barn chores & the state of my shoes

If you've never tried shoving a cow...well...it's kind of like shoving a wall. It doesn't move willingly.
Last weekend, I stayed with friends in rural NY. They have a cow barn, and I wanted to try doing some chores.
"What time do you start barn chores?" I asked Bobby on Friday night.
"We roll out of bed at 5, coffee's at 5:05, and chores start about 5:10. I'll wake you up!"
His older sister Kate, protested, "Don't listen to him! You don't have to feel obligated to help!" But I had made up my mind.
At 5:30 the next morning, I pulled on a barn outfit: a bandanna, jeans, and a long sleeved shirt under a cotton jumper. Someone found a pair of rubber boots for me, and I tromped off to the barn. It was still dark outside, and the stars were sparkling for miles...but the air was too chilly for me to spend much time in awe. I spent over an hour in the cozy barn, doing the 'small chores'--feeding the calves, refilling the grain tubs, giving the cows their grain, cleaning & disassembling the milking equipment, and letting the cows out.
The last job involved convincing the cows to leave the barn for the day. Kate and I hollered, smacked, and shoved the cows out the door. Allegedly, the cows don't feel a thing when you hit them, so don't worry about cruelty to animals. Finally, they were all out, and we went in to shower & change for breakfast.

On a mostly unrelated note,

I've often mentally bemoaned the sate of my shoes, wondering why mine never look as clean & tidy as everyone else's.
Today I realized the answer. I was walking back to my dormitory after having grabbed my camera to chase a gaggle of turkeys through the woods. Afterwords, my shoes were muddy around the toes, scratched at the heel, and soggy inside from landing in a puddle.
My problem is that I am impulsive! I don't take the time to change my shoes before riding my bicycle, jumping in leaf piles, building a reed hut in the swamp, racing someone, or chasing turkeys through the woods. Ergo, I am constantly repairing and cleaning them. Just think of the seconds of adventure I could waste by changing my shoes!
So, I have decided: I can either wear nice shoes and just not care about messing them up, or I can wear sneakers 24-7, which I choose not to do for silly aesthetic reasons. For now, I'd rather be ready for adventure no matter what I'm wearing. (Except barn chores)