Once Upon A Time...

...a sheep walked into a bar.  Ewen McTeagle would have followed me anywhere.  It was truly an honor.

Ewen McTeagle

April 2007 - December 28, 2019

Sleeping Off The Cookie Hangover

Silly old Blossom.  She's the most non-active sheep on the farm...until the cookies come out.  Boy, she was wound up last night!  That's Woody in the foreground, still hoping there might be yet another cookie party ;-).  I bet this would make a fun puzzle!  

Merry Christmas!

A Live Christmas Eve Cookie Party

"Do we get to have two parties like we did last year?"

The sheep would like to do the Live Christmas Eve Barn Parties again this year :-).  I don't remember any problems from last year, so if anyone does, please remind me!

If there are no changes, we'll do it like last year and at 9:30 p.m. I'll go live on Facebook and then go live on Instagram at 10:00.  I think the FB video is automatically saved and the IG video will save for 24 hours so you can watch it later.

Here is a link to the Punkin's Patch Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MyFavoriteSheep/  I think you just need to go to the page to start watching.  You shouldn't have to join anything.  If it's more complicated than that, somebody please chime in!

Here is the link to the Punkin's Patch Instagram account. https://www.instagram.com/thecrazysheeplady/  I'm not sure if you'll have to have an IG account to watch a live video there or not.  Again, someone chime in with further instructions for those of us over 12 who are super techy.  

If we don't "see" you this evening, we all wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Without Further Ado...Finally

At this point I just have a few takeaways...

I guess I should have known that a Christmas card featuring two retired racehorses would end up as a photo finish.

I finally found the painting...already in the scanner.  The almost two hours I spent looking for it...I'm never getting back.

It should be noted that even if the house had been clean and tidy...it wouldn't have helped.  So there.

Th-th-th-that's all folks ;-D.

Merry Christmas!

And This Is The Part Of The Story Where...

...I say "The card is finished and in the mail and ta-daaa, here it is!" and...  

.

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(crickets)

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.

You really can't make this stuff up.  I've lost the painting.  In the house (that's the not surprising part.).  Worst case scenario I can post the scan from Timprint, but I'd rather have a direct scan from here that is the actual painting, not the one we color adjusted to try to get it "print-worthy".

Headed to the barn to get the skid steer...

Top Nine 2019

It's the time of year to join the "Top Nine"...whatever you call it...thingy...where you "click the button" (my brain is mush) and it searches through your year of Instagram photos and assembles a collage of your nine most popular pictures.  Mine is pretty cute this year :-).  

Two from Wovember, one of silly Mini Moose and the rest from Lamb Camp at Final Frontier and Tring Farms.  I kind of thought Frankie would show up somewhere, but as we all know, it's hard to compete with babies ;-D.

The card is painted and printed and hopefully going in the mail this afternoon.  Whew!  It was a real struggle this year and I'm not really sure why.  Now that's it's done and I'm almost 48 hours away from it, I'm pretty happy with it.  It's cute and sweet and I think everyone will enjoy it.

Here's a funny story...Saint Tim's superpower is making me laugh when there seems to be nothing to laugh at.  After several super late nights struggling (unsuccessfully) to paint the card, I got up (still too tired) the other morning to find Eli's tree ("the stairway to heaven") had fallen down after the latest 3" deluge of rain.

The tree was very old.  There were only a couple branches left on it and they were barely, but bravely hanging on.  Eli used it to climb up to the porch roof (his "office").  I framed pictures of the back of the farm through it's lacy leaves.  Momma birds raised babies in the hollow trunk.  It was a good old friend.  

I stood there staring at it...turned and walked back inside...stopped in the kitchen...didn't pour myself a cup of coffee...finally went to tell Tim...and then the tears spilled.  Tim's not as sentimentally attached to trees as I am, but it was Eli's tree and it was special because of that.  

He listened to the tree story, the unhappiness with the card painting, the "I wish I'd stopped after last year like I'd said I was going to"...and "clicked the button" in his brain and said, "You should just download the Loony Tunes font and plaster "That's All Folks!" across the front...and all I could see was Maisie pasted in where Porky Pig usually is, saying "Th-th-th-that's all folks!" :-D

That's (probably) not all folks, but it was just what I needed.  

Keep laughing!

The Queen Of Silly Names

PPPP

January 2005 - December 12, 2019

PPPP should have had a better name.  Well, it was started out as Pearl (very pretty) and then it was Popcorn (very cute), but for some reason (probably because she lived in our kitchen much of the winter) neither name stuck and and she got called Pee Pee (which I now regret).  In the end she stayed with Popcorn PP Pants or PPPP.

Most of our sheep know their names.  I can call out someone specific and they respond either by talking back or looking up or coming over.  PPPP either didn't mind her silly name or maybe PPPP sounded good in her ears.  I'd say "PPPP" in a sing song voice and she'd always reply "Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a". 

I wish I'd recorded her like I did Buddy.  "Ma-a-a-a-a-a" always sounded good in my ears.

Frankie Got A Pony For Christmas

Santa has been keeping an eye on Frankie all year and since he's been such a good boy, he gave him exactly what he's been wishing for, a friend.  Meet Lancelot :-).

Lancelot is a 19 year old Standardbred gelding we've adopted from New Vocation Racehorse Adoption Program, the same organization Frankie came from.  Lancelot raced until 2005 and then transitioned into a show horse for several years and is now semi-retired.  Frankie is completely smitten.  

We got him home late yesterday afternoon and he stayed in the arena last night. I put Frankie in there with him after breakfast and then at noon I moved them both to the front field.  After being completely quiet in the arena, I wasn't expecting the show they put on when they hit the big field.

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After nothing but walking and grazing together in the arena I wasn’t expecting the show they put on when I turned them into the front field after lunch. Frankie loves his Christmas present! He’s happy Santa was watching him be a good boy this year 😀. #frankiesrockstar #nvlancelot

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Dec 13, 2019 at 10:23am PST

I'd say Lancelot is pretty happy, too :-).

"Are you really real?"

I'm pretty smitten as well :-).

If you'd like to spend a little more time with the two boys, there are two new puzzles :-).

A Warm Winter's Nap

Sweet old Salt.  

The Salt thermometer says it's hovering around freezing.  It has to get at least that cold before she goes in search of a warm nap spot.  Her demeanor around the sheep is so quiet that even the most suspicious sheep (like PPPP) don't mind her company.  

*     *     *     *     *

Everything is fine here.  I've just been so stinking busy trying to keep all the plates spinning that the blog (and even IG) has sadly been neglected.  I think it's sweet that when it gets too quiet you all start worrying.  I'm sorry I let that happen though.  Sigh...

Anyone else starting to get a little sore about losing that extra week with Thanksgiving being so late this year :-o.

On a good note, I came up with a brilliant title for the Christmas card this year.  Sometimes it takes a couple of several days and it usually the most stressful part of the design process.  This year I nailed it straight off...and now have the song stuck in my head as I struggle to paint.  Over and over and over and over and over...

"Serenity now!!!"  ;-D

King Of The Dirt Pile

"What are you doing, Biscuit?"

"Nothin'."

"Right.  Okay then.  Carry on."

That would probably make a fun new puzzle. 

Enjoy :-)

Birthday Memories

It was getting late and the sun was going down and I thought about postponing Maisie's birthday party.  When I walked out back and saw that all the sheep were grazing out in the back fields, it was the icing on the cake...until I saw Maisie standing just down the hill staring up at me...like she was waiting.

I grabbed a bale of straw and carried it through the barn lot.  I tossed it over the short fence, turned around and found Maisie now standing right beside me.  "I know what today is!"  I opened the gate and she walked herself through without any fuss.  I think she really DID know it was her birthday.  

I went back and gathered up the "cake", her candle, one of Auntie Reg's birthday balloons and my camera.  Maisie was grazing at the far corner of the...whatever you'd call that little area with the mounting block.  She watched me assemble her cake and then quietly walked over and dug right in.

She totally knew it was her birthday.

"I've never seen a balloon before."

The only sheep near the barn were Cheeto, who's knee is bothering her, Clover Belly, who was hoping for early dinner and Biscuit...who probably also knew what that bale of straw meant ;-). After Maisie had eaten as many Cheerios as I thought she needed, I let them come in and join the party.

"I've never been to a birthday party before.  This is fun!  I LOVE birthday cake!"

"I love this balloon!"

And then we all heard it.  Sheep bells.  Coming in fast.  Someone out in the field finally noticed the party in progress at the barn and everyone  raced in.

And that was the end of the Maisie's seventh birthday party.  It was one of her very best.  Another great Wovember Memory :-).

Wovember Memory

The prompt for today's Wovember Instagram post is "Memory".  I thought, oh, this will be easy and started scrolling back through the blog...and scrolling...and scrolling...and couldn't pick a specific favorite memory and finally, after I'd long drained my coffee cup, just. picked. one.  

I chose Liddy playing on and falling off the wool bag when Miss B and I were skirting fleeces for the first batch of Lamb Camp yarn.  It's a great memory.  It's got everything - cute lamb, lots of wool, funny story, friends, good photos...  Done.  Checked the Day 25 box.  Headed out to do morning chores.

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.

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And then I remembered that I almost anti-memoried that today is Maisie's birthday!  She's SEVEN years old.  Seven seems wrong.  Like surely she's been here for longer than seven years.  She's been here forever, hasn't she?  And yet, seven...was it really seven years ago that she rode home on my lap and started sleeping on our couch?

That in itself is a good memory.  Her whole childhood was a....well...it was memorable, eh?  Here's a bonus memory for today.  In fact, I don't think this story ever made the blog, so it's a new one for almost everyone...although it's one of my favorites.  It's about Maisie's name.

Maisie came from The Training Center, now known as Tring Farm.  Vergil and Annemarie Holland are two of my favorite sheep and dog mentors.  Vergil is sadly no longer with us, but he's still mentoring, as just yesterday I was able to share something he'd told me about flock dogs years ago.

You'll have to read back through the archives if you don't know Maisie's story about how if she wasn't so tough and ornery she would probably have never lived through her lambhood.  It took a village to keep her alive and I stayed in close contact with Vergil and Annemarie.  

It took a couple of days to decide on a name for her.  I wanted to call her Poppet.  Saint Tim picked Maisie.  We went with Maisie.  When Vergil heard that Maisie wasn't my choice, he said "It's your lamb.  You should call her whatever you want."  I said "Well, Tim pays all the vet bills."  Without missing a beat he said, "Helluva name!"  Seven years later and that still makes me laugh.  

Seven years later and Tim no longer has to pay all the vet bills...but he still comes up with all the best names.  Maisie did end up being the best choice.  Crazy Poppet just doesn't have quite the same ring ;-D.  

Thank you for all of the calendar and Christmas orders!  Thank you for being part of the village. Your support means more than you'll ever know.

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Looks like Maisie is taking the first shift so Hank can sleep for awhile. Good night 😴. #livestockguardiandog #guardiansheep

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 19, 2019 at 8:52pm PST

Happy Birthday, Crazy Maisie!

Lamb Camp Legacy

The new yarn just back from Stonehedge Fiber Mill is a blend of some of the nicest fleeces from the Lamb Camp lambs sired by Rocky and Jared when they were over at Tring Farm.  Their "legacy" flock.  I'm trying to design a label/tag for the yarn and have been trying to take a nice picture of the two "boys".

Handsome Jared is always happy to oblige.  He reminds me of an old lion.  Maybe it's his big gray nose and mouth.  Maybe it's his power and demeanor.  I just love this funny old guy. Now, if handsome, but cranky pants, Rocky doesn't straighten up, he might just find himself kicked off the label! 

"Whatever."

He's really not that cranky.  I think he just hates to have his picture taken.  I completely understand ;-).

Zzzzzzz

Nobody naps like Liddy :-).

The 2020 Calendars

I still can't believe I'm typing 2020. I remember when the year 2000 seemed Really Far Away. But here we are...2020...so, our 2020 calendars :-).  

Here are some samples of the Lamb Camp pages:

Who is this bug eyed lamby?  Not to worry, Mini Moose made the Lamb Camp calendar, too ;-).

And some samples of the farm calendar pages:

Lots of little fun pictures on the farm calendars.  I wish I'd had a big picture that included Miss Salt, but I've now got one filed away for next year :-).

Equinox Farm Calendars - $12.50              Lamb Camp Calendars $10.00

USPS rates increased again this year, so we've kept the calendar costs down to help cover that.  Remember, if you are local(ish), you are always welcome to run out to the farm and save your shipping costs...but that probably doesn't pay off in the end with the cookies you will probably bring with you ;-).

I'm going to stick with the "old school" format from years past.  I know I should use a "buy it now button", but I prefer hearing from you personally rather than just a computer :-).  If you'd like to order a calendar (or anything else from the farm shop), just shoot me an email and let me know what you'd like and where you'd like it shipped. I'll send everything out with an invoice and return envelope and you can drop a check back in the mail at your convenience.

Speaking of the farm shop, I am running way behind getting everything caught up myself, but the yarn I wasn't expecting until the very end of the year ran ahead of schedule and I'll be sharing a sneak peek of that later this week :-D.  If you think you might be interested in adding some yarn when it's ready to hit the shelves (hopefully next week!), just let me know.  I would be happy to hang on to your calendar order so it can all ship together. 

As always, a huge thank you for being a part of our farm family.  Your friendship and support means more than you will ever know.

One Last November Snow Picture

See how I've cleverly tried to jinx it into giving me more November snow?  ;-)

Snow Warriors

This was just a split second standing still shot, but I have to laugh at how those two silly boys look like they are the bravest of warriors standing tall as a huge attacker charges their way.

Really, Levi was just bouncing around in front of them trying to get them to play tag or chase or whatever sheep play when they don't have a space ship to defend.

This is a new puzzle!  I hope you have as much working it as Mini Moose had creating it :-D.

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Snow Day! 😀

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 13, 2019 at 12:15pm PST

And a fun snow video from yesterday.  That's Big Moose chewing over the background music :-).

That's One!

There will be a few more snow pictures tomorrow, but I have a Wovember - Day 12 - [Wool House Crafters] Gathering at the "actual" house (warmer and with running water ;-) tonight and even though I clearly advertised that because Auntie Reg was not coming and therefore wouldn't find out, I was Not Dusting...even I'm starting to get a bit twitchy about it so I'm going to go at least run the vacuum.  Probably still not dusting though ;-).

That's Moose Who's Only Slightly Smaller Than Big Moose having fun playing in the snow.  Big Moose and Biscuit are just behind him and almost hidden is Levi, who got the whole gathering gamboling in the beginning ;-D.

Wovember - Day 11 - History

Where would I be if this hadn't happened?  

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Wovember - Day 11 - History . 🐑 At the end of October, 1992, I rescued a lamb who'd just been born at the stockyards. Knowing what I know now...that lamb should never have lived. The stress, the sanitation, did he even get colostrum...? To add insult to injury, someone who knew absolutely nothing about sheep and especially lambs picked him up at the *end* of the day (!). Luckily I found a vet who'd raised sheep himself and he did his best to help him get started and assured me "He'd be just fine". Months later, he'd look at Punkin and say "Well, I never thought I'd see you make it this far." . 🐑 I didn't know anything about sheep or wool or spinning or knitting or weaving or...I just wanted to save a baby lamb...who probably ended up saving me...and the rest is history. . 🐑 #wovember #wovember2019 #bottlelamb #destiny

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 11, 2019 at 10:26am PST

Girls, Girls

I thought about titling this "Three French Hens"...but it's not even Thanksgiving yet, fer cryin' out loud!

"Girls, girls" is what I call to tell them I've put food out for them.  And to get them to look at the camera ;-).