Round 'em up, Move 'em out, YEHAW!

We had some glorious weather in these parts yesterday. Was your weather as nice? Our day started with cleaning the church, then a trip to the library, followed by a stop at the local Preparedness Fair. From there we went on a much anticipated picnic and played a bit at a park. A stop at the bread store on the way home turned into a decision to defrost one of the freezers (because the bread needed to be frozen).

I am still scratching my head over the fact that we were defrosting a freezer on March 24th! It took a couple/few hours to get four years' worth of frost out of that monster, but when we replaced the food, we organized meat into one freezer and everything else into another. Wow. We have a lot of food (and chocolate) in our garage.

Meanwhile, Chad decided that it was a good time to catch and weigh a lamb that we wanted to post on Craigslist. She was a little tricky to catch, but we got the task accomplished and decided that the ewe weighs 90 lbs. A little on the small side for butchering, but her birthday is coming up in two months, so we need to get her sold.

Then we decided to put her into the corral so that she would be easier to catch next time. The thing is...her father is in the corral with her mother and "aunts" and half-siblings. So we got the ram out of there and into the pasture.

If you ever have the good fortune to visit us during a time that Chad needs to round up an animal around here, you will leave with some darn funny memories! We finally got that ram out, with Chad pulling and Daniel and Nathan pushing. Then Nathan climbed up on his back and that ram just stood there. I guess he's not a rodeo ram. He ran off easily enough when the rope was off his neck and Nathan was off his back.

Well, the ram is less likely to try to break back into the corral if he has a few of his girls with him. We have two ewes that are no longer mommas, so we pulled them out, too.

The pictures below are from Chad and Nathan pulling out the last ewe. Notice the only two lambs/sheep hanging around Chad? They are the bottle babies and are the only ones that don't run away from us. They become a bit of a health hazard (tripping hazard) when someone is trying to rope a sheep that doesn't want to be roped!



They were lucky and got the rope on her without too much effort. This is the best time to climb on her back!



It's a good thing Nathan's so light. This ewe is going to be glad to be free, as soon as she can get rid of that boy on her back!


When Chad and Nathan got her out to the pasture, they had a short brain lapse and let go of the rope. She started running away and they had to chase the end of the rope before it completely passed them by. Nathan was quicker and got a hold on it first.


Now it's time for the real fun. We just need to get that rope of her neck first...


...and then it's time to hold on tight! This sheep gave Nathan quite a ride. She tried to out-smart him by scraping him along the outside of the corral and then running them both through some discarded barbed wire. He held on for a long time. I don't think the story can be told any better than the one Nathan's face is telling in this picture.


I love this life and the experiences the kids are having. How could we ever go back to living in a city/neighborhood?