Here is the latest...

The lamb died...I checked on him the next day and saw his mother back with the other sheep. Maybe the rest will have better luck.

I moved the sheep to a new area on Thursday. While moving them, they decided to run past me toward the highway. The next thing I knew, they were all still standing in the middle of the road. Talk about scary, because I couldn't see around the curve at the top of the hill. Fortunately the cars slowed down enough to let me get their attention and lead them back to the new paddock. Whew!

The sheep and Gauge are doing well together. I think they think he is strange new member of the flock. Gauge seems to be adjusting and taking everything in. He has already learned that the donkey does not like him AT ALL. He also learned that the electric fence is HOT. I was pleased to see him still with the sheep last night since I couldn't check on them for a couple of days. Hopefully, I won't have any problems with him getting out.

My three Rhode Island Red hens are laying like gang-busters--almost three eggs every day. Wow--I thought we could eat enough eggs but now I am thinking of selling the extras. Raising chickens is pretty easy--I may add a few more down the road.

I am considering buying 2-3 Murray Grey cow-calf pairs in the next few weeks. Uncle Charles children offered me the chance to buy his cows now that he passed. Hopefully that will work well--we'll see.

It feels like it has been a long week already and it is only Tuesday. I picked up Gauge on Saturday morning. So far he has been a great dog. Just a really big puppy! I brought Kara and the kids out to meet him Sunday evening. They loved him as you can see from the pictures. He seems to know that he needs to be gentle and calm around Christopher and Cayden. That's great and why I bought him. His previous family did a great job socializing him.

One of my ewes gave birth to a little ram lamb yesterday. I knew she was getting close but I was still surprised to see him out there with the flock. I don't know if it was just being a newborn or not, but he seemed a little weak. I tried to move him and her (the flock) to a more protected part of the pasture but I may have done more harm than good. I tried to lead the flock while carrying him in my arms. Unfortunately, Chris was with me and was distracting/scaring the sheep with his running and jumping. As a result, the ewe got disoriented and kept going back to the spot where I found them. It took me 3 hours to finally get both of them back to the shelter next to the house. I left Gauge nearby for protection but I am not sure if the mother stayed with the lamb or not. The only reason I persisted in moving them was because I saw coyote tracks and scat in the back pasture where I found them. I hope he made it but I am not confident he made it through the night. This whole adventure (as Chris called it) made me think about what God must think about us and we are at risk of being attacked by the devil.

On another note--it has been a somber few days. Uncle Charles passed away Saturday morning (while I was picking up Gauge) of bone cancer and my partner Nick's 3 yr old son passed away yesterday after battling a rare aggressive form on cancer. Micah was such a sweet child--loved the farm and spending time with his dad. Life doesn't seem fair sometimes. My prayers are with both families...