"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Skull and Horns, Tragic Tale of Two Brothers

~"Look on it's broken arch, it's ruined wall, it's chambers desolate, it's portals foul; yes, this was once ambition's airy hall. The dome of thought, the palace of the soul-" Lord Byron~Here is Thistle(below), shortly before the dastardly deed was done. I WAS going to take Thistle to the Fair for exhibit. Thistle was my choice of ram for the honor of being admired and gawked at for 5 days. Alas, his brother way laid my plans. Mind you, I do not credit Goth with devious plans , just being guilty of being bigger, badder, and goring his brother to death!
~"Beneath this stone there lies a skull, Which when it breathed was monstrous dull, But nor tis' dead and doomed to rot, this skull's as wise, pray is it not ? " Shakespeare
~Here ( below ) is the big guy, the bully, the goring , ramming destroyer . ( you should see our fences ! ) Goth and Thistle were playing the way rams do, that is to say...they were head butting and ramming each other. Really, rams do this for FUN ! Goth runs full force into humongous trees just for fun. Well, poor Thistle got his beautiful horns stuck in a hay feeder and Goth pierced Thistle's lung with his horns. Poor Thistle, he died. ~The day of the foul deed was foul indeed. It was one of those rare summers that temperatures exceeded 90 degrees. My beautiful ram was dead. But there was no way I was going to bury those magnificent horns and skull. I wanted to keep them. My poor Hubby was outside in the heat, untangling Thistles horns from the feeder, while trying not to inhale the smell nature takes on when decomposing an animal, and then he saved the head for me....I love that man ! ~Thistle AND Goth went to the fair . Goth entertains the crowds, Thistle hangs on the wall behind him over a picture of himself in better times, as a grim reminder of the power of a ram, EVEN WHEN HE IS HAVING FUN !
~" Are you talking about me ? "~
~I thought I would end this post with a very interesting tale from the Bible. A tale that has bones and skeletons coming to life ! "Then he said to me, " Prophesy to these bones and say to them; 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones; I will make life enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded;And as I was prophesying there was a noise, a rattling sound,and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. .......Then He said to me, ' Prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man, and say to it, " This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds oh breath; and breathe into these slain, that they may live." So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them, they came to life and stood up on their feet- a vast army." Ezekiel 37:4-9
~You can read the rest for yourself!~ ~Be safe and thankful this season . Thankful for the bounty we have and the life you've been granted. Use wisely...and if you find yourself face to face with a ram....well....DON'T !~ This is a re-post of a true tale from Cedar Pond.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

The pictures of both Thistle and Goth are cute and it is indeed a tragic tale of two brothers.

Pamela said...

Oh dear. Thistle was so beautiful. Know it broke your heart to lose him. I really like how you made it very clear that Goth wasn't to blame--that they were just playing.

This is why I just have a couple of ewes and my dear wethers--I don't think I can handle a ram at all. Recently I had a good friend who had a compound fracture in her ankle when her ram tried his best to kill her--and he was a Tunis that's naturally polled. She was lucky to escape with just the broken ankle.

Jo said...

Bad Goth!!! Omigoodness, I had no idea stuff like that even happened. They're both such little little guys.

As I have told you before, you lead a wonderful, and interesting life!

Anonymous said...

Well on a slightly less gory note about sheep... ;-)

I just wanted to tell you Whitney has been sleeping every night with the "lambie quilt" you made her when she was born. In fact, as soon as she gets the first hint of cooler weather at night, she starts begging me to pull it out again!

So, since she loves her great-lambie-auntie so much, she picked out an early Christmas present for you when we went to visit Grandma at "her store" (Crate and Barrel) yesterday. :-)

Pamela said...

Kathy, if you don't mind, could you send me your email address? I have some questions to ask you regarding keeping rams. (no, questions aren't for me--I'm happy with my dear wethers and little ewes.)

--pam AT cmpasofinos DOT com

Anonymous said...

Gory tale indeed.
Once again I was left to discover the dead animal and relay the bad news. It is my curse.
~ Autumn

Connie said...

Thistle was a beautiful animal indeed, Kathy. Such a sad story, but just part of the nature of rams. Those horns are amazing.

Eggs In My Pocket said...

How very sad. It is so hard on our hearts for those of us who raise animals. I just loved your words to this post. Blessings, Kathleen

imbeingheldhostage said...

Wow. The things I learn out in blog world.
Poor Thistle. I feel bad for Goth too, no more brother to play with. Yikes.

Anonymous said...

Poor Thistle! He was a beautiful ram. I'm glad your husband was able and willing to keep the head for you. I have several of my favorite rams sitting on the front porch :)

Anonymous said...

Oh Thistle my goodness. The horns are so amazingly impressive. It is a tragic tale indeed.

KathyB. said...

Thank-you Mildred and Jo. It is hard to keep one ram, but TWO, a constant battle to keep them apart.

Pamela, yes, rams cannot be changed. They RAM ! And the force they hit with is beyond belief...and can be deadly for the shepherds too.I have a friend who was severely injured by her ram, once a cute little friendly bottle baby lamb. I cannot stress enough the COMMAND, Do NOT trust a ram!

Thank-you Megan !I like hearing that Whitney likes her little lamb comforter, and I can't wait to see what you all chose !

Poor, poor anonymous. Thank-you sweet daughter for taking care of so much for us when we go away. Again, we left you with a bit much and you did well. Sorry about your experience with Thistle, and Torque, and puppies, and.....I think the animals just know that when we are gone it is their chance for mishap and mayhem.

Yes Daisy and Noble Pig, it was sad. I did have plans for Thistle, but rams are so unpredictable.And yes, the horns on these brothers are amazing!

Thank-you Kathleen and I'm Being Held Hostage ( love that name )I guess though, the brothers solved my problem with figuring out where to house TWO rams .

Kenleigh Acres, Oh boy, your front porch just might be scary > I think I will have a wall dedicated to my rams and their horns. Torque, father of Thistle and Goth, will be coming home from the taxidermist in a few months.....

PeregrineBlue said...

how sad. yes, thistle was gorgeous. even in the animal kingdome it is the survival of the fittest. the altar you made for him with the pumpkins is so beautiful Kathy.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Oh, my, Kathy ... what a summer you have had. I'm so sorry that your little friend died, but am glad that you have something to remind you of him.

Thanks for the tip about the ragdoll kitties, I'll check them out.

Hope that all is going well,

Kathy M.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Kathy, I've always loved the Ezekiel story...I try and envision those dry bones rising up; God is awesome and I hate how that word has become so ordinary.

Kathy said...

Wow Kathy! Quite a tragic tale, but I do think you made the best of it and Thistle's horns are magnificent.
You do have a wonderful husband and I am sure will treasure the memory of Thistle for a very long time. Great Biblical connection.
God Bless,
Kathy

Eggs In My Pocket said...

Such beautiful creatures and nature unfortunately can be cruel. I love your words on this post. blessings, Kathleen

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh I am so sorry you had to go through this. We had a cow with horns once that accidently gored another cow who later died it is never nice. We never have horned cows around any more it could have easily been one of us. So sorry about your loss. B