"It was a dark and stormy night. No, really, it was. The temperature was hovering on the bad side of the freezing point. A cold rain, on its way to becoming ice, was falling in big, fat drops. It was early spring. I came home late from work, around 11:30. As I pulled in the driveway my headlights shone out into the pastures, and you could see eyes in the far pasture.
The eyes belonged to our heard of ewes, most of whom had tiny lambs in attendance. They had access to the nice, warm barn but being sheep they were not the sharpest individuals in the animal kingdom. It was up to me to be the smart one.
I went inside and changed into my heavy leather coat and cowboy hat. Then Timber, Skye, and I ventured out into the darkness. On reaching the gate into the pasture I gathered my companions and gave them their assignments. Timber on the 'away' and Skye on the 'go-by'. As I trudged back to the barn door, I realized I was completely soaked through. The heavy droplets of rain sluiced off the brim of my hat.
It wasn't long before the first ewe arrived, trotting carefully with her two lambs. The another appeared, and another until the whole heard walked, rain soaked, past me into the warmth. The last sheep should have had two lambs, but I could only see one. I was going to put it down to the lamb glomming on to the wrong mother, but Skye was acting funny. Kind of a Lassie with Timmy in the well thing. She bounced back on forth on her front legs and did a little whining.
I stepped out to see what was wrong and Skye walked off. As we walked, she kept stopping to see if I was following. It was a long walk out into that field. But finally, I see up ahead, the silhouette of Timber. But it was strange, he seemed to be sitting with his nose on the ground. As I got closer, I could see the water running off his nose. And then I saw the lamb, nestled in Timber's relatively dry belly fur.
I scooped up the errant youngster, and with my two companions, escaped back to the barn.
And once again I appreciated how magnificent our Tervuren companions are."
Sharol Hathaway, Tervuren News Tales, 2026 June/July Issue
