like bumper cars, but not...

so i haven't posted in a bit because i have been either working or too exhausted as my job requires more energy than i'm used to. this is because my job is full time and it's outside. i am the caretaker of the animals at the children's farm in one of the county parks in my city. even though it's tiring, i love it!!

my day usually starts by opening the farm. i feed all the animals, get water for outside, then let them out. once they're all out, i clean out their pens. that sounds like a really terrible job but it's actually not. my lack of sense of smell is very handy at that particular time. when i'm done with barn chores if people are there i go around to the different pens, bringing the animals to the fence so they can pet them.

right now we have two calves (a holstein and a line back); a donkey (full grown) named freida; 4 quickly growing piglets (they gain about 2 pounds a day); 2 lambs; one mama goat and three baby goats (the most adorable thing ever). the goats are a big hit because i can pick them up and bring them over so people can pet them. they make this really adorable bleating sound that is kind of like a baby crying.everyone loves that :)

when i'm done at the farm, usually i spend the rest of the day mowing. it's a rather large park and needs to be maintained. have you ever gone to a park and seen how it's mostly just grass that looks nice and is mowed to perfection? yeah, it doesn't get that way by itself. i know it was only my first week but i am really terrible at driving a john deere mower. if i don't push the pedal down hard enough the whole mower deck starts to bounce and then it freaks me out so i just have to stop completely. it's kind of embarrassing. i'm so high up that if it's hilly i sometimes feel like i'm falling off a cliff. there is another kind of mower which i very much prefer. i believe it's called a zero turn mower. it doesn't have a traditional steering wheel. instead it has 2 levers that control speed and direction. yeah that sounds kind of silly so here's a picture -->
that's not the actual mower we have, just an example i found on google images.

i enjoy mowing even when i don't have my ipod. it's very relaxed. they just tell me what areas to mow and let me loose. i also just kind of enjoy driving this kind of mower :) it reminds me of bumper cars as a kid. (the ones we used to go to had the same kind of controls.) i'm definitely NOT trying to hit things with this mower. i'm trying very hard to avoid hitting things.

so yeah that's my job. there's always a lunch somewhere in there too. it's  a little strange because the majority of my coworkers are college guys, the youngest of which is like 2 years older than me. so they don't really talk to me. there's only one other girl but she's nice :)

i think this is going to be an excellent summer. i actually prefer going to work to lazing around at home all summer. plus, i'm making an excellent wage :D