It was different. I mean, it was three days long, but each day was totally different. I feel like a bit of a broken record, because my daughters both recorded our weekend on their blogs and they did such a good job of it. But I would like to talk about it, too.
On Saturday, we were home just puttering around. Except Jeff wasn’t home. He had to go to work. His new job is offering quite a workload and he’s sure been putting in the hours.
On Sunday, we drove up to visit friends. We had been borrowing their fork lift attachment to set rocks in our retaining walls and it was time to give them up. They sure were handy! We packed lunch and ate it with our friends. We stayed a few hours and then headed home. Here’s a picture from a couple weeks back on a section of the wall that Jeff was building.
Yesterday (Monday) Jeff was off because of Labor Day and we made it a work day. The weather here this August has been so changeable. We’ve had a few rainstorms already. I can’t begin to describe what a mess rain makes given our current living situation. First, the goats are all over the place, even on our porch, which is their resting place of choice. Second, we are surrounded by an uncultivated pad of red clay. 1 + 2 = our house is like an island in the middle of a dirt sea. And it becomes a sea of mud when the rain comes.
I was just so happy to begin to winter-ready our place. Who knows when the rains really will come to stay and even though our improvements aren’t done, we had to begin this process. Jeff put up a temporary fence of cattle panels all around the house, to keep the goats and their poop off the porch/sidewalks/doors, etc. The kids and I cleaned up the shed and baled up all the cardboard we’ve been saving for lasagna gardening. We found evidence of mice in the shed — nests and even a scurrying body along the back of a shelf. Note to self: set out a trap in there today. Then we cleaned off the front and back porches, sweeping and decluttering, and the sidewalks too. I also washed all the doors and the entryways. Oh, that feels so good. So good. So good.
The messes have really been getting to me. And with the dirt and the goats and having to use the front door (we usually use the back, but it was blocked off because of the goats), I have been fit to be tied with the mountains of dirt coming in. It felt like we lived in a barn. Not that a barn is bad; I love barns! I just didn’t want it in the house or have to walk through it when going out.
As an example, the treadmill came last week. The goats were all over the delivery truck and cardboard! Cute as they are and much as we love them, this can’t happen when it’s raining, at least not so close to the house! The technician who set up the treadmill said he had lots of projects going on at his house, too, but we had him beat with the goats. He’d not run into that before!
Today, I want to say is a big THANK YOU! to everyone in my family. To Jeff, for encouraging and organizing our winter-readying day, and for putting up that fence. I know it feels like a prison, but the alternative is a prison of poop and mud. 
And thank you to the children for working hard all day yesterday, cheerfully. You’re all treasures! Now let’s keep it clean, people!
Wardeh
I understand the dirt situation and I’m with you. Whe we lived on the farm, it was as if I was constnatly fighting a battle until the children learned to use the mud porch at the back door! I love barns, too, and I’d even live in one but I don’t want to live in a house that is as dirty as a barn! LOL!
The children and I have been chuckling about your goats today. I hope you don’t mind. They are so funny, like big dogs, just real pets aren’t they? That will probably make them easy to milk in the future, won’t it?
Love
Sylvia
Sylvia, I don’t mind at all! They are just like pets. We love them. I even loved them when they and their poop was all over the porch.
I hope it will make them easy to milk!
Love, Wardeh