Old dog, new trick...

 

This old dog has learned a new trick!  For years I have cleaned out the chicken coop with a scoop shovel and pitchfork, and I still do it this way, but I always brought a tractor to the door of the coop to scoop the poop into.  This day I did not have a tractor, but the skid steer was available.  However,  I didn't know how to run it.  We have had our skid steer for just a few months and I never learned how to use it so I asked Hubby if he'd show me how, and he was glad to oblige me.  The thing is, he couldn't get into the cab with me to teach me like he had in years past with the tractors because the skid steer is a one-seater and is so very small inside.  No room for two.  So I buckled myself in and let him talk me through it from the outside of the skid steer.  He provided sign language along with the oral instruction to to teach me, and he did an excellent job because in minutes, I was driving it and using the loader/bucket to do what I needed to do.  

I am so excited to have a new trick in my pocket!  The thing is, the more I learn about the equipment, the more valuable I can be to the ranch and to all who live here.  Not that I'm ever going to be as good at operating machinery as the men are, but I can do simple things.  Hubby has always told me how important it was for me to know how to run the tractors because if there would be an accident I could lift a bucket, turn off the power-take-off, turn it off or on, or move it when no one else might be around.  Learning to operate the skid steer is a confidence builder for me for sure!  I told my son-in-law who manages a feed store that if he ever needed an extra skid steer operator, he could call me!  He just laughed.