Puppy Mischief

I've come to realize something about having a lamb in my living room.. it's a pain in the butt! The issue is not so much the lamb itself but rather where she has inhabited... the dog's crate. This becomes a problem because the dog now has free reign over the living room and the kitchen, while my husband and I are at work through the day. My experience with this type of situation tells me that it is not a good thing. Before I left for work every morning this week I had pushed everything back on the counters, removed anything I thought that he would damage and made sure all the doors were shut. As I came to find out, that didn't matter much.
On the first day when I got home from work, I found pieces of fabric scattered all over the floor in the living room. He had chewed holes in two blankets... for this he was smacked. The blankets were then removed from the couch and put in a secure, undisclosed location.
On the second day when I got home from work, again there were more pieces of fabric strewn around the living room. This time it was from the towel that had been put in the crate with the lamb.. at least I assume that's what it was, as all the pieces were so small that you could no longer call it a towel but more of a rag. For this the dog was smacked, and the towels were removed from the crate.
On the third day when I got home from work, I found a mat laying in the middle of the living room with a very large hole in it. I picked this up and out of the corner of my eye noticed that he had found a new chew toy.... the rocking chair. We now own a rocking chair that is missing part of one of the rockers on the bottom. For this the dog was smacked (quite hard I might add). Not only did I smack him but when my husband got home and saw what he had done he was sent outside with a swift kick in the a$$.
This left us with a dilemma, the only thing left for the dog to chew was our couches and numerous cords for the TV. We sat down and thought about our options, but ultimately came to the conclusion that we would give him one more chance.
On the fourth day when I got home from work, I was expecting the worst. I sat in my car for a few minutes before I entered the house, mentally preparing myself for the war zone that awaited me. When I walked through the door the dog greeted me, tail wagging, as if to say "I was good today mom" and then he led me into the living room... where everything was as I had left it in the morning.
Now you can imagine with the past couple of days being utter destruction that I was a little shell shocked and doubtful. I searched the room high and low to see what he had done, but I came up with nothing! I couldn't believe it, he had actually left everything intact!
On the fourth night the lamb went back to the barn, and the dog got his crate back. My house is back to being the way it was, and all is well in the house.... for now.

Little Bo Peep

A couple of days ago, my husband asked me if I could feed the sheep and administer a shot to one of the ewes we have that had recently lambed. Now, what you have to understand, is that although I feel quite comfortable around the sheep, I have yet to give a needle to any of them! He reassured me that his sister (who is a vet tech), would accompany me and show me how to do it properly. The ewe in question had mastitis and therefore needed antibiotics to fix the problem so that she could feed her newly born lamb, who by the way, was bahhing obnoxiously when we entered the barn. We took a look at the ewe, and the very knowledgeable vet tech showed me how to properly inject the medicine. We left the ewe to go to feed and water the rest of the flock and prepare a bottle of milk for her lamb. When we came back the ewe had still not moved from where she had been when we left her. We both clambered up over the gate and stood beside her looking down. Now, I am no vet but I could tell that something was not right, and lo and behold, the vet tech confirmed my suspicions by saying "no, no, she's dead".

 Sadly, the first thing that came to my mind was "how the hell am I going to tell my husband that we killed her!?". Then I looked down and saw a tiny lamb nudging her mothers lifeless body, and my next thought was "oh crap". I called my husband and told him the bad news, to which he replied with a very colourful array of profanity and ended the conversation with, "well you're just going to have to bring the lamb home." Now you can imagine that to most people having a lamb in your living room would seem quite absurd, and 3 or 4 years ago I would have been one of those people. Yet here I am with a lamb, in a large tupperware box, in my living room, by the fire.

For the first 5 minutes, the lamb seemed quite content to stay in the box, straw underneath her, cozy and warm... unfortunately this did not last. She quickly learned that she could escape from the box by simply hopping over the side, and next thing I knew I had a lamb running through my living room and kitchen and trying to drink milk (rather unsuccessfully I might add) from our male puppy... he in fact did not find this amusing in the least. For the rest of the afternoon I found myself scrambling to clean up pee, while simultaneously attempting to keep my dog from killing his new friend. Finally I decided that the lamb would have to be kept in the crate that we had recently bought for our puppy. I put her in the crate with blankets underneath her and the box pushed into one corner so that she could sleep on the straw..... and finally as the dog, the lamb and I settled in to watch a movie, all was quiet....for now.

In the Beginning

When I was young, if you would have asked me if I would marry a farmer, I would have laughed in your face. I never expected to marry at all for that matter, and yet here I am. I suppose when you meet the right person they can change your mind about certain things. Although I grew up in a rural community, I never lived on a farm, and had been to an actual farm maybe only half a dozen times. Although my father was raised on a dairy farm he never continued farming and so I was raised quite removed from the farm experience. Needless to say when I first started going to the farm with my husband it was quite an interesting experience. I was bombarded by new smells (most were not so pleasant), and new sounds (I challenge you not to laugh when you hear a ewe for the first time), yet I felt quite comfortable in this new setting. I can imagine my husband and his cousin (who he farms with) getting very much annoyed, with the amount of questions I asked the first year. I felt like a 6 year old following their mother or father around constantly asking 'Why?'. But alas, here I am a few years later the wife of a farmer. I have to admit that I am very much enjoying it. Although I am going to school still, I find that the farm gives me a sense of purpose and it distracts me from the stresses of school and life. It is a more simple lifestyle and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. The beauty of the farm life (among other things) is that I get to see my husband 'Macgyver' just about everything around here into something useful. Often times I find myself wondering how he came up with certain ideas, but then I look at his father who is a creative man, and I find myself then wondering how I lived without certain things. Needless to say between my husband, our dog and the many animals that I come into contact with on a daily basis, I often cannot stop myself from laughing uncontrollably at the things I see or hear. Although there is often much work to be done, this life I have found myself submersed in, is a fulfilling and beautiful one, and quite humorous to boot. These are my stories, and how living the farm life has changed me for the better.