Cold, Very Windy, Sunday Morning

Not the greatest weekend shaping up here. Rained all day yesterday outside, and in the barn when I left the hose to the stock tank on. Flooded one end of the barn and had to rake up a lot of very wet, heavy hay. Pushed the dirty water into the Milk Room to hopefully get it down the drain but the MR drain is clogged (pipe collapse?) and we'll have to jack hammer through the concrete to fix it. The way Matt is feeling right now the likelihood of that happening is very, very remote. New job stress on top of farm chores is taking a toll. I managed to do some tidying up in the Milk Room, skirt a fleece and get it in the dye pot. The smell of the vinegar and wool cooking perked me up a bit. The Milk Room Kitties certainly enjoyed the company. Matt did consent to holding the bottle babies for me so I could get them out to the barn. Poor babies, they are miserable. It's a nasty business anyway, putting bands on their tales and private parts, and then they were moved out of their nice, warm room into the big barn. I hope the cold numbed the pain. It's time for them to get to know their own kind. I put sweaters on them - good thing since this cold snap happened last night) and put them in the dog pen inside the barn. They will be together and protected from the big sheep who might bump them around to show them who is boss. Pinky, my purebred BFL, is a bit developmentally disabled and still can't latch on to the nipple of the milk bottle. I have to pry his mouth open and slip the rubber teat in...very annoying, especially since he is the biggest and pushiest one. Tinky, Winky and Link (short for Lincoln) latch on and drain the milk just fine. I still have to get the teat bucket working. I have to plug up the whole in the screw on part with plumber's putty. Better get back to the barn to check on them. More wool sorting and dyeing today, then I'll cut out a bag for an order I got the other day. It will be good to sew again, after a few weeks hiatus for duty in the maternity ward.