So I know Stephanie noticed I was gone... did anyone else?

I don't quite know what happened... my password was working fine, and then suddenly it didn't. And it was RIGHT in the middle of getting the garden planted, so I wasn't online much anyway, so I decided I'd get back to it when I had time... yeah. You know how *that* goes.

SO... a nice long update, since my last blog entry was when Philip graduated which was a million years ago (or at least it seems like it!)

The garden is planted and doing great. Except for the beans, which something is pulling out as fast as they sprout. I think it's birds. We finished up our Awana year and I'm enjoying the break... I love the Cubbies, but OHMYGOODNESS they are exhausting!

And then Elizabeth decided she wanted to do a market lamb for a 4H project.

Oh let me TELL you about that week.

So. On Monday, in the pouring rain, we went and got a 4 month old wether. Elizabeth named him Toby. On Tuesday we discovered that he could jump over the gate of his pen. Caught him, put him back. Added another rail to the top of the gate.

On Wednesday Elizabeth came in from feeding him and announced "Toby has his grain bucket stuck on his head!" Rescued him from the grain bucket. Didn't get pictures. Pity.

On Thursday, some friends came out to shear Toby and brought us another lamb. Because, you know, sheep get lonely if they're all alone. This one is just borrowed from them till after fair... when Toby gets sold, Suzy goes home. Suzy, by the way, is only about 2 months old and about half Toby's size. This is an important detail. And Rachel has decided that Suzy is hers till she goes home.

Friday morning, though, was the highlight of the week. At 6am I wake up to hear a sheep baaaaing right outside my bedroom window. Hmmm. The barn is NOT right outside my bedroom window.

Oh crud.

I shot out of bed and pulled clothes on. Ran to the barn and checked the sheep pen.

One sheep. Not two.

Oh CRUD.

Came back to the house as Betty was coming out. My MIL had heard the baaaing too, and was quick enough out the front door to see Suzy disappear into the horse pasture.

Our horse pasture does NOT have sheep-tight fencing.

NOT GOOD.

(At this point I think I should add that because Philip is working night shift these days, we stay up veeeeery late at night. So please keep in mind that he and I are both running on less than three hours' sleep.)

Philip and I grabbed a sheep halter and ran down into the horse pasture. Which is TWENTY ACRES. Of blackberry bushes and poison oak, mostly.

At 8am we came back to the house, soaking wet (at least it wasn't raining that day, but everything was drenched from the rain we'd had the whole week) and without a sheep. We did, however, find some wool caught on the barbed wire fence at the back of our property line.

Ok. So Suzy has left the property.

I got Cathy (the gal who we borrowed Suzy from) on the phone. One of the fabulous things about living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone else. Cathy works at city hall, and was able to pull up names and phone numbers for all of the people who own property north of us and let them all know that we had an escapee 4H lamb. Then she came out to our place and she and I started hunting again.

At noon (yes, it has now been 6 hours) we quit, having talked to all of the neighbors who were home. Cathy went back to work and I decided to try to salvage at least a little of the school day.

At 4:30 one of the neighbors calls me. Someone has spotted Suzy. I call Cathy at city hall and let her know. She pulls up aerial maps of the area, and we decide to meet at the property where the sheep looks like she's headed.

And at 7pm, THIRTEEN HOURS and SIX AND A HALF MILES later, Cathy, her husband Rick, Philip, Elizabeth, and I manage to catch Suzy.

When we finally got her home we take a good look at the sheep pen. Suzy, who is much smaller than Toby, had managed to squeeze UNDER the bars of the pen. That issue has been remedied.

So that was last week. THIS week we had to take Toby down to the fairgrounds for the official Weigh-in for 4H.

Now, we don't have a truck. It's on the "to get this year" list. We *DO* have a trailer that I can pull with the van. But the trailer is open at the top, which isn't safe for hauling an animal in.

So guess how we hauled Toby to the fairgrounds yesterday?

IN MY VAN.

I learned a few things from that. First of all, sheep don't corner too well. Each time we went around a corner or came to a stop, he fell over. (Which was highly amusing, but I digress.) Second, sheep are very vocal when they aren't happy. Third, the guys at the fairgrounds aren't used to seeing a sheep in the back of a minivan, and they react in quite funny ways. And Fourth....

Sheep poop a LOT.

*sigh*

Glad to be back!!!!