Mama’s clothes, sick ewe, travel

One of the young ladies from our church and her mom came to the farm yesterday afternoon – after Mama had taken Mocha for grooming and taken Aubrey to the library and met me for lunch at the Chinese restaurant – to help Mama go through her closet and find more outfit combinations than Mama has been able to see. They met Mama at the house a little before 1 pm. If I understood Mama correctly, they had just left when I got home at 4:15 pm. It was a big encouragement to Mama – and I think all the women had a good time. At the very least, it inspired Mama to go through the contents of her closet and find new possibilities for the large number of clothing items she has packed that closet. I am not certain if this will facilitate the extended decision process Mama goes through every time she dresses to go out, or if it will complicate it. Time will tell. I cannot imagine what we would do if we had to move Mama’s extensive wardrobe to a smaller closet. For now, she makes do with the nine-foot-long rack for her hanging clothes. I have thought about putting a closet organizer in our large walk-in closet but have not come across one that I liked for the price that was being asked. Maybe someday soon. Giving Mama more room to store clothes is not a priority for me currently. The more room I offer the more she is determined to fill all the empty spaces until everything is stuffed.


When the closet party was over, the three took a trip around the farm looking at the animals – especially the young ones. Mama and her two guests spent a good deal of time looking at the Penny, our newest lamb, and Champ, our baby goat. They had been in the enclosure with the sheep for a few minutes when Mama realized one of the ewes was missing. They finally found her in a corner of the enclosure lying in an area where the vegetation was very close to the coloring of her wool. Mama got the ewe up and moving, but by that evening she was not looking good. This morning, Mama called to tell me she was down again and would not last through the day. She is the only one Mama and I had questions about when we were looking at the sheep before we bought them. We should have followed our first impressions and left her behind. As it is, I will have to dispose of the carcass this evening. Sad day. Two down of our five ewes purchased. Not our wisest acquisition.


Since Monday is a holiday, I will have to pack today before leaving the office. Mama and I are traveling to Rock Hill, SC for a class I am teaching at a location in that area. Flying into Charlotte, NC, driving a short distance across the state line to the South Carolina site. Mama is going because it is a good opportunity for us to meet up with Maggie, Aaron and the kids. If Maggie can get better from strep throat, they will travel the five hours to meet us in Rock Hill and share a couple days with Mama and a couple evenings with me. It has been over two years since Mama and I have seen Maggie’s crew. Walter was just born the last time we were with Maggie. Fortunately, Facetime keeps us in touch in a way that the grandkids get to see our faces and hear our voices. We will see how quickly they adopt us once we are there in person. I am looking forward to the time in the “mountains” as much as the time spent with the grandkids. It has been too long since Mama and I have seen the hills we grew to love so much.


While we are gone, Mama and I will leave the farm to Victoria’s care. The weather is supposed to turn a bit colder through the two night of our absence so watering the animals will be a challenge for Victoria – and she is not much appreciative of the character-building opportunities those challenges offer, but she will manage somehow. For Mama’s part, she will be anxious the entire time we will be gone. No one cares for the animals the way Mama does; me included. But we hated to pass up the opportunity to have Mama make this trip with me – just in case it is a long time before we have to opportunity to visit with Aaron, Maggie and the grandkids again.


Both Mama and I are looking forward to the trip and the visit. We hope to make the most of our time together; short though it will be.