This week’s blog comes with a health
warning. If you harbor a severe dislike to tiny, itchy creatures, start
scratching now.
A week has passed, a week without the
company of my dear husbands. It's good to take a break now and again and this
time family and friends met in Cyprus. This sent Mr. Chip into a tailspin and
our dog glued himself to me for the duration of the holiday. I have literally
not been alone, this week. Mr. Chip also realised that if you sleep on top of
somebody, that particular somebody can't vanish into thin air, without you
noticing it. So I'm a bit flatter now.... Dear husband got back today and our
dog can relax again.
We had the vet out to check on the
sheep this week. Mandy has bled a few times from the rear end (I'm being
discreet) so we thought it would be good for her to see a doctor. Our vet
thought it had to do with spring and stuff and not to worry. Then she made the
mistake of commenting that some cows bleed a bit after their weeks of being in
season. Mandy turned around and gave the poor lady such a stern look that she
started apologising. Mandy does not take kindly to being compared to a cow. Now
we know... We took poo samples and there was no need to deworm and that was
good. Then I showed a spot on My, where she's been itching and no problem was
found there, either. All in all they seemed like happy, slightly round animals.
As we live in the middle of nowhere, small, itchy spots should not be a
problem.
Two days later, however, I found
chewing lice on our poor sheep. They are tiny, active creatures that make the
life of a sheep very uncomfortable. So for the rest of the week I have been
hunting lice eggs and killed as many of the small blighters I have been able to
find. The big question is how they got there, as our animals have not met any
other sheep for two years. This little louse moves from sheep to sheep, not via
someone else. We will get help next week, as the "medication" in
question was sold out, at the vets. We still need to identify our visitors so the
stuff we use is the right one.
Calling around to see if anyone else
has this problem only resulted in everyone starting to feel itchy. Some ideas
about how to get rid of them were put to us, while they were scratching behind
their ears. Saunas were mentioned and home made sheep dips. But more as jokes,
I hope...
While I've been hunting small game, an
idea for a children's book came my way. Would it not be fun to write a story about
a happy community of lice? Adventures and events in their life, accompanied by
funny, sweet pictures. Children would love it and it would test the mental
strength of the reader. How long before you break down and start scratching...
As I'm too busy with our tiny visitors I'm happy to see someone else take this
idea and run with it. I promise to buy a copy of the book when it's finished as
I'm starting to get immune to lice and bugs. It also gives me a whole new
meaning to the expression "A big knitathon"...... If you meet a group
of lice out running.... Hens do not share their tiny visitors with the sheep
and vice versa so at least that's one less thing to worry about.
Spring is here and I get to call for
our sheep in the afternoon, again, as they have restarted their life as nomads.
It's the most wonderful feel when you call for our friends and you get an
answer and there they are, Mindy, Mandy, Molly and My; four happy explorers,
lice and all. How we got on with that problem will be a tale for another time.
Until then, I will sit and go through their wool and think of more book ideas.
It does make me feel like a little monkey, though, all this grooming...
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| Credit: Dasha Dimitrova |
Monkeys apparently pick specs of dry
skin and salt from each other. They very seldom suffer from any kind of lice
and knits. I hope they know how lucky they are on that front.
P.s. We got the medication needed and
four polite sheep stood in a row while my dear husband squirted the liquid on a
spot between their shoulder blades. My job was to make the parting in the thick
wool and to actually find a spot for medicating. Not an easy task with our
polar bear lookalikes. Now all we can do is hope it does the trick and the
itching stops. I did clear out all the bedding and hay from the stable, just in
case someone was setting up home in the corners. It's been a tough week for
tiny visitors, around here. At least the sheep are calmer and I have time to do
something else than pick knits. My eyes are sore from all the squinting...
You can stop scratching now, it does
not help!
Text by Nina
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