Sitting on the Back Porch with My Mother

"Sit here," I say, pointing to the spot on the picnic bench next to me. "That way you can see the farm while you drink your morning coffee."

It was seven in the morning, and the animals were finishing up their breakfasts.

The two ram lambs head butt in the sheep paddock.

"Looks like those two are having a disagreement," she says.

"Ram lambs," I say.

In the young chicken yards, two cockerels are puffing their neck feathers and charging each other.

"Those two are going at it," she comments.

It's that time of year when the ram lambs and ewe lambs are still mixed with the flocks, with the pullets and cockerels live together. Later this month, when their four months old and not quite old enough to breed, the ram lambs will be separated from the flock. The cockerels will be separated in the fall.

I sip my coffee. Looking at my gangley youngsters, I comment, "It's the junior high years on the farm."