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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Loose Ends.

I am getting ready to take my second (!!) overnight vacation this year.  Quite a milestone, as I usually am limited to the one weekend my sister can house sit for me.  I will make the 5 hour drive to the middle of New York State to pick up my ram lamb.  Even if I wasn't picking up a ram lamb, I would make the trip just for the company of Frances and Wendy.  They raise beautiful Icelandic sheep and Scottish Deerhounds on Heartsease Farm.  It is a lovely and restful spot near the fingerlake region of the state.  Besides immersing myself in sheep and dogs, there is lively conversation, bird song, Wendy's amazing sourdough bread, good coffee, good company.  And I usually get to sleep in the guest room with all the bags of fleece.  I seem to sleep better under the influence of lanolin.
    All this future utopia aside, I need to get my place in some sort of shipshape order for my friend Rosie's arrival.  She will be (wo)maning the place from Saturday morning to Sunday early evening.  I am trying to make it as seamless a process as possible.  In light of that, this morning I moved Elmer into the empty quail house and out of my laundry room.  She was quite happy and I was confident it would do no harm, as her neck wound has healed up with no wet spots that would provide an environment for flies.  I also managed to clean out some of my refrigerator, wipe off counters, clean bathrooms, and change the sheets on the guest bed.  There are advantages to getting up at 4 a.m.  Tonight, when I get home, I will finish off the last of the clean-up and make a vegetable stew in the crockpot.  This, along with some carb or other, will be dinner tomorrow night.  I am hoping it is good enough to ease the shock of my two-page chore list...

7 comments:

Kaytee said...

I just love the Finger Lakes region. Have fun and enjoy the scenery!

Erin said...

I'm loving reading through your blog! Lanolin reminds me of being a kid again, my parents raised sheep in MN!

Susan said...

Kaytee - it will be a nice drive, albeit long. It's so much fun to visit other peoples sheep!

Erin - I always put my face in my ewe, Flora's fleece and just inhale. She is very lanolin-y. Plus it great for your hands!

Mama Pea said...

I'm betting Rosie will have as much of a "vacation" taking care of your place as you will getting your ram lamb.

As much as we might love our own home, it's always good to get away now and then . . . even if it's only because you appreciate your own place all the more on returning. Seeing other people's environment is always inspiring and gives a boost to the ol' energy level.

Hubby and I definitely need to put this practice into place more frequently in the near future! We haven't been doing enough of it.

Susan said...

Mama Pea - maybe you and your hubby can tear yourself away from your Guinness Book of Records garden in the fall! You two need a break from your summer of 'fun'....

Mama Pea said...

Our summer of fun. You got that right! (Let me put in right away though that I'm very grateful to the garden gods for providing us with such bounty! Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Promise not to laugh? I'm seriously considering (or is it considering seriously?) NOT gardening next summer. Taking the summer off. Letting the soil rest and rejuvenate. Well, okay, I'd still have to take care of and harvest strawberries, blueberries and raspberries but no veggies. Can I do it?

Susan said...

Wow. That is...serious. I am only refusing to plant pickling cucumbers. I KNOW I can do that. I think you can, if you can make it past those gorgeous, evil seed catalogs that arrive in the dark depths of winter.