Flock

Sitting on the back deck looking at the flock. Good cup of coffee, favorite Sunday tunes, dog at my feet, warm sun on my face and birds galore. Needed to wear a chamois shirt on the walk this morning and think I could almost see my breath when I stepped out at about 6:30. A perfect morning for the first of August. The sheep are grazing up along the bank along Bufflehead, where we secured the fences a few weeks ago after the great escape. They've worn a path along the ridge and are eating all of the bushes and grasses up to the fence - which makes Bill happy. It would have made Jim Emerson happy, too. The little flock has really made a lot of people pretty happy over the years. Faye and Janet used to count them several times daily, an activity that I know made them happy when they were in the final years of their lives. Bill the ram is named after amazing Bill Wildes, my neighbor and friend. He is a piece of work and loves the sheep and watching me learn as I go with them (gives him a lot of fodder for ribbing me). The kids down Obed Lane have grown up watching them, often talking and singing to them on their way to or from the school bus. One of the little guys will frequently pause to take a leak as soon as he gets off the bus and runs down the lane a bit, and it cracks me up that he does this but also sometimes talks to the sheep while he's standing there for a few seconds. I see all this from the deck. Innocently. Where I sit and write this morning. Enjoying the blogging way more than I thought I would, and definitely way more than I enjoy the mucking. Which I will also do today. Later.

After another cup of coffee and a little more flock watching.