Our granny knot sheep , Baasha , almost died on Mother ’s Day . It was a scarey thing .
See , Baasha is a very sure-enough sheep . She ’s 13 twelvemonth old — that ’s like 90 in human years ! She has arthritis , so she gimp but she ’s happy , and Mom loves her more than all the other sheep combined .
Baasha was her first Miniature Cheviot sheep and she ’s mom , grandma , great - grandma , or great - swell grandmother to all of the other piddling Cheviot on our farm .

For Baasha to die on Mother ’s Day would have been dire .
Sheep get “ redact down ” because this sentence of year they have fate of fleece .
They lie down and somehow tip backward , and then their wool keep their foot from touching the primer . Since their feet ca n’t reach anything to roll them back upright , they ’re stuck until someone comes along and helps them up .

If no one notices , gas builds up in their insides . Their leg go benumbed and their heavy rumen squeeze their lungs . Then they die .
mummy has been writing a rule book about miniature livestock and get fashion behind on her Hobby Farms assignments . She planned to go to a goat show on Mother ’s Day morning but she decided to stay home and work instead .
She ’d been looking forward to the show for months , so she was deplorable — until Dad glanced out the windowpane and look Baasha cast down .

Since Baasha is a Miniature Cheviot she has short leg , and she ’s kind of fat ( do n’t tell her I told you that ) . And , she grows lots of retentive woollen . She allege she was napping and she stretch her legs to get nice and comfy . Then , she rolled backward unexpectedly and no matter how much she plain , she could n’t get up !
When Mom and Dad rushed out , she could hardly breathe . Dad helped her up while mom stood and cried . At first Baasha gasped and puff and her leg would n’t work .
mama scratch her branch while Dad gravel the shear . After Baasha could breathe and walk a little , Dad zipped the top and side of her fleece off so she would n’t get cast again before the Moira Shearer comes to shear our sheep .
Baasha ’s expectant former Hampshire friend , Dodger , laughed ( “ Baaaaah ! ” ) when he go through Baasha hopple toward him with wool on her belly and none on her top and sides , but he was glad she was okay .
She ’s a nice sheep , so Uzzi and I were glad too .
Now Mom ’s happy she and Dad did n’t go to the goat show . If she had , Dad would n’t have seen Baasha cast and Baasha would have drop dead .
Sometimes something that at first seems bad is really good . This was one of those clip . Baasha and her family cogitate so too .
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