Woven

[altivo]

Only the border to go on the purple onions runner. I think there will be enough warp left for two more pieces, and I've already designed them in my head. One will be called "Pink Snow" (from the Cat in the Hat) and the other will be "Drunkard Cat's Tracks." You'll see why when it's finished.

Shaun is still the same. No worse, but apparently no better. Probably we'll have to call the vet tomorrow. Possible diagnoses include spinal injury, kidney disease, or even botulism. Yeah, that last one usually presents in sheep starting with hindquarter paralysis. A few sheep survive it, most die, alas. Likely sources for botulism would have affected more than one of the sheep, though.

Bed time now, as soon as I get the fire built back up.

Comments

[rustitobuck.livejournal.com]

Really sorry to hear about your sheep...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. It's OK, though. He's had a good life for a sheep and if his tiem has come, there's not much to be done about it.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about Shaun's condition. I hope for the best.

*hugs tight*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. *hugs back*

Whatever happens, it will be what has to happen. We've done what we could, and he could easily have ended up as lamb chops long ago rather than as what amounts to a pet.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I hope his condition improves.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not yet, but thanks for the thought.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about that - I hope that he'll recover (and that, specifically, it won't be botulism).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No change yet. I'm afraid recovery is pretty unlikely.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

:(

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Alright, this will sound odd but I have to ask.

Aren't you afraid of Anthrax with sheep so intimate
with you and the boys and the other aminals and
well...you?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not particularly, no. I mean, it's not as if we slept with them or anything. Even then, anthrax doesn't just materialize out of nowhere. The infection would have to reach our place from somewhere else. Actual anthrax outbreaks are so rare and so well tracked that it would be nigh impossible for it to suddenly appear without warning.

Pigs and poultry share diseases with humans much more easily than do sheep, cows, or horses. Mosquito born encephalitis or influenza are the most likely cross-infections with horses (West Nile being one example) and you could catch that even if you had no horses on your own place, but there were some down the road. (Or a flight of infected crows stopped by for the afternoon, as far as that goes.) Pigs and chickens can give you all sorts of icky things. so washing after contact and care to avoid breathing dried manure are pretty important if you work with them. We have neither.

Shaun's condition is most likely not due to a contagious infection. It's probably caused by age, kidney failure, injury, or perhaps a tumor somewhere. We've had enough geriatric dogs and cats to recognize the symptoms. Parasites (not lice or fleas, but some intestinal nasties) could conceivably pass from sheep to human, but not as long as you practice cleanliness.