Sheep can’t count
Ok, so we probably knew sheep couldn’t count anyway, and they probably can’t spell either. But you would hope that they could remember the number of offspring they had produced less than 24 hours previously. Alas, this seems not to be the case, as the sad little speckled body half covered in straw was found to be utterly lifeless. Sat on by your mum – what a way to go.
This left two, one which was shy and retiring, and the other whose philosophy seemed to be like those people who elbow past you at the bar when you have stood for 20 minutes for a pint. None of this is the glass half empty or half full. Its way is more like “that’s not my glass. My glass was full. And bigger.” So off went the second lamb to be hand reared and no doubt confused in life (they tend to think they are people after a while). The mother isn’t a bad animal; there is no malice in her actions, although there was considerable ill feeling towards me when I attempted to get some milk from her to feed her offspring. Whoever bred flighty animals with horns needs a good talking to.
And talking of horns, Rowans antlers have fallen off, as per nature’s cycle. I always wonder if it hurts, and quite what it feels like to have all that weight off the top of your head. You know the trick where you push up on a doorframe for 2 minutes and then step out, only to find your arms mysteriously rising of their own accord? I often find myself pondering if he spends a lot of time looking up at seagulls bottoms. It also means that the girls are back in charge. No longer able to chase them with the large coat racks attached to his skull, Lydia the head hind is firmly in the herd driving seat.
The season fast approaching and I flit between nervous and excited. Nervous that it all goes to plan, that everything I needed to paint is painted, that everything that has been buggered about with is working. And excited because it is what I came up here to do, it is, I suppose, a dream job. Working to pay for diving, or working in the diving industry – I know which I would rather be doing, and since I said I would never teach diving, this is possibly the next best thing.
Seven days to go.
Oh yes, and we have been diving. A lovely day was had on the Jean Elaine courtesy of Andy. His new diver lift is brilliant, not to quick and nice and wide. We dived the Tabarka and the Seydlitz scrap site – here are some pics from it.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I thought it was only pigs that did that carelessly squashing babies thing!
That last photo, the B&W one, is art DoaD. I see lots of photos in exhibitions - far too many truth be told - and they are most of them not a patch on that one. Upsized onto high-quality photo paper, it would be truly stunning.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
you see, I’d be looking for logic in the sheep mum’s actions …
surely she must’ve done it intentionally … Surely you don’t just sit on your offspring unless you have a brain the size of a chickens …?
But sheep are very stupid animals, aren’t they …?
That first picture looks a tad macabre, though impressive … :- )
April 12th, 2009 at 1:07 am
cats often smother their kittens shortly after birth–never knew if they done it on purpose(hubby said it was the mother getting rid of the runts)or if they just rolled over onto one whilst asleep: anybody know the answer?
April 12th, 2009 at 6:24 am
I’ve always had a lot of sympathy for sheep since a vet once told me that they suffer from many diseases the first symptom of which is death…
April 12th, 2009 at 7:10 am
As my late father was fond of saying: ‘nature in the raw is often not pretty’. Most ewes are good mums, as are most cats and dogs, the maternal instinct just cuts in. So I can’t help thinking that these things happen for a reason. But don’t ask me what the reason might be.
I loved the underwater images, especially the penultimate pink one. Anemones?
How many points did Rowan have before his coatrack fell off? I, too, often wonder whether they feel any pain when their antlers detach. It must be something like ’something doesn’t feel quite right upstairs’ followed a few moments later by a ‘crack’ and suddenly a very light head!
April 12th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Hiya,
Firstly thanks for the comments :o)
Rowan had about 18 points if I remember rightly. He is quite young, so its good to have so many so quickly. Even our calves get antlers within their first year which shows they have good nutrition :o)
The first pic is whelks laying eggs - there were thousands of them, balls of eggs everywhere on that bit of wreck. Plus lots of small Pouts and even dogfish eggs curled up in some seaweed. It was like an underwater creche!
April 12th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Another interesting blog with grand pictures. I guess that when the horns fall off it feels a bit like having a molar pulled out under anaesthetic. Have a good diving season!
April 12th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
The photies are amazing- I agree with FC about the black and white one.
i always remember my sister’s rabbit EATING her offspring once…which made me slightly sick….
April 12th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I imagine it would feel like having a number 2 at the barbers and coming out all light-headed.
The egg-laying whelks are fascinating…you’d think they’d be exhausted to the point of extinction after producing all that.
I never heard of cats squashing kittens, but a feral cat adult will attack a kitten if a human leaves its smell on it. A day old kitten had its hind leg gnawed off in the pu’s garden shed once.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Great piccies as usual,get them printed ,in a book so that computer illiterates like me can look at them without having to play with this darned thing!Hope all goes well with your first paying customers,dont get wet,enjoy your cooking,keep an eye on the bread!
April 14th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I thought the piccies of the dive were fab.
How is your caddie lamb getting on? It’s a shame that these things happen but as Mr 4x’s father said “nature in the raw is not pretty” As long as the majority of the flock lamb well then we have to be thankful.