The main activity

There's been a whole lot of the above going on around here and not much else.  My appearance is apparently the highlight of the day for lots of critters!

(Some girls are pretty, some are just pretty in the fleece!)

The "little girls" have joined the adult ewe flock and when I look out on the pasture, I can hardly tell the young ones from the older girls.  It's bittersweet for me because I enjoy the time I spend with the lambs as they grow, but pretty soon I'll have new lambs to fuss over.  Gabby should lamb around the first of March and that's not long at all now.

(It's painful for me to see all that hay being shared with neighboring fleeces!)

One way to help with identification from a distance is that every year I order different color ear tags and along with the color, I start the numbering on the tags with the year....so tags for this year will begin with the number 1301.  Picking the color is trickier than you might think.  I don't want those humongous tags that will pull a lambs ear down, but something large enough and bright enough that I can read it from several paces away.  I'm thinking I might go bold this year - maybe red or purple, just because I like to live on the edge!

I've spent more time than I would prefer seeing doctors, going to physical therapy and having x-rays and an MRI.  The verdict is that I have quite a variety of rotator cuff tears (at least five).  Not exactly the kind of over-achieving I can brag about!  I'm scheduled to see an orthopedic surgeon soon but, in the mean-time, I'm working diligently at physical therapy and hoping, hoping to avoid shoulder surgery.  Surgery does not fit into my plans for spring!

These pictures were taken last weekend when we finally had a little snow.  The sheep and I enjoyed it immensely.  These two - not so much!