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Up again :)
Not surprising at all. I need to ramble, let things off my chest.
Yesterday as I went to see my boy offto his friend's for the day I saw one of my sheep apparently dead in the field, you know, legs the wrong way up, bits of fleece all ripped off and scattered around. My first thought was dogs, we have some locally who hunt at night in a pack. So, I fed the others to keep them away and went over to see which poor soul was killed. Yes, blood all on the back end and horrible. Wait! Oh no! That front leg moved a little, horrors, the poor animal wasn't dead! So, there I was, on my own with no car. Hubby had already set off on the three hour hike to see his dying sister. What timing.
I saw who it was too. Miracle Mike, we call him. He was born in September one year to an 11 year old. toothless, one eyed ewe called Bob, who had jumped in with Sean the ram, for a final fling the previous spring. That's why Mikey was called miracle Mike, Bob shouldn't have been able to get pregnant in her condition, let alone at that time of year.
Well, I didn't know what to do, but I had to see the extent of his injuries and work out if there would be time to call someone to put him out of his torment, or if he really was that close to death he was already out of it. I was already wondering how on earth I was going to deal with him and where is the wheelbarrow, and which neighbour could I call on as I pulled him over. He is a BIG sheep. Blow me, if he didn't get up on his feet and lollop off, falling over like a new born lamb. It just gets worse and worse! It looked as if his legs had been chewed, they didn't work properly, but in his panic to get away from me he was able to run faster than I could.
Blood all over his face, running down his snout, out of his eyes. Bastard birds had pecked his eye out and attacked the other one.
Within a few minutes though he was standing and walking normally. No dog attack, this was ALL BIRDS. Crows, ravens, big, black, sheep murdering birds. We've had them before. They go for the eyes so they sheep can't run away. Then they start to eat the sheep alive from the other end, hence the blood. Thankfully Mikey's fleece is thick and dense and they hadn't managed to get through to the belly and rip him open there, they were still at the removing fleece stage.
I kept a really close eye on him yesterday and despite a freezing cold night - all the sheep's fleeces were frozen solid this morning as we have had such rain their wool was sodden when the frost came - Mikey was up on his feet, and even had some food from the bucket. His eyes aren't good. As long as one of them makes it he'll be ok. Sheep have adapted somehow over time to cope marvelously well with one, or even no, eyes. Bird attacks are and always have been, one of the perils of life for a sheep. Sheep are amazingly stoic and strong creatures, defying the odds if they want to live. I think Mikey wants to live and I will do everything I can to help him. Perversely, it may seem, at the moment catching him and bringing him in to a pen away from the flock is not the best thing to do for him. In a day or so, when he has regained my trust, he will follow me to the paddock where he can live with his one eyed old mother. She is now 15. I will do everything for my sheep, in their best interests, which is why they live often to 18, 20 years.
Nature is a wonderful thing, time is a great healer.
Where does this fit in with my weight and all that? Well, just to say that things happen. We get knocked sideways, we have to deal with all sorts of stuff which life throws at us, our weight loss journey is part of a huge life. We should not focus on the minutiae of the day to day ups and down, but the bigger picture. Deal with it if it happens, don't spend time worrying that it might. Live in the moment and enjoy your life. There are no guarantees, other than that we will one day die.
Given all sorts of additional events yesterday, which I will not go into here, I am faced with a choice. I could either let it all overwhelm me, or deal with it. If I let it overwhelm me the only person to hurt is me. I don't like pain. Go figure. :)
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154.8 lb
Lost so far: 4.9 lb.
Still to go: 11.5 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
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Diet Calendar Entry for 20 January 2016:
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1388 kcal
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Fat: 109.44g | Prot: 54.87g | Carb: 58.02g.
Breakfast: Whole Earth Dry Cured Bacon, Chinese Cabbage, Ginger, Garlic, Tesco Finest Sweet Pointed Ramiro Peppers, Co-Op Celery, Yeo Valley Butter, Avocados, Infinity Foods Organic Walnut Halves, Sainsbury's So Organic Organic Chestnut Mushrooms. Lunch: Navels Oranges, Cheshire Cheese. Dinner: Tesco Finest Sweet Pointed Ramiro Peppers, Yeo Valley Natural Yogurt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Aubergine, Sardines in Water, Avocados, Co-Op Cucumber, Infinity Foods Organic Walnut Halves, Infinity Foods Organic Coconut Chips. Snacks/Other: Gold Top Whole Unhomogenised Milk with Cream At The Top, Tesco Double Cream, Coffee (Brewed From Grounds). more...
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gaining 4.6 lb a week
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