As I attempt to float off to slumber , my judgement is critique my day ’s to - do leaning , working on tomorrow ’s list and commemorate all the thing I forgot . It seems like hours before my consistency ’s debilitation finally transcend my judgement and rest begin . Yet in the thick of my wintertime slumber , I am awoken by the crows of an insolent rooster . My optic strain to make out the blurry number on my alarm clock . 5 … no , S ? What ? 2—2:25 ! “ Stupid cock , ” I mumble as I attempt to return to dreamland . Milk River ! I ca n’t draw a blank Milk River at the storage tomorrow . And so my listing begins again .
Now , please understand , normally a rooster making a racket at such an unreasonable hour would cause business organization , for my crew anyway . And it did — the first several nights , that is . in reality , the first three nights , you would have seen my husband and me outside in our PJs , goop boots and coats , armed with flashlights and a shotgun . On two anterior occasions , this premature consternation signaled danger in the chicken yard and consequently pull through all of its inhabitants . However , because the stack has been function to bed so early , this particular cock feel 2:30 a.m. is a great clip to get up and going . dazed rooster !
It was in the midst of my nocturnal tilt making that I began to recollect about my January homestead tilt . January is half over all ready — can you think it ? It ’s intemperate to image springtime planting when you ’re wearing four layers of clothing , but she ’s a comin ’ . Not to mention , if you trade bunny rabbit around Easter like we do , spawn time is chop-chop come on . Is everybody sizable and happy and quick for their forthcoming cavort ? Are the nesting boxes white ? Do I need any more waters ? Feeders ? Do I have enough cream cheese for tomorrow ’s dessert ? ( Yes , this is where my mind goes at 2:30 in the morning ! )
Because I tend to forget at least half the things I ’m supposed to do on any given day , I ’ve become a calendar soul . I put everything on the calendar . Yes , everything ! But with four tyke , one hubby and a young maturate homestead , a single calendar has become too littered for my ADD idea . My wit just can not grasp the action to “ strain bunny ” on the same day as “ PTA coming together . ” Something is just wrong with that picture ! So , I have a calendar just for my little homestead and it hangs proudly next to my large family one .
In gain to parent meetings and pre - romp preparations , January also brings about garden planning , seed ordering and even start a few plants indoors . ( Black grunge ! Oh , how my finger have missed you ! )
This is also a prime clip to take ancestry of your small farm hands ’ supplies . Any tool of the trade they did not receive at Christmas , or needing to be replace or repaired , can be purchased , separate , cleaned and mended now . It ’s awful , but in the 18 years I ’ve been a mother , I have never actuallyseenmy children walk around the yard with a tool loge and nonchalantly disperse its contents as though it were pixy rubble , yet I pull back the glacial mud , snow , ice or stubble to find a great surprise . A left baseball mitt , perhaps ? An army dandy ? Hot Wheels car , flat - school principal screwdriver , snippers , clippers or ship’s boat ? Oh , what a goody every spring to see our pre - sowing harvest time .
I do not toss the left glove I find oneself “ growing ” under the wintertime terrain . I but lave it and stash it away with all the other lone hand . When pulling out barbed weeds and prickly Dubyuh it will not matter if your footling one is romp a red glove on one hand and a Spongebob glove on the other . It will only count that you , their caretaker , their shielder from the pricklies , was prepared . So get their tools lubed , tighten and wash , and hide out them until they ’re necessitate . Heroes do n’t always bust cape ; sometimes they wear aprons and muck boot .
Another January day has come and gone , and once again , I find myself making and checking my many lists . Typically all my greatest ideas amount to me just as I slide from this land to the landed estate of sleep , but alas , they always seem to hedge me when the sunshine return . ( Sigh . ) But on this night , my grocery store list , my to - do lists and my “ forgot - to - do ” listing is far from thought and mind . On this night , my thoughts are on the recipes I keep stored in my mastermind , and as my eye close I try out to decide roast poulet or chicken and dumpling . Maybe I will decide in the morning after I get a full , uninterrupted , nighttime of sleep !
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