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Monday, October 3, 2011

Monday Monday.

After a full, sloshy, slimy, boggy, soggy, mucky, yucky weekend, I did end up with just enough time to fire off another potholder.  Unfortunately, I had neither the energy or interest to do so.  I am holding at 6.  I had discovered on Friday that Acacia, the little runty lamb, had very poor body condition - she was very thin and not thriving.  Although it's easy to miss this, given the amount of wool on their little bodies, I fault myself for not checking on a weekly basis to make sure ALL of them are doing well.  This caused me to toss and turn all night long under a hot and hairy layer of guilt.  Saturday morning, while it was just 'misting' and just before the day-long deluge started, I picked Acacia up, wormed her and put her in the goat's area with lots of grass.  Then I had to keep the goats in the barn, since Chicky does not know the meaning of the word "share". 

But, what to do about shelter without access to the barn and a weekend long monsoon forecast? I had inherited a good-sized dog house from my neighbor (a builder) and he had very nicely dropped it at the top of my driveway.  I swear to God, this thing weighed 400 lbs!  It had started raining pretty steadily and Acacia only had trees for shelter.  So, I put on my big girl pants (and big girl rain gear).  I had to move it.  It took over 20 minutes of wet rassling and lots of limited vocabulary words, but I got it inside the fence, put hay and feed in it, and she popped right in, happy as a nice damp clam.  After wrestling with that bad boy, I decided that, should I ever decide to build a house, my neighbor has the job.

Then I zipped off to the Farmers Market - where a few hearty souls stood under pooling tents - and got mums for my mum and me; a big bag of mixed mushrooms (thank you Linda - dripping with sarcasm here - for introducing me to these); a Savoy cabbage the size of a bowling ball - so perfect it almost brought tears to my eyes - for $2; and assorted other vegetables.  Then I zipped back to the apple orchard where I picked my own - out of bushels in their dry store and NOT from the orchard; then to the feed store; gasoline; home.  Then I realized my pork roast was just too puny and put in an emergency call to Marianne, who had a lovely roast - at home and not at the market.  I managed to clean the house, clean the cats' room (whispering this so that all cats reading who do not have their own room won't be jealous), washed dishes, and did a major tidying up, before I raced north to meet Marianne at her house to pick up the roast, then zoomed home to beat my parents up the driveway.  After that, I just gave up, as I really can't do much while they're here.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable visit, with a boisterous firehouse breakfast (the food was just as bad as I remember), some Glenn Miller on the CD player, much cooking and moving around of sheep, lambs and goats, then a lovely dinner with my parents and my neighbors.  There is something so nice and heartwarming about a table set with cloth, flowers and good china, surrounded by people who like each other, are nice and fun, full of good chatter.  And the food - it was good.  I had convinced myself that I would not have any of the French apple cake, since it contained flour.  That resolve disappeared as soon as it was flipped over on its serving plate, all hot, caramel-y, apple-y.  I did, virtuous me, have a very small piece.

Kay brought over her personal trainer (aka Gideon, the Sheltie puppy) to meet everyone.  Scrappy and Bernie were not pleased, so they stayed inside.  We were all entranced by how smart he is.  At least there were glimpses of blue sky yesterday.  There are two more days of showers and rain, then the forecast is much better.  I sure hope so, because I need to get 100 bales of hay this weekend.  Which reminds me.  I am going to have to butter up the farmer - I need him and his truck to get it.  Maybe a lemon meringue pie?

14 comments:

Jenyfer Matthews said...

I recently wrestled a queen sized mattress up a flight of stairs and down a hall by myself so I can relate to your dog-house story - though the mattress with lighter and I did not have to deal with mud! I hope it does the trick for your little lamb :)

Susan said...

Jenyfer - There is nothing more frustrating than a large mattress, PLUS stairs! Those things fight back! At least you can collapse on it when it's in place!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I do believe some few choice words actually do help with increasing strengh when moving heavy objects. And now I am facinated with this cake. Very cruel to not post a picture or recipe. I might have been able to overlook it had you not mentioned caramel!

Mama Pea said...

Ah, I do so love the way you write. I real gift of the pen you have, m'dear!

Whadda busy weekend. We had a hectic one also but yours sounds like it was a lot more interesting, fun and filled with good food.

Regarding moving the dog house yourself, we wonder women just do whatever we have to do when we really want to do it. But all the same, ya shoulda called. I could have sent Papa Pea over to help. ;o]

Erin said...

Busy girl! I hope Acacia does well!

Susan said...

Jane - It is decidedly UNhealthy but delish! I will put the recipe on. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to photograph ;o)

Mama Pea - Oh, pshaw. You are very kind. Your check is in the mail (heehee). What was left of Papa Pea, you mean. You two fall under the wunderkind heading yourselves.

Erin - It is slow and steady. She was pretty far down the slippery slope, but she is a spunky little thing. She's now getting lots of food and attention.

Carolyn said...

I swear, I feel like such a slacker when you ramble off all those things you did. I'm lucky if I can find my shoes in the morning, let alone get them on and find my way out of the house.

Glad you had a nice fancy dinner! I may have to break out my "fine china" and make a to-do about dinner this week....just because.

Susan said...

Carolyn - Oh, no, you don't. You are just as busy but don't blather on as much as I do. I highly recommend pulling out the fine china every once in a while just because - you can! But then we will want a full accounting with pictures.

judy said...

The words do flow from your tongue ,maybe a future novelist amongst us, sounds like you had a lovey time. I keep trying to convince my daughter about mentioning this idea that it is a possibility that she may have the same aliment with constant stomach problems

Susan said...

Judy - Well, pshaw again! I will have to say that I feel so much better now that I've cut out gluten. I seem to have a low tolerance for it, but not full-out intolerance, thank goodness. I'm trying to think of this as a creative opportunity. I'm not convinced yet.

Candy C. said...

Glad you were able to get little Acacia a house of her own!
Sounds like a busy but enjoyable weekend! :)

The Apple Pie Gal said...

I love it! So the other cats don't get jealous and all! You are a darn hoot!

A very energenic hoot! My gosh woman, you never cease to amaze me. I think you are an inspiration!

Carolyn said...

Oh, and if it makes you feel any less "silly", in our last home I had a cat room. For the cats. With cat pictures and cat tea pots and I had a little silver tray that I put their food & water in (which were actually old teacups). AND I even cut a hole in the wall leading from the cat room to our bedroom so they could go in / out without going down the hallway.

Now, they are country cats, and eat in the kitchen like every other cat (except yours, of course!)

Susan said...

Candy - Yes, it was equal parts frustrating and happy.

APG - Well, it sounds better than it looks - my activity, that is.

Carolyn - I am speechless and I am hiding this comment so my cats don't see it. I could never live up to that level of cat-love!