A Sapphire in the Haystack

I didn't let the sheep out Friday because we were going out for pizza with Jan and Dave, who had come up to work on their property. After coming home from a lovely dinner in the loud, upscale and festive New York Pizzeria, Matt went to work on the drain in the Milk Room with the auger he rented that afternoon when he took Jan to get a bush mower. He told me to throw hay down, which I did, and which I thoroughly enjoyed. After a summer of the flock grazing outside I had a chance to linger with them in the semi darkness of the barn, listening to teeth and gums munching and gnashing on hay. Lilly always nudges me and asks for her head scratched. I must have spent a half hour with them after throwing down 6 bales or so to the boys outside and the girls and their babies in the barn. I went back inside, sat down at the computer and gasped in horror when I saw my sapphire engagement ring, minus the big center stone. It came off in the barn when I was putting out hay. This is the ring that Matt gave me on our fourth anniversary because he didn't have two dimes when we were married. I went back to the hay mow with my headlight, but it was hopeless. It could be in the belly of a sheep now. I adored that ring and looked at and played with it forty times a day. Ofcourse it was not insured (M stands for Moron). I am sick about it. We had to get up early Saturday and meet a student carpenter from my school at Lowes to get all the materials for my work room. Jan and Dave were happily working on clearing their land. I just couldn't let it drag my friends down and prevent me from working on my farm, but when the dust cleared on Saturday I just faded to black...