6 a.m.--Better get up. Do not want to get up. But better get up. Coffee. Woodstove. Dogs. Oatmeal. Computer. More coffee.
7:30 a.m.--Jason arrives, get A. out of bed, deliver coffee to the menfolk playing with fire outside. Find fireproof gloves, diapers for straining, mesh strainer for skimming. Then strip the sheets off the bed and put in the washer with towels.
7:45 a.m.--Cubby is awake. Change the baby, dress the baby, shovel oatmeal in the baby's face. Commence morning play session.
9:15 a.m.--Cubby back asleep. Wash jars needed later for syrup, plus the breakfast dishes while I'm at it. Sweep the kitchen floor for the first of three times during the day. Hang the laundry outside (yes! outside! warm enough! WHEEE!!!). Help A. dock Bonnie's lambs' tails. Dispose of dismembered tails so dogs don't play with them.
10 a.m.--Cubby is awake. Damn. So much for a long morning nap. Change the baby, put shoes and coat on the baby, and haul baby outside for entertainment near a large, smoking, burning hot metal drum. Best baby entertainment ever.
11:30 a.m.--Leave Cubby outside for male bonding while I make lunch. Leftover beef stew, grilled cheese sandwiches, apples.
12:00 p.m.--Lunch. Feed self, baby, and the two syrup makers. Then outfit baby again for more outside play time. Wander around outside, squish through the mud, prevent Cubby from grabbing at rusty metal/dog poop/splintery bits of wood/barbed wire.
1 p.m.--Guy who did our roof last summer shows up randomly to see if A. has a piece to a trailer hitch needed to haul a sailboat to the lake. No.
1:15 p.m.--Cubby back asleep. Back outside to pick up sticks and rake in the dog pen. A. announces one of the Merinos is in the barn with lamb feet sticking out her rear end. A. goes to check the sap in the buckets, I finish the dog pen and go to check on the lamb. Lamb has been born. After waiting a bit to let Mother Merino finish licking it and bond, A. and I go up with the iodine to treat the umbilical cord, then A. carries the lamb down to the paddock near the house, with me coming along behind Mother Merino to herd her along. Then back inside to make spaghetti sauce for dinner. Second sweeping of the kitchen floor.
3:15 p.m.--Cubby awake and back outside for more entertainment.
4:45 p.m.--Bring a hungry Cubby inside for some yogurt.
5 p.m.--Syrup is done. Strain it and start putting it in jars. A. takes Cubby and I finish dinner and the syrup jarring while he wrangles.
5:45 p.m.--Dinner. The MiL arrives home as we're eating. Jason leaves after dinner and A. goes outside to check on Mother Merino and baby. Mother is not letting lambie nurse and her udder is swollen. The MiL goes outside with A. to milk Mother Merino and feed the lamb with a bottle. Cubby and I stay inside.
6:45 p.m.--Cubby's bath and then bedtime. Thank God for a baby with a regular bedtime.
7:15 p.m.--Outside to take laundry off the line, then start heating water to do mountains of dishes covering every surface in the kitchen. Have to wait until after A. takes a shower before starting the dishes, though.
8 p.m.--Dishes. More dishes. Yet more dishes. HOW THE HELL DO WE PRODUCE THIS MANY DIRTY DISHES IN A 9-HOUR PERIOD? Third and final sweeping of our filthy, filthy kitchen floor.
9 p.m.--Bedtime, crawl my weary way upstairs, where . . . no sheets on the bed. Because I washed them. Shit. Make bed.
9:15 p.m.--Collapse into bed.
4:30 a.m. today--Baby awake . . .
Damn. You're more of a man than I am. That day would kill me, or at least leave me curled up under the kitchen table weeping softly.
ReplyDeleteExcept this part: "Dispose of dismembered tails so dogs don't play with them." That's awesomely wrong.
Word verification: sksmo -- What Cubby calls those people who live in igloos.
City slicker reading this post......"Man, that woman is nuts".
ReplyDeleteWoodchuck reading this post...
"My kinda woman !"
It's all in your perspective .....and along with Drew.....Gunga Din.
word verification - badblec
tastes nasty
Wow, I am now exhausted just reading your post....
ReplyDeleteHate it when I forget to make the bed! I'll have to talk to Cubby about this whole 4:30 a.m. wake up call. That is totally unacceptable for his Momma's health and well being.
ReplyDeleteCubby, dear, let Mommy sleep! This 4:30 business is hard on the grown-ups. Really.
ReplyDeleteJust think though....if the time hadn't changed it would've been 330 am.......Beth
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of one previous president...I feel yer pain.
ReplyDeleteBetween client's, baby, husband, backyard garden, chickens, dogs, cats, more clients and not to mention all the household chores....
It's nice to know I'm not the only one shuffling around a dark house at 4:30am feeding a little one!
www.nwbackyardveggies.blogspot.com
Word Verification: stdoph - a little known Catholic patron saint of dophs.
"9 p.m.--Bedtime, crawl my weary way upstairs, where . . . no sheets on the bed. Because I washed them. Shit. Make bed." I've had those bedtimes with the exact same response. Thanks for the chuckle.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know it's a toss-up... early Cubby bedtime means 4:30 a.m. rising. But letting him stay up late for a later awakening means less Mommy-Daddy quiet time.