Sheep Tales and Sheep Dreams

This week has been another busy one, with a lovely holiday visit from my youngest son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. We spent the week running through sprinklers, going for wagon rides out to the back pasture to water the sheep, eating watermelon and gooseberry cobbler, visiting the local bookstore, hanging out at the lake, and just spending some genuine grandma-grandkid time. Oh, and the time spent with my son and daughter-in-law was nice as well, Lol. But, today I’m going to share a funny little story that happened several days before my family visitors arrived, because, with the very heavy, very dark, political news this week, I think we all could use a little lighthearted story.

I’ll start at the beginning.

About 3 weeks ago I had a dream that featured my little flock of sheep. I believe this is the first time my sheep have featured in any of my dreams. I tend to mostly have dreams (at least those that I can remember) that are anxiety types- struggling with a problem of some sort, or some kind of disaster befalls me and I am trying to fight my way through it. Or, I occasionally have “forward looking” dreams, where I seem to wander through some kind of future landscape. But, I rarely have dreams where I feel like laughing out loud, and that is what this “sheep dream” was all about!

So, in my crazy sheep dream from a few weeks ago, I was in my kitchen (as usually happens in dreams, it looked different- the house was bigger, with an enclosed wraparound porch and a lot more outbuildings on the property), and I was talking to some people who were visiting me (it wasn’t clear who they were). I was rushing around the kitchen making food and talking to my visitors, when I looked out the window and saw two women who were my farm helpers (in the dream), and they were shepherding the sheep along the property line. I smiled and said, oh how nice, they’re moving the sheep for me. Then, a tiny little man was standing next to me grinning, and he told me, you better go upstairs because the sheep have made a mess. I turned and ran upstairs just in time to see all of my sheep roaming around the hallway and through all of the bedrooms, ransacking the entire upper floor! Sheep poop was everywhere, lol. But, instead of getting upset, I just laughed out loud and started herding them downstairs and out the door. They all followed me like sweet little lambs.

Now, fast forward a couple of weeks, in the wide awake hours….

I had been furiously preparing for my family’s visit, mowing grass and weed whacking, cooking food and washing the bedding from the guestrooms, when I decided to take a short break. I had just sat down in the parlor, with a nice glass of chardonnay and a book. I happened to glance out the window, and my brain struggled to decipher what I was witnessing. A huge fuzzy animal was eating the leaves off my maple tree…wait a minute, there was another huge fuzzy animal eating the branches off of one of the big pine trees…hang on, those are sheep! Those are MY sheep! Omg, the sheep are out, the sheep are out!

I quickly slipped into my shoes, ran out the side door, and then I stopped…took a deep breath… and planned. I glanced at all of the paddock gates, and soon discovered the offending gate- it looked like I had not pushed the latch down tightly, so they must have leaned against the gate for scratches and inadvertently “vibrated” the latch open. Okay, first things first, close that gate! After that was done, I scanned the area, trying to decide which paddock was closest for herding them into. Once I located the nearest paddock and gate (in proximity of where they were happily munching away), I opened that gate up, and then ran up to the barn to grab a bucket and fill it with some sunflower seeds.

Then, it was show time!

I located the friendliest sheep (Gertie Bell), and shook the bucket in front of her, making sure to allow her to taste the delicious treats inside- convincing her that they were MUCH better than any old maple leaves or pine tree branches. It worked! She quickly started following me, and before I knew it the rest of the flock came along.

Once I got to the open gate I had to step up my game a bit as I used one hand to tie off the gate, keeping it wide open, and the other to continue enticing the sheep with the bucket of treats. Finally I got all but the last 3, very suspicious sheep, into the paddock. I sat the bucket down and relied on these 3 “Nervous Nellie’s” fear of me trying to grab them for (God forbid!) a check of their eyes to see if they have a high parasite load (FAMACHA score), and then I took a hard right to come up alongside them- it worked, they hightailed it away from me and ran straight into the paddock! Slam! I shut and locked the gate and walked back up to the farmhouse, where my glass of chardonnay was waiting…still chilled.

A perfect sheep tale ending to a perfect sheep dream.

Was my earlier sheep dream a premonition, preparing me to remain calm, and maintain a sense of humor in the face of an upcoming sheep jail break?

Only the tiny little man (one of the wee folk perhaps?) can say for sure.

Have a good week, and remember to pay attention to your dreams, and to keep a tight grip on your shepherd’s crook!