The Hum of Inspiration

Can you guess where this unearthly-looking door leads? "Into the barn", you say.....well, right you're! Good guess! Through this door I trudge every morning, gripping a mug of steaming coffee and an empty milk pitcher. The dogs, who wait by the house for me, will enthusiasticly bound up for a pat on the head, followed by them bounding in circles around me as we head toward the barn. They excitedly jump at the door, although they've already been in the barn earlier when Husband went out. At that earlier hour, they race down the barn alleyway, barking to encourage the cows to stand up. After that, the dogs somehow escape from the barn and sit patiently by the house, waiting for slow, old me. Such faithful pals!

Walking through the door during milking time is like entering another dimension. The milker pump motor is humming loudly, sending vibrations through the air. Compressor motors and fans are also noisily at work doing their task of cooling the milk as it pours from pipes into the big stainless steel tank in the milkhouse.

To all of that rumbly sound, add the hypnotic back and forth hissing and clicking of the vacuum line as the milkers gently do their job of collecting milk from the cows' udders. That sound reminds me of horses hooves clacking over a bridge......it must be a long bridge......it takes two hours to cross!

Nestled within the above cacophony, mellow moos are occasionally heard, and the strains of oldie tunes playing on the radio. (I shouldn't mention this, but once in while, you will hear Husband hollering at a cow for flicking manure in his face or knocking his cap off. He believes the cows conspire against him during the night, discussing new ways to annoy him. Maybe so.)

When milking is done, I spend time in the milkhouse, overseeing the automatic washer which cleans the milkers and the pipeline. Its not very difficult.....I push buttons, turn hot and cold water off and on, and pour soap and sanitizer into the vat at the correct times. While doing that, I'm enveloped in a cloud of rumbly noise and vibrations. Honestly, this is the time of day when blog posts are conceived......thoughts and ideas just seem to come flowing in......I wonder if it has something to do with the noise.

There was a time in my life when I disliked this barn door. It was a wearying annoyance to me. In this blog's sidebar is a little saying, "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it." I can't change the fact that I'm married to a workaholic dairy farmer. So to avoid going crazy, I'm going to revel in everything here on this farm and try to find the amazing within the wearisome and the mundane.

Join me, please.......seek wonders within your little world!!