Well, back to the farm.
We have the hens that lay their eggs on the chair in the lower barn, with their little Bantam rooster who looks after them. Currently about 4 hens as I usually collect 2 eggs in the morning and 2 in the evening at milking time. The last couple of nights 3 hens and the rooster have been roosting on a pallet in the lower barn. I've shoo-ed them up to the chicken house, only to find the little rooster back in the lower barn when I return from taking Dolly back to the pasture. I shoo him out again, closing the overhead door so that he can't come back in, but this messes with the cats coming and going into the upper barn where they sleep, and Rosco, who has free range of the farm at night, but who still takes shelter in the lower barn when the weather isn't great. This morning when I opened the door, the rooster and 2 hens were waiting to come inside, 1 hen going straight to the chair to lay her egg.
I pace while I talk on the phone, and the reception is not great in the house, so I tend to pace outside, when I saw one of the little black ewe lambs' on top of the new hay bale. She was complaining as she couldn't get down, it must be 5 ft high ! Went in, grabbed her by the leg and took her down. If I wasn't talking on the phone, I could have taken a photo. Our girl babies on the farm have always seemed to be more adventurous, more inquisitive. From cows to puppies. Maybe they know they are worth more and can get away with more.
Time to go outside and do something constructive on the farm. Last night I helped Herbie spread manure over the vegetable garden. He drove the new John Deere in the cow pasture, scooping up the manure and dumping it over the fence into the shit-spreader attached to the little Farmtrac tractor which I was driving, and I'd go spread it and return for the next load. There is still tons and tons of manure to move, he didn't even start cleaning it out of Lil' Africa, which must be 3 feet deep.
The tractor is very heavy and I made some ditches and tracks in Dougs' yard, so I took a spade and fixed it as best as I could after I'd picked up the last load. Backed it back into the shed, lowered the bucket, and got it turned off. I'd struggled with this previously. Whooppee for me. I have the wet bum today from the cracked seat !
Spoke to my sister today. Her mum is in hospital with a broken hip, but she has alzheimers and can't say where, or if, she hurts. Our dad said today she wasn't doing so well, her kidneys are having difficulty processing all the drugs after the operation where they gave her new bone. It's hard when you're so far away. Dad lives in Tennessee, sister in California and I'm in Michigan. Not an easy time for them.