Doing chores… I’ve found out that doing chores is one of those things that means different things to different people. At least, I always meant something different than some of my social media friends mean. Let me state it clearly…. city chores or different from those on the farm, especially if there is livestock involved!
When I was growing up, chores differed a bit in our house. Not sure whether it was based on age skills or what, but chores were what we did to get a weekly allowance or a few extra cents thrown our way when we were at the store. All of us had to clean our rooms and for some reason cleaning the bathroom is one of the chores I remember most. Whereas I always thought of it as almost anything my parents would throw at me that required me to clean stuff or otherwise do work, for quite a few of my friends, chore time denotes something fairly specific. Over time, chores denoted everything from getting laundry done, to buying groceries, and from running a dust mop to getting my first lawn mowed.
But as I talk to more and more farmers on a daily basis, it seems “doing chores” denotes something more specific. Chores have a connection to livestock for most of the farm folks I talk to. Their chores need to be done every morning and every evening. And the racket caused when they don’t get chores done on a timely basis is more than I ever got when my mom would call me by my full given name. In fact, the mooing startled me the first time I heard the ruckus in the background!
Sure there was a time when chores around my house included taking care of the dog and that was a daily thing, but it doesn’t seem to come close. Dogs either live in the house or in the backyard. Nothing barefeet couldn’t stand. Today as the temperature rises to the hundreds again for weeks on end, I’ll be really thankful for some of the chores I need to do — a bit of laundry, putting away the rest of the groceries we bought yesterday, getting a light bulb replaced, etc. None of those will require me to track through the miserable heat with heavy buckets. Oh, and if I decide to be lazy and ignore the chores that need to be done, guess what, It only means I have to do more the next day.
