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We lost Esther this week.

It’s hard to write about it because I still don’t understand exactly what was at the root of her decline. But by Tuesday she’d lost the strength to get herself off the ground, and I knew that we weren’t going to get her through it. The kindest thing that we could do was give her a soft landing and not draw it out any longer.

So this week I’m just sharing some photos and short videos of Esther and her beautiful wool over the years.

She was such a cool girl, and I’m very thankful for having known her.

Rest in Peace, sweet Esther.

Back and mostly recovered from my whirlwind trip to Chicago, with a new hat to show for it (with another recently finished one behind)!

Esther is recovered from her flystrike incident, thankfully, and seems to be feeling better in general, but is still having runny poops and showing signs of anemia. Doing everything I can think of to support her digestion and resolve the issue: electrolyte and vitamins in drinking water, B vitamin complex injections, ProBios supplement.

Even though the fecal that the vet ran didn’t show a parasite problem, I gave her a different dewormer yesterday for good measure. Also have been giving her some dolomite lime, as suggested for diarrhea by Pat Coleby in her Natural Sheep Care book.

In garden news, I’ve finally got some tomatoes ripening! So excited to see that.

Peps are pep-ing

Purple cabbages are ready for slaw-ing

and while raspberries are taping off, blueberries are off to a strong start.

Whew! Lots to keep up with this time of year.

The flower beds are kind of going nuts- and I’m mostly just letting them do their thing. Current favorite out in there is the bee balm/dyer’s chamomile combo

and closer

Also kind of funny thinking back to early spring and how much time and effort I put into starting poppies and transplanting them to various part of our property. Turns out, poppies pretty much decide on their own where they want to grow. I think next year I’ll just leave them to it! Live and learn 🙂

My travel project is packed.

Ooooh. What could it be?

Yep, and oldie but a goodie.

Coast to Coast Colorwork Cap in some new color blends, fresh off the wheel.

Leaving the critters in the capable hands of The Man for a few days.

Take care, and have a good weekend, folks.

Earlier in the week I noticed that Esther’s poops had gone runny. That, coupled with recent weight loss, a mysteriously enlarged udder, and general uncomfortableness caused me to have the vet come out on Tues.

I gave him a stool sample, and he prescribed Meloxicam for her arthritis, Priobios to hopefully get her digestion back on track, and gave her a shot of Exceed because she had a bit of an elevated temperature.

Fecal results showed that she didn’t have coccidiosis, or a heavy parasite load.

Things were looking up Wed and Thurs, though her diarrhea hadn’t abated, so I was trying to keep her rear cleaned up. In retrospect, what I should have done was clip off all fleece anywhere near her hind end to keep it as dry as possible.

I discovered last evening that she had developed fly strike. I feel awful. I spent about two hours last night clipping and treating the area, removing fly larvae (maggots), cleaning her inflamed skin, and treating with Ivermectin. This morning as soon as the farm store opened I went out and got a pyrethin fly repellant.

Today she is up and about. Eating and drinking, so that’s good, as far as it goes. I really hope that she’s got the strength to come back from this. I’m going to be watching her carefully to try and ensure that it doesn’t recur and that she heals up.

No pictures this week. Noone wants to see a flystricken sheep butt.

Still trying to get the diarrhea resolved. Really not sure what is going on there. First time I’ve dealt with that with any of my gang. Perhaps it would have been sorted by now but for the stress of the flystrike?

Anyway, it’s been a tough week for my sweet girl, and I’m kind of wrung out.

Keep a good thought for Esther.