One of the most striking things about life on the farm is the farm chores that never end or even take a deep breath. The only clean and neat farms I ever see are Gentlemen’s farms, owned by the wealthy who hire people to care for them.

You can tell a real farm; it’s most often a mess.

We never catch up with the chores; sometimes, we don’t even notice them – the leaky roof, the motion lights, weeds in the pasture, broken windows in the barn, broken fences, fallen tree limbs, broken slate on the roof.

I wonder if we will ever catch up with them once and for all. I know the answer. Real farmers never buy anything new or throw anything out. We are not real farmers, but we’ve absorbed that habit.

Some people think of me as a Gentlemen Farmer, but they don’t know much about chores or farms. We have no young kids or helpers to work on the farm with us; most things are on us. And most of those are on Maria.

Our hands and shoes are dirty all the time. We have bites and cuts and callouses already. I have some arthritis joints that speak to me.

Still, I get my licks in.

First, you have to see the chores: Our outdoor farm motion lights went out sometime in the past few days.

They only come on at night, so we didn’t notice for a few days until one of us got up to go to the bathroom and looked out the window. Our roof has been leaking for weeks, possibly months.

We need to start stacking firewood for next winter. I’ve ordered the hay.

There are almost critters of one kind or another prowling around at night; the motion lights are always on.

Then we have to climb up, take the bulbs out, and remember what model and wattage they are.

Maria climbed up and got them, and I went to the hardware store to find replacements.

Hardware stores are bewildering places for me, there are hundreds of everything, and I don’t understand any of them. I can’t blame Dyslexia; I’m just not mechanically inclined.

A young new store worker took pity on me, and we went through the scores of bulbs to find two outdoor ones and the correct wattage – 120. We also checked the base to ensure it matched the burned-out bulb I knew to bring.

When the bulbs came back to the farm, Maria had the ladder out (she had climbed up above) to get the bulbs out, and she climbed up again to put in the new ones. That went well, I got the right ones, and we took the ladder down and got it into the barn.

I hope they last another ten years, as these did. We installed these bulbs the week we moved in.

I have to water all the gardens – six or seven now – that’s my chore, and make sure the hanging plants and the bird bath are watered and clean. Maria loves her vegetable garden and noticed it was tried. I got mild but stern talking, which I deserved.

I’m on it now; I’m out there once a day watering my garden beds and her gardens, now spread all over the back of the house. She seems to be planting seeds daily; I love this chore; it is life-giving. It’s early in the season, but we could already use some rain.

I water my beds once a day unless it rains.

We might get some in the morning; a subzero cold front is rushing in for one night (tomorrow), so we’ll get the tarps up. It’s supposed to drop to 30 degrees Wednesday night.

Next week, I’m returning to the Mansion for my Meditation Class and regular visits.

Everybody’s getting healthy, including me. But surgeries do wear Maria and me out. We’re looking forward to June 10th; we are going away for two nights to celebrate our anniversary.

I’m still recovering from kidney stone surgery; it’s better every day, but I still have a bit to go. Tomorrow I go to the dentist in the morning; I think my teeth are in great shape. I hope so. I’ve had enough doctor’s appointments for a while.

This afternoon, my body reacted sharply to the new surgery; it was intense, which meant the kidney stone was probably passing out of my body.

I spent much time in the bathroom and slept little last night. This is all right on schedule; the kidney stone is moving out.