King Of The Dirt Pile

"What are you doing, Biscuit?"

"Nothin'."

"Right.  Okay then.  Carry on."

That would probably make a fun new puzzle. 

Enjoy :-)

Birthday Memories

It was getting late and the sun was going down and I thought about postponing Maisie's birthday party.  When I walked out back and saw that all the sheep were grazing out in the back fields, it was the icing on the cake...until I saw Maisie standing just down the hill staring up at me...like she was waiting.

I grabbed a bale of straw and carried it through the barn lot.  I tossed it over the short fence, turned around and found Maisie now standing right beside me.  "I know what today is!"  I opened the gate and she walked herself through without any fuss.  I think she really DID know it was her birthday.  

I went back and gathered up the "cake", her candle, one of Auntie Reg's birthday balloons and my camera.  Maisie was grazing at the far corner of the...whatever you'd call that little area with the mounting block.  She watched me assemble her cake and then quietly walked over and dug right in.

She totally knew it was her birthday.

"I've never seen a balloon before."

The only sheep near the barn were Cheeto, who's knee is bothering her, Clover Belly, who was hoping for early dinner and Biscuit...who probably also knew what that bale of straw meant ;-). After Maisie had eaten as many Cheerios as I thought she needed, I let them come in and join the party.

"I've never been to a birthday party before.  This is fun!  I LOVE birthday cake!"

"I love this balloon!"

And then we all heard it.  Sheep bells.  Coming in fast.  Someone out in the field finally noticed the party in progress at the barn and everyone  raced in.

And that was the end of the Maisie's seventh birthday party.  It was one of her very best.  Another great Wovember Memory :-).

Wovember Memory

The prompt for today's Wovember Instagram post is "Memory".  I thought, oh, this will be easy and started scrolling back through the blog...and scrolling...and scrolling...and couldn't pick a specific favorite memory and finally, after I'd long drained my coffee cup, just. picked. one.  

I chose Liddy playing on and falling off the wool bag when Miss B and I were skirting fleeces for the first batch of Lamb Camp yarn.  It's a great memory.  It's got everything - cute lamb, lots of wool, funny story, friends, good photos...  Done.  Checked the Day 25 box.  Headed out to do morning chores.

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.

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And then I remembered that I almost anti-memoried that today is Maisie's birthday!  She's SEVEN years old.  Seven seems wrong.  Like surely she's been here for longer than seven years.  She's been here forever, hasn't she?  And yet, seven...was it really seven years ago that she rode home on my lap and started sleeping on our couch?

That in itself is a good memory.  Her whole childhood was a....well...it was memorable, eh?  Here's a bonus memory for today.  In fact, I don't think this story ever made the blog, so it's a new one for almost everyone...although it's one of my favorites.  It's about Maisie's name.

Maisie came from The Training Center, now known as Tring Farm.  Vergil and Annemarie Holland are two of my favorite sheep and dog mentors.  Vergil is sadly no longer with us, but he's still mentoring, as just yesterday I was able to share something he'd told me about flock dogs years ago.

You'll have to read back through the archives if you don't know Maisie's story about how if she wasn't so tough and ornery she would probably have never lived through her lambhood.  It took a village to keep her alive and I stayed in close contact with Vergil and Annemarie.  

It took a couple of days to decide on a name for her.  I wanted to call her Poppet.  Saint Tim picked Maisie.  We went with Maisie.  When Vergil heard that Maisie wasn't my choice, he said "It's your lamb.  You should call her whatever you want."  I said "Well, Tim pays all the vet bills."  Without missing a beat he said, "Helluva name!"  Seven years later and that still makes me laugh.  

Seven years later and Tim no longer has to pay all the vet bills...but he still comes up with all the best names.  Maisie did end up being the best choice.  Crazy Poppet just doesn't have quite the same ring ;-D.  

Thank you for all of the calendar and Christmas orders!  Thank you for being part of the village. Your support means more than you'll ever know.

View this post on Instagram

Looks like Maisie is taking the first shift so Hank can sleep for awhile. Good night 😴. #livestockguardiandog #guardiansheep

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 19, 2019 at 8:52pm PST

Happy Birthday, Crazy Maisie!

Lamb Camp Legacy

The new yarn just back from Stonehedge Fiber Mill is a blend of some of the nicest fleeces from the Lamb Camp lambs sired by Rocky and Jared when they were over at Tring Farm.  Their "legacy" flock.  I'm trying to design a label/tag for the yarn and have been trying to take a nice picture of the two "boys".

Handsome Jared is always happy to oblige.  He reminds me of an old lion.  Maybe it's his big gray nose and mouth.  Maybe it's his power and demeanor.  I just love this funny old guy. Now, if handsome, but cranky pants, Rocky doesn't straighten up, he might just find himself kicked off the label! 

"Whatever."

He's really not that cranky.  I think he just hates to have his picture taken.  I completely understand ;-).

Zzzzzzz

Nobody naps like Liddy :-).