I took 80 Celebrating English Shepherd’s 2018 Calendars to the Denton Post Office. Mailing took about 45 minutes. As I walked into the post office the cold day and grey sky started to deliver the promised Frozen Weather in the form of sleet and freezing rain.
As I headed back, I was thankful for a nice warm home, and a good husband that had cut the wood to keep us warm. Driving up our driveway I saw the smoke rising from our wood stoves. Les had started a fire in the Shepherd’s Cottage too! I thought about how thankful I was that all my stock was in the field with plenty of grass, hay and water… and all was well and safe. Sigh…
I settled into working on an article …the phone rang…It was my brother Kenneth…Yes…My sheep were OUT!!! Really!!! The new neighbor is cleaning up his property line. After at least 100 years or more the fence lines are grown up with Privet Hedge, Cedar trees, briars, honeysuckle vines and brambles… Yes the sheep were over there!
And we have not met the new neighbor… yet!
My flock has a leader…she causes all this trouble! her days are numbered here! She is a good Mother and awesome producer but has learned to go walk about and take the rest of the flock with her…when the gate is open or a break in the fence and she is all ways looking for anyway to leave.
My cold but pleasant afternoon that was about to include a nap was rudely interrupted! Plus by now the snow, sleet and freezing rain were really coming down! It was miserable cold !
Honestly I LOVE a problem like this! Normally it would be a teachable moment for KAT…but because of the location and the weather it was a Drover Moment! Drover jumped into the back of the car and Les took us to the sheep.
As I was putting on my gloves and getting my stock stick… Drover took off. Les came back for me and I asked why? On his way back home to manage the gates…he saw that the sheep were at a different neighbors house! I called Drover and he came back in time to jump back into the car! Les drove up the driveway but there were no sheep! Clearly when the ewes saw Drover they headed home fast! They knew not give him any trouble…He probably told them he was not pleased to be out in this mess and to go home!
Drover and I put the sheep into the 7 acre field …and there they will stay!
This is part of owning stock of any type. I am thankful I have good English Shepherds that can handle any problem the stock might invent!
What a Simple Country Pleasure!
Enjoy the video of our weather that day!
