Sunday Stills - Faces

Sheep faces of course :-).



I love this old sheep.



Lila: "Don't EVEN think about making fun of my hairdo."



And this is a terrible shot, not just because like with Jester above I had the aperture set too low so her whole face isn't in focus, but also the composition is bad, background is bad... However, I caught her in mid chew and her almost buck toothed expression made me smile. Silly Renny.

For more Sunday Stills...

If That's What It Takes To Make It Rain

It's sunny now...



...but here's what it looked like this morning.

Saint Tim and I have been volunteering at the local 5K races. After the last one - with a super cute hot dog running across the race t-shirt I might add - I decided there was really no reason why I couldn't do that.

I used to run before we moved to the farm. Tim was a big time cross country runner in high school and college. We are both a lot older and fatter now. I'd tried a couple of times to get back into it, but each time gave up due to injury, lack of motivation... I knew I needed a different angle. I decided to train in secret.

Tim always works the finish line. I go wherever they need me. For this race - as everyone but Tim knew I was going to run it - I was assigned "guarding a pothole out on the course". The game was to hopefully surprise Tim as I crossed the finish instead.

"So, you're basically a traffic cone, eh?" he asked when I told him my "assignment".

"Yep." :-)

Dr. Barron and another tech (not Louann ;-) and a friend from the local TSC ran with past me. As I rounded the last turn and headed for the finish I could hear the cheers. Folks I didn't even really know were all yelling for a runner finishing 166th (out of about 400). I'm not even sure who took the picture above (forwarded to me by the Director of the Chamber of Commerce), but what a fun way to make a middle aged running debut.

We live in a great little town...and I'm gonna get me a hot dog shirt next summer! :-D

Poor Willard's Almanac

It's that time of year. Even though it doesn't feel like it.



"What's a sheep gotta do to get a haircut around here???"

Sheep shearer extraordinaire Bill Haudenschield called last Friday to let me know they were on the way next week. And even though he'd have probably fit a quick stop in for us regardless of how many sheep we had to shear, because I'd already shorn the Cotswolds myself back in one of the heatwaves (also known as THE WHOLE SUMMER :-/), I didn't want to make them come set up just to shear the last two longwools. They get shorn twice a year and yes, their wool grows back in plenty time for winter.

So...you know what that meant.



Willard in front of the fan before and after. Willard loves him some fan action.



Here are a few Twitter pictures you may have missed from back when we were integrating Blossom into the main flock. Willard moved into her temporary stall, kicked her out, pushed her cot out of the way and parked it in front of her fan. Oh, Willard.



And then went so far as to roll all the way over.

Sheep aren't supposed to sleep like that.

WILLARD!!!



"Yeesh, I'm fine. Lighten up, lady."

I really enjoy my camera apps and quick posting them on Twitter like that. I decided to start saving those pictures in a Photobucket album as a backup and ended up adding it as a slide show on the right hand side.

The earlier pictures are no longer accessible though so (when I get some time) I'm going to try to pull my favorite baby Blossom pictures off my phone so they'll always be there. It will be fun to flash through them. Even the pictures of dumb ole Willard ;-).

I sheared Keebler and Willard the other day and ended up re-shearing Rebecca Boone as well because she'd already grown out so much I was afraid her fleece would be too long by next spring. Keebs, Mister Melodrama, peed on his freshly shorn fleece as I was shearing him (I shear them standing up) so his has already hit the wash tub.

I have a bunch of pictures and maybe a video (?) to share of my trip to Ohio Valley Natural Fibers last week (including Renny's roving :-). It's supposed to cool way off this weekend. Maybe I'll get everything caught up.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ;-)

Who Does This Look Like?

Just every now and then and only from certain angles, but when he does, it's really startling. Of course Graham doesn't act like Miss Ewenice ;-).

So from the department of "laugh or cry", here's the latest chapter in Graham's book of tales. Yesterday I pulled my CRV into the barn lot so Dr. Barron, Louanne and I could put Blizzard in the back to take him to UK. Immediately Graham started trying to open the driver's side door. He gave it several good tries, to no avail. He stepped back, surveyed the situation and WENT AROUND AND TRIED THE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR!

What sort of sheep thinks like that?!?

Just adding to the reasons why I'm afraid to go to the barn half the time ;-).

___________________________________________________

Everyone seems okay today. We are still formulating our plan(s) and I so appreciate everyone's input and kind words. Sounds like so many of us have had a fairly crappy summer :-/.

I've had several questions about Sherman's necropsy and we learned nothing helpful other than he had a blockage due to bladder stones. Toxicology came back normal, no red flags. Should have preliminary results back on Blizzard tomorrow.

Beat Down

There is something wrong here. Very wrong. We have several vets and specialists working on it, we are testing everything we can think of, the prayer list grows and grows. This morning, after yet another long weekend, we had Blizzard put down.



Dear, turned out to be sweet, Blizzard.

We really have no ideas at this point, but if you are dealing with drought anywhere in the country, keep a close eye on your boys. I realize that our farm and real sheep farms are apples and oranges (we have a high percentage of old, fat "pet" wethers rather than working ewes and rams), but just in case it IS drought related...

Give your best friends an extra hug tonight. And some vanilla wafers. I'm so glad Blizzard learned to trust us enough to eat vanilla wafers with Blossom this spring. He was a good patient and trusted us to the end.