So many kinds of Love...

*as always, click on image to biggify*

 

The following photo and verse was posted on Facebook by the author:

PK Shader

I don't know Ms/Mr. Shader personally, but the words touch my heart so deeply and describe so perfectly the bond of love between a good shepherd and his flock.  I've spent many an hour (but never enough!) sitting with my sheep and can confirm that it is indeed, a little bit of heaven.

As is the love of a good dog!

Wonderful news on the Rescue front:

Jake (who's name I am in the process of changing to "HERO" is home and doing very well!  I can't believe how quickly he has bounced back from such a horrible ordeal but he is as happy and loving ~ if not MORE SO ~ than he was before Sunday afternoon.   He has to be kept quiet for at least a week to make sure that a similar event doesn't take place.  I'm going to call Dr. Taggart to ask if it's OK if I take Hero for a walk or if I should wait a few days for that. 

A couple of things I'd like to clear up:

First of all, I got a call from the clinic of the first veterinarian that I called on Sunday.  You may remember that I was so upset because she never showed up at my place while I was waiting so desperately for help.  We apparently had a major communication breakdown because she was waiting for me at her clinic!  I feel terrible for all of the nasty thoughts I was having about her on Sunday night!

Secondly, there was no dog-fight.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that the reason his sutures broke open is because the dogs were playing "tug-o-war".  They have a large, rope/string toy that is made to tug-o-war with and Cisco and Jill play with it constantly.  I noticed a ton of strings from the toy all over the house when I came home Sunday night.  Nothing had been gotten into, nothing else out of place ~  just string and blood throughout the house.

Thank you all for the good wishes and prayers!

I also want to thank those of you who have donated to help support Bluff Country Canine Rescue.  We are a completely voluntary organization and can only do what your donations allow us to do!  Every little bit helps so PLEASE:  don't hesitate to give what ever you can afford.   You'll be helping me to save and find homes for dogs that are homeless or facing euthanazia in a "shelter" setting.  I promise you will feel good knowing that you are helping to make a difference!

A Shepherd's WINGS...

I have copied and pasted the first post from my new blog: "Bluff Country Back Yard Chickens" ~ A SHEPHERD'S WINGS ~
I know ~ I've done a lousey job of keeping up with THIS blog the past couple of days. And most of my posts have been about chickens lately. That's why I've decided to start a blog following my adventures with my chickens! I'll get back to posting SHEEP stories/photos on here...

Since 2001, I've raised Shetland sheep. They have been my passion. They brought more love and joy and friendship into my life than I could have possibly dreamed!

I fell in love with spotted lambs and decided that I wanted to breed for a predictable cluster of spots referred to as "HST" which stands for a solid colored sheep with white on the Head, Socks and Tail.

I was told it couldn't be done. Not predictably, anyway. Sheep with that kind of spotting turned up randomly but one couldn't get them on purpose!

So, I set out to breed myself a flock of HST spotted Shetlands. It took me six years to get to the point that I could predictably produce, excellent quality, HST spotted Shetlands.

But I did it.
Now, so can anybody else.
Time for a new challenge.
In July of 2009, I bought my first bantam cochin chickens. It was love at first "cluck". I was totally enthralled with these "fuzzy little bowling balls" that rolled around the paddock and 'cooed' when I picked them up and held them. I was warned that they are "addictive".
Boy! Are they addictive!!
I knew I wanted more so I started researching the different colors and patterns that bantam cochins come in. Guess what I discovered? A group of breeders is working on a project to develop a new color pattern in bantam Cochin chickens! It's call "Mille Fleur" and it's absolutely beautiful!

A new friend that I met in the "BackYardChicken Group" (who'd have ever thought I'd be joining chicken groups!??) describes the Mille Fleur Bantam Cochin like this:

"There is NOTHING more addicting than a flock of mini fluffy-butt chickens. And when those fluffy-butts are candy-colored mixes of marshmallow and caramel and butterscotch and deep cherry and dark chocolate it is soooooo yummy! They are the sweetest, gentlest birds, and when they waddle around you can't help but smile!"

I'm starting my own breeding flock of Mille Fleur Bantam Cochins. These are all babies and will change, dramatically as they grow. At this point in time, the MFC (Mille Fleur Cochin) is not a recognized color. But it WILL be, one day...

If you'd like to watch my progress as I breed for predictability in these wonderful, colorful birds, please follow along.

We'd love the company!


P.S. To all my dear, DEAR "A Shepherds Voice" followers, I have no intentions of discontinuing that blog! It has become a part of my life. It's readers ~ my family. I love "it" and I love all of you. This is just an expansion of my flock ~ by NO means the end of Bluff Country Shetlands OR A Shepherd's Voice!

DREAM says...

"I knew that."

;-)

Two Days...

I had no idea what I wanted to blog about today so I decided to go out and take some pictures. I needed to sit with my sheep anyway as I'd had an awful night at work, last night. In fact, it was my worst day at work ~ ever. In over three years. Nothing big. Just a bunch of little things ~ one right after another ~ that really brought me down. That's OK. It's just a job. And I'm lucky to have a job!

So, I'll sit with the sheep for awhile. They always make me feel better. I'll take lots of pictures. That's usually how I get my inspiration for blogging.

I'm thinking I might do a cat and sheep blog post.

Daisy is visiting the flock this morning.

Bella is always so photogenic.

Maybe I'll post about her.

Then, I notice my "pumpkin patch".
Or, what has been ~ will be ~ my pumpkin patch! It's time to get that tilled and plant my pumpkins! I'm way behind. But it was too cold. Then, too hot! Today's a perfect day to prepare my pumpkin patch! I'll do that. There's a piece of wire fence in there that I usually keep around the Snow Crabapple Tree that I planted in my backyard last year. It's growing so nicely and I don't want to take a chance on the sheep getting at it. I moved the fence when I mowed the back yard this past weekend. I'll put it back around the tree as soon as I come back outside after posting...

So I come in the house and start downloading pictures. I got some nice ones. Bella is bugging me. She can't have to go outside ~ we just came in. I can hear the sheep, chattering outside my window. I'm SO enjoying the cooler weather.

Bella is getting quite persistent. I hear a lamb calling it's mom. Then it occurs to me. The sheep are right outside my office window. That window is NOT by the pasture that they are in. Or at least it's not by the pasture they are supposed to be in...

Sure enough. I rush outside and the sheep are in my back yard. Once again, they've eaten my plants. Goodbye new geraniums that I planted after they ate my beautiful geranium tree that I'd kept over the winter. Bye-bye clematis, which was making a striking comeback. I hope the new daisies and cone flowers & hostas that I planted this weekend come back. But, my TREE! Worst of all, they got at my tree. They stripped a good portion of bark from the trunk. Pealed the truck protector right off.

It's my fault. I obviously didn't fasten the gate.

I'm going to take a nap now...

DREAM says:

"Damn sheep!"

Sunday...

I bet I mowed for 8 hours yesterday. I don't want to let the unused pastures go to seed as I read that that reduces the nutritional value of the grass.

I moved the boys to fresh pasture and was mowing their old one when I noticed what I thought was a large branch down, on the fence in the boys new pasture.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered that this was not a large branch ~ it was the whole tree!

Oh, my! That might be a bit more than I and my trusty hand saw can handle.

The boys didn't seem too traumatized by the uninvited guest in their pasture.

I cut off a bunch of the smaller branches and gave them to the girls.

Amazingly enough, the fence never shorted out! It remained hot until my 'gentleman friend' came over this morning and cut up the tree for me. I managed to re tighten the fence, all by myself and I spent today planting perennials!

DREAM says...

"...sigh...Life is Good, in the Bluff Country".

That it is, my Dreamer. That it is.

SICK or Not...There's Work to be Done...

The sheep still need to eat. Above, Godiva and Zest don't even wait for me to take the hay out of the wheelbarrow.

My three, black, beauties: Bluff Country Destiny (left), Bluff Country Zodiak, and Bluff Country Bella Luna. I wonder what they look like under all that wool......?

I've been worried about the pressure my main group of girls are putting on the front pasture. They're keeping it eaten right down to the ground. I'm still feeding hay and the grass is just beginning to grow but I want to give that pasture a break. And I'm NOT about to shut my ewes into a barn to rest the pasture.

So, I did what any self respecting farmer would do. I fenced in the ditch. Don't go getting all impressed and think that I'm "Super Shepherd" or something like that! I used "step-in-posts". Skinny little fiberglass posts that you just push down into the ground. Very easy. No strength required. (thank God!) I found that if I loaded up with medications and downed a mug of hot tea with lemon (thank all of you tea pushers!) I'm NOT a tea drinker. Not by any stretch of the imagination! But I've been so sick and so many people recommended it that I thought I'd give it a try. I will admit: although it tastes like *@#!, it does soothe my throat and even seems to help open up my nasal passages temporarily. If I loaded up with medicine and tea, I could get in a good hour or two of work before I needed to come into the house and take a nap. I've got to say, I'm not sure how the tea (or all of the other fluids I've been drinking are supposed to help because they just come right back out of my NOSE!!!

My unbred ewes were thrilled to be turned out onto fresh grass! It's not long yet. In fact, it really is just beginning to grow. We need rain! But is a lot better than what they were on.

I only fenced in half of the ditch. I AM sick, you know! I also divided the front pasture into two to keep the girls completely off one side so it has a chance to get reestablished.

The bred ewes and the rams both have big enough areas and low enough numbers that their pastures/paddocks are fine. The grass is coming in nicely, which allows them to get used to it a little at a time (no worry about bloat from a sudden change in diet). Everyone's got plenty of rumen buffer available so I feel pretty good about my flock.

It rained, lightly, last night.
Everything looks GREEN this morning!
Now I'm gonna go take a nap...

Burn, Baby BURN....

Not much excitement here in the Bluff Country. Which, now that I think about it, is just the way I LIKE it!! I've been burning the ditches so that I can use them for grazing this year. There will be NO wasted land at my place! This is my weekend to work so I've been trying to get as much done, in the mornings before getting ready for work, as I can. My Blisters have blisters!

I hope to finish burning the ditches and start putting up fences (I just use the step in posts ~ it's the only thing I can manage on my own!) today. I want to get my pastures subdivided so I can rotationally graze and give some of the more over grazed areas a rest.

I'm also working on an album with pictures of Kat Nap ~ Dream's beautiful, horned daughter. I should have that done and posted this weekend.

IF I have time today, I want to check into refinancing my home. I'm paying 6.8% interest and think I could reduce my house payment quite a bit if I refinance now...

Oh yeah.... I've got to start cleaning the barns too. AND burning the dried out, wasted hay, blowing around the pastures and paddocks. Plus, I bought a little, portable "greenhouse" that I want to put together and put my little starter pots of Impatience and Pumpkins that are sitting all over my kitchen counters in. (Was that a sentence?)? And, I bought a very pretty WIND CHIME that I'm going to hang out on the new barn! I'll take pictures of that!

Have a nice weekend everyone!!

DREAM says...
"Mom is SO excited about the grass finally starting to turn green. This is me when I was just a couple of weeks old. How cute am I?????

Happy Easter!"

WHAT was I Thinking???

This picture was taken one year ago, today.
April 8, 2008.

I loved those Angora goats.

But they were too much work for this already-spread-to-thin Shepherdess. Thank you Michelle, Becky and Melanie for pointing out the obvious to me.

I don't need any more animals! I can't afford any more animals. Just the thought of trimming those toes (or teeth!!) or tying them down to shear, or giving monthly shots to is enough to give me nightmares. So, I'll not be getting any Alpacas. I think I'll buy Triomphe's fleece though....(he's the white one, from Colorado).

Thank you for the reality check.

ALICE & DREAM
(photo taken 1 year ago)
say...

"Yes, THANK YOU ladies! For reminding Mom how much she loves the life she has right now ~ with US!!"

"Boy! We dodged a bullet THAT time!"

I Buried a Lamb Today...

I thanked him and said a prayer over him as I carefully hand-sheared his beautiful, moorit fleece.

I guess I'm a real farmer now.

AUGUST 1ST, 2007

I am divorced.
I am a HOME OWNER!!!!!
All that happened, after work today.

I am so freaking happy that I can hardly stand it. Thank you all for your support and prayers. The last three days have been somewhat stressful but it is now official. I own my own home. No one can take it away from me. I can keep my sheep. And my dogs. And my cats. (and Katie's dove!)

Tonight I met with the contractor who is going to build MY new barn. We finalized the plans and I paid the deposit. Building will commence early next month.

I am exhausted.

Time for bed.

Happy Dreams!