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!)

Day Three...HUNTER...

As much as Dream may complain, it is really the BOYS that get neglected around here! Since being ousted from their barn and paddock so the chickens could take it over, Hunter and the two remaining ram lambs are living in the pasture with a large calf hut for shelter. They're doing fine, but not getting much attention.
The 'big guy' does miss being petted and scratched and can occasionally be seen 'scratching his itch' on my fences!

Hunter doesn't have to bash fences to destroy them ~ he just LEANS on them!

"But, it feels SO good!"

"Ah, yes ~ right there!"
For the record, although I don't go into the pasture with the boys very often (other than when I have to wash their water bucket), I DO give them lots of pets and scratches through the fence. And Hunter, is a perfect gentleman!
HUNTER says...

"Life is good in the Bluff Country..."

Yes, it is my beautiful Golden Boy! But I'm still hoping that we find a new home for you, SOON, where you can have a whole flock of EWES to keep you company...

If You Think the EWES Had it Bad...

My poor boys have been banned to the outer pasture, to make room for more CHICKENS in the barn!

They have plenty of good grazing and fresh water and shelter, so they're not exactly 'abused' but they're not exactly getting lots of attention either. Then again, that's not such a bad thing with rams. The truth is, I hope to have all three boys gone within the next month. Hunter (beautiful, Mioget, HST, 2yr old ram) is for sale. (although, I MIGHT just use him, quick before he goes!) I had a buyer for him but she can't take him until December and I do not want to keep an intact ram any longer.

Here are the results of his 2year old fleece micron test: He averaged 23.7 microns, with a standard deviation of 6.3, a coefficient of variation of 26.6, had 2% of his fibers below 15 microns, 85.4% below 30 microns, and a spin fineness of 24.3 microns. Contact me if you are interested in adding this handsome boy to YOUR flock!

The girls are enjoying the side pasture again today.

I have to move them back to their main pasture, before I leave for work because I don't have the electric hooked up on the temporary fence any more.

I LOVE this picture of my Black Cochin: "SHINE"

DREAM says...

"BOY! Things sure are CRAZY around here!"

MUTINY In The Bluff Country...

It seems that some of my sheep are feeling a bit neglected. When I went out to sit with them this past weekend I was mobbed!

Even DREAM had to shove Prima Dona and Dazzle away to get in for some lovin'

"Well, if you'd tear yourself away from those silly chickens and get your butt out here more often, maybe everyone wouldn't be so starved for attention!"

Even Dazzle was complaining about being lonely!

Zaria was grumbling about the weeds growing in the pasture...

"The girls and I were talking about taking up a collection and buying Mom a new Sythe! She must have LOST the one she had. It's probably buried in all those shavings in the CHICKEN pen!.."

Even the BOYS got in on the revolt!

"HI, Mom!"

I do NOT want my breeding group (if ANY) put together until NOVEMBER.
LATE November!!

Fortunately, Nick helped me fix the fence where Hunter made his 'great escape'. I think I'll put an unused paddock between the ewes and rams from now on...

DREAM says...

"OR, you could just pay more attention to us girls! I keep telling you ~ we get LONELY!!..."

You're right, Dreamer. I need to make you ladies a priority again!
I'll try. But right now, I've got to look up some information on Cochin chickens on the Internet....

BAD BOY, BAD BOY, What Ya Gonna Do?What Ya Gonna Do When He Comes For You?

Before I go into the gory details of my latest 'Dance" with Hunter ~ I'd like to take a moment to THANK YOU. Thank you to each and every one of you who 'heard me' yesterday. I don't think you can know how much strength your messages (both on here and in private) gave to me. I can't even begin to describe the feeling of empowerment that grew in my psyche with each and every comment that I read. I'm NOT sorry that I posted...

And now, back to our Regular Scheduled Programming:

Hunter has been bad. Yes, again!

You've gotta give the guy credit for trying...

Once again, it wasn't a vicious attack ~ more of a "Hmmmm, she's just standing there, maybe I'll butt her" kind of thing.

This time, I held on to my camera!

Needless to say, bad behavior will NOT be tolerated and the Golden Boy is just going to have to get that through his thick head...

Hunter says...

"JEESE! What a GROUCH!"

Of Scurs and Skirmishes...

As I suspected, ZARIA's beautiful ram lamb is half polled. He was developing a "snail scur" (a small scur that curls around ~ following the shape of the scull and threatens to grow into the eye) on his right side. It was just about time that I was going to have to trim it to keep it from growing into his eye!

Then I got the bright idea of putting the two remaining ram lambs in with Hunter. I was actually hoping that Eureka would knock off the threatening scur. And he did! By the next morning. The scur was knocked loose and standing up on his head. It was actually, just hanging on by a flap of skin and I knew it would be completely off before the day was done.

Sure enough, the offending scur fell off and imminent threat was avoided! This s how small the scur was:

HUNTER was quite happy to have new companions! He was missing Bling something terrible and begging for attention ever since Bling left on Friday. I think the two bawling baby boys were a bit overwhelming for him. But they soon settled into a nice little bachelor group.

This photo shows a good example of the color Shaela (Eureka, the lamb in the back) compared to black (Zorro, the lamb in the front of the photo)

Unfortunately, Hunter (Kimberwood Hunter ~ sire to all my 2009 lambs) was feeling a bit 'full of himself' in his new role as "Lord of the Lambs" and apparently thought he had to show the new boys how tough he was. He decided to butt ME!

NOT a good plan, my beautiful, Golden Boy!!

I grabbed one handful of his beautiful, mioget wool and one horn and we did a dance around that paddock ~ grunting and groaning like a couple of drunken sailors, duking it out. Sorry folks, no pictures ~ I had all I could do to hang on and keep BREATHING!!

I finally managed to roll the big (by this time very frightened) galoot onto his back and straddled him. I slapped him up and yelled at him and sat on him until he seemed duly contrite.

It must have worked because once I released Hunter, the three boys went back into the barn and Hunter laid in the corner like a bad boy doing his penance!

Poor baby.

Don't worry. Hunter didn't hurt me when he butted me. It wasn't like a wild charge trying to take out a mortal enemy. More of a shove to show me (and the two ram lambs) who was boss.
I guess I settled that issue!
For today...

;-)

NEVER take your eyes off an intact ram!!!

DAZZLE says...

"You better stay away from those boys and just come sit with US, Mom!!"

Good idea, my beautiful Dazzle ~ I'm on my way!