Take Care Of Those Wings

This is the story of 4 lambs. 2 sets of twins, born in the spring of 2004. It's a sad story. To be honest, it all starts with Tullulah, in the fall of 2002. See, in that year I sent Tullulah (my Romanov ewe) to my Uncle's farm, to breed her to his Katahdin ram. I didn't have access to a Romanov ram at the time. Then, in the spring of 2003 Titan was born.

The next spring, Titan fathered twins by my two ewes. The first to be born were Glitter, and Dazzle. There mother was Coral, a Romney sheep. Coral was a good mother to Glitter, but had no affection for Dazzle. So, after Glitter had nursed her mother, I milked out a little calosterum for Dazzle, and started feeding her on a bottle. (Have you ever milked a wild sheep? I can honestly say I did. Coral was not  happy!) Both lambs thrived, and were well built, beautiful lambs. Dazzle was of course stuck to me like glue, because I was her mommy. She and her sister got along OK, but Glitter was a tough girl who liked to be on her own.

 The next set of twins were born to Tullulah. I should have known that Titan would breed his mother, but I don't know, it never really occurred to me until after the fact. Breeding animals that are that closely related can be dangerous for the offspring, but Tullulah's twins were born healthy and happy. Like Coral's twins, one was born red, the other white. Ruby and Bling Bling.

 All was happy, and life was good for a long time. The lambs grew strong, and were weaned from milk to hay grain and grass. There mothers taught them all to drink water, and all was right with the world. For a while. That summer I sold Titan so he wouldn't breed his mother again that fall. I needn't have worried.

That summer was hard for me, and it got no better the next year. But the next year is another story that I will share later. In the summer of 2004 Dazzle, my bottle baby died. There was no indication that there had been anything wrong with her. It hurt, but I had to figure that maybe there was something wrong, that Coral had sensed it, and that's why she had abandoned Dazzle at birth.           Not long after loosing Dazzle, Tullulah died. Though she had been de wormed, she ended up with "bottle jaw". By that time it was to late to save her. At least all the others were healthy.      Next thing I knew Ruby died in a very freak accident. One of the other animals was pestering Lady. I don't remember who, but Lady was sick of it, and chased them away. Then Ruby walked up to Lady and started to nuzzle her. I saw the trouble coming but couldn't do anything about it. Lady spun around and butted Ruby. Lady hadn't meant to hurt her. She probably thought it was the one who had been annoying her. I saw my surprise and fright mirrored in Lady's eyes when Ruby landed. There was nothing to be done however. Ruby was dead.       My poor Nilchi was the next. Her story is written in another entry. But she had been neglected before we got her, and despite our best efforts she did not survive.       By that time I was a wreck. Bling Bling, and Glitter were my last two babies, and I clung to the hope that nothing would happen to them. The next week though, I found Bling Bling dead, and the week after that Glitter followed.

It had been a hard summer, with a lot of loss. We later figured out that they had gotten into deadly nightshade. They had been poisoned by it, and I had overlooked it. It wasn't intentional, just an accident, but God what a price to pay for a mistake.

I know this story is sad, and may be hard for some of you to read. I'm sorry for that, but it was harder for me to live it. As sad as it is though, I can't help but smile whenever I think about any of them. Titan my little boy, his momma Tullulah. What characters they were. Ruby, the frady cat, and Bling Bling the flashy little girl who was always alert. Aunty Nilchi, the one the babies all ran to when they were bad. Coral, and Dazzle, and the strong willed Glitter. The best of the lambs that year. She would have been a great matriarch of the herd. And Lady too. Don't hold a grudge, I never could. I miss her too. I smile to think of them though. Lady in her ball cap, The dancing and chasing lambs, The first time Coral nuzzled my face, and a million other memories. The good sticks with you more than the bad, and that's the way it should be. "Don't cry because it's over. Rejoice because it happened!"

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• #1 Comment from pchilcoat1 
  6/15/08 7:29 PM | Permalink

  Sad to read, True. Rejoice Yes.
  
  As Always
  
  Peace
  
  http://journals.aol.com/pchilcoat1/chilis-sauce/