Muffin and her two ewe lambs only hours old

 Muffin and Wonder

  The Quads- Sweetie Belle, Jose, Jewel and Jack

Sometimes I wonder if I have bitten off more than I should chew. I do try to schedule things so that they should happen in a logical and orderly fashion, unfortunately the best laid plans are usually a figment of an over active imagination!

My daughter is in 4H and likes to show sheep, so I had my two best ewes "scheduled" to lamb out during my study break. Problem was the ewes had other plans. I had a flowchart posted in the barn showing the girls when it was convenient for me to have them lamb out. I learned the hard way that sheep are not trainable. I commanded, ordered, begged, pleaded and then admitted defeat. In my fantasy world, Wednesday was the great day. In sheep land, Monday, first day AFTER study break, was B day.

Muffin went first, was a sweetie in that she required no assistance from me other than fetching her errant ewe lamb who decided that wondering around the horse paddock was a grand plan for a new born. Chloe proved once again why Appaloosas rule. She stood silently as a white cotton ball of fluff zig zagged through her legs. Muffin was considerably less stressed than I was. The ewe lamb is now called "Wonder".

Precious, my Rideau ewe, decided that more is better. So on Monday morning at 5 am after I had a shower in preparation of a full school day, Prec began lambing. Lamb #1 arrived head first at 5:30 am. Shepard intervention helped realigne the birth and a beautiful ewe lamb hits the ground. My Jasmine bodywash has overtones of afterbirth and Prec makes it clear this is only the start. Lamb 2 arrives on her own, no problems so I set down beside her with my biochem text book and decide to try and cram some last minute info into my brain. I kinda want to pass my exam at noon. I figure Prec is passed the worst of it.

Wrong again. A sort of a foreshadowing for the exam later that day. Lamb 3 is a ram lamb who comes out upsidedown and backwards. Prec is pretty much toast by now. I can add sheep sweat to the increasing list of aromas I now exude.

My Shepard sense is tingling. I watch as momma licks the triplets and I just know there is a fourth in there. It soon becomes apparent that I am right. Damn. I give up all pretence of writing the dreaded biochem test but since it is Monday and I have 45 minutes to welcome the arrival of a new lamb, wash up and drive into school  I admit defeat. Lamb #4 is sideways.  After considerable effort on Prec and my part, Jack arrives. Quads. Great. A sheep only has two teats. Prec has four mouths to feed. My workload just doubled.

I did make it in to write the biochem exam. That weird smell..it was me. I learned I am a better Shepard than biochemist. I remind myself of that when I get the mark back and it is less than spectacular. Then I go out to the barn to bottle feed two lambs and I realize that my home run ratio is much more important to the quads than my GPA.

There is a rumour that there is life out there. I heard there is this body function called sleep. I am beginning it is an urban myth as I myself am not getting any excess amounts of the stuff. School break... study break whatever one calls it now adays had a morning reprieve as I played snookie from the computer and my now loathsome 4th year project to catch something fast and furious!
The last time I went to the track it was a bitter -30 and although I got some nice shots today's excursion was infinitely more enjoyable!
The horseman in me was mortified when I did not notice one particular animal. I loved him and took many shots but did not note anything more interesting than his magnificance. All I thought was "Man that horse has got legs going everywhere. LOVE IT". Later turned out it was the one trotter on the track. My friend Ben who trains there, caught it and lets see if you can see him too! My version of "Where's Waldo" just for you.
I am going back to bed to nourish my mind so I don't make another aux pas!!! Adios!