The First Computer

I can remember the first time a computer came into my house. We were training racing Quarter Horses at the time. I didn't really understand my husband's sudden need for a metal box with something called chips in it, but what did I know? He was the trainer and I was the groom. Improved technology to me was a lighter barn fork to muck stalls. I wanted a tool made for someone with hands the size of a skinny woman to transfer horse chips from the stall floor to the wheelbarrow.

For the first 30 days RD stared at a blank screen with all kinds of books spread around him. He appeared to be baffled about how to proceed. I figured that was his job. I had animals to bathe, legs to wrap and hot suppers to cook for the horses. My technology didn't need a book. I had a horseshoe attached to a heating rod I used to boil water, which cooked the sweet feed and vitamin dinners each night. All I needed was an electrical outlet.

Sometime in the second month I noticed RD had fewer books. There was actually a program on the screen now. It would become our bookkeeping system. I wanted a better pair of overalls. Something that wasn't so big it caught in the wind and blew me over, making me dump my wheelbarrow in the street instead of on the pile.

Around the third month I began getting a little peeved. Training schedules were put on the computer. Like I needed a computer printout to tell me which horse to tack first for the jockeys. Budgeting was put on the computer. Like I needed a computer printout to tell me when my feed bill was higher.

Eventually I made peace with the metal secretary. My billing was much easier. I could track market prices on bulk items like fields of hay and oat prices. The training schedules helped chart each horse's performance, which helped on race days. But then RD went too far.

He figured I needed a housework schedule. This was his solution to my request for some help with the chores. We both worked seven days a week. I figured if he would help a little with chores around the house we could both catch more rest and recuperation time. In the end the housework spreadsheet didn't make it. Like I needed a computer printout to tell me who was going to eat a home cooked meal that day or NOT.