Rejoice with me! I found the keys*

And so I torture you with a story

One of our tasks as parents and bosses is to train our replacements. If the children/employee is willing, then we attempt to pass on the knowledge and tricks that we learned so they don't have to remake every mistake humans have made since the beginning of time.

So there I was, standing behind Southern Belle as she started slamming in the first corner post in the next paddock for her goats.

The plan was to build the second enclosure next to the current enclosure (2 feedlot panels in one direction and 5 feedlot panels in the other direction). We planned to reuse one of the long sides of the current paddock. We would crowd the goats into a temporary cell made from four feedlot panels and recycle the ones that were freed up.

Like most people getting into livestock, Southern Belle is expanding as budget becomes available. She recently purchased used T posts and the next paycheck will buy three additional feedlot panels.

Since she had the posts, it made sense to put them in so we were ready to hit the ground running after she purchased the additional feedlot panels.

Happy Tools (named after the cheap toys found in value meals)

I tapped two nails into a work-surface. The nails were 8' minus 1/4" apart.

I tied a loop in the starting end and wrapped around the nails 9 times.

Then I marked the Start end with some paint.

Viola! A tool to show us exactly where to drive the T posts so they would be in alignment with the length of the feedlot panels.

Untangling the cord

The first five minutes at Southern Belle's was spent untangling the cord and stretching it down the two-track that runs beside the paddock.

Then we dropped the loop on one end of the cord over the corner T post of the current paddock and pulled the cord to stretch it. Then we stuck another T post 32' away (two feedlot panel lengths) for the corner post of the new paddock.

I stood behind Southern Belle (west of her) as she started slamming in the post with her driver.

Unknown to us, precisely 24 inches eastsoutheast of where she was driving the post was a yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) nest. It took SB about three whacks of with the driver before they were boiling around her and sharing their misery with her.

"Oh SHIT! I am getting stung by bees!!!!" she said, dropping the post driver and sprinting toward the house.

At which point I also vamoosed.

Time to make a plan

After dosing Southern Belle with 50mg of diphenhydramine (which I carry in a ziplock baggie in my pocket)** I drove home to get the materials I needed to deal with the yellowjackets.

I cleaned the remnants of herbicide out of my sprayer and mixed up 1/2 gallon of permethrin insecticide.

I found my fishing hat with the mosquito netting.

And then I walked out into the breezeway between our house and garage and pulled my quilted coveralls off of the hook where it hangs year-round.

And it was slightly heavier than I expected. Because it had a set of keys in the pocket. 

It had my keys in the pocket because that is where I put them after locking the door to the house when I am going for a run. Mrs ERJ had unlocked the door and I must have been distracted when I came back from my last run (maybe ten days ago) and not picked them up. Then I didn't have a need for them for a bit and forgot that is where I had left them.

So do I tell Southern Belle that St Anthony of Padua may have sent those yellowjackets? Without those yellowjackets, it would have been months before I would have worn those insulated coveralls. On one hand I am sad that she got stung three times. On the other hand I am filled with joy that I found my keys before hunting season started and I needed to open the safe.

*Apologies to Luke 15:9

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it?

And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’

**I hung out for 20 minutes after she got stung to see if she had a reaction to the stings.