Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Days 16 and 17: Monotony and Goodbyes

Day 16:

Hello again!

We are still waiting for the last 30-something ewes to pop. In the meantime, we are continuing to clean up the barn. Dana has joined the power washing crew.



Most of the pens in the main barn are cleaned. We have now begun working on cleaning up the group pens.
Every day we shovelin' shovelin'...

In a brief (and sad/comical) break from the humdrum of shovelin' and power washing, a dead ewe was discovered, and her lambs had to be caught so that they could be fed and cared for. The first lamb was caught quickly, but the second was a feisty beast who would not give up easily. Dana and Helgi ran off to capture the wily creature, but in the process, Dana managed to twist her ankle. Lacking an ice pack, she found a bottle of frozen colostrum to sooth her pain.

Dana recovering from the hunt (the colostrum is tucked in her sock on the opposite side of her leg).

Day 17:

Today is the last day for Dana and I. We will be flying out of Keflavik Airport tomorrow afternoon and abandoning Grace to her duties as lamb wet nurse. This experience has been amazing, painful, educational, and in some cases, downright infuriating. We've had long days and late nights, but we learned so much and met some amazing people. 

Our hosts: The lovely Snaedis and Helgi who housed us, loaned us their car, provided funds for us to go horseback riding, and taught us all they could about lambing and how to properly speak Icelandic (through no fault of theirs we still can't pronounce anything).

 Eyfi: the ear tagging extraordinaire and Icelandic Willy Wonka who kept us sane during lambing season by bringing us candy and being constantly cheerful.

Gudbjorg: Our wonderful cook who kept us fat and happy with steaks, pastas, and cakes.

Tonight, Dana and I will work our last red-eye shifts, and then perhaps, we will have earned the right to this ornament:

Have a good night everyone!

1 comment:

  1. The blog, as last year's, has been wonderful, warm, educational and filled me with awe at what you accomplish at a large Icelandic Fiber Sheep facility. You've all become shepherds extraordinaire and earned those ornaments, I suspect Shaedis and Helgi would agree! Nonni

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