3rd Transmutation | [video] Backdated to 10/7

[armoredsoul]

[The feed comes on to a...rather embarrassed Alphonse, with a pile of eggs sitting on the bed behind him. His Glameow is sniffing at them curiously, while Vaporeon lays on the pillow completely uninterested.]

Um...well, this is a little awkward, but I woke up this morning to find a bunch of eggs in my room! I wasn't trying to do any breeding but...well, I guess they decided to anyway. [Al casts a glance offscreen, then looks back with an awkward shrug.] If anyone wants to buy some, let me know? Um, there's Eevee, Cyndaquil, Meowth, and a Purrloin egg...I'll attach a list with how many there are of each. Um, thanks in advance!

[And with that he quickly turns the feed off to be horribly embarrassed forever. The promised list is attached to the message, however!]

Comments

[video]

[armoredsoul]

Well, my family didn't raise any ourselves, but plenty of our neighbors did. Since they mostly were raised for wool, they got to be a bit more like a bunch of pets would be than normal livestock. Sometimes they'd get out of the fenced area of the fields and all the kids would go out to help herd them back in, which was interesting when it was the rams that got out. They have a heck of a temper!

Spring was always really busy with shearing season--sometimes Brother and I went to help collect and bag the wool. Sheep are pretty hardy for a livestock breed, so they didn't get sick often, thankfully. And of course they had to make sure the sheep stayed safe from predators...it was hard work, but I always thought sheep were easier to raise than other sorts of livestock.

[video]

[pinnedbangs]

[There was something very gentle about this guy that Rin was starting to like. A lot of the explanation went right over Rin's head - he could barely tell the difference between a ram and a sheep and as far as he could tell, livestock was different depending on how they helped people.

Regardless, this gentle guy must not have been a pushover if he lived beside attacking rams and predators (like wolves in the stories, right?) Sheep sounded both dangerous and incredibly fun to be around. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give farm life a chance - if it was ever offered to him.]

Wow~. So you probably fought off wolves with your brother too... How do you shave a sheep? And what if the rams got away? Did they ever come back?

[video]

[armoredsoul]

We were too young back then to help with driving off the wolves, actually. And shaving them is mostly a matter of being able to keep them calm while the clipping is done. It takes a while, and if they get nervous they'll bite and kick pretty bad!

I don't remember any rams ever getting away, but herding them back was a real chore. You had to get enough people to herd them back in the right direction, and if you were lucky they might come back with the lure of a little treat. Usually the got out 'cause something got them mad, though, and let me tell you, you don't want to be in the path of a charging ram! Their heads are solid, and they hit hard!