Yesterday evening I think I discovered how it feels to be the parent of teenagers. As Kate has said, we shut off the Herdwick field yesterday with Freckles and Black Knees in there.
However, just before sunset, Kate saw Freckles stood on the wall looking into the garden. Obviously she wanted to come back in.
I threw on my boots and ran out, untying the fence (I hadn’t stapled it shut as I knew the girls would want to come back in) and rushing to say hello to Freckles. She seemed pleased to see me and I pointed out that she could now get into the garden.
She didn’t move. I put this down to vertigo and went to get Black Knees to help me persuade her down. Strangely Black Knees didn’t seem overly happy to see me, other than a cursory hello. I did manage to guide her towards Freckles and shortly both were stood at the opening to the garden.
They didn’t go through and I stood behind them not wanting to force them.
It was at that point that Black Knees turned around and called out to the Herdies, before calmly walking past me. Freckles followed, briefly nuzzling my leg before continuing onto their new family.
So it was that they skipped off into the sunset singing “We’re Herdwick and we’re proud”. I’m afraid to say I lost my dignity and shouted after them “You’re not Herdwicks, you’re Grey Faces. Now get back here now!”
They didn’t.
When I told Kate, she suggested that Freckles was saying goodbye. Ridiculous! She doesn’t understand sheep. Freckles was merely saying “See you tomorrow, we’re going out with the Herdies tonight.” I’ll pop out later with some sheep nuts. They’ll come to me then.