They're here!

The first Bullhead Ranch lambs of 2008 were born last night. One of my favorite aspects of the breed of animal we chose is the fact that there is almost no complications in birth. Some of the animals bred specifically for the most meat need help lambing but the Navajo-Churro does not. I';; try to get a photo soon.

The callout

Last night was my first evening being Mr. Mom. My youngest has another ear infection just diagnosed that day so he needed drops and meds and was cranky. The other two get along sometimes and at other times they don't. Things went fairly well until bedtime. We all agreed to clean up as we go so the house is not a pig sty when Mama comes home, so we cleaned up and everybody went to bed.

I tend to not go to sleep very early...I am up late almost every night and last night was no different. I was laying in bed, reading and listening to some jazz when I heard a dog barking. I'm attuned to dogs barking since that is the biggest threat to our sheep...domestic dogs. I listened and wondered where it was at. Nothing conclusive, but it continued to bark.

I did not want to leave the warm cocoon of the blankets but I knew I had to. I listened at the front door, opened the side window then tried the back door. Sure enough, it sounds like the dog (dogs maybe?) were towards the back of the pasture. So I bundled up being about 10 degrees out, grabbed some gear and headed out to see what was happening. As I opened the gate to the pasture, the dogs (by this time I knew there was more than one) really went nuts. They sounded like they were attaching something, so I broke into a jog to get back there. I saw most of the sheep over by the corral and Sarge, our llama, was stationed between them and the threat about 50 yards away. As I got closer, I flicked on my light and saw the eyes. The dogs were back there, but they were in a kennel. It turns out our new neighbors who have not built their house yet have decided to put up a kennel on their property for the dogs, and the dogs were in the kennel. I have no idea what the fit was, unless it was just the sound of metal on metal as I walked into the pasture, but everybody I was in charge of was safe and the threat averted. I finished with a walk around the perimeter and then headed back to bed.

It took a while to get to sleep after that...the adrenaline and all had to ebb from the system, but I finally dropped off. My kdis were nice enough to allow me to sleep in until around 0700 this morning when I had to get involved in my wife's tough job of raising them!

Single parents...

have it rough.

This really came home to me on Saturday. My wife had to take off for a few hours so I was home with the boys until late afternoon. My eldest had to do his chores (feed and water the chickens and water the pasture critters) and sweep up after I did his job of mowing the lawn. That's it. It really doesn't seem to be all that difficult to me.

But I was wrong. And my eldest was going to show me.

I'm in the shop with the youngest running around underfoot asking me every question that pops into his brain when my son tells me he's done and wants to go to his friend's house. "Did you water the critters?" I ask him. "Oops, I forgot," he says. So off he drags himself to actually turn on the water...that's all it takes, turning the knob. While he does that, I glance out the shop door and see grass all over the driveway. I tell him about the grass and off he goes.

Time passes.

He's back in the shop wanting to head out now...again. "Did you turn the water off?" I ask him. "Oops" he answers again and I mention that the driveway is still covered with grass. "Whadda ya mean?" he asks me. So, I set down the tools and walk along the driveway showing him the grass. "Well, that doesn't sweep up," he says. What in the world does that even mean?! I encourage him to use the leaf blower and remind him we do have a walkway up to the front door.

More time passes.

He's back ready to take off. "Did you take care of the chickens?" I query. "Oops" is once again the answer I hear from him. How in the world can you oops two of the three things you had to do and not actually do the third! While he's going to the chicken coop, I head out to the driveway to see it covered in the same grass it had before. Now, please remember that I already mowed the lawn for him and trimmed it. He had to merely remove the loose blades of grass!

It was at this point I was ready to blow and immediately turned to my wife...who wasn't there. Thankfully I waited for her to come home and help with the incident before the kid completed his evil plan of driving me completely insane. Anyway, this was a huge illustration to me of how hard single parents have it. There is nobody to turn to when the kids are winning. They have to try and keep themselves in control on their own without help. That's tough.