A visit from Dr. Amber

Dr. Amber came to visit last week. The Shepherd & I walked out to greet her. I was very polite, (even thought I was a little tired of being on a lead for a while while we waited for her to get here). She thought I was very handsome!








Everyone got shots and had their hooves and eyes and tails checked. The Shepherd was pleased and said that he thought she was "very thorough" and she had such nice things to say about the girls.






Dr. Amber thought my little boys were very cute too. But I heard a rumor that she gave one of them a "hoo-hooectomy" - that could explain why Galloway was walking a little stiff-legged after she left...








Don't look so horrified girls - you know your turn is coming.










It only hurts for a second.


















She's gone now, can we go back outside?

Making a fashion statement

Here is Moni, returned from her stay at the hospital. She was very glad to be home, with familiar tasting hay and her girlfriends all peering over the sides of the pen she was in.

She has continued to improve. (I understand that she was "pronging" around the pasture this afternoon) I never did clearly understand what the problem was- I know there was a lot of afterbirth that had to be removed (ick) after the death of the twins. The staff and Dr.s at Kulshan Vet in Lynden are just the best. They even sent The Shepherd a very caring sympathy note after he'd had Buddy put down and the loss of the twins on the same day.

Actually the coats and shirts all came off last Friday - the weather man was calling for rain, and since these garments were all of man made fabrics, we didn't want the sheepies to get wet and then chilled - making things worse. So Friday evening when I got home from work, The Shepherd was just finishing his "sheep laundry" and standing there laughing - it seems that he had missed this lable in the coat that H.B. was wearing - MacBaaaa - The perfect manufacturer for the clothing of the well dressed ram, now, don't you think?

Baby, it's COLD outside!

New York, you can keep your "haute couture" - here on the farm, we have "oat couture"

The temps are supposed to hit lows in the teens tonight with an Arctic blast moving down from Canada. The Shepherd went shopping at Value Village this afternoon - Since it is not supposed to rain, he went with heavy fleeces (ironic...) H.B.'s new coat fits him like a glove.

We think that he thinks he's got casts on his front legs because he walks all stiff legged, but he seems to appreciate the warmth of his new duds as he snoozes in the late afternoon sun.


Like any teenaged boy, Taylor wasn't too sure about his new sweater, but he seems to have gotten used to it pretty quickly.

It was snowing a blizzard this a.m. when it was time for me to leave for work. Since snow equals no work for The Shepherd/Landscaper, he played Chauffeur and took me to work. I was glad for the ride - cars were slipping and sliding all over the place!






Hey Danny - you look pretty good in red.

Pearl and Luna got Ladies size M - The Shepherd said he thought the M should stand for Maternity - they are pretty snug around those bumpy bellies.

The girls are locked in the barn with the heat lamp on tonight - he said they looked pretty comfortable when he went out before bed.

Even in the few minutes that I've been writing the temperature has dropped a few degrees and the wind is picking up. I'm really glad that he decided to do this.






The shepherd resisted the little pink hoodie that said "Princess" on the front for Miss Violet.

The funniest part about his shopping trip was explaining to the ever helpful sales clerk that he wasn't buying clothes for his daughters but for his sheepie girls. I'd love to have heard the coversations that brought up this afternoon.









I think Jewell looks kind of like Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, don't you?

Moni update:
Moni is still in the hospital. (cha-ching) They were going to "turn off" her IV's over night in hopes that her body will start normal functions again, if that makes any sense. It sounded like her rumen system had shut down too, so they have given her something to get that back up and running.

The shepherd drove there this a.m. in the blizzard to take her some of our hay, as she wasn't eating. Everyone agreed that leaving her there overnight was safest considering the weather. We're keeping our fingers crossed.




Well, it is a neighborhood legend that when we have lambs in the front pasture, it stops traffic. I'm sure that these two running around in their new sweaters will give everyone a good chuckle on their way to work in the morning.

Dear Santa -

Please Mr. Santa, could you make all this snow go away?

Thank you.

Your friend, H.B.

P.S. I really like those blackberry flavored treats that The Shepherd gives us sometimes - could you bring me a package? I promise I'll share.....

Happy Thanksgiving

The girls are all safe and sound, together, (for better or worse) in the barn. Glad to be rid of those stinky boys. (H.B. says, "I am NOT a stinky boy!)

The boys (particular the wethers) on the other hand, are bereft, "Why have you taken our friends from us?" they cry. Now they have no buffer between them and those gnarly rams. Oh, well, the balance of breeding season is often precarious -

We sang this hymn last week at church - I thought you'd like to see it "illustrated".

Autumn Hymn, by W.R. Jones


When summer green is fading and winds blow brisk & free
A wealth of autumn glories, recall us God to thee.

From flaming bush and headland, the woodland’s gold array
The captured light of summer shines back thru skies grown gray

Ahead the cold and darkness, the winter snow and storm
But autumn radiance tokens thine inward fire to warm;

No matter how we tremble, amid the darkness then
When love shines in the shadow, light shall break forth again.

Thou singer in the rhythms that echo in our hearts
We glimpse thee in the beauty the changing year imparts

Let loveliness in autumn, to us assurance be
That Joy knows many seasons in hearts attuned to thee

Amen.

Mugging for snuggles

H.B. has happily had the company of Pearl and Luna for the last 5 weeks, but he is starting to get bored with all the extra company -

One night last week when The Shepherd got home from work, he noticed several of his larger bonsai plants had been knocked over - thinking that perhaps one of the neighborhood dogs had gotten in between when he left at 7:30 a.m. and I leave at 8:30, he set about righting everything - but then he realized he didn't see any dog tracks on the ground - instead, there were lots of little hoof prints around - he quickly ruled out deer - as #1 - they were little prints and #2 - we don't have any deer in our neighborhood...

So he walked the fence line and found a spot about two feet where the field fence had been broken through - and low and behold - there was all this fuzzy black wool caught in the wire - this little Houdini had broken through the fence, and from the pattern of prints left, he munched his way through the nursery - (thankfully not eating any poisonous plants - he's still here) - took a little trip into the barn and munched a bunch of hay (probably why he wasn't hungry enough to munch on the rhododendrons) - went over to see his buddies Danny and Taylor and THEN, apparently looking at his watch and realizing that if he wasn't back in the pasture when dad got home from work, he'd be in big trouble - wiggled his way BACK through the fence and back into the pasture.


Oh, yes, you are a big pain in the butt, and yes, I'll scratch you back there on your shoulder where it feels so good -

Some guys have all the luck...

No more halter "training" -

Let's go get the paper, dad.

10,000 AND STILL COUNTING!

Thank you to everyone who visits my blog - we went over the 10,000 visitor mark on Site Meter this week! (I downloaded Site Meter in late May 2007) I find it very interesting to look at the Site Meter map of the world and see where you all come from.

You never know what you'll find here - maybe the rhubarb - or maybe the rhubarb pie






The cats and the sheep are living in harmony - like ebony and ivory.









And the flowers come and go with the seasons.

Thanks again for visiting. Hope you'll leave a note now and again, so I can stop by and visit you too.

One month Birthday for H.B.

Unlike my friend Nancy's darling daughter I'm not much for getting down on "lamb level" any more. If'n I got down there, it would be by accident (literally) and it would be "difficult" (to say the least) to get back up. SO, The Shepherd kindly brought Mr. H.B. (and yes, it stands for "Happy Birthday" - don't ask me, I didn't name him) up to my level by standing him on top of the "ram-ada" for the little barn. He wasn't real keen on the whole issue, but, then again, life is tough when you're the favorite son.






The little guy is built like a Sherman Tank, which I think is from lack of competition for goodies...












His horns appear to be coming in correctly and his wool is nice and "floofy"(a highly technical term, you know) - wonder if The Shepherd will give me dibs on his fleece?

An H.B. Update

Out for a run with Mom & Auntie Pearl.














Hmmmm - who's this?













Come on, big boy, gimme a kiss...


Friends? We'll see -

Joy and sadness - all part of farming

I got home from work a little late tonight - The Shepherd was rushing around - "Listen up", he said - "Anna Dee has mastitis - and the vet can't come out - I have to take her to Lynden" (about 25 miles away) "AND , I'm pretty sure that Gwennie has gone into labor - she may have a lamb as we speak - go check on her!"

Whoa - that's a lot goin' on - so I jump out of the car, dump my purse and bags from work on the back porch and head out to the little barn where Gwennie is.


Oh, My Gosh!!!! Look what I found!



Gwennie has given us an HST ram lamb!





HST - the Holy Grail of Shetland Sheep - stands for Heads, Socks and Tail - a marking where those parts of the body are white - and he does have the white on the tip of his tail, which I guess was tucked in on these pictures. He has little Panda Eyes - His name is Marietta's "H.B." (alias, Panda Guy) (hey, you'll have to ask The Shepherd, I didn't name him...)

Man, he's cute - little panda eyes - cute, cute, cute!





So back to Anna Dee - as you can see, she has a very painful affliction here - but the boys are doing fine -

The Shepherd loaded her into our trailer and off they went to the sheep V-E-T. Our regular vet (from the same office) is back in Minnesota, but Dr. Mike did a great job and they were back in just a couple of hours.

They are both russet brown - naming is still in the works.







Of course in the mean time, the new boys thought they had been left all alone in the world, and cried and cried and cried. Which upset Regina, who couldn't quiet figure out - her boys seemed OK, who were these little twerps who were making such a ruckus?

But, unfortunately our joy was touched with sadness. Just as The Shepherd had gotten back from the vet's with Anna Dee - we thought that Gwennie was passing her afterbirth - no, there was another lamb, unfortunately stillborn - too long waiting for that first breath of life. Blossom, a beautiful white angel with a few black spots now rests beneath the cedar tree in our garden.

Joy and sadness - all part of farming...