Rachel Dahl
The smell of rain permeated my sleep last night and the soft pitter patter on the metal roof lulled me into a sweet, relaxing, greatly needed rest.
This morning as I worked in the dark early morning, vaguely aware of the world slowly glowing to life, that smell of rain and sagebrush flowed through the open windows, soothing my soul with peace. How is a smell so peaceful?
It couldn’t be helped, the front porch was calling as the sky glowed rosy gold and I stepped out into the cool morning surrounded with the essence of the desert – clean and sharp and strong, almost tinged with a vague turpentine from the greasewood. Walking over to feed the goats, I noticed the tamaracks had bloomed when I wasn’t looking. Their puffy, silvery branches full of flowers and pollen, adding to the serenity.
The goats were so excited for breakfast in their damp, curly new coats. They were sheared recently and have grown out long enough that their new curls were affected by the humidity, springing into beautiful silky loops like mine does at the ocean. Black, red, and a pretty soft white, they were so pretty I couldn’t help but imagine what sweaters would look like made from each one of them.
What a blessing to have this distraction in the midst of what has been an incredibly difficult little stretch of growing pains with the papers and magazines and, and, and…
Lately I’ve begun to wonder why in the world I have all these animals when I need to be focused on business. Between the rabbits in their new fancy pens and the chickens who won’t quit hatching new babies and the goats and the emus, honestly what have I done. I used to be able to do chores in about seven minutes – now its easily 20 or more depending on what kind of dilly dallying I do and who looks like they may want some attention.
One of my friends said once that women have pets because we need something to need us. My hair bristled at that silliness when I heard it and my very nature resisted what I thought was a stupid notion.
This morning that thought came back to me as I wandered around the Boyer Bunny Ranch in awe of nature, of all the pretty plants and the pretty animals and the shockingly beautiful smell that made everything so much more – enhanced and enchanted. It struck me that I have pets because they’re beautiful and they bring me great joy and they bring me back from this crazy, tumultuous business we’re building to basics. To the things that are real and I love them.
So while we work our fingers to the bone and enjoy all the little pieces of life along the way, we’ll always be right here…
…Keeping you Posted.
Rach
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