Meet Lambert!

He arrived last night and we put the boys together in their pen, fed them, kissed them goodnight and left them to it.  There is no such thing as the silence of the lambs.

This morning, feeling rather apprehensive, we put Lambie and Lambert in the back garden together whereupon Lambert instantly escaped to be with us *** sigh ***.  So we all ended up sitting outside together – Daisy, Lambie, Lambert, BeAnne, Loki and me in the garden getting to know each other.

Lambert has a similar background to Lambie.  He was one of a twin whose mother and twin died.  He is also small, like Lambie, and they are almost the same age so that will mean joint birthday parties then.

Lambert is bottle fed, although he is on only two bottles a day as opposed to Lambie who is on 4.  Lambert has also lived in a herd of sheep so vaguely knows what is expected, like eating grass and playing.

So that is us welcoming a new member to our family.  BeAnne is dubious but has been told that Lambert is friend not food.  Also, for once, OH approves of this addition as he thinks this will keep Lambie out of the house!

We are all hoping Lambert will fit in well at Thordale.  He is happy to follow and loves everyone, so that is a good start.

Lambie looks a bit bewildered as he has never seen a sheep up close before but, as the day progresses, they are learning to communicate.

One of the chaps already, I hope.

This afternoon, all was quiet and I think I could hear some snoring!

Zzzzzzz……..

Blissful inactivity on a June afternoon with fat tummies full of grass and the faint glimmer of warmth on their backs.

Little boys behaving, at last.  A rare time for everyone in the herd.

The flowers were growing and the birds tweeting. All was good – (just setting the scene here).

Suddenly a little Someone woke up!

Within seconds of waking, he had the Evil Thought, but decided to sort himself out first!

The Evil Thought was plain – to make a dear little chap’s life a misery by hanging onto his lug (ear) while he was sleeping.

Yes, that is poor Waffle’s ear in his mouth and yes, Tiddles is still hanging on!

Poor Waffle was unamused but tolerant of this nasty little boy and he managed to wake everyone else up too.  Once they had all stood up, had a quick cuddle and chat with me, I shooed them off to continue with their horrid games.

The life of a Minion is never peaceful.  They like it like that (mostly!)

Lambie’s days are numbered living in our house.  Although he tries his very best to behave, continence is not his strong point, (though he will stand in his box and pee, if reminded constantly).  But, Lambie also enjoys eating coal, electric cables, tablecloths and wooden tables, which are perhaps not the best weaning food for a small Lambie.

The word “pest” has even been mentioned more than once (not by me, I hasten to add), especially in the evening when he likes to sit innocently chewing on someone’s computer cable!

I have found him, I think, a friend – another caddy lamb and the time is coming when Lambie will be evicted from our house.

After the shed debacle a few days’ back, we decided that, as the stable is not being used, it was a much nicer area to make a Lambie-Boudoir.

Interestingly, the family was very keen to help!

We put Lambie in for a trial run and he was very happy to see if concrete walls were worth chewing (as I type this, he is tucking into the over-hanging kitchen tablecloth!)

I even gave Lambie his own wooden table to rest his teeth on.

Lambie didn’t stay very long in his new house as he will only live in it once we have a friend for him.

Lambie enjoyed investigating the stable – he has never been in here – and it is light and airy with no draughts too.  I intend to make a permanent winter home for him (and friend) in a corner out of reach of the horses.

After looking round his new bedroom, Lambie rejoined his pack as he considers himself one of the dogs.  They go around in a threesome these days.

Last night I made a dreadful faux pas.  I put Lambie out to sleep, with his comfy-wumfy bed, inside a lovely sheltered wooden box in the shed rather than under the stairs in the kitchen where he usually sleeps.  I was being put under pressure by a member of the family to make Lambie live a normal lambie life.

Lambie bleated and pleaded to come back inside and I gave in after 9 minutes feeling like the mother from Hell. Lambie had revenge and had me up at 02:00 to feed him.

Tomorrow is a different matter.  Lambie is getting a friend (another caddy lamb) so hopefully they can bond together in the shed and learn to be best friends.  Lambie needs this and I am doing him no favours by turning him into a dog.  Half of me thinks it is a great idea and the other half hates it.  Why can’t he live under the stairs at night?  He is no bother.

Anywho, it got me to thinking about where home is for everyone else.

Taktur has a penchant for the Minions’ shed.  He squeezes himself in and spends hours just standing by himself looking out.

If he is not there, he can be found with his Mini-Me.

The Minions like a small fenced off area in their paddock and spend many happy hours annoying each other.

Tiddles can’t really live anywhere at the moment.  He has turned into a grubby little boy and we are all giving him a very wide berth.

Perhaps except for Klaengur, who gently broke it to him that we all thought he was revolting!

If Taktur is not in residence in the Minion Shed, then Kappi will quickly nip in.

Wu lives on the bed.  He moves occasionally so I am told!

You would have to ask BeAnne where her home is.   It depends on who has the warmest bed!

(she appears to looks very odd in this photo)

For the last few days BeAnne has been very interested in a certain amphora that lives in our garden (decoration, not function).

(as you can see, we rather need something to break up the monotony of the green theme going on here)

BeAnne is not subtle about her desire to get at the contents and spends much of her day with her snout down the opening, peering in to see if there is any new developments.

If you can prize her snout out, much to her indignation, this is the beautiful sight that greets you.

Four perfect starling eggs sitting in a bed of old straw and feathers.

Others, who are better equipped for getting the eggs, are not interested.  Loki has better things on his mind ….

…. while Wu is playing Living Tetris with Flossie’s fur animals (two “dead” cats and her pet direwolf).

The eggs are stunning but, to be honest, I am not holding my breath that a) they might hatch or b) even if they did hatch, they will get to fledge as certain small furry bog-brush-dog is not going to leave them alone.

I did think of moving the amphora but a bird expert said he didn’t think Mum would return if we did that.

What to do?

Why does this remind me of two of Aesop’s fables:

– The Crow and the Pitcher 
– The Fox and the Stork