Wait! I'm Here! I'm Here!

I'm off to a late start, but we are finally ready to hit the trail.  I'm still not 100% certain of what I'm making, but I'm going to be using the Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn so I put everyone on the Ravatar with me.  I'll start knitting tomorrow.

When you aren't competitive and are mostly in the race for the experience, it's called a "camping trip".  That's going to be my plan for this year.  I'm going to enjoy spending time with some of my very best friends and hopefully have a vest to show for it at the end.

Can you identify all the sheep above?  A couple are a little vague, but the "characters" should be easily recognized :-).

I Got Lucky

Today is my 17th blog anniversary.  I remember writing that first blog post.  I didn't say much, but I remember double and triple checking that it sounded okay and my spelling and grammar was correct.  I still agonize over that and still read my posts aloud and try to catch as many mistakes as I can.  

We'd had a big snow that morning and I had a tiny Sony point and shoot camera that we used to take random pictures of things on and off the farm.  I had no real interest in photography.  I just occasionally took pictures and definitely always did when it snowed.

This picture of PPPP and Peabody was taken that morning and the black background was just the side of the barn before the shed and the shed's shed were added.  I'm quite sure I didn't plan for it to look like a starry night sky.  I just got lucky.

I don't remember when I finally realized that I enjoyed taking pictures and had a little bit of aptitude for it.  I don't remember when I got my first "real" camera.  Oh, wait, it was August of 2007, so I must have gotten it for my birthday, just a few months into my blogging :-).

I actually enjoy when artists write to ask permission to paint my pictures.  I know they could just go ahead and "steal" them (and I've caught a few on that over the years), but I love to hear from them and find out which picture they like and hopefully see what they create.  Which reminds me, there is Yet Another Christmas Post coming!

I think Bonnie Mohr might have been the first artist who contacted me about using one of my photographs.  She'd picked the "starry night" picture.  The very first picture I posted on my very first blog post.  Well, actually it was the second picture on the page ;-).  I loved what she painted!

She offered to sell us the painting and I would have loved to have bought it, but it was out of our price range.  I'd checked back a few times over the years to see if she'd ever offered a print of it, but finally gave up.  I do have a box of Christmas cards with the painting though.  I stumbled across them at the North American.  That was a great story :-).

When I realized that today was my blog anniversary, I thought back to that picture and all the pictures I've taken over the years and how many have been used by artists all over the world (!) and am truly flattered.  Out of curiosity I decided to search her website again, but couldn't find the painting anywhere.  I started searching to see if it showed up anywhere else and luckily found it offered as a print from another merchant!

I feel like so much of my life has been lucky.  I also realize that the harder you work, the luckier you tend to be though.  I am so grateful that I've worked hard enough over the years to have a blog that I can scroll back through 17 years of pictures and stories.  And yes, there are plenty of things that sure didn't feel very lucky, but so many treasures along the way.

And luckily I'm headed out the door to go take some more pictures.  My year old blogger self would never have believed that :-).

 

My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week

Miss Ewenice

During the 2022 Tour de Fleece I spun quite a few samples of some of my oldest and dearest sheep.  The inspiration for that challenge came from finding a bit of PPPP's roving just before the Tour began and enjoying hanging out with her once again.  

After spinning her skein I decided it would be fun to make another Maggie Rabbit, but this time turn the rabbit into a sheep.  And instead of a sweet little cape, I'd make her a nice wool sweater with some cables or lace and change her paddock boots into wellies.  I'd use PPPP's yarn and it could be a tribute to one of my favorite sheep.

I finally got around to getting the project started this past week, but when I went looking for doll sized sweater patterns I found most called for yarn that was heavier than I'd spun.  Note to self, find a pattern and then spin the yarn.  

Not to worry though.  I can spin a new skein...but now I think I may have used the last of her roving :-(.  I don't remember finishing out the bag, but I can't find it if I didn't.  I did find some Miss Ewenice roving though.  She'd make a fun Maggie Rabbit/Sheep, too!  

I pulled out some roving, gave it a quick run through the drum carder to freshen it up a bit and then put it on Instagram with a little teaser, asking for guesses as to who I was getting ready to spin.  Turns out this is not the first time Ewenice was shared as a "guess who" post.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

 

Trick or Treating with Ewen

The yarn turned out as pretty as Miss Ewenice and in honor of a grand old gal, Miss Ewenice is our sheep of the week.

Ewenice was the last sheep in a friend's handspinner flock and they didn't want her left all alone and asked if she could move here with our flock.  This was back in the very early days of the blog, March of 2007.  If sheep could live forever, she'd be 20 years old this year. Oh, if only sheep could live forever.

She didn't immediately take to our flock of mostly feral Jacobs and a couple of crazy Border Cheviots so she spent a good deal of time hanging out around the house with us.  She was  polite and well behaved and I don't remember her ever getting into any sort of trouble.

I know she took care of Ewen McTeagle when he was still pretty young and maybe that's how she integrated into the flock.  She babysat several bottle babies over the years, but she's most famous for taking the very best care of Renny.  

There are numerous Ewenice and Renny posts and I'm not going to link them all here.  If you don't know Renny's story, it starts out pretty horrible (heads up if you go looking back), but has a happy ending.  Miss Ewenice played a huge part in that happy ending.  Her ending, while heartbreaking, had a bit of a happy ending as well.

Interestingly/sadly, last night I didn't have the baby gate secured well enough and Rocky wandered out of the barn in the the middle of the night. I found him just before dawn, thankfully okay, standing right under that same tree.  Salt loved that tree as well.  Hopefully those good girls were keeping him company and I'd like to think they told him to stay put.

Sooooo, are you ready for me to knit another sweater?

Tour de Sheep

 

My Tour de Fleece is more of a Tour de Sheep this year.  So far I've spun 10 sample skeins.  Let's see if I can remember them all...PPPP, Henri, Petunia, Boudreaux, Woody, Buddy, Rebecca Boone, Count Chocula, Miss Ewenice and Hershey :-).

I have really enjoyed pulling out these old friends.  I'd forgotten how soft Boudreaux was, how luxurious Hershey was, how...everything Miss Ewenice was.  She's been gone 10 years now.  I have some Renny set aside for tomorrow.  I can't spin Ewenice without spinning some Renny :-).  

The Right Words

I'd been thinking about my Tour de Fleece for several weeks and was not getting super excited about any of my possible plans.  I knew Pinto was going to be the captain, but had a ton of trouble coming up with his graphic.  The weather is miserable.  There will be no peaceful porch spinning around here this year.  Honestly, I was feeling a bit of dread thinking about putting it all together.

Tim and I like to play a few of the currently popular word games each morning.  I play Wordle, both Word Hurdle games and the Quordle, which is trying to guess four words at one time.  It took a good while to talk me into trying them, but now I'm hooked.  I sit on the Wool House porch with a big cup of coffee and start guessing. 

The Wordle for July 1, the first day of the Tour de Fleece was...

Can you even believe it? :-o

It gets better.

The TdF plan I was most leaning towards was doing a deep dive into some of my most treasured fleeces.  I'd just finished spinning a bit of PPPP and was feeling sentimental.  I have Woody's lamb fleece, Daniel's lamb fleece, some special Ford, Henri, Petunia and for a really deep dive, some young(ish) Miss Ewenice.  

I was still not completely convinced...but I couldn't come up with any better ideas.  I really needed to find some inspiration or it was going to be hard to cheer lead the other members of my team when I couldn't even cheer myself along.  

I started working on the day's Quordle.  

As you can see from the PINTO graphic above, as you guess words, you almost always get some correct letters and sometimes even get them in the right locations.  Yellow means the letter is in the mix, but in the wrong position.  Green means it's the right letter in the correct location.

Three of the four words in the Quordle game behaved accordingly and I ended up figuring out each of those three words.  The fourth word...

The first guess yielded me no correct letters.  Neither did the second guess.  I did finally get one letter, but in the wrong position on the third and fourth guesses, but back to zero correct on the fifth.  In case you are wondering about my word choices, remember I'm trying to guess three other words at the same time.  STAID, BASTE and RAMEN were the correct words in the other quadrants.

You get nine chances to guess the four words.  I'd used up eight chances and only had two letters and both in the wrong positions.  I had one chance left, but I knew it was hopeless.  Still, a game is a game and I decided to make a wild guess and see how close I could get.

With only one vowel possibility, the O, I knew there might be a chance they were going to use it twice.  Y hadn't been used, so I tossed that in there as well.  Two Os and D and a Y...I had to go with WOODY.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

And I won!

How's that for some inspiration :-D.

It was pretty crazy just to get PINTO, but also WOODY on the same day?!?

 So I started my Tour spinning some Woody :-).

The Yarn Might Not Be The Best Part

It might be the stories :-).

Mother's Day ended up being very busy, but in a good way.  The spring barn clean out, originally planned for Friday/Saturday, was rained out.  We were afraid the ground would still be too wet Sunday, but it dried up enough and Tim was able to knock it out.  Well, you don't just knock it out.  Cleaning the barn is an all day job.  I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift :-).

By late afternoon I was finally able to gather everything and set up a photo shoot under one of the redbud trees by the Wool House.  I mixed and matched and rearranged and fought the too bright light and then Betsy's head popped up in a perfect photobomb.  I love that she is in the picture.

Do you remember her babysitting the bottle lambs?  She loved to sleep in the crate with the lambs, especially if there was a heat lamp involved.  Curling up with a warm lamb was a close second.  I'm not sure Maisie ever took a nap without Betsy.

I don't think Betsy knows her lambs are in this yarn blend, but it's sweet to think that she does and wanted to be part of the pictures.  To make it even better, I told a little story about Betsy and her lambs in the booklet.  Do you remember which lamb ruined it for her?

The bright sun did work out in my favor to help show off the little stitch markers -  sky blue, grass green, tree green, dandelion yellow and redbud pink.  These are my favorite type of stitch markers for knitting.  I haven't learned how to make crochet markers yet, but I enjoyed learning a little about beads and wire and I doubt this is the end of it :-).

The stitch markers are hanging around their necks like a sheep bell and can be easily removed to use or can just stay part of the decoration.  Do you remember which lamb wore the first bell and why?

The yarn wrapped ornaments are for the small gift boxes and the unwrapped ornaments are for the yarn kits.  There will also be a little bit of Blossom roving tucked in the yarn kits so you can wrap your own with any leftover yarn.  It's not a surprise why I picked Blossom to help with them and that is part of her story in the booklet.

This shady tree is actually the redbud tree most loved by lambs...and cats and dogs and chickens and lamb moms.  Remember Early sleeping next to the yard sheep?  He knew they were real sheep, too, and you still can't tell us any different.  

So...that's Early and Abby on the bag logo, yarn tags and leather tag.  They are an important part of our story here and I didn't want them to be left out just because they couldn't contribute any wool.  I loved sitting out under this tree with them tucked against my legs.  Using them in the logo helps a little.

The drawstring bags are a handy 10"x12" size, just perfect for a skein or two of yarn or a small project. The booklet tucks nicely in there as well.  

The booklet was a true labor of love.  I thought it would be easy to write up some stories, describe each sheep's wool, find some good pictures and send it off to the printer.  Phew!  The stories weren't too hard other than trying to pick out what stories I wanted to tell.  I could probably write whole chapters on each sheep...and maybe I will someday.

The problem was the pictures.  Those early lambs lived here long before I had a decent camera or even any real practice at taking pictures.  I love the pictures I have, but they do not compare to the pictures of the more recent lambs.  I wanted Punkin to look as good as Biscuit.  

I played around with several styles and finally settled on a sort of pen and ink/wood block sort of look.  I used the original photographs to make sketches and then a fun iPad app to turn them into black and white line drawings and then fine tuned them with another drawing app.  I enjoyed learning how to do this and it was fun to spend a little extra time with each lamb.

The booklet not only has pictures and stories about the lambs, but also a bit about their breed(s) and fleece.  There's also a little story about how the yarn came about and how I became thecrazysheeplady.  Karen Battersby designed a beautiful lamb sweater using the yarn and the pattern for that is included as well.  Even if you don't have a baby lamb to dress, it could easily be adapted for a small dog or agreeable cat :-).

About the yarn.  Each skein is 250 yards of worsted weight yarn and weighs around 4.4 ounces.  I find it knits comfortably to the gauge of around five stitches per inch and is a very nice versatile yarn with good Punkin's Patch character.  It's soft and cuddly, but hard working enough to do most any job.  

As this blend can never be replicated, it's a very limited offering and will only be for sale here on the blog.  Feel free to share this post with your friends, but I'd rather it didn't get posted to the wider public.  There's not much of it and I want to make sure everyone who's been along for the ride, new or old, gets first dibs.

This is my favorite picture from the shoot.  Isn't it a bit funny that Betsy came over here as well?  Maybe she can smell her lambs in there.  

* * * * *

The yarn box includes 1, 2 or 3+ skeins of Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn, the lamb stories booklet, drawstring bag, plain ornament, spring stitch markers, a leather Lamb Camp tag and a fun surprise gift.  

         One skein $52    Two skeins $77    Three skeins $102 

If you are wanting a sweater quantity of yarn or unwashed yarn for weaving, drop me an email.   

The ornament box includes a Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn wrapped ornament with the spring stitch markers and leather tag attached, the drawstring bag, lamb stories booklet and the fun surprise gift.

$36

As always, if you are interested in purchasing something from the farm shop, just send me an email and let me know what you'd like.  I'd also love to hear who your favorite lamb is or your favorite lamb story.  Even if you aren't interested in purchasing a Lamb Camp box, I'd love to hear about your favorites :-).

Shipping is always a struggle these days.  If you would like a shipping quote, I am happy to get that for you.

You are also always welcome to come to the farm and visit the sheep and save your shipping costs entirely.  Punkin's Patch won't be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival later this month, but I'll be around that weekend and we would all love a visit :-).  Please send me an email to let me know you are coming.

We hope you love our yarn :-)

Thecrazysheeplady, Punkin, PPPP, Ewen McTeagle, Keebler, Graham Lamb, Baaxter Black, Lila, Liddy, Blossom, Maisie, Bullwinkle and Biscuit

It's All Been Fun...

...but washing the yarn is the best part :-).

I've spent the last month (or so) working on the new Lamb Camp yarn release.  Remember the bottle lamb fleeces I sent to Stonehedge Fiber Mill?  Here's a video link.  

I've got the yarn "finished" (skeined, washed and ready for tagging).  I wrote a short book telling a little about the yarn and all the sheep who made it.  I also created a picture of each sheep as a lamb to go with each story.  There was a huge learning curve there, but I'm happy with the end results.

At that point I realized that the project was much more than just throwing together a pamphlet with some yarn and more of a celebration of all the sheep and each of their special stories, so I designed a small project bag, some Equinox Farm inspired stitch markers, a project tag and a wooden ornament to all go with it.

Whew!  I've got way more time in this project than I should, but I always end up putting more time into each lamb than I anticipate as well, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  

The first batch. 

The yarn isn't "finished" until it's washed and dried.  The main reason you need to wash it is to get rid of the spinning oil and any residual dirt, but washing it also wakes up each fiber and allows it to relax back into it's original character.  Some fibers bloom into fuzzy yarns, some get really stretchy, some get puffy, some relax with more drape and flow...  This yarn, being a blend of several types of sheep does a little bit of all of that.

One skein before washing, on the right.  One skein after, on the left.  Isn't that fun?

The yarn is really pretty.  I've made a lamb sweater from it and also a matching short poncho for myself.  The lamb sweater was pretty straightforward, but I have some epic stories about the poncho that need to be shared here so I can add more details than what hit Instagram at the time.  Miss B made a gorgeous sweater from the yarn and I would love to share that as well.  My poor neglected blog.

So, yes, there will be some of this yarn for sale and my plan is to post it on Sunday for Mother's Day, mostly for sentimental reasons.  Of course I don't have any pictures taken and it's crazy/normal springtime on the farm and Frankie and I have our first horse show tomorrow... so it may be the afternoon before I can actually pull that off.  

Wouldn't it be nice if I got all that done and posted a horse show update tomorrow evening like the good old blogging days?  I'm going to try.

Kentucky Wool Week

Normally this week would be spent frantically getting everything finished and set up for the Kentucky Wool Festival.  We lost both the spring and fall festivals this year :-(.   We are all not only missing the income those festivals would generate, but also the social aspects of it as well.  Most of us don't get out much.  Those festivals are a fun way to catch up with each other.

The Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office, Kentucky Natural Fiber Center, Kentucky Fiber Trail and Kentucky Wool Festival got together to create Kentucky Wool Week as a fun way for us all to socialize a little on social media and at the same time help promote Kentucky wool and our small businesses.

This year everything is based around a photography challenge. I'm hoping things will be settled down next year and we can expand Kentucky Wool Week to include some educational classes, competitions and fiber gatherings throughout the state.

Today's challenge prompt is Color.  You know, my favorite topic ;-).  Just to throw everyone, I'm going to actually post a picture of a color besides white or gray today!  There is, of course, more to the story. 

Back in August 2018 (yes, you read that correctly) Miss B and I dyed some wool with marigolds.  We had a big bag of yellow and orange blooms and a big bag of yellow and burgundy blooms.  We dyed some white Border Cheviot (PPPP) and some light gray Jacob (Billy Belly and Allie).

I think we used Alum as our mordant.  I'm sure I took a bunch of fun and pretty pictures that would probably remind me, but without a deep dive into the archives, all I have is the above picture...which has been sitting on my desktop as a reminder that I needed to write up a full blog post about this...since 2018. 

We dyed both white and light gray wool in both marigold pots.  I remember that the yellow and burgundy marigolds provided a slightly darker, almost greener, yellow.  You can sort of see that in the picture above.  

I know that I combed all of my share and I believe I spun the brighter of the two yellows.  It's kind of hard to say at this point though because I kept everything in a cute basket on my workbench so I could enjoy looking at it...which I thoroughly did...until I realized the dark rich yellows were fading and I then packed them away :-(.

The marigolds are in full bloom in the dye garden right now and that combined with the color prompt inspired me to pull the still mostly slightly colorful yarn out and finally share some pictures.  I'm now sort of toying with picking some of the flowers and tossing everything back into the dye pot and restoring the yarns to full color. 

It makes me sad to pick flowers though.  I've got plenty of poke weed berries right now though and it wouldn't make me too sad to boil those before they end up all over my car ;-).  Maybe I'll see if Miss B is up for a new natural dyeing adventure.  If we do, I promise I'll post the pictures much quicker.

Regardless, I can now take the yellow pictures off my desktop because I finally did a 'sort of' post about a fun thing we did...a couple of years ago.  I also cleaned out my refrigerator the other day, so look out!

If you are interested in joining in with the Kentucky Wool Week photo challenge, jump in!

Fiberuary Day Three - Knit In 2019

I'm trying to do I am doing the February fiber challenge Fiberuary again this year.  I enjoy these month long challenges because a. I like a fun challenge and b. I frequently think about things I wouldn't normally and sometimes learn something new either about myself or my craft.  I've also made some great friends following other posts.

Yesterday's challenge was "Knit in 2019".  The obvious first thought was the epic Muffin and Pepperpot sweater. I've used that for a several posts already though, but the only other thing I could think of was a teddy bear sweater I knit over the Christmas season.  I stewed on it off and on all day while caring for a sick sheep and just couldn't get enthused.  

And then it hit me.  I did have another 2019 knit that I hadn't already over-shared.  The Rebecca Boone cape.  The cape I really enjoyed dyeing the yarn for and knitting. The cape I sent off to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival and won a blue ribbon with.  The cape I...had still never even tried on. 

I don't know why I hadn't.  Maybe because I was afraid it wouldn't fit or I'd look stupid in a cape and I would no longer love it the way I did.  I know I'd hoped to wear it during the Kentucky Wool Festival or for the Rhinebeck Blues party, but both events were too warm.  I didn't worry about it though because I knew I had plenty of time...until I didn't.

The sick sheep I'm caring for is Rebecca Boone and she is very sick.  I had hoped it was "just" pneumonia due to the crazy weather, but is most likely a heart problem that has now developed into pneumonia.  The vet was back out this morning and we are trying one more thing, but I don't have a lot of hope.  One thing I can say about Cotswolds though is they don't go down without a fight and she is still fighting. 

So as I sat in the truck where I could watch her without bothering her (she is quite over being doctored) I beat myself up for forgetting to do a "dressed alike" photo shoot with her.  Then I added in never making the Ewen mittens and the PPPP sweater or Renny's steeked flower sweater and...

The only one of those I could maybe fix was Rebecca Boone.  I decided to try and called my neighbor to see if she could come over and take a couple quick pictures while I sat down with her in the barn...and I went in to get the cape...that fit perfectly and I now loved even more.

I had hoped she'd just keep laying down and I could crouch down next to her without bothering her too much, but she saw both of us coming and made a run for the door.  I quickly grabbed a bag of cookies in hopes that would stop her and it did and she even ate two for me while Jennifer quickly snapped a few pictures.  We then hightailed it out and let her go back to bed.

Jennifer got several pictures that most people would think looked fine, but as I know the sheep (and the shepherd) I look at them and mostly see a sick sheep and a sad shepherd...who is wearing a lovely cape she made from the wool of one of her very favorite sheep.  I hope we get another chance to re-take these pictures.

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.

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

Renny

I've lost track of how many times I thought I'd be writing these words.  So many times that now that I'm actually having to write it...I don't know what to say.  

Renny probably should have died before she ever hit that muddy pond years ago.  She should have died in the pond.  She should have died at the animal shelter.  She should have died at the vet clinic.  She probably should have died even after she got to our farm.  There was never a tougher sheep.

I think she must have had a huge heart.  And a lion's share of courage.  So many of us worked together to care for her as she saved herself and I know none of us will ever be the same.   I know I never thought I'd be able to do the things I had to do to care for her in those early days. Roar!

I hope anyone who didn't know Renny will stumble across her for years to come and learn from her that we can live through and do way more than we think we can.  That if you can just hold on a little longer, you might get pulled out from the mud, your wounded legs heal and the rest of your life be spent surrounded by friends.

Renny had been declining all summer.  I knew it was coming.  Her body was worn out.  Still, I was not prepared for her collapse yesterday morning.  As I sat with her, her head on my lap, both PPPP and Billy Belly came over to see her.  They knew what was coming as well.

It will be okay...eventually.

If you need to stumble across Renny's story, here are a few links.

http://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/2010/11/if-there-was-ever-sheep-that-deserved.html

http://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/2010/11/renny.html

http://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-birthday-renny.html

Back To School Photos

I've been submitting photos for the cover of the Kentucky Wool Festival program for many years now.  Some years I have a photo ready early in the year.  Many years I don't and find myself out in the field at the end of August taking pictures, hoping for that perfect head shot.  I think of this as taking my "back to [the wool festival] photos".  Here are a few favorites.

Maisie!

"What?"

Ah, the innocent kindergartner, Big Moose.

PPPP (Popcorn PeePee Pants), the grand dame.  

The ever enduring Renny.

Handsome Andy.

Spud...the sofa ;-).

Golden Oldies

My original paragraph started by stating "Renny is the youngest sheep in the Golden Oldies group...", but I wanted to make sure about Rebecca Boone and then started checking everyone and, yikes, time has flown.  

PPPP is 14, Ewen is 12, Billy Belly is 14, Rebecca Boone is 11, Woolliam is 11.  At 10, Renny is not the youngest sheep.  That would be B. Willard, who is just 9.

(!)

Ewen McTeagle.  It seems like just yesterday you were terrorizing the cat food on the back porch.

There's a new puzzle :-).

It's Going To Take More Than A Couple Weeks

I've been told the only difference between a good haircut and a bad one...is about two weeks.  I think these are going to take a bit longer.  When the majority of the flock was shorn back in March, we didn't shear the oldest sheep.  If you are frail and thin or not super mobile, you shouldn't have to work hard to stay warm until the weather breaks.  

The weather has broken.  Or is broken.  It was 90 yesterday.  In May.  That extra wool needed to come off.  I managed to get Ewen, Woolliam and  PPPP sheared...and only had to call the vet once. Needless to say I'm not going to quit my day job and start shearing sheep anytime soon.  Or any time.  

PPPP doesn't look too bad.

Well, relatively speaking...

A little Biscuit and Muffin break midway through :-).

Kate nervously watching yet another storm headed our way.

"Rebecca Boone.  I'm trying to take a picture of Ewen."

"Whatever."

Handsome Ewen

"She snipped me under my jaw and to make matters worse, because it's summer and fly season, she called the vet out and she put six staples in on top of it."

"I"m sorry, Big Wool :-(."

By this point it was raining hard so I sat down with everyone to wait it out.  You can tell by Kate's ears (glued to her head) that she wasn't enjoying the storm break as much as I was.