Extreme Emotions

Two weeks ago (yes, I've been busy and I'll explain with what), we started building the shed walls.  Things went well, and in a few short hours, Jeff and I had four walls and a roof framed in.

While Jeff was tacking things down tight, I decided to take the tarp off the tractor and mow the "pasture area" where the shed is located.  The tarp was literally covered completely with Box Elder bugs.  Not being a bug lover, I used a broom and swept them off as best I could.  It probably took me 10 minutes before I was  comfortable enough to get close enough to grab one side of the tarp and pull it off.  When I did, I discovered a pile of grass packed neatly on the center of the tractor hood.  I lifted it and it contained one naked baby mouse.  The mama mouse must have grabbed as many of her babies as she could while I was sweeping the bugs.  I took the baby and the nest and laid it under the nearest bush in hopes that Mama would smell it and take the last baby to safety.  That didn't happen and I became the adoptive parent of Winthrop, the baby mouse!

This little palm sized guy is why I didn't update the blog last week.  He consumed all my free time.  Every 2 hours he was fed puppy formula with a syringe with a tiny tube attached.  Then his bottom was wiped to stimulate him to pee and poop.  He was thriving and growing hair.  He was becoming the most adorable little guy and I loved holding him in my palm and beholding the wonder of something so perfect yet so tiny.  On his fifth day with us, I noticed that he wasn't pooping when I wiped him.  I was hoping he was doing it on his own when he was in the shredded papers of his house.......but I was wrong.  And with any animal, if it can't eliminate its own waste, toxins build up and it dies.  This is what, I think happened to Winthrop.  I fed him around midnight on Friday night and put him to bed.  He appeared to be fine......but I found him dead early Saturday morning.

Here's the last picture I took of him Friday night.  His passing ripped a tiny, mouse sized hole in my heart.  I buried him this weekend in a satin lined box in a corner near where he was born.

Now, on to happier things..........

This last weekend, we returned to the farm with more building supplies hoping to get walls and a roof on the shed.  We arrived at 6 pm on Saturday and set up camp.  By the time we got everything in place, it was getting pretty dark.  Jeff got wood ready to start a fire.  All the wood we had piled out there was wet from the rain that day, but Jeff had brought charcoal lighter with us, so we should have been okay.........until we discovered that the lighter was empty and the matches were too damp to light.  Luckily, with the help of the cigarette lighter in the truck, we got the matches to light and built a beautiful fire.

 

Jeff cooked up some brats while I laid out the condiments on the shed floor behind us.  We dined on brats, macaroni salad and a bottle of wine.  There we sat under a full moon listening to the night sounds.

Fresh air and hard work sent us scurrying off to the warmth of the sleeping bags by 9:00.  Right about then the night sounds changed as the coyotes emerged from their dens.  We lay in the tent listening to them talk until we fell asleep.  The temperature dropped to 39 degrees over night and the coyotes woke us several times.  It was then we discovered the only parts of us that were cold were our noses!!!!  I slept like a baby and woke to a crisp autumn morning with the sun filtering through the trees across the meadow.

Jeff started the fire and cooked up coffee and bacon and eggs for breakfast while I fed the pups.

Then it was on to shed building!

While putting up the last 2 roof rafters, Jeff decided they weren't sitting properly and decided to take the roof down and replace the rafters with trusses.  It wasn't a happy decision, but he made it and tore the rafters down.  While he did this, I busied myself with trimming some of the brush along the perimeter behind the shed and took out a few of the branches of a fallen tree.  A small chain saw would have been nice then ...... as my shoulders are telling me this morning!!!!

We got the siding up all the way around the shed except for one gap on the back wall.  The gap will be closed next weekend......and hopefully we'll get the trusses up.  It's taking longer than we thought.

It sure felt good to get a shower when we got home!!!!