Thursday, August 16, 2007

Friday Show and Tell.............................

Our son-by-love, Chip, a lamb, not sure which one, and me...........................
Today is Friday and it's Show and Tell Time over at Kelli's.............




Today, I want to tell you about my 'stock'...........my flock of pet sheep......they are a memory now but they were such a blessing while I had them.......

Once upon a time, many years ago, it was my dream to have sheep....I am an avid reader and my favorite books are those which have pastoral scenes with sheep grazing on the country side. The rock fences, I believe are called hahas, meandering through the hill side. I 've always thought they are such peaceful animals. They are mentioned so many times in the Bible and in parables. Our daughter, Amy, was dating a boy she met in college who lived in another state and had neighbors who raised sheep. Through him, I was able to purchase a bred ewe...... One of her lambs had won the Oklahoma State Lamb Show so we were told. We got her at Christmas. Several friends gave me a 'sheep shower'. Some of my gifts were a bale of hay, a baby book........

I read everything I could find about lambs being born...I wanted to a good shepherdess...I read about swinging them around by holding on to their legs if they weren't breathing when they were born to force air into their lungs, how to dock their tails, etc. Lambs are born with long tails resembling rope.

I was so excited awaiting the birth....I wanted to help her when the time came. I had company one rainy, cold day and we were in the kitchen having coffee. I looked out the kitchen window and thought I saw something small and gray. I ran to the sheep pen and do you know Baabaa had had that lamb right by herself without my help!.........It was a ram and we name him Rambo....He grew into a very big ram.....Once when I turned my back to him, he butted me to the ground. That was a mistake that I didn't make again. I have a picture of Rambo's first birthday cake with him wearing a party hat somewhere.....his round cake was oats held together with syrup. I carried the first lambs to the vet to have their tails docked. He let me hold them down for the procedure. Later, we docked them.
When I was carrying one to the vet, I always went by the nursing home. Most of the residents had never seen a newborn lamb. They have hard, knotted wool.

My husband with some of the sheep. We had several sets of twins......I have pictures of the sheep out in the tall, green grass that is so pretty, but I couldn't find them. I'll post them another time........
I'm holding one of the lambs and swinging with my daughter Mindy.........
Baabaa, my first sheep....this was her first Christmas picture with us...complete with Christmas wreath.....I have a big picture like this framed........Amy said unless you were a sheep or had gotten married (her sister had recently married) you didn't have a big picture hanging in our home.

One of our lambs....when our lambs were born, they were always given a name..one year they all had Bible names, another year they had herb names, one year I named them after ladies at church.......

Sheep are such interesting animals and creatures of habit...... we had an electric fence around a grazing area, when it was moved they would not go past where it had been. Once we had gone to see sheep being sheared and were told one could be sheared in ten minutes..when we sheared out first one, it was about 2 hours and she looked pitiful with tags of wool hanging here and there. Sheep shearers have the softest hands due to the lanolin in the wool.

When we moved away for seven years, I had to sell my sweet flock....it broke my heart....but we were going to shepherd one of God's flocks.........now that we are back on the farm, maybe one day there will be sheep in the sheep pen once again............

28 comments:

Pear tree cottage! said...

Betty what a lovely story I enjoyed reading it very much and laughed at the photos of such a close relationship between your sheep and you the "shepherdess" what a lovely time.....you I am sure will fill the sheep pen again one day.

Your story reminds me in many ways of our dream to have goats thinking we had bought 12 lovely goats at the auction bringning them home all the fmily very happy until the next morning the first two arrived ((smiles)) followed by two more them two more....etc. etc. yes they were all pregnant and all had twins......by the way the very first born was called Barbar, followed by Binpar etc. etc. what a great memory.

Thank you for the smiles.
Lee-ann

Sherry said...

What a great story and memory! I never knew they had anything other than short stubby tails!

Hootin Anni said...

Oh yes!! This brings back some fond memories for me! Docking the lambs' tails and all the lanolin and ticks too!!

Great story, and wonderful share.

My show and tell is posted.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful memories! They all look so cute. I love the clever ways you named them.

Bertha said...

How exciting! I just read a blog about spinning wool, and now I get to see where the wool comes from!

Thanks for sharing.

~MJ @ www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherjoy

jodi said...

This post has made me laugh. Thank you.

Marci said...

I love my sheep as well, so I understand. I wish the one picture with the wreath had showed up. It won't show up for me at all. Thanks for sharing. By the way, what sort of sheep were they?

Tina Leigh said...

Oh Betty I am sooo jealous! I have always wanted some too. Danny want let me have any! I love how you named them!!!

Susan said...

What a lovely, interesting Show & Tell about your sheep. I love it that you named them all and dressed them up some. Thanks for sharing. We are the sheep of HIS pasture. I just love that fact.
Susan

Kelli said...

Betty, I really enjoyed reading about your sweet sheep, they are beautiful! I love the Christmas photo! You were a very loving shepherdess and I hope you get to have some more sheep on your farm someday soon!
Kelli

Anonymous said...

What a sweet story about your sheep. I like the Christmas sheep also - too cute.

Susie said...

This was a fascinating show n tell!
Loved seeing all your sheep..
I always loved seeing baby lambs when we'd drive over to the coast!
:)

Cathy said...

Betty, That is such a sweet, interesting post. I love lambs and sheep. Thanks for sharing with us.

Tom said...

Lovely pictures and sweet reading

Carole Burant said...

I so enjoyed this story of how you came about to having sheep...I once saw a newborn lamb and I thought it looked so adorable. Loved all the pictures:-) xox

~Becca~Bluebird Rose said...

I especially like the picture of Baabaa with the Christmas wreath! Wonderful!
:)

LBP said...

What a great story. Have you ever read the book "Hollyhocks, Lambs, and other Passions" by Dee Hardie! It is such a great book about county living!

Linda

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

A very interesting show and tell! Wow. I want to know if the ladies in church knew you were naming lambs after them ;-)

Julieann said...

How very interesting----love the sheep:)

Julieann

Tammy said...

A lovely S&T...I'm ever so fond of (Lamb)s as that is my maiden name ;)
I've never had a bite of Lamb though and don't wanna!!
:)

Lyndy said...

Betty,

You are one interesting lady for sure. I loved all the pictures. Thanks for sharing and have a blessed weekend.

Hugs, Lyndy

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

Loved your interesting story! One of my favorite books is "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23" by Phillip Keller. He gave wonderful insight about sheep with analogies of how we humans are so like them at times!

Thank you!

Katherine

Myrna said...

What a great story! I can't imagine doing the shearing. That sounds like hard work to me!

Lallee said...

Betty, that is such a wonderful story!!! I just loved reading this and seeing the pictures. I've always thought sheep were wonderful animals. If I had ever had the right property, I know I would had to have had some. I never knew there tails were docked! It must have been very hard to leave them.

Ruth said...

Now, that is really neat!! I love how you named the lambs...especially after the ladies in the church. =o) I'm so glad you shared this story.

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

Hi, Betty, that's a great story of your lambs & sheep. Sounds like you really enjoyed it. Hope you can get more one day. They seem like peaceful animals. I've never spent much time around them, but they are pretty. I love wool clothing.

Love the remark your daughter made about having a big picture in the house!

Rhoda

HORIZON said...

This was a real interesting post Betty. Have never heard of a Sheep Shower before but it sounds like it would be fun :). Can just imagine how heartbroken you must have felt when it came time to sell. You were a wonderful shepherdess to your flock. I did a bit of family history and found a Shepherd in our family too- from Edinburgh way- l had often wondered what it would have been like- thanks for sharing.
That pic on the swing is something else! You never know - it could all be again ;)
hugs and bests
ps- l came to see if you had the Nice Matters Award because you were among my first choices for it- well deserved!! Pity someone got there before me.
Bests

Barbara said...

Hope yur very busy weekend went well, particularly the wedding reception. Loved your post about the lambs. OI wasthinking how young you look then realised that it was not a 'today' photo. Good to see some photos of you anyhow.
Wonder if you saw my post on the Jacob sheep at Pilgrims Hall in the spring. Blessings Friend.