little sprouts

the weekend was hot - in the upper 80's. the ewes and lambs were lazy, relaxing in the shade of fig trees for a good part of the day. it was too hot to graze until later in the afternoon. the rams continue to loiter near their shed, even when we tried moving their alfalfa breakfast to the front of the yard. i'm not really sure why they're not compelled to graze. for the first time in awhile the grass in the front is growing long and might require (gasp) a mowing. as soon as the lambs are weaned, we'll cut down on the alfalfa rations. hopefully that will motivate them to move around.

at 9 weeks, i've broken the ice with ben. he's finally brave enough to approach and let me scratch his head. it's amazing that skittle always has the friendliest lambs, year after year (i guess it shouldn't be a surprise, since she is the friendliest ewe). the other lambs watch and come near, but won't let me touch them for any extended period. abby seems the most curious, and has gone as far as approaching to sniff my foot, so hopefully she will get more gregarious with time.

i finally started some seeds. planted last year's tomato seeds - along with some zucchini, cukes and eggplant - in some old nursery packs, using our compost. then, placed the packs on a cookie sheet and set them in front of the french doors in the brown room. they're growing well - already an inch or two high, and hopefully ready to plant in a couple of weeks when i have the garden ready for action. hoeing, weeding and dumping compost were too much for me to attempt this weekend!

neighbor jim came by with debbie and their 2 grandkids to see the lambs. it was good to see them, and always fun to have kids around. we drank lemonade, bribed the sheep to come closer with some 4-way, and let the kids collect eggs from the nests. jim had called us the day before, when his neighbor (a somewhat disreputable real estate agent who reminds me of the guy in the enzyte commercials) was having a yard sale where he was offloading some "historical" objects bought from the previous owners of our property at a yard sale. mr. enzyte was selling "pieces of sylmar history" - an old dolly and an olive crate - for fifty dollars, and suggested that jim could sell them to us for double the price (though i'm sure mr. e bought them for five bucks, tops). despite being "disgusted" (jim's word - a good one), he bought them for us, so now they're coming home.

a couple from temecula stopped by to look at the sheep on sunday. they own a vineyard, and had heard about babydolls for weed control, so were looking into buying a pair. i tried to discourage them from buying a single sheep when they proposed it, as sheep don't do well solo. they didn't seem sure about what they wanted, and said they'd get back to me this week with a decision. i'm sure it's daunting to think about owning livestock when you already have a vineyard to tend.

it was perfect bbq weather, and quyen invited me over for a burger on sunday afternoon, and i arrived with 3 cartons of fresh eggs - including an 18-pack of bantam eggs for her son to dye for easter. quyen's almost 4 months pregnant, and hoping to avoid another tragedy by not working for the duration of her pregnancy. she did, however, offer to come by with her tool box to help me fix a worn-out pipe near the main hose bib. i tried to tighten it on saturday night, only to have it blow off and explode in a gusher of water. since that connection feeds the hoses that provide water for all of the animals, i'm reluctant to attempt a fix myself. i'm not a mechanical person (massive understatement!), so i don't trust myself with repairs that involve water, gas or electricity.

spring ahead

this morning before work, i gave a lamb a bath in the laundry room sink. michelle carried her from the shed to the house and we scrubbed her backside in soapy water. she didn't seem to mind it much, though she did run (bleating the whole way) back to her mom afterwards. spring is here, the weather's been warmer and the flies are out, so we have to pay more attention to flystrike. we usually spray the sheep down in the morning and evening with a citronella-laced pyrethrin-based solution. pyrenthrin's an insecticide derived from daisies and chrysanthemums, and is awesome against flies while being animal-friendly. time to install some of those nasty fly traps around the pens, too - those dreaded baggies that you fill with water. they smell awful, but they do work well.

james left town a couple of weeks ago, and we managed to shear the rams the weekend before he went. i had our blades sharpened in advance at east valley feed, and ordered another shearing comb, along with some replacement parts for the shearing head. rather than putting the sheep on a stacion as we've done in past years, james wanted to shear them on the ground. i have newfound respect for professional shearers, who sit the sheep on their rears and shear while holding them vertical - in under two minutes. i was just holding them up, and it felt like the weight of the world was on my thighs. i'll admit that i fell down more than once. guess i need to do some squats and lunges before next spring, as my muscles were sore for a week afterwards. fortunately, it was cool and cloudy, so we finished all four in one day (not as easily done in the heat). mostly finished, i should say - as levi got a lion cut because he wouldn't stand still. i'll shear the ewes once their lambs are weaned, in may or june. they're usually easier to manage. usually. hopefully. good times await!

vaccinations are done for the year. the lambs had their last shots, and the rams had their boosters (hallelujah, no more vet bills every two weeks!). everyone seems healthy, though the rams seem lazier than usual. i'm chalking it up to the rain, wind and cooler weather that was with us for awhile. as i was getting ready to leave for the office, scooter and the rest of the rams ventured to the front of the property for a rare appearance. they've been loitering near the shed all day, every day, munching on alfalfa and bermuda grass, trying to out-nudge each other (and probably playing cards and smoking when i'm not watching). they can't be bothered to graze. by contrast, the ewes are out of the shed like a shot in the mornings, sprinting to the front of the property for fallen oranges and grapefruits, or a treat of scratch grains. sometimes they stand next to the chicken coop and yell loudly for awhile, thinking it'll get them a handful of scratch. usually, it does. when it doesn't, they roam away to graze for the rest of the day.

the compost bins are filling up. if the weather's nice on sunday, i'll dump some of the ripe stuff in the garden. i really need to start some seedlings. the fig trees already have decent-sized fruit on them and the pomegranates are covered with small red buds. looking forward to some consistently warm weather so i can start cleaning up and getting ready for summer.