Have you ever heard a faint noise and had a slow dawning realisation that it is completely out of context? Well Adrian and I were watching TV this evening and slowly and gradually one of those ‘wrong’ noises got insistent enough that I muted the sound and we both turned to each other and said “what the …?”
There, right under our lounge window, bleating its little heart out was this:
Anyone remember last year’s lamb drama? Here we go again, we thought.
So, on with the boots, fleece and leather gloves, out with the broom and mop to give us something long reaching to try and herd it with and out into the twilight we marched, one on either side of the house in a cunning pincer movement.
Er, not cunning enough, this one was younger than last year’s and still has high density coiled springs where it should have legs. I discovered tonight just how fast lambs can run and how much of that is actually huge bounding leaps rather than running.
I think it took us just under an hour in the end. It made its way up and down the drive a few times, bounding over the cattle grid in one movement, tried the direct through the hedge approach to it’s indignantly bleating mother several times without success and ended up with its nose mere inches away from the gap in the leaning gate where it undoubtedly escaped from in the first place.
Then the stupid thing shot off again and ended up on the road! I went wide, trying to get it back to the drive, but no, it heard it’s mother and flung itself towards the noise, only to end up in a deep ditch by the side of the road. So up and down the side of the ditch we went, too far for our hastily grabbed shepherd’s crooks to be any use at all.
So we waited and watched, hoping it would find a way out. It managed to scramble up the far side of the ditch up to the wire fence where it could see it’s mother, but still with no way through. It looked like a stale mate unless we could move it’s mother down to where we could see a likely spot for it to wriggle through. Adrian headed through to the field, scattering sheep as he went.
The terrified lamb made a few desperately futile struggles to reach its mother then it quite suddenly lay down and tucked it’s legs under it, panting heavily – exhaustion had obviously set in.
Adrian made a brave decision and muttering something about the stupidity of sheep in general and one lamb in particular, he very gingerly got one leg over the barbed wire fence onto the precarious ditch edge. Getting the second leg over without sliding down the bank and leaving something very precious behind on the barbed wire was achieved with remarkable grace. He slowly and carefully picked his way down to the exhausted lamb and managed to gently pick it up and carry it back to the top. A slightly tricky manoevre and the lamb was once again on terra firma on the right side of the fence. Phew!
So here we are now itching all over, nursing thistle scratches, midge bites and nettle stings while the lambs are gambolling happily in the field.
The irony is that just yesterday, we had someone round to measure up for a new cattle grid and d’you know why? Because we were woken up on Sunday morning by a small herd of cows being chased round the garden by the farmer!!
Ah, country living, don’t you just love it!
PS – we saw the cat that Adrian rescued for the first time this week. We’ve never seen the family in when we’ve gone past the house, but we definitely saw the cat running away from the road, so it’s a relief to know he’s ok.
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I found myself laughing out loud at this post as I imagined you and Adrian rounding up the little lamb, especially the image of him climbing over the barbed wire without leaving anything behind.
We also can sometimes experience cows/cattle being retrieved from the garden by the farmer. Fortunately not very often though.
Thanks for sharing your antics and well done for re-uniting the lamb with it’s mum
Sounds like deja whatsit, Glenda and another chucklesome story, for us readers at any rate.
Hope your ‘sore & itchy’ spots calm down before bedtime but at least your persistance paid off in the end.
Lesley Xx
Hello Glenda
What an exciting life you & Adrian have what with one thing & another.
Never a dull moment it would seem.
The picture of the lamb is just lovely.
Glad you & Adrian suceeded in your endeavours & all ended well.
Pleased you saw the cat & that it’s O.K.
It sounds like life is never dull in your house! My Mum had to chase a pig when out on a walk while my Dad alerted the owners, in the meantime a few other assorted animals had escaped too!
Thanks for sharing that story with us and I’m so glad you managed to re unite the escapee with its mother. Well done!!
Val W
Well Glenda and Adrian its obviously a holiday with a secret fitness routine slipped in on the QT!!!!I BET YOU THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE EXERCISE!!
You probably thought you were going to have a lovely quiet night in ,then the lamb intervened to promote Healthy Holiday programme.I wonder how many more of the flock will be there next time?
Have a lovely break–enjoyed reading about your adventure x Joyce
Thank you Glenda. I laughed out loud at that one, very well written, have you missed your calling as a writer perhaps?
Glad all ended well!
Ha ha ha Glenda! at least l’m not the only one that these saga’s happens to!!our neighbors here ,kindly came to spend the evening with us with their two children(no problem) 3 dogs (ok ) and 2 huge pigs!who proceded to run amoke around the place, ate the lettuces and flowers and tried to get under the caravan (our temp home) to get at the week old puppies ( another story) that the dog from the goat farm had given birth to under there!
As my mum would say ” all part of lifes rich pattern!” xx
Having kept sheep ourselves I sympathise with you! I am sure lambs are born with an innate desire to kill themselves. Get them over the streaming, wall of death phase and they then become extremely cunning – not stupid at all – well, at least ours seemed to be cunning. Managed to get one over on us most of the time!
Yes, life is never boring in the countryside.
Oh Glenda, that was absolutely hilarious!! Country living is something you just can’t explain to townies.
The poor lamb looked so confused standing in your garden. I’m pleased its back with its mother. I spent an evening many, many moons ago when I was at school catching lambs that needed to be moved on my friends Dads farm. I had a proper shepherds crook, but it was pretty much useless, unless you had years of shepherding experience behind you, so I can understand your frustration last night!
Glad Adrian has all his important bits intact after clambering (gingerly) over the barbed wire fence!!
Love
Jill
x
Hi Glenda
Oh My Gosh you sure see life where you live don’t you!
Thank you for a lovely picture and hilarious (from this end) story. You are both lovely for rescuing poor ickle baar lambs
You’ll have to invest in a dog if this keeps up!
Best wishes
Billie
Glenda, I promise you I envy you every minute of your escapade, I would love to live somewhere where the odd lamb could wander in or even a herd of cows! What a wonderfully idillic place to live in.
Jackie
With me its cats, I seem to have all of the neighbourhood cats being entertained by my 2 in the garden shed on a regular basis. I have beds for them, if the weather is cold and/or wet they can go in there over night. Not quite the same as your adventure, but all good fun!!
Ann
It’s comforting to know that country life where you are is not so fundamentally different from country life at my house. Exchange cows for moose and a flock of wild turkeys –
The lovely little lamb looks much more cuddly though!
I agree with the other posts, you could be a very successful comedy writer!
Cheers, Lori