Stewart Creek Somethings: New Lamb

I went out to lock the sheep up last night at 2220 (normally I remember to remind the child to do this but I forgot, so I got to do it). I took my Walther P-22 out with me as I am at war with the chicken predators. Once our chocolate lab saw the gun (doesn't matter what kind) she was pushing her way to the door so she did not get left behind. We toured the chicken coop yard first to make sure all was quite then went to lock up the sheep. Unfortunately, all my traps were empty at the chicken yard.

Once we crossed the creek and headed up to the barn the dog started throwing a hissy and whining and bugging something on the ground. I flashed the light that way and spotted an adult sheep running away from the dog and the dog trying to lick and step on a new baby lamb! I went over and picked the lamb up and told the dog to look for another one. She ran around but did not find another baby. The mother had ran into the barn with the rest of the sheep. I stuck the baby in the barn and waited for momma to come claim it. She did so I went back inside and informed Annmarie. We decided that we had better start locking the sheep up right at darkness. It had only been about 2.5 hours since the sun had gone down when she had her baby.

Baby boy 16 hours old

Baby boy

This morning Sarah went out to check the gender of the lamb just before school (soaked her shoes through) and came back in to tell me that it was another little boy! He won't be ready to go until Jan-Mar 2012. I think we still have four more really pregnant moms.

Annmarie and I went and purchased a washer/dryer since ours went out over the holidays. I can remember when they used to last 20 years! Not anymore. So I have to disconnect the old ones today and then make a trip to the laundromat to catch up on laundry (Annmarie is out of socks, again).

I went out to the chicken coop at lunch today, patrolling for predators, and the back creek is running! The rain is coming off the mountains in spades. Of course when the clouds cleared and I got a look at the mountains they are totally white again. So I spent an hour raising my fence out of the water so it doesn't get ripped out by the flooding waters. As usual I had wired the fence to a cross wire in the middle of the stream. I had to hang on to the top of the panel, crawl out on the panel over the water then lean back to reach down to the water level to unwrap the wire. I am hanging backwards and facing the dark muddy water rushing underneath me. It is very disorienting. I had to concentrate on the wire and ignore the visual effects I was getting from the roaring water. I trudged up the creek to the other fence crossing and had a log jammed into the fence. I couldn't pull it out due to the water volume/speed, so I had to trudge back to the shed and bring the ax back to the fence. I chopped the tree loose and pulled it up onto the side of the hill well away from the water line. At this rate my chicken yard might get flooded. As long as it doesn't rip out my chicken fence all will be well.