Our neighbor, Nan Norseen, is one of those people who should be a thousand years old for all of her life experience. She actually grew up in our house; her mother lived here for over 50 years. Nan is a landscape architect who designed the formal gardens that once graced our property (they are cataloged in the Smithsonian Institute) she led the 4-H club, she's been a cowboy out west, she rescues and raises rare breed Morgan horses, and these are just the things that have come up in conversation! Before Anita Hooker sold the property she subdivided the acreage donating 35 acres to the town of Bolton for conservation land leaving 4.5 acres with the Phineas Wright House and the rest for Nan to raise her prize-winning sheep and a host of other farm animals.
Nan is working the county fair circuit this month and asked me to help out with some farm sitting. Eeeek! Yes, please. Of course, I have NO idea what I'm doing but I'm eager and just on the other side of the fence which makes me the perfect candidate for mornings and weekends. There are 40 sheep, 30 chickens, 7 goats, a Morgan stallion, a llama, and a peacock in my charge and I think things are going well. I get up at 6:30 with Hamish, make his breakfast, then head across the pasture with my cute egg basket from the Paris flea market in hand. A couple of apples for the horse, beet greens for the chickens, and a nice long scratching session for the goats. Speaking of goats, these little acrobats are so sweet. They are the most social of Nan's menagerie and they just follow me around like little puppies as I feed and water everyone.
We had a bit of veterinary drama on Friday night as a few of the sheep had encountered a porcupine and had to have the quills removed. Corralling and catching reluctant sheep while the super-star vet wrangled animal and tweezers was hilarious, especially if you were watching me "help". Oh my stars, what a city-slicker I am!
Nan is working the county fair circuit this month and asked me to help out with some farm sitting. Eeeek! Yes, please. Of course, I have NO idea what I'm doing but I'm eager and just on the other side of the fence which makes me the perfect candidate for mornings and weekends. There are 40 sheep, 30 chickens, 7 goats, a Morgan stallion, a llama, and a peacock in my charge and I think things are going well. I get up at 6:30 with Hamish, make his breakfast, then head across the pasture with my cute egg basket from the Paris flea market in hand. A couple of apples for the horse, beet greens for the chickens, and a nice long scratching session for the goats. Speaking of goats, these little acrobats are so sweet. They are the most social of Nan's menagerie and they just follow me around like little puppies as I feed and water everyone.
We had a bit of veterinary drama on Friday night as a few of the sheep had encountered a porcupine and had to have the quills removed. Corralling and catching reluctant sheep while the super-star vet wrangled animal and tweezers was hilarious, especially if you were watching me "help". Oh my stars, what a city-slicker I am!
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