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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Time to slow down!

The powers that be were working together in their mystical ways to remind me that I need to slow down some and remember to enjoy this life in between chores and projects on the farm.  

I had a full day planned on Thursday with a mountain of things to get done before I went to work.  Lack of sleep, good quality REM sleep has escaped me of late.  Averaging about three hours per night of quality sleep has been good for me lately. Projects, sounds, lack of sounds, reminders, lists, and life all swirl around in my head if I wake even enough for one thought to pop into my head, there is no going back to sleep again.  Thursday morning I awoke at just after 5:00 a.m. from the cries of the little man.  Thankfully, DH arose and tended to the wet diaper and rumbling tummy.  I rolled over and attempted to obtain another hour or two of sleep.  No such luck.

Out of bed and into the kitchen - little man had just gone down for a nap, much earlier than usual - mental note - change that schedule before it becomes habit. The task list for today included crafting a rack onto which the last two cages for twelve new breeding does would be placed.  Only six of those holds had been cleaned so six more needed to be cleaned and disinfected.  DH was on his way to pick them up.  Dishes done, empty sink to wash rabbit feeders and water bottles and laundry started, outside to work on the rack.  

Little man awoke for breakfast.  Smiles and laughter filled the kitchen as we attempted to eat oatmeal with blueberries and apples.  I am not sure who wore more of it, him or me.  In the end, the task was accomplished and we both had a good time.  From there to folding laundry; the next incredible discovery, t-shirts and bath towels make great peek-a-boo barriers.  I looked at the clock and grimaced as I had not made any progress on the rabbit project, but smiled as little man tugged my hair out of its pony tail.

I packed him into his stroller and outside we went to try and make the rabbit rack and clean feeders and water bottles.  Table, circular saw, drill, screws, measuring tape, and pencil were gathered and exciting descriptors provided for my audience.  Six 2"x4"x10's collected and measured.  Two cuts - that was the end of playing nicely in the stroller and watching Momma.  It wasn't the noise - he has been around for the construction of the rabbit shed, and the tractor and the lawn mower don't bother him - he was just plain tired.  Back inside we went for some good quality cuddle time and a bottle, thirty minutes later he fell asleep.  I sat quietly listening to his breathing descend into a slow rhythm and my heart smiled as he rested on my chest.

Back outside with the baby monitor, I quickly finished up the rack as DH returned with the rabbits.  Cleaning up the cages, water bottles and feeders took much longer than we had planned.  Just as we were wrapping everything up and got the rabbits into their cages, watered and fed; little man woke up.  DH headed inside to make lunch.  I put the old fiberglass from the waste deflectors between the cages in hopes of completing that project on Friday and headed in to take a shower.  OT at work blew that plan out of the water – by the time I returned home on Friday morning, I had been awake for 26 1/2 hours – I needed sleep!

As I was disrobing, I looked out the bedroom window to see the piggles in the driveway - their pasture doesn't include the driveway.  I redressed while calling my off-farm job and told them I would be late as I hadn't included piggle wrangling in my schedule for the afternoon and if I didn't require a shower before I went to chase them, I was certainly going to need one now.  Fifteen minutes later pigs were back in their house.  They are almost big enough for the electric fence to corral them, in the meantime they will stay inside their house so DH doesn’t have to chase them with little man in tow. 

I headed back to the house and a large shadow passed over me, one of the bald eagles who have taken up residence near the lake came to visit.  Watching her play in the updrafts a wonderful feeling of peace washed over my hurried soul.  Already late, I watched her for a couple more minutes, both of us enjoying the sunshine.  Back inside my little man greeted me with big one-tooth smiles from his highchair with chicken and sweet potato on his face.  Giggles erupted as I kissed his neck and proceeded to add potato to other debris in my hair.  Into and out of the shower, dressed and ready for work, DH stepped in between me and the door and gave me a kiss good night.
 
My entire day was wrought with ‘interruptions’, ones that I welcome with a full heart.  Although I had to leave for work, I had spent some good quality time with my son and gotten twelve new rabbits re-housed, the dishes done and some laundry folded.  At every turn, the powers that be reminded me that this time is precious with my little man.


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