There are days when you just know that it’s going bad… and it’s only going to get worse. Yesterday just happened to be one of those days and yes, it did get worse, a lot worse !
Sitting in a Tacoma doctor’s office, already 45 minutes behind schedule, Greg was snoring up a storm, it was cold, there wasn’t a dog eared magazine in sight and clearly the specialist was running on his own 24 hour clock because he surely wasn’t running on ours. Greg’s cell phone with the ring tone taped amid the tumult and clamour of the chicken house clucked and squawked into life. The last snore was suddenly stifled between throat and nose, Greg’s book bounced to the floor with a resounding thud and his cell phone continued to squawk until sleepy Greg responded to it. The caller was Eric, a very nice neighbour who thankfully considers it his duty to alert us to ongoing situations on and around the ranch. Thanks to this conscientious neighbour, raccoons, Coyotes and other four and two legged species bent on some misdemeanour or other have been persuaded to frequent another location. So there, helpless in an office where time seems to stand still..or go backwards, Eric alerted us to the fact that we had “sheep” on the road. The strange thing about the English language is that the singular for one sheep is “sheep”, confusingly, so is the plural. Consequently as the call was disconnected we were unaware whether the escape involved just one sheep or if the entire flock had staged a breakout but, clearly the escapee ( escapees) had to be retrieved. Our wonderful WOOFER Carla, home alone, fortunately interrupted her morning’s activities to take the call “ Lamb alert, lamb alert”. By all accounts faster than two shakes of a lambs tail Carla was in action, the errant escapee apparently unsure of his exit point and therefore unable to go back whence he came tried to make his body fit where it was already too tight for his head. No body ever said lambs were cute AND smart !!! Our thanks to capable Carla for the rescue and to Eric and Marcus for their help and support.
The news from the doctor’s office, well, I know no more than I did before the visit but as that appears to be the norm, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised !
Just as Carla was settling down to another project, pandemonium that couldn’t easily be ignored erupted in the goat pasture. Upon investigation it was discovered that Alissia, our LaMancha doe had attempted to scale the fence into the chicken pen. This was clearly not the smartest of moves by our milk goat, (1) the chicken pen has an aroma that even makes Macho the buck (in the heat of the rut) smell preferable and (2) the chicken pen has a green nylon net over it to dissuade Eddie the eagle from his fly by forays. Typically, if there is trouble to be found, a goat will discover it ….and Alyssia did, in fine style. Somehow the doe managed to snare her leg in the netting, capturing her shoulder tight and rendering her in urgent need of rescue. Carla to the rescue…again !
Somehow, in the early hours of the morning it would appear that Roman the black Morgan gelding must have had a snack attack. Last night, a last minute check of stall doors confirmed all our charge lings were safely tucked up for the night, fed watered and groomed. This morning upon opening the barn door and catching glimpse of a copious black butt disappearing around the corner,the initial impression was that one of our bovine ladies had broken out of her stall. The escapee was a very non repentant Roman who happily allowed himself to be returned to his stall in time for breakfast. On checking the latch on his stall, it was determined that Charm had apparently been mouthing the catch and had unintentionally allowed Roman to escape. We are pretty convinced that it was unintentional….Charm would not have given Roman the advantage of anything he himself hadn’t checked out first. Whatever qualities Charm may possess do not include charity !!
Gimpy the ewe so named because trying to keep the old girl on her feet is a full time occupation had another manicure. Once caught, Gimpy resigns herself to the indignity of reclining on her back, udder and legs akimbo whilst Greg and Carla make right what mother Nature was so negligent on. The ewe is once again restored to all four legs... until the next time.
Well, I've been sitting a while and it's time I found some other trouble to get into. Time to post this diary entry, please take care and keep safe. M
Sitting in a Tacoma doctor’s office, already 45 minutes behind schedule, Greg was snoring up a storm, it was cold, there wasn’t a dog eared magazine in sight and clearly the specialist was running on his own 24 hour clock because he surely wasn’t running on ours. Greg’s cell phone with the ring tone taped amid the tumult and clamour of the chicken house clucked and squawked into life. The last snore was suddenly stifled between throat and nose, Greg’s book bounced to the floor with a resounding thud and his cell phone continued to squawk until sleepy Greg responded to it. The caller was Eric, a very nice neighbour who thankfully considers it his duty to alert us to ongoing situations on and around the ranch. Thanks to this conscientious neighbour, raccoons, Coyotes and other four and two legged species bent on some misdemeanour or other have been persuaded to frequent another location. So there, helpless in an office where time seems to stand still..or go backwards, Eric alerted us to the fact that we had “sheep” on the road. The strange thing about the English language is that the singular for one sheep is “sheep”, confusingly, so is the plural. Consequently as the call was disconnected we were unaware whether the escape involved just one sheep or if the entire flock had staged a breakout but, clearly the escapee ( escapees) had to be retrieved. Our wonderful WOOFER Carla, home alone, fortunately interrupted her morning’s activities to take the call “ Lamb alert, lamb alert”. By all accounts faster than two shakes of a lambs tail Carla was in action, the errant escapee apparently unsure of his exit point and therefore unable to go back whence he came tried to make his body fit where it was already too tight for his head. No body ever said lambs were cute AND smart !!! Our thanks to capable Carla for the rescue and to Eric and Marcus for their help and support.
The news from the doctor’s office, well, I know no more than I did before the visit but as that appears to be the norm, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised !
Just as Carla was settling down to another project, pandemonium that couldn’t easily be ignored erupted in the goat pasture. Upon investigation it was discovered that Alissia, our LaMancha doe had attempted to scale the fence into the chicken pen. This was clearly not the smartest of moves by our milk goat, (1) the chicken pen has an aroma that even makes Macho the buck (in the heat of the rut) smell preferable and (2) the chicken pen has a green nylon net over it to dissuade Eddie the eagle from his fly by forays. Typically, if there is trouble to be found, a goat will discover it ….and Alyssia did, in fine style. Somehow the doe managed to snare her leg in the netting, capturing her shoulder tight and rendering her in urgent need of rescue. Carla to the rescue…again !
Somehow, in the early hours of the morning it would appear that Roman the black Morgan gelding must have had a snack attack. Last night, a last minute check of stall doors confirmed all our charge lings were safely tucked up for the night, fed watered and groomed. This morning upon opening the barn door and catching glimpse of a copious black butt disappearing around the corner,the initial impression was that one of our bovine ladies had broken out of her stall. The escapee was a very non repentant Roman who happily allowed himself to be returned to his stall in time for breakfast. On checking the latch on his stall, it was determined that Charm had apparently been mouthing the catch and had unintentionally allowed Roman to escape. We are pretty convinced that it was unintentional….Charm would not have given Roman the advantage of anything he himself hadn’t checked out first. Whatever qualities Charm may possess do not include charity !!
Gimpy the ewe so named because trying to keep the old girl on her feet is a full time occupation had another manicure. Once caught, Gimpy resigns herself to the indignity of reclining on her back, udder and legs akimbo whilst Greg and Carla make right what mother Nature was so negligent on. The ewe is once again restored to all four legs... until the next time.
Well, I've been sitting a while and it's time I found some other trouble to get into. Time to post this diary entry, please take care and keep safe. M
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