My Favorite Lifestyle

I think God meant for us all to be ranchers. Abraham was a big rancher, so was Job, Isaac and Jacob. What an idyllic lifestyle, even when the temperature outside is +15 degrees. Plus 15 doesn't feel that bad if there's no wind. It gives me great satisfaction to see my little herd of horses standing there dozing in the sun after filling their bellies on the good grass hay I feed them every morning.
Even solving a problem with their watering gave me great satisfaction, although I couldn't help thinking when I was in the thick of it, "Why did you ever want to do this?" Yesterday I went to fill up their tank with water from the hydrant that is over 100 feet away. The temperature never got above +25 yesterday, and I had left a couple pockets of ice in the hose from the previous watering, apparently. I had pulled it over the fence twice, just to make sure, but one little ice block is all it takes.
I fiddled with the hose for about an hour yesterday, trying to work the little ice cube to the end. I had a small trickle of water coming through the entire length of the hose, so I thought surely the friction from the moving water would melt the cube and soon, the hose would be running a full stream. I left it and went to do other chores as the sun was going down. When I came back, the trickle had ceased, and I had a hundred feet of hose that was now full of ice; a very bad turn of events. That ended my watering ambitions yesterday. I knew all the livestock had watered at least once for the day, and they would be alright until today.
This morning I went out and began hunting up hoses that had been drained out good before the cold weather hit. I found a few short ones that I could couple together, that is, if they had couplers that weren't mangled or mashed. Had to do a couple of quick repairs, then finally had enough hose to reach from the hydrant to the tank. I held my breath, lifted the handle on the hydrant, and listened for water splashing in the tank. Sweet success!
The daytime temperature is supposed to reach +35 today and +50 by Saturday, but it's going to have to hurry to get where it's supposed to be today. I laid the long hose that I froze stiff yesterday out where the sun will hit it, just in case. When the thermometer says +45, I'm going to try to drain it...good this time.