We are blessed to live at the base of a big hill. A big hill with a mile long logging road that is easy enough to navigate even at the age of two and a half. Diantha takes Lily and Connor at least part of the way up our hill almost every day and that is why Lily loves pine cones more than most of her store bought toys. Its a beautiful thing. About a week ago Lily and Diantha started seriously talking about camping on our hill. The proverbial first camping trip that we all take in our back yard. We chose a day when the weather would be clear and began making preparations. Ham steak, check. Tent, check. Kitty quilt, check. As we were packing our things Connor was swinging happily in his seat and Lily was outside playing on the porch wearing our shoes. Well turns out those shoes are too big and she took a digger down the stairs. Pre-trip injury, check. The sheep were and constantly are my primary worry with these sorts of activities. They say sheep spend each day looking for a new way to kill themselves and some days it seems there is some truth to that. They were fenced in a wacky sort of way across that spread from our pond across the logging road and into another small field. I felt okay about the fencing situation, not great but good enough. Sheep in fence, check. Finally ready to go we headed through the sheep pasture and up the road to set up camp. We pitched the tent my parents bought when I was a kid for a family camping trip we never ended up taking and gathered materials to make a fire to cook dinner. It was then I realized I hadn't remembered to grab my pill. Meds, no check. I debated not making the walk down to grab it was a beautiful afternoon and a little extra exercise never hurt. It was about a half mile walk back to the house and 150 yards from the bottom I heard a woman yelling, I started jogging. She saw me coming she yells again "YOUR GOATS ARE OUT!" I start running. I came to the house and she points across the road where half the flock in deflowering my neighbor's garden. The other half were in the woods somewhere, I couldn't see them. I deputized the woman and her partner who had pulled over when they saw the loose flock. A neighbor emerged who by now is an old pro at herding our sheep. We managed to get them into the barn more easily than I think I have ever done it without fencing set up. Sheep secure, check. Back up the hill we cooked our ham steak on the camp fire and after dinner Lily and Diantha made some smores. Lily was so excited to sleep in the tent she could hardly wait to go to bed but that made getting to sleep a bit of a struggle. We all eventually got to sleep and slept better than expected. In the morning Lily and Diantha picked more wild strawberries to add to their oatmeal, I cooked eggs and bacon and we broke down camp to head home. Successful Jones family outing, check.
1 Comment
Megan
6/14/2018 07:12:21 pm
Love this!!!!
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AuthorMitchell Jones Archives
October 2018
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