Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Princess Maa-Maat

A few weeks ago, I was in the barn cleaning stalls when it started sprinkling. It was nothing much, just a few spits and spurts to tease us into thinking we would finally get some decent rain. When I went outside to empty the muck bucket, I could hear Maa-Maat crying. The other three lambs were over at the side of the barn grazing and making the most of their time out of the stall, but not Maa-Maat. I looked all over before I finally found her standing standing in the doorway of the arena bawling her little heart out.

Poor thing. Every time she'd stick her head out the door, a rain drop would hit her, and she'd jump back in. I called her, and she came running as fast as she could, shaking her head and doing that little uh-uh-uh she does when she's being a baby. She spent the rest of the morning inside the barn with me and refused to step a foot outside. Even when I'd go out to empty the muck bucket, she'd stand at the door and cry until I'd come back.

By the afternoon, the rain was long gone, but she remembered. When I let the lambs out of the stall, the other three took off outside like they normally do, but not Maa-Maat. She stopped at the door and stood looking up at the sky until she was absolutely convinced she wasn't going to get wet. Then and only then did she tip-toe out.

She may not be the most gorgeous lamb around. And she may not be the smartest. But one thing's for certain, she is the most spoiled.

The Princess Maa-Maat

23 comments:

  1. What an interesting lamb...and you seem to have captured her personality. Again, your photography is just spectacular!

    I never tire of watching my animals in even some of the simplest activities...they are so interesting and I often discover surprising things about my animals in just watching them !Looks like you appreciate the little things about your animals too ! Thank-you, KathyB.

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  2. I think Maa Maat is simply gorgeous! Your photo of her is brilliant.
    And I love your relationship with her, too.
    What a wonderful Shepherdess you are :)

    ~Lisa
    Laughing Orca Ranch
    New Mexico

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  3. What a funny girl!
    What do people without animals in their lives do for entertainment? I can't imagine life without furry friends to brighten my day.

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  4. oh, I would have to say she is quite beautiful:) I do not know what I would do without the quirkiness of my animals. My goats in the winter refuse to step out into the deep snow unless I shovel a path for them....gotta luv them! What a splendid story to make a morning smile!

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  5. I agree, your pictures are wonderful and I love the stories about your little (slightly) spoiled Maa-Maat. You would think that the ewe flock was going to die, the few times I force them to go out on pasture in the rain. I also really, really enjoyed the entry about "Evil Coming to Clinch Mountain"--what a great story.
    Tammy

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  6. What breed is Maa Maat?
    Nice picture, do you use Photo Shop to get the misty affect?

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  7. Maa Maat probably thought you weren't being very smart.....after all the sky was falling!! :)

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  8. Kathyb, thank you so much for the compliment on the photo. I agree about never tiring of watching the animals. They are ALWAYS doing something interesting....well, interesting to me. I have to admit I've seen "city people's" eyes glaze over when I'm explaining the lastest escapades of the lambs or the horses or the chickens or the dogs or...well, you get the idea :)

    Twinville, Maa-Maat is way too spoiled, but I'm the one who spoiled her and I'd do it all over again. She's my little buddy and so very, very special to me. I really didn't think she'd survive since I had never held a lamb, much less raised one from birth. There were a couple of scares, but every day I am in awe and just wonder at the miracle of her.

    Corinne R., do you mean there are actually people in the world who do NOT have animals? :) How sad for them. Personally, I can't imagine a life without at least one animal in it. It would be so sad and cold. :(

    Kristi, thank you so much for your comment about shovelling a path for your goats! I have to say it not only made me laugh, it made me feel good that there are others out there who spoil their animals!

    Thank you Tammy! And I don't feel so bad for Maa-Maat being anti-rain now. I can just see you putting your ewes out in the rain and them whining and complaining. What a hilarius image!

    Wrensong, Maa-Maat gets upset at me all the time about things I don't do right! They all do. Who knew sheep were so particular? Well, maybe if I didn't spoil them...nah..spoiling them is half the fun, isn't it?

    Sittin-n-Spinnin, Maa-Maat is a Tunis ewe. They are mainly a meat breed so their wool isn't as luscious as the other breeds. (There are no "meat" animals here...we just can't do it so have adapted.) I wish I could say that the image is just how it came out of the camera, but that would be one huge lie! It's photoshopped there and back again and then some more.

    The shot came when Maa-Maat was in the stall, so the image was very, very grainy and dark. I also wish I could say I made all the effects manually, but that, too would be a lie.

    I used Noiseware to get rid of the...errr.. noise then, because there was still a lot of grain, I used two of my favorite Photoshop actions: Fievel's Gothic Glow (You can get it at www.atncentral.com for free) and TLR's high key diffuse glow. (you can get it at http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLRDiffuseGlows.htm)

    The actions are great time-savers in that you just click on them and everything happens automagically. And these glows all use a bit of a Gaussian blur so it helps smoothe out the noise even more.

    And as for Maa-Maat's mother, Evil..I am really hoping I can get the second part of her story set down in the next week or so. It's interesting (at least to me) but also a bit sad....no, it's a lot sad. :(

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  9. Another wonderfully entertaining story; another stunning photo. Sigh; I had to mention you in today's post.

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  10. I love the photo of The Princess Maa-Maat! I have a few spoiled ones around here too. It is easy to do.
    Oh, and she is gorgeous!

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  11. This is so cute. I love that she is a princess....and what a great photo. Sheep are a hoot. I grew up with lots of sheep. My favorites were the bummer lambs. How I loved feeding them their bottles.

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  12. ROFL - Glad to know we're not the only ones with spoiled sheep - You have no idea how many bales of hay The Shepherd has given to our friend Nancy (who has some very UN-fussy horses) because our fussy ones didn't like the taste of it.
    T.

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  13. Hi- returning your visit via the Black Box - and bookmarking you for more visits!

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  14. Pamela, your photography is fabulous!! So glad to have found you via the black box! :^)

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  15. Another one returning a visit via the black box!

    Maa-Maat does sound like a Princess! How funny to have a lamb afraid of the rain! LOL!

    I love what you did with the photo - I'm going to check out those add-ons, but I'm wondering if they're only for the full version, or if they'll work with Elements.

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  16. She's beautiful and so smart! Who wants to get wet?

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  17. What a sweet post. I really like this blog. Oh I forgot to say hello, widget brought me here.

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  18. Gorgeous post, really well observed.

    Like DJ, Black Boxes brought me here too. I am glad I came.

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  19. lovely blog - came here via Black Box..... sounds like you live in a wonderful place.. i shall be back :-)

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  20. Just popping in to say Hi, I was sent here via my black box, you have a great blog :o) Xx

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  21. Pamela!

    Guess what?
    My chickens have picked YOU!

    Come see at my blog!

    And please send me your snail mail address so I can send you your prize!

    ~Lisa
    Laughing Orca Ranch
    New Mexico

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  22. I found you yesterday via the evil black box, but didn't have time to read too much. I saved you as a Favorite, came back today, and am so glad I did! I just finished reading the latest post about Happy Jack, and although I wanted goats on the farm instead of sheep, I may just have to find me another Happy Jack of my own!

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