Preparing for the oranging.

12/18/19

(Above: The green taping begins.)

Active Summary: This morning began with over an hour of creative writing time* which was followed by a brisk ride through the beef pasture. After returning to the farm’s main office and partaking in the morningly imbibement of bubbly caffeine, I began working on the freezer room – a task that continued for the remainder of the morning and included: removing mysterious handles from the walls**, removing the old air-conditioner grate, attempting to remove the ancient window unit air-conditioner, and taping along the entire edge of the freezer room’s ceiling. The morning was concluded with a trip to Aneta’s Bistro in Ocala.

(6:09 PM Update:) This afternoon consisted primarily of cattle-related activities. After all farm tasks were complete and the late-day beef pasture check was performed, I returned to the Master Blend freezer room and put together the beef order for tomorrow morning.

TIL: Today the man at Aneta’s Bistro – Aneta’s husband – told my family how to say Merry Christmas in Polish. There were syllables pronounced that I could not manage to comprehend at the time, so I looked it up after returning home. It turns out that the phrase is spelled Wesołych Świąt and pronounced as ‘Veh-soh-wich  Phee-aunt’.

Commentary: As if often the case when it comes to longer mornings, it was quite a productive one. I should note that there were a couple interesting highlights, and both occurred as I was removing the old grate from in front of the old air-conditioner*** unit. The first highlight was the fact of the grate’s weight. I am not certain why, but whoever constructed that makeshift vent utilized some very heavy materials. For example, the frame was constructed of 4x4s, and the insides consisted of 2x4s and 2x6s. It must have weighed a hundred or more pounds. Fortunately, when it slipped from my grasp and landed on my feet, the steel-toed boots were there to rescue my digits from all harm!

The other matter of interest I encountered whilst lowering that grate was the apparition of a strange reptile. It was brought to my attention as it fell from the top of the monstrous wood-and-metal-vent-amalgamation and hit the freezer room’s floor with an admittedly moist ‘slap’. It sat there stunned for a moment (the poor creature was cold on account of today’s weather), before vanishing beneath the south freezer. It was during that moment of motionless, however, that I observed its unique markings and wide, striped tail. Alas, I could not take a picture because I was holding up an awkward 100-pound object, but I do think I was able to find an image online of what I witnessed: a Mediterranean house gecko****.

Final Note: Tomorrow morning I have quite a number of tasks to which I may tend. First, I am going to work on extricating the window air conditioner from the southern wall. I am then going to clean up the northwest door, southeast door, and any other especially dirty or rough spots. Also, mid-morning I will be tending to a Master Blend beef order and collecting some pecan wood for a smoker experiment on Friday.

*The creative writing time has been lengthier in the morning as of late. This is mostly attributed to the fact of the sun’s rising later and later with each passing day.

** When I was younger, I used to think the handles were utilized as board-holders to help keep the doors shut. Their presence away from the doors, however, and the fact that those doors are out-swing has granted me the notion that perhaps they were used for stabling cattle (i.e. for fastening halters to).

*** It was really an old semi-trailer refrigeration unit, which is likely part of the reason a grate had to be fashioned for it .