The Full-ness of Summer

"Do you have a sec for me?  Puhleeeese??"

Wow.  It's already August.  Where does the time go?  It seems we spend most of the year waiting for summer and then it goes by in a blink.  I truly wonder where my days go.  I have been working 3 mornings a week at our family business, but the rest of the time is relatively unaccounted for.  I have not enrolled the kids in any camps, other than 1-3hr art camp, and the boy in a 2 hr/day music camp - but that hasn't even happened yet. 

My days are FULL.  With what?  Ummm.... there's been more than a few birthday parties for kids' friends lately.  Not very much beach time at all.  The harvesting of various veggies and berries and the resulting canning or processing of such foods. Knitting where I can, even just for a few stitches.

And my "rounds" as I like to call them.

All of which can be interrupted at a moment's notice by one of the children, usually the boy, hollering about something from the deck as they can't be bothered to come and find me.  (Our place isn't THAT big.)  More often than not, the boy needs me to watch him go to the bathroom.  He's 5.  And on the precipice of becoming a musician.  Me thinks he's just getting used to having an audience.  I half expect him to bow after he's done his business.  Anyway, I digress.

About 3 times a day, I start in the backyard with the turkey babes, watering, feeding, checking the heat and watching for anything out of the ordinary.  Then to the adult birds, ducks and geese included.  Then to the "nursery" yard, where the several of this year's chicks (not so much chicks anymore) are foraging and learning about life as a chicken.  I usually cuddle one or 2 of the little ladies (Princess Leia being a favourite -- she's a pure white Easter Egger).

Wondering to myself when I'm going to get to repairing the little coop in the chicken garden adjacent to the main chicken yard so that I can move these lovelies so as to become aquainted with the main flock through the fence.  Gotta do that SOON.  Then, leaving them, through the garden to be sure everything is going as it should be, stopping to munch on something yummy, or yank out a few weeds.  Then to the sheep yard, a chat & a scratch with the girls there, checking on water, and enjoying the simpleness that is sheep.  Watching them for a while, where they are hanging out at various times of the day, what they are eating and when.

Making mental notes to self about all that and thinking about how we are going to pen them with their newborn lambs next spring.   Lastly, to the main chicken yard to watch the grown up birds getting lost in the tall tall grass there, clucking happily to themselves as they find another tasty morsel.  Watching them for a bit.  And lastly into the coop itself to collect whatever gold lies there (in the way of fresh eggs, of course).  And winding my way back up to the house, wash off the eggs and any other goodies from the garden.

All the while, thinking about all these critters that have found their way to us, what they mean to us, how they enrich our lives in so many ways.  And loving them all, even the ones that will eventally be in the freezer, and thanking my lucky stars that I can do this.