In A Surprising Turn Of Events

 The "Murphy Murder Cam" has exonerated our favorite villain fearless leader! 

Murphy has long been the pokey piece of hay in my sock regarding Every Gate on our farm.  Over the years he has caused So Much Trouble letting himself and everyone else in the flock into Any Area he thinks there might be food stored.   

He knows how to manipulate several different types of latches, to the point I have added bailing twine around gates to double secure them at times.  If you want to walk in and out of a gate carrying hay, for example, you have to twist around while balancing a stack of hay to securely latch a gate for the 15 seconds it will take you to drop the flakes and return for another arm full.

You might get lucky leaving a gate unlatched while you are standing there taking pictures...after all the feeding is done, but don't think for a minute he's not watching you out of the corner of his eye for one moment of distraction.  

Getting into the hay storage area in the barn is his first goal, but busting into one of the Easy Breezy pens is a close second, to the point I have jokingly (sort of) said I should change the name of the Winter Breezy camera to the Murphy Murder Cam because some day I am going to snap.

The other morning I walked into the barn to find half the flock pillaging the Winter Breezy pen.  My first thought was that I'd left the gate unlatched when I'd given everyone some extra hay at the first check because it was so cold.  Then I noticed that the latch was broken.

MURPHY!

I wondered how long they'd been in there so I opened up the app to check the camera footage.  Hmmm...at 10:14 the gate was still latched...and at 10:15 it wasn't...but...wait a minute...that's a white sheep!

I'm not sure if it's because of the cold or if there's a glitch in that camera, but I couldn't pull up the recorded footage to watch exactly how it happened, but I have to own up to the fact that for once in his life, it wasn't Murphy.

It was Biscuit!

Murphy probably loosened the latch up trying to bust his way in too many times, but at 10:15 he was no where in sight.

The 74 Days Of January

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It wasn't really that bad, but it does seem like a long time ago since we had green grass!

A Nice Day

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

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

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."

Finally Fall

Fall finally arrived and we got one good rain that has helped regrow a little grass, but not what we really need going into late fall and winter.  We definitely could have used some more rain, but we are grateful for what we did get. The hay stash is going to be important again this year.  At least it's cooled off.

I can't type between the pictures for some reason, so you'll have to identify everyone by heart and memory.  

How about a new puzzle.  This is a fun and easy one :-).

Golden Hour

The light this evening was truly golden.  The grass is too, even though it looks lush and green in these pictures.  We could sure use some rain.

 A golden new puzzle :-).

The 2025 Tour de Fleece

Against my better judgement, I'm putting Murphy in as our Team Leader this year.  What could go wrong...

Hopefully he'll just lead us to good grazing and some grand fiber adventures...but he could also lead us into trouble, so everyone should be prepared.  I have a small stash of bail money.  20 knows where to find it.

The Tour de France and Tour de Fleece start Saturday, July 5 and run through July 27.  The women's race starts July 26 and finishes August 3. This is primarily a spinning challenge, but any fiber work counts on our team.  You can officially join our team on Ravelry or just spin along on your own.  Feel free to tag me on IG if you'd like to share your progress.

I think I'm going to once again do a sampler of some of my favorite sheep, but this year I'll also be including some processing as well.  I have several fleeces already washed and ready to card or comb, but I'll be washing a few more and hopefully I'll take some pictures of the entire process from sheep to spinning.  

Air up your bike tires and get ready to ride :-D.

And May...

Much of May was second verse, same as the first.  Pinot was still digging his hole and filling it back in.  Bullseye kept getting friendlier and friendlier - just a charming young cat.  More rain.  More green grass and also a special mix of grass planted out front for Pinot.

The cake baking continued.  

Short Round made it all the way out into the yard to graze a few evenings.  Maisie grazed in the driveway.  Baaxter had been kicked out into Summer Breezy because he was being a bully.  Boys...

The cicadas arrived and that's been...interesting.  I can stand the mess and the noise, but fer cryin' out loud, get off me while I'm trying to weed eat!  

There's a funny story about poison ivy and Short Round getting some props for helping support the removal at a friends house...by goats.  Since Short Round will eat anything, I figured she should be there in spirit :-).

Betsy enjoyed another party.  Bea enjoyed a trip to Dairy Queen.  Everyone enjoyed the beautiful full moon.  

The gardens are coming along, both vegetable and B Garden.

The horse shenanigans continued.  Boys...

Knitting as fast as I could to get. this. project. finished.  My Iknitariders had fun riding along and didn't mind too much when Bullseye fell asleep with them.  

Maisie is a Good Sheep.

Losing Burrnie and Kaala was not unexpected, but still sad.  I love the barn camera shot of her sleeping tucked up with Liddy near the end.  Kaala enjoyed her friends here.  So did Burrnie.

Speaking of the barn camera, I love being able to check in with everyone whenever I want, but also, if I see something odd I can go back and see what happened.  One evening I saw the sheep all jump up startled.  I switched to the barn lot camera to try to see what they were looking at.  Something small and light colored, but I never could decided exactly who it was.  

The month ended with a fun steam train ride at the Heavenly Hilltop Railroad with 20 and Pip and Skipper (Rebecca's lamb), who is now far too big to pick up.

I love these scrapbook compilations :-).

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Meanwhile...Back In March

As the days passed at the beginning of March and I didn't get the Month End done and didn't get it done and didn't get it done...I could feel the spiral...and could. not. make. myself. fix. it.  I even gave up to the point that I turned all my calendars to April, which I don't let myself do until the compilation is finished.

I'm glad I finally got these caught up because A. there was a lot of March I'd forgotten about and B. there were a lot of Maisie and Short Round pictures in there.  Maisie and Short Round still getting up and into trouble.  Things are deteriorating with them and it was nice to know that not that long ago, everything was still fine.

Everything is still fine and whatever happens, when it happens, will be fine, but I am pretty sure if I didn't have these caught up, it would have been very, very hard to sit down and go through everything if everything wasn't still mostly fine.

A lot of these pictures made it to IG, but not all, and if they did they may not have been explained.  There's at least one picture that even I can't explain*.  I wish they'd all have been posted to the blog, but that obviously didn't happen, so here are some notes.

The month started with trying to trap a feral cat with a huge belly that I was sure, knowing my luck, was going to be a teenage mom.  That was Bullseye and he thankfully ended up just being a really wormy boy cat and your can watch his transformation from feral to friendly after he got trapped and vetted.  He's just as sweet as he looks.

The Iknitarod happened.  Yeah, remember that?  Noticed that I still haven't posted any finished pictures?  Yeah, I'm still working on it, but it's close to being finished even though all the snow in Alaska has probably melted.  I enjoyed "making time" to go sit and knit with a couple of the sheep in the yarn.

I hate how the pictures get cropped sometimes.  I have no control over that and the barn camera picture of Murphy standing all by himself in the barn lot with no one wanting to follow him out to the cold field is disappointing.  It's a funny shot in full.

*The fried chicken bone.  I have no idea.  It just appeared in the yard one day.  (!)

I love the light in the winter.

I remodeled Pinot's Patio with a new fence and built some big wooden planters to put my flowers in this year.  Big so they don't dry out so quickly and tall so Pinot doesn't eat them all.  Don't worry, I planted some stuff for Pinot.  I think that shows up next month.

I got a drum carder.  More to come on that...I promise.

The purple martin scouts showed up and then the rest moved in.  The video clip cut the sound off.  That unmistakable sound is the sound of spring.

It rained a lot.  

Frankie and Lancelot enjoyed doing all the stuff they've always done together - grazing, playing, taking turns watching while the other slept...best friends stuff.  I miss those days.  I don't regret taking Gato back.  He has earned a nice retirement and lots of old lesson horses don't get those, but I wish the herd dynamic hadn't gotten so skewed.  

I got a little stuffed sheep named Merino.  He came from Loved Before and he needs his own intro post.  Yes, I did knit him a warm wool sweater.  That needs a post too.  Since he came from across the pond, I thought he might enjoy watching The Great British Baking show so I added him to the Iknitarod team bag and brought him in for house knitting.  More about the baking to come.

I kept all of Dug's kids from the previous year.  I just couldn't bring myself to eat them so they lived on the counter in the kitchen all fall and winter and just as they started to look like they might not make it until spring, they did, and out they went to the garden and are doing Dug proud.

The picture of Maisie standing at the feed room door is a great story.  As crazy as she's always been, Maisie is extremely polite while waiting for breakfast and dinner.  She stands there waiting patiently...and because of that usually gets a little something extra :-).  

Like the purple martins, the redbuds are another great mark of spring.  Always beautiful.

Enjoy!

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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Photo Fail

Sorry for the lack of after shearing shots.  I took a couple, but wasn't able to get everyone in them and thought I'd just go back and do some more later...and then it was too dark.  It ended up being a pretty long day because we didn't start shearing until mid afternoon.   

Not a great picture, but it made a fun puzzle :-).

I loved seeing Maisie and Short Round out chowing down on fresh green grass.  This wasn't the best picture of them, but it includes Murphy and I wanted to show his fancy gray spots that you can only see just after shearing.

"We'll try to do better next time."  Tony Kornheiser

Solar Charging

Short Round 

If the sun is shining and there's no wind, all you need to be completely comfy is a good ray of sun.

Solar charging with an extra blanket.  Actually two blankets this morning.  We ended up going down to -1 early this morning and Maisie got pretty cold even with a jacket last night.  I added Cheeto's old super sized blanket this morning and she looks much more comfortable.  

Murphy, if you weren't such a doofus we wouldn't be laughing at your snow "teeth" that make you look like Howdy Doody ;-).

The sleigh ride was a blast!  More to come as I collect pictures and videos.  

Also Rans

Here are a few more pictures I liked from the Solstice shots.  It was really nice "having" to take my camera out to the barn.   Thanks for playing along :-).

Ellie

Murphy

Maisie

Mini Moose and Big Moose.  Big Moose is not so big compared to Mini Moose.

Kaala

Levi, Big Moose and Ellie in the back.

Muffin

Biscuit

Tavia

Krista

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Murphy

As we drew near the end of the Solstice Sheep this week I started counting who was still out.  Five to go.  Who were they...Liddy, Tavia, Tessa, Burrnie and Murphy.  Then I was down to three and I drew Liddy and then there were just two.  Ooh, wouldn't it be fun if Murphy was the last one?

I fed Bea and the cats and put the kettle on and finally got up my nerve to pull today's tag...Dang it,  Murphy!  Wouldn't that have been a great story if the sheep who is best known for being the first out every dang day of the year turned out to be the very last sheep on the Solstice calendar?  Oh well, it's still a pretty good story.

I've been sharing everyone's favorite treats and at first glance this picture doesn't appear to be a treat picture, but it is.  Besides being the leader of the flock, Murphy's main claim to fame is opening gates.  So much so that there were some many times I toyed with sticking him in a big cardboard box with, or sometimes without, air holes and shipping him back to New York.

Murphy's motivation for opening gates is always food related and his main goal in life these days is to move into Easy Breezy (on the other side of this gate).  Oh, he doesn't want to move into a retirement home.  He just wants to steal their food.  

Murphy is obsessed with any treats, but is especially fond of the chopped alfalfa fed to the Easy Breezy sheep.  

In And Out

Murphy leads everyone out...and also back in.  I still just find this so interesting.  I'd love to know why they put him in charge.  Or maybe they just let him put himself in charge.  Regardless...

The Whole Murphy Thing

One thing you don't want to do is get between a group of sheep and a fresh grazing area.  Whenever I open a gate, I am very careful to make sure that the gate can swing wide enough, fast enough so no one gets wedged and that I am clear of the gate as well.

Last night I decided to open up Del Boca Vista.  The chain rattled as I unhooked it and the chorus of baas started and everyone came running.  As I moved some sheep around so the gate could open, I quickly stepped back, pulling the gate towards me.

The sheep started swirling around, jostling for position, but no one raced through. This all happened in a matter of seconds, but still long enough for me to notice the strange behavior.  And then Murphy walked up, through the group, out the gate and everyone followed him.

I find this whole Murphy thing* fascinating.  Did he do something to earn their respect?  Are they all snickering behind his back as they send him off to look for lions and tigers and bears?  Has he pulled some sort of Graham Lamb scam to trick them into believing he's the only one who can go out first?

There's a story here I'm sure and I'd love to hear it.

*I linked this to all of Murphy's posts, so you'll need to scroll down a couple to find the stories about him leading everyone out.  If you are new to the blog, you can click on any of the "labels" over on the right side of the page, down a bit, and read all sorts of stories about any of the individual animals or events.  For example, if you don't know who Graham Lamb was, those are usually pretty...um...interesting ;-).

 

Morning Mystery

Biscuit was the first sheep through the gate this morning, coming over to me for his morning back scratch.  I reached down to rub on him without too much thought...and then realized he was there and no one had gone out.  That's unusual.  

I looked back up the hill expecting to see Murphy fighting his way through, but he was just standing there (the tall sheep between the Krista and Liddy).  I waited a few moments expecting him to start down the hill, but he stayed put.

Everyone else was now looking back at him too.

He kept looking around...

Everyone kept waiting...

 And kept waiting...maybe not quite as patiently...but they waited all the same.

He finally gave the all clear, marched down through the group and they all headed out.  No clue.  I just find this fascinating.

In The Fog

 Tap, tap, tap.  Is this thing still on?  I am still here...even if there's no photo evidence :-/.

"At least post a picture to let us know you are okay."  

If you think I've gone missing, check Instagram.  I don't think you have to actually be ON Instagram to view Instagram.  You should just be able to click this link or the one with 20 that stays on the right side of the blog.  

I'm proud of my IG feed.  I'm not proud of my blog feed lately...but I'm going to really try to fix that.

It's foggy here this morning...again.  We've had a lot of rain this spring and while I'll never wish away rain (a drought is much, much worse), we could use a bit of a break.  The rain/fog is not the most interesting thing about this picture though.  It's that some of the sheep went to the right side with Murphy and some went left on their own.  

I'm not sure why.  They usually stay together.  I would think the grass is better on the left, well, until you get further out on the right side.  They did all eventually end up in the paddock on the left.  Murphy's group just came in via the back gate.  It's a puzzle.  And a new puzzle :-D.

Weekend Wrap Up

Things mostly started settling down this past week and we could all take a deep breath.  We still had some cold and windy weather, but there were some nice days mixed in and that was appreciated by everyone.

I suspected this would be the case if Murphy messed around at the barn too much in the morning.  He figured out that Liddy and Tabitha were getting to sneak into Easy Breezy for breakfast and he spent a couple of mornings thinking maybe he could do so as well.  Krista ain't waiting for no stupid man to tell her it's okay to go out for breakfast ;-).

Our new friend Dug had a big week.  Or I should say a getting bigger week :-).

Big J met me in the driveway one morning.  What a relief!

Maisie reminded us that she is our little ray of sunshine :-).  This is an odd occurrence, the sun shining in the front of the barn.  What actually happened was the sun hit the front of the horse trailer parked over next to the Wool House at just the right angle to reflect back into the front of the barn, spotlighting Maisie.  It will probably never happen again.

On the cold days the cats took turns tucked in next to the heater in the Wool House.

Possum pulled the night shift.

Dug went to Dug(gy) Daycare in the toasty warm greenhouse.

The cats fought over the wool box on the porch.

And Archie eventually won.

Dug got a warm wool poncho...as one does on a wool farm :-D.

Another frosty morning.  The last one...I hope.

And today two of my oldest (long time, not old ;-) and one of my newest friends came to visit and Andrea (of TdF fame) gave spinning a try and I tuned up an old wheel.  Thanks for the photo, Ericka (of Foro/4-0 fame).  It was a great way to end the week.