I believe we now are up to 19 lambs - fun this year because we used a black-headed Dorper ram to sire them which means we have not only white lambs but also black ones and spotted ones. I will post pictures later on. It has been cold here, forecast temps in the single digits at night for the forseeable future and only in the 20's or low 30's in the daytimes. We got around 5" of snow last night and this morning; it's heavy and wet and I have to admit that I am not enjoying it so much. Trouble is looking pregnant now and the phone, emails and mailbox are showing us that our dogs are still in demand despite the economy. We're anxious to see what she will give us since we have some wonderful homes awaiting.

I ordered chicks yesterday; they will arrive at the end of next week - all Cornish x - so they won't be a lot of fun but it will mean new life in the midst of all this snow!

Yesterday I went out to check on the lambs a little late - around 8 a.m. since my back was hurting and I was waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in - and sure enough, #29 had decided to drop her single lamb into the one puddle of icy water in the entire yard rather than go in the nice dry, straw-bedded barn. The lamb was, for all outward signs, dead - I could hardly pry his mouth open and thought dark thoughts about the ewe but decided to take him inside and see what I could do. I filled the kitchen sink (okay, Seth, skip this part...) with very very warm water and immersed him in up to his head and began to massage him until, after about 20 minutes he was moving around enough that I decided it wasn't reflexes, it was actual life. I kept working on him for a while longer and then dried him off with towels and took him into the bathroom where I cranked the heat up as far as it would go and shut the door. Within another hour or so he was warmed up enough that he was up on his feet and crying for his mama. I couldn't decide whether to keep him inside longer or not but finally figured I'd better take him out to his mother before she completely forgot she'd given birth. I put him in a lambing pen (called, in lamb-speak, a 'jug') and she nickered to him, began licking him and (thankfully) did remember that he was her lamb. I was delighted to see this little family together, the young babe nursing this morning. As I told my mom, it was like suddenly life had been breathed back into his cold body, reaching back and bringing him to life. She said that it must have felt really good - to be honest, it was mostly exhausting.