Ramblings of Today...September 24th, 2013

Life can be so demanding.  Sometimes I think "I only have two kids...why can't I catch a break?!"  It isn't always so busy. Or is it?  Life is good, but I'm looking forward to a break.

I think September often brings a rushed feeling.  Days are getting shorter, and the weather starts to change.  We savor our summers on the coast of Oregon, an when the rain starts to pour, the gloom sets in.  When I was a kid, I loved the fall.  September meant no more mowing the lawn and weeding the garden...and it meant that my birthday was near, along with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!  I loved hearing the rain outside, I loved the wind, I loved the cold, and I loved the dark days.  Now that I'm "grown-up" and have a house, have land, and have kids, I savor every summer day.  The reasons why are obvious.  But, in case you are wondering, here's a few clues as to why...wet, hunting, holidays, sick, overflowing gutters, wood stove, more holidays, unfinished summer projects, school, too much TV, and mud...lots and lots of mud. By the way, I now loathe the dark days.  Oh, to be a kid again.

Today, this week, next week.  A million things to do.  Just when I think I've got a full plate, I get another text...I get asked another favor...I get reminded of that thing I was supposed to do...I...I...I!!  This has been my life lately.  My birthday was last week...why is it that on my birthday I get asked to call people, go out with people, eat with people?  I know why...but, really...why?  Why can't they call me, bring me food, or babysit my kids so that I can go out by myself?!! LOL!  Frankly, I had a lovely birthday.  I digress...

And as I sit here, thinking of what I want to write next, my mind just races. 

Yesterday, Adam sent me a text asking what our Saturday plans were and my already lit fuse almost reached the powder.  "Why are you asking?!...because if you wanna make more plans, then the answer is an emphatic 'NO!'"  Poor husband of mine.  Really, he just longs to be home to do fun things with his family.  There are many days I wish I could trade places with him.  Yes, there are days I would just love to drive around a fancy new rental car with just the radio and the GPS to keep me company, spend several hours with adults, eat at lots of fancy restaurants, and enjoy countless evenings alone in a fancy hotel room.  Ok, ok...I'll take my rose-colored glasses off.  There is no perfect.  And when you make a commitment to your husband, your kids, your life... you realize the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

The grass is green today, and it's on my side of the fence.  It's just wildly overgrown. 

I'm already kicking myself for taking the time to write this random post.  When I started (it's now 8:22 PM), the kids were finishing up some school work, I was waiting for paint to dry, and waiting for Miss Evelyn to wake up from her nap.  Now, as I type, the kids are talking to their daddy via "face time" and showing off their new Halloween costumes.  I close my eyes and wish they were already ready for bed...but no, they still have baths to take, teeth to brush, and prayers to say.  Every night I make a goal for bed.  Goals are nice.

I still have a full night ahead of me...baby shower projects, birthday party planning, a few loads of laundry, and I MUST tidy up the kitchen before I go insane. Oh dear...8:42...gotta round up the kids. Nighty-night blog friends.

Our Sheep

Adam started working on fencing our back field over 2 years ago.  We were tired of trying to keep our curious and mischievous puppy home, and Adam had always dreamed of raising sheep or goats.  Very shortly after he got started, some unexpected things happened at his job that didn't allow him much break for at least 1.5 years...so the fence project took way longer than planned.  He used every free moment to work on the fence throughout this spring, and finished in late June.

 

While on our 4th of July camping trip, Adam just couldn't stop thinking about getting some sheep for our freshly fenced field.  Our tractor had been broken down for 2 years (another project that was gonna take time that Adam didn't have) and our field was rapidly becoming overgrown.  We needed some living and breathing "lawn mowers" to help out ASAP.  Adam had been researching sheep for quite some time, and settled on a breed of hair sheep called Soay.  Hair sheep are the kind you don't have to shear, they just lose their wool in clumps during the warmer season.  In his research he found that one of the great things about these sheep is that they will eat brush and briers, unlike regular sheep that only like grass.  Goats are great for briers as well, but they are more destructive and can be more nuisance than help.  We have a goat and have found this to be true.  Anyway, while camping, Adam found a few ads on Craigslist and ended up picking up Uncle Don's horse trailer right after dropping our travel trailer home at the end of our vacation.  Late that evening, he and the kids returned with a mini-flock of 5 sheep that the kids re-named: one adult ram (Luke), one adult ewe (Erica), one yearling ewe (Emily), and two lamb ewes (Cindy and Hannah). 

 

These sheep are quite skittish, aren't keen on humans (unless somewhat trained), and run like deer.  It has taken them a couple of months to get accustomed to their new home and to Lucy (our maremma sheepdog).  Lucy went crazy when the sheep arrived! She was curious, excited, and a bit defensive.  Mostly, she wanted to play and she would chase them all over the property.  Lucy has calmed down since then, and only chases them on occasion.  Kellen (our goat), spent the first week hanging out with Lucy only.  The next few weeks he became one of the flock, which we thought could be a problem (for a few reasons).  In the few weeks after that, we tethered him over by our fruit trees to clear some blackberries.  Then, when we returned him to the field, he seemingly regained his independence and he can now often be found wandering around on his own.

 

Here's a few pics of these cuties.  In order to capture these shots, I had to walk around with grain in a cup while running away from our very persistent oversized pygmy! It was a challenge!

 

Keeping their distance

 

 

 Luke and Kellen facing off

 

Ready? Set? Wing It!

So today was the first day of school.  This fact was glaringly obvious as I sleepily browsed through the morning Facebook statuses shortly after my alarm went off.  This morning I gave myself an attainable goal; be up, showered, make-uped, dressed, and fed by 9:00AM.  I'm not an early riser.  I enjoy late nights and late mornings...however, I'm turning over a new leaf.  I'm gonna try my hand at "home school super-mom!"  I know, I know...9:00AM is hardly "super," but it's super for me!!  I'm thinking that next week I'll try 8:30...we'll see.

I wasn't fully prepared for this morning...by my standards at least.  I had spent the greater part of last week ordering a few things online, cleaning up a few things, organizing books, and logging onto Connections Academy after 2.5 months of hiatus.  I was very fortunate to make early contact with the kids' teacher and felt fairly confident about the upcoming school-year after a brief conversation with her.  The kids have the same teacher this year...and it is awesome!  Still, after all of that, my online purchases have only arrived in part and some of my school preparations have been put on hold.  I'm a little bummed, but I have given myself a little grace considering the busy-ness of my summer.  August is often a more flexible month in terms of "free time," but the somewhat sudden passing of my father-in-law swallowed up whatever free time was left.  So, I crammed all of my school planning into the 5 days I had between two camping trips.  Five days sounds like a lot. Ha ha ha.

We left for a 4-day camping trip in Naselle, WA on Friday morning, and then I woke with a screaming sore throat on Saturday. Yay! I love spending time with my niece Evelyn, and spent the day watching her on the Wednesday before while doing all of my camping/school shopping in Longview.  She had a little cough at the time that had turned into a full-blown cold by Friday.  Anyway, I hastily pulled the reigns on my sore throat with my tried and true homeopathic remedy and have kept the symptoms down from a scream to a subtle nuisance.  Still, sleep has been a bit more difficult and I'm currently on day 4 of this "nuisance" that seems to stubbornly want to run its course. Blah. 

I'm pretty tired.  And my body is feeling it after a full day of home school.  But, I can't complain too much.  The kids woke before their alarms went off (alarm clocks for the kids was one of the online purchases) and were ready to go by 9:00.  I was surprised and refreshed by their eagerness to start the day.  And despite the rise of expectations from 2nd to 3rd grade, Synnove attacked her lessons with more patience and diligence than I had originally hoped.  My goal was to finish the day by 1:00, but there were a few hiccups...one being that my printer stopped working.  We didn't finish until almost 3:00, BUT we ended the day with big high fives and a new printer! Woot!!

I'm so happy right now.  Yeah, my nose is slightly stuffed and I have a printer to install, but I am overjoyed with the prospect of a highly successful 2013-2014 school year!