You all remember those innocent little ewe lambs? You know, the ones that the goat boys were constantly leading into trouble. Well now that the goat boys have been moved, we are really not sure just who was leading who. Saturday morning upon making the hay and water delivery to the graveyard field, we discovered that Hermione had managed to get tangled in the net gate, winding it around her neck and legs. She was fairly easy to extract from that mess, and upon investigation the evidence was found. There was the ‘PowerLink’ chewed apart so that the gate was no longer electrified. After checking to make sure that everyone was ok, feed and water were distributed, a new ‘PowerLink’ was retrieved from the barn, and the gate and fencing were repaired… not such a big deal, not a disaster but it sure puts a big dent in your morning (especially trying to reset fencing through the snow and into the frozen ground).
So… imaginie our surprise, upon arriving at the barn on Sunday morning, when we were greeted by these lovely faces.
There they were, those innocent little ‘almost yearlings’ with Blackberry and Juliet in tow. They had made their way through fencing, two gates and almost through a third on their way to causing who knows what kind of mayhem. We quickly loaded up the Ranger with their feed, hay and water and drove out to their paddock. They happily and very quickly re-traced their steps, leaping over the tangled mess of fencing and gates that they had left behind, back into their own paddock. This time after everything was repaired, the new connector was woven through the ‘ElectroNet’ gates and attached to the perimeter electric fence. Hopefully if they try to pull on the PowerLink’ (to chew through it once again), they will get a little nip on the nose from the electric and back off. Fingers are crossed that this does the trick.
In further news… my hay-stacking karma has been sorely lacking this winter… looking for the book “Zen and the Art of Hay Hauling”.
We have been busy in the fiber room, skirting lambs’ fleeces, and are now about half done! Hence, the title ‘Twenty-five Bags of Fleeces To Go’ which, of course, must be sung to the tune of ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall’. Okay…
All together now…
We had a wonderful group of helpers – Jonathan and Travis caught and threw the lambs, Mom prepared bags and made notes, Nancy bagged and David and Delores were the shearing mat sweepers. Now, I know you are wondering what were those two shepherdesses doing? Well they were helping with all of the above, along with fleece grading, catching and sorting ewe lambs from ram lambs. A busy, busy barn full of somewhat damp and chilly but cheerful workers.
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Now onto the big job of skirting… hope to start that later today!
Late summer was so dry that as fall approached, the green leaves began to fall from some of the trees. So, after weeks of worrying whether there would be any fall color at all; we feel so blessed to be surrounded with an abundance of autumn beauty. Many leaves are now beginning to fade and fall, but here and on Flickr are a few of our favorite ‘Autumn Views’ from the past couple weeks.
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| Lambs heading back to pasture following FAMACHA scoring |
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| Ewes enjoying the hayfield pasture |
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| Bella finding an old bone |
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| Dust baths were popular with the guineas |
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| Rams’ pasture |
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
Cool nights… foggy mornings… autumn sunshine…
even the lambs seem to recognize that these combine for perfect photo ops
