Les Noms des Moutons

Today I wrap up the naming of our new CVM/Romeldale lambs – who will arrive in less than four weeks. For ewe lamb #6 we've chosen the name "Kona" suggested by Madeline, who explained that Kona is a type of coffee, a rich brown color. Since Kona is Java's sister, this name works really well.

I thought long and hard about naming ram lamb #7, the rose-gray lamb. Since this ram will be the cornerstone of my new flock, the right name is especially important. Cindy's suggestion "Red" reminded me of a name I saw on a list of colors Adrian shared with me a few weeks ago: "Rufous," which means reddish-brown. Holly, Mike and I like "Rufous" – it captures the ram's  brown/red coloration . We can totally picture yelling, "Rufous, knock it off!" as he comes charging after us in the pasture. 

So this week's winners are Madeline, Cindy and Adrian. Thanks everyone for helping to name our new flock of CVM sheep. To recap, their names are Tumbleweed, Dune, Java, Cinder, Biscuit, Kona and Rufous. I'm truly grateful; it's one less thing I'll need to think about when they get here. With any luck we'll be knee-deep in Cormo babes by then. And they'll be needing names, too!

Lamb watch update: no lambs. Yet.

What I do have is a barn full of expectant moody mommas. Ravenous morning and night, they look like they have bowling balls stuffed beneath their sheep coats. Udders are ballooning. They are up at night, restlessly shuffling through the straw. I can hear that clearly on the baby monitor. But no action. I have a hunch that they were all bred within days of each other, courtesy of my ram Teaberry. Methinks we may be in for another lamb storm (you can read about the Lambstorm of 2006 here). 

The next full moon is April 9th. We'll see. 

This little calm before the storm is giving me bonus time to catch up on skirting Mount Cormo and to get the lambcam squared away. Yesterday a technician came and officially declared the camera "kaput". So I'm flying blind right now, relying on my ears and the baby monitor –  my only lamb surveillance. This afternoon, two new cameras are being installed in the barn; one in the southeast corner looking northwest, and one in the northeast corner, looking southwest. Tonight the girls will have no where to hide.

Will let you know how that works.

In the meantime, here's a shot of the boys in their new digs at the top of the hill. They love their new outpost. At dusk when they all came to the fence to say howdy I hopped out of my car to take some shots. I couldn't figure out why they were all looking uphill until I turned and saw a small deer herd crossing the drive. The deer, who had migrated to the lower wetlands during the cold, windy snap earlier this week, have returned to forage in the upper woodland. Nice to see them again.

Cormo boys at dusk

It was so cold and windy earlier this week, Buster borrowed my sweater.

Buster in sweater
Today is suppose to reach the upper 50's. A perfect day for lambs. 
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copyright 2009. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved.