Ellis the Ram's Photo Album

posted from Ellis the Ram's scrapbook

Didn't I say my CBFEJD has the knack for formal wear. Yes, Here I am, my first year at Malice Domestic. And all eyes were on me, well outside from all the authors, especially the ones who had been nominated for the AGATHA. Malice is where that particular award is given. Actually its where authors get nominated, voted, and awarded. Who needs the OSCARS....all the winners receive is a tiny little man with no eyes and body language that says 'don't get near ME', naked and thinking being gold makes it ACCEPTABLE, sits somewhere doing nothing and doesn't even dust itself. Now here, AGATHA! You get a TEAPOT! Brilliant....for a nice pot'a to start the day with or sooth you to sleep at night. It is warm and comforting when filled with hot water over steeping tea leaves in whatever form you wish~bag, in a implement full of holes, or tossed into the pot to swim around in the hot water.

But even if this lovely ceramic reflection of success isn't used for tea-it looks lovely and welcoming.

GOLD MAN~PIFFLE!

I'm honored to be an attendee, well-the companion of an attendee-my HC. AND its where I've had the jackpot luck of meeting wonderful people who have honored me with their friendship~of the HC variety. {Of course, they in turn have come to value the gift of Ovine Friendship, enough to adopt their own flocks}.

Oh, back to my Photo Album.....

CBFEJD~Elizabeth J. Duncan &

GFBFHD~Hannah Dennison

Now, I searched the album far and wide to find just the right photographs of my 2 author friends, but alas...........Obviously Photography is not my HC's strong suit! {This year we will monitor her pics every evening, delete and instruct her to retake-better!}. So here they are hard at work waiting the arrival of those HCs who wish to have their treasured volumes signed~by the very person who created them. Such fun, you can see the line, the loonngg line, behind Hannah so hope their hands were rested. If you look very closely, on Elizabeth's table, is a book with a pale green cover, her book. See it. Well, that is my fleece poking out from the side. HC=Photos NOT!

I've attended many book signings as my imposing presence is often required for crowd control duty, such as in 2008 for Maggie Sefton. My assistance, noted by both CBFEJD and GFBFHD, planted the idea of their Ovines assisting them also. I have a snap in my album of CBFEJD and her Ovine Eleanor at one of their book signings. And I'm certain if needed GFBFHD's Ovine treasure, young Emily the Lamb, is at the ready to stand guard. I have also attended other events at Malice such as sitting in on Panels. I would show you a photo of just that, but quality is unacceptable, Baaa'd focus.

I've grazed in the hospitality room interacting with attendees as well as listened intently at the New Authors Breakfast. The shot on the bottom is the day Elizabeth spoke on her first book IN THE COLD LIGHT OF MOURNING-you know, the one I'm BEHIND!

All in all we enjoy each and every moment spent with Old Friends, New Friends, and Soon to be Friends at Malice Domestic. So will end this little bit of Malice past with 2 more of my lovely memories. Oh and 1 of a rather stressful moment, when I was held by the NM aka Lucas aka OU, of CBFEJD. {I have since been repeatedly assured he is truly harmless and a fine fellow............hm, note his eyes! Nefarious!}

Ellis the Ram~Elizabeth J. Duncan~ Esme the Ewe/ NM aka Lucas aka OU Malice 2009~ Malice 2008 Maggie Sefton-Author of wonderful Cozy Mysteries about FLEECE! Naturally~ Cozy=Fleece! Malice 2008

Photographically yours,

Ellis the Ram

HFBBB HFBBB HFBBB HFBBB

{Happy Flock Bouncing Bouncing Bouncing}

posted by Ellis the Ram and Esme the Ewe

Do you believe it? It is almost time for Esme and I to prepare for our annual sojourn with all our HCFs and Ovine friends at Malice Domestic. In case someone is unfamiliar, we will explain all about this Malice Domestic. Or in our typical acronym mode~MD XXIII. {For any who may fondly recall times past? This MD is not the acronym for the toxic alcoholic beverage which was the drink of choice for many as it was CHEAP. Which by default meant LOW QUALITY} I digress.

MD XIII?

A wonderful gathering of authors, readers/fans, and those professionals who deal with the bits and pieces of authors getting their works to the readers/fans. Our HC and MPU began attending several years back and absolutely love every minute of the weekend. In 2008 it was my turn to attend, my=Ellis the Ram. Of course. As head of flock both my duty and privilege. It was wonderful. And I met so many lovely people who interacted with me as ones who GET IT.

ELIZABETH J. DUNCAN {CBFEJD} author

IN THE COLD LIGHT OF MOURNING~BRUSH WITH DEATH

That was the year Elizabeth J. Duncan and I met. Actually she stopped my HC and spoke directly to me. I knew she was the right sort as she immediately commented on how perceptive I was, she knew that, she said, simply by my eyes. We have been friends since through many adventures. Alas, she has been so busy our correspondence has trickled off but it doesn't change our friendship. Next morning, as we nattered away, she asked my HC if I was going to the banquet. {I HADN'T BEEN ASKED} HC said I had nothing appropriate to wear to such an event and friend Elizabeth quickly offered to provide 'formal attire'. Next post I will have photos of 2008 MD where you will easily note, CBFEJD has great fashion sense. A wonderful time, not only the Banquet but the entire weekend.

HANNAH DENNISON {GFBFHD} , author

A VICKY HILL EXCLUSIVE~SCOOP~EXPOSE~THIEVES

The next year having noticed Esme in my of my pics, shared with Elizabeth, an invitation was extended to include Esme. Imagine, Elizabeth brought lovely fleece clips for Esme to wear to the banquet. That year we met our GFBFHD, Hannah. She also 'gets it' and it was like we'd always known each other. Hannah is extremely funny and very gracious. She began corresponding with us also but alas is often so busy we have long spells without hearing from her. But she always writes eventually and that is all that matters to us. Most importantly, it is all due to GFBFHD that this blog exists and for that alone we are eternally grateful.

OH YEA, MD XIII ?

We are HFBBB because it will soon be time to leave our pasture and journey to the convention. This year in Bethesda Maryland, which we've learned is not far away. Nevertheless we will be 'sleeping over' as in past years. Our HFBBB is due to our HC finally making our reservation for 'sleeping over' accommodations!!!!! And this year due to GFBFHD's plan to bring her entire flock we plan to select a few of our flock to accompany us also. And we certainly hope CBFEJD will bring members of her flock also !

I realize this is a slight detour from our interrogation of the 4 MDIs but fear not, the flock is fleece deep in that investigation and Flock on the Trail updates will detail it all.

Our Post minus 'titles and such' in red and black? Those are MD colors. Which we will be sporting at the banquet as will our HC and MPU.

For the Flock,

Ellis the Ram and Esme the Ewe

FLOCK on the TRAIL UPDATE #4~~~PAINTING CAPTURES MDIs

posted by Piper, OOC

What a busy few days here in the pasture.......our HC informed us last week that the sides of our pasture were to be painted? Pasture=Painted? Then we realized that she was referring to the place in which our Pasture is located....HER walls were being painted. Fortunately not all in one day but over several as it requires much moving of items, removing of items, securing of items......followed by moving of items, inserting of items, replacing of items. All tasks completely unsuited to Ovines, so we thought NOT OUR CONCERN as we are hot on the trail of the FWIF. Unfortunately we began to realize that we Ovines seemed to be among the ITEMS mentioned above. Our Ellis and HC conferred and it was decided we would move to a chair in a room to be painted last where we would be safe for the few days.

When Ellis returned to inform us of our 'move', Noah suggested a rather clever plan. {Wish I had thought of it myself}. Noah proposed Ellis should enlist the assistance of our HC in this plan. So back Ellis went and shortly we heard our HC and Ellis Baa-Ha Ha'ing. Ellis returned and loudly told us we would ALL be moving to a cozy blue chair in the living room due to 'very dangerous' work about to begin in our HCs living area. We all bleated and baa'd on cue with questions of why?

Because he loudly stated, a man would be arriving with 'paint', which should not be trifled with, due to potential hazardous contents of some of the material. So we should station ourselves away from where this man and his paint would be working. Plus, again loudly, should there be an accident during this 'work' and this paint spill, it could splash over anything nearby. And this paint might be very hard to remove from things like FLEECE. So to avoid this we must go to the chair. Callopie, getting into the fun of the plan, baaa'd out "What if the paint does get on our fleece, can't it be washed off?" After a moment of thought Ellis loudly said "No-all the fleece would have to be SHEARED!"

And the flock responded with bleats of FDH.

The stage was set. Ellis called out throughout the rooms that all Ovines need report to the cozy blue chair on the far side of the living room. So we all gathered on the chair while our HC covered us with a curtain removed from the dining room. She leaned over and winked and went back to dealing with items. And we waited.....and waited......and waited.

You may be asking what we were waiting FOR. Noah's plan to work, of course. Having hunted for several days near and far~high and low for the FWIF-with no success. Noah suggested that if all the dangers which may result from painting, and our HC and Ellis making it known that the only safe place for the Ovines would be the cozy blue chair..............perhaps the FWIF may be frightened enough to attempt to sneak onto the chair. Knowing they had evaded all attempts to locate them, Noah believed the FWIF WOULD sneak onto the cozy blue chair. And would never consider being caught. So we waited.....and waited......and waited. Was the plan a success? Here is the proof!!!

SNEAKING ONTO THE COZY BLUE CHAIR

THE FLOCK SURROUNDS FWIF

20th of February was Sunday so whatever was to happen time was slipping away for the Purple/Green/Gold? As seen in our last photo we quickly corralled these 4 Ovines between us. When they declared their wish to escape we reminded them of the man and his paint and they stopped attempting to run off. Not that we trust them to remain if we don't confine them to the cozy blue chair with us. And by the time the man and his paint have left, all our questions may be answered.

We will discover just what all this sneaking about and purple, green and gold means.

For the flock resting safely on the cozy blue chair in the living room, sleep well. We plan too!

Piper, OOC

Flock on the Trail Update #4- Serious Events

posted by Piper OOC

Finally my window of opportunity to relate our first real evidence of this 'flock with in the flock', photographic evidence. As seen above, we have identified the key items with captions for future reference.

The events were as follows. Knowing that Ovi is extremely fond of his bowl~bed and therefore when sleeping at night can always be located tucked warmly inside, we believe the Flock With In the Flock targeted Ovi. {From this point on the Flock With In the Flock will be known by~~~~FWIF.} They waited til the flock was tucked in for the night and took our Ovi/bowl~bed, left our pasture and placed him outdoors IN A SNOW BANK. Obviously this event had occurred soon after our return from the beach, when the snow was deep and temperatures were frigid.

FWIF placed strings of gaudy plastic balls on strings-2 in Gold and 1 in Green- over our darling Ovi and as can be seen in this photo then creeped away. No doubt back into the warmth of the pasture where they apparently went back into hiding as they weren't visible during the rest of the event.

We still have no idea how the green string, which was clearly in the opening photo, failed to appear in this photo above. But as can be seen in the following photo when we rescued Ovi/bowl~bed from the cold all 3 strings were accounted for.

Sullivan had awakened a bit later in the night and realizing Ovi/bowl~bed were MIA, sounded the alarm. {normally Nocturnal Ovine Wandering~NOW wouldn't be a concern-but with events recently we kept alert-this was not NOW} Well it was now but not an act of NOW. Get it~Got it~GOOD ! Sooooooooooo.......Calling for an All Ovine Alert~AOA we commenced our search. Callopie quickly noted bits of snow by the door and we knew none of us had been outside and the HC was reading in her bed upstairs. We managed to get the door opened and there he was, if Sullivan had not woke up, Ovi might have awakened covered in snow, confused, semi frozen and unable to bleat for assistance. Out we rushed into the cold dark night and dragging the bowl~bed we got Ovi and it, through the door. Ovi still had not baaa'd and we were in fear he was frozen-how would we UN THAW our Ovi. Fortunately once out of the cold and on the threshold the warm began to revive him.

We then flock-handled him over to the top of an old blanket chest and soon helped him to clear the snow which had blanketed him. As can be seen below, quite a bit of snow had fallen while he had been sleeping outside, PLUS snow had begun to fill his bowl~bed.

Now this was becoming dangerous and UNHEALTHY. Ovi was stoic which amazed the flock. Ovi stated that the plastic balls on string must have been left by whoever had ferried him to the outdoors. And after seeing the photo we all immediately saw that the 2 Miscreants of Dubious Intentions~MDIs fleeing the scene were of the same coloring as the hind ends in his bowl~bed as we traveled the hall toward the car for our journey back to Pennsylvania. Our suspicions were now FACTS. We have identified the culprits, we have possession of the plastic balls on string.

It was then, knowing that our HC was going to an appointment with our MTF the next day, Ovi announced he would be accompanying our HC. Why? we asked. Ovi explained that as our MTF and qualified in things of an internal nature in HCs, internal nature of hidden thoughts and such, surely he might provide some insight regarding the motives of this FWIF.

The following day Ovi/bowl~bed and our HC went to the appointment. Ovi told us of the visit upon their return. Ovi's report~~~~MTF Ellis explained he normally had to 'visit with' to gain insight, so without the FWIF his guess would be simply that, guessing what lies behind events. But after studying the green plastic balls on a string he said he recognized this type of string. He had been part of a group which went to the City of New Orleans following the destruction of a Katrina. {We later learned Katrina is a serious weather event, which we hope never to experience in our pasture.} And the string looked like something thrown off traveling platforms in this New Orleans. When Ovi told MTR Ellis there had also been Gold strings Ellis said OF COURSE Then a question Ovi said he never expected......MTR Ellis said "Were there any purple strings"!!!!!

It won't be long now before Purple, Green and Gold are understood!!

Or we capture the MDI!!

Piper, OOC

OUR WISHES FOR HEART DAY

POSTED FOR THE FLOCK BY ELLIS THE RAM

Needless to warn all, but when Piper gives his report tomorrow stand by for fussing about being told 'something comes first'. Not that the search and answers isn't of primary importance....tomorrow. So speaking for Esme and myself we wanted to wish all a Happy Heart Day. And so did the flock. So after a Flock Meeting we came up with an idea. All the flock wanted to participate so we gathered all who were free to join us, got our HC to take her wreath off the door and when we had ourselves positioned just so had our efforts photographed. And the results, yes our Banner photo for this day~ST VALENTINE'S DAY.

So many Ovines joining us to make our heart and many may be difficult to see clearly so beginning with Esme going all the way around to the very bottom of our heart ESME THE EWE~SULLIVAN~FLA'LAMB~OVI~CALLOPIE~LILY~D~BRASSY, knitting crew~MEASURE LAMB, knitting crew. Then on the very bottom are a few of the Magnet Gang-FLA'POM, TILELY, CASSANOVA. Finally up the other side.......BOBBLE~FUZBOY~GOBELL~1 BAG FULL~ILLL~HIMHE~BFSS~NOAH~THE FENTON SIBLINGS-Ashly and Stewart~PIPER AND ELLIS THE RAM.

3 of our smallest flockites are sitting on hearts under our wreath. They are l~r....METALHEAD~WOODROW~CRYSTALLINE. Finally although a bit of reflection so impossible to see, is the leader of the Magnet Gang SIM PLIFY.

Last count our flock numbered over 65. So plenty of Meet the Ovines to come-maybe. We let each chart their own course.

So from our heart to yours.............HAPPY VALENTINES DAY.

Flock on the Trail Update #3

by OOC Piper

Have several updates regarding our hunt, but flock has been watching CNN. I mean, none of us are from Egypt. But we are quite aware that we have Ovine brethren everywhere. And we stood watch 24/7, no ovines. Of course it was full of HCs in that square, which is nothing like a pasture! Sleeping in turn we kept an eye out for any Ovines among the HCs. But guess due to the fact of no MLGV growing between the stones in the square thus our Egyptian Ovine brethren would be quite hungry and the HCs had too much to manage without finding MLGV for Ovines.

It has been quite an education for the younger ovines as they did not know what an egypt was, and seemed to believe it was a vegetable of some sort. When they finally understood it was a country, like the USA where our pasture is located then geography lessons began. But between views of the square, during commercials of course, we all kept an eye peeled for our first priority-a flock with in the flock.

Tomorrow the flock will be preparing for Valentine's Day. For Ovi it is his first Valentine's Day. But I will post photos and information collected thus far. My reports seem to get delayed by EVERYTHING. From pie, to Egypt, to BFSS-and having discovered the 20 of February may be the date of something, we must find the answers!

So until tomorrow then I, PIPER~OOC will sign off for this post.

PIPER

Oh, one more thing. Knowing the big crush Mr Sparkles has been 'carrying' for Pink Lamb, in the frozen cold of Wisconsin, flock has been wondering if he will send her a BE MY VALENTINE. Last we heard he was miffed as his Christmas Holiday pics were being ignored by Hannah. We know Hannag is BEYOND busy with her new book THIEVES~~but really. Oh, we wonder if Vicki Hill heard about Christine Amanpour's daring do's in Egypt over the last few weeks.

IT WAS HERE YESTERDAY ??????????????

posted by Noah

Yes, last night we all enjoyed a wedge of our TERRIFIC blueberry pie. The pie we baked was TOP NOTCH~GOURMET QUALITY~A TASTE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. And after we all ummmm and yummed~ to sleep we went. Dreaming of our pie. And having saved half of it, we awoke knowing for breakfast............PIE.

So imagine our shock as we gathered to enjoy our well earned breakfast pie and, WELL THE PICTURE SAYS IT ALL. At first it baffled us. Then we saw the fork, a clue! As Ovines we use no implements to eat our nourishment. Forks, well it is an implement used by HC's. After we realized that, we decided our HC had finished our pie. And although disappointed we all agreed that it was only fair. Our HC had collected the ingredients, provided the dish, she pays the utilities which make the appliances run, she opened the can of blueberries and then fetched our frozen fruit and put it in the bowl in the bowl. And had carefully lifted our hot bubbling delight from the oven and placed it in front of us.

It is as important to share as it is important to work together.

Noah The Grey Ovine

Yum ~ Yum !! BLUEBERRY PIE

posted by all of us, who made pie,

Ellis, Esme, Sullivan, Callopie, Himhe, Piper, Ovi and Noah

Esme here, we have decided that we each will write in this post. Only 1 of us is unknown to you but after today we will assign him to introduce himself on Meet the Ovines. His name is Noah and he will be in some of the photos so perhaps we will ask him to explain the story of photos he is in. And now to begin, go ahead Ellis !

Thank you Esme. As you may have read yesterday it has been a rather active few days. {Baa-haa} But thanks to our Ewe, Esme, things have settled down. And this adventure was her idea really, being a rather clever Ovine of the Ewe persuasion. Knowing how much the flock enjoys berries and having found a single can of blueberry pie filling in a cabinet....apparently she enlisted our HC to gather all the items needed to make a Blueberry Pie. What fun, so I took Callopie, and together, we prepared a dish for the pie. Knowing a bit about baking from past experience helped the more experienced teach the others. So together Callopie and I covered the bottom and sides of the dish with a slippery substance, we decided butter would do. Then I emptied a bit of flour into the dish and.....

Oh, my turn my turn. Ellis was about to tell you that I, Callopie, then covered all the butter on the dish with this flour. {Seemed a bit odd to me since I saw ready made pie crusts so why butter and flour?} But Ellis explained that preparing the pie dish with butter and flour keeps the pie from sticking too badly to the pan, making it easier to remove the pieces to eat. {Remove pieces? Why not just bend over the edge and eat? Why not JUST CRAWL INTO THE DISH AND EAT?}

Ah, thank you Callopie, as head of the flock, I'll finish telling of this part. After we had the pie dish ready, and being on top of the oven, Callopie turned the knob over to BAKE while I handled moving the knob to 425, per the recipe. Sullivan?

Thank you Ellis.~~~ It took many of us to wrestle the bottom dough into the dish. So with my pal Piper we gathered the others and together we put it in place. We let the smaller ones get into the dish and carefully and hoove the crust around the bottom. Once we had that done we needed to push the extra dough up to the edge. Esme was by the book reading the recipe but as you may see from the photo, above, we needed all of us. Below, you can see how perfect we fit.

I was very pleased to fill the hole Sullivan, thank you for calling me over the from the book. So, now I, Esme, can show you our pie dish with crust, ready to fill.

Left to right we admire our work. Esme, Sullivan and below Himhe, Ovi behind and Callopie in front, Ellis, Piper and our Noah. And Noah was invaluable in the next steps.

Thank you Esme. Allow me to introduce myself quickly here. I am Noah. I am grey. Next I took charge of filling the pie dish. You have already noticed from the title of our post that we all love blueberries and that is what would go into our pie. Our HC opened the can and set it on the table with a plastic implement. I pushed the can over then used the plastic implement to scoop the contents into the dish. BUT. We all agreed that it was rather shy of berries. Lots of gloppy blue sweet stuff but few berries. So after a bit of silence Piper offered a suggestion. Piper?

Thank you Noah. None of us thought there was even enough berries for one wedge of pie let alone the entire pie. So knowing we had brought back berries from our summer adventures I asked "why don't we use the frozen blueberries, the ones we picked?" Everyone quickly agreed and Esme went to speak to our HC, who quickly pulled them from the freezer. At first she placed them in a bowl full of holes which she then set in another bowl. Esme explained she did this because they were hard, frozen. And although we would put them in our pie that way, any thawing of the berries would include berry juice which would make stains wherever it dripped. Soon the bowl with the holes and the other bowl were placed by our dish again. We gathered around to admire what all our hard work over the summer was about to become, part of our Blueberry Pie. Around the bowl Ovi, Ellis, my bottom half{Baa~haa}, Callopie and Noah.

I'll finish up the filling part Piper. We decided the best way to put berries into the dish with the gloppy stuff would be to kick them in. Callopie immediately tried to jump in the bowl AGAIN, but Esme and Ellis stopped her, instead telling her an important job would be to guide me where to kick the berries, as each area got its fill.

So Sullivan put the bowl + bowl atop himself with Ovi helping him, and I climbed into the bowl. Slowly I began kicking frozen berries into the dish. By the time I was done my hooves were almost as cold as the berries had been in the freezer. I sure was glad to climb out of that bowl and back onto the cloth, I can tell YOU. Luckily when my part was done Himhe helped Callopie to spread the frozen berries around with the plastic implement.

My turn now....I had to make certain that my Yarmulke {my cap} didn't fall off into the pie. Even though it has a beautiful blueberry color in with the white I didn't think it would feel good on my head if it had fallen in gloppy sweet stuff, Baa~haa. So I stood back a bit and directed Callopie in the spreading of the berries. Then my work complete the flock gathered to put the other piece of dough on top of the dish.

Putting the top on wasn't the hard part But we all decided that to push the top around the edge like we had done to the bottom dough might create quite a mess. So Esme had a fine idea.

I had seen something which seemed perfectly suited for pie making. So my HC took it off the wall and gave it to me. Noah immediately understood, even before anything was said, and I gave it to him.

I carefully and slowly pushed the implement around the edge of the dish. It made a nice edge and the dough hanging over the dish fell to the tablecloth.

Our HC gathered it up and took it away, saying something about a John E. Cake? Although it took a while to understand what she said as she ran it all together~~~johnnycake. {Humans} After that we used the implement and put some holes atop the dough, but Ovi wasn't happy.

No, it just didn't look, well, like a proper berry pie. What it needed was..........WELL~~BERRIES. So I put a few of the frozen berries over the top, not in any order or design. Just wild....FOR OUR WILD BLUEBERRIES. NOW IT LOOKED A PROPER BERRY PIE !!

Back to me now so I sent word via Esme to our HC who put our pie into the oven Now started the difficult part of the 'fun'. We waited. And we all gathered about to see how it would turn out. Callopie insisted on watching the pie as it cooked inside the oven, but soon decided it was far to hot to sit near the stove, especially not on the door of the oven, Baa~haa.

So as the Ewe of the flock I announced our pie was finished baking. We all gathered around enjoying the glorious smell of our berries as gloppy blue berry juice bubbled out of the holes. What a good adventure. What a fun afternoon. And most of all what a wonderful life we live in our Pasture.

Yes I know sometimes there is fussing and hurt feelings. Egos and those who 'need'. It is a big task I have taken on with Ellis the Ram, the care of our Flock. But together we can do what one of us couldn't accomplish. And now, baa-hoo, how to find out just what BFSS knows and in the process teaching her to live harmoniously, or at least without chaos, in the pasture.

So now our pie is cool and it is soon bedtime. We will all enjoy our pieces of our pie and then dream wonderful dreams. Of pastures filled with berries~blackberries, blueberries, red raspberries and strawberries. All cushioned in lovely MLGV!!!

ELLIS THE RAM, ESME THE EWE,

SULLIVAN, CALLOPIE, HIMHE, PIPER, OVI AND NOAH

SO WHY IS CALLOPIE ROLLING IN A BOWL OF BLUEBERRIES?

posted by Esme the Ewe

Yes, the last few days certainly have been raucous around the pasture. We are a flock full of unique and wonderful Ovines but for just that reason, at times peaceful coexistence is our goal rather than our current state of affairs. So between the search for answers regarding purple, gold, green, flock with in the flock, I have had my hooves full. Then BFSS posted her banner photo and teased the flock with her note underneath. As Piper posted, Ellis the Ram was in FTRM off and on yesterday. So it took quite an effort on my part to restore some calm in the flock. And after a night of restful sleep today has been a much quieter day.

I managed to get BFSS aka Dee Vine aside today and get her a bit right sized but there is only so much that can be done. You see its really a matter of being an ovine who only functions best when she is the center of attention. But naturally I can see, although others seldom do, that the more she seeks attention the less inclined her flock-mates are to provide that attention. She really is a very special member of our flock..... Well, some days she is our best example of the value of the only flock requirement~~~TO BE OPEN AND ACCEPTING. The difficulty comes not only from the flock struggling to follow a rule toward someone who lacks understanding of the meaning of open and accepting.

Whew, I don't even know if I understood all that....Baa~haa Baa~haa Baa~haa. Isn't a good laugh the best way through difficulties?

Ah, yes the photo at the top of my post. Weeellll, if you recall from the first post on our blog, berries are very much loved by all in the flock. They are precious to us and so tasty. And when in New Hampshire we daily pick berries with our HC. Two summers ago after one berry picking afternoon our Callopie insisted on rolling in blueberries. As much as we tried to explain that rolling in blueberries was not at all the same thing as rolling in autumn leaves, before we could stop her in she climbed. Fortunately we managed to extract her from the bowl before she crushed them and stained her lovely white fleece. And I might add, ruin our tasty bowl of freshly picked fruit.

But this morning as I recalled that time it gave me a great idea for calming our flock and provide a day of flock fun. So we made a blueberry pie. Oh what fun. What an adventure. Our full day of pie making will be the post for tomorrow. I think you will enjoy our fun. Tomorrow then.......ESME THE EWE

FLOCK ON THE TRAIL UPDATE #2

posted by Piper, OOC at Command Central

Can you believe this !!!!! BFSS, who seldom does anything with the flock, has now placed herself on the banner. I must say the sentiment around the pasture ranges from, no big surprise to anything she does ~~ all the way to huge "Baaaa' Manners" bleatings. I mean we all know she acts like a Diva and always wants to be the center of attention, but this is beyond the pale. Or is that pail? Anyway, I'm sure you understand.

When Ellis the Ram saw the banner photo this morning he went FTRM {Full Tilt Ram Mode}. Which means Ellis was mad. So mad we all decided to to be quiet, very quiet. Esme the Ewe, who is always calm, at least compared to our Ellis, finally managed to get things settled but it took her quite a bit of time.

The really unsettling thought in all this is that while the flock is busy working hard to get to the bottom of this purple, green, gold thing involving this 'flock with in the flock', she has information. Well, beyond information.....many of us believe she may be a member of this 'flock with in the flock'. I mean, DID YOU READ HER LITTLE 'EYE' love me under the banner. She is bragging. She is flaunting the fact that she has information. She stole the sled on which Ellis takes us for rides. She commandeered some of the bedding we use when young ovines find themselves joining the flock to show them how special we think they are---and is using it like a seat cushion plopping herself on top of it. Somewhere, she found a cape with purple PLUS orange. Orange which we all think is unbecoming for we ovines and is wearing it as though she is royalty. Next thing you know she will demand we refer to her as YOUR MAJESTY. {WELL THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN}.

And speaking of the 'EYE' love me blather, have you noticed how she has dressed up her eyes ! Boy is that frightening. Hope some young ovine doesn't wake up in the middle of the night with the great back luck of sleeping close to BFSS and sees those eyes staring at him. Reminds me of a scary Halloween outfit............Personally, I think she is dressed for trick or treat daily-like a deranged exploded pumpkin. {Gives me the ovine willys and is about as close to FDH as I want to be.

And this whole BFSS thing..........it won't stop me from doing my job as flock OCC. And we have found several clues, even before BFSS began bragging. We have several photos which seem to be evidence of the 'flock with in the flock'. And another strange incident which when combined with the disturbing photo of something in Ovi's bowl~bed have enabled us to form some theories.

Well, I had intended this update to inform all of these discoveries but BFSS's antics are enough for this update. I will provide that update, #3, tomorrow when things are calmer and I can organize my thoughts. {Boy, sure could use my friend the eggplant now~it makes me feel safe-but Ellis the original is helping me with my condition so it will be OK}. Anyway, it is time to join the flock who have already gathered to prepare for bedtime. Tomorrow all. Oh and if BFSS creates more problems just ignore her, as difficult as that may be.

Your OOC at Command Central, PIPER