Happily Ever After - February 2008

.....and the winner is....well, I'll tell you in a minute first I have to apologise for being absent for so long.

I have a sordid confession to make. For some time now I have been using my precious internet time not to find out how FredBlog's house is doing or see what witty banter is going on between TWS and FC or keep you all updated on the impending move to Lewis. (Yes, it is still happening...I will be turning up with two Luton vans before April Fools Day, how appropriate!)

I have been lavishing my attentions on another, faster, better website with instant replies and thousands of threads updated immediately. It sooked me in...I didn't mean it. I realise the error of my ways...please forgive me and welcome me back into the comfy, but slow world of IB???

I suppose you want to know what site could lure me away, no not Facebook...

www.labrador-forums.co.uk

Aww the shame of it...sniff sniff.

Anyway, back in October I set a competiton to name our new puppy and I had lots of lovely replies and suggestions, and would like to say a big thank you to all who took the time to enter, but I am pleased to announce that the winner is:

da-da-da-da-da-da- daaaaaaaa - TWS!!!!

TWS came up with a lovely Gaelic name...so here he is....Cubair! (pronounced Coober)




(Ehhh, there was a promise of a prize...how is the book coming along Squidgy??)

I have just booked myself on a lambing course - on Thursday!!!

It is a basic course, apparently suitable for a complete beginner like me!! I had been looking for a course along the lines of "Sheep for the Terrified" or "Dummies Guide to Lambing" but this will do.

My wellies will get a bit of action at last...they've been for a few muddy walks...now they will get to do some real work. My friends are horrified...especially when I mentioned that there are dead lambs and ropes and stuff involved. "Are you sure you won't cry??"

Well, no I'm not...but I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm actually really excited...I will be learning something useful, practical and hands-on. And with our lambs due practically as soon as we arrive in Lewis (We are inheriting a herd of 21 Hebridean Sheep ;-)) I need a bit more knowledge than my Practical Sheep Keeping book can provide.

All of a sudden I feel like my new life is starting to happen...

Wish me luck for Thursday...I have a feeling that I'm going to need it!

Baaaa-Byeeee for now!

Well, have alot to cover in today's blog...keeping the mystery until the end so you have to keep reading...

Firstly, thanks to all your good luck vibes the lambing course went amazingly well!! I am so impressed with myself...

I manged to "give birth" to a dead lamb out of the sheep simulator...ok, so maybe I was a bit hasty getting my electrical cable around the head, breaking the First Golden Rule of Lambing "DO NOT GET OVER EXCITED". And maybe I should have remembered to get the little feet out first instead of breaking the Second Golden Rule of Lambing, "DO NOT PULL ON THE FIRST THING YOU CAN TOUCH". But hey, I wasn't fainting, crying or being sick in the corner - hurray for me!!

Secondly, there is the small matter of the prize that was promised to TWS for the naming of our new doggie Cubair. As there is no update on Squidgy's book I have decided to award a surprise prize so please TWS can you email Carol at IBHQ with your address, get her to email it to me, and I will send you an appropriate reward!!

And now on to The Mystery of the Itchy Scratchy Tweed Bits....
Soaplady from Lewis ( I have some of your rhubarb soap in my bathroom it's gorgeous!) told us in my last blog that:

Soaplady: "I'll never forget how amused I was on first coming to the island to see the lady sheep walking around the place with large squares of brown tweed sewn over their relevant bits ... !! "

This revelation has caused no end of puzzling until our puzzlers are sore...

Modest sheep???
Flying Cat from whatever next!

Pardon my ignorance, but why do lady sheep have tweed sewn over their relevant bits? Is this modesty or some form of island birth control? Or maybe the gentleman sheep are turned on by the tweed patches?
Jill from EK

I have to admit, I'm also baffled about the tweed-on-relevant-bits. Is anyone brave enough to explain this mystery??
Michelle Therese from Things Go Moo in the Night...

So please can anyone out there shed a little light on this matter???