Friday, September 11, 2009

Break Out!!

Who would have thought that something as darling as any of these sweet creatures could cause problems. Well, let me tell you they CAN!!! :)




I have been very tired since this last weekend. There has been a lot going on and it was not sleep. I am still playing catch up and moving in slow motion. I was talking on the phone with a friend in TN yesterday. We had been talking for a bit, but we were not done. Or should I say we were not ready to be done. I glanced out the window as I was chatting and what did I see? One of the calves was checking out our car in the driveway. By the way, our driveway is NOT part of the pasture. I knew he would come to me, but they don't have any halters on yet and I had nothing to hold onto. I picked some juicy sweet red clover flowers and got him to follow me over to the fence. When I touched the fence to lift it up, he would jump and move away. I had called for back up and Wonderful Neighbor Boy #1 came to my rescue riding on his trusty.... bike. He came over and herded the little guy toward me and I lifted the fence. In he went. The calf, not the WN young man. I was adjusting the fence where I had uprooted it and the WN boy walked the fence line to be sure it was up. It was, so that means the calves knew that the fence was not charged and one of them would probably be out again. Our fence charger for this fence died and the replacement was not due to be here until today sometime.

I called Michael and he told me to take the charger from the sheep fence and put it over on the calf fence. I have never hooked up nor unhooked a fence charger. I went out back and was able to get the wired off. I even remembered to unplug it first. It was screwed to the wall however, so back to the house for a screwdriver. I got it unhooked and we (my trusty dog companion, Star) headed over to the calf barn. I was able to get it hooked up and plugged in. So, the calves were safe for now, or should I say, I was safe for now.

After supper, we did our chores. We had milked the cow and strained the milk and done our clean up. The broilers had been taken care of as well as the turkeys and the piggies. The only thing left was to close in the layers, gather eggs and check the sheep water. My dear sweet Michael decided to give the sheep a bit more pasture. The sheep were watching for their chance. When the fence was a bit low.... over they went. Michael came and called me to help. I got my trusty bag of peanuts. At first they could have cared less about me and my peanuts because they had found our side yard that had some good sweet grass. It was very dark out and hard to see. I finally got Pepper and Pearl to see I had peanuts. They followed me and I walked them right back into the pasture. No way were the other sheep going to be so easy. We tried several different ways to herd them in. They were not interested. So, again, we called the Wonderful Neighbors (see why we call them that?!?!?!) Here came the four oldest WN children complete with flashlights. By then Michael had gotten our flashlight and I was guarding the fence opening where we would herd them through. After several attempts which sent the sheep in different directions, the WN Dad came. They were able to herd the sheep not through the opening I had, but under the fence in another area where Michael (known as Neighbor) and the WN girl lifted it.

I hope the animals stay put today. You can be glad that you don't live by us. See all the work we cause you. We are glad that the Wonderful Neighbors are so helpful.

1 comment:

Sharri said...

Oh my! It's a real free for all over there!
Good for you--fixing the fence! Wow!

And, those WN sure do live up to their name!!!!!!!!!!!!