A sensory time of year...

I am extremely stressed this time of year, it's the annual time when I have too much to do and not enough of me to go around. It makes me sick to my stomach, makes my head pound, I catch every sickness going around, and I am sure it takes years off my life. I am working on changing that, but change is not always fast enough for me. My first meeting came and went, and it went off without the tiniest hitch. A great way to start this "season" for me. The second meeting will be a week from Wednesday, and so far it is going well. Great attendance on all accounts, and my i's are dotted and my t's are crossed. The last meeting is a bit of an uncertainty for me, as it seems that the committee I am working with is setting me up to fail. I am working on turning things around so that despite their best efforts, the meeting succeeds, but obviously this is causing me to expend much effort, and certainly much stress. That meeting ends on the 20th of October. So, in about a month, I will be going on my annual 2-week drinking and sleeping bender. : ) Want to come with me?

For now, I am enjoying the farm and all of the sensory input it gives me:

I see the leaves turning as fall starts to creep in.

I smell Wolfgang's stinky ass as he is in rut now! About a month from now, he and Cindy will have a little rendezvous, and we'll have spring babies!

I hear the sound of the tractor in the north pasture and east field. Not only is the corn coming out tomorrow (cross your fingers that it's a good year for corn-- ethanol!), but we are actually getting a SECOND CUTTING of hay! That is exciting, as that field used to be crappy. We pay 70 cents a bale to our man who cuts and rakes it. He drives the bale and we (and our wonderful friends) stack it on the rack and then put it up in the shed. The 70 cents saves us a fortune over the winter when we are looking at paying $4.00 a bale from the farm store.

I taste the YUMNESS of the apples on our apple tree! The first year we moved in, our tree was either struck by lightning or had some sort of wind damage, but half of it had fallen off over the driveway. The following fall there were hardly any apples. Last fall there were a few more, but not many. THIS year we are having a bumper crop of red delicious apples! They are so good, so much better than the store apples with their wax and preservatives. I have made a batch of apple butter, and hopefully will make applesauce some time this week.

I feel the crisp cool mornings when I go out to feed. It's been nippy here, down into the 40's. B told me last night that the only time he missed our old (new) house was when he came to bed and it was freezing in our bedroom. I told him that having no heat in your bedroom gives you bragging rights. Or at least the people you work with can talk about your stupidity behind your back! We gave the kids the rooms with heat, so we are without. At least he's guaranteed not to have to sleep on the couch all winter-- I need his warmth.

Back to work-- I've been at it all weekend. So much else to tell-- L's football success, the goats' bout with pinkeye, Luna's continual, EXHAUSTING bout with bloat... ugh... after the bender, I'll tell you all about it.