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| I was raking leaves again today. |
I am almost there, I finished the conduit in the ditch today. I was of course one piece short and had to run to town. I bought six sticks. I was not making another trip and the more I thought about the power under the bridge I realized that there might not be any conduit in place. When I tore out the old bridge I took out the conduit and we have had nonfunctioning walkway decorator lights for the last five years. I got the ditch all filled in and smoothed out, the new wiring all in place to the edge of the driveway. I headed back to the bridge and crawled under it and discovered no conduit. I am going to have to install two electrical boxes and a few pieces of conduit. I was short one box so requested it from the child who was going to town with Annmarie.
Earlier in the day Annmarie spotted another baby lamb. Our second one, it is all black with a white spot on its forehead. We are incredibly happy with the coloring and health of both babies. No twins yet but hopefully that will pick up. Annmarie and I went out into the ram pasture and Oreo came running over for scratches. Annmarie obliged him and then turned to go see the baby. He snuck up behind her and head butted her. She was not amused. If this has never happened to you before it is very funny if you are not the one getting head butted. If you are it is very painful and can put you on the ground. So she gave him the boot, he tried a few times but neither of them could connect. He finally gave up and walked over to me for scratches. I obliged and then as Annmarie got closer to the baby I quit paying attention to him and was trying to see over all the other sheep when I got this huge slamming head into the middle of my left thigh. I had an instant charlie horse hence the reason they teach this move in self defense courses. I was quicker and the ram was closer, so my right foot connected with his ribs. He hardly noticed but the top of my right foot started to ache instantly. We managed to get out of the pasture without any more instances. For those of you that don't know this behavior is bad. It puts any human who goes around the ram at risk. Its because he is so tame that makes him a risk. We like the fact that we can pet and handle him, he just needs to learn that he cannot head butt us for attention. I talked about sanding down an old broken shovel handle to put out in the barn just in case. At one point while looking for tools for the bridge job I found an old handle about 18 inches long with a flat cut on one end. I sanded it down on the sander and set it down in the shed. I thought I was overreacting and it would all work out in the end.
I cleaned up some of my tools, then mounted an old cast iron bell from Grandma and Grandpa's front porch onto the porch of our old house. I decided I was done for the day and would put the sheep to bed in the barn. All the sheep but the two mommas and babies went into the barn. I took the dogs out but Mouse got excited to see the babies so he had to stay on the hillside. I went down and ended up carrying the new little boy to the barn. I locked the barn door and started to feed the sheep. I was being cautious and watching the ram but he was not trying to head butt me. I was about 60% done distributing the hay when all of a sudden I was rammed in my right thigh!! I turned the pitchfork around and smacked the ram up alongside the head. Now both thighs were burning! He didn't try anything else, I went to the old house and grabbed that sanded handle and tossed it next to the barn so it can go inside the barn. The handle is so short that the ram can only get smacked if he is purposefully trying to get to you. He needs some negative reinforcement. I like him and would like to keep him for at least three years but we cannot have him sneaking up on us and head butting us randomly. It's not safe, wait until there is mud on the ground or ice and he head butts you, it will not be a pretty picture.
The top of my right foot is killing me, I may have to not wear my boots tomorrow.
Earlier in the day Annmarie spotted another baby lamb. Our second one, it is all black with a white spot on its forehead. We are incredibly happy with the coloring and health of both babies. No twins yet but hopefully that will pick up. Annmarie and I went out into the ram pasture and Oreo came running over for scratches. Annmarie obliged him and then turned to go see the baby. He snuck up behind her and head butted her. She was not amused. If this has never happened to you before it is very funny if you are not the one getting head butted. If you are it is very painful and can put you on the ground. So she gave him the boot, he tried a few times but neither of them could connect. He finally gave up and walked over to me for scratches. I obliged and then as Annmarie got closer to the baby I quit paying attention to him and was trying to see over all the other sheep when I got this huge slamming head into the middle of my left thigh. I had an instant charlie horse hence the reason they teach this move in self defense courses. I was quicker and the ram was closer, so my right foot connected with his ribs. He hardly noticed but the top of my right foot started to ache instantly. We managed to get out of the pasture without any more instances. For those of you that don't know this behavior is bad. It puts any human who goes around the ram at risk. Its because he is so tame that makes him a risk. We like the fact that we can pet and handle him, he just needs to learn that he cannot head butt us for attention. I talked about sanding down an old broken shovel handle to put out in the barn just in case. At one point while looking for tools for the bridge job I found an old handle about 18 inches long with a flat cut on one end. I sanded it down on the sander and set it down in the shed. I thought I was overreacting and it would all work out in the end.
I cleaned up some of my tools, then mounted an old cast iron bell from Grandma and Grandpa's front porch onto the porch of our old house. I decided I was done for the day and would put the sheep to bed in the barn. All the sheep but the two mommas and babies went into the barn. I took the dogs out but Mouse got excited to see the babies so he had to stay on the hillside. I went down and ended up carrying the new little boy to the barn. I locked the barn door and started to feed the sheep. I was being cautious and watching the ram but he was not trying to head butt me. I was about 60% done distributing the hay when all of a sudden I was rammed in my right thigh!! I turned the pitchfork around and smacked the ram up alongside the head. Now both thighs were burning! He didn't try anything else, I went to the old house and grabbed that sanded handle and tossed it next to the barn so it can go inside the barn. The handle is so short that the ram can only get smacked if he is purposefully trying to get to you. He needs some negative reinforcement. I like him and would like to keep him for at least three years but we cannot have him sneaking up on us and head butting us randomly. It's not safe, wait until there is mud on the ground or ice and he head butts you, it will not be a pretty picture.
The top of my right foot is killing me, I may have to not wear my boots tomorrow.
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