New Year's Day on the Farm

Sorry, no pictures of this adventure. We found out early in 2008 that Chocolate Bar had figured out how to open the gate latch. He's very talented with his horns. I'm hoping he can't figure out how to get the new carabiners off. Yes, plural, he also generously opened the gate for the girls.

I looked out the office window and what did I see? 6 sheep wandering around the orchard, exploring the new space. They were quite content and if they weren't so close to a place with no fence between them and the road, I probably wouldn't have been so concerned. As it was, we all grabbed our coats and boots and split up. My granddaughter and I headed to the road to come between them and any traffic, while my husband headed to the barn for a little pan of oats.

I barely had time to get to the driveway, much less the road, when I saw the sweetest sight. A nice single file line of sheep following my husband into the girls fence. Once they were all in, it wasn't too hard to get Largo and Chocolate Bar and move them back into their own pen.

I knew we were completely smitten with these little cuties when, even as we were working to get them back in the fence, we were laughing about how cute they are and how much we love them. I've worked with farm animals off and on since I was a child helping my parents and I had never before enjoyed a day when the livestock got out. Something about the difference between a sheep that I can pick up and a 1000 lb cow trampling the landscaping around the house . . .
Give me a little Shetland sheep any day!

Now it's off to the studio to spin up some yarn for that hat I promised to make.