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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Butter Lamb / Butter Lamb Open Thread

Butter Lamb Open Thread

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This year’s edition:

Butter Lamb! (Open Thread)

I dropped it off yesterday for my mother-in-law, who is now fully vaccinated but still being careful about gatherings because she’s a kind person who is not an idiot. She’s having Easter dinner with other fully vaccinated friends in her quarantine pod.

When I stopped by, we talked about how this is our second pandemic Easter. Last year, I wore gloves to pick up the sanitized cooler that contained her butter lamb, and I left it and a Cloroxed package of paper towels at the end of her driveway. We waved and shouted “love you!” from a distance before I drove away.

Yesterday, we had an outdoor conversation, and MIL expressed hope that next Easter, we can have the family all together again. I hope so too. But I think my husband will be nostalgic for pandemic-related restrictions on socializing and get-togethers for the rest of his life. He dreads big holidays.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it!

PS: If you’re wondering what a butter lamb is, there’s an explanation (and tutorial) here.

Reader Interactions

83Comments

  1. 1.

    Ken

    Magnificent! The only thing missing is a musical reveal, maybe the “Ark Theme” from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

  5. 5.

    Eunicecycle

    I missed the butter lamb last year, so I’m glad to see it this year! So cute, so do you actually use it for butter? I couldn’t stand to take a chunk out of it.

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    she’s a kind person who is not an idiot.

    The past several years has made it abundantly clear that these are far from universal traits.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    A real beauty! I hadn’t seen any mention of it and feared the tradition would not continue. So glad to see that little lamb.

    Do you name them?

  11. 11.

    MagdaInBlack

    Happy Easter ! It’s kind of silly how happy I am to see the lamb again ?

    * I’m with your husband on the dread of holiday gatherings

  12. 12.

    sab

    I am with your husband on holidays. We got vaccinated, so I expect to be overrun with hordes of his friends soon. Sigh.

    ETA: his being my husband’s, not Betty’s, of course.

  14. 14.

    MomSense

    So sweet!  Spring on instagram has been wonderful.  So many photos and videos of little lambs and kids.  One of the farms I follow posted a video of about 25 lambs with the zoomies – running all around the barn in circles.  Lamb zoomies are the best.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    @sab – @MagdaInBlack

    Also not in the same galaxy as far as being a fan.

    The best thing about holidays: you get time off.
    The worst thing about holidays: so does everyone else.
    :)

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    I did a butter lamb post last year, but it must have been big-footed or maybe I posted it at an odd time or something because I remember people asking about it.

    @dmsilev: That’s the truth. So many people have revealed themselves as selfish morons over the past year. I don’t like it, but I guess there’s some value in having that knowledge.

  19. 19.

    Catherine D.

    My local supermarket has butter lambs in a refrigerated case. I thought of you when I saw them.

  21. 21.

    cope

    Betty’s Butter Lamb is the about the only Easter thing that I look forward to every year since we no longer have young kids and egg hunts.*  Thank you.

    As our kids got older, the egg hunt turned into a treasure hunt in which one written clue would lead to another and that to another and so on.  The final hidden prize was always a big basket of Easter goodies for the kids (and parents) to enjoy.

    *The Butter Lamb and my wife’s raisin sauce she makes for the ham I will be cooking later.

  24. 24.

    Olivia

    I really look forward to your butter lamb post. This one is really cute! Some day I am going to try it. I imagine it will be a candidate for a “Nailed It! post.

    ‘

  29. 29.

    rivers

    Love the butter lamb. And I’m with your husband in dreading big holidays. I’m not a recluse by any means, but I think what the pandemic has taught me is which social encounters I love (and have missed) and those which it is a sheer relief to have an excuse for not attending.

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    I was waiting for the butter lamb reveal! Betty, this is truly one of your best. Very expressing little lamby.

  35. 35.

    Kristine

    What an adorable little lamb!

    If it had visible legs–not the usual thing, I know–you could’ve added a little vax bandage.

  36. 36.

    sab

    Spouse and I each put on the Covid 15 pounds, and we were plump before. I bought him Easter candy yesterday, being a bad girl. Assembled an easter basket this morning while watching TV . He was oblivious. ‘My wife is weaving a basket beside me. So what? Usual behavior. She is always doing something.’

    Basket constructed, I went to basement and filled it. He was surprised.

  37. 37.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Weren’t you in the six or seven threads where we discussed Non-Fungible Tokens?  Instead of owning a picture, you own the little plaque that names the picture, but as an encrypted bit string. The latest greatest replacement for things of actual value!  Better than Bitcoin!

  38. 38.

    Immanentize

    TBH, I’m surprised no one has tried to make a butter version of that poor wild sheep found with 60 lbs of wool.

  39. 39.

    MagdaInBlack

    I’m waiting ’til Monday to snag the half price Peeps.

    * and malted milk “Robins Eggs”

  40. 40.

    Immanentize

    @Ken: I actually have an idea about how one might make an NFT have actual value….  Thinking it through, but I need to talk to Kate Klonick.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken: Ah, that explains it.  I tune out all things Bitcoin and Non-Fungible-Token-related.

    bitcoin seems foolish and risky, non-fungible-tokens go well beyond that, straight to downright ridiculous.

    Just my opinion.

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    By the by, I am not sure it has yet been mentioned that today, Easter, is on 4-3-21.

    Countdown to the Second Coming?

  43. 43.

    Anonymous At Work

    You do butter lambs, my family decapitates [chocolate] bunnies.  You take pride, we eat chocolate.  I think we win.

    ;)

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    Betty, your butter lamb is excellent as always.  So sweet this year.

    The one that I always want to hug is 2018.  That face!  Those ears!  :-)

  45. 45.

    Immanentize

    @WaterGirl: I agree.  Especially about cryptocurrency.  I heard someone describe it as — imagine you put a ten dollar bill in your wallet.  When you next open it, it might be a twenty or a one or a fiver; or it could just disappear.  Of course that last one sounded like living with the Immp when he was in high school.

  46. 46.

    Anyway

    Butter lamb’s adorable, love it! Happy Easter to all who celebrate. I don’t but carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is a spring tradition. It’s what’s for breakfast …

  49. 49.

    Kristine

    In other news, the clinical study center had phoned early last week to let me know that my scheduled temp check would include an unblinding. Not unexpected given that J&J had received the EUA in February. Unfortunately, it came too close to the start of the study to change the protocol, so half the participants received the placebo. I felt pretty sure that I had received the real thing because of how I felt afterwards, but hey, placebo effect.

    Anyway, I learned this past Thursday that I had indeed received the J&J vaccine. Folks who had received the placebo were offered the shot, and several were there for the vax when I arrived. All of them were so happy. Smiling. “We have to wait 15 minutes? Sure.Then we’re done? Great!”  I didn’t realize how wound-up I had been for months until I knew that one way or another, I would be vaccinated. It was like every muscle in my upper back and chest released.

    The evaluation of the two-shot regimen will continue. Next week, I get shot #2. I have Shingrix #2 as my holy Hell what is happening touchstone, and I am hoping that any reaction isn’t that bad. But honestly, at this point all I feel is relief.

  52. 52.

    sab

    I have a lawn GSD shepherd statue/ lawn ornament that has been wearing a mask all year. Took it off when we got vaccinated.

    Driving back from grocery yesterday , I saw a lawn goose with a surgical mask.

  53. 53.

    Kristine

    @WaterGirl:

    So happy for you! I may have said that earlier, but it’s worth saying again!

    I accept duplicates! Shots. Good wishes.

    A friend and her husband are getting their shots today or tomorrow. One friend is still waiting–she and I are both in the General Public category, which a few weeks ago meant no shot likely before midsummer, which was one reason why I enrolled in the study. I hope she doesn’t have to wait too much longer.

    I am assuming that we will need annual boosters for this critter, just like for the flu. But the realization that I can plan a trip later this year or even miss the crack-of-dawn senior hours at a grocery store and shop later in the day if necessary has lightened my mood. It’s still going to be a while before I brave a restaurant, but I’m unwinding.

  54. 54.

    Zelma

    We all have a different signal that spring is here.  For some, it’s daffodils.  For me, it’s the return of the Laughing Gulls.  Well, I saw my first 15 minutes ago!  This is not a happy occurrence as it will make my life more difficult.  In addition to the fact that they are noisy and wake me up earlier, I will have to make other arrangements for feeding the feral cats for whom I am responsible.  My only hope is that the restaurant at the corner continues outdoor service and brings back the hawk to watch over the area.  Amazing how few gulls I saw last summer and the ones who showed up were foolish teenagers.

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @Immanentize: I used the wallet analogy in the BJ comments recently, it was how I tried to explain cryptocurrency to my father. I don’t know that it’s original with me, but I haven’t seen it elsewhere.

  57. 57.

    MagdaInBlack

    @zhena gogolia: There is an ad that appears up top here now and then, that is a candy site that has just the malted centers, which is sorely tempting to me. ?

  60. 60.

    MagdaInBlack

    @MomSense: They both make me smile, thank you. The first one, I can smell the hay ?

    Eta: for me, there has always been a very comforting peacefulness of being in a barn when everyone has been fed and tucked in for the night ❤️

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    Another repurposing of an Easter staple: Reuters:

    (Reuters) -Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs on Sunday while thousands of others were back on the streets, denouncing a Feb. 1 coup and facing off with the security forces who shot and killed at least three men.

    […]

    The people, united, will never be defeated!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    We’re a little verklempt because it’s our first Easter w/o the kid, who insisted on a backyard egg hunt all the way through high school. Now there’s a hole in our day. Not to mention not traveling to one of the in-laws for Easter dinner and a second egg hunt.

    Egg hunt for the dog? Need to ponder the thought.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    I love the butter lamb, Betty.

    My middle son is coming for dinner. The youngest won’t be here because he’s washing dishes in a restaurant now and they have a (horrible- trust me) Easter buffet.

    I don’t know what happened at Wal Mart to make him finally quit. The “picker” job is really hard- he was picking the items for online and phone orders and running them to cars. They pay a lot more than the restaurant but although I was never a dishwasher I recall that it’s a job where people leave you alone, so maybe he’s tired of customers. Customers are a problem :)

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: ​
     
    The pro-democracy Burmese people are very brave, especially considering the military have shown a zeal for using live ammunition against them. I don’t know how this turns out well, but perhaps they have a better chance than the poor folks in Hong Kong, who are now effectively fully PRC subjects.

  66. 66.

    debbie

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I shake my fist at you! ?

    I checked the Russell Stover site, found my favorite (chocolate truffle Easter eggs) were half-price, then found out they will only FedEx. $15 for the chocolate, $25 FedEx (higher if overnight). Not even I could rationalize myself into ordering. ?

  68. 68.

    Kay

    My daughter and her husband got the baby a book in her easter backet. So bare wooden basket, with book. I get that she will eat the fake grass, but this is kind of a stern basket.

    I said “oh that’s…fun. For her”  Next year I’ll send her a giant cellophane wrapped monstrosity. anonymously

  73. 73.

    ziggy

    I’m very happy to see that the lamb has, though a bit of trepidation, an overall happy and positive outlook. Kind of reflecting the national mood I like to think.

  77. 77.

    planetjanet

    @Kristine: I am in the general population in Virginia and they called me in for a vaccination on Friday.  It is happening.

  78. 78.

    HinTN

    @Immanentize:

    Of course that last one sounded like living with the Immp when he was in high school.

    Come on, man. They don’t get off the books until well after college.

    Happy happy, Jackals! Viva la lamb.

  80. 80.

    randy khan

    Every year I forget the butter lamb is coming, and every year I am delighted to see it.  This one is a fine rendition.

  82. 82.

    Kristine

    @planetjanet: Congrats! It is such a good feeling to know it’s in the works.

    In Illinois, general population older than 16 outside Chicago are eligible beginning April 12, but you need an appointment and those can take time. But counties seeing low demand are scheduling now and have been for a few days.

    The various medical groups have been calling patients to schedule shots. That’s how one of my friends and her hubby arranged theirs.

  83. 83.

    Gvg

    @trollhattan: I remember when GB gave Hong Kong back to China after the lease was up. My sister’s private school got several students who were sent there by parents to be out of Hong Kong when things changed. I think they were sent to relatives but my impression was the families thought they might never see their kids again. Instead we had a long lead up to today where for many years it looked like things might be OK. It’s such a shame.

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