Our day usually begins
before the sun comes up. If we don’t
beat the sunrise, Randy thinks we have wasted the morning. Most of the time this arrangement works out
for me; I can only stay in bed so long knowing that there is coffee waiting downstairs. My children gave us this phenomenal coffee
maker that is programmable, grinds and brews automatically (if only it brought
a cup upstairs it would be perfect!)
Once I hear the grinder, I start getting eager to get out of bed to enjoy
a hot cup of coffee; far superior to that of any alarm clock I have owned. I will admit, sometimes I hear the grinder
and with a big smile on my face I roll over and drift off until I hear the
rumbling of logs, clanking of dog dishes and the thumping of dog tails. Once the dogs are up, we are all up. They have needs just like the rest of the
family. Besides the obvious, they must
get to their morning inspection of the property. You can never be too safe and they like to
report to us if there are any uninvited cats, raccoons or deer that might be
lingering around in the timber or orchard.
One thing we can be sure of and is that no guest will go unannounced on
their watch. The neighbors feeding their
cows and horses or simply driving down the road are more intrusive than to the
dogs liking. We have several
conversations with the dogs in regards to property lines, ownership and
neighborly manners; they continue to appear apathetic to our conversations and
not only guard our property but the property across the road. After much observation, I have decided that if
it is within eye shot of the dog, it is automatically theirs. 
Eating and
drinking fresh, cold water is a high priority for the dogs. It is more important than anything that could
seem to be a priority to us; they can make your life miserable until that job
is accomplished, preferably accompanied by a smile, some tender words and a nice
pat on the head; not unlike some other bosses I have had. If we
consider having a cup of coffee before we tend to their needs; they can stare
you down like no boss I have ever had. Not a word, just a look of disgust and repugnance; you can almost hear
them say, “You know what you should be doing right now and I can’t believe I am
watching you sit here and drink your coffee when you are on my clock.” You know what they are thinking by “the look.” It is much easier to complete our job of
feeding the dogs before we consider taking a breakfast break for
ourselves. I will say that they usually
show their appreciation with a big doggy smile and the wag of their tails. But once we are out of sight, they not only
forget about us, but they think we are dead.
Think of their shock when they see us again.
Of course there is
Crispy the cat, who like the dogs, truly believes he is the boss of us. We are here to see that all his needs are met
and to run interference for him with the dogs.
On nice days he enjoys a little outside time and it is our job to see
that he can get to the door free of any intrusion from the dogs. He has a friend who calls to him from outside
and they enjoy playing together. Of
course the black outdoor cat is younger and friskier and can climb tall
buildings, post, trees without hesitation.
He taunts our boss, Crispy, to come along and play. He does with great exuberance and fur flying,
forgetting his mature years; then it is Randy’s job to get the ladder and get
him down without embarrassing the boss in him.
Crispy has a meow that can penetrate through the wind and door to call
us to attention. Randy like any good
employee drops whatever he is doing and liberates him from wherever he has
found himself entrapped. Crispy likes to
stand on the steps and meow orders at us, which precludes anything we are doing
at the time. He is a hand on hip kind of
boss… standing on the highest point, looking down on his workers, as he meows
out orders. We try never to disappoint
him but he rarely shows any appreciation. Occasionally he will offer up the opportunity
to give him a rub or a scratch but more often he gives us looks of disgust that
he is not our only boss and that we sought other jobs.
Once the dogs and
cat are in order, the horses and cows are next.
When we arrive at the gate the first order of business is to account for
the horses. Depending on their mood they
are sometimes waiting for us at the gate, tapping their hoofs and then fixating
their eyes on the feed trough and then back on us; as though we were bad employees
who had arrived late for work. Before we
can explain that we had been working and that we had other bosses to keep
happy, off they go in a pout, kicking up their heels and trotting off to give
us the cold shoulder treatment. They
think we want to be best friends with them, but they should know by now, we are
just there to do our job, if they don’t want to be our friends, we are not
going to beg them, besides we have our own friends and most of them have only
two legs and rarely feed from our trough, well not on a regular basis. Other times they remain hidden in the trees
trying to act like it is because we were late and now they are too busy to take time out of
their busy schedule to acknowledge our presence; as if to say, “we are taking
care of all this ourselves, there is of plenty grass and hedge balls right here
for us to eat, you can go back home, you are not needed here.” Of course being the good, compliant employees
that we strive to be, we abhor days that they act like we are not important
players on the farm team. Sometimes we
have to give them an oh so gentle reminder who it is that purchases the “special oats” and snacks that they enjoy
as appetizers and allows them to change up in their main entree. How quickly they forget that it was their
employee that picked out the nail that was embedded in the hoof and the one
that applied antibiotics to it so it would heal quickly. Who was that person
who sprayed them down so those bothersome flies would stop sucking their
blood? They are nothing above thankless. They forget the way their employee brought a
bucket of feed with molasses to help make the medicine go down more easily. I guess when the day ends, the hoof is healed
and they are winning races between the other horses, they forget about their
lowly human employee who helped to make it all possible. They forget that they didn’t do it all by
themselves. Oh well, that is why we are the employee, to
do all those things that the boss doesn’t want or can’t do themselves and so they can tend to
their other, more important task like
grazing, pooping, strolling to the pond and taking on occasional roll in the
grass. Every once in a while when there is
no one around to do the job, they kick a bucket or two around and try to get to
fill them with oats, otherwise they typically leave the work to their human
employees.
Moving right down
the list of chores, off we go to see the board of directors, if truth be told,
they are the ones that actually pay our salaries. Oddly enough they are also the ones that
always seem to be the happiest to see us.
I am of course speaking of the cows and the bull. Randy is their favorite employee, they know
that I am still in training and not sure that I am worthy of their admiration
and trust. They know that Randy goes out
of his way to bring them a bag of tasty morsels that they share between them
and he always makes sure they have a beverage for their herd’s gathering. The board knows that Randy has been known to
go over and above his job description on several occasions and he treats their
children as one of his own by occasionally taking them home for an overnight by
a warm fire when a member of the board was under the weather and unable to tend
to its responsibilities. They seem to appreciate
the fact that he, unconditionally looks out for the entire board of directors,
rarely showing favorites; however; like any boss the board is not going to show
their entire hand. During the morning
meeting they like to push and shove a bit to show Randy who the boss is of the
group. Some are more seasoned bosses than
others and they openly acknowledge that he is an important and valued employee;
some will go so far as to give him a kiss on the cheek to show their
appreciation. It is of course a
relationship like few bosses have with their employees. Randy has assisted in the birth of many of
their children. In fact, with this group
of bosses, Randy has put his hands and
arms in places that most of us have only threatened to put our feet with some
of our bosses; understandably, you would have to trust this kind of employee.
At the end of the
day when all is said and done, all the bosses go to bed happy, with full
stomachs and most have forgotten who it was that helped them have such a great
day. (Out of sight out of mind.) It is fortunate that we don’t work for accolades
and that a good day’s work and a feeling of accomplishment is an amazing
compensation. To go home at the end of
the day and know that you have done the best possible job and that someone’s
life is better because of your contribution is what makes a person’s character grow
and their spirit soar. Just like
yesterday and all the days prior; tomorrow the sun will rise, the coffee will
brew and we will be greeted by our bosses, tails wagging, lips meowing, hooves
clattering and the board of directors will come charging over the hill to show
their appreciation.
Sorry if you were
expecting a “tell all” account of some of my former bosses. I could
tell some pretty good stories given some of the colorful characters I have had
as bosses and managers, this isn't it. I hope you have enjoyed getting to know my new bosses and now
you know better why
 |
| Boss Horse Haylee, conducting quality control studies with her employees |
I Love
the Farm
And
I Love
You Randy
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