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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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!