Wool Gathering

Well, it's high time I write about life here on the ranch again. I apologize I've been somewhat slack in getting my pictures posted. Harvest time kept us all busy and I thought it would never end! But harvest has finally ended here and life seems to be slowing, at least a little for now. I have also started my job at the "local" hospital. By local I mean the hospital that would be closest to us....an hour and a half away. Nothing by any means is local around here! But enough chitter chatter, I'm more excited that harvest has ended and that means some more time with my hubby. Last weekend Jamie's boss gave him Sunday off and it was a beautiful day! We enjoyed church (which I will hopefully be writing about soon) and then spent the day just enjoying the weather, one another, and the fact that there was nothing on our agenda for the day. So, when another one of Jamie's co-workers came in and was going to work at weening his lambs from the ewe's, Jamie decided that maybe this would a prime opportunity for the dogs to earn their keep. So, camera in hand, we headed to the corral to do a little "wool gathering".

The dogs were more than a little ready to "herd" something. Although they haven't quite figured out how so Jamie has been slowly working with them.

"Come on, man, let me at 'em!"

It didn't take long to get the sheep all corralled into one area and fence it off.

The tricky part was separating them. Jamie headed into the pen, ready for some bruised shins and squished toes.

But check out my studly man as he catches them and then proceeds to "pitch" them over the fence. It was quite comical to watch and I think secretly he was enjoying this little "rodeo".

But after a while I think he had had enough of the rodeo and decided that maybe it was time to utilize the "big guns" since the ewe's were finding that they could jump the fence and the few lambs he had caught had now "magically" multiplied and included ewe's.

Impressive what a dog's presence does. I think Jamie was taking a break at this point, deciding what his next move would be. He kept moving the pen around, so that when they finally got some lambs separated from the bunch that we could chase them out, instead of pitching them over the fence.

It worked for some time...

...and I was even able to get a shot of them doing this (they all did this as soon as they were chased from the pen...I got a chuckle out of it every time)...

...and then this happened. Jamie's co-worker never did come out and join in the fun and Jamie decided he had enough for one day. Oh well, I guess the rodeo was fun while it lasted.

The moral of this story....put up a better fence before you decide to separate sheep. Trust me, it only works as well as the fence that holds them.