Are You Ready?

 2026 will be the Year of the Horse.  Here's a fun puzzle to help you get ready :-).

A Nice Day

...that isn't today :-o.

Yesterday was up in the 70s.  Tonight it's going down to 17.   (!)

Wishing For A Maisie Christmas

"Where the heck is Maisie?"

"Seriously?  I have to wear the hat this year?"

Saint Pinto

As I unpacked my Christmas decorations this year and pulled out the Santa hat I thought...all the thoughts.  Part of the fun of dressing Maisie up each year was how I believe she always enjoyed playing the part and we were all just her foils or fall guys.  Or maybe she was just sassy.

Too Cool Pinto is the king of annoyed looks and I thought it would be fun to get a picture of him looking annoyed with the hat on so I could write this blog post and try to make it sort of funny.  I had to really search through the shots for a picture where he looked even a little annoyed.  

I don't know if he understood that someone needed to step up this year or he was happy that he got to be recognized for being special.  Or most likely he understood someone needed to step up and he was happy that he was the one who was chosen.  He didn't mind the hat at all.  It was a bit of a let down.

Tomorrow night I'll do my normal Instagram Live Christmas Eve from the barn.  We won't wait until midnight even though it would be interesting to see if the animals talked.  We'll let them keep that secret.  

I'll go live on Instagram at 9:00 eastern time and we are usually on for about 20-30 minutes.  I will answer questions, show you your favorite sheep...  We'll share some cookies and crackers, too.  Bea will be with me and probably at least a cat or two.  If you can't join us then, I'll share it so you can watch later.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Every now and then I catch a little glimpse of white out in the field or a flash of orange in the garden and I hope we are all still here together under Hank and Maisie's watchful eyes, the bright stars and occasionally the northern lights.  I wonder if Maggie and Big Moose see them, too.

*  *  *  *  *

I couldn't fit every beloved ghost in the scene, but ghosts are fluid and other than Hank and Maisie watching out back and Salt and Comby out front, everyone else can be whoever we are missing the most and catch out of the corner of our eye.  Remember, they might be tucked in the barn or curled up in the Wool House.

I'd love to know who you see.  

Merry Christmas!

Oh, and it's a puzzle too :-).  

Bea Appreciation Post

(This picture was from over the weekend.)

I really miss having a Border Collie because they have just the best personalities, but I don't miss having the working farm dog aspect because I have Bea.  

Corgis were originally bred to be working farm dogs, but I'd always assumed that was so far back in their past that they'd been "dumbed down" into pets.  The two other corgis we've had were very nice dogs, but didn't really show a lot of interest in working on a sheep farm.

Even as a puppy I noticed Bea stepping up when she thought something wasn't going right in the barn.  At first I just chalked it up to dumb luck and being bossy, but it started dawning on me that she really understood who needed to be where, and when they weren't she wanted to put them right.

Over the years I've incorporated her help into several aspects, mostly penning sheep, but also rely on her letting me know when there are sheep (mostly Murphy) some place they shouldn't be.  I can tell at the house if there's a problem at the barn.

Over the weekend I got run over twice at feed time.  Murphy got past me on Saturday night and was so obnoxious that I ended up losing my cool and thumping him with a feed scoop (plastic, but I think if it had been concrete I wouldn't have cared at that moment).  Sunday morning Biscuit ran over me.  I ended up kicking him in his fat butt with my rubber boots (but wouldn't have cared if they were concrete either).

Both of those sheep outweigh me by double...at least.  Both are Cotswold crosses and let me just tell you, do not get between a Cotswold and some stolen food.  They are fearless and do not care.  Still, to have that much trouble in less than 12 hours...

What. The. [Heck]. Was. Going. On.?!?

Oh, wait.  It was super cold and Bea was in the Wool House.  I had no back up and those fatties knew it.  "LET'S GET HER!"  

The next morning Biscuit tried it again, but this time I had Bea with me.  I was ready and quickly moved myself and the oldies into the corner and yelled "Get him, Bea!" and Christmas came early for her :-D.  Biscuit was out of there in less than two seconds and didn't even come around that side the next morning.

Kate was a tactical herder and smart enough to not get hurt by occasionally taking the high road.  Bea is out there throwing concrete feed scoops and boots, nipping heels and barking like a maniac and I'm assuming using some grown up words because the sheep understand perfectly.  

This morning, as I rounded the corner to feed my skinnies, I found Biscuit in the stall waiting for me (stupid or greedy or most likely stupid and greedy).  I called Bea in...

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I can't decide if the best part of this video from the barn cameras is Bea's sharp bark, Biscuit making a fast exit or me saying "We should have had that on video!"  Probably it's "Good job, Bea.  That was perfect."

Almost There

As has gone the whole year, the 2025 Christmas card about broke me.  While I was putting together the final calendar this fall I thought maybe I should also do one last card while I still had a printer who would be able to run proof after proof after proof as I struggled to get the colors to translate right, fix typos in the text on the back, print a few more when I ran out...

Painting these cards over the years taught me many lessons on what works, what doesn't and what might be a pitfall.  By the end I was pretty good at getting the painting right and we learned that it's better to take a picture of the canvas than try to scan it and all in all I could get usually get it together and in the mail in about a week.  Taking the picture was the only thing I didn't mess up this year.

I spent over a week trying to put on paper what I had in my head and finally gave up and started over.  From there I thought the new design looked promising and I then proceeded to paint the rest of the card breaking every lesson I learned from the first 20 years of painting cards.  Every. last. lesson.

Two of the issues I knew as I was painting that I was doing it wrong...and I did them anyway.  I think that's the definition of insanity, right?  Expecting a different outcome from repeated actions?  The worst mistake was one I didn't even realize until I got it ready to send over to the print shop this morning.  5"x7" is not the same as 8"x10".

I think I learned that in 2004.

I believe I have everything patched up, but I won't know until the printer gets home this evening.  I'm still not completely set on the wording on the back, but again, we'll hash that out when he gets home.  Tim's only comment so far was "Why isn't Digga Digga on there?"

Digga Digga Daewoo is our skid steer and he should be parked in the barn from where the card is focused.  I did think about that.  I also moved the horses all down one stall to try to balance out the barn scene a little and I wished I hadn't done that almost as soon as I did it.  Same with not adding in the chicken coop.  I sadly complained about all that and Tim did what he does best.

"Well, the horses are all in the wrong stalls, you can't find the chickens and the sheep aren't where they are supposed to be, out in the dark, mixing with the horses.  I'm not sure what the problem is.  Sounds like a normal day to me."  ;-)

Snow Bunny

Pinot was pretty sure he wanted to go out to the barn for a bit Tuesday morning, but he didn't go far before he turned back and decided to shop local in his patio by the Wool House. 

  

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Look at the snow fly.

He knows it's important to eat your greens.

And your browns.

I've had a couple of questions about if Pinot is cold when he goes outside or if he's grown extra hair for winter.  If you click to biggify this picture you can see how dense his hair is.  I've also noticed he's put on some extra weight and has a fat pooch around his neck now.  

When I think it's okay for him to run around for a bit, I leave the door cracked open so he can get back in when he's ready.  That being said, when it's really too cold to leave the door open very long, I don't let him go outside.  That's my work room, too :-).

Want a new puzzle?

 

November

Usually putting the month end compilation together reminds me that no matter how bad the month might have felt, there was actually a lot of good.  This month it reminded me what a crap fest the first 8 days were.

Do not be alarmed at the screen shot that will draw your eye to "deleting your blog".  It was actually the last line about "suicide prevention" that I was, sadly, not surprised to see on a suggested topics list.  The problem wasn't a blog issue, but it might have ruined the blog if it couldn't be fixed.  All is well now, thankfully.

As always, as I scrolled through pictures and videos, I was reminded of some beautiful sunrises, moonlight, flowers and bees surviving the extreme cold, sweet sheep, friends and cookie parties.  And somehow I'd forgotten about the Northern Lights.  Who on earth forgets about something like that!  

I'm glad I have these compilations.

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Another Thanksgiving Dinner That Couldn't Be Beat

In my mind it will probably always be Maisie's birthday, but from here on out it will be known as Sheep Thanksgiving and if I mess up the date, it's okay because every day should be Thanksgiving.  Leftovers (more cookies ;-) this evening!

It wouldn't have been a party if an orange cat didn't show up and then the chickens.  By that point it was getting dark and I didn't think to change my ISO so the chicken pictures are mostly a blur...like chickens.

Show of hands for who knows what the title of this post is referencing :-).

[Cherrios] From Heaven

Today would have been Maisie's 13th birthday.  We never really celebrate any other sheep birthdays, but I guess because it was such a miracle that she made it to her first birthday we decided a celebration was in order and we just kept it up every year.  

I couldn't remember when we started making her Cheerio "cakes", so I just decided to brave looking back. Her first birthday post reminded me that her birthday was actually November 25th.  We celebrated that year on a Monday.

Birthday number 2 was her first Cheerios cake...and that year we celebrated her birthday on the Sunday after Thanksgiving because, and I quote... 

"Since I'm terrible at remembering actual dates, I just always remember Maisie was born early Sunday morning of the Turkey Trot Dog Trial."

That sounds right now that I think about it.  And if you are one of my friends or family members who can't believe I forgot your birthday yet again, take heart in knowing I couldn't keep track of Maisie's either.  

At some point along the way I "remembered" it was a Saturday so the sheep and I had a birthday party for her this afternoon.  I believe Maisie always understood it was her special day, but the rest of the flock just knew that on the Saturday...or Sunday...or maybe even Monday after Thanksgiving they always got to eat "cake", so we had "cake" today.

I drew a heart in the side field using Cheerios, graham crackers, vanilla wafers and crackers.  That seemed like the right thing to do.  I didn't feel like taking my normal pictures, so I decided to just set up a video camera and let it roll...and as soon as the sheep came in and worked themselves around the heart shape I immediately changed my mind and ran to get my camera.  I'll try to share some of those pictures tomorrow.

It was a sweet little party and I'm glad I decided to do it.  I divided the really long video into two shorter videos on Instagram.  They are still kind of long and probably not too exciting, but I'm glad to have them.  The first one is the sheep running over to the heart and the second is us all together.  

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

And now I'm wondering if Maisie put it in my head that today was the day so that when I figured out it is actually tomorrow everyone would get a second party...and that really would be Cheerios From Heaven.

The 2026 Calendar

Putting the upcoming year's farm calendar together is usually one of the best parts of fall, but I really struggled this year.  I knew looking back throughout the year to pick pictures and seeing so  many now missing faces was going to be hard, but it seemed more than that.

This is most likely our last farm calendar.  Saint Tim is hoping to retire next year and without his print shop's support, it's not really feasible to produce these.  I don't print enough to earn a bulk discount from a big shop and I don't like the thin floppy paper that most of them use anyway.

I didn't do much with "the business" this year.  It was a hard year and we all did our best.  I also have a lot of old sheep, old horses, old cats, old shepherds, old printers.  Everything felt a bit "over" and that was an added heavy weight.  Is this how it all ends?

I hope not.  That would not be fair to all the good sheep still here.  Sure, they are getting older, but they are still relevant.  It also wouldn't be fair to all the good sheep who paved their way.  I think I'm still relevant as well.  I'm a good teacher, encourager, hopefully inspiring and frequently a good example of what not to do.  Tim just wants to go fishing ;-).

We'll see.  In the meantime, let's find joy in what we are doing and see what the future holds.  And we can do it with one last calendar of friends to keep us company throughout the upcoming year.

There is also a limited run of companion note cards again this year.  If you'd like to share a favorite calendar picture with a friend, the companion card is a perfect option.  The accompanying stories are found on the back.

2026 Equinox Farm Calendar $25.00  

Companion Calendar Note Cards $10.00 

Buy together and save $5.00  $30.00

We charge just actual USPS shipping cost with no mark up for packaging and handling.  If you'd like a quote, send me an email with your zip code and I can give you an exact price.  

We are once again going to stick with the old timey ordering system where you send me an email  letting me know what you'd like and where it should be shipped (add an extra note if you'd like :-) and I'll send it out with an invoice and return envelope in your package.   

Those extra notes are how I learned that several of you don't turn the calendar pages until it's time so that each month is a surprise.  I love that idea and now do that myself.  Even though I made the calendar, by about March I've forgotten who comes next.  I love being surprised!

That spoiler factor is also why I've put all the boring text up here and hidden the sneak peek calendar and card shots below.  Don't look if you don't want to!  Or you can peek...but goreallyfast ;-).

Well, Maisie didn't live forever and that broke my our hearts more than I thought.  I sure hope there is a big group of sweet, funny, wonderful sheep hanging out telling stories somewhere and it's not the last we've seen of them.

Pinto is still jumping in and out of the arena at will.  Pinot is still confusing spellcheck.  Bea is still Head of Operations and Possum is still mean as a snake. Bullseye has been a charming addition.

The gardens worked hard over the summer and two luffa plants kept an amazing amount of bees fed and produced more than a lifetime supply of luffas...but we'll plant them again next year because of the blooms.  If you could use a luffa or ten, let me know. I don't know where Stella's bees are living now, but there are a few working some late blooming flowers outside the window as I type.

After over a decade of teaching students of all ages how to ride and care for horses, Gato came home for a well earned retirement.  It took a while for Frankie and Lancelot to work out all the details, but the three are now inseparable and the pasture more colorful, so I guess we need a palomino and a chestnut to complete the crayon box.

After 11 frustrating years trying to force his way into the Easy Breezy extra feed group, Murphy has finally started getting a little special food at night.  He can not believe his good fortune.

As always, a huge thank you to Saint Tim for doing all the heavy lifting and for all of you who love our farm family as much as we do.