Much of my idealism comes from watching and reading Science Fiction as a kid. I have always been captivated by the fantastic futures that the authors and writers imagined. The books and shows made me hopeful that the human species would eventually rise above our pettiness and institutionalized inequities to become something better. Despite many setbacks since my childhood, I still hope that we will evolve as a species so that we will stop fighting and devaluing each other and of course, learn to live peacefully with the other inhabitants of this earth.

One show that I always watched when I had the chance was Star Trek. By the time I was aware of it, it was already in reruns. One thing that always intrigued me was the interplay between the characters – Kirk and Scotty. Captain Kirk was always asking Engineer Scotty to do something impossible or faster than feasible. Of course, as a male teen, I always saw myself as Kirk, but lately, I have been appreciating the role of Scotty. Scotty always complained about what he was asked to do, but in the end he gets it done in time to save the day.

Sitting on the porch on a late summer evening scrolling through facebook. Two elderly sheep needing forever homes. For a few seconds, I wonder if I should show it to Tracy for fear of how my routine and life would change. My idealism overcomes me (thankfully) and I show her the post. Life does indeed change overnight. We do not have a quarantine pasture – we need one. We do not have housing in the missing quarantine pasture – we will need it. We don’t have gates – we will need two. We don’t even have a completed second pasture to keep our current herd separated if needed – time to get it finished. We don’t have housing in our only pasture – they have been using the barn.

Two months later and all is well. All has been built or cobbled together. Quarantine pasture has been fenced with cattle panels. A plastic calf hutch that can be sterilized as needed has been purchased. Two new gates are installed so that the sheep can leave the quarantine pasture and enter their own pasture next to our current herd. Second pasture fencing and gates have been installed for current herd. And of course, the new sheep have a Sheep Shed to protect them from the elements until they can join the main herd.

As I write this, I am reminded why Kirk and Scotty did well together. And why Tracy and I are such great partners in life and in this endeavor we call Sundance. She is the dreamer; forever the optimist. She doesn’t let my ability to find flaws with any plan stand in the way of us moving forward. As the family pessimist and engineering problem solver, I balance her lofty ideas with complaints about how much time it will take to do any project and of course, how much money it is going to cost – that we don’t have.

The sheep shed is one of those collaborations. Ideas on facebook to keep the price down. Pallets for the base. Scavenging wood from a barn that is falling down. A few leftovers here and there. And now we have a sheep shed (see pics for the evolution of the shed). Until next time, I’m off to build an elevator in the barn…