Pretty perfect

I've been home a week as of last night and like the burgeoning biomass outside, my photo files/blog fodder are running rampant. Today is my best opportunity to wrangle those photos and thoughts into a blog post so bear with me; it'll likely be a big 'un.

On the flight home, my itinerary included a long stop in Austin, TX. I'd never been there, so I walked from one end of the smallish terminal to the other while I waited, seeing much to appreciate. Local eateries, lots of art installations, equal-opportunity parenting facilities, cupcake vending machines (plural), and live music.

A friend saw this on Instagram and asked if it was me and Poppy. 🧐

Landing in Portland always raises my spirits. Beauty can be found anywhere, but NW Oregon resonates with my soul like no other place.

Instead of bustling off to work the next day, I stayed home. I figured my boss had managed without me for two weeks; she could manage one more day and I would just go in on Thursday as usual. Nearly strained my arm patting myself on the back I did, it was so blissful to take a day to check in with all my animals and ease back into my home responsibilities. The lambies have grown, of course, and all three of them got 'snuggle time' before I let them out to graze along the driveway edges.

Bad photo but wonderful moment; heretofore Boop has been very skittish.

I realized after that first day, though, that the foxtail awns weren't mature yet, so the ewes and lambs have been getting lots of pasture time. That is a great blessing as our sheep hay supply is running very low and the cost of hay, if one can even find any, is running very high.

"The grass is as high as a Shetland ewe's eye"

When the sheep are out, Poppy doesn't get to run around the property. She thinks it's great fun to 'play' with sheep and horses, but that is likely to end in disaster for either other animals or her. I took her for a walk one day and Bling was close to the fence when we returned. Poppy was so excited to see her (not as) little friend; Bling was far less sure. Another time Brian had Bling out when Poppy and I headed to the barn; visually they are about the same size now, although Poppy weighs more.

I've gotten two more fleeces harvested since getting home. Berlin's first shearing is just stunning, even though she was a complete idiot on the blocking stand. (She's now back in with the other ewes and behaving herself.) Blaise's fleece lifted off with barely a tug; she had a complete break in her fleece, no doubt from nearly dying back in March. She is still thin, so she got wormed and is getting extra groceries. Next up is Bing, so he and Spot can go out into the wooded lot and graze on what's grown up there instead of eating precious hay....

Both yearling Berlin and petite Blaise are wearing size C coats after shearing

Chuckie was as happy as ever to have me home and paying attention to him:

I don't like the brownish cast of Chuckie's coat. Poppy's 'beauty treatment' (grabbing Chuckie by the head or neck and rolling him around on the wet driveway) isn't helping his appearance any!

Let's finish up with some beauty shots from around the place:

Japanese maples mingling

the last of the apple blossoms

That's one big update from . . .

Mothers Day 2022

Spending this one with my mother was special, even though I saw her only briefly yesterday morning and evening, just like every other day I've been here. I can't remember if I've mentioned that the reason Mom asked me to come for these two weeks is to be with Dad while she's gone. Months ago Mom had committed to being in charge of feeding a group of 30 people lunch and dinner every day while they did a mission project at their church in a nearby town. So she's had to leave every morning, work all day (with help), and usually do some grocery shopping every evening before coming home very tired. (The refrigerator at their church is a small residential model, insufficient for holding more than a day's worth of ingredients to feed a group of that size.)  The only time I get out of the house and 'off duty' is in the morning when an aide comes for three hours, when I go for a walk around the neighborhood, and once when Mom got home in time to take me with her to the grocery store before the evening aide left (I needed to get her something for Mothers Day since I didn't plan ahead of my arrival!).

Daily walks help keep me going – fresh air, exercise, listening to a good audiobook or sometimes talking to my honey, and looking at the yards and birds and assorted animals. There are four obvious birds here that we don't have at home: Great-tailed Grackles, Western Kingbirds, White-winged Doves, and Blue Jays (we have Scrub and Steller's). I've seen one jackrabbit, several cottontails, and the occasional squirrel. In addition, there are neighborhood dogs known and unknown, cats, cattle and a horse in one side yard, Boer goats in a small lot, ducks in a backyard that I saw and heard for the first time yesterday, and chickens I heard for the first time today. Mind you, I walk the same block and the alley that divides two of the streets every day, but still I see and hear new things after almost two weeks! The photos I've managed to capture on my iPhone are junk, but better than a page full of words. ;-)

I've captured one memorable sunset,

and one mellower one:

Most importantly, I've spent lots of time with Dad, and thankfully thought to document a tender moment between him and Mom at the end of a day:

Oh yeah, and I've spun yarn:

Tomorrow morning I start the journey home, leaving hot, dry Amarillo for cool, wet Boulderneigh (spinning all the way). For the past several days it has been a full 50° hotter here than at home; that'll be a 're-entry adjustment'! How many more times I will be moving back and forth between these climes in the coming months is unknown, but trips will doubtless be necessary. I am not naturally a 'rolling stone;' this uncertain fluidity is not the life I'd choose. But we play the cards we're dealt.

SO looking forward to being back home again at . . .