Last week, we drove to a county park that Lynn had visited before but I hadn't. We live where glaciers long ago flattened the land very well so any hill is a novelty. The park has a ski hill and a bluff with a good view. We enjoyed the ride, the company and the different scene. This week, we went to a different park but one that we have visited several times over the years.
Drives of a couple of hours through spring emerging in farm country are refreshing for the eyes and the spirit. Red solid barns and aging formerly red barns. Newly plowed fields and those too rocky for crops. Cows munching and cows waiting for milking time. I have not spent much time on a farm or with animals. I had chickens peck up all my water color tablets once and I broke a slops bowl feeding hogs. They didn't seem bothered but split-open snouts and blood running off their chins. While teaching 5th grade, a farm mastiff objected to my presence while retrieving a ball accidentally in his field. My principal ordered me to get that large, well-horned goat out of the road on the way to our school.
I rode through the countryside both days and never had a thought about my rather sparse animal interactions but once I take a look at my animal husbandry experiences, I can see that I am all primed to oversee the next county fair sheep shearing. In lieu of more farming animal stories, I offer this Australian sheep shearing tune by the Vienna Boys' Choir:
