Push

One week until school starts and my world will be turned upside down.  I'm thankful for my teaching job, especially in this precarious financial time where many don't know how they will make ends meet.   I heard it again at the market - oh, there are always jobs somewhere, but that's not true.   There are not jobs for everyone here in this upstate rural area.  The grandparents who always need help on the dairy farm are gone. College graduates are taking the Walmart jobs.   "As long as I have my job nobody can tell me I can't have my sheep" is a mantra I frequently repeat.   I am, however, doing some long-range planning which includes having fewer sheep that carry more wool.  I adore my Bluefacec Leicesters, and they are amazing animals, but they don't produce enough wool to earn their keep.  I bought a registered Border Leicester, Zack, a few years back, but his fleece is a bit coarse for my liking.  We'll see.  On deck for today after morning chores - I have quite a bit of wet dyed wool to get dry.   With two gray, wet days in a row I won't be putting it outside.  Time to clear off the table in the "spare" room and spread it out,  turn on the ceiling fan and close the door.  That's how I do it in the winter.  I'm waiting for a box to arrive with jars and essential oils including my beloved Patchouli.  Oh, I do love it.  The doggies have gone back to sleep for a while.  We usually take our big walk up the hill and around the pond late in the morning.  How can I tell them as of Tuesday they have to hold their BM's until five in the afternoon?   Poor babies!  I'll try to dig out some good bones from the dead pile up on the ridge to keep them occupied during the day.  Still - it's a big adjustment for them and me.  I will worry about them all day long, along with the baby goat twins Comet and Boo-Boo, my seven little ducklings following their mama around, and the two little ducklings still in the cage (I'm afraid to let them go as they have no duck mother to steer them away from danger). I will have to get up very early to do everything I need to do around here and get on the road in time to be on time at school.  There is one big Gotta Deal looming large on this farm.