17.10.22 – Within a few days of having my covid booster, I had sufficient ill effects to do a test and lo and behold it was positive! So having felt unwell, today was the first time in a few days, that I spent time with the girls, after eating a few grass nuts in the barn, they lined up by the fence for fusses. Stooping down to their level, means nuzzles and kisses, so a good opportunity to tease bits of twig out of their coats, especially Fern, who seems to delight in going though bramble and docks. I realised that they smelled a bit like cabbage! Chewing the cud as they relaxed close to me. Not sure if this was because of covid, affecting my sense of smell, but I googled chewing the cud and nowhere did it say about the smell of regurgitated grass, only the process of re chewing, to get more nutritional value from the grass, before it passes into the second stomach! Maybe it is because people don’t spend much time this close to their sheep’s faces? Well the smell is ok, just cabbagey, once they had their fusses, they lay down close by and chewed contentedly! The older girls don’t seem to get so messy, as they were sheared this year, the babies have more wool to catch twigs.in. Feather has started to close her eyes now when she is being finger groomed, so that is a good feeling!