Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Super Bowl Party

Chicken House - Collins Florida Ranch
It was quite a game, wasn’t it?

It’s been awhile since Super Bowl teams were so evenly matched.

Here at the ranch, we organized a small Super Bowl party get-together. We invited a few friends to come join us for a seafood boil and to watch the football game. It would be nothing too fancy, but a lot of fun just the same.

Warmth was returning to our part of Florida after several days this week of Arctic chill. Many of our friends arrived in shorts and jerseys, and we all were in our “Jimmy Buffet” moods. The forecast was that by game day we’d be back to spring-like temperatures, and we embraced the season.

Eating seafood is a messy deal. There’s no pretty way to go about it. You’ve got to dig in, let it splatter, and eat your fill. By 4 o’clock, tables were covered with empty shells, butter stains, and dirty dishes when someone noticed the forecast had changed. The cold front over Florida stalled out, and we were in for another night at or near freezing temperatures.

There’s nothing like facing a house full of guests, rooms full of dirty dishes, and a deadline for the game when it comes to you that you now have a hour’s worth of unexpected, weather-related, ranch chores to do.

But this party bunch knew how to cowboy-up. 

Dressed in their team gear and tennis shoes, the crowd laughed and joked its way to the barn.  This herd of party-goers was up for the challenge.

 Oh, the life of Florida ranchers!

These nights of colder air bring lots of barn work.

Our horses, who spend most of the year grazing out in the Florida fields, now in cold weather must to be stabled. 

To prepare for this, pine shavings are shoveled into stalls. Water tanks have to be filled with fresh water. Some in our party carry in square bales of two types of hay and help us distribute it in correct portions. Two of our women friends measure out grain and divvy it into various feed buckets.

Before we can call in the horses, we must do a walk-thru inspection of each stall. Horses are very curious creatures. If there’s any rope, baling string, or even a nail that’s poking through the wrong spot, these guys will find it. We visually check the areas to insure horse safety.

With stalls in good order, the barn gets swept clean. We try to remove as much hay dust as possible. These Florida ranch horses are accustomed to fresh air 24-hours a day, and if you’re not careful, poor indoor air will bring on a respiratory problem. Several guys in our party man the brooms.

My husband, Davis, makes the rounds and plugs in the solar lamps which will provide the horses with a dimly lit environment overnight.

Our horses keep a good eye on us whenever we’re outdoors, so calling them in is never really a problem. They know our ways, these beautiful creatures. And with all the creative chaos happening around the barn this afternoon to catch their attention, they’re waiting at the corral gate and ready to walk to their personal stalls by the time the horse barn is ready.

We’ll reverse this process with the horses in the morning. They’ll require feed and grooming before they're released to pastures again. Stall floors will once again be shoveled and the barn will get swept clean. But these are tomorrow’s chores. None of us are even thinking about them tonight.

The gang is jubilant. Maybe rowdy is a better word. And we're really a sight to behold.  From the stains from our crawdads, catfish, crabs, oysters and of course, drawn butter; to our grass-covered selves; we are smelling “sweet,” and have hay hanging from nearly every fold and crevasse on our bodies.

But there are still a good number of cold weather chores ahead, so we make our way towards our chickens. These smaller structures are a little intimidating to the men, and my lady friends aren’t so interested in our flighty birds.   

After I demonstrate how to hunt for fresh eggs, I hustle my girlfriends out the door. The light’s beginning to fade, and I can stay behind to freshen nests and pad the rabbit hutch with lots of straw so they’ll stay warm.


Birds and rabbits require warmth and good bedding, but most of all must have circulating air to remain healthy. To achieve this, we keep safety wire over open windows and supplement with solar heat lamps to provide areas of additional warmth.

Davis and the Super Bowl team are at the kennels where the dogs are out and playful. We keep a good many dogs at the ranch, both as companions and to help us manage cattle.

Our kennels have to serve the dogs in summer heat and winter cold, so they’re designed to provide sun, shade, and air flow.

During the winter months, we store many of our round bales around both the kennel run and the chicken coops.  You'll see this displayed near one of our chicken sheds in the photo I've shared above.  This practice allows us to keep the area out of the wind and it stays a lot warmer. It has an added benefit in that it helps block the trees and plants around these outbuildings, so they don’t get cold enought to freeze.

The clock was ticking, and the teams were taking the field. With the chores completed, our Super Bowl party headed back towards the warmth of our kitchen and sunroom. Many of these folks walked in the house dirtier than they’d ever been in their lives. It was nice to see.

What started out as a Super Bowl Seafood Boil, ended up as a Super Bowl Barn Party.  But what the heck?   We came away with some great memories.

It was a good game, now. Wasn’t it!


  

- Sanne Collins
   From the Ranch in Florida



 

What’s Been Keeping Me Busy Lately

Love Those Wide Open Spaces is a blog designed to follow my daily life as a freelance writer and rancher.  It’s a life full of constant change and a wide scope of interests.

Freelance writing, by its definition, requires the ability to write on a variety of subjects, to juggle many assignments during the times of plenty, and to fill the void when checks are slow.   That said, I’m always writing.

Much of my work is done for others such as corporations, websites, or articles penned under another’s name.  I’ve sold the rights to these works, so they can’t be shared. 

However, many of my projects are available under my own name and can be read right here on the web.    

 You can click on either the site or the story below to see them.

Check out what’s been keeping me busy lately!








2 comments:

  1. Did you guys even get to watch much of the game? Sounds like you had your handsful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We did! It was a good game, don't you think?

    ReplyDelete