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.