Canine Work and Play

I think Dierdre, our dog, is as happy about sheep-feeding time as the sheep are--just for different reasons.

The sheep, obviously, think FOOD. But for Dierdre, it's work time which she loves!

She herds sheep, and she guards them (and me). The guarding she does throughout the day, whether outside where she can watch them or inside with me. However, for the herding part she needs the sheep and me to be together because she wants to show me how great a job she's doing. When she's working the sheep, she often stops to look at me, just to be sure I'm watching. If anyone else feeds them, she won't participate; she ignores the whole event. When I feed them, she MUST accompany me; if I leave her in the house, she barks and whines and creates a Dierdre-shaped slobber area on the sliding door.

I would say feeding the sheep is a bonding experience for Dierdre and me, except that we're already deeply attached. She's not co-dependent. She can happily spend the day outside on her own, as long as she knows I'm in the house or away from home. If I go outside, though, she has to go with me.

When we're outdoors, she stays close to me until she knows where we're going. The trouble is she wants to lead, so she keeps looking over her shoulder to make certain I'm still following which occasionally leads to her tripping over things. If I stay outside for awhile, she happily patrols the property, pesters sheep, races the fence line with the dog next door, etc, but she regularly returns to check on me.

If she's in the house, she must be near me (usually within six feet or less!). Mark simply has to see the dog to know what room I'm in.

And here's Dierdre recuperating after a typical sheep-feeding experience. Sometimes you just need to lay down while drinking your water!

What's in a Name?

Well, rather a lot, actually. I thinks names are important, and we decided we would follow a theme each year for naming the lambs.

Let me backtrack, though, to our first sheep. Mark and I both have M.A.'s in medieval history, so, not surprisingly, we decided to name our new sheep after illustrious medieval women.

The first two ewes we called Heloise and Juliana--after the 12th-century abbess Heloise of the Paraclete, famous lover of the theologian Abelard and Juliana of Liege, the 13th-century nun whose visions inspired the institution of the Feast of Corpus Christi. The second set of ewes we named after Hildegard of Bingen, an abbess, writer, visionary, and composer in the 12th century and Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, a 10th-century Saxon playwright and poet. Below is a picture of Heloise.


We named Hrotsvit's ewe lamb Aurora. The name was not in keeping with our medieval theme, but it seemed appropriate for the first lamb born on our ranch. Hildegard gave birth to twins: Francesco and Clare, named for St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi.

The following year, we dubbed the lambs after ancient gods and goddesses, such as Freyja, Minerva, Hermes, and Persephone. We had more than four lambs, but you get the idea.

My mother does genealogy, so the next year we named lambs after some of my ancestors: Thirza, Mehetable, Bernhardt, and Crescenzia, to name a few.

In 2007, we chose names of mountains and mountain ranges, so we had Brenta, Selwyn, Ranier, Sierra, Annapurna, Humphrey, etc. We also had Saphira, named by the kids next door after the dragon in Eragon, since they helped save her life when her mother initially refused to nurse her.

The next year was trees and plants, including Clover, Shamrock, Juniper, Sequoia, and Ficus!

2009 brought us to herbs and spices: Parsley, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Basil, Coriander, Lavender, and Sassafrass. I couldn't decide on a name for the last lamb, an adorable white ram, until a friend suggested Herbie (because of herbs). He's now a year old and still adorable.

This year we selected names of famous people of antiquity, such as Octavian (the lamb was born on January 8), Romulus, Remus, Bouidica, Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Sappho, Sophocles, Zenobia, and Ramses.

Naming is such fun. Feel free to comment on this post and suggest a theme for next year!

An Abundance of Wildlife

Late summer is certainly bringing out lots of wildlife. Quail, jackrabbits, cottontails, doves, and bluejays are everywhere.

We've been trying to figure out what it is about our place that appeals so greatly to quail; we see dozens of them every day. Quail ususally keep to the ground, but we've even seen a large group up in our peach tree. (I hate to lose some of the peaches to the birds, but, then again, they deserve a share.)

I spotted a quail perched atop our wood pile, elegantly profiled and looking regal. There were several others investigating under and around bits of wood, as well. I had to take the pictures through a window, and they didn't turn out very well, but they'll give you an idea of the scene. If you look closely at the third picture, you should see four quail.

Apron Strings

It never did rain yesterday, but it was really chilly last night. I almost wore a long-sleeved shirt to feed the sheep this morning.

As I headed to the barn, I saw Zenobia race over to Jana and start nursing. Ewes usually wean their lambs between three and four months of age. By that time, the lambs are so big they have to kneel to nurse.

I was surprised Zenobia didn't knock over Jana considering how enthusiastically she collided with her. Lambs butt their heads against their mothers' udders to encourage milk flow. When the lambs get this big, I feel sorry for the ewes. The procedure looks quite uncomfortable: a large lamb (or two, in the case of twins) hurdles itself at its mother, thumps its head into her udder, and then greedily guzzles milk.

Not unexpectedly, the ewes usually let the older lambs nurse for only a couple minutes before walking off. They're definitely conveying the message that soon it will be time to move out and get their own apartments!

August?

It's 76 degrees at noon on August 29! What's up? That's downright brisk for this time of year. It's been really windy since last night. Rain-laden clouds are scuttling across the sky. No precipitation yet, but it looks promising.

Sheep in the Gloaming

The Next Generation

Breeding season has arrived. The rams are following the ewes around in groups, jockeying for position to get closest.

The poor ewes sometimes can barely stop long enough to grab a mouthful of hay without a ram trying to make his intentions clear. Sometimes she gets a break, though, when two or three rams start pushing each other out of the way; they can get so busy proving who's "worthy" of the ewe, that she can leave the scene without the boys even noticing.

Cotswold rams can begin breeding quite young. When I started my flock, I purchased two maiden ewes and two bred (pregnant) ewes. One gave birth to a ewe lamb (Aurora); the other produced twins: a ram and a ewe (Francesco and Clare). The next year the first ewe lambed ten months after the twins were born. Sheep have gestation periods of five months. That means Francesco sired the lamb when he was five months old! I'm surprised he was even tall enough to reach!

No Power

Around noon huge dark clouds started rolling in. The wind whipped up, blowing the tree branches, and thunder boomed. Then the lights went out. The power flashed on briefly, then off. This sequence repeated four more times before the electricity stayed off.

Now not having power for the lights or the refrigerator or the swamp cooler or my computer is inconvenient but not truly a big deal (except maybe the refrigerator if the outage lasts a while).

However, to fully understand our concern when we lose power, you have to know one thing: we have our own well, and we get our water via an electric pump. When the power's out, we don't have water. This lack is a big deal.

I called APS, the power company, and they confirmed that yes, indeed, the electricity was off and said it should take about an hour to an hour and a half to restore it.

I had an appointment in Prescott and had to leave while the lights were still off. I was a bit nervous when I got home, hoping we had power again--and sure enough, we did.

We would sure like to get solar and/or wind power. One of these days....

And after all that , we didn't even get any rain!

Trophy Fish

Handwoven fish - 50% cotton/50% rayon

They Grow Up So Fast

Jana's lamb, Zenobia, is three months old already, and she's so big! Here are a couple pictures of Jana (behind the tree), Zenobia, and friend (it's hard to tell from this angle, but it might be Scout).