A Sheep With A Lot To Say

We have some sheep who never say a word and some sheep who never seem to shut up :-).  Buddy is a big talker as is Ewen McTeagle.  Elizabeth is well known for her loud commentaries and most of the Bellys aren't afraid to speak their minds either.  I'm not sure I've ever heard Petunia say anything, but Woolliam and Boudreaux are pretty chatty.  

Baaxter has been a loud mouth since the minute I picked him up.  He has more to say and is more creative about saying it than any sheep I've ever been around.  He talks in full sentences with long and short sounds, high and low pitches, soft and loud.  He has several different baas, but also frequently says mom mom mom. I swear!  

Woody has a lot to say too...but he only has one word.  One word that sounds like a big honking horn :-).

"Baaaahmn"

"Baaaahmn"

"Baaaahmn"

This looks like an idyllic scene, but it deteriorated quickly.  The cool evenings have the boys mixing it up a little.  Those pictures tomorrow :-).

2014 Tour De Fleece Wrap Up

The challenge I set for myself, besides spin every day of the Tour de France/Fleece was to spin up all sorts of loose bits of roving I had squirreled away here, there and everywhere.  In the end I was successful with my daily spinning goal and ended up with 32 oz and 1800 yards of yarn.  And it sure was fun to hang out with a variety of some of my favorite sheep.

These two browns - the red brown and pale brown in the center are both from Petunia.  The dark was her lamb fleece and the light from last year.

I especially enjoyed spinning this skein of Peabody, spun long draw.  

Here are three different white sheep.  Peabody in the middle, a Perendale/Cheviot cross on the right and I can't remember who that is on the left.  Three different whites.  Isn't that interesting?

Jester, always a fun spin, and Beanie Baby, also very nice.

And some tiny samples of some lace weight from Miss Ewenice.  The large skein was my first attempt - too thick.  The second and third skeins are in the ball park.  Sampling is important ;-).

Some other sheep I spun were Henrietta, Popcorn PeePee Pants, Elizabeth, Joshua, some mixed Jacob, a Tunis sample, Shetland sample, California Red cross, hmmm who else...  Goal for next year - better record keeping!  Or maybe I shouldn't wait that long ;-).

If you participated with the Tour de Fleece and completed your challenge but weren't signed in on Ravelry, drop me an email and let me know you would like to be included in the prize drawings :-).

Now to figure out what I want to make with all that yarn!

Some Sunday Sheep Shots

Mia Mia - Queen of the Tour de Fleece, which finished in fine fashion yesterday.  Pictures tomorrow.

Boudreaux

 Burrnie, Maisie, Casper Belly and Emily

Chocula

Keebs in the foreground and Daniel and B. Willard behind.

The boys.  Look at that thunderhead!  I love to watch them boil up.

Oops, no sheeps ;-).

Count Chocula again.  I love how this turned out with the aperture wide open.

Petunia and Ewen McTeagle - two of my all-time favorite sheeps :-).

Show's over!  Miss Maisie's propeller flying away :-).

Sunday Stills - Looking Through Windows

I've missed so many great Sunday Stills challenges this summer.  This one was extra fun - anything you see looking through a window.  I picked the Wool House because I have lots of great views from there!

The boys.  Baaxter is doing great.  He loves his "brothers" :-).

This purple flower in the Dye Garden blooms and bloom and blooms.

Horses and sheep on the outside, spinning wheel on the inside.

Baaxter and an odd view/angle of the lavender.  Everything looks small and crunched together and it's really not.  I did have to replace quite a few plants after the hard winter, but it really looks pretty nice in real life.

Another view of a couple of the boys.  I think Baaxter is behind the "bars" on the right.

For more Sunday Stills...

A Blast From The Past

I've been cleaning up my computer files this morning and came across this video.  It's on my "desktop", but not in a "folder" so I think maybe I stashed it there and forgot to upload it?  If so, here it is.  If not and I've already posted it, it's still fun to watch again.  Nothing earth shattering, but cute - the kids goofing around last fall.

A Spider With A Lot To Say

Our writing spiders are back!  One of only a few good things about summer ;-).

Look at this interesting web.

 I've never seen anything but the single straight lines before.

I've been watching the egg sacks hanging on the garage, hoping to see all the babies floating down like Charlotte's Web.

I missed this hatch out.

Definitely a lot to say.  A novel perhaps?

A young writer, with a web the size of a quarter :-).

"Instructions for living a life.  Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it."  ~ Mary Oliver

Keeping With A Theme

Another misty morning.  

From the back porch.

I wish I'd noticed the rams in the background. I'd have probably moved off the porch for a different angle.  It was early... ;-).

We are back in the 90s today, but then it's going back down to the upper 70s and lower 80s for a couple of days later in the week.  Weird.

Misty Monday Morning

We've had a fabulous stretch of unseasonably cool and rainy weather this past week. I enjoyed every minute of it! The sun is shining bright (and getting hot :-/) now, but this morning it was still cool, foggy and beautiful.

 

Early Morning

We have a group of early risers that hit the green at daybreak. I saw them out by the pond and grabbed the camera.

Miss Renny

Coming in from way back - Daniel, Burrnie, Lila and Graham

Graham might be re-thinking the early breakfast.

"I was just resting my eyes!"

See all the lines in the dewy grass?  Those are the sheep paths.  Mia is always the farthest out.

And here's what she thinks about having her picture taken ;-).

Crazy Miss Maisie

Kindness To Animals

Today's poem from The Writer's Almanac is one of my favorites.  It hit extra hard this morning though as we just got done 'tutering the boys this week.  There's no nice way to do it.  Period.  It hurts.  They're sad, I'm sad.  They do get better in a couple days and all seems to be forgiven, but still, it's a rough couple of days.

I try to take mostly boy lambs because they are the ones typically needing a home.  You can easily place ewe lambs in starter flocks, as replacement ewes...  Boys...there is only so much demand for breeding rams and only super trained professionals (like this guy :-) should ever keep a pet ram.

I tell the boys that getting 'tutered means they are extra special and that they'll get to stay here forever, and while for the next couple of days that's not going to seem like such a good trade, in the end they'll be happy. We make sure the weather is as comfortable as possible.  We give them pain medicine.  I sit out under the pine trees with them and Betsy's there, too.

Kindness to Animals

by Anonymous

Little children, never give
Pain to things that feel and live:
Let the gentle robin come
For the crumbs you save at home,—
As his meat you throw along
He'll repay you with a song;
Never hurt the timid hare
Peeping from her green grass lair,
Let her come and sport and play
On the lawn at close of day;
The little lark goes soaring high.
To the bright windows of the sky,
Singing as if 'twere always spring,
And fluttering on an untired wing,—
Oh! let him sing his happy song,
Nor do these gentle creatures wrong.

"Kindness to Animals" by Anonymous.

The Writer's Almanac July 18, 2014

Some shots from yesterday evening.

I am not completely set on Spud as this boy's name. I still have to "think" to come up with it when I'm calling him. That doesn't seem right.  Auntie Reg has suggested Teddy and that seems to work, but one of our neighbors is named Teddy, so that's a little awkward as they like to bring their grand daughters down.  I think a two syllable name might be easier for my brain.  Any thoughts?

This portable gate is blocking Hank's cut through between the paddocks.  For some reason Baaxter never figured out sneaking through the "portal", but the other three loved to bust into Del Boca Vista. Our retirees (Jester and Queen Elizabeth) had ZERO interest in being visited by grand kids! ;-)