Sheep Headed For New Brunswick

As promised, here are the pictures taken by Allison Taylor when she and Cathy Gallivan visited here last Saturday.
Even though there was lots of lush grass in the paddock that I sorted them into ... all that interested them ... was a weathered pile of last year's hay. Go figure, eh!
And ... once again here is the link to Sheep Canada Magazine ... Cathy Gallivan, new Shetland owner's ... informative magazine.





This little spotted gulmoget was a last minute addition. I am keeping her dam, who is almost identical.

Sheep Canada Magazine

On the weekend, my new friends, Cathy Gallivan from New Brunswick, and Allison Taylor from eastern Ontario, came to look at sheep. Cathy bought a NICE group as a starter flock. They will be shipped to her after breeding season as they will be exposed to six Shetland rams prior to that.

Allison also took some GREAT pictures, which I will post later.

Cathy is the editor/publisher of a great magazine ... Sheep Canada. I recommennd it highly to folks on both sides of the border. I have added a link here ... and in my side bar. Do have a look and consider a subscription ... especially since she is now a Shetland owner ... :-)

Sheep ... Finally ... ;-)

Well ... as promised ... a blog entry about sheep ... :-) Of course, this is only because I forgot to take my camera when I went to visit Will yesterday ... ;-)

It is my plan to set up breeding groups this weekend ... with Matt's help, of course, as my leg is still not healed ... grrrr. I will be using six Shetland rams on 40 Shetland ewes. This is Bramble Nick. I like him a lot. He will have just six ewes this Fall ... but ... he will be here for a while, I expect.
Underhill Thelonius Monk is the ram who got me down and dragged me when I hurt my leg. OK, so I could have let go ... but ... I'm just not as comfortable with him as I once was. He is sold and will be leaving here in mid December ... but before he goes, he will get 10 of my ewes to breed ... ;-)
Lugthart Starry Champion is an older guy ... but I like him. He will have two ewes in his group.
V Creek Hummer is a double patterned ram (gulmoget and katmoget). Every lamb he throws will be one or the other ... unless they are ED. I am using him to determine if some of my AI babies are ED or not. He will have seven ewes in his group. This is not the best picture of this dude. He is VERY square and correct ... and his fleece is awesome. I expect that he'll be here for a while as well.
WillowGarden Kilimanjaro is an F1 Glayva spotted katmoget ram. I'd be happier if he were bigger ... but I like him enough to breed him this Fall with eight ewes. I am hoping that he will grow into my replacement for Thelonius.WillowGarden Nelson, pictured here as a lamb, is an F1 Hornblower. He is also smaller than I wish that he was ... but will be used this Fall on eight ewes. His fleece and conformation are AWESOME!

I will also be breeding five Shetlands and five BFLs to my three BFL boys. I'm looking forward to seeing the Shetland mules. They should be impressive!

Guess Who?

My daughter-in-law Kerri sent me these today. I'll post sheep pictures soon ... I promise. I DO have breeding groups planned and almost ready to set up ... so ... there is that to look forward too ... but ...
is there a more beautiful sight than these two?

:-)

Guess Where I Went Again Today ... ;-)?

He is so very beautiful ... *sigh*

You Are So Beautiful To Me

When my son was born, it was a cold, desolate day near the end of Feb. It was one of those days when the cold sets in after a thaw, and there is no snow anywhere. The world is just brown and dull.

Chris’ birth was induced due to complications, and up until he was born and a few quick tests performed, we were unsure if he would make it.

In those days, dads didn’t stay with Moms at the hospital … so, I waited until I got word from the doctors that Christopher William Stearman was indeed absolutely perfect and healthy … and I went home … filled with love for my new son.

When I got outside, the world was covered with a blanket of snow … those big fluffy white flakes of snow that stick to everything. My car was at the back of the parking lot, under a tree and near a light. I sat in my car for a moment and marvelled at the beauty … of the night … and of my son.

Then I turned on my car and the radio came on. The song playing was Joe Cocker … “You Are So Beautiful”. To this day, I still feel the warmth of the tears that I shed listening to that song, in that parking lot.

I tell this story a lot … and it has always embarrassed my son.

Yesterday, I gave him a ‘Joe Cocker’s Greatest Hits’ CD. I told him some night, when the house is quiet, and he is alone … to play that song … and think about nothing more than Will, his son. I told him that once he had done that … he’d understand exactly why I love to tell my story.

Both my son … and my Grandson … truly are sooooo beautiful to me …

You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can't you see
You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful
To me

You are so wonderful
To me
You are so wonderful
To me
Can't you see
You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so wonderful
To me

You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can't you see
You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful
To me

Will

What an amazing, emotional, and spiritual experience it is to hold your first grand child ... for the first time.

This BEAUTIFUL and absolutely perfect young man is William Elliott Stearman ... Will.
As you can see ... we have made an awesome connection ... :-)
I'll write more later ... and share more pictures ... but for now ... I just want to enjoy the wonderfulness of having met my Grandson ... and get some work done ... so that I can stop crying ... ;-)

This truly is a new level of love for me ... *sigh*

Welcome to ... William Elliott Stearman

Well ... at 6:05 AM today ... my grandson, William Elliott Stearman ... entered the world. After a pretty uncomplicated labour, it was discovered that Will was breech (hard to imagine such behaviour from a grandchild of mine ... ;-) ... so he was delivered via C-section.

All are fine ... healthy ... and happy. Because Kerri is uncomfortable from the surgery, I didn't drive to Toronto to visit this dear young man tonight ... and his parents. I WILL get there ASAP and get some pictures. And hold him ... smell him ... feel him ... love him.

Above is my daughter-in-law, Kerri, after just finishing Will's room, not long ago. What a wonderful young woman she is! I love her to bits ... as I do my son ... and I am so very happy for them both.

And of course ... just to think about my grandson ... makes my eyes fill with love ... :-)

Life is soooooo very good.

*sigh*
:-)

Casey's Big Day

Last year, for my AI experience, I had to have a 'true' teaser ram ... IE one that had been given a vasectomy.

Casey had his ... on a bale of straw ... in the back yard ... with an audience ... last Thanksgiving.

I don't think that he was too happy about it last year, but this year ... he will be glad that he went through that ordeal.This morning, WITH GENE'S HELP, I separated Casey out of the big boy flock ... and put him in with the ewe flock. As you can see ... he was a HAPPY boy.

I do have many ewes that are TOTALLY discussed that I have done this too them! But ... I want a tight lambing season this year ... and I have Casey anyway ... so why not use him?

I hope to sort the ewes into breeding groups ... and move in the rams ... on November 1st, which is two weeks earlier than usual. My goal is for lambing to be done by the end of April.

Hmmmm ... that would free up some time for getaways with the Boler and my new kayaks ... which I haven't yet used because of this leg! Getaways ... during the week ... before school is out and the Parks fill with kids and crowds ... ;-)

Life ... is good.

Healing Nicely ... FINALLY!

It has been a long and painful haul ... but I think I am on the home stretch here.

I didn't manage to stay off my leg very well for the first few days ... and because of taking pain pills, I had no 'feeling' as to how bad it was. I cut my leg on a Thursday night. I went to work the next day ... then wormed the flock on Saturday ... and took fleece samples on Sunday.

By this time, my leg and foot would swell until I couldn't put on shoes and the 'redness' kept inching up my leg. I went to the Doctor and he put me on antibiotics. A week later, I went back to get stitches out and it was still infected. The stitches came out anyway ... and I went back on antibiotics.

As you can see below, the wound is almost healed ... hardly any redness ... and mostly dried up ... and there is almost no swelling by the end of the day.

I will be soooooooooo glad to have my full mobility back. I am a VERY poor patient ... hehehe