Goth-Gawking

I took this picture late this afternoon. It is my old ram Goth who spent a week of his life almost every year at the Western Washington State Fair in the Animals of the World barn . Our exhibit was directly across the aisle from the zebras, zee-donks, yaks, and reindeer. Many thousands of people saw him and stared at him over the years and I watched hundreds of people photograph him.

Now that we've relocated to the other side of the mountains Goth is retired and enjoying life in a pasture situated in front of our new home. The gravel road that fronts our property is actually a well traveled road between our home and the hills and mountains across the road. Often I discover a vehicle parked in front of our place and see , yes, people gawking at Goth ! Goth still attracts attention even in his old age. ( Goth is 13 years old.) I hope he lives for many more years, I am quite fond of this old ram.

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.

Hush My Darlin' The Coyote Sleeps Tonight

I had two new lambs born today, and as I was outside tonight checking on them I heard a coyote barking . The coyote was so close that had there not been trees between myself and the coyote I would have easily seen it. I wondered what it would be like to be one of my sheep, hearing the coyote and knowing it lurked nearby, smelling my new lambs and knowing instinctively it will kill me given the chance. Then I wondered at the many centuries past and even in some places present where people also fear animal predators. I remembered the song "In The Jungle" and I hummed this song to myself substituting 'coyote' for 'lion' and 'lamb' for child. I don't think it helps the sheep though, they are helped by me being there to protect them. Unlike God, who never sleeps or slumbers in His watch and care of us, His sheep, I need sleep and sometimes the coyote gets a lamb, or my whole flock of ducks. " He who keeps you will not slumber." Psalm 121:3

Goth's Head Gear, Snack or Adornment?

"Hey, bahhhhhhh ! Look over here, ladies I am your ram. The ram with the studly head gear decked out with greenery. How can you resist me? " ( Goth wearing rugosa vines tangled in his horns)

"What about you Delilah? Like my head gear? " Delilah seems unimpressed.

"No one is paying attention to me. Oh well, if the ewes don't find you handsome at least they should find you tasty." And they did, the gals ate the rugosa leaves and vines off Goth's head shortly after I took these pictures. Then they resumed ignoring him. Guess breeding season is over for the gals. Poor Goth. A ewe lamb also got herself decked out in greenery and wore it for 2 days. We had to disentangle her from the rugosa because she wouldn't stand still for her flock mates to eat the leaves off her. You can see how sheep left un-sheared and allowed to roam large ranges , fields, and wooded areas can easily get tangled in thorns, briar patches, etc., that would allow them to be caught and eaten by predators or literally starve to death . Thorns grab the fleece and as the sheep struggles the thorns dig in even more thus causing the vines to tighten...horned sheep get caught in all sorts of bad situations .They can be caught in brush, fences, feeders and sometimes victims of clashes among each other leading to the horns piercing vital organs or causing internal bleeding. I love my horned sheep, but it is easy to see why over the centuries many shepherds have bred sheep to be hornless, or polled.

Letter From Iraq about Shepherds in the Middle East

Goth and His Harem ( above)

~A glimpse of shepherding in the Middle East, not much changed over the centuries.This is an excerpt from a letter I received in 2006 from our oldest son who was in Iraq, courtesy of the U.S.M.C. Knowing I love my sheep and am interested in sheep and shepherds he wrote......."one night I was looking through the thermals and about 1200 meters away there was a flock of about 1000 sheep down in a wadi and three huge hyenas were charging towards the flock and out of the middle of the flock came four dogs and attacked the hyenas. As soon as the hyenas took off about 20 dogs ( wild, feral ) came in to attack the sheep. The four guard dogs attacked them ( wild dogs ) but two of the wild dogs got a sheep . When the guard dogs got done with the pack of wild dogs they went to save the injured sheep and chased the last two wild dogs off. Meanwhile, the shepherd woke up and was standing there. It was pitch black out so he probably did not know what was going on, but he went to find the wounded sheep and all four dogs started to follow him. The shepherd pointed at the flock , it was too far for me to hear what he said, and if I could have heard him I wouldn't be able to understand him, but three of his dogs went back and posted and one followed him as he went out to look for his sheep. They never did find the sheep. I watched as the sheep limped off to the east, but when the shepherd got tired of looking he came back to his sheep and lay down in the middle of the flock and went to sleep.I guess it was warm in the middle of the 999 sheep, no...I don't know how many sheep there were, but when the shepherd lay down all four of his dogs posted. One to the north, one to the south, one to the east, and one to the west. Pretty neat to watch....." ~This shepherd, unlike The Shepherd, was unable to save the lost and injured sheep. "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10: 11-15 ~Just a comment about risking life for the sheep. My son told me some horror stories about the wild dogs and hyenas in the Middle East...and they are a threat to people, beyond anything we here in the U.S. are familiar with. So really, the shepherd and his dogs were shepherding at the risk of harm to themselves. Alas, there is only one perfect Shepherd!

~"And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall become one flock with one shepherd." John 10:16~

Excessively Tidy Momma

~This little ram lamb has a momma who is excessively, compulsively, tidy, and that can lead to some serious problems for little boys of all species...it has not been a good thing for this little guy. Isn't he cute? ~But look at his tail......it is hard to see, but his momma has cleaned the flesh right off his little tail and there are at least 2 inches of bare bloody bone showing. The poor momma keeps cleaning off the dripping blood so compulsively that she creates more blood which needs more cleaning which takes off more flesh which...you get the picture! ( note the yearling ram in background. He has battered down the boards that are kitty-wampus) ~It all started this afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was skirting wool ( sorting through sheared fleeces and picking out debris and clumps, etc., before washing) and I heard the unmistakable bleating of a new lamb. Yay! I could tell Sassafras was going to lamb so had been keeping watch. I was pleasantly surprised to see twins! Twin ram ( boy ) lambs. Sassafras was doing a good job of cleaning and mothering. She was a good momma last year and is fiercely protective of her lambs. I was not worried and went back to skirting wool. ~I checked up on the lambs every 20 minutes or so and ..hmmmm.....there is a bit more blood than I am used to seeing on new born lambs, but they were up and about and seemed fine. They were trying to nurse and Sassafras was squatting to accommodate them. O. K. I'll get more work done. ~Then I saw the bone showing at the end of both lambs tails. Uh oh! So, I brought them into the house and Hubby and I banded the tails, that is, we put very tight rubber bands made especially for lambs tail and testicles, on the tails just 3 inches down from the spine. This would stop the bleeding and eventually the tail will fall off. I normally don't do this til the lambs are 3 days old, but this little guy would continue bleeding all night and that can't be a good thing. I dipped the tails ends into a strong iodine solution and gave the little lambs a squirt of nutritional supplement and let them rest in a basket in our laundry room for awhile. ~It is dark out, the chickens are sleeping on their roosts. I take the lambs back out to Sassafras who is screaming and battering the gate to her pen, trying to get to her lambs.

~Here she is, checking out the new addition to her lambs' tails. She is also licking the tail. ~Sassafras, STOP THAT !~

~"Are you talking to me ? " ~

~The bleeding seems to have stopped, the boys are bedding down. This Momma has even cleaned up all the birth matter. Most of my sheep leave it for me to clean up. ~I have had momma dogs excessively clean their newborns and start in on little legs....I stopped it and it never led to maiming or death, but sheep are not carnivores. So eating the flesh is a bit of extreme cleaning. Lanny had a case of such excessive lamb cleaning that they ended up with 2 little special needs lambs. ~Miss Marple is supervising the activity in the lambing shed. All is well for now. She has vermin and spiders to catch. It is time for me to go inside, and I'll be back out later to check in on Sassafras and her boys. Good thing they're sheep, or they'd end up in therapy groups later on, blaming all their problems on their excessively tidy mom. Blessings: lambs, a peaceful evening in the lambing shed

Shearing Spotted Sheep

~Hey, no, not HAY, I said "hey", girls....come on into the shed to get your wool done.A little clip and your coats will be like new...awww, come on in, please ? "In levying taxes and in shearing sheep it is well to stop when you get down to the skin." Austin O'Malley

~Dirt is here to shear 5 of my ewes who are due to lamb sometime soon, at least according to what my very own eyes spied them doing with Goth, January and February are the months my lambs should be arriving. Yes, it is cold, but they can take it!~"It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not skin them." Tiberius

~Dirt sheared 5 ewes and gave them their overeaters' shots. He sheared 5 of my sheep in an hour, it would have taken me all day to shear one. As he finished taking the fleece (wool) off a sheep, his daughter Bet and I would skirt the fleece. That is, we would take or pick out of the wool all the undesirable things, mats, clumps of manure, hay, etc., and then I would bag the fleece to be washed and dyed later. ~Oh the indignity of it all ! Naomi has her head right in a sensitive area of Dirt's anatomy. You can just imagine the uncomfortable position Dirt finds himself in when he shears Goth. Although, the ewes have some mighty pointed horns and they are sharp. Dirt has not been harmed by my sheep that I am aware of and he has been shearing my flock for quite a few years now. ~My naked flock of Jacob Sheep! I was glad to find that under all their wool they were in good shape, not too thin, not too fat. The ewes all have begun to udder up, which means their udders are filling with the colostrum and milk for their lambs. My poor naked girls, they are huddled under the heat lamp I hung for them.

~"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth." Isaiah 53:7

~Blessings: sheep, wool, Dirt: friend AND shearer, Bet ~