An Early Morning Shearing

    Bright and early this morning Hon and I were up to shear the rest of the sheep and trim their hooves...well, there's three left anyway.  As soon as it got too hot we stopped so as to not stress them out any more than they already were.  You can see the Kid joined us, too.  Our thoughts are if he's going to have a breeding project for 4-H he should get his hands dirty (or in this case dirty and slick from lanolin), too.  He also takes care of his chicken and turkey breeding projects.  This year we let the sheep roo for the first time instead of shearing earlier in the spring.  For some sheep it worked well.  For others not so much.  Either way, the rest has to come off.  The weatherman has forecasted temperatures reaching 100 tomorrow and at least the high 90's for days afterwards.  Yikes!
    This picture is showing Dahlia getting her wool sheared off.  Trust me, she's just fine.  She's also feeling much lighter and cooler now.  Footloose and fancy free. 
    The major chore for me was Z.  She is going to the fair with the Kid, along with Little Man, and I think he said the little black and white ewe lamb.  Little Man and Z were part of his project last year also.  Anway, the Kid got some of the wool roo'd off Z's back earlier in the spring and the rest wasn't ready to come off yet.  Next thing we knew the new wool was stuck to the old wool like glue.  Since she's going to the fair the beginning of August I was afraid having Hon shear her all the way down was going to make it so she didn't look as good (very short wool by then) so I asked Hon to hold her while I cut her wool at the felted line of it all with the kitchen shears.  Didn't look too bad by the time I got finished.  Not fantastic, but I'm no professional either.  Problem is my thumb is numb.  I spent so much time cutting and didn't even realize it.  Typing feels goofy.
    Either late tonight or as the sun comes up in the morning we'll finish up with Badge, Josie, and Lucy.  Lucy has roo'd it all off her behind and back so not much to do there.  Brown Baby also has a bit of touch up to do, as he let me roo most of his wool off.  There's just a bit of a hula skirt looking part on his behind to get off and I'll just use the kitchen shears for that.  Badge has spots here and there that need sheared, more here than there.  I may just ask Hon to hold Josie while I use the kitchen shears on her, too.  Less stress on my old girl, I think.  Smiling & Waving, Sharon

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