Ramses (Great Name for a Ram, Huh?)

I was late feeding the sheep this morning. I glanced out a window and saw all the sheep, except one, laying in front of the barn. Apollo, however, was standing in the shade of the cottonwood tree that lies about halfway between the barn and the house. He stood sentinel, unmoving, staring at the house as if willing me to come out and feed them. I don't know if the other sheep elected him as lookout or if he was just particulary hungry, but the sight was classic.

When I got to the barn, we went through the usual ritual. If the sheep are already in the barn, most stay there until I finish distributing hay, so they can avoid Dierdre as much as possible. A few of the rams always venture out, though, to start munching hay as soon as the first couple flakes hit the ground. Dierdre tries to herd them back into the barn, but they defy her and keep eating. The last few days I've noticed a new ram has joined this brave group: little Ramses. He's four months old and on the small side, but our intrepid eater is hanging out with big boys. This afternoon I took a couple pictures of Ramses that show how much smaller he is than the adult rams. In the second photo, Ramses' rear can be seen at the right side of the image. Just imagine that diminutive lamb pushing his way through to the hay, but he does it.

The white sheep at the front of the group, with the light glaring off of him, is Herbie. The small white lamb on the far right is Zenobia. The others, well, there are just too many woolly rumps to name them all!