shall we dance?

saints bedtime dance is a symphony of movement.

you come home from work, say hi to frodo and go straight into the house to drop off your keys and change your shoes. you say hi to everyone in the main part of the house and clean up the floors. you take a moment to blog because the animals like to see you sit down before you leave them again.

you stay away from the big dog rooms (why do i still call it that when it is filled with little ones?)..you do not want to get those guys thinking you are staying or you won't be able to get out the door without half of them..they are fast little buggers.

out to the barn yards...check the chickens and ducks and make sure they are all well and still have food/water. you take a moment to count any rats and see if you know them or if they are new. you stop at chewie's pen and let him out to bomb around the back yard..(bailey is still in the house and didn't sneak out because i stayed away from the dog rooms so i don't need to worry about him somehow getting the goat.!)

you look around the fields and barn yards to see where everyone is so you can plan how you are going to proceed. tonight it was perfect...gideon and the sheep were in the upper field, the goats and carl were all in the riding ring, the other horses, cows and ziggy were down below.
you close all of the gates to keep everyone where they are.
you check on the pigs..herman and ellie are both asleep in their stalls...you shut herman in to.

then you start feeding. first the goats and carl get their grain, chewie goes back to his pen for dinner too. while they are eating, you put out the hay.
suddenly you spy a little donkey at the gate so you grab him and let him into the barn. ziggy helps you...ok, he doesn't help but he keeps you company.

you cut all of the apples and toss some out the door to gideon and ziggy (come on..they are dying..they can have some.)
then you feed the pigs. next you move gideon into his stall and the sheep into theirs...you feed them all. lahanie sticks his head in the barn window to see what is going on..oh yay, the horses are here. you grab lahanie and czar get them in and feed them too. next you get the hay for the barn and hand that out. you give ziggy his dinner, lock everyones gates and doors.

the cows are waiting..em is licking her lips. you grab their feed bowls and take them into the riding ring and place them in a row on the ground...the goats dive in but you are quick and open the gates and the cows move in and the goats go back to their hay.

pick up the bowls...put the hay wheelbarrow away...check all of the gates, say goodnight, see you guys tomorrow and leave.

you meet up with frodo at the front farm gate..you pick him up and take him to the trailer and give him his dinner, say goodnight and lock him in.
then you head into the bunny room...check all of those guys, get doris and yoshi out for a pee. feed the medical room cats and make sure everyone looks ok..(barney is so lovely!)
you bring back in doris and yoshi and you feed them their dinner too. turn off the lights, say goodnight and lock the doors.

you then check on the aviary birds and make sure they have food and water. you let reggie outside to pee. you clean up any mess and feed lucky and dusty and put reg's dinner in his room. reggie gets brought back in, dusty and lucky get let out. you pop in the check on the feline leukemia cats and say hello...if their canned food is all gone..you give them more.

you lock the doors, turn off the lights and say good night to everyone.

NOW you brave the big dog rooms....you open the sliding door and a bunch of screaming somebodies rush out, you grab the mop and clean up any messes and then head for my room...you just get the hell out of the way when you open that gate..out they all charge. while they are all peeing and pooping outside on the grass, you clean up what they did inside before you got there.

bailey just gets 5 minutes..enough time to pee and poop and he is brought back in...he can't hang out there freely til the goats wander over to their barn for the night.

then you come back into the main house...say hi to everyone and clean up all of the mess they made while you were out. you send them all out to the yard..let them in when they want, and then send perdy out next. you pop in on the back room cats and tell them you'll be back later with their food. then you grab a handful of cookies a cup of milk and blog about the saints bedtime dance.

it is a circle of me moving from one area, one group of animals to another. it is not just about doing the bedtime tasks..it is about touching them and talking to them too...it takes a couple of hours for the dance, start to finish...it is a nice dance...when you are done, it feels pretty good.

then you think about dinner...tonight, it is cheese and crackers (i bought a nice cheese ball on the way home) and you wish tula was here to steal some.

sleeping saints