Sweet Petunia

I had to make a hard, well, it wasn't hard...a sad call on Petunia today and here I sit trying to decide what I want to say about one of the very best sheep ever.  

I thought I knew what picture I wanted for this post, but as I scrolled through all the old blog posts looking for it, it became one of the nicest trips down memory lane and I could have easily pulled out 20 favorite pictures.

Her "Mug Shot"

She'd been here so long that I'd almost forgotten some of her stories.  I'd forgotten how she stepped up as lead ewe after Elizabeth had died.  I'd  forgotten how she was one of the main chicken sheep who helped the old hen get to her favorite high perch each night.  

Her official baby picture back in 2008.  She came from Nistock's along with Woolliam that year.

I remembered how much she enjoyed wearing the flowers for the 2012 Tour de Fleece.  I knew that she would be happy to wear the bell because of how she acted with the flowers.  I don't think she thought she was special, but she understood special and humbly accepted it...like any great leader.

I'd forgotten about this sweet picture with 20. Almost every picture on the blog is captioned either "Pretty Petunia" or "Sweet Petunia".  

Checking in with me during a lunchtime nap last month.    

So many good pictures and great stories.  There will never be another like her. If you'd like to take a stroll, you can follow this link or any of the labels on the right side of the blog.  

Sweet, pretty Petunia

2008-August 10, 2022

A Mother's Love

Every afternoon around 2:30/3:00 Christopher leaves the barn by himself, walks past the sheep water tank, out and around the corner to the front field, gets a drink from the horse waterer and then returns to the rest of the sheep still sleeping in the barn.  

He may nose around a bit by the horse stalls, but mostly it's just to get a drink.  The water is from the same source.  The sheep tank is inside the barn, out of the sun.  The horse waterer is a smaller capacity tank and sits in full sun.  Both are cleaned regularly, but I know which one I'd drink from...and it's not the horse's water.

I drove Frankie in the arena the other day.  To get there we go through the gate at the front corner of the barn and past the horse stalls.  I leave that gate open until we drive back through when we are finished. Frankie and I drive into the barn to unhook and unharness and afterward back out front for a bath.

Along comes Christopher.  He gets a drink, sees the open gate and thinks there is no one around and decides to wander out into the yard driveway for a snack.  I started spraying Frankie down just as he got started eating and he saw us...and panicked.

"Oh no!  There's that stupid horse!  And there's water spraying everywhere!  Oh waily-waily!*"

He cried and cried and I tried to talk to him to get him to calm down and wait just a minute while I finished giving Frankie a quick bath and then could go help him find his way home, but nothing was helping.  

"Oh noooo!  Help me!" 

He was in zero danger ;-).  

"Momma!  MOMMA!  Help me, momma!"

"Hey!  Who's out here bothering my kid!"

He stopped screaming and started eating as soon as he saw her coming.

"Christopher?  You woke me up for this?"

"Well, I guess while I'm out here, is that grass any good?"

I'm not sure if Short Round would still come running if Ellie yelled for her.  I doubt I'll find out.  Ellie doesn't get herself in too many scary situations.  I bet Krista never stops taking care of Christopher and Maggie :-).

* "Oh waily-waily!" is from The Wee Free Men by Terry Prachett.  This is one of my very favorite books...in case you are looking for a really good story.  I've lost track of how many times I've listened to it.  If you like audio books, the reader is perfect!

 

July

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A pretty good month :-).

Graduation

Big Moose has been trying to break into the boys club for almost three years.  Well, I'm not sure it he wanted in the boys club or just the Jared club.  He has idolized him since he was just a young lamb.  Jared has zero tolerance for pip squeaks though and has been pretty hard on him.  

Big Moose took his licks and didn't give up.  He continued to shadow Jared and Jared continued to knock him back.  Usually he actually punched him.  Sometimes he just gave him the "Ya botherin' me, boy!" and Big Moose would scatter. 

I haven't seen any serious punching lately and I'm seeing a lot more of this. I think he's apparently paid his dues. 

Every. Morning.

Make coffee.  Feed dogs.  Check horses.  Check sheep.  Help Spud get up.  Sit on porch.  Wait for Archie to fall asleep.  Rinse and repeat.