new wheels!!!! (part i)

True story: for my 21st birthday, I sincerely requested from my mother a gift of a vacuum cleaner for my tiny studio apartment. Party hard, y'all.

...... So. Yea. I have been accused by my family and friends of being somewhat aggressively practical. And here we are, ten years later and my birthday wishes are still trending in the direction of some overly utilitarian be-wheeled tool.

so shiny and new!!

And when some presents last week arrived in the form of Amazon gift cards, I knew what to do with them haha. Sure, my loved ones maybe sighed deeply and rolled their eyes when I told them how their birthday cash would be used... but whatever.

spoiler alert: the cart arrives in a box. not pre-assembled, as one might have incorrectly assumed

This muck cart (the Miller CA500, thankyouverymuch) has languished on my wishlist for ages, but somehow always felt too indulgent, too frivolous to purchase myself. I could never quite justify the cost... but it seemed like the perfect use for gift carts!

Isn't that how birthday money is supposed to work?!? lol....

it's a WHEEL y'all!

Call me simple if you like, but it kinda caught me by surprise tho when this thing arrived in a decidedly smaller box than I expected. Bc, uh, apparently there's some assembly required. Oops lol.

I mean, in retrospect, it's kinda obvious that... yea, the cart ships a lot more economically and efficiently disassembled into parts that fit into a smaller space... It had just never occurred to me!

shiny cheap tools!

It's cool tho. Putting it together was more or less quite straightforward - they even include cheapo tools in the box, and there are only a few small pieces of hardware like screws and washers and such.

taking shape!

Aside from some confusion about where to fit which screws, and some jobs that required slightly longer arms than I have (think: attaching the wheels and tightening their screws), it honestly didn't take very long.

putting on the wheels!

So now I finally have my own muck cart! Perfect timing too since the new barn apparently doesn't seem to have wheelbarrows anyway haha, and it's a long walk to the manure pit from where I park my trailer.

ta da!!

So yea. Maybe not the most exciting birthday present ever (stay tuned for part ii for that, coming tomorrow), but it brings me an odd sense of glee lol.

Idk. Do you normally ask for horse-related stuff for your birthday? Or just cash? Is your list full of big-ticket items that you maybe wouldn't or couldn't get yourself? Or is it the plain practical stuff that may be boring but will definitely be put to good use? Or some of both?