How do you define modern country kids?

Perhaps it has something to do with the clash of two worlds…the blurring of fine lines…the stretching of the concept of multi-tasking…the herding of sheep, in cleats!

Farm chores can take more teamwork than soccer!

The kids geared up in their new soccer “stuff” the other evening (practice starts this week!) and Mr. Fix-It had them run a few laps around the top field. You know, just to get the feel of things. (And get them out of my hair before I went stark-raving-mad.)

The Ladybug is usually the quarterback of our sheep wrangling adventures–what do you call that in soccer?

The Ladybug jogged with great gusto, white socks flashing above the jungle of our backyard in the evening sun.

The Cowboy ran half a lap and then cheated by cutting across the field to catch up with his sister.

Soccer is either going to push Speedracer out of his comfort zone, or it’s not gonna be his thing. I’m not sure yet.

And Speedracer?

Oh, my Speedracer!

He jogged for 5 seconds and immediately threatened to collapse without immediate hydration.

You can barely see Speedracer’s head down in the back (left) coming around the compost bin. And yes, that’s a crazy gray chicken down there in the middle of things on the right.

Little did they know that running laps was just the first phase of Mr. Fix-It’s diabolical plot to exhaust them before dinnertime!

We weaned the lambs a few weeks ago, and the kids had to move them to the top field.

“Weaning” means separating the babies from the mommas to move them from milk to grass. Some animals, like cows, don’t take it well and bawl night and day and pace and jump or crash through fences. Sheep naturally start weaning their own lambs within a few months, so for them it’s not that big a deal–especially if you wean late like we do. The earlier you do it, the more stressful it is.

Getting those sheep through the small gate is a big challenging. Bigger gates are easier.

Moving lambs can be a little tricky. The older ewes know what they’re doing (they’ve done it 100 times before) so they’re calm and practically go through the gate themselves once they know which one they’re pointed at–unless something stirs them up.

The lambs, on the other hand, don’t know what they’re doing or where the gates are and sneezing too loud can stir them up. Especially after just being weaned. And most especially since most of ours are rams. You know those boys! {grin}

Shutting the gates with the grass so tall can be challenging too–more teamwork!

But it went really smoothly. (The Ladybug said her cleats gave her good traction.)

The Cowboy is going through a difficult phase right now. He wants to chase and holler at everything like he sees in cowboy movies. Usually just a reminder that we “yip-yip quietly” is enough, but lately he’s just been so exuberant I spend as much time reining him in as directing sheep operations.

But he’ll learn.

Look how much those lambs have grown! You can’t even tell they’re babies any more! (These are ALL babies!) 

This weekend we’ll be celebrating the Ladybug’s 8th birthday. (How is that possible?!) Then we start our school year on Monday! Next week I’ll be joining Sarah and 21 other bloggers for 5 Days of Organizing and Cleaning  with tips and ideas for organizing your Back-To-School adventures–be sure to stop by!