Ram Rescue

Early in November we take the rams off their summer island and bring them to the mainland until it's time for them to go out to the ewe islands for breeding in December.  The reason being that when the scent of ewe wafts in their direction, rams being rams, they will sometimes wander out onto the ledges at low tide thinking they can walk over to the ewe's island (impossible). And if the tide should come back in during this attempt...

stranded ram. 

An extremely rare (don't ever remember doing this) rescue mission requires team work and a great deal of strategy planning. 

Capture was easy (embarrassed but grateful rams). However, manuvering large rams over slippery rocks and into a small boat proved somewhat eventful but successful.  (Sorry, no pics, I was holding the boat.)

Round Two Round-up

Yet another perfect day. Island #2 fall round-up completed with calm seas and a crew of five. 

This year's lambs. 

Next year's Nash Island Fog yarn. 

Fall Round Up

It was a perfect day for fall round up on the island - sunny, warm, calm seas, southerly breeze. (It's usually freezing cold & windy when we do this.) Hard to believe it's November. 

By now this spring's lambs are almost as big as the ewes. The island can support about 120 sheep, so some of them are about to get voted off the island. We will take off all the male lambs and any ewes that look like they would not make it through the winter. 

Thanks to a group of volunteers from a local high school, we had lots of lamb holders today. (If you set a sheep up on their butt they are quite content to just hang out for a while,

and take a nap in the sun while waiting for a boat ride.)

A boat load of lambs at the wharf. 

The Larch

The larch. (aka : hackamatack). My favorite evergreen. So much so, that the first time I stood in this circle of larch I knew this was the spot to build my new house. 

It's a roque evergreen. After all the deciduous trees have flashed their colors and dropped their leaves, the larch defies the laws of 'evergreen' and follows suit. 

Maintaining some family resemblance, delicate marble sized cones coniferous-ly dot the branches,

which void of their needles resemble no one. 

The other evergreens will have all winter to dominate the gray. For this brief fall moment it's the larches turn.