Pumpernickle gave birth to a tiny lamb this evening. I’m not sure if the lamb will make it through the night, and I don’t want to go down to the barn tomorrow to find out.

Little lamb was born in the rain and is very small. We tried to get them both into the barn and out of the rain, and it was very stressful for us all. I don’t know how long before we got home the lamb had been born, but it was very wobbly and shivering. Pumpernickle didn’t seem quite as attentive as Pearl and Sadie. I took my t-shirt off and tried to dry the lamb off once we got it into the barn. I don’t know if I should have done that, but it seemed like a good idea to get the lamb dry. I gave it some nutridrench. We saw the lamb nursing a few times and heard slurpy sounds. The lamb’s mouth feels warm. Why does it still seem so weak? Andy has to help it stand to nurse. Is it eating when we aren’t there to help?

I didn’t want to disturb them with a flash to take a photo, but I want a picture of the lamb while it’s alive so I took one picture, but I don’t feel like posting it right now. It’s a little white lamb with a black spot on one of its legs. I think it’s a girl, but as usual I’m not sure.

Update – Thursday morning: Lamb made it through the night and was on his/her feet this morning when Andy went to check. Still a little wobbly but dry and not shivering. We’re keeping mom and baby in the barn today, and I’ll be staying home to watch them and help if needed and possible.

To recap, Sadie had her lamb (currently known as “blackie”) last Wednesday. The next day Pearl gave birth to twins. Their story is much more uneventful and quite a bit shorter. Are you ready? Got your popcorn and your soda?

The Story:

After work, we turned around the curve in our driveway by the pond and came to a gravel-crunching halt. Andy and I both exclaimed something along the lines of “Holy Sh*t!” And this is what we saw:

The End.

We probably didn’t miss the big event(s) by very long because both sheep were still damp and wobbly. As you can see, they are both mostly white, but one has a brown spot on its neck and one has brownish legs. Both also appear to be horned. We’re sure one is a boy (“not spotty”), and at first we thought the other (“spotty”) was a boy, too, but now we’re not so sure. “Blackie” and “Not Spotty” pretty obviously have boy parts a’ danglin’, but I can’t tell if “Spotty” has teeny boy parts or if that’s just fur. We’ve been too busy to catch him/her to find out for sure.

We’re still waiting on Pumpernickle to see if she pops forth a baby or two. We’re pretty sure she’s in the family way, but if she is I reckon she’s at least a week or two off due to lack of udder.

Wednesday night when we got home from work and drove past the sheep, I noticed Sadie was off by herself lying down in the barn. Hrm! We dropped our stuff off in the house, and while Andy fed kitties I wobbled as fast as I could down to the barn. I checked out Sadie’s girlie parts and could see the tee-tiniest bit of hooves sticking out! (This was about 6:30 or so.)

Andy came down and took a peek, but he was hungry and not much was going on so while I stood and watched he went back up to the house to make dinner. About half an hour later he came back with a chair for me to sit in, our sheep books, and our lamb kit. I sat in the chair and watched and watched as Sadie would wander around for a bit and munch hay and then flop on the ground for a few contractions and then get back up and repeat. After a while, she started pawing at the hay, kind of digging a nest. She also started making noises. It got dark, so Andy brought down a lantern and something for me to eat around 8:00. I sat and sat. It didn’t seem like much was happening. The opening was getting bigger, and I saw a maybe an inch of hooves, but that’s it.

Around 9, Andy came back and we talked about what to do. We were of course impatient for things to happen, but we were also worried because from what we read it seemed like things should be moving a bit faster. She just didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I decided to stay one more hour and then reassess, but after about fifteen minutes I was cold and hungry, so I went back up to the house.

At around 10 we both headed back down and decided that if nothing had changed, we’d try to help Sadie out. There was a hint of nose poking out now, but after watching a few contractions we decided Sadie was having a really hard time and figured the lamb was probably big. Andy held Sadie, and I strapped on the gloves. It was really hard to get a grip on those tiny, slippery hooves, but I did my best and tried to pull when Sadie had a contraction. All the while this little black nose was there, too, but it wasn’t moving, and I was really worried the lamb was dead. I flicked at the nose a few times, and I thought it moved but wasn’t really sure.

I pulled and pulled and finally found out that I could grab one hoof with both hands a lot better than one hoof in each hand. It probably wasn’t the best way to do things, but I was finally able to work first one leg out and then the other. At that point Sadie was being really vocal (can you blame her?) and started really pushing and I sorta pushed her parts back and pulled on the head and VOOM. Lamb.

The lamb was kind of still, and again I was worried it was dead. I rubbed its side and made sure there wasn’t any gook on its face (and tried to see if it was a boy or girl and thought it was a girl). Andy and I were all frazzled, “What do we do? Why won’t it move? Aie!” Andy grabbed the sheep book again and read we should move the lamb up by the mom’s head (duh), which we did. Sadie began cleaning the baby and the baby began wiggling around.

Andy and I stepped back and watched but after a few minutes we began to get worried the baby hadn’t tried to eat yet. Of course, Sadie was still lying down and needed to stand to let the lamb eat. It was so hard fighting our worry and our impatience, and they won out a bit so we tried to get Sadie to stand. Poor Sadie. She put up with us pretty well until we went back to the book and realized that DUH it hadn’t been that long–give them time! After about 15 minutes or so, both Sadie and the lamb were on their feet. Though the lamb was pretty wobbly, and his (yes his) back legs kept splaying out like a frog.

Still, the lamb hadn’t fed yet and we thought, “OH no! Something’s wrong!” So we pulled out the halter from our kit and tried to get it on Sadie so we could hold her still for the lamb. Sadie wanted none of that and we finally backed off and POOF. Nursing lamb.

I don’t know if we really needed to help pull the sheep, and I do know we were probably driving Sadie and the lamb nuts with our interference, but I think we did a pretty good job. Both are doing really well today.

Around 10:30 tonight, Sadie gave birth to a very curly, black ewe (I think) lamb. Here’s a picture of the lamb just a few minutes old.

I’ll post the whole story in the morning when I’m more awake. Let’s just say I did end up using those gloves.

We’ve gone into labor!

By we, of course, I mean Sadie.

As usual when coming home from work, we stopped today to check out the sheep. Pearl had her back to us so we got a good view of her girl parts.

Andy said, “Ooo! Look! Her parts look weird!!!”

Cabol says, “Andy, she’s going to poop.”

“NO, NO! Something’s going on! Look!”

Pearl poops.

“But, but…her parts are all twitchy!”

“She’s pooping.”

“Look! Sadie’s parts look weird, too!!!”

Sadie poops.

“Oh.”

Pearl and Sadie have huge udders. We thought for sure we’d have baby sheep by now, but all we have are big-bosomed sheep. It’s good the sheep didn’t pop when we expected them to because, as usual, we procrasinated and needed the extra time to put together a lambing kit. I really, really hope I don’t have to use those shoulder-length gloves.

Kc came for a visit this weekend. There are no pictures of her because she is in the witness protection program. She helped us take some kitties to the vet for their checkups and shots, and while there she got to use her nursely knowledge to participate in the vet’s Jeopardy-like questioning of the vet techs. Kc is very smart. She also made us a yummy pot pie and showed me a really good snickerdoodle recipie. I am now a snickerdoodle addict. Helpful hint for cooking pot pie: don’t do it while making snickerdoodles unless you have two ovens. Kc also took me shopping and got us a car seat. (Thank you Kc and Ken!!) We weren’t sure it was going to fit in the truck, so after we left the store we took the seat out of the box and tried to figure out if it’d work. We got so involved in the creepy illustrations and in locating the doodad on the bottom of the “restraint” that it was about ten minutes before we realized all we had to do was see if the thing would fit…not make sure it was at that point properly installed. It fits! It also holds groceries and keeps them from rolling around. Maybe we should get another one just for grapes and tomatoes.

We dropped Kc off at the airport this morning. Andy and I decided today would be a good day to get the plants out of the under-house room where they spent the winter and to fill and hang the bird feeders. We got the feeders filled and cleaned up the plants, and then Andy checked the weather. So, we took all the feeders down and moved all the plants under the porch so they won’t blow away and/or freeze to death. Oops.

My belly button is disappearing. In another week I will have no proof I’m not a clone grown in a tank.

In honor of the Bunny Holiday, today’s post is all about bunnies.

Yesterday evening we went to check the baby bunnies. We checked them a few days ago, but I didn’t have my camera. They were very big and fluffy and about to bubble out of their hole. I didn’t know if they would still be there, but I wanted to see. I pulled back the grass on top of the hole and four very big bunnies stared at me. Then.. WOOOOOSH! Two of the bunnies FLEW out of the hole and ran into the sheep area. One ran right into the barn, and the other one sat next to the barn frozen in a bit of snow (yes, snow). Andy went to try and encourage it to get out of the snow, and it ran around the barn and in the other side. Back at the bunny nest, I sat and watched the other two bunnies watch me. I got one picture before the batteries on the camera died.

We tried to figure out why two stayed behind and wondered if the two runners would come back. In two weeks these little bunnies went from being hairless and about the size of my thumb to being fully furred and about the size of a softball. That mommy bunny milk must be some powerful stuff.

Before the snow came, I picked some dandelion greens for my own bunnies. It was Hop’s and Wibble’s day to be out, so I tossed their greens on the floor. Bob (our vegetarian cat) and Spam (our crazy cat) decided to join in at the salad bar.

Gimpy Chicken died last night. She hadn’t been doing so well the last few days, and we had begun debating again if we should end things for her. Andy put her in the back corner of our property by the trees where carnivorous things lurk, so that they can return her molecules to the world.

We don’t have a picture of Gimpy Chicken grown up, but here she is as a chick with the rest of the chicks. I think she’s the black and white one on the lower right.

We aren’t so good with chickens.

The baby bunnies are getting very big and soon won’t fit in the little hole we dug for them. What will happen then? They are getting furry, too. I replaced the shovel I had put over them because it was starting to rust. Andy helped me make a little roof out of a board we pulled out of the garden last weekend. I think it will work okay. How long until baby bunnies run off and becoming big bunnies?

Here are two bird pictures since I know my mom likes to see the ducks especially. The ducks’ feathers are getting sort of raggity and pale and we keep saying, “I bet they’ll molt soon!” I also took a picture of one of our chickens (not gimpy chicken) being all broody and sitting on her eggs. I don’t think the eggs are gonna hatch, but she seems pretty happy to sit on them anyhow.