Bad Life Decisions
Prior to picking up our new lawn mowers last night, I made a number of bad decisions:
1. I left our current lawn mowers (all 5 horses) in the yard.
2. I left the pigs in the pasture. They hadn't tested the fence in any way and had been so, so good so for the first time I left our property with pigs not locked in the "secure" pen.
3. Due to the fact the horses were in yard and I was gone, I left the big barn doors tightly shut, meaning the chickens could not get inside either.
It took quite a trek to go get our new sheep last night, much further than I anticipated. But I was willing to go it because we were getting a "good deal". We had been contemplating sheep for several months but prices are high right now and we wanted something "interesting". This starter herd (4 ewes and a ram) of purebred Icelandic sheep were just the ticket...as long I was willing to drive to the middle of nowhere to fetch them...and fetch them ASAP before anyone else bought them.
And so I did. And as such, I did not return to our farm until rather late last night...well after dark...after having made a bunch of bad decisions before leaving.
When I drove in the yard last night, with a very tired and yet very excited 3-year-old in tow (who is the BEST road trip kid ever by the way), I made it through the yard gate without incident but then the horses spotted me.
As horses will do, they started acting like complete a**es at the sight of a trailer. Soon they were all galloping around my yard in a seething mass. I knew I couldn't do much to stop it so I proceeded to back the trailer up to the barn door.
It was then that things went terribly wrong.
As I was backing up, the horses quit running and ran over to see what new "toy" mom had brought. This meant they placed themselves between the back of the trailer and the barn door. I was already have a time of it trying to back in the dark and now I had whirling horses to contend with.
I stopped and got out to shoo them and it was then that I became aware of my second problem: The pigs were ALL OUT.
Upon hearing my voice, they apparently decided to wake up from wherever they were and come over and see what was up. Soon after, the two hens that were locked out of the barn also woke up and came clattering over to see if I had treats and/or would let them into the barn.
So now I had 5 horses, 4 pigs and 2 chickens whirling around my trailer. The pigs were really worked up because they are mostly afraid of the horses and the horses were getting even giddier because they had new sheep AND barking pigs to react to. And the chickens were, well, chickens.
It was then that I was presented with a real problem: I needed to settle and move horses, pigs and chickens but the only way to get their attention at that point was to get a bucket of grain out. But that meant I would be mobbed by the lot....in the dark.
Faced with little other choice, that is what I did.
Now I want you to imagine trying to sort and settle 5 idiot horses, 4 frantic pigs and 2 squawking chickens. I needed the pigs in their pen and the horses in theirs and not a one of them had their brain in working order at that point. Let's just say it imagine a lot of swearing, some slamming of errant animals' faces in the gate and I may have eventually gotten a broom out to use as a stockman's sorting stick.
Eventually I got everyone where they belonged and was able to finish backing the trailer up and unload the sheep (which, because these are very sweet sheep, went entirely without incident).
And so may I present our new lawnmowers: Rudy (the ram), Robyn (black face with bell), Rosa (white face with bell), Hope (dark face) and Lilly (white face).
And obviously the next new farm skill I get to learn is sheep shearing.
1. I left our current lawn mowers (all 5 horses) in the yard.
2. I left the pigs in the pasture. They hadn't tested the fence in any way and had been so, so good so for the first time I left our property with pigs not locked in the "secure" pen.
3. Due to the fact the horses were in yard and I was gone, I left the big barn doors tightly shut, meaning the chickens could not get inside either.
It took quite a trek to go get our new sheep last night, much further than I anticipated. But I was willing to go it because we were getting a "good deal". We had been contemplating sheep for several months but prices are high right now and we wanted something "interesting". This starter herd (4 ewes and a ram) of purebred Icelandic sheep were just the ticket...as long I was willing to drive to the middle of nowhere to fetch them...and fetch them ASAP before anyone else bought them.
And so I did. And as such, I did not return to our farm until rather late last night...well after dark...after having made a bunch of bad decisions before leaving.
When I drove in the yard last night, with a very tired and yet very excited 3-year-old in tow (who is the BEST road trip kid ever by the way), I made it through the yard gate without incident but then the horses spotted me.
As horses will do, they started acting like complete a**es at the sight of a trailer. Soon they were all galloping around my yard in a seething mass. I knew I couldn't do much to stop it so I proceeded to back the trailer up to the barn door.
It was then that things went terribly wrong.
As I was backing up, the horses quit running and ran over to see what new "toy" mom had brought. This meant they placed themselves between the back of the trailer and the barn door. I was already have a time of it trying to back in the dark and now I had whirling horses to contend with.
I stopped and got out to shoo them and it was then that I became aware of my second problem: The pigs were ALL OUT.
Upon hearing my voice, they apparently decided to wake up from wherever they were and come over and see what was up. Soon after, the two hens that were locked out of the barn also woke up and came clattering over to see if I had treats and/or would let them into the barn.
So now I had 5 horses, 4 pigs and 2 chickens whirling around my trailer. The pigs were really worked up because they are mostly afraid of the horses and the horses were getting even giddier because they had new sheep AND barking pigs to react to. And the chickens were, well, chickens.
It was then that I was presented with a real problem: I needed to settle and move horses, pigs and chickens but the only way to get their attention at that point was to get a bucket of grain out. But that meant I would be mobbed by the lot....in the dark.
Faced with little other choice, that is what I did.
Now I want you to imagine trying to sort and settle 5 idiot horses, 4 frantic pigs and 2 squawking chickens. I needed the pigs in their pen and the horses in theirs and not a one of them had their brain in working order at that point. Let's just say it imagine a lot of swearing, some slamming of errant animals' faces in the gate and I may have eventually gotten a broom out to use as a stockman's sorting stick.
Eventually I got everyone where they belonged and was able to finish backing the trailer up and unload the sheep (which, because these are very sweet sheep, went entirely without incident).
And so may I present our new lawnmowers: Rudy (the ram), Robyn (black face with bell), Rosa (white face with bell), Hope (dark face) and Lilly (white face).
And obviously the next new farm skill I get to learn is sheep shearing.
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