HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1997-03-19, Page 66Pogor14A-form Proeresaial
. . • . •
•
'ESION.H:$011.0eR$ OF
:.MODERN. FARM .
• AND: COMMERCIAL
BUILDINGS, •
•
.DISTRIBUTORS
GRAINISTQRAGE AND
-DRYING EQUIPMENT
• - — •
• -.•
- 18 1NDVST91A4 ROAD
(519)881 701
- •
WALKERTON
FAX '519881-3199..:
JOHN ERNEWIN LTD•:.• •
• . „
January was an orphan Iamb
. by Marilyn Arscott
No, this isn't a story about
that month that .follows
Pecember and precedes .
February. This isa tale of an
orphan lamb.
One evening, the phone rang.,
waited as usual: for our ring
one short, twolong, .before
answered. I heard my friend
Jean's country drawl, "Hi yall"
'Jean is Canadian bred and born
but has: 'somehow picked up:a
Southern accent. . • .
My friend and.her husband
• Fred, raised sheep and lived a
few miles away. In the country,
• that is a near neighbbr.- It
seemed that sheand Fred were
heading to Florida in the next
• . few days. At first I thought She.
• was asking me to "chore' for.
• thenr„ something 1 bad done
'once „before. It would be 'a
-minor inconvenience, bill noth--
. jog they Wouldn't reciprocate.
• The fayor.she askedwas to..
lamb -sit I agreed withat they
•
tions At the time. I.knew moth
ing'of sheep except that they -
make dandy' sweateri and 1 have
enjoyed them.Witha little mint
jelly on occasion.
Jean told me* iNgs.a two-
week -old Iamb that she had, in
her words, ,"gotten started" kettle on for tea
. • This baby's mother had died .1 fbced .a :bottle for 4i1
while giving birth, and in the some formula Jean brought with ..
tradition of country Wives, Jean her and watched in arnazenient
brought the lamb into the Wage as she gulped it down. I've
• and made it a bed behind.het never seen, anything eat that.
vvooditOve, 'However, Fred and fast; alt the time her tail wagged
-jean had planned, this vacation' furiously and she buttedthe bot -
for more than a year and they tie with -her tiny head. Right
badly needed a break. . ,, then 1 formed a new respeet for -
' I, said sure, and the pext day, ewes. They must have a great, .
Jean drove over inher prehisr deal more tolerance than I
toric pick-up truck With a box in would ever have at meal time,
' the cab beside her, Striding 'WhileFred and Jean were
through the snow and into the away, Jan thrived. She quickly
_kitchen she. placed it on the learned how to. jump Out: of the
.table gently. As I opened the box -and we hadto put a board
folded -down top and looked across the kitchen door so she
inside, I heard a rustling of couldn't join us in the living
straw; and, a tiny black head . room: 1 would just start to think. '
poked out of an old flannel she-liad settled down for the. .
'ghirt '• evening, when I would hear a
1
Baaaa, 3aaaai, this *little girl. plaintive Baaa4 •froth •the
wasn'ta bit shy. I picked her UP. Adtehen, and the sound of "her -
and lost` my heart, She was .so trying to jump over the board
tiny that she. wore an old work . and join. her “moronly,” Who
• Sock .Of Fred's, cut 'Off at the .could resist? •
Rot, tor a sweater. 1 thought she •
1 gathered her small, wiry
looked quite stylish fn. it. • body up in an old towel and sat .
.
Jean gave trieinstructions on holding her in my lap San
what she ate; cow's milk, corn , would Settle down immediately, ,.
syInnmpaannd rdiaornawldedgog.frued. txualdskluede, ncoenwterfnanit jiulyit. wtohbeen close to her
, laughed good naturedly and •
•te bed, so did Jan. She didn't
we all went
:. if ,she was house trained. Jean
said, a few* "nanny berries" seem to mind sleeping in her.
pen beside the stove at night, • '
never hurt anyone and put the but didn't want to miss any of
,
• ••
11(((((1((litihil)1
1.
1114Z1118(11C.hi
• •
RFC. Fwnittize
• The uldniate in Elegant
Offtdflor ZiFitti.• • •
•
•
• the action when we were awake..
Jean called tO see how We -
were'doing -when. she returned
• home t,wo weekslater. and
Was, decided that Jan would
•
stay.: By this time she had our -
grown her sock find the Weather - !
showed promise of ari early.
spring. As'soOn•as it was warm
enough; 1-.let*Jan.out.in the day , •
time and made her a bed,in.the
.back porch just outside the:
kitchen door. From here. she
• could look: through the Screen'
• and supervise nay daily activi-
ties. As •soon as L.Vverit to the,
•barn CO do Chores,. she -woUld— •
• happily follow anxious to,
• stay in" „sight. As an '"only. lainb";
,
• the dogs seemed. toassume, as
Jan -.did, that she .was my off -
1. spring and showed bt1e interest.'
One day,I took ber further up
the lane to get the mail and meet
thelids as they 'got off the bus.
Jan was fine until she saw her• :,
.first truck barieling,up the. high-,
way, She ran as ;fast as she
could .behind mylegs; shelter-
ing, there just as if I was an..
ewe, until.the s,trange Monster
Went away. This Was repeated
every nine a car or truck would , •
go up the busy road. Because
she never got used to the sight '•
(t'. noise., I would leave her
• home when I went to .get the
mail and !met the kids. • •
'
•turn to page 17A
•
•