Snowed In

We’ve had some weather here lately. Worried about the sheep last week, especially the ram lambs, who had no shelter, I tried to get them to go into the barn. But they would not go! I put treats in. I tried everything. So, that was frustrating.

So I drove the truck up the hill and go some straw bales from Gary, (“You think they might nibble on it?” he asked. “They might,” I said. “Yep. They might nibble on it some,” he said.) I trudged out into the ram pasture with my straw bales and my tarps (they don’t co-ed anymore, not after last year’s big surprises!) and I set up a quick shelter for our little rams, out of tarps and straw bales. It was already sub-zero when I did it, so the quality left something to be desired. But, it was good enough. It worked! Everyone survived the 2-3 days of -30 degrees. Huzzah!

(Incidentally, the temperature went up fifty degrees on Friday, and it was still below freezing! I thought that was funny.)

Afterwards, the shelter I had built looked pretty shabby. The sheep had started to eat the straw supports in the center of the lean-to. I climbed in and adjusted things. I added some ropes and tie downs. Yesterday, though, I deemed it unsuitable and decided that today I would dismantle it.

and then,

a snow storm.

I went out to see the sheep today. Many of them had not bothered to take shelter from the snowstorm, as was evident by their snowy fleeces.

Silly sheep.

I counted five dumb little rams, which made my heart pound quickly, as I’m supposed to have nine dumb little rams.

I thought perhaps the ram shelter had collapsed on some of them.

I ran (sort of, as best I could) down to the shelter that had been looking iffy, and sure enough, it was collapsed. Were the missing sheep inside, trapped?

I could see, through a little window in the shelter, something move. I couldn’t make out what. Kind of looked like a horn, though.

Snow had taken down the middle of the lean-to. I would have taken a better picture, but I was really worried about the sheep. Did they suffocate? Were they okay? If they were in there, they were completely silent.

I dug and dug and pulled tarp away. It was covered with three inches of ice and a foot of snow on top of that. When I finally got it dug out- and cut away some ropes that were supposed to hold things up, but ended up getting in the way- I pulled the tarp back and discovered four healthy, annoyed little ram lambs.

Lamb Solo looks like he’s mad at me. Maybe it’s just because I feel guilty.

That little wood wall on the left, which was supposed to make a good wind block, also served to completely trap the four little sheep inside when the roof partially collapsed. But they did have a “window,” a.k.a. a hole in the wall- so suffocation was never a danger. Look in the upper right part of the photo, and you can see the tarp caving in because it’s so full of snow. It was a soft cave-in. I just had ropes and straw bales holding things up. Part of the problem, I think, was that those silly lambs were munching on the supports (which were made of straw)(Gary warned me).

I know. I should have read The Three Little Pigs. Never make houses out of straw, right? But my options were limited. The ground was frozen.

I fixed it all up so this won’t happen again. Tomorrow, a different adventure will come, I’m sure.