Sunday Stills - Nature's Frames

This next week's challenge is to get something framed by nature. Trees making a frame over a stream, a branch making a fork around the moon…nature does a lot of this if we’ll just open our eyes and look.

I apparently read blah blah blah frames...and totally missed the nature's part of the challenge. So, here are a couple pictures I took of sheep framed in a wooden (ex-tree?) doorway with a sunbeam.



That's Popcorn PeePee Pants facing us.



And Boudreaux. Poor Boudreaux. Poor Big Boudreaux. The butt of too many posts lately. I'm sorry Boudreaux. Here, have a cookie ;-).

I took these pictures with my iPhone. While definitely not the same as the Nikon, I've had a ton of fun snapping decent pictures of this and that, especially out feeding in the evenings or early morning.

With just a touch of a "button" I can post them to my Twitter account and that's become almost a second blog. A micro blog. Wait, a lamb sized blog! If you are interested, feel free to follow along and scroll back for a nice Keebler picture, a bunch of Hank shots, Renny and Ewenice headed down the driveway and even the stupid Adventure Chickens make it on there occasionally.

So, for some Sunday Stills folks who did read the directions this week...

Cat Sniffing

Apparently it's 'a sheep thing'.



"Um, what are you doing?"



"Hey, watch it, Petunia!"



"Yeesh."



It's not an uncommon occurrence - happened again 10 minutes later.



Comby didn't like it any better.

Our sheep wouldn't know what to do with a cat like Nistock Farms Cleo.

Sheep Peeking

I'm still knitting on my mittens. Good thing I allowed myself a month to complete them. If we were counting on my knitting to keep us warm this winter, we'd be dead by now. Except we really haven't had much winter. They way things are going, I'll be able to pose my completed End of May flower mittens on some actual flowers at the End of January. Sigh.



Anyway, as I was scanning through pictures I've taken in progress, I kept noticing little sheep peeking out from everywhere. Sheep pjs.



Sheep knitting bag (maybe Sheepmom can remind me who makes these neat bags).



I especially like this sheep.



And this darling sheep pocket purse where I stash my stitch markers, darning needle, tiny scissors...



I took this picture to show Stella what Magic Loop looks like. Included here only to see if anyone notices what's different or missing from the above pictures.
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I've lost my neat cat magnet ruler pattern marker thingie - note yellow sticky notes.

I think a sheep ate it.

Seriously.

Kinda funny story...

My Favorite Sheep

Just for fun I decided to make one of those popular black and white car stickers.

MFS is our shorthand for anything involving the website and besides, I figured MFS worked better than PP ;-).

Saint Tim is obviously my local print shop, but he doesn't do bumper stickers. I found makestickers.com on an online search and I have to say, other than Zappo's, they are the most impressive internet business I've dealt with (not getting paid to say this).

Their website was super easy to use, they uploaded my design, had it printed and in the mail (with free shipping) in just a couple hours. On a Friday afternoon. The stickers arrived yesterday and I love them.



I stuck one on one of my (shhhh) favorite sheep. Can you guess who this is? A hint, that is Woolliam standing on tippy toes, peeking over his back.

"Huh? I thought I was your favorite sheep???"

You are, Woolliam, but don't tell anyone I said that okay? It's our little secret.



Of course here are a few of my other favorite sheep ;-). Mia, Renny and Henrietta in the background.



Ewen McTeagle and Graham Lamb - face off.

GL: "I thought I was her favorite sheep!"

EMcT: "Yeah? Well who's wearing the sticker?"



"I can't believe this. I thought I was your favorite sheep."

You are, Keebs, but don't tell anyone I said that okay? It's our little secret.



MSS - My Silliest Sheep (actually she's not, she just looks that way with her teeth sticking out ;-). Also my bossiest sheep. Also, probably my oldest sheep. We don't know how old Elizabeth is, but she's got a lot of gray, losing some teeth and fighting Arthur Itis this winter.



MFJS - My Favorite Jacob Sheep, Jester, who's also getting up there in years and not feeling super great and is My Worrying-est Sheep this week. B. Willard, other than battling a nasty graham cracker addiction, is feeling Much Better now, thank you very much.



With that sticker on his hip, Ewen looks like a fancy thoroughbred who's recently gone through the horse sales. A really tall thoroughbred.



My big baby...and one of my all time favorite sheep :-).

The nice warm afternoon made for fun sheep photos. I just hope B. Willard, Sherman, Lila, Marcel, Miss Ewenice, Petunia, Popcorn PeePee Pants, Rebecca Boone, Buddy, Boudreaux, Caspar Belly, Emily...don't find out they missed the post today.

But they all know they are my favorite sheep ;-).

Poor Boudreaux

Eating hay scraps off himself.



"Hey look - a donut!"



"Five second rule. Totally!"



"Oh, and there's one waaay back there."



"Mmm, yummy."



"What?"

Sunday Stills - Birds

This is actually a shot from last month - a heron parked in the pond behind Tim's print shop. City herons are much "tamer" than country herons. I was surprised how close he let me get.

For more Sunday Stills...

A Dog And His Boy

Hank and I were horsing around last night after I got done feeding and I remembered that I'd forgotten about some fun shots I'd taken back in the late fall.

Hank was pretty feral when we got him. For the first few days he was here, he was tied up in the sheep shed, and for a couple weeks after that he drug around a long rope so that we could catch him. We didn't care if he became our best buddy, but wanted to make sure we could at least get ahold of him for routine or emergency veterinary care.

I don't remember now how long it took for him to adopt us into his flock. It doesn't seem like it was too long, but it also almost seems like he's been here forever. I do remember his first really cold, nasty evening. I went out to the barn to feed, expecting to find Hank shivering and miserable, huddled in the corner of a stall. I couldn't find him anywhere.

At the time he still had few sheep friends and as I searched all over I feared that between that and the weather, he'd given up and headed out looking for a better life. I finally caught a glimpse of him, racing around in big circles out in the field next to the barn with a huge smile on his face. Hank loves cold weather. I was so relieved to find him and find him not miserable that I went out and joined his fun. We've been playing ever since.



His favorite game is attack tag. He races in.



Jumps away just as you get close to tagging him.



Makes a big, fast circle.



Buzzes by again.



Darts away.



Races back.



And away.



Until he's had enough. Or maybe until he senses we've had enough. Then he trots over,



collapses in a fit of tickle giggles,



and gets up happy.

He especially loves to race around at dusk. I'm not sure if it's because he's rested up and just feeling good or excited to start the night's work or if he's just getting warmed up, sort of like stretching exercises. We love being part of his nightly (and daily) ritual.

Uh Oh

Source: etsy.com via thecrazysheeplady on Pinterest

Have you gotten hooked on Pinterest yet?

Mopple The Whale

Dis Boudreaux, not Renny. Boudreaux is, um, taller. And Lila can stuff her chipmunk cheeks all she wants, but I don't think she'll ever get this big. She doesn't have the...um..."bone structure".

"I do! I've got big bones!"

You've also, once again, Boudreaux, got a big mess on/in/throughout your big fleece.



This looks bad, but pictures can lie. It's actually way, way worse in real life. Hay chaff, chicken feathers, pizza box, a big mac wrapper, heck, I'm not sure he doesn't have a cat or two tucked away in that mess.



And like most elite athletes, Boudreaux apparently trains all day and all night. I snapped this with my phone this morning as he waddled out of the barn...to eat breakfast.

"What???"

Yeesh, Boudreaux.



Now before you start accusing me of not feeding hay properly or lecture me on the benefits of sheep coats*, let's just peruse the rest of the flock. Only a scrap or two of hay here.



Graham, scratching his ear on the new door, spotless. Lila yesterday? Pretty darn clean. Oh, and that's Rebecca Boone's clean back in the close up above. Everyone's clean but Boudreaux.

My theory? I've seen Boudreaux eating hay scraps off other sheep. I think he picks them all clean. Why no one returns the favor, I don't know. Or maybe they do and just can't keep up with his mess. Sort of like my house. Or at least that's my story...

Speaking of stories, if you do not know who Mopple the Whale is in "real life", you must pick up a copy of Three Bags Full. This is not a library book. This is keeper. One you'll read more than once.

Luckily, unlike the real Mopple, I don't think Boudreaux remembers much of anything so he won't hold this post against me. Not like Renny, who will Never Forget her friends Louann and Natalie bringing low fat cookies to her birthday party. Lila, believe it or not, doesn't even like cookies.

It's my own strange cast of characters around here ;-).

* And yes, Boudreaux would definitely be a great candidate for a coat, but for some reason I just don't really like them. And yes, I did put a sweater on 20, so it is somewhat irrational - shut up! ;-) And yes, while I'd much rather look at a clean backed Boudreaux, seeing his nappy, hay filled fleece makes me laugh. And shake my head with disbelief. That's just Boudreaux.

I'd miss burying my hands down into his wool and scratching his itchy back - which yes, would probably be less itchy without all that hay, but even my "clean" sheep love to have their backs scratched. And yes, his fleece would be worth more money if it were coated, but as I'm not going to get rich selling wool, I'm just going to do what makes me happy. Just like Boudreaux :-).

Chipmunk Cheeks

Renny got mis-identified in the comments a few days ago. Dat super sized sheep was Boudreaux. Poor Renny... ;-)

I thought it would be funny (or scary) to post a better picture taken of the big boy that day, so pulled that folder up this morning, scrolled through pictures I'd taken that day and not only noticed his enormous size, but also how he's not only the biggest sheep, but also the dirtiest sheep. Okay, so maybe the blog will be about how/why Boudreaux is a walking round bale of hay.

Then I saw this...and haven't stopped laughing.



Oh, Lala. Could you have any more food stuffed in your mouth??? You've got chipmunk cheeks!



"You say that like that's a bad thing."

Sunday Stills - Corners

This week's challenge it to photograph corners…..corners on buildings, boards, streets…..just find yourself a corner and play with light and shadows.

One of the examples in the neat photo tips video involved combining multiple exposures to create a desired image. As I was walking around trying to find an interesting corner shot, I saw an opportunity to experiment with that.

Disclaimer: this is all just to my best understanding and I may be way off base.



This is a bird nest in a corner of the Wool House porch. When I tried to take a picture of all the chicken feathers, baling string, hay and wool used in the construction, the bright "sunlight" back lighting everything blew out the lower half of the image - way overexposed.



It would be easier to see if the sky wasn't gray white, but if you watch the loose material hanging down from the nest, you might be able to see what I was trying to fix.



Here I shortened my exposure time and corrected the exposure for the loose material, but now the top is all way underexposed.

I set up my camera on a tripod, fixed my focal point and took several different images, varying my exposure time from way too short to way too long. Then I came in, googled how to merge the two images above, spent about an hour of time (that I should have been using to knit my mittens) trying to figure it out and here is the final result.



The nest up inside the dark corner is exposed nicely and so is the loose material hanging in the bright light. Interesting!

For more Sunday Stills...

Reason #634 Why Hank Hates Hickory

Although most of the earlier reasons involve Sheep Bowling or just General Principle, reason #634 Don't Sleep On My Bed!!! may rotate higher in the list.

It's been down in the teens for the last few nights. While Hank has never acted cold (as opposed to Hickory who seems a bit perturbed by the whole "misrepresentation of moving south"), I have noticed that he does prefer to sit on some hay on really cold nights.

I set several piles of eating hay out along the top of the hill in front of the run in stalls for Handy and Hickory. The other night I took a half a bale of some old bedding hay and shook it out into a fluffy pile for Hank.

"Here Hank. This is for you."

That's all I did. All I said. He 'got it' that that particular pile was his. Handy moseyed over to check it out and Hank growled at him.

"Get away from my hay!"

"Okay."

This is why that while Hank doesn't like Handy, he doesn't hate Handy. And what does enemy #2 (coyotes come first...usually) do?



He lays down in Hank's bed.



Oh Hickory...



You are pretty cute. Not that Hank cares.



Beautiful, but frosty morning. Handy has to eat behind bars so Hickory doesn't steal his food. Seems to be a pattern here ;-).