 |
| Ice crystal fog. Can't see the mountains. |
When I was young, growing up in rural MT, I had to help take care of animals. Didn't matter what the weather was, the animals had to be cared for morning and night.
Did you know, that the boogie man is real? He is! True story. Every evening if I forgot to feed before dark I would shake in my boots as I headed up the back to the barn in the pitch black. Oh he is real. He is out there. I never did see him. Didn't have to! He was, that real.
 |
| The sun starting to burn off the fog. Down lower, it still surrounds the sheep. |
I figured my parents would be thrilled to have an animal that didn't need to be taken care of. I knew they'd say yes without even having to think about it! Imagine my shock and surprise when my dad told me no! He crushed my heart that day ya know. I begged and begged and figured he just didn't see the light. I reminded him of the particularly positive points with this animal. It. Didn't. Need. To. Be. Fed! Oh! And it didn't ever get out of fences so he wouldn't need to be repairing fences for my little sheep either.....
As I watch the sheep in the field behind my house, I laugh at how 'little' care they require. I'm sure the rancher who owns them feels the same. Like, every spring when she has to shear them, and that lovely delicate crutching before lambing season that needs to be attended to.... and then there after every 6-8 weeks or so during fly season.. Not to mention all of the other labor and care of sheep.
Funny looking back on it. Wasn't funny back then! I thought my dad misunderstood the opportunity before him and was heartless! Still, there was that whole business about the pigs. Best bacon he ever tasted he said by the time we butchered those things.
And THAT is another story. Dem darned pigs!
It's that way with kids and pets. They get to play and enjoy. It's the parents who get to take care of them. And my kids wonder why I keep saying no pets right now. (Besides the fact that we are renting.)
ReplyDeleteNo. The boogy man didn't live in Montana. He lived in MY basement! I can say that I have felt your same fear. It is almost paralyzing.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you and Tami, the boogey man lived in MY basement. Just ask my brothers- I had to protect them from him. ;) (Seriously, I really did for my OLDER brother.)
ReplyDeletePets are always going to be easy to take care of, until you get them. Take it from one who now owns a dog.
Chastina, No kidding! I had no idea what all my mum did until I became a mum. Boy have my eyes been opened!
ReplyDeleteJody, And then alzheimers at 30!
Tami, Freaky! I wonder if bogey men are like gremlins. They multiply when they get wet because I had one, YOU had one, NAT had one.....
Nat, :D That just makes me laugh you protecting your older brother from the bogey man. Doesn't surprise me one bit!
Yeah, the whole pet thing. Been there, owned the zoo, done that, and am still a sucker for a little puppy or kitten..... don't tell Joey.
Okay. People. There IS no boogy man. I've had a ton of basements, even one with the stuffed head of a dead deer in it, and I know. I do not believe in this idea - not for a minute. But there WAS a cougar who lived in my back yard in New York. And every time my mom sent me downstairs to bring up a can of something from the storage - that thing was snuffling and pushing against those tiny little basement windows. If I have an speed at all, it's due to those years of doing the five second dash up those stairs.
ReplyDeleteAnd really - about animals - how hard could it be to own a horse? And I said that one when I was 49.
I KNOW WHERE THE BOOGEY MAN HIDES, IN MY CLOSET. (I know because there's so much stuff in it you could hide a T-rex in there and you whouldn't know, there's so much to explore in that place.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way mom you forget BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKristen, There is too a bogey man! I know from experience. That same terror that had you running up those stairs is the same terror felt when the bogey man is behind you. He's so fast, when you turn around to look you can't see him but he is there! Oh is he ever! :D
ReplyDeleteJody, That remembering thing... uh huh!!
Scarf kid, Closet nothing! Your entire room!
Yeah. Bunnies...
So I'm thinkin'...maybe, just maybe, since we all never actually saw the Boogey Man, that maybe he's not a man at all! Maybe he's K's cougar and she was the luckiest (read UNluckiest) to actually see him.
ReplyDelete@K, I know those 5 sec. sprints well, except mine were up the back porch stairs from the garage. I swear there was always a serial killer in there just waiting to get me!
I did clean it, you can walk through it now
ReplyDeleteAh, my 13-year-old is in the midst of planning to get sheep. Silly girl didn't think to try to sell me on it by offering to get sheep for fibre, though. Nope. She wants to EAT them. Now, you have just given me the greatest encouragement in getting sheep - the photo opportunities. Gorgeous shots there!
ReplyDeleteWabi-Sabi, To eat??? She wants to EAT THEM! She's brave. Butchering time on the farm was the hardest for me. Well, not the chickens. I hated those things.
ReplyDelete