Too Much to Do

I have too much to do, and where to start? Start by sitting down and sorting it all out...then there is the keyboard so why not write something? I got my Jeep legal yesterday, after being ticketed for no inspection sticker - first ticket in almost 30 years. I found a mechanic in Brookfield who is also a BOCES teacher right down the road. Rosanna, our new science teacher and also B'field resident, picked me up at his place at 7 am. That's right, 7 am. Rosanna likes to get to school early. For me to leave the farm before 7 I have to get up by 5:30. I was dragging last night, let me tell you, but it was worth it. The Jeep only needed one new shock absorber in the front and I got the sticker. No more keeping to back roads and dipping down into hollows and hiding behind barns when I see cops coming up behind me. Now I can zoom down to NJ to visit Mia, and ride through downtown Norwich (where I got the ticket) to get to the Salvation Army thrift shop or Wal-Mart. I found some alpaca fleeces in the tractor shed from NJ and dyed two little ones purple and one big, gnarly one orange. Yes, alpaca can be gnarly. I put too much in the orange pot and it came out wildly variegated, but pretty. I spread it out on the drying rack outside, since the snow on it has melted and I figured being out in the cool air is better than sitting in a plastic bag. The kitties got excited and jumped all over it to take a nap. I didn't have the heart to shoo them away. I have so much fiber to send to the carding company I can't afford to mail it all. Have to send it one run at a time, but that's the way they prefer it, I think, and the runs won't get mixed up. I will have fiber to sell and barter for the entire show season. Speaking of show seasons, I prepared a CD of my products and booth pictures to apply to Colorscape Chenango, complete with list of pictures descriptions, and worried all night about getting it post marked on time, when I saw this morning that the required mailing date is March 13th. Today is the 7th. So typical of me. It's a wonder I can put one foot in front of the other. Yes, I need a personal assistant, or a partner to take care of stuff like that...but that's not going to happen, so I will deal with it and do the best I can. I have to get another application out to the new Washington County festival near Saratoga Springs. If I am accepted to those two new venues, I will have four shows in September, then Rhinebeck in October. I can do it if I work on it all summer. Hannah and Luke are coming the end of June. I can make soap at night after coming in from our nightly campfire, or in the morning when they are sleeping until noon. Remember those days? In the meantime, I need to tidy up this place a bit. I want to cut out bags but my cutting table is covered with purple alpaca. Might roll it up, cut out bags, then spread it out again. Drying fiber in winter is challenging. I just looked up the stats for meningeal disease in llamas again, and reviewed all the stages of the disease. Chris is the same, showing a weakness in one hind leg. If the llama is still standing, there is an 75 to 85 percent chance of recovery. Chris is so strong, fine and healthy otherwise, I believe he can make it. I am going to give him another shot of Dexamethesone for the swelling caused by the larvae of the parasite (YUCK!!) and some more ivermectin, then let him go to be with his sheep. He keeps looking at them from his pen and humming a very sad sound. He's got a giant fleece of gorgeous red/brown fiber on him, but I don't want to stress him by clipping him now. I can't even think about losing him. The price of living in deer heaven...