Weirdos

This is what my dogs likes to do when it rains: dog on grill in rain(He might be part goat.)

This is what my husband and our youngest like to do with crayons:DSCN2990-(sm)(Don’t let his innocent face fool you, John took his out for the picture.)

This is what happens when you ask my oldest to smile for a picture:Ivy not really smiling(This is also why photos of her have been scarce lately.)

This is what my zombie middle child looks like after she finds mascara on the floor:Clara zombie(Not smiling goes well with zombie eyes.)

This is Storm:

Storm fluff

(That’s just her normal.)

Weirdos – you just gotta’ love em!

Teamwork?

Jane was squatting down on the driveway trying to catch boxelder bugs. Happily babbling away and telling me all about it she’d inch forward, reach out to grab one, miss, giggle and repeat.

Enter Clara.

Clara clomps in front of her, surveys the situation, and smashes a bug flat.

“Oh, Clara! Jane was trying to catch one of those!”

Clara reassess, moves her foot off the smashed bug and offers it to Jane.

Jane carefully picks up the flattened boxelder bug and runs to me with it excitedly “telling” me all about it.

I was still wondering if that was a good teamwork or if Jane is just a really easy going kid, when they found a toad.

I had a moment of pause when Clara went to help Jane catch it.Clara, Jane and Toad

The toad and I were both happy that the teamwork was a bit more conventional this time!

Sheep Shearing

Have you ever had a chance to watch a sheep shearer at work?

I find it to be mesmerizing.

The way wool comes off in one big piece, the sheep rolling in front and underneath the shearer as he turns them around and around.sheep shearing

The way he knows just where to grab a leg, push on a head or pull at an ear to move the animal easily into position.sheep shearing 2

The way he and the sheep make it look so easy that I want to try it too.

Instead, I looked at the length of his legs compared to mine, mentally calculated the weight of both sheep and clippers and decided I would join the watchers at the gate.Jane, Ivy, Granny watching shearing

Some of us had an easier time finding a good spot to watch than others.DSCN3057-(2sm)

But she tried and tried.DSCN3056-(2sm)

And what Jane lacks in height she makes up for in perseverance…DSCN3055-(2sm)

… and smiles!DSCN3060-(2sm)

Just about when Jane got it figured out we moved locations.

Which is when I found myself sitting on a pile of hay in an old barn.

The rain on the roof was just loud enough to drown out the pockets of conversation between family and friends. The sheep moved about in the fresh straw while the kids helped feed them and as the shearer continued at his work, I sat and enjoyed the moment.

A  moment of calm in what has been an unusually stressful and hectic week as we continue on with our “relocation.”

A moment that smelled of hay, sheep, and warm rain.

A moment of the best kind.

Have you ever had a chance to watch a sheep shearer at work?

I highly recommend it.

The Problem With Packing…

The problem with packing is that things always look so – much – worse before they look better.

I find this to be true of packing to leave the house for the afternoon, the day, the weekend, or, as we have started to do, for forever.

After spending a some time packing up our office I was feeling good about my progress so I took a little break.

When I returned I was shocked to see what my work looked like from the outside:office being packed

Look, even Louie is peeking out of his cage horrified at my “progress.”

Only ten rooms and four outbuildings left after this one…

 

Tiny Spiders

Yesterday baby spiders hatched in my window box and my spinach was covered with the tiny guys.baby spiders on spinach There were tiny spiders and tiny webs everywhere.baby spiders

Clara picked up a handful and they flowed out of her hand on their tiny webs like water in slow motion.

Today they have vanished to wherever it is that baby spiders go and my spinach was spider free when I picked it for dinner.

one baby spider

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Sign Says

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Sign Says

  The sign says “Start your climb here!”the coon tree

Can you see the path worn in the bark go up the tree, around the back and then come back around just before the first branch?

The burr oak that sports this impressive animals sign stands on my family’s farm and has always been called “the coon tree”.

The tree is awe inspiring on it’s own.  A giant that stands a bit apart from the rest of the trees with bark ridges so big I can cup my hand around them.

As impressive as the tree is, it always boggles my mind a bit when I stand at the bottom and look up the track worn in the side and think how many little clawed feet, whether they were from coons or other animals, have climbed this tree. The track almost always shows signs of fresh wear (you can see not only the browner spots of fresh scratches but the black dirt that runs up the middle) and the path is deep! You can get an idea of just how deep the path is worn if you compare the difference of the height of the bark on the bottom right corner to that of the path.

What sort of animal signs have you run across this week?