What's Happening Here

So there's this big truck tire with a cut in it where the steel pokes out, and it lays in the barnyard knocked over by a trailer that belonged to a guy I did a favor for.  Before that it was knocked over by my son’s 14 year old, 120 lb best friend who thought it would be a great place to pretend to ride the rodeo.

It is supposed to sit upright with the dangerous steel bit buried in the ground so that the goats can play on it.  Last Spring I got my shovel and muscled it back into place, made the barnyard look a little tidy- more planned and not just "happened."  Makes me think our barnyard is "happening."  Yeah, happening, like manure happens or accidents happen.

So this guy brought his sheep over to be sheared the day mine were. You wouldn't believe this ram he carried in his trailer.  He hadn't been sheared for over 3 years.  The wool was 18 inches long in some places!  "Ram boy" was a beast and 20 minutes later naked and free!  The look of surprise on his face still makes me laugh!

Cousin It?

Bleary eyed and blinking back the nudity.

We wrestled the liberated Ram back onto this guy's trailer, about 30 lbs less of him.  I told the guy he could pull straight through my gate, drive on my grass a little way and then straight on to the tarred driveway.  Easy peasy right?   Nope, he decides to back up the way he pulled in.  He realized he couldn't make it work, so he decided to turn the whole rig around in my little barnyard. 

The next thing I know, there's this squeaky squeegee sound, and the straining of tires.  He  had backed up right over the tire that I'd finally set right days ago. To add a little twist, it was jammed under the guy's truck, so he guns it.  The tire pops free, and the ram lurches forward in his trailer, probably jealous of opposable thumbs for he has no way to hold on and no padding to count on. 

Notice the laid out tire behind the newly naked sheep

No good deed goes unpunished, I thought, but it made me laugh the silliness of it all, the stubborn guy, the ram's legs splayed wide in determination, and  me thinking a finished job would stay finished.   I had to accept that the tire just wanted to lay flat.  Oh and the guy ended up driving straight through the gate onto my grass for a bit and onto the driveway after all!

Today, is beautiful and there are piles of "happening things" to do or perhaps undo. I'm sitting on this tipped over tire so warm from the "finally-got-here" Spring sun and realize it's time to just forgive myself for all of the undone.  The goats have never complained about the tire.  The sheep are still contained by a makeshift fence.  The birds and chickens are actually a bit thrilled by the piles and piles of branches in our yard from the tree guys' efforts at shaping up our old branch-hurling Maples.



Needs and wants, so intangible as Spring drops sunbeams on the ground then waves another cold cloud over us to remind us that our priorities will shift like the cat's feisty twitching tail.  




The birds are twittering, a vulture flies over, and the dogs bark aggressively at the black shadow slowly circling, and waiting for an opportunity.  I should bark too!  Tell hardship to leave this farm alone for a little bit!  Let a project stay done for a short while anyway, and maybe leave my tender chicks, still growing strong in the shell, alone, say for a season or two?  My barking sounds like begging- ha!  If pleas with please will work then I'm your beggar.

I'm going to go get that shovel now.  Set this one piece right again and work on that fence after all.  Tire's getting cold anyway, the wind has picked up and the clouds keep rolling past.