A Conundrum and Left Over Mashed Tatos

Hello dear readers! Glad to see you stop by! Welcome to all the new subscribers, the sheep would love to share some cuddles with you!

Earlier in the week I had been feeling pretty good about the fact that nothing had been going wrong around here. Things are calm, nobody is sick, equipment was working the way it should. A sigh of relief for me, honestly, since I’ve been feeling pretty crappy physically.

Evidently, I should have not been feeling quite so cocky.

Wednesday started of normally, except for the pretty crappy physically part. Full disclosure, I was having a diverticulitis flair up.

Morning chores went fine, midafternoon chores were fine, and since I was feeling like a stomped turd, I decided to get the evening stuff done early. This time of year, evening stuff happens between 4-430 pm because of it getting dark so early.

Ventured outside at 330, called the sheep down from the feeder, and was waiting and watching for them to come down to the corral fence. All of them made it except 2.

Ugh, up I go to the feeder to see what the hold up is. Both of them managed to get themselves stuck in the slats of it.

Several years ago when we had to move that particular bale feeder, one of the forks on the tractor got in the wrong place and it pushed one bar way over, creating uneven spacing between them. Fixing it was one of those to-do things that never got done.

The first sheep was easy to extract. He just needed a shove from the back end to get motivated to move. He popped out in about 2 seconds. Truely, he could have done it on his own if he wanted to, but I guess the hay was just too tasty in that particular spot to make the effort.

The second one on the other hand, is who created the conundrum for me.

Miss Snow is one of our older ewes. She came to me from a farm in CA when I purchased her mom, Lily. Snow was a bonus on that deal as Lily was pregnant when she came to our place.

Snow has a very big fat head. I don’t say that to be mean, it’s just a fact. She has lots of wool around her head and face and it makes her look disproportionate.

How she managed to wedge that fat head in where she did is a mystery to me. She really had to push hard to get in there. Silly booger.

Trying to push her gently backwards the way she got in was an exercise in futility. She was less than cooperative and kept lunging forward. I changed up how I was pushing. Now I had my left knee pushing her right shoulder back, my left elbow on her head, left hand guiding her nose, and my right hand pulling from below to get her ears wedged thru, along with all her excess wool.

Shepherdess trick—if you can get the ears out, the head usually follows.

Except this time.

Keep in mind, at this time I also now have 30 pairs of eyes watching me, as the rest of the flock and Brandy just had to come up and see what the excitement was about.

Ok, time to regroup and find another way to fix this.

Went down to the shop and found the come-a-long and chain. Maybe I can get the bars spread apart far enough to get her out. Back up to the feeder.

Me, come-a-longs, and tie down straps do not get along. Trying to get those damn things to open up the right way to let out the slack never works. It’s always a fight. It would be nice if they would make things like that for people with smaller hands. I can’t stretch as far as those suckers need to make the teeth release.

Rob always got a big laugh out of me trying to deal with those things. Rob had huge hands, and it was no effort on his part to work that stuff.

After about a 10-minute fight, I got enough of the cable out to wrap the bar. And it promptly fell off as soon as I let go. So I got the chain set up on the end of the feeder. And it promptly fell down as soon as I let go.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

I did finally get it all to stay where I wanted it, and I started cranking on that bent bar before I ran out of space.

I might have gotten 1/2” of movement. And I still could not get Snow out.

I’m running out of ideas and steam on this whole thing.

I tried calling my son to see if he was in the area and could help, but he was in a dead spot for cell service.

Thankfully, my across the street neighbor was home!!

He came over in a jiffy and brought his pry bar with him. Between him on the bar and me pushing, we were finally able to get Snow out of the prison she put herself in.

This whole thing took over an hour to extricate her.

The next morning, I went up with bale twine to weave a patch in that spot, so it won’t happen again. Until the feeder is empty, I can’t fix it better. That is going to involve chains, come-a-longs, and tractor to do.

Miss Snow is fine, and 5 days later, my shoulders are still killing me!

I’m sure you are wondering what this all has to do with mashed tatties.

With the upcoming feasting, I bet you, like me, has leftovers. One thing I like to do with left over mashed is to make tattie scones out of them.

It’s pretty simple. Take some of your mashed, about 2 cups, and mix in enough flour to make a soft workable dough.

Divide it into equal sized pieces.

Flour your table or counter well and roll them out into rounds a bit thicker than a tortilla. I do like mine a bit thicker.

Dry fry them in a pan on medium for about a minute per side, or until they are a golden brown.

Serve with your left over turkey and gravy, or what have you. Last time I used them under pot roast.

They are also good for breakfast with a fried egg.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I hope you and your families have a wonderful celebration!

Blessed Be!

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I want to thank all you wonderful subscribers and followers for hanging around for another year with us. I am grateful for all your kind and supportive comments, likes, shares and restacks. Your encouragement keeps me writing, even when some weeks it’s a struggle for me. Thank you for being part of the farm!

I am offering a Thanksgiving holiday special from now until Christmas. Your financial support goes a long way towards helping me keep the farm running. It has bought bales of hay, grain, medical supplies, and now, a tank heater.

20% off a subscription and the option to give a gift subscription to a friend or family member.

Thank you for your support! The sheep and I love you for it!