Early Bird Catches the...

Matt is away so I am up earlier than usual to get out there and sling those bales. Thankfully, they are very heavy - not like the one hand lift bales I was buying last winter. These are green and I can hardly get them off the ground with two hands, arms, back and legs. I have to lift them high over the fence and throw them as far as I can over the back of the sheep, or else they land on the wool. Since I farm for fiber, this is very annoying. When I get them hoisted over, I climb over the fence and wade through the wooly bodies to try and drag some away into the barnyard. Once a sheep gets a nose in they don't relinquish their spaces easily. The goats are much more reticent about forcing their way in, so I need to get some hay to them. I reach in with one arm and find a strand of baling twine, pull it away with all my might, bring a couple of sheep with me, and snip the twine with my Fiskars. I then drag away some flakes and toss them to the goats. Sometimes the sheep in this group think I am giving something better to the goats and run over to claim it. All this takes 15 minutes or so, then into the barn for filling stock tanks, feeding chickens, kittens, checking for rabbit water, etc. I climb up into the mow to throw a bale to my Rambo and Merino rams, Horatio and Othello, and stop to admire the streaks of sunlight coming through the cracks in the walls. Climb back down and turn off the water so I don't flood the barn. All this takes another 15 minutes, then panic because I know I am late. So many little pairs of eyes on me, cats arching their backs hoping for a stroke or two, lambs rubbing against me. How can I leave this heaven?