Saturday, March 24, 2012

I am SOOOOO going to pay for this....

But I had a blast today!

It started last weekend, when we drove past the sheepfarm and there were flags and cars out front. I went online after we got home, and found out that they had "lammetjes dag" which translates into "lambs day". It happens in the spring, when the lambs are born, obviously. You get to see the new arrivals up close. Being a sucker for anything animal, and baby animals especially, I wanted to go. Mike not so much, so when he had to work today, I had him drop me off. This was the last weekend they would have it this year, so I had to! LOL

It was different. And right up front, I have to say, I will not go back next year, but I WILL see if the sheepfarm in the village that my sister lives in, is doing this, and go there, to see if they are all the same, or if this was the exception. The farm is an old 4-square. Don't envision the american 4-square homes here, but 4 buildings, some built over the course of several generations, some all built at the same time, in a square, with a courtyard. 1 part is house, and in most farms, one part would be feed/hay/straw storage, one toolshed and one barn, or 2 would be barn, depending on the stock held.

Once thru the big double door, you walked right into the barn. It was huge. I LOVED the beams in it.
(Not sure about the christmas decorations though.)


The floor was divided with makeshift cage type pens. Little ones on one side with one yew and what looked like to me, new born lambs, the other side in 4 good size pens, with feeding ally's in between them where the older lambs were kept with their moms. The feeding ally seemed to be a perfect spot for the little ones to get out of traffic too. All of them were full of lambs. (Most drops this year were twins, no triplets, like last year, and only 9 single births.)




I also watched 2 lambs be born, almost. I started watching, but the pens the mom was in was on the small side, so every time she turn she would push the baby into the wire mesh. The farmer didn't seem to mind, neither did the sheep, or the little one, but I left and played fetch with the dogs :-) When I came back, the first one already started to stand, and the second one was still being cleaned by mom. (I don't think I was gone from the stable more than 20 minutes, if that.......)



When I was ready to leave I, very briefly, debated whether to go home (one way) or to the zoo (the other way) I'm sure it will surprise absolutely no one if I say that I went to the zoo! LOL

The walk was awesome! We've looked at the tree line, but weren't aware that there was a path that went all around the backside of the meadows. I still haven't figured out if it was all bike path, part road or what. All I know that it was a wonderful walk. 

1 is the sheepfarm, the red line is the walk I took, and 2 is the entrance to the zoo.

The zoo was great, as always. The weather was A LOT better than when my sister and I went for sisterday. It was downright HOT. After my hike, I decided I needed to cool down, rest up a bit and call Mike to pick me up at the zoo before he came home, so I had a cappucino with a piece of pie, while watching the giraffes.... bliss!

Around 4 I figured I'd sit down a bit again, and when I got up, I found out I really shouldn't have. LOL. I felt like an old bear getting up after a 4 month hibernation. When I tried to get out of the car when we got home, it was worse, so I had my dinner in the chair I'm sitting in right now, and I'm not going to move until I go to bed!  Don't want to think how I feel in the morning, but it was SOOOOO worth it!

I used 3 batteries, and when I got home, and looked at the pictures I'd taken, I was floored..... 234! It took me half way thru the zoo before I found the "sports" setting on the camera, so of those 234 there are A LOT of blurry ones, but there were a couple that will be worth using in upcoming scrappages :-)

Well, I think it's time to try and see if the bones/muscles and what have you are in a position to work, and go to bed. Depending on how I feel, and Mike, we'll be either starting spring cleaning, or go for a drive. I'm not hoping to feel bad, but given the choice between cleaning house and getting out of it for while....... we'll have to see what the morning brings.

Goodnight from Holland, and don't forget to hug that loved one!


2 comments:

  1. Sounds to me like the perfect day though I´m still wondering which zoo you went to as I´ve run out of new zoos to visit. I like the one at Duisburg particularly but Krefeld allows dogs so it´s more convenient and Dora´s always well-behaved there.

    I sympathise with the aches and pains afterwards. I´ve spent every day for the past week in the garden planting, sowing, hoeing, weeding, making eggshell moats to keep snails off my seedlings and it all entails a lot of bending. A day watching lambs being born followed by a stroll around a zoo sounds like heaven to me after that. I´m still walking around like the Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Hope you straighten up soon too!

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  2. Hi Pauli... Wanted to let you know that I read your site when I can. I havent sent an email, it seems like there is never enough time. Glad all is well with you all. Kim

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