It's That Time of Year...

My Girls don't know it but it's time to deworm them.

Somehow, they don't seem to mind!

Fortunately for my flock, I use pumpkins as a natural dewormer.

They LOVE them!

Eat up, Ladies!

It's such hard work being a shepherdess!

;-)

DREAM says...

"It's not as much fun when Mom actually GIVES them to us!"

(click on "GIVES" to see what Dreamer prefers...)

When My Heart is Heavy....

I sit with my sheep.

DREAM

DAZZLE

DESTINY

ANGEL

ZEST

ALICE

They give me strength.

DREAM says...

"Mom's sad because one of her chickens is very sick.  We're going to give her LOTS of extra cuddles to help her through this..."

Missing Lily...

Our Lovely Lily the Snuggle Kitty has not been home for 3 weeks.

At first, Mom would call for her every day.

Now, she just says:  "I miss my Lily Kitty".

I miss her too but I haven't given up.  I'm keeping one eye peeled. 

Just in case.

We miss you Lily Kitty.

OK Wise Guys...

Who do YOU thnk I should put in with Zorro???

And Then There Was ONE...

Poor Zorro.

Hunter and Eureeka left for their new homes this weekend.

Leaving poor Zoro the only remaining ram in my flock!

Needless to say, he is now

ALL alone...

Some of you may remember when Zorro was only a few weeks old and he broke off one of his horns.  It healed nicely, but apparently, Zorro and Hunter had a 'run in'  recently and Zorro got the raw end of that deal!  He has completely broken off his "good" horn ~ right a skull level! 

I've never seen a horn broke off that low before!  Poor Zorro.

Fortunately, it has healed nicely and he doesn't seem to be any worse for the incedent.

This handsome 4 month old ram lamb actually belongs to Linda & Pete (of Pennsylvania) but will be staying here ~ along with his dam, Zodiak and my beloved Zest, until next summer. 

For now, the little guy seems to be OK in his own paddock with the girls all around him.   I'm HOPING that his young age will prevent major problems as breeding season commences.  I do not plan on breeding any ewes this year.

But, if being alone proves to be too hard on Zorro ~ OR my fences ~ I may end up putting a couple of ewes in with him, just to keep him company.

I guess a couple of lambs next year wouldn't be too bad...

ALICE Doesn't Like Sheep....

Ever since Alice came to live in the Bluff Country (in 2001), she has been a loner.  She did have one  friend, "Stephanie" ~ a ewe that came with her, when I bought Alice.  But I sold Stephanie a few years later ~ when she started fighting with Alice ~ any ewe that fights with Alice gets sold.  End of story.

Ever since Stephanie left, Alice has been a complete loner.  I often feel sad for her, staying off by herself.   So, in 2007, I decided to keep Alice's ewe lamb: "Bluff Country Destiny", so that Alice would always have a friend/companion.

Destiny was one of Triplets and as usual, Alice kept her babies as far away from me and the rest of the flock as she could.

Which, of course, made Destiny a bit of a "Wild Child"

Needless to say, Destiny grew up to be quite the Beauty!

With her dam's regal bearing and flawless confirmation

It is obvious to me that ear carriage (attitude???) is hereditary...

Alice is hardly ever seen off by herself anymore

She always has her "Destiny"

DREAM says...

"Kind of like how You have Me, Mom?"

That's right, Dreamer ~ kind of like how I have you.

Fall Fell...

Remember this?

photo taken on Oct 7, 2009

Same shot:  Photo taken on Oct 12, 9009

If you click to biggify the first photo, you can see that the pumpkin patch was a mass of giant, green leaves.  I didn't even know for sure if there were pumpkins IN there!

They were there, all right.  Now, all the leaves are gone.  Vanished while I slept.

               Remember this?   

I took this one this morning:

Do you remember when Kimberwood HUNTER came to live in the Bluff Country?

2007!  He'll be leaving for his new home, in Illinois, later this week...

Baby Dreamer!  2006:

DREAM says...

"Some things just keep getting better!"

"Thank you again, Katie, for Mom's Happy Lamp!  It sure does make a BIG difference at this time of year!!"

I do want to sincerly recommend "light therapy" for anyone affected by SAD or depression.  It's made a HUGE difference for me!

(knock on wood!)

Hard Freeze...

BRRRRrrrrrr!

It's COLD in the Bluff Country!

We got our first HARD frost the night before last and another last night.  My pumpkin patch has shriveled up to a tangled web of vines and the leaves have all but disappeared. 

This is my weekend to work and it's dark by the time I get home so I'll get photos tomorrow.  I may just turn the girls loose in the pumpkin patch...

CRUNCHY Grass....

My dogs woke me up early this morning.  For the first time in days, the SUN was shining!  I thought this would be a great chance to get some new photos of my ewes.

Godiva greated me in the early morning light.

When I stepped off my back entry, I noticed that the grass was crunchy!  We had a mild frost last night.  Very cool ~ crunchy grass and crunchy sheep!

Dream and Zest come out of the chicken paddock  ~  where they are now allowed at night (while the chickens are shut in the barn) to keep the grass trimmed.

We interrupt this blog post to announce that I just spilled a FULL,  20 oz. mug  of cappuccino all over my desk.  This is NOT good...

Back to our blog post (while my computer is still workiing)

"Way to go, Mom!"

Oh, shut up, Dream!

The girls lined up for morning roll call...

Destiny and Alice are obviously thrilled.

`

Smile pretty!

In spite of the morning frost, I still have some hold-out flowers blooming beautifully!

I know the blue ones are Larkspur but I don't even know what the pretty, bright red ones are!

Time for me to go let the chickens out of the coop.

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day!

DREAM says...

"You better not stay out with those chickens too long, Mom.  I hear you've got quite the sticky mess to clean up in your office!"

;-)

Thanks for the reminder, Dreamer!