Big Daddy Leaves the State

Okay, I should have seen it coming. Three months of active job hunting and nothing...I mean nothing. The only lead he had on a job was snafued by a ticket he forgot to pay in Pa. before we moved. Then desperation set in, and a lightning bolt from NJ. A big shot builder Matt worked for a couple of years ago called with a job. A woman with "deep pockets" - a construction term for wealthy - wants her historic barn restored inside and out. The job could last from 3 months to a year. Matt has a good reputation for saving old structures that are hanging on by a board or two...and once the structure is saved they find other things for him to do. The builder is even offering him a room in the historic Bed and Breakfast in Long Valley that Matt rebuilt a while back. It's great to have Matt working again but it means Maggie is in charge of the farm. I did it from August to January and at times I was the one hanging on by a board or two..but this means I can finally get out of the trailer and into the barn apt. My friend from work, Kelly's, husband is coming over to check out what needs to be done. With Matt making NJ wages we can afford to hire someone. But that doesn't help with the enormous responsiblity of getting a couple of hundred animals fed and cared for properly. Just getting the hay out is hard work, twice a day. I better stock up on Advil. Matt is cutting down old wooden stanchions today and will construct a wall that I can pass feed through to the sheep without getting mobbed and carried away. We got bulk grain delivered yesterday so I can auguer it down through a chute instead of hauling bags. Nobody will be home with the bottle babies during the day, so I will have to hustle home. They will be screaming for their milk by that time. I will leave Tonya out with the flock and hope she is not butted around too much. She's too old to leave in the crate all day, but with no mother to protect her, she is vulnerable to any ill-tempered ewe. Even so she seems happier with the flock. I type this as I am waiting for him to get up and catch a ewe with mastitis that needs a shot, and the drain in the milk room is overflowing with washing machine water and flooding the place. We will all have to make do...