After!

[altivo]

After!
Originally uploaded by Altivo

Wrestling these guys to get them sheared in 89 degree heat is not exactly fun, but it was necessary. They are much more comfortable now, and we have one more spring job crossed off our list. Front row, left to right: Dodge, Salt, Louie, Shaun, Rambo, and Jetta. Hiding in the back are Shebah, Genie, and Wetherby.

This morning I was getting ready to leave for work when the weather radio alarm sounded. It was a ten minute warning of an approaching severe thunderstorm that was dropping hail and gusting winds to 75 mph. We ran out to put the horses back into the barns and close everything up tight in spite of the temperature that was already in the 80s (F) and sticky humid. The storm did arrive in ten minutes, but with no wind to speak of and no hail. It did rain hard. We got an inch (2.5 cm) of rain in ten minutes. I left for work 20 minutes later and encountered four places where there was water to the depth of several inches running across the paved roads.

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

You'd think that if it's so hot and if they'll feel more comfortable after shearing, they wouldn't resist it. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

They really don't remember specifics for that long. Shearing only happens once a year. Yes, they're all happy afterwards, but one had never experienced it before so had no idea what was coming. The rest just become fearful at any change in the routine.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* Ah, OK...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

After all, being sheared is better than being turned into lambchops. But no sheep has returned from being lambchops to tell them so.

This is all theoretical as far as I'm concerned. I find lamb and mutton absolutely inedible, even aside from the fact that it's meat. Of course, they don't know that either.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* Inedible due to its taste, or inedible because it's sheep?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually the smell is so bad I can't get near it.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* Hmm, that's interesting - I rarely if ever eat lamb, but I never noticed any unusual smell myself.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It may be genetic. I know a few other people, including my own father, who have the same reaction. The "aroma" of cooking lamb or mutton is so obnoxious that it will drive me right out of the house. I can just barely tolerate tiny amounts of it if it was already cooked somewhere else, but once I get a whiff of it cooking I lose my appetite completely. Seems odd because there is a huge percentage of English genes in both my father's and mother's lineage, and we all know how fond of mutton the Brits used to be. (I think it has suffered a decline in recent years because of the very high fat content and the associated health concerns.)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* Interesting. Mmm, I suppose we've all got things we just can't stand; for me, it's leek, for example, as well as a few other vegetables like Brussels sprouts. I don't know why, but my reaction to leek in particular is similar to what you describe - I can stand other people at the same table eating it, but I can't stand it being cooked, for instance -, yet my parents and my sister have got no problem with it at all, for instance.

I'm actually rather curious now just how different people's different tastes develop, anyway. I assume it's mostly cultural, but I still think it's interesting that different tastes can be so radically different.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Leeks just seem like any other Allium species to me, and less aggressive than garlic, certainly. Brussels sprouts I actively like. I can't exactly say I never met a vegetable I didn't like, but close to that. There are several, such as artichokes, that don't seem worth the bother to me, but none that I would actively avoid.

Goats and sheep, though, including many of the milk products made from them, are quite repulsive. Goat cheese is worse than the goats or sheep themselves, and seems to concentrate the essence of what I dislike about the ovines.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I should amend that a bit. Certain "fruits" reputed to be edible, such as the durian, are not on my menu. Durian is rarely seen in the US, though, so I didn't even think of it immediately.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* I'm not a huge fan of sheep's milk cheese myself, although it's not bad; I've never tried any goat dairy products, but I don't think I'd find them outright repulsive (at least not if I didn't also find the equivalent cow's milk product equally repulsive).

I'm pretty fussy when it comes to vegetables, though, although it's gotten better. I very much do like carrots, and green beans are nice if they're properly prepared (they can be delicious when wrapped in bacon, for example ^^); I like red cabbage, too, as well as red beets, and I've been developing a taste for tomatoes, but there's also many I don't like at all, like peas, maize, the aforementioned leek and Brussels sprouts, most kinds of cabbage (other than red cabbage), kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, artichokes, cucumbers, eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers, asparagus, and so on.

Spinach is one that *can* be nice or nasty, depending; onions and garlic are OK if used for flavouring, but I don't like onions otherwise. Sweet potatoes were nice when I tried them in the USA, but they're not commonly eaten here at all - maybe I should buy some some time myself. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Odd. I find absolutely no difference in taste or smell between red cabbage and green cabbage. They are sometimes prepared in different ways, but the dishes work just fine if you swap one for the other. All the vegetables you name are fine with me. Kohlrabi, broccoli, and eggplant are among my favorites.

If you like carrots, then you should taste kohlrabi raw. Just peel, cut in strips and crunch. It's very sweet.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I may give that a try, but I don't really like carrots raw, either, so I'm not sure it's gonna appeal to me. Ah well - you can't argue about taste. :)

(Red and green cabbage taste quite differently to me, though - although maybe that's because the red variety is usually prepared with apples here, giving it a sweet, fruity flavour.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Uh huh. It's the difference in preparation. I promise you, if both red and green cabbage were prepared the same way and you were blindfolded, you would not be able to tell them apart. The color is just that, color. It's like saying you could tell a black sheep from a white one by the taste or smell, or a plain brown cow from a spotted one. ;p

All the vegetables in the cabbage family can be selected for red/purple or green coloration.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

It's like saying you could tell a black sheep from a white one by the taste or smell, or a plain brown cow from a spotted one. ;p

What, you can't? ^_~

But jokes aside, that's interesting... I'll have to try green cabbage prepared like red cabbage some day, then.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

They are all lovely. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. From a distance. Close up they are smelly, stupid, and very greasy beasts. We often ask ourselves why we got into this, but the answer is that one lamb is very cute. Once we had a boy lamb, a neighbor gave us two girls to "keep him company" and, as they say, nature has taken its course.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Good work on both counts!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Let me tell you, the proverbial greased pig has nothing on a sheep. These guys are all undersized compared to commercial stock, but they weigh from 100 to probably 180 lbs or more. Their wool is greasy and very slippery to hold onto. It takes serious washing to get the stuff clean enough for carding and spinning.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I hate wool anyway. This is one species
I'd let go.

*"accidently" opens the pen door so the
wolves can come in.*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh no. Good wool is a marvelously useful, durable, and pleasant to touch fiber. Nothing else can duplicate it. You've been subverted by the poor quality of modern woolens and have never appreciated the real thing.

*applauds*

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Wrestling these guys to get them sheared in 89 degree heat is not exactly fun, but it was necessary ...and good exercise ^_^ *offers you a glass of icewater* That's very commendable work, even if it's due to necessity.

Re: *applauds*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sheep. ;p Someone has to do their thinking for them, because they won't usually do any themselves.

Re: *applauds*

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

LOL My thoughts exactly :P