Friday, April 2, 2010

Counting sheep

I know you have all been waiting for this title.

Our pasture is slow to come in with the sheep and Beau eating all the time and it is just slow so I have been trying different ways of moving them to different areas where "the grass IS greener".

Today, I didn't have much time so I let them go over to the cabin lawn where the grass is much longer and great. When they go over to the cabin I expect them to just hang out and graze in one area for awhile but no; they keep moving around and around the cabin. I want to sit in a chair by the door and get some work done like emailing our accountant in MA with some info she needs or other such stuff I should be able to do while watching sheep but here is what happens-- one sheep will get over enthusiastic about an area and run there which makes everyone else think she has found something special so they all run that way out of sight around back. For some reason this makes me nervous so I get up and check on them. As time goes on I wait a little while longer and they eventually come around again---- 1,2,3,4,5,6. Beau would be content hanging out in one spot longer but when all the sheep leave what is he going to do?

Every time I give them hay I count to make sure they are all there. One time there were only 5 and I had to find Hildegard. This was last year at the end of the growing season, I think, and they were all foraging and coming back with vines attacked. Hildegard had managed to get tangled in one of those huge bittersweet vines big enough for Tarzan and Jane. I had to go untangle her. Good thing I counted that time.

One thing for sure though, I don't count sheep at night or I would have nightmares all night about one or two missing and having to go find them.

5 comments:

  1. I am just like that, too. I always count the chickens after they have been out. If I had goats or sheep I would always been counting them too. Our animals depend on us. They are our responsibility. Good for you for being so conscientious a farmer! I so want some sheep!

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  2. I use to count my children but managed to lose them a time or two. I am trying to recall the Little Bo Peep nursery ryhme. I can't remember how it ends. I don't think counting six sheep to fall asleep would work anyway. Now several hundred like the women you visited. That might make you sleepy.

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  3. I used to think everyone counted everything, until I saw Rain Man and realized I couldn't compete any longer. I still find myself counting seeds planted in a row, hoe strikes, cookie balls, weeds pulled -- and then I must tell myself to stop or I might fall asleep standing up.

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  4. I count everything too. I used to count how many squirts when I milked but I've made myself quit that.

    I'm still checking on the ducks like you do the sheep.

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  5. It is so nice to know I am not the only one who counts everything. Whenever I catch myself counting I make myself stop. However, I do count my New Hope children a lot. We thought we had lost one several years ago just to realized that the child had never come to camp in the first place. It was pretty scary calling the caregiver to say I am so sorry you child couldn't come to camp this year and holding my breath until the caregiver explained why her child hadn't come. that is when we began taking pictures when they got to camp so we would know for sure who was there.

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