Sheep Tales...Or The Sheep With The Tail

"I didn't mean nothin' by it, I swear!"

I got sick Monday afternoon.  I'm not sure with what, but it was not. fun.  I managed to get the early evening chores done, but by the night check there was no way I was making it back to the barn, so Tim did his best to cover for me.

Rocky and Jared go into Del Boca Vista to eat dinner and then move back into the barn aisle for the night.  I explained to Tim that Rocky's vision is not good anymore, especially at night, and how I thought he'd best be able to work around that to move them inside.

Of course some trouble makers, realizing that a substitute was in the barn, took advantage of him.  He did the best he could to sort it all out and he thought he had everyone where they were supposed to be. He doled out some extra hay for the oldies, blocked the front exit so Rocky couldn't go wandering in the middle of the night and get lost, helped Spud get up and called it a night.

The next morning he went back up to the barn, fed some more hay, said everyone was okay and that he thought they'd be fine until later in the morning.  My neighbor came over a few hours later and did another light feeding.  I managed to drive my car to the barn around lunchtime and immediately knew something wasn't right.

Rocky was nowhere in sight (he was fine). Krista was locked in the aisleway with the oldies and was complaining loudly.  Maggie was stuck on the wrong side as well.  Baba hollered to let me know she wasn't happy either and as I shuffled into the barn, Maisie jumped up, raced over and commenced to whaling on me.

I took punches, head butts and bites (yes, she bites) and the more I tried to get away from her, the worse she chased me.  "Things. were. wrong. and. you. weren't. here. to. fix. them!!!"  

"Maisie, honey, I was sick and couldn't do it."  

"I DON'T CARE!  YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"

The hits continued and I started putting sheep in between us thinking she'd eventually settle down and she finally did, but it was by far the craziest experience (in a long line of crazy experiences with Maisie) I've ever had.  I wasn't actually scared, but I was a bit concerned and I also felt sorry for her because she was obviously very upset.

I realize that all of the sheep, even the ones who don't outwardly show it, are very dependent on me. I'm not sure if Maisie was just extra angry because things had not gone exactly right and/or had inconvenienced her or maybe she was scared because she didn't know where I was.  

One thing is for certain, as we always say, watch out for "the sheep with the tail".

There's another tale from the tail coming, hopefully tomorrow.