I got my Mojo muse back!

Actually, it's my camera. 

Apparently I am incapable of blogging without photographs.

Recently taken photos, to be specific.

My camera has been at my Dear Friend, Jean's, since she hosted a Fiber Farm Tour almost a month ago.  Hence, no pictures.  Hence no blog posts.

Sheesh!  Who'd a thunk that's all it would take to shut me up?

Now for the REALLY good news:

There are still sheep in the Bluff Country!

You may remember that my sister, Penny, bought "Kahlua"

(here she is, almost all grown up!)

and "Tia Maria"

(I'm such a sucker for moorit ewe lambs!)

Not only do I have these two beauties to satisfy my longing for snuggling with sheep, but there are MORE:

"Bacardi"

This handsome boy is such a sweetheart that he steals the heart of everyone that meets him!  He loves nothing more than to be petted and scratched.  For that very reason, it was decided that the best life for Bacardi would be that of a beloved fiber pet.  He was recently wethered and is going to live with

"Kiss"

Beautiful Kiss and Bacardi are sure to be pals living their lives out in a small, rural community about fifteen miles from me!  Their new owner, Angie, will keep them as fiber pets but she does want her children to experience the miracle  of lambing ~ just once.

To make that miracle  happen, Angie has also purchased

"Firecracker"

Our Fourth of July ram lamb has eagerly accepted the job of making sure that Kiss has lambs next Spring.    At first, Kiss resisted his charms (note the blood on Kiss's poll  from the scur that broke when she & Firecracker butted heads) but the two of them are "getting along famously"  now and I am sure that Angie will have her babies next April.  After which, Angie will probably wether Firecracker as well so that she can keep him as a 'forever pet' too.

Before Bacardi, Kiss & Firecracker leave the Bluff Country for their new home, Firecracker may just be paying a visit to my friend, Jean's house.  We're thinking that "Zaria" really should have some more lambs...one for Jean and one for ME!

What the heck?  My house may NEVER sell...

;-)

The Dance...

It was a rainy, drizzly day yesterday.

Wouldn't you know that on that kind of day I decided to go out and sit with the sheep for the first time since I started selling them in the early summer?

I know that I was avoiding being close to the sheep to try and minimize the pain when they left.  Now that I'm finally home again, I've decided that rather than avoid the pain, I'm going to enjoy "The Dance" while I still have them!

The ram lambs have gotten so big that I almost didn't recognize them!

I'm completely in love with "Bacardi" ~ the big white, Polar Bear son.

If someone doesn't jump on buying him soon, I may just wether him and KEEP him.  At least for as long as I'm still living here...

My sister Penny now owns Tia Maria and Kahlua.

Kiss is the only adult ewe still residing in the Bluff Country.

That little Tia Maria is adorable!

And Kahlua is a COOKIE MONSTER!!!

It is SO good to be back home.

DREAM says...

KEEP  DANCING!

As if the HEAT wasn't enough...

Wouldn't you know it?

Record high temperatures and the humidity so high it's stifling.  My last year of lambing in the Bluff Country.  I shouldn't complain.  I've had a pretty good run of it.   Never had a ewe reject a lamb.

Until now...

Kiss is a one year old ~ first time Mom who lambed sometime during the night or early morning on Sunday night/Monday morning.  I almost didn't even notice because I've quit even checking the girls since most of them are done lambing and the babies are half grown!

I was out working on some fencing, late yesterday morning when I heard a very soft "mewing?" sound.  Upon closer inspection, I found it was a new born lamb (cleaned off and had nursed, judging by the round belly) in the RAM barn with the big boys!  I don't know how he (moorit/smirslet) got into the ram pen.  The only thing that I could figure was that he managed to sneak under the fence.  He is EXTREMELY tiny.  The smallest lamb ever born in the Bluff Country.

To whom did he belong??? 

Princess had looked like she could lamb any day.  Her baby/s have obviously 'dropped'.  Kiss wasn't far behind and Chance & Dream are taking their good old time with their precious bundles.

Princess & Chance were up by the big barn.  I tried introducing them both to the little guy.  No interest and both were quite clean & tidy on the back end.  So, up into the big pasture I trudged.  Carrying this adorable, teeny-tiny, itty-bitty lamb.  A bunch of the girls were gathered around the big tree.  When I got close, I saw Kiss with a flashy, black & white, HST lamb.  Could she have had TWINS?  Apparently so.

Unfortunately, Kiss had all but forgotten about "Half-Pint" and was quite content to mother his big brother:  "On the Rocks" (Rocky).  I finally had to carry Rocky back to the barn/jug to get Kiss in there.  Did I mention that it's almost 100 degrees with dripping  humidity?

Once safely in the jug, I reintroduced Half-Pint to his Mother and his Brother.  Let's just say that Kiss was less than impressed.

While she chortled sweet nothings and gently nuzzled Rocky ~ who is a typical sized Shetland ~

when poor little HP got close, Kiss would grunt and push him away.  She wasn't particularly aggressive (at first) but wouldn't let him nurse.

The poor little guy needed to nurse so:

I tied the B*** up!

(did I mention it's mighty hot & humid?)

I should mention that I tried holding Kiss, pinned against the wall, for a few attempts, before resorting to tying her, but my arm was getting pretty beat up and I couldn't see through the sweat flowing freely into my eyes, so tying seemed like a reasonable compromise.

Although, Kiss didn't seem to think so. 

 It helped if I kept Rocky up by her head.  No problem!  I can hold an angry ewe who's tied to the wall and guide her hapless newborn to the milk bar, while strategically positioning  her big, bruising OTHER newborn to stay up by Mom's head and let his brother nurse for once.  With one arm. 

Half-Pint is so tiny that he can STAND, completely under Kiss (who is a fairly small ewe ~ being only a yearling) and still has to look up to nurse!

I go into the jug with the three of them, about once an hour and untie Kiss, but keep her on the halter.  That way, if she shows any aggression toward Half Pint, I can 'correct' her.  It seems to be working fairly well.  I even brought Kiss and her boys outside for a while this afternoon.  She enjoyed the grass and the boys got to stretch their legs.  Kiss still has to be watched carefully to make sure she doesn't get too rough with Half Pint.  She is standing better to let him nurse. 

I sure hope this works itself out FAST....

God, it's Hot.



Baby, it's COLD outside!

Princess and Kiss are in the paddock by my backyard. 

They have the calf hut for shelter.

 They seem to appreciate having the calf hut for shelter!

There are snow drifts four feet deep between me and these girls!

Fortunately, the wind cleared a little opening, right in front of the door to the hut.



Sable goes out to check on them when I go out to feed and water.

She so wants to play with her friends and doesn't understand why they won't leave their calf hut!

But Princess and Kiss are not about to brave those snow drifts.

I can't say that I blame them!

Yes, I DO crawl through the drifts to put hay and water in the calf hut for the poor babies...

DREAM says...

"Awwww!  Poor  Mom!  There aren't any snow drifts in HERE!"

       " te he he h e he..."

Shooting Princess.

With a CAMERA!

Some of you may remember the difficulty I had trying to get pictures of Dazzle when she was a lamb.  Well, Princess makes Dazzle look like a professional model! 

Here's a pretty shot of Kiss. 

And Princess's rear.

Kiss and the tip of Princess' ear.

Almost half of her face!

Perhaps a tad too close?

This is not working!

You'd be amazed by how many pictures I have to take to get ONE good one.

Of course, that depends on which sheep I"m trying to get photographs of.

Dear little Kiss loves to have her picture taken.

Not so, Her Royal Majesty!

It's not that she's unfriendly.

In fact she's often TOO friendly!

REALLY!

Perhaps it's the camera?

What ever.  It's cold and I'm going inside...