Lamb Camp

Poor lil' Lila.

"What do you mean I'm a sheep???"

"I was born a [Border Collie]! I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family..." **



"Wait. We didn't have one of these on the porch."

Good ole' Miss Ewenice, looking on.



Renny tried to be nice (only because when she wasn't, I'd throw a Croc at her ;-).



But in the end was just a big butt. A really big butt. But with not a scar to be seen :-).

I set my cot up in this makeshift stall (the little lamb pen shed was just too hot) and spent much of the first day up there, making sure Lila wasn't too stressed...or punched on. Sometimes things went along just fine, but I'm not sure if it was the heat or being jealous of having to share Ewenice, but Renny got voted off the island around midnight the first night.



Not only for being snarky to Lila, but YOU'RE BLOCKING ALL THE AIR FROM THE FAN, RENNY!!!



Miss Ewenice wasn't super jazzed about being put back into work, but really, there's no one better. When I explained to her that she was obviously irreplaceable, she sighed a couple times and buckled down. And took a nap.



They did make it outside a couple times. Renny and Ewenice would head out to graze. I would try to stay in the shade (still 90 degrees). Lila would just want to stay with me (sleeping by my cot - sniffle sniffle) so I'd have to go out and "graze" so she'd learn that's what sheep do.

I could see the pool. It was a rough, hot afternoon.



But the bees were out working the clover. Which seems like a no brainer except for the fact that a bunch of us have been watching the clover and never seen a bee and were starting to wonder...

I've been blown away by the response to the Wolf Run Animal Sanctuary fundraiser. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Updated: If someone local wins and wants to learn how to spin Bluebell's wool themselves, I'd be happy to teach you.

Spread the word!

** This is a line from what movie?

A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing?

On these miserable hot days, I frequently sometimes think about cashing it all in, putting on some clean, not sweaty clothes and heading back to an air conditioned office job. I update my resume while hosing myself down with cold water before heading back out in the blazing sun to mow dusty grass and I'm sure there are ways to reconstruct my daily activities to fit the corporate world.

"I am able to motivate large groups of [sheep] only occasionally resorting to yelling, cursing, bringing out Big Blue (the barn broom - works exceptionally well on chickens too ;-)."

"I am able to prioritize duties (for God's sake, whatever happens, don't run out of cat/dog/sheep/horse/chicken food)."

The one thing I never dreamed could be added to my list of experiences was "I sheared three sheep at a wolf sanctuary."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, and in the middle of it all, an ambulance went by on a nearby highway, sirens blaring, and the wolves (all around us) started howling. The sheep seemed unfazed."

I think you get extra points for something like that.

So yes, I went out to Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge last week and sheared three sheep. And yes, it's a wolf (and big cat, some monkeys, deer...) refuge. I normally don't like to get involved with something like this, but it was super hot and they (most importantly the sheep - one very old, one blind) were desperate.



This is Bluebell. I wish I'd taken my camera. Bluebell is the very old sheep. A handsome, big Corriedale (guessing) ewe with a face that looks like it could tell some stories. Most of her fleece had felted and some of it had some weird dandruffy stuff, but I was able to salvage a big bag of really beautiful fiber.



Super soft, gorgeous color.



I wonder if Bluebell has ever had her wool spun before. Was she a breeding ewe past her prime? Was she someone's pet they "outgrew"? Was she the last sheep in an retiring spinner's flock? How did she end up at a wolf refuge?



At least there are some places like that, bizarre as it sounds, where she can live out her days.



I asked to take a tour after we finished shearing. As I said earlier, I don't tend to get involved with places like this. I don't enjoy going to the zoo and seeing lions pacing the fronts of their runs...those sorts of things. I was pleasantly surprised.

It wasn't fancy, but no one seemed at all distressed. They had clean water, plenty of food, shelter, shade, trees, toys, companionship if they wanted... The barnyard animals all run together (except the two pot bellied pigs) and everyone has a name and is well loved.

Wolf Run, like every rescue - people or animal - is struggling right now. The economy is tight for everyone and those of us feeding animals definitely know the costs. In light of all the recent disasters, there are so many organizations, local and worldwide, that need our help. I'm wondering though if we could all get together and do something small (which becomes something big) to help this wolf rescue that has rescued three sheep.

I have a bag of beautiful Bluebell fiber - 16 ounces washed. I test spun and knit a small sample yesterday (yes, there was actually spinning and knitting in the wool house!) and it definitely passes the ooh/ahh test :-). Someone should have been rescuing her fleece all along.

Wolf Run has a "donate" button on their Help Support WR page. How about if anyone who'd like to make a donation do so - directly to Wolf Run please - and then send me an email at thecrazysheeplady AT gmail DOT com and let me know you did. We'll do this on the honor system, Yarn Harlot style, and for every $5 you donate I'll create a "raffle ticket" and at the end I'll draw a winner.

If you are the winner and a spinner I will send you the bag of beautiful Bluebell and you can enjoy spinning it yourself. If you are not a spinner, but would like to have some yarn from a very special sheep with a great story, for an additional donation of $50 to Wolf Run, I'll spin it for you. If you are neither a spinner nor interested in the yarn, don't feel (too) bad ;-) We'll put together a suitable prize for you.

How does that sound? I think it will work. Let's set the drawing deadline (never a deadline for donations ;-) at - well, I'm not sure. Do we let it go until the end of the month or is that too long?

Summer School

Lila's been hard at work running farm and neighborhood security detail, late night stake outs and alerting me to B. Willard, Sherman, Renny, Mia, Blizzard and - oh you know it - Graham Lamb and Keebler running amok in the yard (!) as the sun rose this morning. Maybe I shouldn't have removed all those poisonous plants.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Today ain't our first day in the 90's this year. Yeesh. Lila and I worked hard all morning (even getting an early start doesn't help) and when we stopped to eat lunch I grabbed a big jug of water and the new Spin Off magazine.

"Come on Lila. Let's go find a shade tree!"

Lila loves to take a nap with momma. She'll go find a shade tree or cool rock pile on her own and sleep, but you can tell when she needs a special nap. She starts following me around, walking slow, rubbing her eyes, no whining, but that classic little kid look of "I need a nap."

She still takes her time falling sound asleep, but once she's out, she's out. She still dreams and talks in her sleep and in between dreams she'll make a big stretch, drop her head back and use my lap (or magazine) as a pillow.



I continued reading (until I dozed off), carefully tucking each page under her ear and had to laugh at the final column "Sheep on the back porch" by Jessie Raymond. It starts...

"I have a sheep on my porch. Is that weird? It's not a real live sheep; it's just a fleece. Normal people would never keep an actual sheep on their porch."

Huh?

I think Ms. Raymond should be glad Lila fell asleep on an educational article and not while reading her essay.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

;-).

Sunday Stills - Potluck (And A Couple Funny Lila Stories)

It's been so blasted hot here. Feels like August instead of the first week of June. I walked up to the barn after lunch the other day to check on everyone and found Hank in his favorite sleeping position.



That's not some fancy Photoshop frame around him. I was peeking between the stall bars.



He loves to sleep on his back. In this spot. I love it.



There is now a big entrance into the "inside" stall as well. We haven't decided what sort of door we want to build here, but figure we have months to study on it. Sigh. The sheep love the extra ventilation.



I took a couple different shots of Keebler getting a drink. I love the reflection and how if you look close (click to biggify) you can see all his curls... I couldn't decide which cropping showed me what I wanted to see/show (plus I thought his little armpit was cute ;-). How would you crop this?



I like my pictures to tell a story. Sometimes I'm the only one who can see it maybe.

Speaking of stories, here's a classic.

Last night Lila, sleeping on the porch all by herself and doing just fine, woke me up. I heard a soft baaaa. Then another. Then CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP! CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP! back the other way. I'd put her to bed about an hour earlier than she was used to and I figured she was off schedule and wanting to play.

I got up to go check on her. She was wound up. I sat down and tried to get her back to sleep (she loves to have her hair brushed back off her face like Keebler did/does) and then I heard a couple boys holler something, a car take off from the bottom of Stella's long driveway and then saw a big fireball.

I yelled for Tim to call 911 (I thought it looked like a car on fire) and we drove down to see what was going on. Some punk kids had set Stella's mailbox on fire. We have a great neighborhood (well, other than those kids and we think we know who they are). Everyone knows everyone and has everyone's phone numbers so I called Stella's grandson and he came up and we all talked to the sheriff for a few minutes.

One of us was wearing silly sheep pajamas. And a certain special sheep didn't get any credit for alerting us. "One of the animals on the porch woke us up..." Really Saint Tim??? There was only one animal on the porch and ALL the dogs slept right through the whole thing.

Okay, second funny Lila story. Just happened. I spend much of my time in the morning (when Lila first gets up) worrying about where she is and what she's into/eating. We had a botanist come out and survey our yard for poisonous plants (hence why I tweeted about teaching myself to run a chainsaw - a story for another day). Everything that's left is pretty benign. Pretty.

I was just thinking I really need to be checking on her (or doing so many other chores) rather than posting silly sleeping dog pictures to the blog and tap, tap, tap through the house and Lila walks into my office. "I'm right here Mom. Can we go to the barn now?" I'd apparently left the side door open when I fed the birds this morning.

Now I'm going to go get busy.

For more Sunday Stills Potluck Pics...

Leftovers

We are working our butts off trying to get all the farm work finally sort of caught up and setting up fans and hanging shade cloths... I feel like I'm on some sort of death march...in the Amazon. Here are a couple pictures left over from the weekend.



Sometimes it's just easier to let them go where they want. That shade does look pretty nice.



Who is that fat sheep?!?



Who still loves to sit under her favorite tree :-).