Modern Day Shepards

Sheep looking up during an evening meal.
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I've always thought of sheparding as a profession popular in the good ole days.  Shepards of my imagination were people who wore head scarves to block the sun, carried a rounded staff, and witnessed heavenly angels coming out of the sky on a special evening in December.

That was my impression of shepards until i was flying down an Autopista in my rental Yaris somewhere a few hours from Gijon and a flock of hundreds of sheep crossed the overpass above my speeding Yaris.  The sheep seemed hurried, and wanted to get over the overpass quickly.  They were pushing and running as fast as sheep in a large group can run.  It was amazing to see such a mass of moving off white wool.  What a contrast to the speeding highway and the silent quiet countryside in the surrounding fields.

The shepard leading them is wearing sneakers, carrying a book and listening to an i-pod.

Shepardless flock of sheep
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Now it is a really weird to see hundreds of sheep standing above you on an overpass. It is even weirder when you realize that the shepard leading them, is wearing sneakers, carrying a book and listening to an i-pod.