Friday, October 6, 2017

My Friday Afternoon Project...

Ever since I messed up my back a couple of years ago, I've tried to find ways to do things "smarter", and to make things less stressful on all of our aging ?!? bodies.

When we milk, we have two buckets that follow us around the cow stable. One has steaming hot water in it, and the other holds our biodegradable paper towels, a cow thermometer, a scissors, extra milk tubes, etc.  We also each use a sprayer filled with an iodine spray, used to spray the cows' teats after we take off the milkers.

The way we used to do it...carry the buckets over from the milk house...bend over each time we wet a paper towel...pick up the buckets and move them ten feet...repeat over and over until we're finished milking. Believe it or not, seemingly innocently bending over like that, time after time, day after day, year after year is hard on your back.  (Imagine bending something over and over in the same direction.  Eventually it weakens and can break) So...a simple solution was to put those buckets on a wagon, getting them up off the ground.

The wagon we had been using rusted out, so I found a replacement online.  It was delivered yesterday, and this was my project for this afternoon...


I enjoy projects like this...



My helpers slept through almost the whole process...


It took about 30-45 minutes, and it's all finished and ready to go!


The wagon came with removable sides, but the jury is still out on whether or not we use them.  I put them on for tonight, and we'll see how it goes.  You know...I had to take pictures of this, because it's the absolute cleanest that this wagon will ever be!

More likely than not, it'll be splattered with pazutski inside of five minutes!


7 comments:

  1. I have the very same wagon only mine is red. I had bought to transport all the milk bottles from one end of the barn to the other end where the calves are.

    We put the milk bottles in buckets of hot water to warm up the milk but by the time I got to the other end of the barn, a lot of the water would splash out of the buckets. I now load the hot water pails in my van and I drive to the other end of the barn. It's a lot easier on my back and I rarely have water spills in my car.

    Take care and have a great weekend.
    Hugs, Julia

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  2. We have one at school and we love it! I think you will use it a lot. I wish I had one at home.

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  3. Wagons and wheelbarrows - they get so much use!! I like that one and for my purposes, I would probably put the sides on. -Jenn

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  4. Nothing stays clean or new long on the farm.
    *Secret: Mr Shoes WASHES his tractor. Good thing we have an aquafer.

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  5. Ours is the same way. It never been clean since that first day. I bet you are glad you have it. I never thought about how much we bend and lift. I have a worn out hip because I spent so many years with a baby on it. :) You just never know do you?

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  6. You are amazing...I could not have put that together!

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  7. Yes, please do anything that saves the back. Mine is shot from working as a nurse in the OR,( 2 surgeries to date). Great wheel barrel, we have one that we use with grandchild...haha! Say hi to your parents, hope they are all settled in across the street.

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