Insecurity sneaks in...

It's beginning. I'm feeling scared.

I don't think I'm going to be able to do it. I'm beginning to do what I always do when I get scared. I freeze. I don't do anything.

I'm never going to be ready for the Jefferson show. I haven't even decided, for sure, who I'm going to take! I need to get the vet out here to do health papers.

I have not got my lambs completely halter trained. Oh sure ~ most will walk on halter, as long as I coax them with a cookie. But when the judge goes to examine them, they're sure as heck not going to stand quietly! I've hardly even had the boys on halters...

I did manage to work with a few of the ewe lambs, the other day. Cassy got lots a personal attention because she hasn't been on halter since she was a tiny baby ~ if she was even then!

I love this picture. It's of Zest & Zodiak. Two of my favorite ewes. Zest is the dam of Paco (the most gorgeous, moorit & white, HST ram I have ever laid eyes on!) and Zodiak is the dam of more HST, EWE lambs than any of my other girls. But... I think I have 30 sheep. I can only keep 15. I think I'm going to offer ALL of my solid-colored ewes for sale. Except Alice.
Of course.

No Time For Blogging...

FUZZY CHICKS


RAMS IN THE BACKYARD


STAY OUT OF MY BARN!


HALTER LESSONS CONTINUE
(when I can find the TIME!)

"Uh...I'll pass, thank you!"
This is the lovely, "BLUFF COUNTRY MASQUERADE". Twin sister (actually, one of TRIPLETS) to DEJA VU ~ the ewe lamb that I'm donating to the SILENT AUCTION
Masquerade is For Sale


DREAM says...

"Poor Mom! She says there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done that she needs to do!"

For A Good Cause....

OK Deja Vu. It's time to come out of hiding!

Your mom (Bluff Country Zodiak) has done a good job of keeping you and your sisters out of the limelight but it's time to introduce you and make it official:

"BLUFF COUNTRY DEJA VU" is being donated to the MSSBA (Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders Association) Silent Auction at the NASSA (North American Shetland Sheep Breeders Association), Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival(WSWF), in Jefferson, WI., on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008.

Deja Vu is an Hst (Yuglet/Smirslet with two white socks and a white tipped tail), TRIPLET. Her Dam ~ Bluff Country Zodiak has been a VERY prolific ewe for me ~ producing twins or triplets every year with a vast predominance of ewe lambs! Not to mention, LOTS of HST ewe lambs. In fact, I can't remember if Zodiak has ever produced a ram lamb! I'll have to look that up... ;-)

In preparation for the MSSBA show and silent auction, I decided that it's time I corralled Zodiak's lovely girls and began halter lessons. Deja Vu was an enthusiastic pupil!

Since they are always together, I figured I may as well give Vu's sister "Bluff Country Masquerade" a lesson as well. She was equally enthusiastic!

I let Masquerade practice 'standing tied' while I worked with Deja Vu...


Deja Vu has a lovely, intermediate fleece that is VERY soft. She also has little scurs, as do many of my ewe lambs this year. I don't expect them to develop into full horns but they are noticeable little scurs.


Before long, Deja Vu was letting me pick the straw out of her fleece. How DID that get in there??? And standing while I pet her.

In the meantime, Masquerade was patiently standing tied...

When "the look" softens and Deja Vu steps forward and puts her nose to mine, while I scratch both sides of her neck, the first lesson is over.

Well done, my beautiful Deja Vu, well done!

Not What I had Intended to Post....

*As always, click on any image to enlarge *

I'm a spontaneous kind of Blogger. I don't usually plan out what I'm going to write about. I usually just go out, in the morning, and take pictures and then write about whatever catches my eye in the photographs. But today....I had plans!

Today I was going to write about the beautiful HsT ewe lamb that I am donating to the Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders Association (MSSBA) for their annual "silent auction" fund raiser. This year the MSSBA group will be hosting the North American Shetland Sheep Breeders Association "AGM" (Annual General Meeting) at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, in Jefferson, Wisconsin. WOW! That was a mouthful!!

Anyway, I WAS going to show some photos of the beautiful, HsT ewe lamb that I am donating and her sister, as they got their first halter lessons yesterday. What a hoot! But the rest of my girls had other plans....

It's kind of a long story. I started putting step in posts around the flowers in my back yard because I was planning (there's that word again!) to let the rams into the yard to eat the long grass (as opposed to mowing it). I also moved the girls into the middle paddock to give them some fresh grazing. I picked the pumpkins that were growing outside of the fenced in patch I had planted them in so the girls wouldn't get at them. I placed the early-picked pumpkins in various, strategically decorative locations around the back yard. And then something (I can't remember what) distracted me and I came into the house.

When I looked out the window a few minutes (?) later, my ewes were IN the back yard. I have no idea who left the gate unhooked!!! Be glad that you were not here to hear the words that came out of my mouth as I discovered:

This WAS a lovely, white geranium tree!
I have NO idea who could have done this! Perhaps "Zaria"???..


Or maybe "Diva"?


Surely "DREAM" would never participate in such rampant destruction!


I'm certain that my sweet, gentle "Flash Flood" would never take part in such Shenanigans!

My prized "Dwarf Lilac Bush"
I have VERY bad sheep...


;-D

tomorrow: Beautiful, HsT ewe lamb donated to MSSBA! (?)

DREAM says...

"It was Zaria, Mom ~ I swear! It was Zaria!"

My Morning...

I went out to move the girls at 7:30 this morning because my hay man was coming.

The ewes and lambs always great me with such joy and make me feel so loved!

And NO ~ I didn't have cookies in my pockets! ;-)

I moved the girls to the side pasture and just as I was walking back to the new barn, the hay man pulled up the drive. Perfect timing!

Marlin (78 year old "hay man") tossed the bales off of his trailer and I (single handedly ~ well, actually I used both hands) stacked 90 bales of hay in one hour!!!

I moved the girls back into the main pasture and while they cleaned up the hay chafe spilled on the ground, I did halter lessons with a couple of very special young ladies (more about that tomoorow!), before heading into the house to get ready for work. I'm gonna be tired tonight...

DREAM says...

"Oh yeah! Mom's gonna be tired all right. And SORE!!! Come back tomorrow to see some of the funny picture she took while she was giving halter lessons to D ? # @... mmmffft!"