Nomadic sheep

I woke up this morning at 4:30 and the first thing I thought was, "Oh, my poor man." cuz he's sick, and had to get up for work anyway, to give some tests to kids. The second thought I had was, "SHEEP!"

I lay there looking out my bedroom window at Cassiopeia glistening brightly, and as soon as it was light, I jumped out of bed to go see sheep.

After feeding Baasha his breakfast. And eating mine too.

I led him down to the field and again, he saw the sheep and stood there amazed. But soon settled into grazing next to them. This photo was taken when he first approached them.









I noticed that the field was covered in silver dew everywhere the sheep were not. That is, at the sheep fenceline, was a distinct border of trampled grass vs. silver dewy grass.









Baasha doesn't look too worried, does he?

As I meandered slowly up the field, the sheep scurried out of my way.








Then I saw it, a tiny baby. Cutest thing on earth, a newborn lamb!












Look how baby and mother mimic each other's movements in the two pics.












Why do they kneel down to eat? Weird!










Baasha tossed his mane and flagged his tail and trotted near the flock playfully. I carried my thermos of tea up to find the shepherd.

He was there with his two black sheepdogs. The dogs are both tied to a strap around his waist, but they strained to greet me, and lick my face. They are curly haired black and grey mutts, when I asked, he said they come from the Ukraine, they are used for sheep there.

I love how my fence had wool on it, including the chain lock I use.












I didn't love how the sheep rubbed their bodies on almost all of the Tposts, scratching themselves. Agh, I hope they are still upright tomorrow. Look at this fatty rubbing on our fence. Hey, quit!

I asked him about the lambs, and he said those born in winter are better sheep, the cold weather is good for their growth. He pointed out two smaller sheep and said they were summer babies.

The shepherd said how nice Baasha was, now calm, accepting of sheep in his field. He said it as if it was a problem with other horses, I don't know. I said, "Well, where we come from, there are no sheep, but he has become accustomed to them since we arrived here." He asked me if we lived near the Rocky Mountains, where he read about sheep flocks. I said, "Further West and North!"

(I admitted a certain donkey near his house presents a problem, every time.)

The sheep got bored with our field quickly, and wanted to go onto #72 to eat Hippy fresh green. I loved it! I thought it was humorous how the sheep just pushed under our fence, no problem, and the shepherd let them, to a point, because the Hippy has no straw puppet which means "No Sheep Please."

But then he'd release his old dog, Lady, and look in the errant sheep's direction. She only goes where he looks, amazing. No words, except he always shouted, "Langsam Lady! Langsam! Wir wollen keine aengstlichen Schaefe haben!" (Slowly, slowly, we don't want scared sheep!) I said, "Maybe when she's older, she'll slow down!" (smiling, cuz she's already really old.)

Her younger brother stood anxiously, tied to the shepherd's waist, longing to partake. But he is just there to observe. He was never allowed off leash to herd sheep. He was so loving. I hugged him a lot!









Sometimes the shepherd would talk to me, and Lady would go wandering among sheep who had strayed out of my field into #72. He hadn't noticed, or maybe he wasn't worried, and Lady kept checking back with him, glancing at him, over and over, "Should I?" and I finally said, "Look, your dog is just waiting for you to tell her if she should bring them back!" He said, "Oh, usually she does alone, but OK." And he whistled, and she barked, and the sheep just scurried. They fly when she barks. A few short yips and the sheep apologize and run back to the herd. Amazing!

Cars kept stopping, people all know this shepherd and want to talk to him. I mean, almost every car that went by today stopped to talk to him! I didn't get any good pics of him, cuz I didn't feel comfortable asking, but here you can see his chaps. Why chaps, no idea. He did explain why his shirts are so holey. He says the sheep chew on him. I had the urge to buy him a new shirt.







I also noticed how the sheep watch the shepherd. If he moved at all, they would all stop and stare at him. Check it out, they're all staring at him just cuz he walked away from me for a moment.

I spent all morning with him. I had brought tea, but he didn't want it, so I drank it. It was 6 degrees out, cold!





Another baby nursing. And our fence had no meaning for the sheep, apparently.

Finally my man came home. This is how I knew. I had Baasha on a lead rope, next to the street, talking to the shepherd. I heard this odd hum, which is not a car sound, but rather tires on wet pavement. I slowly turned around, and suddenly a blue Prius was right behind us. I said, "HEY! Look, SHEEP!"

My man is sick, so he went home and got bundled up before joining us.

I think the shepherd was happy to have a real German person to talk to, after struggling to communicate with me all morning! My man asked how many sheep are here, and I answered him, "284! I got tired, so I counted." Hehehehe. In this pic you can see how he uses his staff as a "chair" - how odd!







This one snuck right under our wooden fence, right before I snapped the pic. I encouraged him to help me with that shoulder, it's hard to mow! Eventually Lady came and pushed him back under again.

Oh I shouldn't forget to mention how Lady bit Baasha in the face! But it was Baasha's fault, really. And actually, I thought that she would be the one gettin bit. Baasha HATES black dogs, always has. I saw him glare at her earlier.

Lady had done good, and returned for praise, and the shepherd let her jump up on him, and leaned over and kissed her on the nose. As they cuddled and cuddled, (it took a while), Baasha got curious and reached his head over to see. He stuck his nose right up to the shepherd's face, as he was kissing his dog. The dog instantly bit Baasha on the face, protecting her master. Baasha backed up, shaking his head. I was shocked, but happily there was no blood. Baasha probably thought, "Next black dog, I'm ready. Ready!!"

Tonight the sheep are a few fields away from us, moving on as they do. Nomadic sheep always yearn for fresh fields, and they get them!

I got some cute videos of the lamb frisking around, and general sheep scenes. I'll post them next time.