The Rest (???) of the Story....WAY too long ~ you might want to skip this!

So I made it to Jefferson. NOT without much angst on my part. I was towing a trailer with no lights on it. Actually, it has lights on it ~ I just hadn't plugged them in. I didn't think they worked, so why bother plugging them in? (or even checking to see if they DO work?)

I was so scared driving through/around Madison, WI., that I was praying not to get a ticket. I SO can not afford a ticket. Perhaps one would wonder why I didn't check the lights and plug them in, in that case. Because that would make too much sense!!!

Anyway, I got to Jefferson in one piece and without being stopped. In my opinion, this is absolute proof that there truly IS a God that, for some reason I can not fathom, obviously loves me very much! Poor Corrine and Marie were waiting for me at the Fairgrounds and helped me unload my sheep and all my STUFF.

I really bring a lot of stuff to Jefferson. Not sure that I actually NEED it all or even used it all ~ but I bring it none-the-less.

We got to our motel at some unholy hour of the night and slept like babies. At least Marie and I slept like babies. Apparently Corrine has recurring DREAMS about Marie snoring and she does not sleep particularly well...

I was amazed at how quickly three women could shower and use the bathroom in the morning. I believe we were up and out of there in one hour!

At the fairgrounds it was time to feed my poor, starving Shetlands. They actually had plenty of hay to last them through the night but they TOLD me they were starving! Here's the thing... when sheep are used to being pastured on grass and are suddenly confined to a tiny stall with nothing to do but eat (and 'talk' to passers-by) they eat a LOT of hay.

My little Chance and Prima Dona were especially friendly with all the visitors at Jefferson. In spite of the fact that they were clearly NOT what the Judge likes in Sheltnad ewes, I was very proud of my beautiful, HST ewe lambs.


The Judge was also not impressed with my yearling rams.
Hunter (shown my Corinne!) got 5th in a large class of yearling rams ~ that was our best placing for the day. That's unusual for my flock. Then again, this is the first year I didn't have some of the largest Shetlands there. Hunter is the smallest ram in the photo of the ram class. I am NOT implying that the only reason that the sheep that won is because they were the biggest! Quite the opposite. They were excellent quality, superbly put together Shetlands (with the possible exception of the two times that I heard the judge mention that he was placing a sheep second because it was a bit cow-hocked ~ to me that is a disqualifying fault and should not be placed ~ but that's just my opinion). I have nothing against larger Shetlands, in fact, like my rams to be on the big side. I just chose to go in a different direction with my breeding plans this past year and I am quite happy with the animals that I have. You won't hear me complaining about getting beat by the Ludlams or Hopkins or Catanzaros (or many others!) ~ they've got some awesome Shetlands!

but I still like mine the BEST!
;-)

Not only did we not win any classes. I did not SELL any sheep! This is not good.

I did, however, have the MOST wonderful time with old friends and new! It was so great to see Kim again.
Poor Dear was a nervous wreck about having to speak at the AGM but she did a VERY nice job and she looks fabulous!

I briefly saw Becky and Sharrie, as well as Penny and Donna but never really got a chance to visit with them. Mary Ellen looked wonderful and Kate gave a great talk, on behalf of MSSBA, at the AGM meeting. It was wonderful to have the chance to chat with Joe & Nyla Catanzaro and Larry and Angie Hopkins again! Chris and Allen Green are, as always, an inspiration. I'm sure that I'm forgetting to mention many of the people who contributed to this being a memorable weekend for me.

And then there's the man that Corinne (my adopted sister) refers to as "The little brother we never wanted":
That would be GARRETT. What a hoot! Garrett brought along a new friend (a NEW adopted sister named Briony).
She is an absolute doll and fit right into the "family" like she'd always been there.

One of my very favorite people, in the whole-wide-WORLD is Juliann! We had some fun moments and a wonderful dinner together Saturday night. Thanks, Jules ~ I love you!! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me Saturday night so don't have a picture of this beautiful lady to share with you. But trust me ~ she's beautiful INSIDE and out...

I missed connecting with Terry D. That's a dissappointment. I did meat several people who came up to me and introduced themselves as readers of my blog. What an honor that was!

Although, I didn't buy any sheep, I did manage to fall in love with this beautiful ewe lamb from the Hopkins' "Little Creek Farm" in Indiana.

Her proud mom was not THE least bit interested in parting with her ~ which is a good thing since the LAST thing I need to be doing right now is buying sheep! ;-)

OMG! I'm rambling. I better get off the computer and go check on my sheep. The camera batteries are recharging so no new photos today. FALL is here and I'm ecstatic about that! I SO love the cooler weather.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO MADE MY TRIP TO JEFFERSON SO WORTHWHILE!! I'm seriously considering having a "family reunion" sometime in October....

Oh Good Grief! I almost forgot to mention that my beautiful Deja Vu raised the most money at the Silent Auction for MSSBA. It was SO hard putting her into that stall, all by herself. Fortunately, she quickly made friends with the beautiful katmoget ewe lamb in the stall next to her. Best of all, the kind lady who bought Deja Vu also bought the little katmoget ewe lamb as well as the handsome black/krunet ram that was donated so Deja Vu already has new friends in her new home...

We're Home.....!

My wonderful Shetlands and I got home at around 5:30 last night. I was SO exhausted (due to my sisters incessant cackling!) that I only unloaded the sheep and the duffel bag with my clothes in it, before heading for bed! Note to Corrine & Marie ~ I didn't even unpack the COOLER!!!. I was in bed by six pm and slept until 7 o'clock this morning. Which is when my dogs woke me up!

Getting to Jefferson proved to be a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated. I took the day off work, on Thursday, so I could get everything packed up in advance and planned on leaving by noon on Friday. A local shepherdess who helped me put an ear tag in Prima Dona's ear had advised me that I could bathe my sheep, without disturbing their lock structure by dipping them in a tank of water with "Purple Oil" in it. She said it would lift out all of the dirt and not strip the natural oils from the fleece and not disturb the lock structure. Of course, she didn't mention how MUCH "Purple Oil" to use nor did the bottle that she gave me have any instructions on it. So I decided to give it a try. On Thursday.

How do you spell S. T. U. P. I. D.???
At least they were clean! HERE'S THE THING...IF you are going to bathe your sheep before a show ~ you should do so at LEAST a week before said show. I would estimate that the three ewe lambs that I bathed lost about 50% of the volume (fluff) of their pre-bath fleece. They were nice and soft though...

Needless to say, the unplanned spa treatments set my planned preparations for departing on Friday a bit behind. I knew, when I went to bed on Thursday night, that I wouldn't be leaving at noon, as planned, and was shooting for 3:00 instead. That would still get me to Jefferson before dark. A workable plan...

Unfortunately, Friday morning didn't exactly go as planned either.

I was very proud of myself in that I did hook up my trailer (even remembering to hook up the safety chains) all by myself. I loaded up the ewe lambs first, then went to lead the rams in from their pasture. As I entered the pasture that the trailer, with the ewe lambs in it, was in, I noticed sheep grazing. It occurred to me that there weren't supposed to be any sheep IN that pasture. Sure enough, the ewe lambs had escaped the confines of the trailer. Somebody hadn't latched the back doors to the trailer after depositing those girls...

OK. Load up the boys. Recatch the girls. Which is easy with everyone except Deja Vu and Masquerade ~ they have to be chased back to the barn and cornered. It's 4:30 now but I'm thinking that if I leave by 5 that won't be too bad...

SO. Every one's loaded. I double checked the hitch and safety chains. All systems go. I started the Jeep and decided to make a circle around the pasture so I had a straight shot at the gate. When I got about half-way around the pasture, the Jeep stopped moving forward. I gave it more gas but it appeared that we were stuck. I was a bit befuddled (imagine THAT!) because the ground is dry and hard so it didn't make sense that my tires would be spinning. I got out to investigate. At first glance, I was mortified to see the back end of the Jeep at about ground level. My first thought was that I had TWO FLAT TIRES!! That's it. I'm not going anywhere. I may as well unload the sheep now. Upon closer inspection ~ which included a glance BEHIND the trailer, I noticed a furrow plowed half-way around the pasture. Right behind the Jeep and trailer. HERE'S THE THING... one should always lock the JACK that is mounted on the hitch to one's trailer in the UP position before attempting to pull said trailer.

How DO you spell S.T.U.P.I.D. ?????
No one around to help so I go get a shovel and dig the jack out of the ground. The Jeep returns to a more normal (level) position. I put the shovel away. Check on the sheep. And try again. We make the circle around the pasture, across the yard and down my driveway. (note to self: the brakes had all they could manage to stop the trailer at the bottom of the drive ~ allow PLENTY of stopping distance!)
As I turn onto the road in front of my place, I happen to glance in the rear view mirror and see the door to the back of the trailer ~ where the ewe lambs are ~ swing open/or closed ~ I'm not really sure which! Pull over. All ewe lambs accounted for. Lock door. DOUBLE lock the door! Rams are secure. Double check hitch and tires.

It is 6:30 at night and I am on my way to Jefferson. A three and a half hour drive. Without lights on my trailer...

DREAM says...

..."I'm sure glad you're home safe, Mom!"

Me too, Dreamer, me too. I'll fill you in about the fun time at Jefferson, tomorrow...

There's NO place like home.......

...DREAM SAYS:






"Oh, my Gosh! Mom & Dad put me in a trailer with Rosie and her mom and a WHOLE BUNCH of boys (us girls had our own pen, so the boys couldn't bother us) and we went for a really long ride and got out at a strange place where mom put me in a little pen with Rosie and Zanex and NO GRASS for TWO DAYS!!! We had really sweet, fresh, grass hay but it's just not the same as ripping the grass as it's growing. There were Ka-ZILLIONS of nice people there. Many of them came up to me and said 'Hi'. They knew me from this blog and were so happy to meet me in 'person'... ;-) They petted me and told me how pretty I looked and some even gave me cookies! That was fun. But then Mom put halters on Rosie and me and made us walk in a big ring with lots of other ewe lambs. Everyone was crying for their mommies ~ it was really noisy! I was fine ~ in fact, I was strutting around, pretty proud of myself until some strange lady came up and stuck her finger in my mouth (after sticking it in EVERYONE ELSE'S MOUTH!) and tried to touch me in a private place! Well, I was certainly NOT going to stand for THAT and neither was Rosie! Fortunately, the lady didn't make us go to the front of the line, where she kept mauling all those poor lambs. It was disgusting! Mom got me out of there as fast as she could and promised I won't have to go back. I liked it much better in the stall with all the nice people giving me cookies. Poor Diamond had to go back in the ring a WHOLE BUNCH of times! People were saying something about him winning "First Place Ram Lamb" and "Reserve Champion Ram". Poor guy. Bravo had to go back several times too. They did something called "Second Place Yearling Ram" to him. It must have been awful because I heard Mom say that the ram that BEAT him also won at the Indiana Shetland Show and the Michigan Fiber Fest. He must be REALLY STRONG. I'm glad Bravo's OK.

And I'm REALLY glad to be back home! The first thing I did was run up to my mom and see if she'd let me nurse. (She would, but I really didn't want any ~ I just wanted to know that she'd let me if I wanted to). Poor Rosie. Her mom didn't come home with us. She left with a nice lady who also took Hershey. At least she has someone she knows to keep her company, where ever she is.... I'm going to let Rosie hang around with me and my Mom so she doesn't get too lonely without her mom around. Mom says she's very proud of me"

There really IS no place like home! We had a wonderful time at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders Association Shetland show, but it is SO good to be home! Who woulda thunk showing sheep could be so exhausting??? (she said as she sat at her computer desk, wearing her back brace & medicated with Naproxin Sodium ~ and I won't even mention the Brady/Diet Coke I'm sipping!)

I was very proud of my sheep. They walked SO nicely on halter. Of course, Dream's right, none of them were about to let the judge actually TOUCH them..... Oh well. The boys did quite well. I was thrilled with Diamond winning a huge ram lamb class and being named Reserve Champion ram. Not bad for his debut! And Bravo absolutely charmed the crowd! Every time I went to the stalls, there was someone standing by Bravo, absolutely amazed at how big and beautiful and FRIENDLY he is. Bravo would poke his nose out between the bars of his stall and close his eyes and wag his tail whenever someone scratched his chin. What a ham.

We came home minus two ram lambs and Zanex. That was rough. But it is part of raising sheep and I'm learning to deal with it. I miss Zanex though...
I'm always happy when my ram lambs go to good homes. And I suspect Hershey and Zanex will make some REALLY pretty babies...Doc (Bluff Country Paradox) went to a lady that liked him so much that she bought three ewes, just so she NEEDED a ram!! She didn't have any sheep but fell in love with Doc! How cool is that? ;-)

What a great turnout for the 4th annual MSSBA show! I met lots of new people, made some new friends and reconnected with old. Shetland people are SO nice. Sorry for no pictures ~ as usual, I was so busy I didn't even think about my camera.

BATH TIME!

Dream and Rosie stand tied to the handles on the Jeep, awaiting their baths...Next weekend, we'll be showing several of our sheep at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders' Association (MSSBA) show. For the first time, I've decided to bathe some of the sheep before the show. I'm doing it a week in advance so that the coat has time to regain it's normal lock structure ~ but, hopefully, not so far in advance that they just end up dirty again...



I soaked each of the girls down with the wand, attachment I use to water my hanging baskets. It worked slick! You can see how much they LOVED getting rinsed off.


Notice how dirty the water running off of Rosie is. After soaking them thoroughly, I used my watering can to sprinkle water with "wool wash" added to it, over the wet ewe lambs. I let that soak in for about 10 minutes while I washed their faces and legs with a wash cloth, with baby shampoo on it.


A final rinse and they're done! You can see that Dream was thrilled. ;-)


The girls 'jump started' the drying process by shaking enthusiastically. Then we went for a walk down the road...




It's amazing how much water those fleeces hold onto! The girls are still damp 4 hours later...

I'm not sure if I did it "right". Nobody admits to bathing their Shetlands before a show. Yet, I know for a fact that MANY breeders do. And I think they look nice. So, I decided to try it this year too. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Dream says......."It's been a rough weekend "!!