An Easter Lamb!

My kids spent Saturday night at their Grandparents' house in town and I spent much of my evening sitting in the barn watching and waiting for imminent signs of labor in my ewe, Lavender.  The barn was quiet with only the sounds of the pigs snoring and farting in their pig pile to my left and the sound of the sheep breathing and burping while they chewed their cud.  High above a spider was making a web on the light bulb and I half expected to come out in the morning to see 'SOME PIG' written in spider silk. 



Last night, I called it quits at midnight.  I knew Lavender was going to lamb any time but I couldn't stay up any longer.  If you ever thought you were the size of a house when you were pregnant, well you've never been a sheep...

I was not surprised to see a wee baby lamb when I went out to the barn this morning!  Lavender probably had it the second I turned my back!  Its pretty stinkin' cute if you ask me!

Lavender and her lamb, who we have named Lamb Chop after a lamb we hand raised in Alberta, are both doing great!  They will be ready for visitors next weekend ;)

Hunting in the Moonlight Hours

There has been this rat in the barn evading me for days.  I first saw it a week or so ago eating some scraps my aunt had given me for the pigs.  A trap was set with peanut butter... to no avail.  Next, the trap was set with chocolate cake.  The dirty bugger managed to eat the cake, set off the trap and not get caught! Every time the dogs are in the barn, they run up and down the stairs sniffing all the corners, digging here and there and turning up nothing.  My dogs are all experienced mousers.  Much more adept than my 17 pound cat who at this moment lays on my bed licking his arse instead of doing what cats are supposed to do.

Anyway.  After coming home from our Monday Town Day, I donned my headlamp and headed to the barn to close everything up.  Two beady little eyes flashed at me from the rafters above the pigs' pen.  I grabbed my pitch fork(I don't screw around!) and lunged at it.  It scrabbled away along the wall with me and three dogs on its tail.  It was perched above my head on a ledge and I swung at it with my fork.  All I could see were its flashing eyes sailing through the bloody air at my face!  I might have let out a girly scream at that point before yelling, "GET THE MOUSE!" (These are Alberta dogs, they don't know the word 'rat' so the command is 'mouse.')

The rat in question managed to disappear and the dogs proceeded to spend the next half hour digging like maniacs under one of the feeder boxes.

Indi did most of the digging while Zama did a lot of listening and Bjorn did a lot of standing around.

Zama taking a turn at digging

Thinking there was no chance they would catch the devious rodent, I called them off to head in the house.  Indi headed into the opposite corner of the barn and started frantically sniffing under some wood.  I managed to get my fork underneath and lift it up(no way was I using my hands lest a rodent fly at my face again!) and Indi flushed the bloody creature out!  There was a great commotion as all three dogs went after it and who do you think got the trophy?  Bjorn.  He who stood around doing nothing!  He trotted off into the darkness with his squeaking prize and two furious hard working dogs trailing after him.

Zama brought it to me to show me what she'd done after it was thoroughly dead.  One very slobbery bedraggled rat.

Super gross.

What the hell is being productive anyway?

Recently it was brought to my attention that I am lazy and unproductive.  I know, don't all gasp at once!  So it made me think about what it actually means to be NOT lazy and unproductive.  How is one person's productivity better than another's?  I'm a stay at home mom, I raise my kids on my own and I run a hobby farm.  My house isn't always clean but my kids are fed, my animals are fed, everyone is happy and there's toilet paper on the roll.  Does that mean I'm less productive than another stay at home mom who spends her whole day cleaning her house?  I don't think so.  We're productive in different ways.

So needless to say this lazy and unproductive thing has become a joke as hurtful things sometimes do to make them less hurtful.  On Tuesday the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.  I chose to be lazy and unproductive(after getting up a 5:45 to meet my running buddy for a run at 6:15, got my kids fed and to the bus, fed my animals, tidied my barn... You know, all that unproductive stuff)  This was how Zama and I did the afternoon.

Yesterday was also a beautiful sunshiney day but I decided it was a productive day.  I went for a run with friends then got home and built this rock garden.  Four wheel barrows of rocks, Four wheel barrows of sheep shit, and six wheel barrows of top soil later and the garden was finished. 

I'm pretty pleased with it and I hope my future roses will be too.

So, why not keep the productivity rolling?  I dug out all the strawberry plants in this bed, three wheel barrows of sheep shit and three wheel barrows of top soil later then replanted all the strawberry plants. 

 

Fed my kids, fed my animals then went to a two hour class on dealing with Change.  Was it a productive day?  I certainly think so.  Am I happy with my life?  Mostly.  When I'm not happy, I generally strive towards the direction of happiness.  Its an ongoing learning process.   If I were to die tomorrow would I look back and wish I had been more productive?  No, I'll wish I'd taken my kids to Europe.  

Happy Thursday!