Sheep Antics

Bess asked: where is this county fair I was speaking of in my last post?

It's the very nice Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, in Montgomery County, Maryland, not far from Washington, DC. It's a surprisingly homey event considering how built-up much of that area has become. And for anyone who happens to be in the general vicinity, it's going on for a couple more days yet, so if you're in the mood there's still time for a visit! Prizewinning pickles, and skeins of handspun, and quilts, and old-time dry goods, and antique engines, and carnival rides, and funnel cakes, and farm animals are there waiting for you. :)

Back behind the barn, where the animals were getting prettied up for a turn around the ring, I got a chuckle out of seeing the sheepwash. To be honest, though, I'm not exactly sure whether that was a freshly shorn sheep or a goat. It may have been a goatwash.






Either way, it looks like this guy is saying, "uh-oh, I think I might be next!"

Visiting all the animals in the barn reminded me of something. Wandering through the barns at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year, my friend and I spotted a little lamb standing perched atop his Mom's broad back. He was swaying around trying to keep his balance, and probably thinking "whoa, how on earth am I going to get down from here?" We, on the other hand, were asking "how on earth did he manage to climb up there?"

Somebody wiser in the ways of the barnyard soon snorted and straightened us out. Apparently, it would have been much easier to climb aboard when the ewe was lying down in the straw. And then she stood up. That pretty much trumped all our wild theories. But it was fun to imagine him clambering up there somehow.

And anyway, well... OK then, smartypants. How do you explain this? :)