Jumping for Joy

Wooly Running Bella

While we don't have snow yet in Maine (this is am image from last winter), the ground has frozen and so the sheep are eating hay and grain now rather than grasses. The morning ritual has taken on a new twist, and each day for the past week I have had a lot of fun watching the sheep jump with joy as they follow me out to the spot in the field where I drop them a small pile of hay.
The younger ones actually leave the ground, wiggling and running into the air as their little heads bob up and down with excitement. They kick up their back feet and do a little shimmy as they bound across the field around me - some in front, some to the side and usually one or two behind me (Callie and Bella, the two matrons of the flock).
Bill has quieted down and seems very content in his pen, and even though he cannot get too close to the ewes, he is still able to see them most of the time. At night, he can hear and smell them. He does his own macho version of the wiggle dance when he gets his breakfast - which involves a bit of head bobbing and a quickened pace as he runs around the fenced area that he has...
The early morning light has been beautiful the past few mornings, with Venus shining bright at the tip of a waning crescent moon this morning as I did the morning chores. Yesterday, we had a gorgeous pink and red sky as the sun rose; the clouds were all lit up from underneath, and I stood there for several minutes, soaking it all in and listening to the contented sheep munching away on their hay. It is a simple and good life here at the Salty Ewe. Even on the darkest and most difficult days, these sheep make me smile and bring me back to a place of humility and thankfulness.