Image by jrubinic via Flickr

 When I was about ten years old my mother was called away to tend my oldest brother and his family while his wife was in hospital with a new baby.Dad and I were at home on our own, we lived on a dairy farm. One afternoon before he went to the shed for the afternoon milking Dad gave me some chores to do as he would be late and tired when he came home. His instructions were to tidy up the house and get dinner ready as well as feed the hens and other animals at the house before dark. Well at the time I had this great book I was reading about a black stallion, I was so engrossed that the time just slipped by and the night crept in unnoticed. There was a loud commotion at the door and a clatter of hooves in the hall,getting up to see what was going on,two fat woolly balls barged passed me almost bowling me over. They charged into the kitchen then through into the sitting room where mothers good furniture was arrayed. Knowing I had to get them out of there smartly before they caused havoc, I would be in for it if she came home to ruined chairs or even worse, and Dad would not have been impressed either. With difficulty I got them out,about to breath a sigh of relief I went into the hall only to see two woolly tails disappearing into my bedroom. Reaching the bedroom door I gasped in shock. One lamb was standing on my bed chewing at the light shade, the other was a blanketed bundle on the floor sucking on the blanket tassels. Trying to get both lambs together and outside again was beyond me I would no sooner get one close to the door and the other would dive behind the dresser or under the bed. I was getting exasperated by this time and when the scratching came at the front door I stomped down to open it in a very bad frame of mind,muttering,”what in the world is going on now I opened the door all I got was the glimpse shadow as  it passed by me in the door way. From my bedroom came the sound of a scuffle and the bleat of a lamb, I only had a second to get out of the way as the woolly pair dashed for the door and outside to the safety of their pen. Gin Dad’s dog glanced at me on his way out and after he made sure that the lambs were where they should be he headed off back to the shed in answer to a whistle from my father I guess he was needed to sort out some wayward cow or calf. I set about feeding the lambs,hens,and other pets and then went back inside to a very large mess, with a groan I cleaned it up and put dinner on to cook and set the table, then went back to my book. Dad came home an hour later with the milk for the next day, as I took the milk billy from his hand to take inside I noticed Gin standing to the side it looked like he smiled and his expression seemed to say, “All is well now lass”. To my great joy Dad was very impressed with how tidy the house was and being able to sit down to dinner as soon as he came in. His comment to Mother when she arrived home some days later that he was pleased with me because I had been so methodical saying that when he came home the house was always tidy dinner was always ready   and I still had time to read a book. Thank goodness he never found out about the lamb escapade. The moral of this story is get all your chores done before you do anything else . There might not be a good dog or a helping hand or paw around next time and heaven only knows what might invade the house the next time.