Friday, March 27, 2015

The butterfly flapped its wings in China

and I'm still trying to recover from the hurricane of ill winds over the past 6 months at Tyche's Run.

So very many unintended consequences of the slow fence builders last summer. At least there are upsides to butterflies.

The Leicester lambs arrived to a makeshift, temporary pen with insufficient grass; which led to a parasite explosion and the death of Cricket; which led to my distraction from the main flock; which led to a broken leg in Cain; which led to Cain's need for surgery; which led to the unintended release of the three little Black Welsh rams into the main flock in the middle of breeding season on the same day their original castrations were scheduled and then cancelled; which led to the abundance of unintended lambs this spring while I'm in the middle of a high workload; which has led to my distraction from the main flock; which led to my overlooking the fact that little Jethro, my very favorite little ram lamb, was not drinking; which led to his collapse on Wednesday; which led, ultimately, to his death at the vet school this morning.

I am a very lousy, and very sad shepherd today.

Butterflies, please be still.

2 comments:

  1. I am so so sorry. Life does suck sometimes. Pure and simple.

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  2. Aw, shoot, I am so sorry. When you work a full-time (stressful) job off the homestead/farm, it's very, very difficult to give all the animals the attention you want or they may need. There just aren't enough hours in the day, nor enough energy available to one person. Your plate is more than full and you're doing the best you can. Hugs.

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