Analyze this

 

Why do I have such weird dreams? The night before last, for example, I dreamed that was I brushing a baby sheep (like the ones Lizzy and I worked with on the farm). But the brush was getting tangled in the thick wool, and I realized I was ripping big chunks of its fur out, and then it was so tangled that its stomach—as in its inner-organ stomach—was suddenly on its outside instead of its inside. At that point I thought oh, maybe I shouldn’t be brushing the sheep. And it lay down to take a nap (with its stomach on the outside), at which point I slowly backed away and thought, I’m sure it’ll be fine, it’s just tired now…

Animals and boys

 

Lizzy’s pet-sitting business took another leap forward from mere dogs and cats.

Mr. Bingley

She was hired to look after a farm while the owners were away for the day.

She was supposed to let the dogs out, fill the water troughs, check on the flocks, feed the chicks, and, most importantly, bottle-feed three baby goats and one baby lamb.

Jill

Jack

Wee little horns

I went along to help her and drive her from the goat barn to the sheep barn.

Miss Piggy

The second time we went, the sheep had managed to get themselves into two separate pens, but didn’t quite coordinate themselves, so we were pretty sure some babies were apart from their mamas.

We spent the next while trying to interpret the insistent baaing, chase down lone lambs, and hold them up to various ewes, asking, “Is this your baby??”

We rearranged a number of babies and left the rest for the farmer to figure out.

The next day we hosted a houseful of groomsmen for a mass suit fitting.

We ate lunch with them first, during which I was spacing out into my taco salad and only tuned in in time to hear them talking through the plot of a show. 

At which, being the hip, hanging-out-with-the-teenagers type of gal I am, I blurted out, “Oh, are you talking about Shakespeare?”

Spoiler: they were not talking about Shakespeare.

Nana graciously came for the afternoon with multiple sewing machines in tow. She handed out seam rippers, thread, needles, and instructions, and Ada and Maddie’s mom and I helped as best we could while the guys were instructed to put things on and take things off and trade clothes around and get pinned and retry.

It was a little bit like herding cats.

But nice cats, who looked really sharp in their suits.

I’m sure Mom, who had never met them, felt like Lizzy and I did trying to pick out the right sheep among dozens who all looked alike.