Sheep, Sleep, Beans, Sleep, Sheep, Sleep, Beans ...

It all caught up with me today and I actually took a nap ... I might do that twice a year. It has been an intense week. The days blurred together but one day this week, I picked 16 pounds of beans from the "big garden" out back and canned 14 quarts. Colton helped me with the snapping while I managed the other logistics of washing jars and beans. Colton filled the jars and into the canner they went. It took about 6 hours from the plant to the last popping lid. We are up to 33 quarts of beans.

Then yesterday, both boys helped me pick beans from the garden near the house. We picked about 30 pounds of beans! I just couldn't imagine canning all of them, so we did a quick rinse in the deep sink and put them in a large cooler for Preston to take to work and offer to everyone there. I haven't seen him yet this evening, so I don't know yet how many he is bringing home. I wonder if sheep like beans?

I made two sheep deliveries this week. Dudley, an adult wether, and Hannah's little black wethered ram lamb were loaded up Wednesday morning in the rain with the help of Ben. We were able to get the lamb in a large dog crate, but Dudley got to run "free range" in the bed of the truck.

I drove by myself to Beaver, OH ... about 80 miles southeast of here into the beautiful mountains of Ohio. The last 45 minutes was a continuous series of 30 mph S-curves. Even I was car sick when I got there and wondered if sheep got motion sickness. I arrived at Lynn's driveway and panicked when I saw that their dirt driveway with a 45 degree incline was completely washed out by the rain. I quickly called and told her I wasn't going to be able to get up the driveway in the truck. So she drove down in her car that has a hatchback. I will use Lynn's description of the trip as her husband gunned the car up the driveway:

Dudley "who is now sitting in my lap pooping away as I hang onto his horns for dear life as we bumpity bump and get air hauling ass up the grand canyon that is my driveway."

Now I was really car sick! We then had to walk (read drag) 175 pound-built-like-a-brick-house Dudley about 150 feet to the entrance of their fence down a rain-slicked hill and he wanted nothing to do with wherever it was we were taking him. Finally, success. We catch out breath and back down the "grand canyon" we go.

We slide the dog crate (good decision) into the car and Lynn sits back there to keep the crate from going airborn. Ditto on the trip back up. I decided to take the lamb out of the crate and walk him down the hill ... probably not the best choice in hind sight. The smaller the sheep, the more they can swing their body in violent opposition to what you are trying to accomplish. It had to be funny to watch, I'm sure. But I bet that crate would have just slid nicely down the hill.

Well at the sight of lush greenery, both sheep walked into their new home like it was nothing to get them there. They have a beautiful shaded hillside they now call home. One more bumpity bump down the hill, catch my breath, and wind my way out of the mountains in the pouring rain.

Well, that was so much fun, I decide to email Halle to see if she's ready for her sheep on short notice ... I figure since the truck is a mess, why not get it all done at once. Halle lives near Cleveland and bought several sheep from me last year. She arrived in a UHaul utility van that couldn't have had more than 10,000 miles on it. We loaded the sheep in the van and she headed home. I can only imagine what the next renters of the van thought!!

This time, she asked if I could meet her half way. So Ben helped me load up two of the ewe lambs, one of Delia's twins and Bianca's ewe. They had the run of the truck bed. We met at the McDonald's off I-71 at exit 151. When I read the comments: This Mc Donald's is in the middle of a corn field! I thought this would be perfect if they get loose! Fortunately, everything went smoothly, but I had to wonder what people were thinking as they went through the drive-thru! "Yikes, is that what's in my burger?!?" You could be so lucky!

Back home, after picking the 30 pounds of beans, I cleaned out the bed of the truck ... always fun! Ben and I dug a post hole with the auger on the tractor and assembled an H-brace for one of the final runs of fence out back. When Preston came home, we also put in another H-brace along the property line so we could create an opening for a small gate between us and our neighbors. We've had to either jump over barbed wire or drive nearly a mile! from their house to ours. Now it will be just a quick jaunt across the pasture.

Today everything hurts ... my wrist from one of Dudley's quick moves, my head from the 2x4 framed lid to the hay feeder that fell on my head, my knee from wrestling sheep I can only imagine, the poison ivy all over my arm, neck and sides, even my ears from a build up of fluid according to the doctor. Therefore you can appreciate my need for a nap today. I washed a fleece and fell asleep reading a book.