10 June 2010
Chilly & wet

The sheep have been being troublesome lately. Yesterday they decided not only to escape, but to flee to the neighbors' property when the UPS truck spooked them. They could not be found except for one poor lamb caught in the net. It was rescued in time, and upon walking the property and finding no sheep, the car was utilized. No sooner had the car backed out of the garage than the sheep returned, running for the lawn.

They later had to be coaxed into their own enclosure with alfalfa during a rainstorm bad enough that they were trying to take shelter in the band of rain forest. That got them in for the night.

Today they escaped again - the frequent rains make it all too easy for them. They spent most of their time splitting up into small groups and refusing to cooperate. The best methods of luring them into one space for a bit proved to be by feeding bread to the birds until they noticed, then leading them towards the enclosure and leaving them be. While they did still scatter and move around, they became much less interested in the areas which we prefer to have off limits to them.

We put them in for the night a little early - around 6:30 instead of 7:30. Since it was overcast, this apparently worked reasonably well. The birds ate well, although the ducks have developed a taste for cat food...