Thanksgiving

We can’t let the sheep free range any more until we finish fencing the property.  They keep visiting the neighbors.  It isn't safe for the sheep.  I don’t mind them eating my roses since they do such a good job trimming everything up but my neighbors may not feel the same, and I am amazed how fast they wander now.  The day before Thanksgiving we moved the sheep’s daytime area.  The youngest 3 and I moved 200 feet of their fencing in 1 hour.  I think that’s a record for us.  Yay Team!!!

Thanksgiving morning I got up thinking I would take care of the animals and let everyone sleep in.  Gave the cattle hay no problem.  Then I went to take care of the sheep.  They have 5 feet to walk between the new daytime area and their bedroom.  If I hold the door open in one hand and the gate open with the other hand and stand between them.  The sheep have about 1 foot of free space so I SHOULD be able to do this on my own.  So I stood their holding the gate and door and Blackwell looks at me confused.  I’m blocking the way to their daytime area!  So she pushes right past me and runs to the area that they used to be fenced in at.  The other 3 run following her.  I try a few times to catch them but they are having a great time enjoying their freedom.  Now instead of giving the rest of the family a relaxing morning it’s “Wake up, Get dressed, Help me CATCH THE SHEEP!” For the next 45 minutes, Darling Husband, the kids, and I chase sheep. 

After breakfast we started working went back to working on the fencing on the bottom of the property to give the cattle a new pasture.  Darling Husband and Teen Son worked on cutting some big dead limbs out of an ancient oak tree.  Pre Teen Daughter helped me work with the Hi Tinsel Wire; pulling the wire, crimping the ends, and cutting the ends.  Stick Boy helped hammer all the staples into the posts after I got them started.  We worked this way until we were due to be at Thanksgiving Dinner in 2 hours then we rushed to make the food we were taking, brushed the sticks out of our hair, changed into acceptable clothes, and left to enjoy the rest of our day with amazing friends.

A Little Post

Family togetherness at sunset.

Mothers nature wonder - a palm tree growing out of another tree.

We tore out the fence along part of the front of the property where we are putting the new pasture.  Then over several evenings we dug the post holes and installed the posts.  

Marriage

I am married to a super capable guy.  The problem with being married to such a capable guy is when he can’t do something I get upset or when it takes him days to do something that I think can be slapped together I get frustrated.  I also am a make due or jury rig type of person and Darling Husband is a do it right person.  This also leads to disagreements but, often I make due while Darling Husband does what is his priority the right way. 

The ceiling of my laundry room fell down several years ago and I know when we get around to it DH will fix it right, every time DH walks into the Laundry Room he says to me “How can you stand working in here?  I need to fix this.”  We have other priorities but it has been on the top 100 of our priority list for about 4 years….Except we have company coming and they will sleep in the laundry room so it is moving up on the priority list to number 4 or 5. 

The sheep going into the Sheep Mahal.  

Munching on hay.

Sheep Mahal is another example of how Darling Husband and I do things differently.  I would have probably used zip ties or bailing wire to put together the new coyote proof sheep enclosure and then had to do repairs on it as the weeks, months, and years go by.  Darling Husband spent a whole weekend designing, welding, screwing, hammering, and a whole bunch else I am sure.  He brought it home and, well, I didn’t look as impressed as I should have.  I mean the man did the impossible job of building a bridge in a weekend and the sheep enclosure took longer?  It is done right, no coyotes or even bears (if they ever come here) will get into it! The sheep are safe and we may never have to repair it so Darling Husband’s way is right – please don’t tell him.

A Beautiful Morning

Blackwell and Deer in front.

This morning I got up before anyone else, threw the ball for our dog as I fed the cattle, started watering the lawn, put frozen Hash-browns in the oven, and put the dog back in his crate.  Pre Teen Daughter got up but saw I was working and didn't want to start on her chores so she went back to bed.  I decided this morning was the day to worm the sheep.  I have had the wormer for about a month but Procrastination always has had me put the wormer away when I had lots of help.  What made me decide to do it on this cool cloudy peaceful morning by myself?  You Tube Videos!  I guess it isn't only teen boys that get great ideas off of You Tube.  Sheep shearers flip the sheep up into a sitting position and the sheep get scared and go limp.  Then it’s smooth and easy to do what you want to the sheep – should go for putting wormer in their mouth too – right?  I grabbed Blackwell our biggest sheep also the friendliest sheep and she let me squirt the wormer in her mouth easy peasy.  Yay this looked like it would be easy!  Next I grab Juanita Deer who is our second biggest and most skittish sheep, she wasn't happy started kicking at me I had trouble flipping her but finally succeeded in flipping her on her butt she calmed down like magic.  It was amazing.  I went to put the wormer in her mouth and guess what the limp body doesn't include a limp mouth!  So there I was trying to balance Deer’s back between my legs, hold her head and pry her mouth open with one hand and squeeze the wormer in her mouth with the other hand.  I am sorry I don’t have a video or even pictures of this to show you but thankful no one saw me looking so foolish. Finally Deer opened her mouth and I had success.  

Dot and Maxwell were easy after I figured it out with Deer and they both opened their mouths easily.  I let the sheep out of the pen to wander around eating for the day.  As I walked down to the house a Snowy Egret floated over my head down to the pond.  What a glorious way to start my morning.

Projects

Darling Husband doesn't know how to install chain link fence.  How can this be? We have a lot of chain link fencing lying around, so over a year ago we started putting in the posts to install the fencing.  We dislike chain link but we need to finish this fencing.  So we decided to hire someone to install the almost 300 feet of chain link fencing we decided we need.  Let me say WOW having to buy fencing parts and having someone do it is expensive.  We will not install any more chain link.  It may not look great having different kinds of fencing but I hate chain link and it's expense and it's looks.  We have installed the fencing on this part of the property line but the sheep are very aware we do not have the gate up yet so they went to visit our neighbors and ate her roses.  The other neighbor wanted me to leave the sheep eating all the weeds on the bank (who cares about the roses?).  

 The bridge to nowhere is up but we still have not taken care of fencing the area.  Teen Boy and I worked at tearing down the old fencing along the road so when Darling Husband came home he would see how far we got on his next project.  A lot of the wood was so rotten we just pulled the posts out of the dirt.  Many of the staples holding the wire on the fence just fell out but some were very difficult.  We were able to remove all the old fencing except the stuff along the ditch.  I am not sure how we are going to make that part of it work.  

While the kids and I worked on the fence, Darling Husband was building Sheep Taj Mahal, I mean the new sheep enclosure.  It is 8x12 and really huge for our 4 small sheep so, I am hoping to get Turkeys in the spring and maybe it can hold both.  I wonder how sheep and turkey get along.  

Anniversary and a Waterfall

My husband and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary the day after the election.  It was a rough morning, I had trouble getting up.  My youngest 2 wanted me to pay for not seeing them at all the day before.  Stick Boy wanted to snuggle in bed and gave me a lot of attitude about getting up.  Pre-Teen was mad, just mad but didn’t want to talk about it.  I had bought hay the day before the election but D-something Husband said he would do it later.  So there I am ready to feed the cattle and what do I discover when I pull back the tarp? NO HAY! 

Stick Boy and I move DH’s truck to the spot we keep the hay in and my 50 pound son starts helping me move and lift hay bales that are as heavy as he is.  Pre-Teen Daughter decided we were not doing things the way we should so she yelled a few choice words at us and ran away from us.  Stick Boy and I stacked 3 bales of hay, moved the sheep to their daytime area, and finished getting ready for school, and Daughter comes back I hand her a bagel and we leave. 

My gift to Darling Husband was to call him and let him know how helpful Stick Boy was and not to scream about not unloading the hay for me.

Darling Husband and I have been having a dispute.  9 years ago, when we moved here one of the first fun improvements we did was to put a waterfall where we pump water into the pond.  It was wonderful having the waterfall sound going into the pond when we are filling it.  Over the years the rocks and pipes making the waterfall have sunk.  Darling Husband wants the water in the pond higher than the pipes going into the pond.  If we are paying to pump the water into the pond I want to be able to hear it falling into the pond.  Also it helps aerate the water if it gathers oxygen as it falls into the pond – so clearly I am right! 

Darling Wonderful Husband decided to redo the waterfall so it sounds wonderful as we fill the pond.  We still are arguing about how high the pond should be, now, I want the kids to be able to paddle under the bridge without lying down in the boat but that new dispute will be settled at a later date.  

The new pipe water will flow through.

Setting rocks so we do not see the ugly pipe.

Now that's my beautiful waterfall!

Working the Election

I had the privilege of working at my local polling place this election.  I have to say it was an incredible experience.  Poll workers take a  90 minute classroom class unless they have a special job then they take more, also take a 2 hour online class.  Then the night before the election they set up the facility.  The day of the election they are there at 5:30 am and get 2, 45 minute, breaks and are not done until 10 pm the night of the election.  We get paid anything from $0 to $150 depending on our job.  I am proud and blessed to be a part of a nation that every citizen has the right to vote (with a few exceptions), BUT I after working the polls I had to wonder why there isn’t some kind of test a person must take before they get to use the privilege of voting. 

We had one man furious; I mean red in the face angry that we had our Primary Election in June.  “We are voting for President how much more Important can it get!  This should be the Primary”.  How do you explain to someone in the short time we have that US’s Primary election is for each party (Democrats and Republicans) to decide who will run for president? 

One lady came in with her husband’s and her ballots for this election and the Primary election confused as to why the names were different and if we voted in June why did we need to do it again?  Did she vote in June?  Why couldn’t we tell her?  She was so confused and upset it was hard not to laugh, we tried to help her understand but how do you give civics lessons at a polling place?

We had a lot of citizens angry that we do not ask for Identification.  Some were polite and showed it as their way of quietly protesting, Thank You.  Others angry because they could give us any name and address and if it was on our roster we would let them vote.   Voter ID laws and if they are constitutional have been all over the news lately.  Many states are in lawsuits because some citizens believe it is unfair and unconstitutional. As a Poll Worker I can’t even discuss the issues with you.  I had one friend come in and ask me my opinion and when we said I couldn’t give it I walked 100 feet away from our polling place and told him it was the one issue I didn’t vote on because I saw bad on both sides.   

I met the man across the street who’s dogs keep getting out and got his phone number so I can call next time they are out, and another man with a boy Stick Boy’s age that lives walking distance from me.  The neighbor who was DWI Horse came to vote bedecked in jewelry, cowboy hat, and jeans that looked like his horse had drug him through the dirt.  One husband and wife got into an argument about how to vote.  Someone complained that we were looking at the ballots as we slid them in the box. 

This year was the first year my teen daughter was able to vote.  My son reminded me that I will have a child voting for their first presidential election for the next 3 time we vote for president.  Hopefully they will show up at their polls knowing what election they are voting for, why they are voting, and appreciative of their civic duty.

Cool Morning

It’s the first cold rainy morning since we have gotten the animals.  It really isn't that cold 50 degrees and not that much rain (it isn't measurable) but it’s the first for us.  The cats are not happy to be out of the house, but the kittens followed us as we took care of giving the cattle hay and walked the sheep from the night enclosure to the day grassy/leafy area.  The kittens were walking slowly so Deer ran up and nosed one of the kittens.  Oh those Crazy animals!