Dear Readers,
I apologize for my prolonged lapse in writing these stories. I took a long sabbatical during the fall to harvest and preserve the fruits of my highly successful gardening season. Once out of the habit of writing each day, it was difficult to get started again… particularly since my treasured lambing records of the years after 198l have disappeared. My last lambing record notebook in 1981 ended with a note, which said, “See Mom’s large yellow Sheep Book, 1982.”
Sadly, that has never resurfaced despite desperate searches! No doubt it was lost in the confusion when we added an addition to our house, then remodeled the original part of the house, then added a two car attached garage, and as my son said, “as long as I’m excavating for the garage, I might as well excavate the space under the kitchen (which up until then had been only a “crawl space”), and make a basement there. Through all this turmoil, things were moved from here to there and back, and although I have found most things, some are still missing, including the above mentioned large yellow Sheep Book, 1982.
Thankfully, I have all my South East Minnesota Sheep Producers Association (SEMSPA) records, sales record books, old calendars with scribbled notes, photos, etc., to fall back on. However, putting all the pieces together takes a lot more time and patience than when I had my lambing record books to refer to. Another helpful reference was our family “Round Robin Letter,” which made the rounds of the brothers and sisters about two times a year, and provided significant information about the years’ events. Strangely enough, these letters stopped at the same point in time and did not resume until 1990. So, I will just have to muddle through the years between now and 1990. Who knows? Perhaps I will stumble onto the “large yellow Sheep Book, 1982” in some unexpected place one of these days!
Lea
Lea McEvilly,
Shepherdess (Retired)
Hip, Hip Hooray, your writing is coming back our way!!
I do know how frustrating it can be to search for something you know you have and not find it! Good luck in your archelogical dig!
Hi Sands,
Good to hear from you! Now I know I have at least one reader left, hope I didn’t lose too many during my absence. I am hard at work on the second article for GoodFood World, and it feels good to be writing again, it’s therapeutic!
It was great seeing you at Lisa’s house for Thanksgiving, and meeting all your kids, they are very impressive! I had met Leah previously, but not the others, it was a pleasure.
Lea