Well, isn't life interesting.  I was going to ponder the mounds of laundry that two people can produce in a few days, when one phonecall turns our world into some minor turmoil.  Amigo, the lovely maremma that we nursed back to health when his people were struggling with their own health issues, is now back on our farm.  Today he was supposed to go to his new family.  Unfortunately they phoned to say they would not be taking him after all.  We cannot bring him back to his original family, as they are moving into town.  We are now scrambling to find a space for him where he cannot harrass the sheep.  We have the ewes in one pen, the breeding ram in another pen and the ram lambs in a third.  Amigo is adjacent to the ram lambs.  Before, he would run at the pen as he got a thrill from making them start and run.  Now we have stretched a flexible mesh fence, akin to a snow fence, in the ram lamb pen, between Amigo's pen and the lambs.  That way the lambs won't wander close to Amigo's enclosure and the fence sort of blocks Amigo's view of the lambs.   It is important the ram lambs are not stressed in any way as this affects the taste of the meat once slaughtered.  In the meantime we are actively searching for a new home for Amigo.

Today I made an appointment with the Smithers hospital for an ultra sound which was requested by my doctor.  In the winter I allow myself 3 hours to get from here to Smithers.  If we can go the back way, along the Owen-East and Morice River roads, it should take less time.  But the trucks are hauling during week days so if we get caught behind one going in to town it will be a slow trip.  We have a road radio wired in the pick up truck and the land cruiser, but we will take the van for comfort's sake.  My appointment is for 10:15 a.m. so we will leave here by 7:00 a.m. since I have to check in at 10:00.  At 8:15 I am told I must empty my bladder.  I will tell you right now there are no toilet facilities between our house and Smithers.  Yes, I can go on the side of the road, but we have a lot of snow so there is no running off into the bush to go behind a tree!  Plus, as I said, there are trucks hauling logs, and ore trucks hauling ore concentrate along that road.  Plus hunters.  Sheesh!  This is more than awkward!  I would go to Houston early and have breakfast, but I cannot eat anything after midnight.  Oh well.  We'll figure something out, but there you go, another complication of life in the remoter areas of BC.  It is annoying that we cannot have this procedure done in Burns Lake.  As I write this, they are building a new hospital in Burns Lake, yet we cannot get a simple ultra sound procedure done there.  Nor will they deliver babies.  Go figure.  When I had my son, there was one doctor in Smithers.  He served Houston and Smithers.  He did house calls, delivered babies, had a clinic and did the hospital rounds.  He had a clinic in Houston every Monday.  Sometimes he fell asleep on an empty bed in your hospital room when he sat down to talk to you, but he did manage.  Now, unless there is a specialist standing by for every event, doctors will not even deliver babies.  What has happened to this province?

Ok, enough of my rant.  It seems life was so much simpler back when I was a young mum raising my kids.  We only had 2 channels on tv, no such thing as a computer or iphone,  and you went to the local hospital for whatever ailed you and did not have to wait 2 years for surgery.  Of course, we didn't sleep at night worrying that Russia and the USA would start lobbing bombs and rockets over Canada!   
Here's a scene from a trail on our farm:

Time to put a training plan together for Amigo.  Stay well.