The lambs are all doing well. Have no fears. I'll throw in some "cuteness" at the end, I'm certain that is what many of you tune in here for. However, have I got a story for you! The moment it happened, I instantly thought of the blog. Is my life that boring, or that exciting, I'm still not sure.The title says it all. 70s. Green. Breakout.
70s: After the lambing season closed, and everyone seemed to be doing fine and dandy, I turned my attention back on the house. Part of the draw for this property was the chance to restore a 1930's Bungalow. I am able to do most of the work myself which helps the teacher budget in terms of remodeling. This time I turned my attention to the dining room which was last done in the 70's. And when I say 70s, think floor to ceiling paneling and heavy dark stained trim and ceiling beams.
Green:
My appreciation for nature/stewardship of the earth, Biology Teacher meets construction worker- brings me to the "Green" part of the story. Green remodeling. You hear alot about green remodeling, and there are some who think shipping bamboo clear across the world equates to a 5 star environmental remodel. For me, when you can take the old and find another use for it (and keep it out of a big hole in the ground) then you have found the epidimy of green remodel. So, after removing the heavy dark trim, I then built a hay feeder for the rams who have now been moved out onto pasture (early due to the unseasonably warm temperature.
Breakout:
Interesting, maybe creative and all but lets get some juice here, where's the good part of the story? Here we go. So after I so proudly built this hay feeder out of 100% post consumer goods, I then flipped it upside down and dragged it down the hill from the barn out to pasture. Picture this, you are dragging this heavy feeder down the hill with your back to the pasture, and suddenly you hear these sounds, so sudden, so quickly you have no time to react. Instead you just turn and are jawdropped. The sounds... lets see how do I describe them? They were like... hmmm... okay you remember playing with a slinky, and things are going smoothly down the stairs, one at a time and suddenly it all goes haywire and the slinky skips 6 steps and the metal spool of cheapness all come crashing together as it hits the ground and its just shear metal madness and noise. Yeah, like that. Only when I quickly turned, I saw Ahgosa halfway through the 6 wire fence heading south, big Johnny half way through heading due north, and little dougherty frantically running circles and indecisive of what or where to go for that matter. I suppose this 70s retro green hay feeder somehow being dragged ominously towards them seemed like enough of a threat to throw themselves through the 6 line electric fence. And now there is a happy ending here, but for a moment they were stuck and Im sure it didnt tickle. The best part, was when Dougherty committed to going into the white termporary electric net, and when head over heels ( I mean hooves) and what a site! Watching him flip over it, and 4 little hooves kicking in the air, he did manage to land on his feet after the summersault and was off and running; which I thought was an admirable athletic move. Back to the story, so what happened??? Well Johnny broke through, but only into the next fenced in pasture. Dougherty too, just ended up in a different pasture, however Ahgosa was the only one to break through the open side of the fencing out into freedom. This is where I was shocked, I haven't had a loose sheep yet, let alone my squirreliest ram. To make a long story longer, I grabbed some grain, opened the gate, and stared down Johnny, to keep him from running out the same gate opening that I was luring Ahgosa back into. Lucky for me sheep just want food and to be together, and at that point I had both for Ahgosa. And within a few minutes he was back eating inside the fencing.
I then soon remembered that I had forgotten to tighten up the fence wire lines from the winter. You have to loosen them for the cold temps out in the pasture and then oh yeah, tighten them when you put the sheep back out in the spring. It's the details you know?
I then soon remembered that I had forgotten to tighten up the fence wire lines from the winter. You have to loosen them for the cold temps out in the pasture and then oh yeah, tighten them when you put the sheep back out in the spring. It's the details you know?
And without any further delay, here is your cuteness. This is one of the true Corriedale lambs who will be registered with the American Corriedale Association. Despite being the second youngest of the group, he is head and shoulders above the others. It isn't that the others are small by any stretch. This here is President Lincoln was the tallest president, and thereby this ram lamb has earned the name Abe. He is available for breeding stock, along with several others, so please check the website for more information. http://www.windyknobfarms.com/
