens. Only a few of them were out of the hen house, so I had to knock on the walls a few times to get them to come squawking out like the crazy birds they were. I sprinkled corn kernels and feed all over the ground and made some small mounds. While they were distracted, I made my way into the hen house, ducking low so I didn't hit my head on the ceiling. I grabbed about ten eggs from nests and placed them in a basket that I set on the front porch. 

Just then, I hear a loud and playful neigh coming from the horses' pasture. I smiled and jogged my over to the side of the fence, only to be greeted by my painted mare, Lady. Lady was mostly white with dark and light brown patches all over her body. Her mane was dark brown while her tail was a lighter brown. She was sweet and gentle, and very playful. I was given Lady as a Christmas present from Daddy, so I could start barrel racing. She was the best present I ever got from anyone. 

"Hey, pretty Lady." I cooed to her as I rubbed her long snout with one hand and held her head with the other. "Kisses?" I asked. I puckered my lips in front of her and she gently wiggled her big lips on mine. I smiled for her gesture. "That's a good girl." I praise her. She jerks her head away from my hands and starts galloping around the pasture. I shake me head laughing at her playfulness and make my way around to the horse barn to feed them. Once I was in there, I noticed I needed to replace the bale of hay that they had finished. I peeked out into the pasture through the door that the horses used to come in and out and noticed that one outside was getting low too. I made my way back out of the barn and went to the side closest to the Taylor's property to get the two hay bales. I put on my gloves and started hoisting bales of itchy hale into the barn. Once I had a good sized stack, and the feeders were stuffed full of the loose hay, I went back outside to start rolling one of the round hay bales away from the barn. The round bales were a lot heavier that the squares, and bigger too. I couldn't carry these bales, so I pulled it down so it was laying on the ground, and started rolling it towards the fence where I would roll it in and place it in the field.