365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Sheep Shots
Day 344: I miss having sheep. I don't miss the cold nights in the lambing shed, the annual search for a shearer willing to travel for the few dollars he could earn shearing four or five animals. I don't miss trimming hooves, wormings, stitching up wethers savaged by neighbour dogs. But I do kinda miss playing chase with the ewes and the sweet smell of the milky breath of a lamb fresh off the teat. I don't miss the ticks and keds, but I miss the touch of soft wool in my fingers when the first fleeces were rolled and bagged, and the feel of natural lanolin conditioning my rough hands. I miss...forgive me...lamb burger and mutton stews, but I do not miss transporting Ivy and Cindy and Dacron and Orlon to the slaughterhouse, nor driving away to leave them to the fate for which I'd reared them, fighting down emotions no person who raises livestock can allow themselves to own. Every now and then (especially at Fair time), I think, "I should get a sheep, save me mowing the lawn," and then reason kicks in. In truth, it's not having sheep I miss. It's the idea of having sheep, perfect sheep, romanticized sheep. Why, with that logic, I could enjoy thousands of woollies! Nah, I'll just visit them at the Fair.
Labels:
animals,
Puyallup Fair,
sheep,
sheep raising,
Washington State Fair
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment