{"id":3020,"date":"2015-02-22T11:16:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T11:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/?p=3020"},"modified":"2015-02-22T12:08:48","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T12:08:48","slug":"sheperds-journal-february-22-2015-the-night-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/blog\/2015\/02\/22\/sheperds-journal-february-22-2015-the-night-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"A Shepherd&#8217;s Journal: February 22, 2015 | The Night Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script src=\"\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/soundcite\/latest\/js\/soundcite.min.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/tumblr_ni1bt5UShH1t14fqeo1_r1_500.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2922\" src=\"http:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/tumblr_ni1bt5UShH1t14fqeo1_r1_500.gif\" alt=\"tumblr_ni1bt5UShH1t14fqeo1_r1_500\" width=\"500\" height=\"301\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are three ewes ready to drop. \u00a0Or so it would seem. \u00a0I got up early this morning (2:30 am) to see if they were going to lamb. \u00a0I don&#8217;t know who was more expectant, me or them. \u00a0Me, I guess, because there were no lambs. \u00a0The expectant leaving me expecting. \u00a0I am glad, but there is no certainty that they would not lamb in the next thirty minutes. \u00a0This seems to be the year of the sheep with precipitous births.<\/p>\n<p>An\u00a0outrageous combination of 14-inch powder snow, rain\/sleet\/more snow, and temps above freezing has left a heavy, cloying fog everywhere. \u00a0I could easily lose the ewes in this milky mess if I didn&#8217;t make a head count. Six in the barn. \u00a0Eight in the field. I guess that makes me the pitcher to round out a baseball squad of sheep.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday was exhausting. \u00a0The barn flooded as all the rain and melting snow gushed downhill and straight into it,\u00a0\u00a0sliding over our filled and frozen drains installed to prevent that very thing from happening. \u00a0My wife and I spent the better part of the morning digging trenches in the frozen ground to divert the torrents. \u00a0The barn still became a manure pond. \u00a0We moved the ewes and their babies into a barn space that we usually reserve for hay. \u00a0More work.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-3021 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/giphy-22.gif\" alt=\"giphy (22)\" width=\"468\" height=\"351\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A mama of triplets is deciding whether or not she wants to accept her third baby. Our experience says no. \u00a0That means we will raise this big healthy ram lamb <a href=\"http:\/\/www.urbandictionary.com\/define.php?term=bummer&amp;defid=3596529\">as a &#8220;bummer&#8221;.<\/a> \u00a0Milk replacer is expensive and the time needed to bottle feed three times a day is even more dear. \u00a0Thank God school has been cancelled all week. \u00a0I couldn&#8217;t get out our half-mile farm lane\u00a0if I wanted to. \u00a0I tried to pack down a path to drive out yesterday, but it was just too risky to try. \u00a0More cold weather coming. \u00a0Refreezing might actually help. \u00a0Please no more rain.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t want to make it sound like I am doing all of this by myself. \u00a0My wife is the real lioness here. \u00a0She patrols the barn during the day, tending to them all as if they were her own children. \u00a0I am beyond lucky to\u00a0have her as my friend. \u00a0Sheep farming is one of the shared loves that has kept us working together for so long. Over 30 years with lambs and life. Lucky me.<\/p>\n<p>The thick fog of thirty minutes previous seems to lift like a white proscenium fire curtain. \u00a0Gone, revealing a starry sky and Nature&#8217;s night stage. \u00a0I walk it with a torch for a prop \u00a0and a role to play. \u00a0I am mostly a reluctant actor, shy\u00a0and so full of stage fright I act just to survive. Stage left. Stage right. Prologue. Epilogue. Comedy. Tragedy. \u00a0In the amphitheater, \u00a0standing in for an indisposed actor,\u00a0reading my lines &#8220;from the book&#8221; as the theater folk say. \u00a0Eyed by my sheepish audience. <span class=\"soundcite\" data-id=\"192413140\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"79523\" data-plays=\"1\">So I end<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div  id=\"_ytid_85665\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"  data-origwidth=\"1280\" data-origheight=\"720\"  data-relstop=\"1\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vtuoNCfbnYM?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"YouTube player\"  src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/vtuoNCfbnYM\/maxresdefault.jpg\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are three ewes ready to drop. \u00a0Or so it would seem. \u00a0I got up early this morning (2:30 am) to see if they were going to lamb. \u00a0I don&#8217;t know who was more expectant, me or them. \u00a0Me, I guess, because there were no lambs. \u00a0The expectant leaving me expecting. \u00a0I am glad, but<br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/blog\/2015\/02\/22\/sheperds-journal-february-22-2015-the-night-stage\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63,16,13,2,6,11,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-tellio","post-3020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-rhizo15","category-convivial-tools","category-digital-rhetoric","category-good-questions","category-poetry","category-story","category-ux"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3020"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3029,"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020\/revisions\/3029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/impedagogy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}