It was a beautiful 70 degree December day. In the end, even Abigail took her shirt off and was walking around, long braid dangling down her bare back.
We put a blanket down and spread a bunch of quick lunch food and the kids alternated between eating and "helping" us move the animals.
Afterwards, JB got his truck out to move the sheep/pig house. Only the truck got stuck.
JB's Dad is out of town. So he couldn't pull us out.
And our neighbor Mr. Billy didn't get home until well after dark. Nice guy he is, he called at 9pm willing to come over with some lights to get us out. JB told him that definitely wasn't necessary.
But it did mean we were down to one vehicle. So instead, I took JB into work at 6am this morning with the kids all nestled in the car seats in their pajamas. I needed the van for errands and Abigail's ballet class later today so we had no choice.
When I got home, it was pouring rain. I am so blessed that a 13-year-old homeschooler has been coming over on Thursdays to play with Hannah and Abigail while I get some cleaning and homeschool work done with the boys.
So as soon as she got here, I headed out to do the animals. Imagine my delight when I saw five ducks in our driveway. Further investigation provided details that made me even more excited. Pouring rain and half the ducks (7) and all the geese (10) are out of their pen.
Mud. Rain. By myself. I'll admit -- I teared up for a second. And then I took a deep breath and got down to it.
There is something about farming that doesn't allow you to quit. I really had no choice. I couldn't just throw my hands up and leave all the animals wandering the entire farm without food. I had to do what had to be done.
I investigated the fencing, and as I assumed, it was intact. Instead, they must have caught a good gust of wind and flown over the fencing which happens once a week or so. But this was by far the largest number of escapees at one time. In addition, I usually have Sidge with me to help, but due to the rain, I had left him inside.
So I grabbed a stick (it helps me look bigger) and opened the fencing and slid and jumped and ran in the mud until I had all those little goobers back inside. I was exhausted and my zipper had gotten off track on my rain jacket so my hood wouldn't stay on so my head was soaked.
And I hadn't even fed the pigs and sheep and chickens yet.
As I have mentioned previously, there are many times during our farming adventures that I honestly can't believe this is my life. Yesterday, JB and I had a fun conversation. I told him how lucky he was that he married me. "What if you had marries some dame who hated dirt and bugs and was scared to death of snakes. Then what?" He just laughed and nodded and told me he was glad he picked me.
I'm glad he picked me too!
P.S. Here is a video of Wednesday morning. JB, me, Abigail, and Sidge had teamed up to move the ducks and geese to their new paddock. We were able to do it in about 30 minutes which is a record for us! Here is a video I took of our adventures:
1 comment:
This is very beautiful video. Thank you so much sharing. You always post your blog with fresh info which is always interesting.
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