Shear Common Sense for a Writer

When the opportunity arises for a writer to have a new experience that could be material that could lead to a story or book or poem or enrich life it is a no brainer.  Jump up from your desk and go.  It could also be called procrastination....

Got a call yesterday, the Yazzi family were shearing the last four of their 111 sheep.   I had missed the opportunity over the weekend so I was delighted to know I still had a chance to try my hand at this practice so tied to the life of the Navajo way.  It was truly a sharing, giving experience.

I have missed the lambing...harder to predict.  But the time for shearing is in the spring and most of the lambs have been dropped.

First you have to catch those suckers.  You don't see me in this picture.  While that is happening the shears need to be sharpened.

Tie that baby down.

You don't see me here either.

There is a knack to this.  If you do it correctly the wool of the whole sheep comes away in one piece.  After a while I was handed a pair of scissors.  "This is how the little girls learn."

 Testing the kemp to see if it is brittle.  Lots of jokes about hair conditioner.

A little piece of wool hand spun shows the lovely natural color this will add to the rug.

Neatly, newly shorn.

Baa, baa black sheep have you any wool?  .....four bags full.

This one is mine.  Steve won't let me keep her.  All the sheep have names.  Logan(for the grandchild), Hippopotamus (eats like a hippo), Nessa, Ashanti, Zipper, Joker.  This one will be Karen.