Oh How the Mighty Are Humbled, ( Goth gets fleeced)

~Yoo hoo, Goth! Time to get a hair cut! Even big bad boys need haircuts once in awhile.~

~Hubby and I cornered Goth, and using his horns as handles, walked him to the shed for Dirt to shear him and the rest of the flock that were not sheared in January. And of course, it was cold and rainy today, so there are some pitifully naked sheep huddling together under the heat lamp tonight. In the picture above, Hubby is holding Goth's horn while Dirt starts shearing. ~Dirt is almost done with Goth here, but look at Goth's horns wrapped around Dirt's waist. Dirt made a comment about forgetting his Flak Jacket today...... ~Here is another picture of Goth's horns tucked up against my Hubby. The horns are very pointy and hard and can cause a lot of damage with just a turn of the ram's head. Dirt knows what he is doing though and to my knowledge has not been hurt by any of my Jacob sheep while shearing them.

~Look at all the wool from Goth! He had quite a nice and plentiful fleece, not any more!~

~Anna , Bet and Lanny came along to visit while we skirted the fleeces . Anna is holding one of the lambs while it's momma is being sheared. Aren't they all 3 cute? ( Anna is the most sensibly dressed for the weather.~

~Oh how the mighty is humbled...and naked! And probably cold tonight.~

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

" Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:1

Sheep Midwifery, And Good Friends

~I am holding a lamb prior to Hubby tagging her ear and banding her tail. ~

~I checked out my sheep while I drank my morning coffee and saw Naomi acting strangely.She was pushing against the shelter panels.~

~Oh, she was going to have her lamb! I watched as she pushed out some birth matter, then eagerly awaited the gushing out of a new lamb. I waited, and waited, and watched Naomi have big contractions, pace around, baa, lay down and roll and baa some more. Hmmm, this went on for awhile. Oh no, I was home alone and I knew I needed help. Someone to help me catch Naomi and check her out. ~I am so blessed to have some of the best friends and neighbors. I called Lanny ( from It's the Dirt) and even though she is sick, she rushed over with her daughters Bet ( from Paddle In the Pond) and Anna ( Terriers and Tabbies ) ! Bet and Anna helped me corner and catch Naomi who could run pretty fast in spite of her distress. I held Naomi while Bet carefully checked out Naomi's interior nursery and she discovered the big lamb was breech. Bet manipulated the lamb's feet into a good position and carefully pulled her out. She was big for a Jacob lamb. Then Anna suctioned the excess mucous out of the nostrils and mouth with one of those little suction thingys , grabbed the lamb by the back legs and swung her around her ( Anna's ) head. This action helps force the mucous out of the lungs and mouth and nose, allowing the lamb to breathe. This works well as long as you don't let the slippery lamb fly out of your hands. I usually wrap a towel around the legs before I do this. This action also works for distressed newborn puppies and goats. ~Naomi was pretty tired and at first ignored her lamb. Oh no, I am going to be gone for the weekend and Hubby doesn't need to deal with a bottle baby. I left Naomi alone with her lamb for awhile and when I checked back, she was cleaning her lamb off.

~The little lamb is a noisy girl, but she was not up and around. I squirted some nutritional supplement into her mouth and stood her up. ~

~She wobbled and wavered, but remained standing! Tonight Mom and lamb are doing well!~ ~I am so grateful this happened while I was home, that I have such great friends , that THEY were home too and willing and able to rush over and help. In the 17 + years I have kept Jacob sheep, I have only had to assist 3 or 4 ewes with lambing. I would have been very sad to have lost Naomi due to lambing problems. She is one of my favorite ewes. "There are numerous breeds of multiple horned sheep throughout the world. Of the eighteen breeds mentioned by A.R.Werner in 'An Enquiry Into The Origins of the Piebald or Jacob Sheep', thirteen of them are known to have the polycerate ( multi horned) trait. Many of the spotted , horned breeds of Europe had become extinct by the turn of the 20th century."JACOB SHEEP IN AMERICA by Ingrid Painter Blessings: good friends, healthy lambs and ewes

Storm 2006:Friendship,Gift From the Heart

~Storm of 2006~~This was the front of our Christmas cards that winter. I think it was very considerate of the tree removal company to decorate their truck for me. The tree service came out the next day after the storm and after surveying the damage, set on a time the NEXT day to remove the tree. We were very grateful to be so high on the list, as all tree removal companies in the Pacific Northwest were overworked and had long, long waiting lists of people needing their services. I will tell you, Mac's Tree Service of Yelm, WA is the greatest, and amazingly did not break the skylight windows while removing the 2 trees stuck in, around and outside the windows.

~The first morning after the storm , Hubby's younger brother came over with the biggest blue tarp I had ever seen this side of a circus tent! He actually owned this tarp. In the still very windy and wet and cold weather, he and Hubby wired that tarp over the roof, and I mean, it covered the roof, and even the tree on the roof. This really saved our home and contents, because it pretty much stormed on and off for months after . I could not watch them on the roof, for worry about their safety! Thank-you David, very much!( picture above is of Hubby's brother David and his wife Margie with our granddaughters ) ~Here below is Dirt and Lanny, see It's The Dirt . Dirt and Lanny were over right away with their own personal work crew. I cannot begin to tell you how much work and self-sacrifice was evidenced by this family. Although they did not have any trees on their home, they had numerous trees down all around their home. Plus, this was Christmas time. We were supposed to be in the thick of Christmas shopping and buying and baking ( you can bake even without power ). And hey, they had a generator so could have even been watching the Christmas specials on T.V. But nope, they came over with a chain saw, work gloves, and worked and worked until all the trees fallen all over our property were cut up and the big chunks of wood were hauled ( by them ) to a spot by the garage. We also had an enormous bon-fire burning the debris."A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." Len Wein

~Dirt and Lanny's daughter Bet, Paddle In The Pond . Bet works as hard, or harder than many young men now a days. She too was hauling debris, huge branches, and worked non-stop til the job was done." It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they WILL help us." Epicures

~Here is Dirt and Lanny's other daughter, Anna Colleen, Terriers and Tabbies.

Anna hauled a lot of tree parts, wood, and debris also. You cannot ever put a price on the value of friends like these. The word 'priceless' is pretty much overused I think and somehow that negates the true value of the word...PRICELESS !

~Our son-in-law Tom, A.Joy At Home, came over with his chain saw and work gloves, and immediately began working. He and our daughter and grand kids had just the night of the raging storm, moved out of the tent they were living in( and had lived in for months) into the not quite finished new home being built on their property because the storm was wreaking havoc on their tent / home. This was literally in the nick of time because their tent was destroyed and they would have been injured or worse had they toughed it out in the tent. But here was Tom, helping us when there was a great deal to do at their home, and storm damage to clean up. ~"May God give you....for every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer." Irish Blessing God gave us so much that year, and into the next, these friends and family have been there in very difficult times and our family and friends have been so kind as to surround us with prayers and encouragement. These are the TRUE GIFTS of GOD, and because of His Son, these people are who and what they are.....kind, forgiving, self sacrificing..... ~Our home today, in the snow. Look, no holes in the roof !We do still have a lot of landscaping to re-do. We had hundreds of Hostas and our landscaping was designed for shade, now we have full sun all around our home. New plants and trees, new buildings,new adventures in life. Thank-you dear friends and family and the many who brought us containers of water and meals and encouragement and prayers !

~Consider it all joy , my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." James 1:2 and " Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. ."James 1:17