Solar Charging

Short Round 

If the sun is shining and there's no wind, all you need to be completely comfy is a good ray of sun.

Solar charging with an extra blanket.  Actually two blankets this morning.  We ended up going down to -1 early this morning and Maisie got pretty cold even with a jacket last night.  I added Cheeto's old super sized blanket this morning and she looks much more comfortable.  

Murphy, if you weren't such a doofus we wouldn't be laughing at your snow "teeth" that make you look like Howdy Doody ;-).

The sleigh ride was a blast!  More to come as I collect pictures and videos.  

Bring Out Your Sleighs!

Depending on who's forecast wins, we could be in for some misery...or some fun.  In the hopes that for once it's going to be fun, and hopefully big fun, we are ready!  

Everyone, especially farmers, have spent the last day or so preparing for a Kentucky Snowmageddon.  We have super low temps predicted, anywhere from 1-3" to 10-13" to 16" of snow, and fingers crossed it doesn't happen, possibly ice.  

Whatever we get, it probably won't be going anywhere until maybe March...or at least up into February.  I'm sure it will get mighty old, mighty quick, but until that happens, if we get a decent amount of snow, we're going to break out the sleigh bells and get to do something that only happens every ten years or so around here.

Short Round.  Such a fun and funny sheep.  Maybe she's already looking towards next year's Christmas card :-).

I hope this sleigh is as excited as we are.  It hasn't been out for a spin in over 20 years.  It's an Albany cutter and was built around 1905 and restored 35 years ago.   These sleighs were the sports cars of sleighs and this one seats two people "If you're married."  Tim says he's not coming out until March, so I guess it will be me and 20 :-).  

This is considered a "city sleigh" so it was not used for deep snow.  If we get deep snow, I'm going to pack down a track in the side field.   Hopefully Auntie Reg can come over and hear her dad's sleigh bells in action.  Big thanks to her for remembering we wanted to do this if it ever snowed again.

Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed...for all the best outcomes.

As You Plan To Carry On

I enjoy the New Year's Day challenge of trying to fit in a tiny bit of EVERYTHING that I hope to carry on throughout the new year.  I never get it all done, but it's good to at least think about what I'm hoping to accomplish in the upcoming trip around the sun.

I haven't done any spinning or knitting yet today, but it's only 8:30.  I might even at least dust my loom!  I did process a tiny amount of wool using a fun electric drum carder I have on loan from a friend.  You'll never guess who this is...so I'll tell you.

As I was looking for something else the other day I found this in a tub of odds and ends.  It's a couple of ounces of one of Renny's last fleeces.  Look!  A chicken!  (Instant distraction :-)

I took some pictures with my big camera with the plan to do a blog post (see how I'm fitting everything in?) and also made a couple of videos so you can see how the carder works.  It hums along with just a hint of sound as the wool brushes through.  A little wool processing ASMR.

 

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Time to get spinning :-).  Happy New Year!

A Bunny Dreams And The Blog Saves The Day

Our worst Christmas present this year was a water leak on the farm so bad that the water company actually called us.  As Tim said, "When their number shows up on the caller ID, you know nothing good is coming."  

We spent an entire day looking for the leak.  We've had lots of practice in the last 20 years and are pretty good at it...unfortunately.  Where 35,000 gallons of water has disappeared to we do not know.  We even had professional help come in and they were stumped as well.  

Fortunately it's between the house and barn and we have a cut off at the house that we can turn off and on to keep the waterers filled.  It's a hassle, but it could be so much worse.  And at this point, with no clue where to dig to fix the break...we're finally running all new water lines.

The power and water companies have been out to mark the lines that they are aware of.  The other myriad of lines running throughout the front half of the farm over the last 50+ years are a bit sketchy.  As our water guy started digging in the front field yesterday, the mystery deepened.  

Where we thought the line he wanted to tie on to was, was not.  He found an old septic line...in a random spot.  The water company came back out.  Dig some more places.  Everyone still stumped.  Tim remembered fixing a leak a long time ago down in the creek bank.  If we could just remember where that was, that would probably be the clue we need.

You know...I wonder if I put that on the blog...

I did!  In 2008.  And with a picture that we could use to line up with a tree and the neighbor's house and Bingo!  Blog for the win :-D.

So what's Pinot up to?  Pinot now wants to run around the yard and barn and refuses to stay in his outdoor pen.  He can dig under his wooden fence in less than 5 minutes, but I bet he's thinking if he could just use that digger...

Here's a short video of Pinot out exploring in the yard on Christmas Day.

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Also Rans

Here are a few more pictures I liked from the Solstice shots.  It was really nice "having" to take my camera out to the barn.   Thanks for playing along :-).

Ellie

Murphy

Maisie

Mini Moose and Big Moose.  Big Moose is not so big compared to Mini Moose.

Kaala

Levi, Big Moose and Ellie in the back.

Muffin

Biscuit

Tavia

Krista