Saturday, June 5, 2010

Rainy Day Thoughts


I have just about wasted this entire day doing not much of anything. It's one of those days when I just bumble from one random activity to another with no goals, direction, or to-do list. It is sort of relaxing, but there is always this nagging in my mind that I should really be doing something more measureable. Just to warn you, this posting is going to go just like my day...meandering...

I got up at 7:30 with high hopes for the day. Shower, makeup, hair, ready for anything. Breakfast, coffee, baby (changing, feeding, playing...) After that, I forget what I did for the next two and a half hours, but I'm sure there was some coffee, snacks, and conversations. Thankfully, no time wasting Saturday morning fights. Dum-de-dum... Oh, yeah! I forgot to pick up my bread in Red Wing! Woo-hoo! An activity! So I took Josh with me to town, we picked up bread and got gas and donuts then came home. Next, a trip to Cannon Falls with Michael and baby to get some feed for our chickens. After that, we went for a little drive on some country roads, talked and listened to my new favorite CD (Laura Hackett). We got back home around 12:30 and had lunch.

Lunch reminded me that I discovered earlier in the morning that everything in our fridge was warm, so lunch was leftovers that needed to be eaten before they go bad. Tell me why the fridge always breaks the day AFTER one gets groceries??? I just got groceries yesterday!! Michael and Matthew kindly moved milk and meat to the garage fridge so they wouldn't spoil. Everything else is on the warm side of cool in the kitchen. We left messages for the repair man, but I suppose he gets weekends off, too. Funny thing...I was just telling a friend how we really didn't need that second fridge in the garage anymore and how I thought is was a waste of electricity. Huh.

After lunch, dishes to be washed by hand (Did I mention that our dishwasher is broken, too?) then the choice of finishing laundry, or ANYTHING else. I chose the anything else option and got out my guitar after one year of neglect. I remembered a couple chords and struggled through "Twinkle, Twinkle" and a couple other kids songs. Michael got out his banjo and we sang "Down by the Bay" for boys who laughed and then we quit.

After the music, we all went off to our separate activities and I again faced the choice of laundry or Anything Else. Anything Else won again and I got out all my farm reference books and started researching sheep. Why? Cuz I think my life is too dull and I need to add a few more projects to our plate and that they've always interested me. I like that the eat grass and weeds. I have this image of our mess of a pasture being clean, trim and green with these happy, white, little fluffs calmly grazing and a warm, sunny day. The nagging in my mind counters with an image of storm clouds, cold wind, rain and lots of mud. While my sheep look more like giant lint balls dragging sticks and weeds that are knotted to their unkempt (and badly in need of shearing) wool by burdock. That's if they stay in the pasture.

I haven't even gotten to the sheep chapter in my book because it starts with chickens, and I do love my chickens, so in case there are chicken facts I don't know, I'd better read. the next chapter is ducks and geese. Well. I just happened to bring home two ducks from work yesterday from a co-worker so I need more duck facts in my head. Better read it. the chapter after that is goats. I hate goats. They are the most evil barnyard animal ever. I was brutally betrayed by a goat once as a small child and I don't know that I will ever trust or forgive the rest of the goat population. I was at a friends house and I was petting, scratching and talking to her pet goat which, I might add, boasted a nice pair of horns. When I turned to go into her house, it nailed me on the backside. I was shocked, hurt, and betrayed. I felt no guilt whatsoever in skipping the goat chapter. We will NEVER own a goat.

Just as I found my place on Chapter 5 Sheep, Noah woke up hungry. I was feeling a little sleepy, so I took him into my big fluffy bed, and we fell asleep...

It's now 5 o'clock and time to start supper. I have succeeding in wasting a Saturday skipping my laundry and doing Anything Else all day. Yawn... stretch...it was good.

6 comments:

Julie Hedeen said...

I read this to Greg and he HOOTED at the part about the fluffy white clouds of sheep in your green well-trimmed pasture, and totally agreed about the burdocks and lint. Sounds like a lovely day. We need to get better at enjoying them without guilt. It's probably a family paradigm which we just pass on to our kids--no matter how much you work, there is always something productive you COULD be doing instead of what you are doing right now.

E. Chikeles said...

Sounds like a good Saturday.

I have to completely disagree with your goat and sheep thoughts- we've had sheep and goats and the latter will clean a pasture right good while the former are just dumb animals that will never ever stop being scared of you... they don't remember you long enough. Sheep are the dumbest animals on the planet. But perhaps I am biased. :P

Amber E said...

That sounds like a lovely day, much more productive than my usual Saturdays. I need to move somewhere they will let me keep chickens and bees...but I really do like my job.

Jamie and Joel had two goats last year. One of them was called Walking Taco and I forget the other name. I felt bad because they were so cute and I knew they were for meat but you do have a point....would you get sheep for mutton or wool or both? I never knew if sheep breeds were like cows where some are meat and some dairy...

April said...

Mike said that he saw you in at the feed store on Saturday! It sounds like you had a wonderful day. I've been spending my time wishing the weather was nice so I felt more productive. :-P Ah well... I wrote in my blog today about planting things in the mud and rain. Joy.

What I really saw in this post was that you did stuff with your family. That is great. We need those days. Good for you!

PS--gotta love your big fluffy bed!

April said...

We really liked our mini-goat, Pippin. He was more like a dog than a goat. I called him Pippin just so I could yell, "YOU FOOL OF A TOOK!" at him. heehee.

I think sheep would be OK, but I'm really dreaming of a cow. Oh, the things I could do if I had a barn! :-)

Tracy said...

Was that goat on my parent's farm?
- tracy