Holiday Musings

Woke up at 6 but went back to bed and stayed til 8. Oh, how wonderful to stay in my jammies to take the doggies out and do chores. Lake effect snow/rain coming down, nice and cold - sheep weather. The sound of the wind whooshing through the slats of the hay mow and the sheep munching on hay is very comforting to me. I'm in the right place. No lambs yet. I keep sneaking a "goose" on the ewes, slipping my hand in between their back legs, checking for their udders bagging up. Lilly has a big bag, bad news, as she had no milk last year and was the first one to give birth. I'm praying another ewe lambs first so I can use her colostrum on Lilly's lambs. Back inside to have a bowl of turkey soup and rice for breakfast. I have a giant pot of soap scraps melting on the stove. People love the funky big shaving blocks. It's a real pain pouring that molten soap into a cardboard box, but it's a great way to use up odds and ends. I'm out of hay tomorrow. I'm forking up the bales that fell apart on the floor of the hay mow. What an awful chore, to pull up those strings, hoping some of the bale is intact. Much of it is pooped or peed on, and all of it is mashed to the floor. Have to find neighbor to get the hay he has for me. Shouldn't be too hard as his cows are next door to me, but hauling them in with a broken elevator is another thing. I'm off to the Cooperstown Bassett Hospital to sit with Matt. No wonder his kidney went bad. He won't drink water and hates my turkey soup, the elixir of the body and soul. I have to come home and make product for Plowshares in Syracuse next weekend. I have to keep my wits about myself and stay calm and focused. The young priest-in-training, AJ, is coming up from NJ tomorrow and visit Matt and help me put up some Christmas lights. A beacon in the darkness...so appropriate for a clergyman.