Counting Sheep

Last night I dreamt about sheep.  And today, Margaret had twins!  I should be at work right now, just closing down the library for the night.  But at 3:30 this afternoon I got a call from my neighbor.  "Hi, this is Sandy, your neighbor, one of your sheep just burst out a set of twins in the field!"  When she started to say "burst out" I thought she was saying that a sheep had burst out the fence and was running around my yard, or worse, down the street!  It was a much better surprise to hear her finish that sentence with TWINS!  So I called up Peggy and asked if she wouldn't mind coming into work for me for a little while.  She came right over and I packed up and ran home.  It takes me about 10 minutes or so to get home from the library.  I was so excited I think I was going 65 mph down the country road to get to my babies!  This time, we hadn't known she would go into labor when we left for work this morning so we didn't put Margaret into the barn.  She had her babies out in the middle of the field.  My neighbor Barb and I went out to check on her and the lambs.  Both could stand already but we couldn't tell if they were eating or not.  Now let me tell you a little something about Margaret.  She is a cranky lady.  She likes to stomp her hooves if you get in her personal space.  So of course she was stomping away and not too happy that we were close to her babies.  Barb (who has raised sheep with her husband for many years) said they looked like they were doing okay.  We saw that it was a boy and a girl.  I sat down in the field and watched them for a while, hoping Margaret would calm down a bit.  After a while I was able to grab the boy and snip his umbilical cord and give him some Nutri-drench.  I got the girl a while later and did the same.  Then Danny (Barb's husband and our sheep-expert and go-to guy) came over and helped me to get her and the lambs into the barn.  We both had to pick up a lamb and carry it and Margaret followed.  I got her some more water and watched for a while to make sure that they were eating.  I will let them be now for a while.  Joey is on his way home from work.  He missed another birth!  And I got to take care of the lambs again.  I am going to let him name them to make up for it.  (Although I already have a name in mind for the girl.)  Will let you know soon what #8 and #9 of our growing flock are called!

A boy and a girl!