Those eyes

Yesterday afternoon I took some time and sat in the shade of the wooded lot where the ewes spend their days. The first to approach was my sweet Bonny baby:
Sarai soon joined us. She has established her place in the flock and told Bonny to move along.
Bramble, the "boss ewe," came up next, but she was fine with sharing the shepherd. Timid Marta hung back a little...
(Inky and Annabelle busied themselves with hay in the background while all this was going on)
...but couldn't hold back for long. I just love friendly sheep! (-:

Of course, my sheep are more than just soft eyes and pretty faces. They grow wonderful wool which I harvest and use or sell, and I rarely resist a chance to admire the current "crop." I took a peek at Sarai's neck wool; oh my, look at that tiny crimp!
Since the neck wool of Shetlands is often the crimpiest, I peeked under her coat at low mid-side to compare:
Doesn't look much different there! Sarai is definitely the crimpiest sheep I've ever had (and soft-soft-soft), followed closely by Bunker. I have several different types of crimp in my little flock, and enjoy them all.

Shetland fleeces are supposed to be "wavy," according our 1927 breed standard. I misunderstood the meaning of that term at first, but it became plain when I saw photographs from the early 1900s. Check out the captions for this period photo, which shows locks from three different breeds, including a merino "with fine waves." Then check out this historic photo showing a Shetland lock with others. Yep, "wavy" in 1927 is what WE call crimpy today!

That's it for today from . . .