2003-03-27 - 10:32 p.m.

A typical night?

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."

-Jonathan Swift

As most mothers nighttime it is a time of sanctuary for us, a time for peace and quiet and our alone time. The kids are asleep, the husband snoring away in the bed or knocked out on the sofa asleep. It�s quiet and peaceful. If all my nightly chores are done, washing eggs, washing dishes, sweeping, then I come to the computer for awhile or sit down and watch tv for a bit. I even read sometimes.

So it was around 12:30 � 1am I was just getting ready to take a nice warm shower when I heard �Baaaaaaa� really close. I sigh and look out the back window. Merlin the male goat is in our back yard. He�s not suppose to be in the back yard, which means as always he was left behind as the goats and sheep made a break for freedom. Merlin means well but he�s like a big dumb dog. He gave them away by crying to them.

I glance at my husband who even in his sleep is making a face of pain. I know he�s back has been hurting him so I let him sleep. I slip on my boots and take the dog out with me to gather the herds back up. They are in the carport eating the tree in the middle. The dog scares them. I am having second thoughts about taking her out. She�s not fully trained yet. I manage to open the gate and we chase the herd back in except Merlin and the old female sheep.

I get them trapped in the back yard and only a small gate is the opening to get them back. The dog is not helping and keeps chasing them away from it. �Stop� I cry to her, �Slow� the only commands so far that I have taught her, but she does not listen fully. Finally in frustration I put the dog in the back porch it�s surrounded by a small fence and gate. I grab the sheep almost hugging it and try to walk with her towards the gate cooing at her to calm down.

The stupid dog jumps the fence and trys to help by nipping at her heels which she now breaks away from my grip I fall to my knees trying to grab her. I get up and kick sand at the dog in frustration. She doesn�t even notice and it missed her as she goes after Merlin. Finally which seems hours I get the sheep in and Merlin too. For awhile there I almost got the husband up to help.

I go back in the house and I am glad I didn�t take a shower yet. Around 3am I wake up to hear the husband get out of bed. Then I hear gunshots outside. Then he stomps back in. He said wild pigs were in our trashcan. �Huh? I said sleepily. Where was the dog? �She was being very quiet he laughed. Our wild hogs around here can be very mean, especially a mother with babys. They can do a lot of damage. Tasha our first dog is scared of them. Heck Tasha is scared of everything that�s why we got another dog.

Bzzz - Weekend