Oh You Know It

I have finally divided up the Punkin throw yarn into two groups of pretty closely matched yarns. The warp (vertical yarn) is on the ladder and the weft (horizontal yarn) is on the coffee table. The extra yarn is what is still in the skeins.

It took awhile to get this divided out so it is important they don't get mixed back together. You know what would be really handy for keeping everything safe and separated?

A couple boxes.

Sigh.

The Good, The Bad, The Clueless...And The Punks

Coming back through the arena gate the other day after setting up the round pen. Not quite fast enough.



Ewenice! Can't you do something about these boys?



Forget the trailer, I want to drive the truck.

No.

Graham doesn't take no for an answer very well, so I quickly shuffled him away. You think Saint Tim gets mad when a dog jumps on (or a deer runs into) his truck...



Ewenice keeps an eye on Sherman, but everyone else gets bored and walks away.



Until the trailer starts moving.



Mia decides she'd like to get in on that action.



So B. Willard decided he might give it a try too.



Well, if everyone else is going to jump on, I'm outta here.



But he can't stay away for long.

This went on for awhile. I thought I was taking a video of Sherman riding along, but with my gloves on I missed the record button.

Sunday Stills - Canine Companions Part Two

A few more of the Hopewell dogs.





Sunshine



Iris sleeps at my feet, under the piano.



Maggie



Weaslie. Obviously not paying attention.



And their favorite time of day. Same blue coat (with a pocket full of treats ;-) from last week.

Hopewell has been featured for Sunday Stills a couple times. If you'd like to see some other pictures of this nice old church...

If you'd like to see what everyone did for Sunday Stills this week...

The Good, The Bad And The Clueless

You don't get much past a Saddlebred. Not much food gets past a Paint horse ;-).



Handy (the good) and T-Bone (the bad) immediately know something's up.

"Oh, this can't be good..."



Yep, while Handy has more than earned his pension, T-Bone and Gato have yet to clock in more than a couple bucks. Which didn't even cover the first two bales of the over 100 bales of hay we fed them this winter.

Since I'm mostly riding by myself, I'm quite a bit older, way less in shape and don't bounce near as well as I used to, I've been hesitant to throw a leg over these two young, green horses. I think having a smaller (60'), enclosed area to work - on the ground and under saddle - will help.



I still have plenty of room to ride and drive around the outside of the round pen...when I'm ready to take off the training wheels.

Cowgirl Up!

And stay up ;-)

Farm Friends Friday - Fiber Finds

Several years ago I dropped off a bunch of wool to be processed at Ohio Valley Natural Fibers. At the time it seemed like a lot of wool. Little did I know that in just a few years, six or eight fleeces would be nothing.

Everything came back in great order. As always. Well, except one box. Miss Ewenice. I opened it up and found a light gray fleece; definitely not her creamy white. The texture seemed reasonable, but the color was off. Way off.



I've heard stories about mills losing fleeces and sending out "replacements" in hopes no one would notice. I finally decided that must have been what happened here. It wasn't a bad box of roving, but as I didn't know who it really was, I couldn't get very excited about it.

I labeled it rug roving and set it aside. Might as well get some use from it. I moved it into the wool house and pushed it to the back corner.

During the mass loft clean out (watch a couple of those hoarding shows and they will scare you straight!) I again came across this sad box of fiber. I opened it. Still gray. It nagged at me though because I've never had any reason to question any other fleece I've ever sent up there.

I wondered if maybe I hadn't gotten it clean enough. Maybe the anti-static spray they used darkened it? I decided to spin a little, wash it and see what happened.



Guess what! It IS Miss Ewenice :-D. And it's lovely.



Of course it is. You are definitely crazy, lady.



One other "find". A stray strand of really poorly spun yet vaguely familiar white yarn. Do you know what this is? My very first spinning.

My friend Julie helped me spin this using her wheel one afternoon. The roving? Punkin. While I knew I didn't want to waste much of that, I also felt that Punkin would want to be the one to teach me to spin my first yarn. At the time I remember feeling really sad watching him literally slip through my fingers.

Sometimes that feels like a long time ago. Sometimes it feels like yesterday.

For more Farm Friends Friday...

Order Has Returned To The Universe

And yes, I realize just typing those words is daring the universe to "bring it"...again.



1. It's back to cold, damp and dreary. Whew! It's bad to be hit with SAD (Summer Affected Disorder ;-) so early in the year.



2. My parents were here for a couple days and did all sorts of helpful things including pruning all the fruits trees - especially The Hardest Working Little Peach Tree.



3. We got a couple strawberry beds planted.



4. Saint Tim and my dad got the garden cleaned up and tilled. There is cabbage, broccoli, spinach and sweet onions planted now.



5. Flowerweaver helped me and Stella get our seeds started and under grow lights. The (backwards facing) tags made from a cut up cottage cheese container are working well. Great tip!



6. All the fleeces are sorted (I said sorted, not skirted) and up off the ground. Only one is washed so far. I am in big trouble getting ready for the spring festival :-o.



7. The new floor in the wash room kicks butt.



8. And you can see the floor in the wool house once again.

I found a couple treasures while organizing the loft a couple weeks ago. That box holds one and the yarn on the table is another.

Tomorrow...

Another Dinosaur Spotting

While we are mostly known for our pterodactyls, it looks like we have another resident dinosaur.



"Ack! Turn off the lights! Yeesh, I hate Mondays."



Actually, he (or she) was happy to feel some warm sun. Saint Tim found it under a tarp and it was cool enough under there that I was able to walk out with the camera and watch it wake up.







"Ai! King Kong! Put me down!"



I'm pretty sure this is a salamander, but not sure what kind and I don't have time to look it up right now. Jump in if you know!

Sunday Stills - Canine Campanions

We were missing a few dogs this morning, including my own (?!?), but here are a few of the dogs of Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Paris, Kentucky. I'll bring my camera next Sunday to get the rest. I think it will make a neat Snapfish book.



Poppy.



Woody.



Hank.



Looking for treats.



We are all rescues.

For more Sunday Stills...

Out Our Bathroom Window

A coincidence, not a trend... ;-)





While it's nice to watch bees through a window, it's much more fun to stand out in the thick of things and hear all the happy buzzing.

We'll Show You A Crappy Time

Flowerweaver and Farmer Rick came to visit for a few days. I'm not sure what it says about you or your company when the most enjoyable activity you can come up with is taking them out to see a big pile of, well, crap.



This is Claiborne Farm's composting facility. Yes, the Claiborne Farm of Secretariat (among many others) fame.



I'm not sure how many horses are stabled a Claiborne, but it's a considerable number. Which makes for considerable waste. While not something many of us think about, all that has to go somewhere. The best place is obviously back to the soil.



Farmer Rick is really into his composting out in Texas. Here Tom Leith, coordinator for the Licking River Valley Resource Conservation and Development Progam, is explaining this large scale operation in Bourbon County, Kentucky.



This is the machine used to turn the windrows inside out periodically. I should have been paying better attention to the whens and hows instead of trying to take artistic shots of, well, crap, but here's a link to a manure composting site that looks pretty good.



What starts as big, tall rows of dirty stall bedding eventually breaks down into a small percentage of its initial size and becomes prime fertilizer. Here's a batch getting close to being ready to spread back onto the fields.



As far as the eye can see.

We enjoyed visiting with two of our favorite farm friends. To meet some more Farm Friends on a Friday...