Embracing The Unexpected

Just when I think I know, I don't. I've lived my life thinking that things were going to "go a certain way" or that I'm planning on a particular event, thing or action happening. And then......no.

I've been taught this lesson over and over in life, but yet I still try to force My Will on things around me. That's exactly what I did with the 2-story playhouse we built. I was sure I could get it to do what I intended and wanted it to do. But time has shown me that as hard as I try, it's going to be what it is without my permission. Turns out, it would be the dogs and lambs deciding who gets in the house-structure we built. Dogs below, and Belle upstairs. The great pyrenees love laying in the shade underneath it - and Belle is the only one going upstairs to mill around and nibble treats. So it's not SheepLand or a Guard Dog Tower after all. That's just what it "appeared" to be, or better yet, what I was trying to make it be - without knowing what would really happen in the natural progression of life in the pasture. Matter-of-fact, Belle loves it. She enjoys looking around, climbing upstairs via the ramp, milling around up there, and then the finale?! A big jump off the ramp, playfully, to come back down. She's like a kid out playing and enjoying herself. As if she's going somewhere new, and is ready to explore and play. Her lamb sisters are not quite as adventurous. They watch her, most likely baaaaaa-ing to tell her to 'Be Careful'! So now it's hard to know what to do. Fence it? And then the dogs cannot have their new favorite place, in the middle of the pasture in the shade? Or leave it as it is and let everyone enjoy it? It is a new place that provides shade, and they all love that. Sometimes I come home, and they are all laying underneath it enjoying the shade and breeze. It's a nice option between the front trees by our house, and the pond area down by the road. It's in that in-between area. "Just right", as Goldilocks would say.

I'm a bit perplexed, as I had expected this situation to solve my lambs-eating-dog-food problem. I thought it actually had. But the dogs and lambs have decided otherwise, and to use it for another purpose. To be together and enjoy it together. While I was thinking of a separation of sorts, they are thinking it's one more place they will relax and be together. How can I take that away from them? And now it will have yet, another new name. Since Belle is the only one who goes up in it.......I have deemed it The Belle Tower.

This may very well be (one of) my major themes in life. Embracing the unexpected. The secret I've found for myself is to not fight the old, but embrace the new. The only thing constant in my life is change. Every day. Sometimes I think "Can I just have a day to press the Easy Button?" Can I have this day be bland and uneventful? Or is that what I really want? Sometimes I think I want that, but yet I manage to stay busy instead. My family uses the term 'Go Man Go' when referring to me. Go Man Go does just that. I guess even when I have time to sit down and unwind, the activities I use to decompress consists of long walks, being in the barn piddling around, or working on my To-Do list (which I keep in my head). My reason for walking the dogs is for 'their' mental health. But is it? Or is it for my own?

To answer your question, I still have not figured out how to keep the sheep from eating the dog food. Bright side? I have lots of new shade that the dogs and sheep love to hang out in, in the middle of the pasture!

Ever since I've moved to the country, I learned quickly (and reluctantly) that embracing the unexpected is a daily fixture. I can come home from work and find new and different things have occurred that I never would have imagined. Swarms of bees on the side of my house, moving the queen inside our attic. Families of mice moving into our laundry room. Any one of our livestock animals NOT in it's proper pasture. Wasp nest the size of a football atop our house. Our master bedroom filled with wasps. Random dogs trying to take up residence in the pasture. Chicken attacks. Having a 1 day old lamb with no lamb knowledge. Scorpions in the house. Mice chewed up into sections, with their heads, middle or back end/tails left sprawled across the yard. Possums hissing at me in the barn. None of which are terribly horrible. I think it's the unexpected, time after time, that adds up to embracing the fact that "I never know what I'll experience" on The Graves Farm. So now, I expect the unexpected. What's going to happen today? And I've learned that whatever it is, I will handle it. It's part of my life now, and leaning into that just feels good.

I'm heading out for a run. And guess where my destination will be? I'll run up to next town, and arrive at Tractor Supply (Don't we all love that place?! Get'r Done!). Why? Because they have all their baby chicks for .50 cents each, and David has requested 4 more chickens (via chicks) to add to our flock. I'll meet him there, and we will welcome our new additions to the farm. I guess that means we'll need to come up with 4 new girlz names!

Fall is coming,
Cyndi