So yesterday, it was 50 degrees, the sun was shining, birds were singing and I really felt as though spring had finally arrived.
Today we had this
A completely unseasonal six inches of snow and temperatures in the 30-40s.
Which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but the shearer had come by a few days ago and sheared my three sheep. (You can hear him talk about shearing BTW, in WeaveCast 37.)
They’d gone from weather-impervious wool balls to little naked sheepies.
When I checked on them in the morning to see how they were doing, they were huddled in the barn, staring out the door and looking at me like: “How could you let this happen?!?” After a moment, I realized they were shivering.
Shivering! And the snow was still coming down hard. I could only imagine how much colder it would get at night. My active imagination supplied images of coming into the barn next morning to find sheep-cicles.
I considered bringing them into the garage, and what kind of conversation that might spark around the dinner table.
Then I recalled something I’d seen shepherds do with lambs born during a hard winter. My sheep are Shetlands, a miniature breed, so I thought it just might work.
I ran back to the house and rummaged around in my closet…and came back with three sweaters.
Now here’s what they don’t tell you in the funny-ha-ha-isn’t-that-cute-the-lamb-is-wearing-a-sweater pictures.
- Any sheep approached by a human carrying a pile of flapping fabric things will assume said human is there to kill them.
- Catching said sheep and forcing a sweater over its head will only confirm this suspicion. (Note: Experience dressing toddlers does transfer to dressing sheep)
- Sheep’s legs are much shorter than your arms
- You cannot roll a cuff on the sleeve of a sweater worn by a thrashing sheep
- A sheep wearing a sweater with uncuffed sleeves that are much longer than its legs is a hazard to self and others
- Cutting the sleeves off a perfectly good sweater can suddenly seem like the most brilliant thing in the world
- Do not try to cut the sleeves off the sweater while the sheep is wearing it. This does not give the sheep a good impression of your intentions
- If you dress a sheep three times in ten minutes, they will eventually accept that the sweater might not be lethal
- Getting chased around a barn and repeatedly dressed by a woman carrying scissors who is probably trying to kill you will warm a sheep right up
- The shepherd gets warm, too
At last: success!
They were quite interested in each other’s new duds.
This, I might have to do some explaining about…
That sweater is (was?) Eric’s.