Alt Summit is behind me. I sent off my contribution to the Be Out There ebook, and now my gaze it set squarely on the upcoming 4-H fair. The days are ticking by and these lambs need some serious attention. 

For several weeks I've been trying to arrange to have the mamas sheared, but finally in desperation called my sister for a shearing bail-out. So last weekend, she loaded up her kids and made the two-hour trek to Woodlawn to tackle the task of shearing our sheep. 

Originally, we had planned to just shear the big girls. They were desperate for a haircut and the situation was getting out of control (not to mention hot)!. 

So we got out the metal sheep stand, hitched up Penny first, plugged in the fan, the clippers and got to work. Shearing these sheep was an amazing task. About four swipes into the project my sister looked at me and said, "I've never done anything like this." (I'm pretty sure she meant such long-haired, dirty sheep. She's sheared plenty of times.). "I may have bitten off more than I can chew." But little by little and with lots of helpers, she got the job done. Three pairs of electric clippers, two pairs of scissors, three garbags bags of wool, and lots of greasy sweat later--the two mamas were done. 

When we put them back in the pen together,.....