Gosh they've grown!

They are only 4 months old, but they know who brings out their hay.  Our little girls love their Shepherd.

One Busy Day

 It's been a nerve wracking time waiting for the lambs this year - after Vanessa having triplets and taking so LONG to do it - The Shepherd was starting to get just a little bit sleep deprived.

So even though he was thinking that Lyla and Katie might have babies today we still went ahead and headed off to church this morning.

 Sure enough- when we got home - Katie was in full labor and a little freaked out - the little one would not pop out - he had to pull her out.  Turns out her elbows were kind of compressed and when he got them straightened out - plop, out she came.  Katie is a new mom, but just fabulous - got her up and cleaned off. 

We had planned to drive down to Skagit county to look at the tulips in bloom and have dinner to celebrate our 24th anniversary (actually tomorrow)

One more check on Katie before we left and discovered she'd had another one.  All seemed healthy, so we went ahead and drove out the driveway.

 Dinner at The Outback Steak House was delicious.

And the tulips were quite beautiful.

An added bonus of a flock of snow geese - picking up some extra calories before they head out for summer nesting grounds.  

Here's a picture of Katie with "Colleen" her second one - has about a half dozen white hairs on the top of her little brown head.  

 And this was our surprise when we got home - Lyla had a set of twins too!  The littlest one was still wet, so they couldn't have been more than a half hour old. 

That's 4 more ewes!!!

Happy Earth Day and Happy Anniversary to US!

That's 9 lambs, 2 rams and 8 ewe lambs - Now he has to decide who goes and who stays - that's the hard part.

Happy week to you!  

First lambs

Well I'm a little late with this, they are a week old today. We still have 5 more ewes in waiting.  It's going to be a long month. 

Also dreaming of summer...

The sheep are dreaming of summer too.  They were happy to have a break from the rain. 

A little halter training

The Shepherd had started halter training before Fiber Fusion, but when Annie got sick that was put aside.  He had a couple of the boys sold and it is infinitely easier if they will walk on a lead.  Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it's like dragging a dead sheep behind you.  These lambs seemed to take to it pretty well and just hopped up into the trailer when it was time to go.

Quite a scare

We had quite a scare with Annie last week.  The Shepherd was getting ready to go to Monroe and Fiber Fusion NW with our "teen aged girls" and he realized that something was wrong with Annie.  Called the vet and loaded her into our dog crate not knowing what was wrong...did she have pneumonia like Jefferson had just had or what.

She was in very bad shape by the time he got there - they sprang into action and a quick diagnosis determined it was most likely sheep polio, caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1. Which causes swelling on the brain which leads to blindness.  They started   B1 shots immediately and something to stem the swelling in her brain.

Long story short, we almost lost her and she did go blind, but she began eating the next day and more shots here at home plus pills for pain and isolation from her sisters and brothers miraculously she has recovered.  No blindness that we can tell and she seems to not be any worse for wear.   Shetlands are genetically hardy little sheep, they have to be to live on those cold windy islands in the North Sea. 

Now we just need to stop the bullying that happens when you reintroduce a sheep that's been out of commission into the flock.  Poor little thing. 

He got another pretty ribbon!

 Look who got the Grand Champion Colored Fleece at Fiber Fusion NW in Monroe WA yesterday.

This is The Shepherd with Jefferson's fleece.  The one that the judge at Black Sheep said felt like cashmere, and then forgot to move up to the top 10... Oh well, you win some, and you lose some.  This time he's the winner. 











At this rate, we're going to have to make a "Ribbon Board" for him :-)

Nothing would be more fun to make.

Hope you've had a good weekend.