A Fresh Start

The week went by faster than I’d imagined. Before I knew it, it was time to bring Ron home.

Our friends were on spring break, and we were taking care of their animals morning and evening—a trade we do a couple of times a year whenever one of us is out of town.

It was also my husband’s birthday, and Life has a way of putting a damper on his special day.

This year, I was determined to fiercely guard it from chaos.

So, we decided Ron would stay at our friends’ house for the time being. We’d make one extra trip for his midday bottle, then bring him home later that weekend.

But when we came by that evening to care for the animals, everything felt right. My husband’s birthday had gone smoothly—hallelujah!—and we decided it was time to bring Ron home.

However, we were completely unprepared for transporting him.

Since he was only a tiny one-week-old lamb, we borrowed a towel from our friends, and my oldest held him for the short ride.

The new sheep enclosure wasn’t fully fortified against the north wind yet, so we kept him in a dog crate in our laundry room for the first few nights.

Watching his little hooves slip and slide on the laminate floor was like seeing Bambi on ice, and of course, he promptly peed. We laughed at the tiny chaos already following him around.

I remembered seeing others using diapers on newborn lambs and, thanks to some cloth diapers from our children’s baby days, I gave it a try.

He wriggled, kicked, and balanced on his two front legs, trying everything to escape. Eventually, he won—so the diapers were a lost cause. Thankfully, we only ended up with a few puddles to clean up.

I set up his crate with towels, a mirror, and a stuffed lamb for comfort—a tip I’d read about for a lone lamb. Sheep aren’t meant to be alone, and the mirror and toy seemed to help him feel safe.

As I mixed up that first bottle, the smell of milk replacer instantly transported me back to last spring, feeding Vlad, Cho, and Luna.

That evening, everything felt quiet and smooth.

He adjusted quickly, and soon we were back in the rhythm of three bottles a day, leading him outside to the enclosure, and bringing him back to the crate overnight. He learned to follow us whenever we were outside, explored safely, and even met the other animals.