Wi Fi down

Well, it happened again..the shepherds leave town and the wireless goes down in the barn. I am CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD. At least they left a big round bale of good stuff down at the pasture next to the BDL (big dopey lab).

So they came back raving about Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival OFFF and finally fixed the wireless. Before I can get into my blog drafts, they disappear pulling a big rusty trailer and come back with...Bevis ! aka Buddy the Shetland wether who reintroduces himself in chracteristic fashion - knocking heads with anyone that will stand for it. This guy has the most primitive rituals.

Then we look around - where Bevis goes, Butthead goes. No Butthead. Fortunately then the animal communicator gets through to Bob and we all relax. Butthead is up north a ways with GIRLS ! His favorite past-time.

With Buddy back, the food situation is beginning to worry me again. Is no one else concerned that there are 14 sheep here and only 1.5 12oo lb bales in sight ? What if Raven comes home soon and he is hungry. Is no one paying attention ??

Benny, you are still rolling off to eat - have we ever gone hungry ?
Becca, you just don't aappreciate the seriousness of this situation...
Chunko, there is no situation...besides if you could hear over the rumbling of your rumen, you would know that some sheep are spending the winter somewhere else...
BECCA - where are they sending me ? - I'll die if I have to move.....
Butterball, Sophie and two black wethers are going to friend Robyn's and Fern the Giant Ewe is going to Amy's place at the foot of the mountains with Ewan the ram lamb. Breathe, Big Guy - you look pale.

Well, of COURSE I knew all that ....I am a very perceptive sheep and I listen very carefully. Over the rumble of my rumen, indeed....she can be so crass....

Now where have the shepherds gone - the friendly back-up Aunt Nora is checking water buckets again. They really ought to stay home - winter is coming and I'm hungry.

Benny

Clean Air

Oh, it is fall and we can breathe !! The smoke blew away, along with some hay, dust, 2 lawn chairs - well, you get the picture. But it is cool, the sun feels good and the air is clean. Oh, and the shepherds are back from someplace Colorado. We don't get as much food, but we do miss them.

Benny, are you sure some of this joy doesn't have something to do with the location of the new round bale ?

Becca, you are such a cynic...

There IS a new round bale full of alfalfa just a short walk from the napping grounds, but the Crone Shepherd only let us bury our heads in it twice. Then a fence went up and we have to pull out what we eat. She was muttering something about fleeces full of hay and herd of pigs. Whateeeever !
It was pure love for a day or so.

People have been coming out to the pasture with tape measures and I think there may really be a new barn someday. I hope the Crone gets her camera in gear as they build my new palace. I wonder if it will have running water ?

Benny, automatic feeders are more your speed.

Becca, you are brilliant ! Can we tell the animal communicator that ?

Don't you have a list for her next time she checks in ?

Now where did they go ???

Benny here, and if sheep could sweat, I'd be dripping. And breathing isn't easy either.....the smoke is awful. In fact, I can barely see far enough to find the bale of hay they hid two pastures away. Its a BIG bale, but its a long walk....

Benny - its that far away to keep you from eating the whole thing yourself...

Becca, why is everything they do designed to keep me from eating ?

Benny - when is the last time you saw your feet ?

So anyway, the shepherds packed up on some flimsy excuse and drove off in a cloud of smoke. Not an oil leak, either....they reportedly are somewhere where water falls out of the sky in the afternoons... Aunt Nora says its probably a helicopter with a bucket.... thnak Godde she feeds us.

I'd put up a picture for you, gentle reader, but you can't see far enough to take one. Ah, Scotland.....

Benny, with a non-smoker's cough

Now smoky and hot

I want to go back home to Scotland - I KNOW that's where my spirit came from. Its 60 and drizzle instead of 97 again and still. What is with this weather ???

And, I have been forceably torn from my soul mate, Becca. She is pining away at the fence that separates us.

Benny, I am being an aunt to the babies while you are at weight loss camp.
Is that why there isn't any food over here ??
Didn't you notice, you Boob ? You are in the same pasture as Bob, who is limping from over weight; Corrie who looks like a rolled comforter on legs; and the two 120-150 lb "babies" who eat continually. Benny, you are in fat camp.
Becca, will I die ???
Not in the next 4 months, Big Guy......

Well, I DID wonder why we are in the front pasture with a few flakes of hay a day and dying grass. If Raven was here, he'd knock down fences to get us food, I just know it. Maybe that is why he and Buddy are still gone on "knapweed patrol".

This is all very complicated for a sheep to figure out, even a very special sheep. The shepherds seem so cheerful when they come out at night, pour about 6 pellets into pans for us, check the salt, fill the water, and put two more skinny flakes of hay in the feeder. But, Bob has stopped limping, so maybe a little of a good thing is all right. If I never post again, it will be from weakness and you'll know, beloved reader, that they starved me.

Hot !! REALLY hot !

Even if you have a very special fleece, when it is over 100 for a few days, special isn't so important.
And it is very hot. So what do the Shepherds do ? Another goat rope, of course.

At least the Animal Communicator got a hold of Bob the Genius before it happened. The Crone has promised that no one here goes away in a truck to die, but when trucks show up....well, we are sheep and suspect the worst. But the AC told us that Bevis and Butthead were going up the road a ways to eat weeds for a few weeks. What they didn't figure was that the horse trailer ( ?!) wouldn't come through the gate and they would have to haul both guys with horns across the pasture to the trailer. That was FUN ! They put up a great fight ! I can see where horns are handy for shepherds - they are sheep handles.

Since the front pasture had more green stuff than anywhere else combined, we have been grazing out there. Even as fat as Raven was, he couldn't make a dent. The Crone told the Big Guy - "I told you that pasture wasn't trashed - look at what fertilizer does for us - even a winter's worth of BIG ewe poops." We're lovin' it.

The Shepherds took off for a sheep show again, but thankfully came back without another sheep. There isn't ever too much food here, so its better to to come back with bright ideas than more rumens to fill. They are even talking a new barn - do I finally get me own private stall ? One without lamb poop to mess up my hooves and very special fleece ?

Stay tuned - this is Benny reporting from a very hot place in Western Montana ....what happened to all my lives in Scotland ??

Becca says - you got eaten, Dumbo.

Now I know What UNCLE means !

Benny here, and this Uncle stuff is more work than I thought. They all say Benny, you are such a wonderful Uncle....Benny you are so strong and patient....

Well, THAT should have have tipped me off...strong and patient, indeed. UNCLE MEANS BABYSITTER !!

So I hear the Crone Shepherd giggling the other morning....and running for her camera. But I don't want pictures of this, so I spring to my feet. Becca says Benny, you haven't sprung to your feet in 4 years - lumber to your feet, yes - the lambs spring, I spring, you struggle.

The Crone comes back and says Rats - he moved, but I know what she wanted - she wanted evidence of me babysitting .

Benny, you are so strong and patient......

The whole herd gets up in the morning and since THEY have cut our rations with no food in the morning, we have to go forage for whatever we can find.

Benny, it is spring and there is grass everywhere.... Becca, pellets are much more easily digested for those of us with special fleeces.

After I go out and eat, with lambs bouncing everywhere, the herd looks at me and I go lie down to chew my food more thoroughly and they plunk a couple of lambs next me. Then they go back to the pasture. The Crone came out this morning and laughed, and went back in for her camera. Why is it that everyone wants to put a picture of Uncle Benny babysitting on the frig ?? I got up and went to the pasture where the Moms were and after a few minutes the babies followed ME. Fortunately, they spotted their Mom and no further embarassment ensued.

Because I don't have a digital camera, the Crone sneaks pictures into my blog. If a picture of me babysitting shows up, its a fake ! I am a dignified sheep with special fleece and the babies will certainly appreciate my wisdom as they mature. I am NOT a babysitter.

This Uncle stuff is WORK !!

Well, the work was in watching the next set of nephews being born. First Amy, their Mom, spends the whole day wandering back and forth in the pasture, away from all of us. I want to go help, but Bob says no, that's the way it is with moms. Suddennly, in the late afternoon, she starts walking and then running, dragging something behind her (not a baby) and baaing and won't stop. We are sheep, so we join her, and the shepherds try to get her to stop.

I don't think we were much help, because when one sheep yells and runs, we all do....its a sheep thing. The shepherds finally got us all in the back yard, caught Amy, laid her down and shooed the rest of us out. That's when the work started - we grazed, and paced, and listened. The Big Guy held her head and calmed her down and the Crone went to work trying to figure out what was going on. Amy was so tired that she just laid there. The we heard the Crone say " I see 2 feet and a nose - Alleluia" and she did something she calls scrubbing. Then is was kind of scary quiet with Amy grunting, the Big Guy talking softly, and the Crone working hard. She said "he isn't breathing well yet" and then there was a lot of other stuff going on...then we heard a cough. Pretty soon the little guy was up by his Mom's head and the Big Guy lifted her head so she could lick him off. But that took a long time cause she kept having to rest. Then the Crone says " Thank Godde ! another nose and 2 feet !"

Becca - don't we all have a nose and two feet on the front ? Becca sighs - yes, Benny, but not all lambs come out that way and its trouble. Oh.

Then the Crone scrubs again and pretty soon there is another little guy hanging upside down while she rubs him. Then a little cough, and then everyone is breathing ! I thought I was going to faint from the stress.

So then he goes up by his Mom and the Big Guy lifts her head. Amy is cleaning them off and the first one gets up and strikes out on his own. He's only 20 minutes old !!

The clean up starts, and the Crone takes the babies into the grass area they call the jug. Becca - why do they call it the jug ? Don't know Benny, but we were both born in one.
Then she goes back and helps Amy to her feet, but Amy is pretty confused. Her babies call and she heads toward them and the fence closes.

The shepherds and the Grandma, who got to watch it all, sit down and watch for a while as the babies get up and around and Amy cleans them up some more.

Becca - shouldn't they eat ? Who will show them ? Eating is IMPORTANT !! Benny, just relax - the shepherds will help if needed.

She is such a know it all, but she was right. The Crone helped the little guys find their food and their tails just went nuts !!

Benny - your tail does that sometimes when the pellets arrive. Does not. Does too....you can't see your middle, let alone your tail.

There is a pretty big mess all over - blood and goop - and Amy is trying to clean it up, but she is very tired. Then the biggest raven I have ever seen swoops down, and starts to help clean up. Amy protects her babies and the raven does a pretty good job. This was one BIG bird.

Later the shepherds came out and gave Amy a shot - she was too beat to notice - and poured something on the lamb tummies. And that was that.

I am exhausted - I hope we are done with this - my heart can only take so much ...

Benny, your heart could take more if you weren't so fat. And you know that really big ewe with attitude ? The one who pushes you out of the food bowl ? She is next...

I need a break - I am a delicate guy ...