SHELLY: Yes, it's the Proud Mum here ... Sheepishly ... No Bull!  Well, YES bull, as it happens! And I'll explain that and the sheepish bit.

We awoke this morning to find just that in two adjoining paddocks ... five sheep (lambs when we looked more closely) in one and, in the other,  a bull!  OK ... half a bull, given it had been 'ringed.' But can you imagine the excitement amongst we three girls!?!?!?!

Anyway, the bull turned out to be a runnaway from a farm right down the end of the road ... nearer Lothlorien than Green Pastures Farm, in fact, although it was more of a walk-away than a run-away.  

He just sauntered up the road, it seems, and eventually found his way into our place, jumping a fence from a neighbour's place, and landing in a paddock adjacent to ours and the yards ... wherein were to be found three lambs of the sort Mary is reputed to have lost, together with two black ones of Ba-Ba fame. It's hard to keep up with things around here sometimes - and this was certainly one of of those times!

Our neighbourly sheep are here to stay, so we've heard say ... although I suspsect only until Fran finds room ine one of her freezers ... while the bull is already gone ... collected by an owner still puzzling as to how he got out.  My guess - after seeing something of his athleticism - is that he jumped out. Hopefully Hazel and Michaela were witnesses too. It might get them to hop to it with some cousins for my Little Richard!