My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week

"It's me, Baba!  Actually my name is Blossom, but everyone calls me Baba or Babababa. I'm going to be 11 next month.  I've lived here since I was just a couple days old."

"This is one of my mom's favorite pictures of me."

"This is one of mine.  I jumped up on mom's camping cot when she moved me out to the barn and decided I wanted to sleep on a cot all the time.  I eventually got too big, but it was sure fun while it lasted."

Baba was a funny lamb.  She and Betsy were best friends and she loved Hank a lot too.  Blizzard ended up being her best sheep babysitter.  I'd forgotten about that.  She was always (and still is) a good napper.  The cot was the funniest thing though.  I think that cot lasted a couple of months out there!  

There are a bunch of good stories and pictures if you scroll back through.  You can either use the "Blossom" or "Baba" labels on the right hand side of the blog or jump back to the 2012 archives.  She got here in April.

Blossom is mostly Texel with some other breeds mixed in.  I've always loved her classic sheepy beauty.  She has produced an amazing amount of wool in her 11 years here.  Her wool is easy to process and spin and is a really good for beginning spinners.  I include it in every drop spindle kit.

She loves to watch what's going on around her...when she's awake.  There is an hysterical video of her on IG watching Archie playing in the straw when he was a kitten.  I'd love to include it here, but I'm tired and need to call it a night.  Maybe tomorrow.

How about a Jacob sheep for next week?  Any requests?

The Moon Tried To Set Stella's House On Fire Last Night

I was late finishing up evening chores because I decided I needed to rake up the barn lot before it started raining overnight.  That's one of those jobs that is easy to do as long as you keep up with it...and it doesn't get wet and/or frozen.  An ounce of prevention...

I like being at the barn at night.  The lights on make everything look cozy and the sheep all mill around eating hay and picking their sleeping spot for the night.  Some sheep like to sleep in the same place every night - Woolliam sleeps in the corner, Ewen sleeps by the door, Blizzard liked to sleep in the hay manger.  Keebler sleeps in the back of the outer stall, as far away from everyone as he can get, because he's obviously Not A Sheep. 

As I picked up the last pile of loose hay behind the barn I noticed a bright light shining up at Stella's.  She and I are nosy neighbors keep an eye on each other. At first it looked like someone had pulled their car into the front yard and had their headlights pointed at her front door.  

That's odd.  Especially because I knew she wasn't home.  

And really, really bright.  Ack!  Is her house on fire?  

No flickering.  I guess it's okay. 

Hmmm...

Then I saw the row of trees behind her house start being lit up by moonlight.  

Wow.

If you've never taken the time, mere seconds, to watch the moon rise,...well, surely everyone has.  This one was spectacular.  I've watched the moon rise from behind our barn many times.  While I have enough understanding to say, well, the angle of the earth in relation to the moon this particular time of year...wait, who am I kidding, I don't really understand it.  I'm just glad I witnessed it.

How often at night, when the heavens were bright,

With the light of the twinkling stars

Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed,

If their glory exceed that of ours.

Dr. Brewster Higley (1876)

Who Does This Look Like?

Just every now and then and only from certain angles, but when he does, it's really startling. Of course Graham doesn't act like Miss Ewenice ;-).

So from the department of "laugh or cry", here's the latest chapter in Graham's book of tales. Yesterday I pulled my CRV into the barn lot so Dr. Barron, Louanne and I could put Blizzard in the back to take him to UK. Immediately Graham started trying to open the driver's side door. He gave it several good tries, to no avail. He stepped back, surveyed the situation and WENT AROUND AND TRIED THE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR!

What sort of sheep thinks like that?!?

Just adding to the reasons why I'm afraid to go to the barn half the time ;-).

___________________________________________________

Everyone seems okay today. We are still formulating our plan(s) and I so appreciate everyone's input and kind words. Sounds like so many of us have had a fairly crappy summer :-/.

I've had several questions about Sherman's necropsy and we learned nothing helpful other than he had a blockage due to bladder stones. Toxicology came back normal, no red flags. Should have preliminary results back on Blizzard tomorrow.

Beat Down

There is something wrong here. Very wrong. We have several vets and specialists working on it, we are testing everything we can think of, the prayer list grows and grows. This morning, after yet another long weekend, we had Blizzard put down.



Dear, turned out to be sweet, Blizzard.

We really have no ideas at this point, but if you are dealing with drought anywhere in the country, keep a close eye on your boys. I realize that our farm and real sheep farms are apples and oranges (we have a high percentage of old, fat "pet" wethers rather than working ewes and rams), but just in case it IS drought related...

Give your best friends an extra hug tonight. And some vanilla wafers. I'm so glad Blizzard learned to trust us enough to eat vanilla wafers with Blossom this spring. He was a good patient and trusted us to the end.

Story Hour

Doesn't it look like Ewen McTeagle's telling everyone a story? :-)

Back row: Beanie Baby, Ford, Rebecca Boone
Middle row: Allie, Ewen, Blizzard
Front row: Buddy, one of the crazy Adventure Chickens, Boudreaux

Yes, Rebecca Boone and Blizzard are sleeping in the old hay feeders. The sheep love them! Even Ewen will squeeze himself in one sometimes :-D.



Actually, doesn't this look like an old yearbook photo? :-D

The Principles Of Sharing

Baba?



"Yes, momma?"

Looks like you've got some company in front of (your) fan.



"Yeah, Blizzard finally came out from his cubby. I told him he could sit there."



"But he can't sleep on my bed!"

Our sheep seem to find a spot they like (Blizzard's is behind the creep feeder) and stay with it...even when the temps soar...until they just. can't. stand. it. anymore. and move out in front of the fan.

Trouble

Um, Blizzard?



Blossom?



"We aren't doing anything. Nothing to see here."

Cots

Surprisingly this is not a post about Buddy, Woolliam or Rebecca Boone (Cotswolds). Nope, it's about another kind of cots.



They're what all the stylish lambs are sleeping on.

I can't help myself. I thought her sleeping up there was so funny that I've left the old cot in there for her.



And the first thing I do every time I walk up to the barn is peek around the corner and see where she's sleeping. On the cot. Look at her 'widdle' sleepy ears :-).



"Was that a camera click? Are you gonna give me a baba?"

No, Blossom, you're a big girl now and are almost done with all those babas. (Again, I can't help myself and still give her a small, watered down bottle in the morning and before bed ;-).



"No baba, eh?

Nope.

"Ohh-kay."



What are you going to do when you get so big you fall through that bed, Blossom?



"Maybe 20 could hook me up with a Serta mattress!"

Oh brother...

If You Have A House Full Of People...

...you might have to go out and pee behind a tree :-o.



But when you do, you might see something sweet like Blossom and Blizzard out eating together in the early morning.



Mia's not a big eater. She's more interested in watching the farm wake up so she's current on any new gossip.



Blizzard's obviously more into eating than gossiping (you all can make fat comments about him ;-), but he's always keeping a watchful eye out for danger. And for that we thank him. Little kids shouldn't have to worry.

When You Are Too Busy...

...to blog, you are supposed to at least post a picture of your cat.



If the only new picture of your cat has a cute lamb wearing flowers around her neck...



I doubt anyone's going to contact the blogging police ;-).



There are no blogging police anyway.



But if there were, Blossom could probably get away with murder.



"Why you gots to wear those flowers, Blossom?"

Okay, so here's an interesting story. See Blizzard, with his huge horns? He's not real bright, is a bit of a bully, fights with other sheep, not friendly to people... Really, other than his pretty fleece and the fact that he's Mia's brother, he didn't have any other really redeeming qualities. Mia was very sad to be separated from him though when she started her babysitting job.

Sheep really do have strong family ties, best friends... I felt bad for her and finally decided that even though the last sheep I wanted in with my baby was a mean dufus with big horns, Blossom was pretty smart and she knew how to go into her creep feeder if she felt threatened.


tadaa

Little did I know that he was really just a big ole softy. The first time I saw him and Blossom grazing together I thought it was just a fluke. The next night I walked up to the barn to give Blossom her night baba and the two of them were sleeping near each other while Mia sat in the shed.

Blossom has him wrapped around her little hoof and he's turned into a pretty darn good big brother...and has even learned gotten brave enough to come eat Cheerios from our hands.

Campfire Stories

Blossom spent her first night in the barn without me last night. It was so nice to get back in my big comfy bed in the air conditioning, but I have to admit missing (just a little) the jump on the bed, jump off the bed, jump back on the bed...walk up to stare at my face...

"Are you awake?"

"Can I have my baba now?"

"Mom? Are you awake???"

"I want my baba now."

Get. Down.

Boing...

Boing...

Boing...

Boing...

"Are you awake?"



To keep things fun, we pretended the super heat of the weekend was a roaring campfire. We roasted some Cheerios, had hot chocolate babas and read Blossom's favorite story, Borreguita and the Coyote.



"That sheep looks just like me!" she says with a big smile :-).



And she loves how the lamb keeps tricking the bad coyote.



"That's exactly what I would do!"



Blossom loves Hank. When it's hot and Mia and Blizzard tell her "Get lost, brat!" she happily goes under the utility trailer to take a nap with Hank on the cool gravel.

The other night we were all out in the front field and Hank heard some suspicious coyote noise out back. Without a moment's hesitation he took off, charging under the fence, racing out back, roaring...with fearless Blossom right behind.

Maybe we shouldn't have read that story so often ;-).

Thanks, Amy - it was a winner!

The Three Little Piggies

If you look waaaaay out in the middle horse paddock, you'll see three little piggies sheepies. That would be Mia, Blizzard and B. Willard, the three sheep still short enough to belly crawl under the fence. I've given up trying to keep them out of trouble. They are Hank's problem now.

Yesterday, out of the corner of my eye, I caught him making a run at T-Bone and Gato. He hates the horses (mostly T-Bone ;-) and I thought he was just picking on them and hollered at him. As always though when I'm calling Hank out on something, I found he was just doing his job. The three piggies were out there and the horses had gotten too close. Hank chased them all the way into the next paddock.

"AND STAY OUT!"

"And lady at the barn, shut up and let me do my job!"

"Yes, sir."

I don't mind being outsmarted by a dog.

Running With A Questionable Crowd

As I walked out to the barn to put everyone up last night I found our little girl out with "the boys". Even though Mia is also always with them, the group started as Keebler, Graham and Hank and will probably forever be known as "the boys".



I caught them all out together again this morning so I grabbed the camera and yelled "cookies".



I dropped the file sizes way down on these since I included so many pictures, but I'm hoping you can click to biggify and see cocky Renny throwing her head up, getting ready to do the crazy sheep run thing.



Okay, now go back to the top picture and make notes of where everyone started. That's Keebler in the forefront, with B. Willard several lengths behind. Those boys are speedy (and they didn't stop to jump around and be goofy ;-).



Here you can see Renny (the black dot near the back) starting to make her move. The rest of the flock is just running from behind the arena because everyone else is running. They don't come when called.



Renny takes the long route around the tree. Ford (on the right) is putting some pressure on B. Willard.



And she's gaining ground, passing Blizzard.



Who can't help but do some more crazy sheep running. Look at Renny's tail up over her back.



Sherman coming from the back of the pack, making a big move. Renny steps her game up a notch. Look how fast she's running.



Blizzard waits too long to kick and realizes he's getting beat by a girl.



And Sherman celebrates with some more crazy sheep jumping.

Win: Keebler
Place: B. Willard
Show: Sherman

But the real winner is of course Renny. And if you don't believe it, just ask her!

Magic In The Mist

A welcome sign of impending fall.



We've almost made it.



Petunia



Sherman and B. Willard



Keebler



Blizzard and Mia



Tall Paul (Ewen McTeagle ;-)

Hank follows me everywhere I go. I think he likes having his picture taken. My old dog Sam was the same way. I'd try to take a picture of something and he'd always run over in front and 'sit pretty'. I posed him so many times he probably thought that was just what he was supposed to do, but part of me thinks he understood pictures were special and wanted to be in them.

So Hank and I walk all around the foggy field, snapping away. I say, "Hank, I bet this is just like Ireland. Now all we need to do is find a four leaf clover!"



I looked down and there it was. Right at my feet.

Just like magic.