When The Crap Hits The Fan....

....it certainly does fly.  A few days ago there was talk of a winter storm coming through - hard to believe when it was sunny, no wind - really pleasant out.  During the days off from work, I was spending my day out with the lambs - making sure new mothers and their lambs had a good start in life. Sure, there were some moments, when four would lamb at the same time, and a puzzle was created - who belonged to who.  There was often a lot of bleating going on, but with patience and waiting, the new family units would mesh together. Then off to the barn with some the ewes and the lambs for some quality time we would go.  A mini explosion was happening in the lambing department, and if the ewes and lambs could spend a few days to get to know each other, their future was going quite promising.  Our flock has quite a few flocking Border Leceisters and Scottish Blackface - these have proven to be quite the motherly type - left alone, they would become unseparatable from their young ones, with the little guys running around within an hour.  Lambing with these gals has been a breeze.   The Targhee cross ewes are a whole different matter - they seem to think the sky is falling all of the time - a "run for your lives" attitude exists.  I am thinking we have 30 too many of these sheep around - they have been the most work of all of them.  All in all, the method of my madness seemed to have been working well-make sure everyone is up and running, nobody is having separation anxiety, and their bellies are full.  However, when things are going well, that is usually when something is thrown in your way - and that is when the snow hit the fan.  March brought in some lion weather, and the snow and winds whipped up, allowing me to be in a growling type of mood.  Some of the mothers decided that one mouth to feed was quite enough, so that added to the bum lamb list - quite a bummer.  Daisy the cow decided she would add a calf into the mix - and even though the calf was born during Telemiracle Weekend - there was to be no miracle for this calf - he trotted over the Rainbow Bridge - and also took a couple of bummer lambs with him. I had made a decision to go visit my sister Jean in Regina - she thought she would visit the hospital for a bit - and I discovered that only fools drive during a winter storm - I being one of them.  After I got home, I took another look with the ewes - at least they were smart enough not to add to the population during that night.   Another look in the morning, with the wind still blowing, and drifts galore, it was found that a few older lambs (out of - you guessed it - the Targhee ewes) decided the bridge would be a great place to travel over-they probably thought the snow falling was the sky falling and it shocked them to death.   I think I am going to build a barracade for this Rainbow Bridge - or blow it up.