Skull and Horns, Tragic Tale of Two Brothers

~~~Poor Thistle, this is all I have of him, his skull, complete with his amazing four horns! He died a tragic death at the tender age of 16 months. Victim of his brothers violence!~~~

~"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.

Spot on Spotted ( Jacob ) Rams

~Above is a picture of one of the first Jacob rams I kept here on Cedar Pond. Cedar Pond's Abel,( only a few months old when this picture was taken ) on the left, was a triplet son of my first and oldest Jacob sheep ewe, Maple Creek Joy.Joy died of old age when she was 17 years old. Did you know sheep could live that long ?I had Joy here at Cedar pond for 15 years of her life and still have some of her great-grandchildren. Anyway, look closely at Abel. For some reason, this ram was always decked out in greenery. I used this picture one year as my Christmas card photo. " Deck the horns with boughs of blackberry, baa ,baa ,baa ,baa ,baa....

~Here is Abel, several years older, again decked in greenery!~

~And again! I don't have any other rams who will walk around for days wearing their boughs of fir, blackberry, etc. For one thing, any sheep wearing greenery immediately finds flock mates walking alongside them , munching on the greenery until it is gone. So Abel needed to keep clear of snacking sheep to keep his finery.Note Abel's horns. My daughter-in-law Breezy called it the "Elvis thing going on with his horns". ~This is another ram I purchased from Swallow Lane Jacobs when he was only 5 months old. He grew very large horns very fast. I named him Swallow Lane Torque, and I named him Torque, meaning "a necklace, amulet, or collar, worn especially by ancient Gauls, Britons, and Germans, twisted collar" Funk & Wagnalls. I think a collar of horn qualifies as a torque. However, the many men who viewed Torque at the Puyallup Fair thought his name represented 'torque' in other ways.

~Cedar Pond's Thistle, a son of Torque, was killed by his brother.....~

~Cedar Pond's Goth. This is Goth at only 4 or 5 months old.~

~This is Goth now. He is the father of........~

~Cedar Pond's Vandal! This is Vandal at only 7 months of age. He looks very much like his grandpa Torque.~

~Goth says: " I am still THE ram on Cedar Pond!"

"Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and offered him up for a burnt offering in place of his son." Genesis 22:13