This was started on 4/6. I'm finally getting time to finish the draft and get it posted! Here is an update on the whole show..
It sure has been busy around here, but I thought I would catch up the diary for now! Although it is snowing as I write this...it has been melting quite a bit too. We were finally able to move the sheep to another permit and some eagerly awaited Green Spring grass shoots. We did loose more sheep during this harsher winter than normal and we are bidding it a fond farewell to say the least. Like everyone else in the country we have been groaning about the fuel prices in our neck of the woods. The feed prices weren't something to be excited about either. On the other hand...the moisture that has gone into the ground this winter and early spring will surely not be complained about. Even if it means we are fighting mud all through lambing! It's easy for me to say that, of course, I'm not the one who will be fighting it every day.
Every day now gets closer to the big herd starting to drop lambs. We will be getting ready to shear them as soon as the roving shearing crews give us a date. Not that the date they give us is the date we will likely end up shearing! Spring is kind of a funny time. We do a lot of hurry up & wait! The crews that bring their campers and shearing trailers through the country this time of year will get here when they get here. Sometimes we have a couple days notice, sometimes not. They are pretty much at the mercy of the weather since most of the outfits they shear for aren't fortunate enough to be indoors during the crazy spring weather. Even a little bit of moisture on the sheep can delay the start of shearing by half a day or more. Then there are the storms that roll in when half the herd is done and we have to wait for everything to dry out to start again on the other half. We usually try to shear while the herd is still on our winter permits. They are a little farther away from actually having the lambs than they are if we ship them by semi-trucks up to the lambing grounds. We prefer to not shear them too close to them having the lambs. We don't really have a say though! The crews that shear for us travel this area for a couple months working their way from operation to operation, state to state, leaving naked sheep in their wake. Since we are still getting wet weather they will likely be delayed in getting to us this year. The best we can do is get everything (paint to brand, wool bags, portable corral etc.) ready and then Hurry up & Wait!
Closer to home...we are getting closer to the end of the school year and the kids are getting stir crazy. I'll be glad when we can send them out for a while without having mud caked everywhere when it's time to come in. The oldest just competed in his Cub Scout packs Pinewood Derby. It was a fun day with friends and family there to cheer him on. It must have worked. He and his car (the "SideWinder") took First Place in his Wolf Pack and First Place Overall within the pack. Looks like we will have a trip to the District Derby coming up. He originally wanted a Wolf painted on his car, so Grandpa was surprised when we said the car didn't have a wolf. The clues we gave were "It was finger painted and we used Lace, but it wasn't a Girlie car!" - Little Sis ended up giving it away that it was a "Snake, Grandpa!" Mom helped with the outline of the snake then after his base coat was dry he used his fingerprints in a darker color for the scale pattern. Finally he used a strip of lace to make the diamond pattern on the snake's back and then Mom helped again with the eyes and tongue. It was fun watching the little guys race today and Districts should be fun too! We even got to see him race this year's car against one that his Dad built 34 years ago! His cousin raced his car from last year, he had this years and Dad's managed to come in 3rd of 3!!
UPDATE: After forgetting the derby car on the dining-room table and heading to the District races without it.Grandma & Grandpa did some fancy driving to meet me South of town grab the car and "race to the races" they made weigh-in just in time. The car didn't place in the top two spots for speed but took second overall for design! YEAH Big Brother!
