The End Of An Era

Clover Belly got her name because I found a four leaf clover as I was taking pictures of her just after she was born.  The Belly part came from being Emily's granddaughter.  All of Emily's family got "belly" names after her first baby Annabelle became Annabelly after she got so chubby from all of Emily's good care.

That's Clover Belly next to the wall, sitting right with her momma, Baby Belly.  Emily is in the middle of the picture, tucked up with her last lamb, Casper Belly.  Those mother daughter connections were strong and Clover Belly was very lonely after Baby Belly passed.  When the five Ts got here, they let her hang with them and that helped, but I have to think she's happy to be back with her family.  

I hope that's what happens.

Clover Belly took over supervising the Sheep Chicken after her mother died.  I always thought that was interesting.  She was really too short to be much actual help, but I remember she was always there to help where she could.

This was Baby Belly with the Sheep Chicken many years ago.  Clover Belly is standing behind Spud.  I guess they were in training.  It was always a team effort.  These have been some grand old sheep.

Clover Belly

June 2008 - August 18, 2022

The February Photo Diary

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The January Photo Diary

This poor neglected blog...  As I prepared to post my February Diary, I realized I'd never posted January :-(.  

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I re-watched this (what it's there for :-) and while I'm disappointed that I don't do a better job keeping the blog current anymore, I'm really proud of my Instagram account.  So many fun photographs and great memories.  

Lead Vocals

I was trying to get a cute picture of Cheeto's green nose from where she'd eaten some alfalfa leaf dust this morning, but what I got looks more like her and Salt's new album cover, which is kind of extra funny because of something else that happened this morning.

Remember when I posted the video of Big Moose going "Mmm mmm mmmm" when he was eating grain back when he was still a lamb?  Cheeto frequently makes that noise, too, when she's eating and I've heard B. Willard do the same on occasion lately.  I'm wondering if Cheeto taught them all to do that.

Other than "Mmmm mmm mmm", I seldom hear anything from Cheeto.  Oh, she communicates well enough (see above disappointment ears and eyes that she didn't get as much alfalfa as she wanted this morning all the time ;-), but she doesn't use her outside voice very often.  She did this morning.

Cheeto and Willard come out and eat in the aisle way along with Petunia and Clover Belly from the main flock.  Petunia and Clover Belly then go back in with the main group and Cheeto and Willard go back to Easy Breezy where they then split a flake of hay.  The rest of the flock is expected to trudge out to the fields each morning (up hill both ways) whenever there's not inclement weather.

Due to the deluge of rain all day yesterday, the main flock got hay both morning and night.  They were hopeful they'd get breakfast in bed again this morning and when they didn't, a couple of them started complaining.  Cheeto answered back...which I thought was odd, especially as it sounded like she was talking to Biscuit.  

Biscuit?  Surely that's not right...  

"Baaaa."  

"Baaaa."

Then I heard Biscuit, but alongside another really deep voice...and I remembered that was Big Moose!  So even though he's been weaned for almost two years (?), she still hears him even though his voice is completely different than when he was her little baby.  I think that's interesting on a couple of levels.

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Drizzly Day(s)

This group was the last to run in during the latest shower.  I always think it's interesting to see who pairs up with who.  The Jacobs always stay together and I love that old Clover Belly is welcomed into their "clique".  Rocky and Jared, Woody and the Mooses are mixed in this time.  The Adventure Sheep ain't scared of no rain...or much rain ;-).

Two new puzzles for everyone who's not as adventurous :-).

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 :-).

Tricks Or Treats...Mostly Just Treats

After Maisie's, um, disappointing (?) debut as The Devil Went To Dairy Queen last year, we decided she would dress up as an angel this year.  An angel with a flowing robe, big feathered wings...and a halo...floating over her head.  Auntie Reg, Stella and I busted out the hot glue for our most elaborate costume yet.

As no one will ever forget her ripping off her fancy wizard hat and stomping it into the ground, we figured we'd have to duct tape the halo to her head.  Just kidding.  It only looks like it's duct taped ;-).  Turned out we didn't have anything to worry about.  

Except it's Maisie...so there was still a little bit of devil hiding underneath her angelic robe ;-D.  Great idea, Karen!

"What is happening to Maisie, Liddy?"

"She's getting all the Cheerios, that's what!"

"All. The. Cheerios."

I would love to know what was going through Cheeto's mind.

What a little angel :-).

The Dairy Queen Halloween fundraiser for the Harrison County Humane Society got rained out last Saturday, but they've rescheduled it for this Saturday (5:00) and Maisie will once again be going to do her part to help.  The Devil Goes Back To Dairy Queen :-D.  Maybe we'll go "live" on Instagram!

Peeking In

Several times a day I go peek in on everyone to make sure all is well in the barn.  This is one of my favorite things to do, especially on a sunny, but chilly "winter" day.  As I quietly walked down the barn aisle I noticed Maisie cashed out (one of my most favorite sights) so I quietly walked out, grabbed my camera and snuck back in.

The little darlin'.

Jared, aka Big J, soaking up some sun.

I seldom catch Kaala asleep.  She's always "busy".

Petunia, with Tavia and Clover Belly on the left.

Andy

Rebecca Boone, for the first time looking like she might be happy(ish) moved into Easy Breezy.  I've been trying for several days to get her settled in there.  A Cotswold with an opinion... ;-).

Good afternoon!

Friends...With Assigned Seats

Remember how I painted all the Jacobs sleeping together on the right side of the barn in the Christmas card?  They really do all tend to sleep there.  There actually being the aisleway stall...which is the furthest to the right in real life.

Blossom is sleeping in there with them right now.  She picks a spot for awhile, then moves to another spot and then when she's tired of that spot she moves again...  I should keep a note of how many days she stays each place, just for curiosity.  The "T" in this picture is not actually a "T".  That's Clover Belly.  

Clover Belly stayed with her mom, Baby Belly, her whole life, the way Muffin did with Mrs. Pepperpot.  After Baby Belly passed, Clover Belly just sort of drifted.  No one ever picked on her (Baby Belly saw to that early on ;-), but she didn't really seem to have any close friends.  

I'm not sure why that was and I don't want to speculate on all the reasons that might factor in.  I'm just happy to see six T's now, whether out in the field or napping together in the sunshine.  It's nice to know which table you are going to sit at for lunch every day :-). 

Don't get excited.  It's not sunny here.  I took this picture last week before the weather changed.  Sigh...

Yet Another...

...funny Maisie story.

The other day I walked out of the Wool House and saw Maisie and Clover Belly standing near the gate to the front field.  Clover Belly was closest to the gate and between me and Maisie and I guess Maisie didn't see me.

As I got a little closer I said in my special talking to Maisie voice, "Mayzee.  MAYzee!"  Maisie turned to Clover Belly with an incredulous look on her face and I feel completely confident she clearly thought Clover Belly had just said her name.

You gotta love her :-).

Spring Shearing

Our favorite shearer, Bill Haudenschield, was in town for a few days last week (with his nephew Dustin :-) so we decided to go ahead and shear a week or so early this year.  It was a beautiful day, the company was excellent, the sheep all behaved (mostly ;-) and the fleeces look good.  Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Lila

Rebecca Boone

Woody

Muffin

Biscuit...all those pretty curls :'-(.

The video.

Renny

Daniel Note Liddy in the background.  Just after I took this picture, she stuck her head through the gate and grabbed a packet of french fries!

Murphy

Clover Belly

Levi 

Levi 

Chocula

The Little Darlin'...

...who actually behaved quite well this year!

This is the extended version of the video I posted the other day.  Instagram has a 60 second limit.  This is 30 seconds longer...and cuter.  I just love these!

You'll notice a few sheep didn't get shorn.  They are the oldies who don't have enough fat on them (Allie, Annabelly, Billy Belly and Mrs. Pepperpot) for me to feel comfortable taking away their woolly jumpers before we are certain the cold is over for the year. 

After a couple weeks of 70s and 80s, we have now, of course, turned a bit colder, but with the barn shut up when it's windy and plenty of hay in front of them, everyone is doing okay.  The warm sunshine has been appreciated though for sure.  And look at that green grass and bright blue sky!  It matches my hat :-D.

And here's a new puzzle!  Enjoy :-).

Nailed It!

In case you aren't following on Instagram, Twitter or, sigh, Facebook, I finally caught a perfect video of the sheep working together to help the Sheep Chicken get to her perch last night!

Got it! Irrefutable evidence of the sheep deliberately working together, moving around to help the Sheep Chicken get to her nighttime perch. She starts on Daniel. Spud comes over and picks her up. He doesn’t get close enough so Petunia moves him over while Clover Belly watches or maybe is directing traffic and then she moves around to the far side. Wool is wellness...and also kindness 😊. I’m going to include this for Wovember because if we are sharing all the great attributes of sheep and wool, it would be hard to find better sheep representatives🐑🐑🐓🐑🐑. #wovember2017 #wovemberinstachallenge #wearwoolforwovember #wearwooleveryday #woolprovidestraction

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:-D

Not A Saint But Close

Here is a video from this evening.  The Sheep Chicken was already on Clover Belly's back and Clover Belly was already positioned over by the ledge when I saw them and started the camera.  Petunia comes over to help and then Ewen McTeagle.  Petunia leaves for a few seconds to go yell at June, who you can see calmly walking through not deserving anyone stamping their foot at them, Petunia!

The chicken knows Clover Belly is too short, which is why she moved to Ewen, but Ewen wouldn't move over to the ledge so she finally gave up and used Petunia, who'd come back to help, to get back to Clover Belly and she makes the jump...which was an "epic fail".  She then jumped back up on Rebecca Boone, who is only marginally taller, and I picked her up and set her on the ledge.

The black and white hen, most famous for sitting in the Wool House with me and Tilly this summer, has also decided she wants to sleep on the ledge, but she's an ungrateful guest and picks on The Sheep Chicken if you try to set them both up there.  That's not fair so we built her her own private shelf.

Speaking of sheep yelling at June for no reason, that's why Clover Belly is Not Quite A Saint.  I have no idea why she hates her so much, but she's given June some charges that are very ungrateful.  I'm not sure what to do about that.  I keep hoping they'll work out a truce, but Clover Belly has her buffaloed and June doesn't have Kate's "I give you permission to punch that bad sheep back" button.

Sheep... 

Chickens...

I could also add a story about the stupid corgi, but it's late...

Aren't you looking forward to spending the afternoon with everyone this Saturday?  ;-).

She's Baaa-aack

After the sheep were shorn back in the spring, the Sheep Chicken had to stop sleeping on her ledge.  She couldn't get enough traction on the slick sheep backs to make her jumps.  About the time their wool started growing back to an acceptable length, the days got long and hot and the sheep stayed out grazing in the evenings, well past the time when she wanted to go to bed.  

She slept in the coop all long summer.  A week or so ago I noticed she was back on her platform perch.  I caught an occasional picture of her on various sheep's backs, jumping for her ledge, but hadn't had time to post them and then forgot. 

Two nights (or I should say late afternoons - chickens go to bed early!) ago short little Clover Belly followed a couple of the older sheep in hoping for an evening snack.  She didn't get one, but poked around the stalls for a bit looking for anything that might have dropped.

She was standing at the doorway between the inside and outside stalls (the right side of the picture) when the chicken hopped aboard.  She stood there for a couple seconds and then walked straight over to the ledge and the chicken jumped on up.  If you look closely you can see her next to the fan on the back wall. 

Sometimes I just "live in the moment" and watch what goes on without recording it.  Sunrises and sunsets are always better in real life and should sometimes just be enjoyed.  Bees working flowers...well, they are good either way.  A chicken and sheep so deliberately working together, especially one I've never seen helping the chicken before?  I wish I'd turned on the video camera.

*     *     *   In other news  *     *     *

Hank and June are now best friends.  Other than taking a walk yesterday where she shouldn't have, June is doing really, really well.  I'm putting up some more fencing today to hopefully stop her from future exploration missions.  If the Adventure Chickens figure out they could ride her to town... :-o

Cecil Aguilar's been back and made something extra special for us.  I'm telling you, drystone work is like tattoos.  Once you start you can't stop.  I of course took lots of pictures including a very cool one with Eli, who is trying really hard to make the calendar next year.  I'd say things are looking good for him ;-).

Tonight is the big neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Party.  I had planned to try to do a special felted pumpkin to carve, but...I'm now spending my day putting up fence :-/.  At least I can think about my real pumpkin design while I work.  I'm guessing it will be a Biscuit and Muffin design.  Stay tuned!

I don't know how it could possibly be almost the end of October, but it is and next Saturday is National Hug a Sheep Day :-D.  We are once again hosting a farm party to celebrate and would love if everyone could come!  Needless to say if I can't find time to post blog pictures, I probably haven't had time to work on the teleporter either, but June is all about some cookies as are Biscuit and Muffin and Mrs. Pepperpot and everyone else.  It will be a fun afternoon if you can make it :-D.

*     *     *   One more thing   *     *     *

When I was looking for a link for the words "Sheep Chicken" above, I found the post about Baby Belly and Spud helping last year.  I'd forgotten that had been Baby Belly.  Clover Belly is Baby Belly's daughter.  While Muffin may have ditched me and Mrs. Pepperpot, Clover Belly stayed very close to her momma her whole life.  We lost Baby Belly last week.

I am quite sure we don't have even an ounce of understanding about what goes on between animals, especially animals in a close family.  I was amazed that a sheep who I had thought had no previous experience with the chicken routine was helping out.  Now I'm extra amazed.  Remember Tilly stepping up after Iris died?  Something else to ponder while I'm stringing fence today.

SO, as I did with the long post about Tilly, let's see who made it to the end of this epistle.  Leave me a comment saying which sheep you'd love to hug most and I'll have 20 draw for a winner at the end of the weekend.  There's a 2018 Farm Calendar in it for the winner :-).

A Collective Sigh Of Relief

With a little rain and some 80s instead of 90s...

Hershey's back in front of  "his" fan, Emily and Casper Belly (left) and Baby Belly and Clover Belly (right) are all settled back in "their" spots in the outer stall.

No one is crowding Daniel or getting on B. Willard's last nerve and even Hank (sleeping in the back) has come out of his "dog cave".

Whew!