Longest lambing season ever.....

It seems like the longest lambing season this year.

No one tried to deliver on their harness marked date except one.

Friday my problem-ish ewe was due.

She has been trying to prolapse for a week or 10 days.

It seems to go back in quickly when she gets up and moves.

Finally wed it did not so I inserted a prolapse spoon to hold her together.

She rubbed it off overnight grrr.

Thursday I put it back in and tied it around her chest to anchor it better.

Friday her due date at 3:30 in the afternoon she started.

I cut the spoon strings and pulled the spoon out.

Shortly thereafter...

I was sitting crying as she passed two sacks of brown liquid.

She hollered and licked them up.

I swore she was aborting.

Then....

Big, huge ewe lamb was stuck so I assisted.

20 minutes later another small bubble appeared with no lamb so in I went.

This one was even bigger and so stuck I swore he was dead as I could not get his head through.

I went racing after S but he was no help so I got mad at not being able to pull it.

Anger helped and after 10 min of tugged and pushing her tissues around I succeeded.

You may notice the "bra" she is wearing.

I made it to stop the lambs from trying to nurse off her extra teats.

The "real" milk filled ones are big like a dairy cow and lower on her bag.

It is easier and more natural for lambs to go higher to smaller fake ones. 

The last few years this has meant I struggled to get her lambs nursing so I invented.

It works! 

I took it off this morning and the lambs are old enough to know where to go now.

So much nicer and better for me also.

Should she be culled?

Yes however she gives such nice lambs and they always placed top 3 in their classes.

Because she is a beast at milk production I helped myself to some colostrum as well.

I easily filled over 3 cup bags and froze them for emergencies.

This also loosened her teats for easier nursing for her lambs.

I stripped the wax plugs and had an easy flow going.

A couple days before this set of lambs another ewe delivered in the middle of the night.

Thank goodness for the baby monitor set up in the barn.

2 huge ram lambs but no issues involved.

This has been the year of the ram here.

So far 9 lambs born alive, 1 premie/aborted lamb however  and

a ewe that delivered triplets was weak and laid on one lamb killing it within 12 hr of birth.

It was a beautiful ewe lamb as well.

So 8 live lambs on the ground.

6 are flipping rams!

Guess they will be going to Easter market.

We show our sheep so ewes are preferred as we don't need the hassle of 

penning and raising rambunctious boys.

I will keep 1-3 rams as they are different breeds but rest will go to Easter camp.

One more ewe to go.

She was marked to deliver last week so hurry up and wait.

Taxes, lambing, rain and mud days

Not much time to post these days.

Not much good about 2020 so far either.

I think everyone that complained about 2019 jinxed 2020 for the rest of us.

It's tax season so I am back to working my second job at the CPA's every chance I get.

Lambing is dragging out this year.

3 ewes to go and soon I believe as within next week.

I am hopeful for better results than the first go round in Jan.

The rain will not stop.

So much flooding, uprooted trees and tons of mud EVERYWHERE!

I usually do not complain about the weather but come on.

A few days of sun no matter the temperature would be uplifting.

I took Miss A and her dog Bo to a local park that has a trail through the wetlands and woods.

She loved all the bridges as she called the boardwalks over the wet ground.

We made it through our half hour short walk before it rained again.

I did the trail by myself once before and it took me an hour to make it round trip.

I need to get back to exercise.

I did pick up sticks and burn them in one of my sheep lots yesterday.

It took me several hours of steady work.

Bending and toting...

Im embarrassed to admit how long it has been since I cleaned that lot up :/

I have several more lots/pastures to go.

Point is today my legs are feeling it in the thighs of it all.

Good sign I am not doing enough physical things on a regular basis.

Spring will change that I now but I need to bring winter into the routine.

Cool stuff ...

like this glass ball LN brought me back from Corning, NY.

She took a quick trip to the museum with J.

She thought it would look good with some of our plants.

She is right.

Hard to see well but I love this Coke Cola glass mug her boyfriend J gave me.

I am a fan of Coke memorabilia.

He's a keeper so far.

I finished my beachy pair of socks.

The colors reminds me of the ocean which is always a good thing.

I used a mini cable pattern and I like the texture.

Miss A always asks for her own socks so I obliged.

I must say knitting toddler socks is much easier and a ton quicker.

She 'lubs' them but declined a picture wearing them.

I am anxiously waiting on lambings to begin mid month or so.

2020 is starting out ok.

Merry Christmas

LN gave me the sweetest lamp.

R, S2, Z, R2 and Miss A all spoiled me also.

A new Kindle Fire and a rolling cooler for sheep shows along with some new duds

were gifted to me.

Enchiladas and stuffed jalapeño poppers were consumed last night before

our giftmageddon commenced.

Miss A was happy to open all the gifts for everyone.

No pictures were taken because we were enjoying the moment.

Ole aging brittle skin ???

   Monday I slipped on 150 yr old steps at my sons.

There is a picture but I will spare you.

Split my arm to the bone at my elbow exposing my plate already holding my bone together.

The tetanus shot and alcohol cleansing hurt worse than the resulting stitches.

My head cracked the wall and the resulting headache makes continuous sleep illusive.

A few days before this R2 gave me this tea tumbler with a sweet note.

Made me feel better and after all it was my clumsiness that felled me like a sequoia.

I was read too and nursed by the best 3 yr old.

She even cleaned up the blood I spilled.

She said, "My Mommy doesn't like messes Grandma".

Opps, my bad.

This changed my plans to have all sheep sheared by Thanksgiving.

They will get done after I yank the stitches next week. 

Thanksgiving was fattening and gluttonous by all accounts .

Too much prepping, cooking and cleaning up for how long it lasts.

I was at my oldest R's home and went outside to cool off.

They had it so hot with the wood stove and all the heat in the kitchen.

Some wind and 40* helped me cool off.

I came back and found this...

I should know better than to leave my phone unsupervised.

Hot messes both of them.

10 years apart in age but ya would never guess.

It is time

All this fluffiness is going bye-bye.

These 2 ewes started out the year much darker but have sun faded.

Time to prepare for lambing so off it goes.

Still the friendliest ewe I have currently.

Over the next week or so granddaughter sitting permitting I'll be shearing.

Almost rhymed it all.

Proud Mama Bear

This past weekend was the Homecoming/Parents weekend at LN's college.

She had her science poster that culminated all her summer internship work.

Let's just say I am a proud Mama Bear.

She knows her stuff and is confident in talking to professors and the crowd explaining her results.

The person she was partnered with rode her coattails through the whole project.

Not my assessment but the other dozen people working in the same lab on other projects.

Now she has a dilemma.

The professor would like her to continue however if she does the other person will also.

He knows she will carry him again.

She does not want that again.

This research has the ability to have her published by next year.

So..... what to do???

She can't say anything to the professor or she seems petty and not a "team" player.

But if she bows out she loses so much in recognition she is due.

The professor she worked with in Arizona immediately figured it out but he doesn't control it.

Too many real world decisions for a girl trying to expand her mind.

Last show

LN and I went to her last sheep show of the show season for 2019.

It was only 20 mi from home at our DE State Fairgrounds.

I hauled sheep down Friday morning and helped friend fit them.

LN came down after classes Friday night.

It was a pretty successful show for LN to end on.

She won Overall Sheep Showman on a whim.

Her ewe was stellar in the individual class but was a jacka*s in the overall class.

She pulled it off in the end by the skin of her teeth.

She did well in her AOB White Wool classes winning Champion Ewe and Champion Ram.

Her Natural Lincolns did well also.

 Some girls showing other breeds also helped her out showing her second lamb and group classes.

The late spring ewe LN is holding gave her a workout also.

She is going to be a strong mature ewe.

She is worth the aggravation since she is a showy ewe naturally.

The ending charm was winning the Delaware Bred and Owned Ram.

I do not have a picture of that one as I was busy getting her ewe ready for her next class.

The bred and owned ram lamb has only been showed once before as he had problems.

He is our youngest Border Leicester born in April of this year.

He decided to army crawl under an old truck frame we use to hold feed.

The opening was 8 in off the ground and 12 in wide.

I worked forever getting him free.

We had to shear him down as he had grease and aluminum imbedded everywhere about 8 weeks ago.

We pulled him from shows because of it.

For him to regrow a nice enough fleece to win was the cherry on the sundae.

All and all a nice fun filled weekend.

LN worked on her arm long length of homework for her college classes

between prepping and showing.

Down and Dirty trip home for her.

Till later...

Selfie time....

While I was helping a friend look for new fall clothes this happened....

Miss A was looking at photos on my phone to occupy herself but....

3 yr olds know how to take selfies I guess.

I found this when I was at home that night.

This chick cracks me up.

Watching her grow is one of my favorite things.

Preschool has began 2 days a week.

She is so excited and looks so angelic.

I see so much of her Daddy in her.

I always felt if my kids looked or acted like their dad it was a good thing.

No one could deny that they were my kids.

I gave birth to them at home so no swapping them out.

But dads do not get that instant connection.

Some visual tie in or attitude or habit tie in is necessary to connect them.

This chick though has the best and the worse of her papa.

God bless her soul and God bless him!

He is going to need it.

He says smugly, "I have already done it all so she won't get anything past me".

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I told his school officials one of the many times I attended a "meeting" with them

"He either did it, thought of it, instigated it or planned it".

I can not wait for payback.

I will be sitting back with a jumbo size bowl of popcorn just observing.

That being said I wouldn't swap him or her for anything else.

I believe if I am honest my Dad felt the same way about me.

Karma....

Weekend of sheep showing fun with my kid ...

I wondered off Thursday to the Maryland State Fair with 10 sheep.

Wondered being a relative term when driving 695 near Baltimore is concerned for this chick.

OMG those people are nutso.

I am a country road girl forever!

However there are things you do for your younguns and this qualified.

LN came down Friday from college (only an hour or so away) and stayed till Sunday morning.

Sunday she went back to get homework done for Monday classes as they didn't have holiday.

She felt bad but fitted and showed with a sinus headache and congestion.

Thankfully our good friend and fitter helped us out as always.

Miss B is the best!

Steady as a rock and a great rapport with LN which is fun to watch.

Good weekend for our homegrown Lincoln Longwool ewe lamb.

She garnered a Champion Lincoln Ewe ribbon and a handpainted trinket box.

Sorry for poor quality picture and lamb not being set up but barn is hard to get good pics.

LN and her friend helping were begin to walk away when I yelled at them to pose.

Otherwise she had a few 1st and some 2nd and below.

She stayed in top 5 most of the show between her Lincolns and Border Leicesters.

Not a bad weekend overall.

I showed our sheep in 2 classes which was horrendous as I have anxiety about it.

Sweating and jittery but I did it.

Later I helped some others show by setting feet.

I survived but just barely.

The weather was fall like with some breeze and sun but not too hot maybe low 80's.

Last year was over 100* so this year was a blessing.

As we were released Monday the thunderstorms ahead of hurricane Dorian arrived.

I stayed put till most of it was through.

Home about 1-2 hours later than normal but less stressful on driving.

 I was driving against the flow of holiday weekend goers returning to their homes.

Always a good time spent with my kiddo and friends on the show circuit.