Day: May 21, 2013

Wow, this evening was one of the most intense Maria and I have had together. Dr. Jen Marsh of the Granville Large Animal Service came and we worked on Ma for several hours. It was bloody, exhausting and difficult work. Red’s bites pulled some of Ma’s skin away from the body and all three wounds – they were not deep, fortunately – had developed pus-filled pockets, not unlike human blood blisters. Jen said she got there just in time, and it was fortunate that Ma was shorn yesterday so that we could find the wounds shave them, open them and scrap the pus and infected tissue out bit by bit.  These wounds can get uglyu in a hurry. She said it was good we called her when we did.

We sedated Ma, but she is strong and big and she fought us every step of the way. She bucked and banged into us, and I had to hold her head straight up in the air to keep her still.  Maria held her head some of the time, and then I took it over. It was like wrestling a bear and I will not be walking upright for a few days. I wanted to get more photos, but couldn’t let go.

It was painful for Ma, difficult for Jen. She had to open each wound, get inside the sacs, clean them out with scrapers, stuff each wound with anti-biotic soaked gauze. Ma got four kinds of shots and we will be giving her pain-killers and penicillin twice a day for at least a week. We also have to pull the gauze out of her wounds tomorrow. Red pulled the outer skin out, and the wounds began to heal before they have drained, were starting to get infected, so we also have to squirt saline solution into the wounds to keep them open and draining.  The good news was that Ma did not have a fever, so the infection probably had not gone deep. The bite wounds were not deep either, another break.

I went back over my video and I saw what happened clearly – Red was close to the sheep, he had been working a lot that day and was excited. I should have slowed him back, he is very strong around the sheep. Ma charged at him, then veered suddenly off and he ran after her and tried to grab her wool but couldn’t get a purchase as she had just been shorn, so he grabbed at her side and stomach.

Jen did a great job and Maria and I were both just dazed and sore and covered in feces and dirt. Jen said she wasn’t sure if Ma would survive-she said it will take a long time to heal. I thought she looked much better tonight, she was moving around and eating. We have some  hard work with her, but I feel optimistic about it. Ma was living in a tiny space and hadn’t been shorn in years, she has had a rough time, she is happy here and we are fond of her. I brought Red out to the barn and he sat next to the sheep while Jen worked on Ma and she said he was extraordinarily calm and businesslike.I do not fault him a bit for what happened, but I have to say it upset me, perhaps more than I might have expected. I’m not sure why. As I wrote this morning, life happens, every single day. It’s how we deal with it that matters. And I have learned some things from this. I am wrecked, going to sleep. Yet one more chapter in the real world of real animals. Sounds like a book to me.

Florence’s Irises came up this week, I thought they looked old and worn out, but Maria insisted on keeping them, and I’m glad she did. Our flowers and Florence’s are beginning to ring the farmhouse with some color. It is my job as an artist to remind people of the light and color in the world, they are so often told the world is a dangerous and dark place.

I had my first Tai Chi lesson with my instructor, Scott Carrino. I enjoyed it. I learned two beginning movements and we are taking it one step at a time – Scott has figured out already how I absorb information. I really liked the lesson, I’ve done Tai Chi lessons once or twice before, but I don’t think I was ready. I am now. Scott showed me how to move comfortably, we talked about connecting the body, the heart and the ground, to be aware of the constant movement around me. I’m going to start this afternoon or tomorrow, I have a spot I love out in the pasture, I imagine I will be doing Tai Chi with donkeys, they are curious and meditative and spiritual. I was almost instantly at ease with Scott, he is a gentleman and a passionate believer in Tai Chi. I think it will be good for me, perhaps the next chapter in my work to get easy with life, my mind and body and the world around me. It was interesting to go to my lesson fresh from a full-blooded Internet brawl about one of my photographs. Good training I suspect.

Flo has become a shameless flirt. The cat that hid under the porch through much of the winter now struts around the farm like the Queen Mum and she keeps a close eye on me, often jumping into my lap if I’m sitting down. She loves to be held and scratched. She’s got my number.

Ma, the ewe that Red bit and injured yesterday, looks to be in trouble. She seemed fine this morning, but is off in a corner and lying down. She is not herself. This is troubling to me. I understand completely that these things happen, Red was just doing his job, but I have never had a sheep suffer a serious injury from a dog before, and I know from experience that sick sheep do not often recover. Made an emergency call to the vet, which I probably should have done yesterday but sheep heal quickly from scratches, even  bites and this one just did not appear to be serious. Seen quite a few like it.  I appreciate the good people worried that I will be angry at Red or blame him, but you don’t have to worry about that.

I never blame animals for  being animals, I understand that he was just trying to grip some wool after she challenged him. I write often about the real world of real animals, but this one is disturbing to me, I am fond of Ma, she is a big, dumb, genial sheep. We locked her in the pole barn and closed the gates but of course Zelda somehow got the gate open and was trying to get Ma out. Ma wasn’t moving. Vet is on the way. Life happens, just about every day.