A lot for one week

This week started out with a shock. A family friend and distant relative of Clancy's died suddenly. He was not very old; he and Clancy graduated together. He left behind a wife and 12 year old son. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

My little moorit ram lamb continues to cough and is in isolation while he receives his shots of LA200. Tormey (who has been nicknamed LeRoy) is very vocal about his displeasure with this situation. Anytime he hears a voice, he starts in with his baa's. I've learned to ignore it for the most part.

Thursday morning we put all three mature rams into a small enclosure so they would get used to each other. They tousled as much as they could in the limited space. After 48 hours the rams were standing side by side to eat the bit of hay without a fuss so I decided to put them out together. The minute Kavan was released he faced off Unicorn. They charged about 5 times before Kavan accepted defeat. By that time he had broken off the last stub of his injured horn and had blood pouring down the side of his face. I got him all wiped off and praised God we were expecting frost that night. The idea of treating him for months again just exhausted me. I decided to do minimum intervention this time around. I would keep Swat on the wound and if he started going downhill I would butcher him. That was not a fun decision. I just checked on him again and he has a large scab across the entire hole where his horn used to be. I decided to leave it and just apply the Swat since it is supposed to be warm today. I am truly hoping he will be OK in the long run.

Friday I spent the whole day in town doing errands and buying supplies to make placards for Dad's business. Foolishly, I wore high heels. I seriously need to hem my favorite pants. Friday evening I made all those placards using foam core, tag board, card stock, and the computer. I think they turned out really sharp; and Mom said some folks commented yesterday on how nice they looked.

Saturday, most of my family went to Grand Rapids to help Dad with his booth in the Goods from the Woods Show . I really wanted to go but Clancy and I needed to use the good weather to side the house. And that is what we have been doing since yesterday morning. Except for the two hours that the electricity was out. It was quite windy Saturday and a tree fell on the overhead wires that come across the lake to us. When the utility truck finally pulled up and the guys got out to let us know they had the problem fixed, Tormey ran up to the fence beside them and bawled until his horrible cough set in. How embarrassing.

Today is more of the same-Siding. Hopefully the electricity will stay on and we'll get a lot done.