Day 3

So today I guess would have been more appropriate for the Ben Stiller reference because today was the first day where I did everything on my own.  Well, besides getting up at least, I had an alarm for that.  I woke up at 645 today because I thought, hell Will didn't even come down to eat breakfast until 730 last time, I could give myself five extra minutes.  Yaaaaaaaap.  So the five extra minutes probably didn't even do anything, but I did feel pretty badass because of it.  I went downstairs and ate a delicious bowl of granola before Will told me he was making scrambled eggs.  It's always kind of awkward when you are a guest at someones house, and you feel obligated to finish whatever is put in front of you.  I think part of it is being polite, but also personally I definitely have had a past with finishing my plate as a guest.  My good friend and neighbor Stevie Shahn's dad is a pretty classic guy.  He is an underwater contractor basically, and he's the life of the party.  Super fun guy and knows how to have a great time, unless you are a guest eating a meal with him at his house.  This happened countless times.  I would come over to Steve's house and then we would be eating dinner, or I slept over and we would be eating breakfast.  I never ate that much as a kid, and I definitely payed for that in the Shahnazarian household.  One time, I got up form the table because Steve was done and I was full and didn't want to eat more and I was just about to put the plate in the trash, when Bob said Hey, what the hell are you doing with that food?  I slowly turned around and squeaked I...I am not very hungry anymore.  He would give me a condoning stare, and tell me to bring the food over so he could finish it.  After that I either managed to miss going to meals at their house, or make sure I ate every last bite, even if I was about to barf after...classic.  Sorry for the tangent.  So, anyways I went outside to the barn to start my morning rounds, and was introduced to Dan, my new roommate who will be staying at the farm for the next 6 weeks, and Steve, a local farm boy who is an employee on the farm.  Dan seemed like a pretty quiet guy, but super nice; Steve seemed more talkative, and also super nice.  So I started to load up my JD ( John Deere ) with all of the feed, and buckets, and hay that I would need to do my morning rounds.  The bird feed for the egg laying birds is different from the bird feed for the ones that don't lay eggs, so I had to go to a very strange looking machine to retrieve the egg laying bird feed.  The container that holds this bird feed almost looks like something that like corn is stored in on the farms in the midwest, but a lot smaller of a version.  So  at first the machine was not working because an elastic band that was vital was too wet to grip the pulley system.  After a couple curse words from Will and about 10 tries of trying to get the band to wrap around the system tighter, he needed my help.  He called me up to stabilize the screw while he pulled down the entire mechanism that was holding the pulley system.  I cut my finger and blood got all one the machine, but soon after the machine was fixed.  And then I could get on with my day...yay.  So filled up about 6 full buckets of bird feed, and had my egg basket, and some hay to renew the old poo stained in the chicken's laying rooms.  It was nice being on my own, but I kind of wished I had some music or something to listen to because it was either kind of lonely or boring I still can't tell.  So I did about two coops, and finally the guard dogs started listening to me, so the episodes of them running out of the gate while I was in my JD were over.  Thank goodness.  I am still kind of a newbie at getting the eggs form under the birds, but it has definitely gotten a boat load easier.  I can usually tell now which ones will try to bite me.  As soon as I open the latch to where the birds are, most of the birds get up form where they were laying because they know I have come for their eggs.  Yet, the few that stay are pretty likely to guard their eggs.  The ones that bite for sure have this stare in their eyes.  It's like they have some sort of life mission to make sure I do not grab their eggs.  Take it, I am sure I would be protective of anything that came out of my body too, but the amount of eggs that they lay doesn't exactly add up to the safe guard they keep.  I then went back to the barn after attaining all the eggs, and got more bird feed and another egg basket for the second loop I take in the morning.  I had to feed the pigs and clean out their water tank which is debatably the most disgusting thing I have done here, or ever.  The pigs are so filthy and disgusting that its incredible.  I never realized how true the depiction really is until I cleaned their water tank and watched them eat, and sleep, and eat some more.  I stuck my hand in the water tank to clean the sides of the container, and as soon as I stuck my hand in I took it out.  There was straight sludge in the whole tank.  Not only did it feel like poo, it wreaked.  It smelt so bad, and I hope after I leave this farm that I can escape that smell forever.  After that I finished the rest of the coops, and my last coop is the one that is the most aggressive when I reach for the eggs.  What I have been doing recently is putting on a glove so that if they bite i won't feel it.  I also think its funny because I will reach under and they start pecking at my hand, but I bring my hand close to their beak I exclaim as if they could understand me, sorry big guy but I don't feel it, so if you wanna keep biting be my guest.  After I collected all the eggs I had to go and place some extra hay on the ground for some animals shelters.  Then i cleaned and sorted the eggs, and then Will had a special job for me.  I got to paint the pigs new feeder bin for him.  If there is one thing I like to do, and know how to do on a farm it is paint.  I painted all high school for ASB, and this year more intensely in my Art class.  Take it I was just using one brush and just painting one color, but still I had a good time.  I tried to be as exact as humanly possible, trying to get in every small little crevice I could.  I felt like I had something to prove for some reason, and I like making perfect strokes as well.  After I had painted for a good hour and a half we went in for lunch and this was the first meal with Dan.  He is a super nice guy, and we talked about his college, and his water polo team, and the difference between a small school from his experience, and a big school form his friends experiences.  It was still a little awkward because it was his first lunch.  There was one point where Will reached for the newspaper after a good ten seconds of silence, and after twenty seconds Kesha's Tik Tok came on the iPod playing to ease the tension...classicly didn't.  Haha, so to actually ease the tension I tried to sing along.  So after we finished lunch I went back to my thorough painting job, and I was trying to keep it lasting so long that I wouldn't have to do the afternoon rounds because I didn't want to walk around the whole farm for eggs again.  Turned out I finished just in time to do the afternoon rounds.  Chill.  So I got my baskets and went back to the coops to collect my second round of eggs.  As I was walking I thought about two things.  One.  I didn't realize how much of an animal farm this was when I was looking for farms, not that that's a bad thing, but it wasn't what I pictured on an organic farm.  I pictured a bunch of vegetables and fruits growing, and a lot of planting and picking.  But, I think the time of year also has something to do with it as well.  I mean it is September already, kinda late for vegetables and fruits.  Although I don't mind being with animals all day, but it can get a little disturbing and tiring.  But I did sign up for something new, and unique, and that's what I am getting.  Two.  Sometimes when you are doing a job, or something tedious, or monotonous and you are kind of in a routine, you forget about things.  You forget about where you are, why you are there, what you have done to get there, and what your preconceptions were before you got into a routine.  I think its so crucial for people in that kind of situation, to take a moment and step back form the day and think to themselves how awesome it is to be living life, and where you are, and that you can control the future.  I was carrying my basket to the next coop when I looked over at the farm over and saw a random dog perched on top of it with a slight drizzle coming down.  I realized that I was on the countryside and I was where I wanted to be, and that I should enjoy every second of it.  Sometimes its hard to see, but if you look its always there. Well, anyways whosever reading this probably won't even get as far as halfway down, I know I wouldn't.  Just a thought to end on though, so yea.  Nighty.