Recovering & schedule change

So we've had an eventful few weeks.

My maternal Grandmother died at age 91. So we had a quick trip up and back down to Utah. Well, maybe not THAT quick since we did stay 2 nights.

She died from organ failure and old age. She is now with her Sweetheart. She will be missed.

I am grateful for many happy memories with her and Grandpa.

On another subject, I am worried about Charlie.

I've been e-mailing back and forth with someone from the U of I vet school and after I described his symptoms she came back with a list of what it could be.

Imagine my surprise when one of the things listed was Scrapie.

For all of you (me) who are unfamiliar with the disease, let me describe to you what I have found through my research.

Scrapie is a nervous system disorder in which the sheep feels constantly itchy and will scratch away large patches of wool.

It is deadly within 1 - 6 months of diagnosis.

It is usually given to a baby sheep by its mother or another adult sheep it has contact with as a baby.

Let me spell it out to you.

these sheep are all half siblings. If this is what Charlie has, it could wipe out my flock of 4.

If they weren't given this disease as babies, then there is a chance that if Charlie has it he could pass it to them.

I'm crossing my fingers and we're going to try some other possibilities that she mentioned first. Its just that the medicine for the other stuff is expensive and I hate to throw money down the toilet.

Oh, thats right. I was going to say something about schedule changes.

Hubby has a new schedule at work. He will now be working 3/4 12's rather than 4 10s. So every other week he will be working 3 days, and every other week he will be working 4 days. Alternating on Tuesdays.

So he will have every other Tuesday off and work until 6 now. I like the every other Tuesday thing, but will have to get used to the working until 6.

Oh, and his work group may not be moving over to the big city. They may keep his group closer to home. Crossing my fingers here!

Teasing sheep

I've had some fun over the past few days teasing Charlie, our most tame sheep.

I've started on the sheep coats, but am unable to really get them going because I can't actually lay the fabric on a sheep to calculate the size.

Charlie let me measure him with my seamstress measuring tape, but when it came to draping fabric on his back, well, he didn't like it at all.

The teasing came in after I learned how much this freaked him out.

If he and the other sheep were into their alfalfa and not paying strict attention I could drape the fabric on his back. However, when I go to adjust it a little, He notices me and runs (because he knew I had the fabric) then when he realizes the fabric is on his back, he starts to buck to get it off. I'm not sure what he's afraid of.

Don't worry, I only did it twice. But it sure was funny.