New Bones and No Bones

I got a call from our butcher first thing this morning to come get our lamb meat right away because his freezer broke during the night. So I rushed right out and brought the meat back. It just barely fit into our freezer.

In the rush I forgot to ask about the bones he was supposed to save for me. I have a person who specifically wanted some of our sheep bones for a craft project, and I was going to use the rest for a project of my own (It's a secret for now, but I'll post pictures here if I ever get around to trying it).

When we checked back with the butcher, he said he forgot to save the bones for us, even though I specifically asked him to. This makes me a bit grouchy. Last year, he forgot that we wanted to save the pelts from the sheep we sent, and he ruined several beautiful hides by removing them carelessly and cutting them full of holes.

He's a nice guy, very chatty and friendly, but he's used to dealing with plain old livestock that are commodities, not high-value niche markets. So it seems that he doesn't exactly take sufficient care to preserve the special items I ask him to save.

However, he is very conveniently located, just a few miles away, so our choice is really to try to work with him and educate him better on our needs, rather than seeking a different butcher.

He did offer us any other bones we might want, including lots of deer bones (since this is hunting season, he's getting lots of deer in right now). That will work okay for my project, but the other buyer specifically wanted the Icelandic sheep bones because she's making a historical reenactment (SCA) project for which the Icelandic sheep would be most appropriate.

Oh well, we have one more lamb we may slaughter later, once we have more room in the freezer again. Perhaps he'll remember to save the bones for us then.

The other "bone" news for the day is

(1) Leeloo, our Pomeranian, finally got her leg brace taken off today. Her broken leg is all better! and

(2) Our ewe Peri is starting to use her rattlesnake-damaged leg a little bit, now that I've put a brace on her ankle. I don't think the leg will ever completely heal, but with the brace she regains a little more mobility and can live a more normal life.