Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Lion in the Pasture

Working from the tail forward is MUCH easier when hand shearing sheep. Even so, I'm still slow enough that we have to take a break. Sophia is now running around the pasture looking a lot like a lion. A skinny lion. It's amazing how much smaller they look without their wool. She'll be getting some extra corn for awhile to help her fill out a bit.



I'm not sure if he was planning a visit, or if it was the lion in the pasture that drew the attention of one of our neighbors, Lawrence. He stopped by yesterday to chat. He has lots of animals himself. In fact, before we were properly introduced we used to refer to him as Noah. His pastures seem to have two of everything including a llama named Walter, my favorite.

I, of course, needed to explain why Sophia was running around looking like a lion. And you know, when I told him I sheared them all with hand shears he looked right at me, laughed and said, "Are you serious? You mean like scissors?"

"Yeah, the old-fashioned sheep shears", I said.

"You've GOT to be kidding? I've never heard of ANYONE doing that!"

I feel I should point out here that Larry is a Grandpa. He's been around a farm a time or two. He's no greenhorn.

"Yeah, I couldn't find anyone to come and shear just four sheep and I wanted to learn how to do it", I said.

I could tell by the look on his face he though I was stark raving mad.

"You know I've got some electric clippers", he said. "I could come back tomorrow and show you how to use them."

Sophia's ears instantly perked up and she said, "Take me with you! Don't leave me here! She's crazy. We need a real shepherd", then she batted her eyes at him.


Traitor.
Photobucket

7 comments:

GardenOfDaisies said...

LOL!! So, are you going to learn to use the electric clippers?

thecrazysheeplady said...

Um, I'm with Sophia. I think you really might be crazy. Of course, that's why your blog is in my top 5 favorites list ;-).

Unknown said...

That made my day. Thanks

Unknown said...

Yeah....electric clippers have been around since....well....since the beginning of electricty! ;D

I've never seen anyone use sheep shears before, but it looks like you did a good job. Once you get a hold of those electric clippers all the animals need to take cover cause you won't want to quit!! Run, Willa, run!!!

englishteacup said...

I love to hear you tell what is happening with all your animals, I always look to see if you have posted just to see what they are up to, thanks .Have a great day Englishteacup(Lynne)

Taryn said...

You can't blame her. I mean, just look at her.

The Unusual Farmchick said...

Oh my goodness. Hand scissor shears?! I tried my hand at shearing sheep with the electric and it was taking so very long. I can not imagine having to use the scissor kind. Are your forearms pumped up yet? LOL. You poor thing. Thank goodness the neighbor is so kind to come to Sophia's..I mean your rescue. :)
And having 3 more to go...Oh my. And to think the pro's do it in under 5 minutes. Not to mention guiness world record is set at under 46 seconds! :O My time? well half the sheep took around 25 minutes...I handed back the shears when she escaped my hold. So I feel BOTH of your pain.