...but never quite the same.
I want to first off thank everyone for your kind comments and emails. I started this blog as just a fun way to keep a photo diary of happenings on our farm, mostly for our own enjoyment. We now have over 2000 readers. Wow! And I have had a lot of fun with the blog most of the time, but with that, I feel, comes the responsibility to share the bad as well as all the good.
In many ways it would have been much easier for me to not have ever had the Sunshine story out there because then I wouldn't have had to post the sad ending. And even though we all knew from the beginning the possibility of that ending was great, it might have been much easier to have never shared. However, at the end of the day, when most of the tears have dried - because I don't think I read a single comment without crying anew - I was comforted to hear how many lives she touched. And to know that I was not alone in my sadness.
But, as I said, life must go on - thankfully - and fences need to be built, pastures re-seeded, rocks to be hauled and sheep to be shorn.
I've been shearing our sheep myself for the past few years, but saw an ad for a new shearer in the Sheep Connection magazine this spring and decided to give him a try. Martin Bayer, from New Albany, Indiana, came down yesterday and did a fabulous job shearing our sheep. Even though I enjoy getting to spend some "quality time" with each of my sheep - as I spend 30 minutes shearing each one - with as busy as this spring has been, it was a huge relief to leave the barn last night with 24 bags of wool stacked neatly in the corner and know the job was done.
I had fabulous help - as always - thank you Pat (helped "wrangle" sheep with me), Jane (fleece pick up) and Stella (fleece pick up and record keeping). Several friends and neighbors stopped by and Wyatt barely got away without being shorn himself.
Here was one of our favorite shears. Yes, that would be Boudreaux the Biter. He's really not fat, that's all wool ;-).
Okay, well, maybe it wasn't all wool.
Spooky Tooth looks a little concerned over there, doesn't she? And no super long blog post would be complete without a video of our little buddy Woolliam getting 'a little off the top'.
I want to first off thank everyone for your kind comments and emails. I started this blog as just a fun way to keep a photo diary of happenings on our farm, mostly for our own enjoyment. We now have over 2000 readers. Wow! And I have had a lot of fun with the blog most of the time, but with that, I feel, comes the responsibility to share the bad as well as all the good.
In many ways it would have been much easier for me to not have ever had the Sunshine story out there because then I wouldn't have had to post the sad ending. And even though we all knew from the beginning the possibility of that ending was great, it might have been much easier to have never shared. However, at the end of the day, when most of the tears have dried - because I don't think I read a single comment without crying anew - I was comforted to hear how many lives she touched. And to know that I was not alone in my sadness.
But, as I said, life must go on - thankfully - and fences need to be built, pastures re-seeded, rocks to be hauled and sheep to be shorn.
I've been shearing our sheep myself for the past few years, but saw an ad for a new shearer in the Sheep Connection magazine this spring and decided to give him a try. Martin Bayer, from New Albany, Indiana, came down yesterday and did a fabulous job shearing our sheep. Even though I enjoy getting to spend some "quality time" with each of my sheep - as I spend 30 minutes shearing each one - with as busy as this spring has been, it was a huge relief to leave the barn last night with 24 bags of wool stacked neatly in the corner and know the job was done.
I had fabulous help - as always - thank you Pat (helped "wrangle" sheep with me), Jane (fleece pick up) and Stella (fleece pick up and record keeping). Several friends and neighbors stopped by and Wyatt barely got away without being shorn himself.
Here was one of our favorite shears. Yes, that would be Boudreaux the Biter. He's really not fat, that's all wool ;-).
Okay, well, maybe it wasn't all wool.
Spooky Tooth looks a little concerned over there, doesn't she? And no super long blog post would be complete without a video of our little buddy Woolliam getting 'a little off the top'.
14 comments:
Snicker, snicker, snicker. And...they thought my sheep were fat !!!!
Can you believe Martin is only 20 and has been shearing for 10 years. He was great! Thanks for finding him.
Looks like you had a good day too !
christy
Wow he was quick. And looks like he did a great job at keeping skin tight so as not to nick the sheep. ANd is it just me or is Wooliam super cooperative? Of course, I just wish my dogs, Schanuzers, would hold that still, LOL.
Hugs
Amy
Woolliam was uncharacteristically good I thought. He's such a brat normally. ;-)
So glad that you were able to get Martin B. to help you with the shearing this year - he's quite a professional! If you have a picture of Wyatt, I would love to see it sometime as my Cynthiana sister's dog is named Wyatt. When she and I visited you last August, I took some pictures of you and Sunshine which I shall mail to you. She brought sunshine into so many of our lives, but your and St. Tim's love and devotion to her through all of her troubles showed the rest of us what a trouper the two of you are. Blessings! June
According to the timeron the clock, Wooliam was sheared in 3:39. That has to be close to a record time! He has certainly grown since the Christmas pictures. I think Wooliam is not bratty, he has lots of confidence in himself! What a cutie!
I never tire of watching sheep shearing videos.. great job! Glad that's done and you can focus on other things now.
I am spinning Boudreaux's lovely roving right now; tell him thanks (and lay off the cookies :-)
Wooliam was such a good guy! Your shearer was really good, too....any chance he'd want to come to the "old" Albany? Good shearers out here are like hen's teeth...
Leave it to naughty Woolliam to come out smelling like a rose...
;-)
Wooliam just knows he is one cute sheep!
Wow! 2000 readers! You touch so many lives, I am happy I am one.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
My sympathies over losing Sunshine. I'm so glad you let her touch our lives by telling her story.
How amazing to watch the ram being shorn, going from brown on the outside to black underneath. What amazing coloured wool he makes!
I laughed at the It's all wool! OK, maybe it wasn't all wool.
And that little video was very cool!
I've only seen one other sheep shearing at Old Graue Mill. Us city folk don't get around the farm life much. Thanks for sharing the video. Yet another loss at Equinox. Sorry. janbaby
Looks like you got a great shearer there! They're sure hard to find... We've got a great one too but much older than your guy. I'm worried he's going to tell us he'll quit due to age but hopefully by then he'll have a replacement. I really don't want to shear 35+/- myself... I did it in 4H but it's a hard job!
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