Wool Work...

"...is boring."

"So boring."

"If you'd quit taking pictures of me, you'd get done quicker!"

The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival is this weekend!  I'm about as ready as I'm going to get.  I have a couple more things I'd really like to get done, but the fleeces are all skirted and weighed and the spindle kits are assembled and packed.  I've got some Punkin's Patch "swag" packed and, of course, Biscuit.  A few others will be coming as well, to work the Hug a Sheep pen.

I think we are going to bring the bottle lamb brigade - Biscuit, Bullwinkle, Liddy, Baaxter.  Or maybe Andy and Levi.  Andy's fleece is so pretty and Levi is a gorgeous color.  Not Maisie, for sure, although she has been on her best behavior lately.  You'll have to come see who ends up being dumb enough to get caught Saturday morning making the cut ;-).

Thanks for all the kind words about Keebler.  He was so loved by so many.  I remember taking him to the very first Lexington festival.  Kathy Meyer (who started the festival and where Keebler came from as a triplet lamb years ago) couldn't believe the number of people who would walk past the sheep pen, look over to see Keebs and call him by name.  He was that sort of sheep.

Sadly, if you start doing the math, there are a lot of old sheep in our flock.  We will treasure and enjoy everyone as long as we can.  Someone I'm especially enjoying right now is Jester.  If you haven't been following the Biscuit thread on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook, you really should.  All I can say is Jester better live forever.  And it this point it looks like he might!

Because we can never have too many cute pictures of Biscuit and Jester ❤️. #Biscuit #Jester #jacobsheep #bottlelamb

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on May 17, 2017 at 6:31pm PDT

Come see us this weekend!  Buy wool!  Lots. Of. Wool. :-o

"What the heck is all this?" #fromthemouthsofbabes #Biscuit #wool #lotsofwool #gettingready #kentuckysheepandfiberfestival #thisweekend

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on May 17, 2017 at 12:14pm PDT

Keebler

This is the internet's favorite picture of Keebler.  It shows up everywhere.

But this is my favorite picture of Keebler.  This is the picture my mind calls up when I search for a image of Keebler even though there were so many other good ones.  He grew from an adorable lamb into a handsome photogenic sheep.  This always remained my favorite.  

When the vet came on Saturday, I held his head in the crook of my arm like that and once again this picture came to mind.  Or maybe my heart.  I love all of our sheep, but some...  There is another big hole in the flock.

I'd like to say that Keebler would want to tell everyone to get up and take a walk every day. Stay active so your legs hold up longer.  But he wouldn't.  He'd say "Meh. Enjoy life sitting in the shade in front of a fan or in the warm sun in the winter."  

I don't know what's the right answer.  But getting up and taking a walk every day probably wouldn't hurt anyone.

Soaking Up Some Sun

It's been a little colder than I'd like (down to 4 the night before last), but I've loved the snow! Walking out to the barn late at night to check on everyone and toss out a little more hay - everything is so bright and crunchy and sparkly and quiet and...  

We've been lucky and no wind.  Everyone can handle single digits when there is no wind. Beautiful sunshine yesterday.  Clouds moving in today and we are headed back to the mid 60s and rain in a couple days.  I (and the sheep, but maybe not the chickens ;-) will take sunny cold and frozen any day!   

Annabelly, Billy Belly and Heidi

Keebler and Allie

Keebs again

Buddy.  He may never have a cool 'do but he has awesome ear fuzz :-D.

Hershey, Hank and Liddy

Ewen

Oh, and from the department of if something weird is going to happen, it's going to happen to Maisie...here's a sort of funny Maisie story.

I did remember to unhook the hose from the hydrant last week, but forgot to drain said hose...so it's been full of ice for the last four or five days.  Not really a problem as I can carry buckets of water to refill the water tanks.  Just an inconvenience...much like the pioneers faced ;-).

The other night I was carrying out a big bucket of water.  Somehow Maisie bumped into it and got thoroughly splashed.  It was heading down to five that night (!).  Five and wet would be horrible, except it was Maisie, who has at least five or six inches of wool on her, so it probably hadn't reached her skin.

Still, I didn't want her to lie down and have it soak in, so I quickly (and sort of without thinking) started madly brushing as much water off her side as I could.  For those who've met the little darling, let's just stop and think about what happened next...

 At least I lived to tell the story ;-D.

Tour de Barn

While the barn set up has been easy to work with (as far as handling sheep) over the years, we have battled air flow in the "inside" stall, especially in the summer months and especially when it's been super rainy or super hot - check and check this summer.

We've talked about taking down the wall between the two stalls forever, but never did it for who knows what reasoning.  It's down now and I can't believe we didn't do this years ago.  The barn is so light and airy and much more comfortable temperature and air quality-wise.  

The view from the outside.

The new view inside.  And by view I mean view!  I can stand in the aisleway and not only see almost any sheep in the barn at any time, but I can also see sheep in the side paddock, like Auntie Lila and Bullwinkle.  Yes, there are still some blind spots, but man what a difference!

We obviously weren't going to take down any supporting beams and the outside addition is slightly higher than the inside floor so we replaced the old wall with gates.  I can still shuffle sheep from the inside stall to the outside stall, shut the small gate and then push them down to the working pen with a solid wall, just like the old days.

And we didn't take out the old wall feeders because everyone likes to use them as pillows and standing blocks.  Woolliam and Woody standing up on the far right.

And the gates make good pillows, too :-).  Andy.  And Woolliam, who would just like to Go To Sleep Now Please!

The "assigned seats" got jumbled around a bit for awhile, but there are still most of the familiar faces here.  Keebs, Renny, Burrnie, Ewen, Boudreaux are all accounted for.  Woolliam got knocked down the wall for a couple days, but he's now back where he wants to be ;-).  Somehow Chocula managed to make every picture, day and night, all over.  That's his butt in the gate pillow pic.

*      *       *       *       *

The Tour de Fleece is rolling right along, too.  Well, some team members are rolling better than others, but we are all having fun.  It's not too late to join and even if you don't want to spin, you can still follow along and cheer lead!