Mother's Day weekend

The sheep have started lambing again. At least, I think they have. There's at least one new lamb out there so I hope they get on with it. The barn is empty of hay and I've started on the emergency hay that I stored in the sheep pen in case my job pulled me out of the area. I wanted something easy for Stacey to get to if she had to take over. We're trying to keep them confined until they finish lambing and I finish shearing them. It's going to be close. I've gotten more than half of them sheared but I'm trying to hurry as there is some outside shearing work to do. I don't really need the outside work but they're friends and there's not many shearers out there.
I've still got my steer. I should make a greater effort to sell him since we could use the money. I could spend a couple of hundred on some weaned Jersey calves and start over. I think one of the reasons I've been slow is that his stallmate has been tasting so good that I hate to give him up.
I'm working on a larger garden. I don't plan to plant that much more but I want the plants less cramped. The tomatoes are hard to care for when they're too close. That's not to say I'm not trying to overachieve. I'm trying to grow potatoes again. This is complicated by not having a clue how. I seem to have better luck with them raising them by accident than by planning.
We went to Doug and Mary Hildebrand's place to buy plants yesterday. It's only our first trip. We're going back for the pepper plants later. He's way too cheap. We left with a trunk full of the highest quality plants for $40. He keeps 250 types of tomato seed alone, growing some every year to maintain them. He's developing his own hybrids as well. I wish I had them for neighbors. He gave me 50 potato plants that he started as an experiment. That's another reason I'm expanding the garden.
Stacey got a job with the census as an enumerator. It's not working out very well. The people who didn't send in their forms are mostly people that didn't want to be found. Stacey is finding the whole thing to be pretty stressful. So far, all the dogs have been good dogs but Stacey is anxious.
We went to the opera Mother's Day. They did The Elixir of Love by Donizetti. I haven't laughed that much in a while. The stage setting and lighting were especially good. Having the quack doctor land in a hot air balloon was great. Not so great was the safety harness on the doc because of OSHA regs but it was handled very well. From our seats in the balcony, the orchestra overwhelms the performers from time to time but all of the performers projected their voices well. Bravo, brava.
After the opera, it was off to the mother-in-laws for family dinner. Hamburgers and Italian sausages with beans and pasta salad. Of course, this was after the appetizers. We finished with rhubarb pie and we were truly finished. I could barely move. It was a nice visit and back home to sleep.
That's enough of our boring life for now. Personally, I have to ponder why the barn cats left a half a mouse in the Great Pryennes food bowl. Was it a bribe? A threat? Are they just worried she's not getting enough to eat? Do cats worship dogs? Nah.