Day Six: A Puppy Pile and a Surprise
It is amazing what a difference a little sunshine makes! Today was the best yet of our home days. It was warm enough to work and play outside and we did so all day long under the blue sky.
Before things warmed up, I had a phone meeting with a co-worker for an hour. I sat in my car, phone balanced on the steering wheel, laptop in my lap. Each from our own work place, we made our way through a grant proposal as the sun melted the crystalline frost off my windshield.
When our meeting was over it had warmed up enough that the kids were willing to go outside, so we planted the fish. May the poor little catfish be transformed into beautiful, tall sunflowers in a few months. Sunflowers are much prettier than catfish anyway, so maybe it is an upgrade? Taiya and William helped throw dirt on the grave of the poor thing. They were no longer sad about the loss of the fish, so it wasn't a somber affair.
We moved the baby chicks to their outdoor brooder, so they are no longer cheeping at all hours in our living room. Hopefully they won't get eaten by sneaky varmints that seem to always find their way around, under, or through the chicken wire. We lost two batches of chicks that way last year, so I'm feeling nervous about having them out there, but Jeremy assures me he has fixed all the problems.
Taiya got to have a video chat with a friend whose birthday party we were supposed to go to today. Watching two kids talk on the phone is adorable. These two girls can play all day long together without a pause in the action, but over the phone it was all awkward pauses and conversational dead ends. They still seemed to enjoy it in spite of that, though.
The kids played in the hose and the sandbox in the sun while I weeded one of my raised beds. It was covered in my spring "cover crop," a.k.a. chickweed, purple dead nettle, and henbit. I had peas and radishes to plant, so I pulled all the weeds, raked it smooth, and popped in a bit of cattle panel as a trellis before planting the peas. Taiya and William lasted quite a while in the freezing hose water, but eventually needed a break from it. They dried off and basked on a blanket in the sun. I finished up my gardening tasks and made a gourmet lunch of bagel pizzas and oranges and ate out on the blanket with them.
The best part of my day came when it was time for our seven puppies to have their afternoon snack. I
drove up to the farm by myself, grabbed puppy food from the barn, and walked out across the pasture to where they live with our goats. I didn't see any activity by their shelter, but when I called, seven fluffy puppies came running with wagging tails. I put their two bowls on a drier spot of grass, poured the food into them, and then sat down. They had a hard time deciding between mauling me and eating their food. They tugged at my sweater, skirt, shoelaces, they clambered on my lap to lick my face--it was heaven. I lay down and was covered in fluffy bodies crawling all over me, and I started laughing so hard I couldn't get up. Then their mama, Skye, ran over and she had to join the fun, so I had seven small puppies and one 100 lbs dog all wanting to be scratched and petted. I called a friend on FaceTime so she could enjoy this melee as well, and we had a fun chat. Puppies, a friend, sunshine... bliss. So grateful for it all.
I walked, puppies in tow, to check on the goats who were grazing nearby. They stood contentedly grazing, but one was missing. Bonnie, our now one-year-old bottle baby, who is expecting a baby of her own, wasn't there. I headed back down to the house after a few more minutes of puppy time, and told Jeremy Bonnie was not with the group. The kids, while I was gone, had made a sleigh out of their old crib mattress, a chair, and a car seat. William was the horse and Taiya was, you guessed it, the princess. In a little while it was chore time and we all went along. At the farm, we loaded up in the truck with buckets of feed for the pigs, goats, dogs, and salt and mineral for the cows. We fed the pigs, drove to the goats, and got them all rounded up, but Bonnie was still missing. Jeremy went looking for her while we played with Skye and her puppies. It was probably fifteen minutes of looking throughout the pastures and tree lines, and I was imagining the worst--that she'd had trouble birthing and was dead. I was imagining the conversation we'd have to have with the kids, who love Bonnie especially. Finally, Jeremy came rolling back in the truck, thank goodness with Bonnie in the front seat next to him, along with her brand new baby! It made a sunny, puppy-filled day even more wonderful.
After much celebration of Bonnie and Bittie Bonnie, we headed back to the house for a spaghetti dinner, a viewing of Cinderella, stories, and blessedly, sleep.
Before things warmed up, I had a phone meeting with a co-worker for an hour. I sat in my car, phone balanced on the steering wheel, laptop in my lap. Each from our own work place, we made our way through a grant proposal as the sun melted the crystalline frost off my windshield.
When our meeting was over it had warmed up enough that the kids were willing to go outside, so we planted the fish. May the poor little catfish be transformed into beautiful, tall sunflowers in a few months. Sunflowers are much prettier than catfish anyway, so maybe it is an upgrade? Taiya and William helped throw dirt on the grave of the poor thing. They were no longer sad about the loss of the fish, so it wasn't a somber affair.
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| So long, catfish. Sorry we didn't know how to keep you alive. |
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| Giant Heirloom Titan sunflowers, planted atop the fish. |
We moved the baby chicks to their outdoor brooder, so they are no longer cheeping at all hours in our living room. Hopefully they won't get eaten by sneaky varmints that seem to always find their way around, under, or through the chicken wire. We lost two batches of chicks that way last year, so I'm feeling nervous about having them out there, but Jeremy assures me he has fixed all the problems.
Taiya got to have a video chat with a friend whose birthday party we were supposed to go to today. Watching two kids talk on the phone is adorable. These two girls can play all day long together without a pause in the action, but over the phone it was all awkward pauses and conversational dead ends. They still seemed to enjoy it in spite of that, though.
The kids played in the hose and the sandbox in the sun while I weeded one of my raised beds. It was covered in my spring "cover crop," a.k.a. chickweed, purple dead nettle, and henbit. I had peas and radishes to plant, so I pulled all the weeds, raked it smooth, and popped in a bit of cattle panel as a trellis before planting the peas. Taiya and William lasted quite a while in the freezing hose water, but eventually needed a break from it. They dried off and basked on a blanket in the sun. I finished up my gardening tasks and made a gourmet lunch of bagel pizzas and oranges and ate out on the blanket with them.
The best part of my day came when it was time for our seven puppies to have their afternoon snack. I
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| Help! The puppies are swarming! |
I walked, puppies in tow, to check on the goats who were grazing nearby. They stood contentedly grazing, but one was missing. Bonnie, our now one-year-old bottle baby, who is expecting a baby of her own, wasn't there. I headed back down to the house after a few more minutes of puppy time, and told Jeremy Bonnie was not with the group. The kids, while I was gone, had made a sleigh out of their old crib mattress, a chair, and a car seat. William was the horse and Taiya was, you guessed it, the princess. In a little while it was chore time and we all went along. At the farm, we loaded up in the truck with buckets of feed for the pigs, goats, dogs, and salt and mineral for the cows. We fed the pigs, drove to the goats, and got them all rounded up, but Bonnie was still missing. Jeremy went looking for her while we played with Skye and her puppies. It was probably fifteen minutes of looking throughout the pastures and tree lines, and I was imagining the worst--that she'd had trouble birthing and was dead. I was imagining the conversation we'd have to have with the kids, who love Bonnie especially. Finally, Jeremy came rolling back in the truck, thank goodness with Bonnie in the front seat next to him, along with her brand new baby! It made a sunny, puppy-filled day even more wonderful.
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| Bonnie and her first baby, a girl! |
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| Bonnie is my co-pilot. |
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