Maude's Pages

September 2002

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This has been a terrible, terrible year. For starters, it is the middle of September 2004 and this is my first page of the year! I've told my shepherd that I just can't keep up with this. My fan club is so disappointed! I think they need to get someone who has more patience than I do to do these chronicles!

But, truth to tell, even I know there were reasons this year. I didn't have any lambs this spring, which was such a heart break. I'd really been looking forward to them -- new life is one of the best things on our farm and it is wonderful when we share in that. Then my best friend, Bandit, lost her lamb again -- just like last year, because it was just so big she could have died, too. We've had a lot of heartbreak and I don't feel really well these days -- I have to talk things over with my shepherds... If I really can't keep up my pages and this is "good bye', please know that I love all of you and I will always remember the adventures you helped me to share. Please don't ever forget me!

A final Note from the Editor: Maude's troubles with not having a lamb in the spring turned out to be the result of a disease dreaded by all shepherds, OPP, or Ovine Progressive Pneumonia. Our vet tests all of our animals yearly and sadly, Maude was one of the five sheep we had that contracted this contagious disease. We were heart-broken to say the least! She herself did not want to endanger any of her companions, however, and as we discussed the matter with her, it was her decision to retire. Because she has been such a famous sheep, she and her friend Bandit were offered a place as the only sheep on a farm several miles north of the monastery, near Cooperstown, where Maude is now the happy companion of children and horses. We know she remembers us and continues to live out her life as she always has, to the glory of God and with love for all of her fellow creatures including us humans who have learned so much from her...