Long Day at the Office

I knew if I posted something nice about teaching things would go south, and they did. What a day at school - must be sunspots going on, creating magnetic forces that drive kids wild. It was all over the school, not just in my department. Thank God this day is over. What joy to come home to chaos of my own making. Stopped to mail some Maggie's Farm packages but forgot to drop my Netflix in the mail. Came home to find a Mia Care Package on the steps. She sent me two German home and garden magazines, much like the British Country Living I like so much, along with two pounds of Swiss coffee, a chocolate bar to sweeten up Beastie Boy, if that is possible, and the fabulous J. Crew boots I sent her a while back. They are too big for her, so score one for me. My lambs were SCREAMING when I came through the barn door. I did my quick scan to check things out. I had left little Bella in the barn, in an empty lamb jug, for the day. She is a little chubby from milk replacer and I thought she could go all day. Bella did not agree. She should be eating some hay now, like the other lambs, which will help develop her rumen. I want her to get used to living with sheep, but she does not seem to be relating to them yet. I've had sheep who were successfully reintroduced to the flock after growing up with me in the house, for example Fiona and Baby Thunder, but they always had a certain aloofness with the other sheep, and would rather communicate with humans. Some concerns - Bella doesn't move around much in the barn, but rather lies down curled up and stays still. I suspect she was kicked or run over one day last weekend and this might be why she is wary of sheep traffic. She gets stiff and has trouble standing when I pick her up. Inside the apartment she walks around and stretches her legs. We'll see how this goes. I suspect this will be resolved when the grass is green and she can be outside. The new lamb born yesterday morning, still no name, is not nursing from mom yet. I could tell by one glance that the bonding situation is not going well. Mom was on the extreme other end of the jug from her lamb. Not good. Luna and Linus, born the day before, are snuggled up against each other in their jug. New Mom is a reluctant, ambivalent first-time mother who does not want a lamb around her tiny little teats. She has milk but doesn't want to give it up. After work today I got in the jug with them and held mom while putting the baby up to the teat. I squeezed out some milk to entice baby to latch on, but she's not very aggressive. However, when I give her the bottle she likes it just fine and nurses vigorously. Bella might have a little girlfriend. I can't let a beautiful little ewe lamb go hungry. She might bring Bella "out of her shell." We'll see. I'm tired tonight but want to do some sewing. Heavy weather coming in the form of rain/snow showers. I can't seem to tote in enough firewood. It's so much work but wood stove heat is soooooo nice, penetrating, dry and warm. Better get to it.