I am woman hear me roar!

Bridget walking with the sheep

 

Yes the women at Dreamcatcher farm are doing more than knitting shawls and taking care of cute lambs. When we need to we can pull out the raw muscle and do it!

A few weeks ago we found a great bargain on a used run in for the sheep. I had been fussing about all the animals needing a place to get out of the rain and wind no matter which pasture they were in. So we were thrilled when the seller drove out with the run in loaded behind his truck. He unloaded it and responded to our questions about tying it down. "Oh no it is too heavy it won't need that." ( Please refer to August blog referencing advise from men in overalls.)

OK, so we forgot to take pics of before and after.

First of all the sheep were pretty unimpressed with the run in. Even nice hay and minerals did nothing to entice them in but it hasn't been raining much and the sun isn't hot this time of the year so patience seemed to be the answer.

Well, as you probably guessed some mighty winds swept through and the shed ended up with the roof on the ground. (We figured the sheep knew of this risk and this was why they had avoided the run-in.)

For a couple of weeks we wrung our hands and considered the possibility of calling the seller back and trying to guilt him into turning it right sided up. Neither of us wanted to do this so with trepidation we set out in Big Red with a rusty cable and not much optimism. "Gotta at least try" was muttered several times. (Big Red is our 1989 Silverado.)

So we found a likely place to attach the cable and attached it to Big Red.  While Jennifer directed, I started to urge Big Red into action. Oh wait darn it I don't have it in four wheel drive. Then Big Red tried to roll backwards into the building but miraculously the clutch engaged and the building moved! Now it was one roll closer to being right side up and again with shouts of "Go Big Red!" and "its WORKING!" the building was right side up again. We did the DreamCatcher happy dance and then the fine tuning started. Jen jumped in the drivers seat and slowly moved the the bumper of the truck against the corner of the run-in  and it eased into the southern angle we wanted. A small push on the back corner of the shed and it was perfectly positioned.

Meanwhile several cars and trucks slowed down and watched "the girls" at work. Mind you there were no offers of assistance just bold curiosity. So much for rural neighborliness. Probably didn't want to insult us with any offers of help.

Then the work of putting the stakes and tie downs in. Hammering stakes 18 inches into the ground is not for sissies. This is especially true when the rain has been sparse and the ground is majorly hard.

But finally a couple cases of tendinitis latter we had installed all five. Yes five. I know there are six in the package but we were tired!

Let the wind blow. "We are women " and that shed is not going anywhere (we hope). Now if the sheep would just use it.


They're in!! OK, so there is a Border collie out of shot :).