It's a boy!

He's such a handsome boy

A boy dog that is.  Aslan has come to live at Tanglewood Farm.  In my whole dog-owning life,  I've only owned three male dogs.  About a hundred years ago,  I had a male mini-Schnauzer and then,  in the not so distant past and at different times, I've adopted male Great Pyrenees from friends who were selling their sheep and needed a working home for their dogs.  Sadly,  friends of ours have sold their flock this week,  due to health problems,  and asked if we would take their dog.  We already knew he was a great dog because Mike has been his veterinarian since the beginning.  So,  we were more than willing to try him.

Aslan has been here since Monday night and most of that time,  unless I could be out with him and supervise,  I've kept him in his kennel in the barn aisle,  next to where the lambs spend the night.  My hope is to bond him to my "keeper" group of ewe lambs,  so they will have protection with them all the time.  Right now, the adult ewes are in the "outfield",  the most distant pasture from the barn.  Poor Holly has been going back and forth,  back and forth,  trying to keep an eye on everyone.  I think she's been nervous about having everyone scattered about.  So,  reinforcement has arrived.  This morning, Aslan went out with his girls and,  cross my fingers,  it's going well.  Apart from a little bit of romping around in the beginning,  which scared those silly little girl lambs into running away,  he has settled and seems happy to be back with sheep again.  The worst part is that it is predicted to be 97 degrees today.  They all have access to the barn,  plenty of cool water to drink and all the barn fans are running on high,  so they will be as comfortable as is possible in this kind of weather.

Our pastures have reached the extra crispy stage and we are praying that the front coming through late this weekend will bring us rain.  Otherwise,  it looks as though I'll start feeding hay much,  much earlier than usual. 

This holiday weekend means we have an extra day to work on wedding preparations.  I'm starting to feel a little ( more like a lot ) anxiety about all that remains to be done,  but I suppose the wedding will happen and it will turn out fine,  no matter what's left on the to-do list.  Seems somehow ironic that this is the Labor Day holiday !