Shepherd Abuse

It is a fact of life if you are your own shepherd or if you farm you will have the bumps and bruises to show you do some physical labor for a living. Summertime I really should stick to wearing long pants to cover the usual bruise or two I am sporting on my legs. These usually come from catching, weighing, vaccinating, deworming, or tattooing lambs that sometimes catch me with a kicking hoof. This past week with the snowstorm we got about a foot of wet heavy snow. Before the storm came I moved the ram group and pony into the barnyard so they would have some shelter. Once the storm passed, freezing below zero temps were on the way so I worked to clear the snow that accumulated around the livestock gates with a shovel before it froze so I'd be able to open the gates again to get the animals back out to pasture when the time came. I shoveled most of one gate and then pulled on it against the snow to see how much farther to shovel and wham the 16 ft. gate came off the hinge, hit me in the head right above my right eye, and down I went with the gate on top of me. Got back up and tried to put the gate back on the hinges but needed help to line it up. I have a black eye from the ordeal (actually a deep purple that looks like permanent eye shadow). I've had this colorful eye now for a few days and of course people make comments like "I'd like to see the other guy." At least I do live in a rural community so most people do believe my story (I think!). Some people don't ask and just look and you wonder what they are thinking happened. I've decided I'd just like to simply reply "shepherd abuse."