Sheep Protection

Another day of elevating my right foot for most of the day.  One of the highlights of the day was a care package from my mother-in-law. It included peanut butter cookies and all the necessary things for recouping.

 Also in the package was a newspaper clipping about a smart collar being developed by a Swiss biologist.  The article says, " Wolf expert, Jean-Marc Landry from the Swiss carnivore research group KORA is preparing to distribute a cellular network-enabled collar to warn when a sheep is about to be lost to a wolf attack".  A pulse monitor and a GPS tracker are connected to a mobile chip on a collar to alert the shepherd or sheep farmer when the flock is threatened .  They are also testing to see if they can get the chip to activate a loud noise or spray the attacker.   Interesting.

If I had these collars, I wonder if I could get down to the barnyard in time with as long as it takes me to get anywhere these days.  On that side, I found a website with a great adaptation for a wheelchair on difficult terrain.  http://www.ted.com/talks/amos_winter_the_cheap_all_terrain_wheelchair.html .  Maybe with the collar,  this type of wheelchair, and an air horn I could deter a threat to the sheep.

Good thing I have Cher, the guard llama in residence since I don't have any of the above.

Tomorrow, I am giving another farm tour.  This time it is a friend of mine bringing her sister and mom over.  Her sister is visiting from Albuquerque NM.  She is a spinner and knitter.

Every time someone comes to visit, I can get down to see the animals.  It is strange not talking to  them everyday.

Another time it would be good to have 11 kids.