Spring is Coming, Eventually

I received the first of the spring 2009 seed catalogs in the mail today. Either spring is closer than I think or these companies have no clue about our north country winters. Up here we won't even see bare ground till sometime in late April and we can't plant till well into June. Just to let you know how far north "up here" is, there's a sign about 15 minutes north that identifies the 45th parallel. That's the halfway point between the equator and the north pole. So for now I'll just dream of spring. Perhaps they're just anxious to let me know they have items for me when, in the distant future, I might be ready to even think about planting.

Merry Christmas!

I love to wish everyone Merry Christmas and I’ve yet to have anyone be offended. I’m not offended when someone might reply “Happy Hanukkah” or “Happy Kwanzaa”. But the thought of “happy holidays” really bugs me. So here’s a new holiday I think just might be a hit, at least at my house.

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited their doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa for many years to come.

The Doghouse!

Found this on another blog I follow and it's just way too funny not to share. Make sure the man in your life sees this before he goes holiday shopping.

HOLY TURKEY BATMAN!

We had ordered a few turkeys in the spring from the feedstore and I was a little upset that they didn't come in until the 1st week of June. My concern was that they wouldn't have time to get big enough before Thanksgiving. By August it was obvious they would be good sized by Thanksgiving and by October the concern became how we would fit them in the oven. My husband processed them last Saturday and the biggest one dressed out at a whopping 39 lbs, with the others being 35, 26 and 20 respectively. We're cooking up the 20 pounder tomorrow and the others are in the freezer. But when the time comes I'd like to know just how to wrangle a 39 lb turkey into the oven?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The Passing of Our Grandson

Our oldest grandson passed away on November 11, 2008. He was 16 years old and had Cerebral Palsy. Of the many words I could say about him, and about the courage and faith of my son and daughter-in-law, these words quoted from her blog say it best:

"The wheelchair races have ceased at our home. Our oldest son has gone home to be with His Maker. Although we are sad and left to grieve, we recognize the blessing that he is no doubt happier to be released from a life of special needs, tubes, braces, his wheelchair, and the like. He has finished his race and gone on before us. He was one of those "special" spirits who didn't come to this Earth to learn, but to teach. Even though he never said a word he taught by his example of endurance, stamina, and dealing with adversity the way he did. Many lessons were learned along the way because we were blessed to care for him, such as those dealing with lessons of acceptance, gratitude, love, patience, strength, family, faith, and hope. Along the way we found that even though life can be hard at times, there is still plenty of Joy in the Journey and nothing matters more then Faith, Family & Love. He definitely was loved by those who were blessed to be in his presence and he could laugh with the best of them. His laughter and smiles will be greatly missed. We are better people because he shared our lives. Thank you for the lessons learned-farewell for now. God be with you till we meet again little buddy."

Good bye for now, Zach. We will miss you and look forward to being with you again when it is our time to go.

Love from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Jim

New Lamb

We had a Veteran's Day surprise. Well, OK, it wasn't really a surprise since we did know that Bruce, the ram, broke through the fence one night in mid-June. Knowing the nature of rams we figured he wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to break through a 4' livestock fence supported by metal posts if he didn't have an overwhelming need to be with a most desirable ewe. And the next morning we found him being VERY attentive to Sweetpea, a very attractive, dark gray Columbia/Rambouillet cross. We put him back in his own pasture that next day and re-inforced the fence with electric wire on his side which seemed to deter his Cassonova tendencies. But, as many a teenager will tell you, it only takes one night of passion to have an oops. So our little ewe was born in freezing temperatures and we quickly re-discovered our springtime sport - watching our electric meter spinning out of control to feed the 250 watt heat lamp.

WANT REAL CHANGE?

Well, the elections are over and America has spoken. But don't leave it there. Our elected officials need to continually hear from the American people so they can represent us in congress as well as from the office of the President. Check out www.americansolutions.com to see how you can be a voice for REAL change in America. Find out what you can do to help develop real, significant solutions to the most important issues facing our country.

A Dog Lover's Link

http://www.idodogtricks.com/index_flash.html

You have to try these interactive dog tricks. Very cute! Try typing fetch, sneeze, sit, stand, play dead, roll over, jump, wave, beg, high five, shake, down, sing, dance, fetch, kiss. If you discover any more commands that this little cutie will do let me know. Enjoy!

And So It Begins..... Again!

Old Man Winter is right on time with his annual Halloween snow storm. Usually it doesn't stay long as the warmer sunny late autumn days will still make their appearances from time to time in their futile attempt to fend off the approaching winter season. Last year, however, we got tricked. We had snow on the ground from mid October until late May. Hopefully this will be a "normal" (not that I remember what that is) year and this is just a tease of what's to come. But you never know in the north country. Better make an appointment to get the snow tires on!

Sportsmen (and Sportswomen) for McCain/Palin

Dog Dance

Anyone who has ever has a special relationship with a special dog will appreciate the bond between these two. Warning: tearjerker! Get your tissues handy.

Hank Williams Jr. sings McCain-Palin Tradition

Playin' with the big dogs!

It always amuses me to watch the dogs wrestle and play. They have such a wonderful joy of life, having a way of enjoying pure play. It also amazes me how gentle the big dogs can be with smaller playmates. They could squash Roxy with one snap of their big, powerful jaws, their mouths being larger than her head. But they genuinely seem to enjoy their encounters with this feisty pup, letting her "beat up" on them without needing to win. We humans should take a lesson from the dogs and just enjoy the day and the play.

Before and After

This is the clearing project on the north side of the driveway. Since there's now a permanent fence along the south side we needed to clear back the brush and trees on the north side to have a place to put the snow this winter. Last winter we had 12' of the white stuff (not all at once of course) so having a place to put it is critical. I put the goats in the area for a few days to clear out the underbrush so I could at least see what I was doing. Then came the chain saw and chipper. The end result is quite a bit different. Just have to move a few bigger logs to a land fill area and spread some grass seed. By the end of next summer you won't know it was ever that overgrown. The sheep will keep it cleared out so the brush doesn't grow back. That is, after all, what started this sheep/goat/pig/chicken/turkey enterprise - edible land management.

Before:


After:

Crunch Time!

I haven't had much time to post to the blog recently. With winter just around the corner it's crunch time to get everything done before it gets too cold to enjoy being outdoors. Things that need to be accomplished in the next few weeks: Finish the next 12'x36' section of the barn, split and stack 6 cords of firewood, clear trees and brush on the left side of the driveway to have a place to put the snow this winter as we now have a fence on the right side, clean the chimney and wood stove and get that ready for winter, button up the house (such as making sure all windows and doors are properly weatherstripped, paint any wood that needs touching up etc.), general clean-up and organize around the farm. Sheep will need crutching (which is shaving their underbellies and crotch areas to prevent wool from becoming matted with wet manure. We didn't do that last fall and the wool was so long and matted in the spring it was hard to get the clippers through at shearing time.), trim feet on all sheep and goats, make sure all vaccinations are up to date, run an electric hot wire on top of fencing on all winter pastures to be sure animals still have a deterent as the snow gets higher, put the rest of the ducks in the freezer, toward Thanksgiving time process the turkeys, and the list goes on.

Hopefully, we'll have a long autumn season to get all this done. Last year winter came a bit early as we had snow on the ground from Oct. 19th through the 3rd week in May. Needless to say we got caught with not enough time to do everything comfortably before Old Man Winter came for an extended winter visit. But regardless of when he makes his appearance all the chores and preparation still need to be done. It’s just more pleasant to take advantage of these beautiful fall days when the sun feels so good to be warming your back and your soul.

These are the days when it's good to put a soup or stew on to simmer in the morning so that it has slow cooked all day, filling the house with it's wonderful aroma and the promise of a hot, savory supper when the day's work is over. When the sun begins to set and you feel the temperature begin to drop, and your body is also ready to drop, exhausted from a day's heavy labor, it's good to know that Mr. Crockpot has been busy at work all day and supper is just a ladle away.

An Iraq Veteran has a personal message for Barack Obama

If you agree with this video please e-mail it to all your friends. If you don't agree, just ignore it and I'll love you anyway. By the way, this video is NOT part of the McCain campaign - it was not paid for nor approved by him. It is just this person's (and my) opinion. God bless America!

Tough Love vs. Spanking - Good Argument

Dear Friends,

Most of the American population thinks it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of those moments.

One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk. Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc. Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique. This works with grandchildren, nieces, and nephews as well.

Sincerely,
Your Friend

Kids will be kids!

Yesterday my almost 16 yr. old grandson started out seeing how high he could pile whipped cream atop an oreo cookie.


Then he decided to plow his face into it to see if he could eat the cookie underneath.


Then came the experiment to see how much whipped cream he could pile on his face.


I guess when you're that age it doesn't take much to amuse you.

Development of the Turgoatkey

We found the young Boer goat buck in the turkey pen. Not entirely sure how he got in there but he seems to be very resourceful. For example, we kept finding him in the doe pasture a while back. Couldn't figure out how he was getting in there until he was spied climbing the fence in the corner, using his head as a wedge against a feeder crib to gain leverage to get him high enough to topple over the fence. An electric fence in the corner cured that pretty fast.

Yesterday I didn't see him in his pasture. I went out to investigate and there he was inside the turkey tractor. For those who don't know what that is, it's an 8' x 12' pen with an A-frame roof covered with a tarp that can be dragged to a new location each day. No cleaning - just drag the pen 12' and Voila! turkeys have a clean area to do what they do best - poop.

Ok, so back to the goat in the turkey pen. Obviously, he was after the turkey grain. We had a heck of a time getting him out of there as the bottom sides of the pen are covered with chicken wire, the tarp is nailed to the bottom rails, and the A-frame top is made from 3/4" PVC. Took 2 people to lift him over the chicken wire and push him through a small opening that was created when we pushed the tarp back from the first PVC roof support.

Now this gave me ideas. Perhaps I'll genetically create a new creature - I'll call it a Turgoatkey. Now think of the possibilities - a new bi-partisan animal that is equally comfortable in both a goat pen and a turkey tractor, one that will bridge the gap between the two species and open new lines of communication, understanding and cooperation between both parties. With this new joint effort they could accomplish, ummmm, well accomplish, ummmm - oh heck, I don't know what they could accomplish. Just use your own imagination.

If you'd like to be put on a waiting list to be notified when this new animal is created just let me know.

Sheep Poop!

Alright, you might not think that examining sheep poop would be the most pleasant way to spend an afternoon. But if you're a farmer it might be a valuable way.

Jim and I just spent an afternoon in just that way. We attended a FAMACHA workshop. For those who aren't "in the know" that's a method of determining the worm count on individual sheep (this method works for goats as well) so that you worm only those that need it rather than the whole flock. That way the worms don't become resistant to the de-worming medications.

First we listened to the lecture and saw some slides. Then we went out to examine the eyelids of some sheep to check for anemia. Then we gathered poop or actually scooped it out of a sheep if she wasn't accommodating enough to actually poop in front of us so we could gather it off the ground. One gal in our group was an expert "sheep dog" and showed us a new way to catch sheep quickly and easily. Then we returned to the barn where we measured the poop, mixed it with a solution, mashed it through a strainer several times to further mix it into the solution, put it in a slide and viewed it under a microscope. Then we learned the formula for determining the worm count.

The weather was absolutely perfect for poop gathering. Sunny, breezy, cool with just a hint of autumn hanging in the air. Others might have been enjoying the day by hiking, kayaking, picnicking, biking, or other such sports. We were definitely taking better advantage of our time and learning a new sport as well - that of poop gathering. Wow, can anyone imagine a more exciting way to spend the afternoon?! Perhaps we'll perfect the sport and attract others into our exclusive circle. I can envision it now - the formation of the Poop Gatherers of New England. And who knows - perhaps one day it will be so popular as to become an Olympic event!

PS - DH says he doesn't like PGNE but he thinks it gives a new meaning to PGA - Poop Gatherers of America!

Attack of the killer chicken!

One would think that chickens are a fairly inocuous creature. Alas, not so, as you can see by the bite mark on my hand. Yes, that's what a chicken bite mark looks like. Aside from feeling pretty silly in relating this story, here goes.

My chicken coop has the nest boxes extending from the back. It's made so they fit into an opening in the barn wall to be able to retrieve eggs from the comfort of the barn. No more going out in blustery weather to collect eggs. There's also a small door through which I place food and water. Ingenuous idea if I do say so myself.

Oh yes, back to the bite. The back of the nest boxes has a hinged door to close them off so the chickens can't get into the barn from their coop. When I open the nest box door any chickens roosting in the nests are usually facing away from me with their heads pointing toward the open area of the coop. It's a simple matter of reaching under the chicken from behind and taking the egg.

This morning one was facing toward the back of the door which means she was facing me when I opened the door. Without thinking I reached for the egg which was under her beak. Now I'm sure you know where I'm heading with this so I won't need to embarrass myself further by going into detail. I won the ensueing battle but not without receiving the battle scars to prove it.

"Goat Rock"

We recently added a young full-blood Boer buck to our goat herd. His name - Cassonova, of course! The farm where we bought him has a fantastic rock ledge and we took this picture of "goat rock". The rock continues to the right out of the camera range. Every nook and cranny had a goat in it just soaking up the rays. Makes me wish I was a goat!

LETTER FROM A FARM KID

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well. Hope you are.

Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 AM but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it's not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. This will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing.

I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk's head and don't move, and it ain't shooting back at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable like and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got at this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,
Carol

Friday Funnies

Why they didn't make it to the Olympics!

Rainbow Bridge

"What we call 'death' is the operation of life." --Brigham Young

I once heard a story told that in a beautiful blue lagoon on a clear day, a fine sailing ship spreads its brilliant white canvas in a fresh morning breeze and sails out to the open sea. We watch her glide away magnificently through the deep blue and gradually see her grow smaller and smaller as she nears the horizon. Finally, where the sea and sky meet, she slips silently from sight; and someone near me says, "There, she is gone!"

Gone where? Gone from sight - that is all. She is still as large in mast and hull and sail, still just as able to bear her load. And we can be sure that, just as we say, "There, she is gone!" on another shore someone says, "There, she comes!"

I believe that when we die we will be reunited with people we love on the other side. And I certainly hope that animals we love are also there waiting for us. Here's to all those wonderful pets that have brought us so much joy who have crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

Isabelle

Farm life has a certain rhythm. Daily chores to do, goals to accomplish, animals to feed, family to care for. It seems the list is never ending. Included in this rhythm is the very basis of life itself - birth of babies and older animals who die. I can remember this same rhythm from the time I was a child on my grandmother's farm. It seems no one had to ever explain the "birds and the bees" to me, they just seemed a part of life. Just like birth and death were a part of life. We tend to think of birth as a good thing and death as a bad thing. But I've learned they are both part of life. As sad as death makes us it's not always a bad thing.

One of our first ewes, Isabelle, who has been with us for a while, died. All of our animals are pets and she was one of my favorite ewes. Her last lamb was Lambchops who was born this past February. Isabelle had a way of looking straight into your eyes and seeing into your innermost thoughts. She will be greatly missed.

And Now, H-e-e-e-re's Roxy!

Roxy, our 3 month old English Shepherd pup, had her vet appointment today and all was well. She stole everyone's heart. We weren't there more than a few minutes when she began to take charge. Being a normal vet's office there were various animals in crates and on their owner's laps or sitting on the floor next to their owners. A mini fox terrier who was on her mom's lap decided to jump to the floor. Roxy barked at it and it immediately jumped back to the safety of mom's lap. I suppose this reinforced what came next. Every time a dog jumped down or moved more than a few inches away from it's owner Roxy would bark at it until it returned to the place it started out. She even tried to make a human return a cat cage to where she thought it should be. I finally held her muzzle in my hand for a few seconds and told her "enough". To my amazement she stopped her organizational OCD and just sat there watching everyone's comings and goings for the rest of the time!

The White Ghost

This past weekend my youngest daughter and her fiance visited. He is a big guy - college football star build. Levite didn't like him at all. He's never seen anyone that big so he took him as quite a threat. When Marc walked up to the fence Levite rushed up with fur all bristled, barking ferociously. When Levite was sure that Marc wasn't going to come inside the fence he went to check on all the animals individually that were laying in the barnyard, even checked each chicken. Looked like he was counting them. When he was satisfied they were all safe he placed himself between the animals and Marc and just stayed there until Marc left the area. One time a sheep started to come up to the fence and Levite snapped at her to send her back to the others. Later, my daughter and Marc did come into the pasture with me to see what we had done with the fencing and Levite was OK, but cautious, with Marc while I was there, even let Marc pet him a few times. But all the time we were in there Levite was skulking about 15-20 feet from us, first in this bush, then behind that tree, then in that grass. He was like a white ghost just keeping watch from a close distance to be sure we were safe. I'd hate to even think about what he would have done if Marc had shown any aggression. And I almost pity any coyote that mistakenly believes he can snack at our farm!

Let the Experts Run the Farm

OK, I'll admit it. The barking of a Great Pyrenees is nothing to be trifled with - or to sleep through. Add 2 more to the chorus and the 3 of them can wake the dead!

Usually they'll bark only for 15 minutes or so and give up. This morning about 4 a.m. they all went spastic and kept it up for way longer that the usual. The neighbors have quite a few apple trees and when the apples begin to ripen, which is about now, the deer come in to dine. Since I didn't hear anything else about I figured that's what was upsetting them. So.... I got up, hastily got dressed, put on my muck boots, and wearily traipsed out to bring everyone into the barnyard and close the paddock gate so they couldn't get out far enough into the pasture to be disturbed. Of course I was muttering the whole time about stupid dogs that couldn't tell the difference between a predator and a vegetarian deer.

As I was taking off my boots and entering the house I heard the distinct chorus of coyotes in the field down the road. Boy, did I feel stupid! Had to go back to the barn and apologize to the dogs.

This morning when I opened the gate to the pasture, Levite, our dominant male, led the procession out as is his usual way of making sure everyone is safe. He has everyone wait at the gate, goes out just far enough to make sure everything is safe, then turns back to his flock and using some secret code that only the sheep understand, tells them to follow keeping a distance of about 15 feet behind. They all orderly file out to begin their day's activities. I did notice that when Levite marked his territory and did his usual scratching of the dirt, he kicked it in my direction. I'm sure he was thinking "Stupid humans can't tell the difference between vegetarian deer and predators!"

Best to leave the managing of the farm to the experts!

Speaking Sheep

I have a neighbor across the street who comes up for the weekend from CT only a few times a year. Since the Pyrs aren't used to hearing anyone over there they stand at the end of the pasture and bark in his direction all night. So when he visits we put the flock in the paddock near the barn at night. When we let them out in the morning Levite, our domanant male, insists on being first out of the gate to check out the pasture. Then when he's sure it's safe, which only takes a few seconds, he "tells" the sheep to follow him out and they follow in a calm and orderly fashion out to graze. I don't speak sheep but apparently he does because they obediently wait at the gate for the "all clear". They know just from his body language when they can go out. However, it frustrates him that the goats don't care, or perhaps he doesn't speak goat.

This Place Is Insane!

We have an 8' hay feeder that has a slanted cover (roof) on it that is a 4x8 sheet of plywood set at an angle so the snow/ice/rain won't get the hay wet. One of the ewe lambs was running and jumping on it, running up to the top and launching herself over the high edge onto the other sheep's backs. Most of the sheep didn't appreciate her antics but Bruce, the ram, just patiently stood there letting her jump on him. Then she'd either jump back onto the feeder from his back and run down, turn around and run up again; or, if she fell off his back, would run around to the other side and start all over again. This went on for a while with Bruce just standing there for her amusement. The other sheep decided to move a distance away so she couldn't jump on them but one of the ewes stood nearby just watching her antics with kind of a "this place is insane" look on her face. Funnier thing was she had a chicken roosting on her head. Looked like she was wearing a really strange hat. If any of you are Harry Potter fans just picture Neville's grandmother's hat!

No Wonder Sheep Are Dumb

The Saanen goat, Pippin, and Tiger, a wethered sheep, are both about a year old and have become really good friends and play together. Yesterday they decided on a rousing game of "head butt". Pippin reared up on her hind legs and Tiger came in from about 3' away. But they got a bit over-exuberant about it. They came charging at each other and you could hear heads crack. They both looked a little dazed, shook their heads to clear the birdies that I'm sure they were both seeing and did it again. I can just hear their conversation: "Hey! that hurt! What a rush! Yeah, lets do it again!" Wonder if that causes brain damage?

Do The Funky Lamb

We think we figured out the reason for Lambchop’s lameness (see yesterday’s post). Try as I might I can't seem to get her weaned even after a week in a separate pen. She's about half the size of her mother, plus being chunky, and has a really hard time getting under her mom in the usual nursing position. So she backs up about 10', adjusts her feet into position (sort of looks like a bull planting his feet in preparation to charge), leans back just slightly more, then charges head down toward her intended goal, spreads her front legs apart and skids into home base on her belly, slamming into her mother’s udder so hard she almost knocks her over. Perhaps it’s that front leg spread that’s bothering her shoulder – ya think! Hey, this might catch on as a new dance move.

Sheep At McDonalds?

I had to take Levite, one of our Pyrs, to the vet for a re-check on an ear infection that was found when he was in for his shots a few weeks ago. Lambchops, a 3 month old Rambouillet lamb, has been limping and really favoring her right front leg. Since I was going to the vet anyway, I wanted him to check her since I didn't see any obvious reason for it. I put a large dog crate in the back of the truck and grandson Nate helped me put her in it, then covered it with a blanket and strapped it down. Vet didn't see anything wrong either and felt she might have just pulled a muscle. After the vet's appointment we stopped at the McDonalds drive-through. Nate is now of driving age (not licensed but able to drive with a licensed person) so he was on the ordering side at the drive-through. The conversation went something like this:

McDonalds person: Hello, welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order?
Nate: Give us just a minute, (Lambchops, VERY loudly, from the back of the truck: BAAAAA. She sounded more like someone belching loudly than a sheep.) We're still deciding.
McD, slight chuckle: OK, let me know when you're ready.
Nate, laughing: OK, we're ready (BAAAAA), we'll have a (BAAAAA) #6 with a Coke, and a (BAAAAA) #8 with a diet, no (BAAAAA) ice.
McD, louder chuckle: Will that be all?
Nate, laughing louder: (BAAAAA) Yes.
McD, laughing uncontrollably: That'll be $12.65 at the first window.
Nate, laughing hysterically: (BAAAAA)

When we got to the window, the person had tears running down her cheeks and she was absolutely speechless. The baa-ing continued from the back of the truck, Nate was laughing hysterically, muttering something about hoping they didn't have him arrested for sexual harassment.