Top 10 dream jobs

In no particular order:

1. Cattle rancher
2. Sheep rancher
3. Feedlot operator
4. Freelance writer
5. Freelance photographer
6. Magazine publisher
7. Presidential food taster
8. Matthew McConaughey's personal assistant

Still trying to think of a couple more.

World's Best Dog

I've read the book and seen the movie,"Marley and Me," several times. The movie is a must-see for any dog lover, a must-read for pet owners. It tells the story of the world's worst dog-- or so it seems. Marley does everything wrong that a dog can do, but still captures the heart of his family.

Marley and Me combines the antics of all of the dogs I've ever owned, but is especially remindful of my last dog, Sly, a Labrador Retriever mix, who I lost more than four years ago. Marley was a lab, too. A golden one. So many of the tales in the book have Sly written all over them. Like Marley, Sly was a "bull in a china closet," but with a heart of gold.

Though he's not perfect, my current dog, Zak, is quite possibly the world's best dog. Zak's a cross between two pure breeds. His pop was a Tibetan Mastiff, a working livestock guardian dog named Mongus. His mom was a working Border Collie. That makes Zak a Tibetan Collie or Border Mastiff. Take your pick. Whatever he is, he's a good looking animal.

Though Zak would probably be a decent livestock guardian, like his sire who was killed in the line of duty (taken out by a couple of mountain lions in Colorado), Zak doesn't seem to take many traits from the Border Collie side of his family. Which is good for me, because I don't have the time to give a Border Collie the attention (and exercise) it needs.

Zak is very laid back. While he loves to play and rough-house, he is also quite content sleeping on the couch. Some nights, he sleeps on the bed. He never wakes me. He's never in any hurry to get up in the morning. He'd sleep until noon if you let him.

Though Zak chewed some furniture when he was a puppy and occasionally chews on a pot holder, for the most part, he doesn't do much wrong. He seldom barks in the house. When he wants to bark, he asks to go outside. He's not a digger, crotch sniffer, humper, or jumper -- all very annoying habits. He doesn't have accidents in the house.

He drinks water from the toilet, but seems to do it without getting the seat too wet. He seldoms takes goodies from the cat's litter box. If a bag of trash is left out, he usually doesn't bother it. Of course, there was the time when he ate through several layers of bags to lick a copious amount of pus off of some paper towels (after I had drained a few sheep abscesses).

Zak walks very well on the leash. Like most dogs, he enjoys going on walks. He barks at the dogs we pass, but not too aggressively. He doesn't try to poop on other people's yards or in the middle of the road. He waits to do his business on public land at the intersection. Or he does it in the backyard at home.

Zak and my cat Max get along famously. This is very important since Max has broken both of his back legs and can't get around as well as a normal cat. Zak enjoys the company of my two Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs, McComb and Boone. Zak's never been aggressive to another dog -- even when they've "invaded" his home.

Zak's not especially fond of riding in the car. He's not bad either. Mostly his drool machine kicks into high gear. I guess it's a sign of stress. He behaves well at the vet and anywhere else I take him. He's never aggressive towards people. I don't think I've ever heard him growl.

Zak's a good eater. He eats what I feed him and doesn't constantly beg for people food. He does like to lick the bowl after I've had cereal or ice cream. Cheese is a favorite snack of his. He's fat, but that's my fault. They say when your dog's fat, you're not getting enough exercise.

I'm pretty lucky to have a dog like Zak. He's well behaved, fairly obedient, stays reasonably clean, is healthy and easy to care for, and has a gentle disposition. A watch dog, he's not. But you can't have it all.

Unique little faces

I'm sure the average person thinks all sheep and lambs look alike. These pictures prove differently. This first picture is the smallest lamb from the second set of quads. He doesn't look anything like his siblings: hair coat or otherwise. He's a full-time bottle baby. One hundred percent Katahdin.

I call this lamb "L'tl Red." She's a triplet. 82 percent Katahdin x 18 percent White Dorper. At first her dam (550) didn't want to let her nurse. I used a head stanchion to change her mind. Now, they're a "happy" family.

This sweet little face is of a ewe lamb from a set of triplets. She is 91 percent Katahdn x 9 percent White Dorper. Her mom is raising her second litter.

There are still several more ewes to lamb, including the yearlings. My dad's ewe lambed today.

Spring is for lambs

Nothing symbolizes spring more than the birth of lambs and other animals. Here are some images of this year's lamb crop from My Flickr web site.

These are Darby's twin girls. Darby (319) is a six year old ewe, 5/8 Katahdin x 3/8 Dorper. She always has nice lambs. At first, she didn't want to let the smaller one nurse, but after spending a few hours in a head stanchion, she gave up on that foolishness.

This lamb looks a bit like a Southdown (in the face). He had a sibling, but I found it dead. It was a big disappointment. His mom is a 2-year old ewe I dubbed Crissy (7105). She is very feminine and has a large, nicely-shaped udder. With all the milk to himself, this lamb should grow like gang-busters. I suspect he will make a good ram lamb to sell for breeding.

This lamb was recently born (in this picture). His mother, a 2 year old ewe (7061), went way out into the pasture to deliver him and his sister. With the exception of one breech birth, all of the ewes have lambed unassisted.

These twins, a ewe (L) and a ram (R) belong to Scarlet (7062), a 2 year old ewe that my niece named. I wonder if they'll be friendly and trusting like their mom. I like the brown markings on the male.

I always have a difficult time getting good images of black lambs. I guess their intense color fools the camera's meter. This year, I have four black lambs. Two rams and two ewes. All can be registered 100% Katahdin. I may keep one of the ewe lambs. The one pictured is a ram lamb (ear tag in the left ear). He's all black and doesn't appear to have a white mark on his body. His twin brother has a white blaze, white-tipped tail, and two white socks.

Oh, how the lambs love to run and frolic. They do the same thing inside the hoop house, but outside on pasture they have so much more room to play. Right now, I am able to let the twins out. Soon, I will start letting the triplets out. They haven't been out to pasture yet. About all they can do for fun is run around the hay feeder, which they sometimes do when their moms are busy eating.

Lambs, lambs, lambs

Don't ask me how many lambs have been born, let alone the ratio of rams to ewes. I lost count awhile ago. I had a second set of quads born, to a 2-year old ewe, the daughter of the 10 year old ewe that gave birth to quads. So far, not a single ewe has given birth to a single lamb. All multiples. There have been three stillborns, including a deformed lamb (without a face).

The first set of quads is doing fine. I offer bottles to two of the lambs. One of the lambs from the second set of quads was much smaller than its siblings, so I removed it for bottle-feeding. It never tried to nurse its mother. I tubed it for the first 24 hours and kept it in the house for convenience. When I returned it to the pen with its mother, it kept sneaking out, so I keep it in its own little pen.

There are six more mature ewes to lamb, plus seven yearlings, one of which is my dad's. One of the yearlings may have aborted a few months ago. I blame the goat I had. Harry kept butting the ewes. I gave him away.

Three of the mature ewes are going to lamb later than expected. I'm not even sure one of them is pregnant, a 2-year old registered black ewe. The other two look pregnant and may be starting to bag up. I may blood test the black ewe to see if she's pregnant. If she's not, she's going into my freezer. I've already started to call her "burger." Too bad. She's a very pretty ewe. Of course, the pretty ones are seldom the best producers.

The lambs are doing well. I have separate pens for the twins, triplets, quads, and yearlings' lambs. Soon, I will set up a creep area. The January-born lambs will soon be weaned. I have already started cutting back the feed of their dams.

I am enjoying lambing season more this year, thanks to two days of spring break, two days of furlough, and several half work days. I've been able to care for the sheep at a more leisurely pace than if I was working full-time. It takes a lot of work this time of year, with all the different pens to feed and water. Lactating ewes drink a lot of water and they don't like it dirty. Plus, you have to make sure all the little ones are getting enough milk.

Several lambs are emerging as my favorites. Of the early lambs, Kelso is the most friendly of his birth group. He and McComb seem to have become best buds. The first set of quads has the sweetest dispositions. When I offer bottles to two of the lambs, the other two jump all over me and nibble on my clothes. They all have little black noses like Californian rabbits. I try to get pictures of them, but they never stand still.

Tony is a triplet lamb who is very friendly and rambunctious. He is easy to spot with a red mark on his neck and a black spot on his tail. Of course, the little quad (from the second group) has grown very attached to me. He's like a needy little child.

Poor Boone is afraid to go through the hoop house. The first pen contains ewes with triplet lambs. One or more of these ewes must have been mean to him because he won't pass through their pen anymore. One day, I heard him yelp pretty loudly. If he doesn't pass through the triplet pen, he can't get out to where McComb is. As a result, I think he's lonely. He "clings" to me when I'm feeding. He has recovered from his recent neutering.

Lambing 2009

The 2009 lambing season started early, in late January, a result of Snow Wolf slipping through the electric fencing during a power outage in late summer. He impregnanted four ewes who gave birth to eight healthy lambs: 4 rams and 4 ewes; 1 set of triplets, 2 sets of twins, and 1 single birth. Seven white lambs and a red one. Don't know where the red color came from. These lambs are doing well and ready to go out to pasture with their moms. I'm going to need the room in the hoop house.

The next unauthorized lambing was a result of ram lambs slipping into the the pen with the ewe lambs while I was away in China. Four ewe lambs (almost yearlings) lambed, including one I sold a few days before it lambed. Three sets of twins and one single birth (the one I sold).

One of the sets of twins included a deformed lamb with no face. Obviously, this lamb was born dead. The lambs are of mixed colors. They are doing fine, though you always wish yearlings produced more milk. There's one ewe lamb I keep offering a bottle to, to make sure her appetitie is being satisfied.

So far, my favorite lambs are a set of twin black ewe lambs. They are solid black. One has a "star" on its forehead, like its mom, who also has two white feet (back). The lambs can be registered and there's a 50:50 chance that they are RR. #536 produced two nice lambs last year. One I sold at the KHSI annual sale. Her lambs are "pretty." She's a good milker.

Another favorite is "Kelso," one of the early lambs. Kelso was born when it was cold. I don't think he nursed much the first 24 hours. As a result, he got chilled. The first time I've had a hypothermic lamb. I tubed him with warm milk, then brought him into the house and placed him between two heating pads. After a few hours of warmth, he was up and demanding to be fed. I fed him a few more times and took him back to his mother the next morning.

Though she wasn't objecting, he wasn't interested in nursing her. He wanted me to feed him. So, I fed him for several days on a bottle. Eventually, he decided mom's milk tasted better. He has thrived ever since. I named him Kelso, after the Ashton Kutchner character on the 70's Show because he got chilled because he was too "stupid" to nurse. Pretty, but stupid, just like the 70's Show character.

One day when I went out to the hoop house, I found five lambs from two ewes that had lambed. I wasn't 100% certain which lambs went with which ewe. I think I got them right, but each of the ewes refuses to let one of her lambs nurse. I've been holding the ewes. Today, I'm going to put their heads in stanchions. I don't want to bottle feed lambs, whose moms have plenty of milk.

Last evening out in the field, seven lambs were born to two ewes. A 2-year old ewe gave birth to triplets and the matriarch of my flock, #92, gave birth to quads. All the lambs are white, with some freckled faces. These are my first lambs out of Lincoln, my new ram from Illinois. There are five rams and 2 ewe lambs. So far, all the multiples are doing okay.

Poor #92. She is 10 years old now. It's a heck of a time to have quads. She's a fantastic mother and an excellent milker, but expecting her to raise four lambs is probably expecting too much. Don't know whether I'll remove one lamb for bottle feeding or offer bottles to all of the lambs as a supplement. I'm going to take extra special care of #92. She's never been a ewe that holds a lot of body condition on her small frame.

Thank you, President Bush

On the day the 44th President of the United States, Barack O'bama is inaugurated with enough pomp and circumstance to bankrupt a third world country, I wish to write a thank you letter to the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.

• Thank you President Bush for 8 years of dedicated service to this country.
• Thank you for standing up for what you believed was/is right, instead of changing your positions to make your poll numbers go up.
• Thank you for keeping us safe for the last 8 years.
• Thank you for standing up to terrorists.
• Thank you for keeping your committment to the Iraqi people.
• Thank you for protecting the lives of unborn children.
• Thank you for trying to uphold conservative values.
• Thank you for having grace and humility when it seemed as if the whole world was against you.

I am not opposed to Barack O'bama's presidency, though I don't like the manner in which Hollywood and the media is slamming it down my throat. I only hope President O'bama is able to earn my respect like his predecessor did. O'bama is charismatic and well-spoken, but is he up to the job? Only time will tell. Best of luck to both Presidents Bush and O'bama, as their lives lead them down different paths.