Busy, busy ... (edited to add lamb capture photos July 9)

Our family will be camping from July 3-9, so blogging will definitely disappear during that time. We have had an eventful day today getting ready to go, PLUS after trashing the house with camping gear, then realizing we still have to ready it for the lovely woman who is staying here to look after the animals.

We had a small wrinkle this morning; an emergency call from a fellow 4H members dad who had picked up his son's (single?????) sheep yesterday, and lambie had managed to escape. Somewhere in 120 acres. I was headed to West Lake this morning anyway, so we made a deal. Paul would pick up the livestock panels I was supposed to be picking up, and deliver them this afternoon, and we instead would bring a couple of lambs over to lure back this panicky lamb. It worked like a charm, but I missed the best photo! Alison is an awesome sheep catcher ... sheep are very sensitive, and she has the gift of seeming completely calm, then exploding into action in a millisecond. She got good and close to the escapee, tempting with soy meal (a.k.a sheep candy), then BOOM, she grabbed her.

But ...

This lamb was quite big (75+ pounds), and in order to keep her, Alison grabbed her right round the body, then pulled her down in the finest wrestling hold (with the lamb on top, winning). But Alison did not let go, and we were able to get her back to the barn with the assistance of our two lambs Peppercorn and Rosemary.

It made for an ... interesting .... morning ... but I seriously regret not getting a shot of Alison and the lamb rolling in the hedgerow! The family was supposed to take home TWO lambs, in which case there wouldn't have been a problem, but a lone sheep is a nervous sheep, so they will be making arrangements to pick up another one in the next couple of days. In the meantime, "Trouble" a.k. Mira, is locked up in a calf hutch :-).

Photos of the morning ... Peppercorn and Rosemary, all loaded up in Dickens' crate, and ready for their first road trip ...


En route ... "okay, okay ... we'll relax and enjoy the ride ..."


Bringing little lost Mira back in (Alison on right, with Matthew Cairns on left).


You'll notice some difference between the lambs. Mira is a katahdin sheep (a variety of hair sheep). They don't need to be sheared ... but they shed like crazy and Kev is quite allergic to them. Mira also towered over our girls. She was lambed in February, so is 6-8 weeks older than our little Shetland crosses.


Home again, home again ... back to solitary confinement until another lamb is brought home to keep her company. You cannot keep a single lamb; I'm not sure why the lamb provider sent home only one to the Cairns' place, as originally she promised a pair. Likely just lack of communication; we're thankful she was caught safely.


Bye for now ... more to do before we head out tomorrow to pick up Claire, who has been at her nan and papa's house near Cambridge, then head up to the Bruce!!!