Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Murphy

As we drew near the end of the Solstice Sheep this week I started counting who was still out.  Five to go.  Who were they...Liddy, Tavia, Tessa, Burrnie and Murphy.  Then I was down to three and I drew Liddy and then there were just two.  Ooh, wouldn't it be fun if Murphy was the last one?

I fed Bea and the cats and put the kettle on and finally got up my nerve to pull today's tag...Dang it,  Murphy!  Wouldn't that have been a great story if the sheep who is best known for being the first out every dang day of the year turned out to be the very last sheep on the Solstice calendar?  Oh well, it's still a pretty good story.

I've been sharing everyone's favorite treats and at first glance this picture doesn't appear to be a treat picture, but it is.  Besides being the leader of the flock, Murphy's main claim to fame is opening gates.  So much so that there were some many times I toyed with sticking him in a big cardboard box with, or sometimes without, air holes and shipping him back to New York.

Murphy's motivation for opening gates is always food related and his main goal in life these days is to move into Easy Breezy (on the other side of this gate).  Oh, he doesn't want to move into a retirement home.  He just wants to steal their food.  

Murphy is obsessed with any treats, but is especially fond of the chopped alfalfa fed to the Easy Breezy sheep.  

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Liddy

Liddy's claim to fame?  She got kicked out of a fiber festival!

"I did?"

Well, they didn't make her leave early, although I'm sure they wanted to, but we were asked to never bring her back.  Why?  Liddy is a talker...and she has the voice of a three pack a day smoker.  People complained that she was "growling".

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Volume Up

I had a question about Andy's bell back at the beginning of the Solstice series and I thought I would just answer it when Liddy's turn came about, figuring she'd not be far behind...and here we are three from the end.  Liddy is the other belled sheep.  There are just two even though it sometimes sounds like more.

The bells do a couple of jobs here.  First I can always find the sheep, just by listening for them.  They don't go out in the dark, but we can have some really foggy mornings and because of the bells I've been able to tell which field they are in even when it's so thick I can't see them.  

The other thing the bells do is tell me what the sheep are doing.  If they are just grazing or walking back in from the back fields, the bells just jingle.  If something has spooked the sheep and they are running in, the bells CLANG CLANG CLANG and I know to go check.

Sometimes the bells also tell me when Liddy is into something she shouldn't be.  Liddy comes out for an extra breakfast in the mornings and sometimes stays with the Easy Breezy sheep longer than she's able to keep herself out of trouble.  

Liddy loves all treats, but especially loves her special breakfasts.  She could just move into Easy Breezy...but she doesn't stay out of trouble.  Ever.  That bell is always ringing.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Tavia

Tavia is our little "blond with blue eyes" cheerleader.  Well, that's what Saint Tim calls her, The Little Cheerleader.  She is very pretty and she does have blue eyes.  Wait, what?  Blue eyes?

Yep, if you look closely she has blue in both eyes.  I think this mostly happens with spotted sheep, but maybe it can show up in other breeds.  I haven't researched that.

Tavia is very sweet, but pretty shy.  Once you catch her she likes to be scratched and talked to and easy to handle, but like most Jacobs, isn't going to initiate much cuddling.  While her coloring is a little too "blond" (missing her leg spots and some extra black on her face), her wool is gorgeous and is always the first Jacob fleece picked on shearing day.

Compared to Tessa's longer and coarser locks, Tavia is very even in not only length throughout her fleece, but also crimp and texture.  Crimp is the way the fleece curls as it grows.  A Cotswold has big loopy curls going down the lock, maybe 10-12 curls over 5 inches for example.  A finer wool like Bullwinkle might have 50 curls over the same 5 inches.  The more crimps per inch, the softer the wool will feel.  In 25 words or less.

Tavia loves sweet treats, but is also in the chopped alfalfa camp.  She will try to sneak up to the front if there aren't too many sheep pushing and shoving. 

Merry And Bright

If I had time I'd probably go back through the archives to see if this is the latest I've ever posted the Christmas card.  If it's not the latest, it's probably tied for the latest.  Whooosh!

I'd originally planned to paint this fun picture of Short Round, but as I sketched it out on my iPad and started figuring out the colors on there, I really liked it just as it was so decided to just go with it and use it as an exercise to learn more about Procreate, which is a fun art program built for Apple devices.  

This was my hope when I finished out the 20 year series of folk art farm cards last year.  Mostly I was out of new story lines, but also I wanted the opportunity to learn some new skills.  Once it was finished I realized I could still draw the back as an outline and it would probably work as a cute rug pattern, which is something else I'm hoping to learn more about.

This has been a hard year for so many people.  I hope this funny old ewe brings you some joy and the silhouettes of sheep grazing in the moonlit sky behind her bring you some peace.  The inside of the card this year says "Merry and Bright".

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Tessa

If I were to pick a current Jacob to spin, Tessa would always be my first choice.  She doesn't have the most "correct" Jacob fleece, but it's the one I like the best and isn't that the beauty of handspinning...you can like whatever you like.  What makes her not an ideal representative of the breed standard?  Her wool is a bit too long and a little on the coarser side...just the way I like it :-).

Other than her fleece (and maybe her dumpling shape ;-) she's what I like to see in a good Jacob.  Two horns, distinct face markings with both eyes covered in black, good balance of black and white in her fleece (they should be about 60% white and 40% black) and lots of black spots on her legs with all four hooves black as well.

Her personality is a little bit more relaxed than the other Ts, but she's still no Cotswold or Border Leicester, and that's okay too.  She doesn't panic when I walk through the stall, but she's not going to be wearing any Santa hats any time soon ever.

Like all Jacobs, Tessa has a sweet tooth.  And like most Jacobs, you need to toss her some cookies from a distance because she's not going to fight her way through the bullies in the front.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Kaala

With the way the draws have come, with so many matching their real personalities and traits, I expected to not see Kaala until Sunday or Monday.  

Kaala got here in 2018 and her first shearing here was 2019.  She was the very last sheep to be shorn that day.  In 2020 she was again the last sheep to be shorn.  In 2021 she was the last.  In 2022 she was second to the last.  I don't remember where she fell in 2023, but it was definitely in the last two.  She was at the end of the line again this year.

Some sheep figure out to just go on through.  Most fall in the 'wherever they land' category and some sheep put it off to the last minute rather than just get it over with.  This frequently happens with lambing too.  You know who the early lambers are going to be and the same couple of ewes will always be at the tail end.

Kaala has spent this year teaching people how to spin yarn.  Her fleece is perfect for this because it's not too long, but not too short and has just enough gray running through it that you can easily see your angle of twist.  She's in all the drop spindle kits these days.

Kaala likes treats, but what she really likes is to wait while everyone else goes out to graze in the morning because she's figured out Liddy, who also waits, get a special breakfast and she's figured out how to capitalize on that.  

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Maisie

As I picked my card this morning I knew it was going to be Maisie.  I haven't had a feeling about any other sheep so far, but today I knew it was going to be her.  Granted there were only seven sheep left so the odds were in my favor, but still, I've enjoyed some of the magic of the draws.

I had a picture already picked out for Maisie, but at the last minute I wondered about if we'd ever dressed Maisie up with a Santa hat and I don't believe we have, so here you go.

"The things I have to do around here."

Maisie was her (now) usual good sport self and got lots of vanilla wafers for her effort.  Those are her favorite treat, but Maisie didn't always eat vanilla wafers or treats of any kind, really.  She also used to Not Wear A Hat Of Any Sort, but that story has already been told and can be found in the archives ;-).

I'd always offer her cookies, but she wanted no part of them.  Finally one day I just popped one in the side of her mouth.  I knew if she'd just get a taste of them, she'd love them.  That cookie shot out the other side of her mouth like a torpedo.

Cookies, crackers, healthy snacks...nothing.  I'm not sure why she was so adamant about it, but I wondered if she thought I was trying to give her medicine.  I'd try off and on for a year or two and finally just gave up.  

One day Auntie Monica came over with her big bag of treats for everyone and as soon as I told her not to expect Maisie to eat anything she said she'd already given her some cookies.  I assumed she had the sheep confused...but no, there was Maisie eating cookies like a pro and she's eaten them ever since.

"I like to keep everyone on their toes!

"Baa Humbug"

You better watch out, Maisie, or Santa will put you on his naughty list!

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Biscuit

I took at least a dozen pictures of Biscuit on a sunny day (which it is definitely not today!) last week and turns out in all but three weird looking shots, he had his mouth open.  I thought, briefly, about trying for another shot this afternoon (in the definitely not pleasant weather)...and talked myself into this picture.  

It definitely shows his signature curls.  And his messy foretop.  And the constant piece of something stuck in there (he's a mess).  And him watching his buddies head on out for a late afternoon graze while he then sidles over to me for some back scratchies.

He does this every morning too as I open the gate to let everyone out.  He'll stand there as long as I'll stay and scratch his back and then finally I get tired and stop scratching, give him a gentle pop on the butt and tell him to "Go get 'em, tiger."  And off he goes to catch up.

Biscuit mostly stays in the background.  He can fight his way in for cookies, but he doesn't fight too hard.  There are some tough nuts in the front and who needs all that conflict.  Muffin is still his best friend and they are frequently side by side, especially when they are eating.  I just love that.

I let Mrs. Pepperpot take over as his mom when he moved from the house to the barn and his transition was seamless.  She was a kind old ewe and took him under her wing.  She probably knew Muffin was going to need a good friend by her side.  She was right.

Biscuit is truly grateful for any treats you can sneak in to him, but he's also pretty happy with a good back scratchy.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Levi

This might seem like an odd picture to post, but it actually tells part of Levi's story.  Levi is known to fiber artists as one the most popular spinning fleeces in our flock, but he's known around here as the most dangerous sheep on the farm...but there is not a mean bone in his body.  

Jacob sheep tend to be feral and flighty.  They are a primitive breed and that's just part of the package.  They panic and scoot away, but they aren't hard to handle once you get used to that and have a good working pen.  Levi just panics and a sheep his size (275+ pounds) in a panic can easily send someone to the hospital.

He's lived here since he was weaned (2016) so I know nothing awful has ever happened to him.  His mother was a friend's bottle lamb and I don't remember her being nutty.  His dad is a Rocky son, so again, nothing to raise any red flags.  It's just who he is...but it's maybe not who he really wants to be.

When we "work" our sheep here we bring them into the barn and then funnel them into the outside stall and then tighten them down to a 14' x 14' catch pen at the end of the stall.  Once in there they are pretty tightly packed and there's not so much room for someone to try to get away.  It's always much better to be able to catch your sheep quietly and calmly.

For a sheep like Levi I wait until I see him in a good spot, either in a corner or blocked in near the wall by some other large sheep.  I then sidle over to him without making eye contact and try to scoop under his chin to keep his head up (even a tiny Jacob can get away from you if they can get their head down) and then gather him around the neck with my arms.  Never try to catch sheep by grabbing their wool.  

All Levi has ever had done to him is routine exams, vaccinations and foot trims.  Shearing is done through the working chutes and pens, but again that is a time where everyone watches what they are doing.  You never want to get run over by a sheep in a panic. 

Once caught everything is usually okay.  Sometimes he still loses his courage and tries to bolt, but I just remain calm (and hang on tight) and he calms back down and we carry on and here is why I think he doesn't really want to be "that sheep".  

He's scared of me, but we actually have a good relationship and he trusts me as much as he's ever going to trust anyone. Once he settles down he always looks up at me and lets me scratch around his ears and rub his face and I can feel him relax and I can tell that he'd really like to be "that sheep".  Maybe someday.

Levi might not be brave enough to come all the way up to you, but he loves to stand with the safety of a fence between you and him and he'll try to quickly grab any treats you hand out. He especially loves the chopped alfalfa :-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Pinto

I'd be lying if I said Pinto wasn't one of my favorite sheep.  What a turkey :-).  

Of course Pinto's main claim to fame is his ability to jump in and out of the arena at will.  I'm glad he's the only one who does that, although honestly I am a little surprised that no one else has tried to follow him. It's easy to assume he's just looking for the best grass, and that is for sure the best place to find it, but I think he also just likes to go off by himself sometimes. 

He spent much of the first year of his life alone and while he really loves all his friends here, it's not uncommon to also find him in what I call "his office".  He likes to go sit in the aisleway stall when the Easy Breezy sheep aren't in there.  He sometimes tucks himself in the corner of the outside stall.  And of course there's always the arena.  

Sheep are flock animals and it's unusual to see a sheep choose to go off alone unless they are sick or injured of getting ready to lamb, something like that.  Pinto does it almost every day.  He doesn't seem sad or lonely...maybe just contemplative.

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He's definitely a thinker and probably one of the smartest sheep I've known.  He had to be.  The best part of it is he doesn't use his super powers for trouble like some sheep we know.  He's just a good solid citizen.

His new favorite treat is Frosted Mini Wheats, but he likes crackers and cookies as well.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Thelma

Thelma is easy to spot...because she has a spot.  I prefer the two horned Jacobs, but sometimes at a quick glance they are harder to tell apart without their crazy extra horns.  Thelma is easy because of her special nose spot.

Thelma is not a sheep of great personality like Tabitha, but she's started letting me walk past her in the shed lately, pretty closely, without jumping up.  That's pretty noteworthy for a Jacob ;-).   She's also frequently seen near Pinto, or I should say Pinto is frequently found near her.  

I don't think he's sweet on her.  He's pretty much given up the Romeo life.  I think they are friends.  My Jacobs have always tended to stay together and I think that's partly a breed thing, although the Ts did all come here together, but also sometimes seems like a spotted sheep thing.  Pinto is a spotted sheep...but he only hangs with Thelma, so I think she's his best friend.

The ratio of black to white in her wool makes her blended fleece pretty dark, like a mottled dark gray.  It's a little softer and finer than I prefer spinning, but her roving is a customer favorite.  

Thelma likes cookies, but only if you toss them to her from a good distance away.  Those silly, spooky Jacobs :-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Tabitha

Aside from being the only Jacob we have who will come up and grab a treat from anyone who shows up with a box of treats, Tabitha's main claim to fame is her horns.  

Jacobs are a polycerate breed, meaning they have multiple horns.  For the breed standard they have to have at least two horns, but they can have up to six.  Tabitha has five.  They aren't show worthy horns, but they've served her pretty well and have the scars to show for it.

Looking at the first picture it appears that she only has three horns, but here's a better view.  There are actually two nearly fused upright horns on the top of her head along with another upright and two lateral horns, one on each side.

She's not afraid to use those horns and while the sticking up horns aren't good for direct punching, she can give you a bottom hook and flip or a top down smack.  She's not a mean sheep, but she's also the only Jacob we have that can battle her way to the front of the cookie mosh pit ;-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Big Moose

If a picture can paint a thousand words it would say there is not much better than napping in the warm sun on a cold winter day.  Especially if you are wearing a warm wool sweater.  Sitting out with the sheep is one of my favorite things to do.  Care to join me and Big Moose?

Big Moose is not a big treat eater, but he does love the chopped alfalfa.  I think he'd be all about cookies if Murphy would give him a chance to give it a good sniff first.  

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Baaxter Black

Baaxter was quite the wild man when he was a bebe, but that was quite a few years ago and he doesn't move too well these days...until it's breakfast or dinner time and then it's amazing how fast he can get motoring.  He's the menace of the food bowls and I have to stand next to him to make sure he doesn't gobble his food and then knock everyone else out of the way to steal their food.

When he was a little lamb I had to stop feeding him from a bottle because he would eat so fast that he'd get a tummy ache.  I was told to feed him from a shallow pie plate and that fixed the problem.  I worried he wouldn't understand how to switch over, but didn't have any trouble.  He's been a good eater from day one ;-).

Baaxter loves all treats, but he especially loves stale bread.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Maggie

I almost blew it today.  I knew I'd taken some pictures of Maggie the other day, but when I opened them up this morning they were nothing I really wanted to use.  I'd planned to go out during the afternoon and take some new pictures...and the day got away from me.  

I thought about the possibility of getting a barn shot this evening, but knew that Maggie wouldn't be in the barn.  She very seldom is.  Ah, the beauty of this challenge...go try to take a picture of her in the dark.  If you can figure out a way to do that, it will tell a good story.

Maggie is a watcher.  I find these sheep interesting.  Maisie used to sit outside and then when she got older she'd sit just inside the door, watching and listening for trouble out back.  I always thought she learned that from Hank, but when I saw Maggie start doing that I realized it might be something more.

Maggie has slept out back since her first summer.  I found her exactly where I knew I would, right at the corner of the Del Boca Vista.  Occasionally Christopher will sit out there with her, but Maggie is the dedicated night watch.  

At some point she must move inside because I seldom find her still out there in the morning, but occasionally I do.  If it's been snowing during the night, she always has snow on her back so I know she's stayed out there for a good bit of time.

I think this is fascinating.

I think this will be a beautiful and challenging new puzzle.  Enjoy!

Oops, I almost forgot to share her favorite treat.  Maggie is a very shy treat taker so she doesn't always get a treat when the big sheep are being too rough.  I just snuck her a handful of alfalfa before anyone noticed.  Everyone loves the chopped alfalfa :-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Short Round

Short Round only came here because I wanted something good to come out of sweet little Early's short life.  

There had been a screw up in the lambing shed the day Early was born and Kathy thought Short Round was only going to have one lamb so she grafted a triplet from another ewe onto her. She was headed to the other farm when I pulled in later in the morning and she told me to keep an eye on the adoption, but that she thought it looked good.

I made my rounds of the lambing jugs and when I got around to the grafting pen there were three lambs in there.  Okay, I must have gotten confused, so I checked the other jug pens again.  Nope, I had been at the right pen.  At least four hours after she'd had her first lamb, Short Round had a second lamb...and now she had three lambs :-o.

Early wasn't in the best of shape, but we finally got him squared away as best we could and I brought him home with me that night.  I don't fault Short Round for not getting him up and going better on her own.  She would have under normal conditions.  She was a good mother and always raised good lambs.  She could count to two though and she knew she was already taking care of two lambs so I'm sure she just did not understand what had happened.  

Early was a delight in every way.  He was cute and smart and funny and just a corker.  Once I got to know Short Round I realized she was where he'd gotten his big personality.  She's a delight as well and has become one of my all time favorite sheep.

Since we're including treat information about each sheep I'll tell you first that the old flock ewes don't really know anything about cookies and crackers.  They are not pets and they don't really care to be pets.  Short Round and her daughter Ellie hopped off the trailer when they got here the next year and she took one look around and said "No problem, I can be a pet sheep.  Whatchu got in the way of treats, lady?"

Short Round will eat anything.  I mean anything.  I think if I handed her a Big Mac, she'd eat it.  I've never seen anything like it :-D.  One of her favorite treats is bananas.  I'd like to think B. Willard taught her to eat those, but I have a feeling she'd have figured it out on her own.  She also likes oranges and she loves pumpkins too, but seriously, she'll eat anything you hand her.

She's living in Easy Breezy because she's very arthritic, but on good days she still heads out to the yard for a graze.  She and Jared were special friends and I know she misses him almost as much as I do.  They always grazed the yard side by side and when Rocky died, she stayed out in the yard with Jared all afternoon.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Bullwinkle

"She took forty-leven pictures of dumb ole Mini Moose and only two of me and in the other one I had my eyes closed."

This isn't a terrible picture of Bullwinkle, but I do feel bad that I didn't have more to choose from.  Who knew that the only sheep I didn't get a couple of good pictures of yesterday would be the one I'd draw this morning.  

Bullwinkle's had a busy fall.  His wool got picked to blend with some dog hair and my friend who spun it did a fantastic job and it turned out really pretty.  The yarn is 60% Bullwinkle and 40% dog hair.  You need to blend wool into your dog hair yarn to cool it down.  Dog hair yarn is apparently so warm that you can barely wear it.

We picked Bullwinkle because he is a Rambouillet cross and has the finest crimped fleece in our flock and we thought it would be the best blending fleece for her project.  Fine wool sheep are never my first choice, but his mom died when he was a few days old and he needed a new mom so I brought him home.

Bullwinkle is eight years old now, but he's still one of my babies.  In fact, his nickname is Bebby Bebby.  He was a bratty little lamb and he's still a bit of a brat.  He's no longer able to jump on me...thankfully...but he didn't quit that until he got too old and fat.  Now he just sidles up to me and paws at me and I tell him to knock it off.  Boys...

Bullwinkle loves all treats and isn't afraid to bust his way through to the front of the pack to get what he wants.  I guess it's good to be a big fat brat ;-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Mini Moose

Mini Moose is a sheep as nice as he looks.  And he's about as un-Mini as he can get, but he's also a lot of floof.  You can stick your hand down into his wool and there's not much hand left sticking out.  That floof is one of my all time favorite fleeces.

I have a wool post in the works that I just haven't had time to put together, but I'll tease you with a couple of pictures of Mini Moose's wool.  There's a whole lot more to the story though, so don't let me forget to come back to it.

I know you'll want to hear more about this.

That little hint of gray mixed in.

Mini Moose is one of the sweetest sheep we've had and I'm sure that's partly due to who his dad is, one of the Nistock rams.  He's a Rocky grandson.  He came over here from Final Frontier Farm with Cheeto and Big Moose back in 2019.  

Mini Moose got his name just after he was born.  We didn't get many gray lambs and after Big Moose arrived and he was So Big that I immediately called him Big Moose, the next gray lamb born was much smaller...hence Mini Moose.  Both boys were lambing shed favorites and I couldn't resist bringing them over here after they were weaned.  

Jacobs aren't large sheep, but standing next to Tessa really illustrates how un-Mini he ended up.  I would guess him at almost 300 pounds.  He definitely was when he was a year or two younger.  His fleece weighs in around 10 pounds each year.  I think you could pretty easily knit three sweaters from him every year and I have one in my queue.

Mini Moose's favorite treat is handfuls of the "good alfalfa" :-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Ellie

As all the cool kids say, "She cute."

She's also a bit of a sass bucket :-).  That ear is frequently cocked back, much like a raised eyebrow.  Ellie is a front and center sheep and always comes over to see what I'm up to, especially if I have my camera.  She's cute and she knows it.

And the smirk.  Don't you just want to goochy goo her under the chin?  If you do, her face is very soft and her facial hair is just a bit longer than most sheep and it's almost silky.  

One night, when she was still a fairly young lamb she chewed on a spring snap and ended up hooking her cheek like a fish.  Actually hooked herself.  Like a fish.  When I found her the next morning, Tim had to come up and work the "hook" out.  Like a fish.  Not the best claim to fame.

The vet came to make sure she didn't need stitches and commented that she'd never seen anything like that before...and just a few weeks later the exact same thing happened on a nearby farm.  I'm sure they thought I was just trying to one up them when I told them the same thing had already happened over here.

Ellie likes saltines the best.  

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Krista

Of course Krista would be closely following her baby boy!  She was/still is a very devoted mom.  She was such a devoted momma that she was still calling those two lambs over to nurse a couple times a day when they were NINE MONTHS OLD.  That all changed when Pinto arrived.

If you'll remember, Pinto was still an intact ram when he got here.  Krista, Short Round and the lambs were living in the side field at the time and we put Pinto in the adjoining paddock we call Del Boca Vista.  Krista took one look at Pinto and acted like she'd never seen those two lambs before in her life...and they were never allowed to nurse again ;-D.

Now, three and a half years later, her brief love affair with Pinto is long over, but she's still taking care of her last two lambs and I'm so glad she got to keep them with her.  Short Round kicked Ellie out of the house as soon as she walked across the high school graduation stage.  Maggie and Christopher are Krista's family and they are important to her.  Sheep do have friends and families.

"Come on you two.  Time to go in."  

"Okay, mom."

Krista loves all treats and even though she's small, she will fight her way through the crowd, especially for a handful of the "good alfalfa".  She also loves apples so I think we'll have an apple party this afternoon.  Today is a sheep work day.  We are checking eye scores, body condition and trimming feet, so a treat after will be welcome.  I'm posting this early because I'm guessing I'll need a treat later, too!

I think that second picture would make a good new puzzle :-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Christopher

Photographs are interesting.  Christopher looks like a fairly normal sized boy here, but standing next to you he's actually a hubba hubba sized sheep who's almost as broad as he is tall.  His fuzzy forehead is hand sized and you can bury your hands deep into his creamy wool.  He has one of my favorite fleeces.

Christopher is still very attached to his momma and would like to be as friendly as his sister Maggie, but he's just a bit shy.  Sometimes he lets me rub his ears and forehead, and sometimes you can tell he really wants to, but just can't bring himself to do so.  I'm not sure why this is as his mother, Krista, is very friendly and Maggie is as well.  Sheep definitely have their own personalities.

Look at those big chukka boot legs :-).

Christopher is not good at fighting his way through to the front to battle for cookies, but he does like them if you sneakily toss one back on the ground in front of him.  I may set out a couple of flakes of hay out to distract everyone else tonight and then try to sidle up to him and see what he does if I have a cookie in my pocket :-).  

Update:  He let me walk up to him and I think wanted to take a cookie, but hasn't actually eaten a cookie from a hand before I don't think so he didn't really know what to do.  He nibbled right on the edge and then before he could get brave enough to take it, someone else would grab it.  We'll practice some more.

Solstice Sheep Day Two - Andy

I almost blew it on day two.  I thought I'd taken a nice picture of Andy yesterday, but when I pulled it up this evening, it wasn't in correct focus.  I looked through the last couple of folders of pictures, but none of Andy...so I picked up my camera and headed for the barn.

Night pictures are usually not a great option, but are a good challenge.  I'd hoped to sneak in and find him sleeping someplace easy to compose, but everyone was immediately on to me and jumped up.  I tried to find a shot, but this is what he kept giving me.

"This seems deeply suspicious.  What's going on?"

"I'm the Solstice Sheep of the Day?  And if I let you take my picture I get a treat?"

":-)"

Andy likes all treats, but grabbing a bite of the fancy alfalfa the old sheep get is maybe his favorite.  I was able to sneak him a handful which he grabbed and then quickly backed out of the melee.  Not everyone got treats tonight.  It would have been too crazy.  Andy tends to fly under the radar, so it was nice to let him know he was extra special today :-).

Andy is one of the bell sheep.  You have to look closely to see it in these dark pictures.  He wears the bell in memory/honor of Graham Lamb.  Graham babysat Andy when he first moved here and after Graham passed, I took the bell from his neck and placed it on Andy's.  They'd been good friends and I hope the bell reminds Andy of his old friend.

Solstice Sheep Day One - Muffin

As I was preparing to get up this morning I decided I would wear my Maisie sweater today.  I love all my sheep sweaters and I like to think the sheep know I'm wearing their wool and are maybe a bit disappointed if I wear something not from our flock.  

I was rustling around trying to find Maisie - I do this by feel in the dark - and felt Muffin's sweater and changed my mind and decided to wear her.  As I was pulling it on I thought "Wouldn't it be fun if I drew Muffin's name this morning!"

I cut all the name tags out, folded them tightly and then shook them up in a bowl and without looking put each one into a pocket.  I love surprises and if I'd seen a name, I'd have put it back in the bowl and tried again.  I was Very Careful.

And on the very first day of Sheep Solstice I drew...Muffin :-).

Muffin and her mom, Mrs. Pepperpot, moved over here from Final Frontier Farm in...are you sitting down?...2017.  Good.  Grief.  Time flies.  She'd been the sickest little lamb I'd ever seen who actually lived and she still looked pretty rough when she moved over here to be Biscuit's best friend.

"First hot day this summer, you are probably going to lose her, so don't get too attached."  Too late.  I was already attached.

Watching Muffin and her mom take the very best care of each other was one of the highlights of my sheep life.  Remember them sleeping together, Muffin's head tucked over her momma's back?  The day we had to put old Pepperpot down was soul crushing, but the last thing I told her was that we'd take good care of Muffin and here we are seven year later, still enjoying some Muffin magic.

About an hour later I walked into the front room and found a ceramic sheep laying on the floor.  Archie!  It was a sweet little shiny black sheep and I picked her up and set her on the kitchen counter.  She'll be our mascot for the season.

Muffin is a sweet treat lover, but she also loves pumpkins, so today everyone got to have a pumpkin party.  My friend Celia and I picked up an entire car full of pumpkins at the season end at our local orchard.  I never shared that picture and need to go find it.  That car was loaded!  I think we had over 150 pumpkins of various sizes piled in there.

Muffin's portrait?  One only a mother could love.  Look at that slimy pumpkin face :-o.  Her calendar picture is so much prettier, but this one tells a good story.  Oh, and who is that sheep trying to share her pumpkin?  Yep, it's Biscuit.  I love that they are still best friends.

We'll try to do better tomorrow ;-).

Solstice Sheep

I have always been one of those people who struggled to enjoy the holiday season, for various and the same reasons so many others do as well.  I understand.  I also hated the holidays being over though, usually because I felt sad and stupid that I hadn't made the effort to enjoy them.  Two years ago I decided to try to fix that.

Wing and a Prayer Farm did a beautiful winter solstice advent calendar and I treated myself.  If I did even just one deliberate thing to find some joy in the season, I could open my treat for the day.  I didn't miss a day and I ended up actually enjoying the holidays for the first time.

Last year I re-used the calendar and had Auntie Reg tuck a bunch of tiny sheep figurines in all the pockets as my prizes.  Not only did I enjoy some holiday cheer during the day, I got the fun of finding my sheep and then adding them to the flock that night and taking a pretty picture to share.  The whole year had been awful in so many ways, but it ended with some peace and joy that carried on into the next year.

This year I thought about what I wanted to do and decided I'd give little gifts back rather than get them for myself...although gifts given are usually gifts received as well ;-).  

Tucked in each of the pockets is a tag with a sheep's name.  Each day that sheep gets to be extra special and get their portrait taken and a short (or maybe long) story written about them and also sneaked a yummy treat.  

I've got some apples for the ones who are willing to eat a healthy snack, crackers for those who like salty treats and of course some good old fashioned vanilla wafers.  I'll try to remember to tell which treat each sheep prefers.  There will probably be treats for everyone each day because sheep don't understand calendars and special days and the treat bin is extra full thanks to you all :-).

I'm only doing current sheep this year because I don't want to risk making myself or anyone else sad thinking back on dear old friends now gone.  There is a place for that for sure, but not right now.  I do love having their pictures and stories on the blog, but it can be a rabbit hole lined with tissues.  

I chose the picture above because not only is it one of my very, very favorites and made a beautiful "cover", but those sheep are many of the dear old friends.  I don't think there is anyone in that picture who is still here, but they are always with us in spirit and I hope they still enjoy the treats as well.

I will post each Solstice Sheep over here and on Instagram.  I will try to share at least a few on Facebook, but as always that is not my favorite platform and part of trying to make it through the holidays is setting some boundaries.  There will probably be extra stuff on IG because it's fun and easy.  I posted today's sheep this morning.

There is already a good story about this draw!  I'll share it later today :-).