Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I'll call you back when I need you! Ha! The ground around here has been soaked since the snow thawed. We have had two flooding situations this month already. Yesterday and today it has rained non-stop. I now have a little water in my utility room that doesn't belong there. That seems to happen every 4 or 5 years or so.

I could A) do something expensive or that involves a lot of hard work to fix the problem (or both), or I could B) just keep important things up off the floor and let the water flow through whenever it gets in, mop up the residue and move on with my life. How many of you guessed I picked option B? I moved the few non-waterproof items to the top of the freezer and we will just have to let the water flow. It usually only gets a couple of inches deep anyway.

Re Farming:

This was supposed to be Monday's topic, but this past Monday was St. Patrick's Day and we were zooming around town so S. could perform at all her various Irish Dance venues. One of them was an Irish pub. S. is so funny right now about drinking. She definitely sees things in black and white. She told me she was standing next to a drunk guy at one point. I asked how she knew he was drunk. She told me it was obvious--he was holding his glass at a dangerous angle and had beer dribbling out of his mouth and onto his chin. Sounds drunk to me! It is such a fine line to walk, letting our kids experience the world in which they will have to live but not over exposing them or sheltering them too much.

Back to farming. I recently read an article in a farm magazine that indicated that they are expecting a period of increased income, with recession on the horizon and rising food prices. Does that ring true with you? Most of the farmers I know are having a tough time of it these days. The meager (if any) income increases they are seeing are not keeping pace with their expenditures. Many have sold down to only the essential breeding stock. I wonder where this La La land is and if there is any more good crop land for sale!

Tuesday the buyer came and picked up the Soay ewes I had for sale. It was a little bittersweet to see the girls go. One of them was my main ewe from the very beginning. I enjoyed sheep farming. For a good while that was a big part of my identity. I did well with them--I more than doubled my investment money. But the time had come to get rid of our livestock until our fences and barn can be reinforced to a useable status or replaced. We were looking at about $30,000 to build a nice, new barn and fence enough of this place to hold more sheep and horses. We just couldn't justify that much expense for animals that produced so little (or no) income. Sometimes we just have to make hard choices.

Re Family

So on Tuesday, when I should have been blogging about family, I was out sheep wrangling. One word about family, even though S. is only 9 she can be a big help around here. She is very reliable about working a gate or helping handle animals. I trust her more than I do some adults. She is at an odd, very uneven stage. One day she will act so mature, cooking, cleaning, and being a real joy. Other days she will be a real pill, lazing around leaving messes everywhere, arguing, and disobeying and driving me crazy. I hope this is an age thing and will eventually pass.

Wednesday--fiber day!

I have to confess the only fiber related things I did today were administrative. When I was out cleaning the barn last Saturday, I brought an old pair of the hand held, non-mechanical sheep shears in to put into my fiber education box. I think people might like to see them. I think the design has been unchanged for hundreds of years. But they still work quite well. I also read a flyer about a series of upcoming pioneer presentations and our spinning guild is listed to demonstrate at one of them. That would be good, as I haven't made time to spin for a while. The schedule also has vague mention of 4-H activities that will be offered, so I may end up taking my whole fiber education display on the road or some part of it.

On the down side, I realized this morning that my needle felting projects are in a terrible state of disarray. I have multiple bags and boxes of partially finished work. I need to get it all together in one place, sort it all out, and then systematically finish it one by one. I may try to get that to happen this spring. If I could get it organized, I think there would be lots of down time to fill at the various dog events and I could use it wisely.

So, that's about it for me. Utility room awash. Ewe pen empty. Fiber fuzz everywhere. And my beloved daughter hanging around with drunks. Is spring here yet?

Lori