Renny's Hennys

I ended up making a third baby chick and that used up all but a very small amount of dark green yarn and an even smaller amount of light green.  This was a fun project and I'd probably keep making chicks if I hadn't run out of Renny's yarn, but it's time to move on to a new fun project.

Renny's Henny

I've been coveting an Emotional Support Chicken for quite awhile, but other than purchasing the pattern, hadn't gotten any further.  When I finished the...what did I end up naming the walnut dyed sweater/vest?...checks blog...it's not on the blog?...are you kidding me!?! 

Okay, start over.  When I finished the fall sweater/vest I decided the leftover yarn would be perfect to use for chicken colors...so I finally cast on...a couple of times I think, but who can say since I never wrote any of that down either?  

Once I was pretty much committed, I ventured into the garage for something and found the leftover yarn from my Renny sweater.  At least that one is on the blog...finally.  The naturally dyed yarn from the vest would have been nice, but the Renny yarn would be perfect!  I grabbed that bag of yarn and started over once again.

There were the usual fits and starts and starts and starts, but I finally have my chicken.  And I do think having a knitting project to work on did provide a little respite from the awfulness of everything going on right now, so this was a great first project for 2026 on a couple of levels.  

I thought it would be fun to take a picture with her out in the coop with the other hens that night so before it got super dark I set it up.  She looks enough like a real chicken that the other chickens hated her!  Chickens are like that.

Air Fryer (the gray chicken) took a couple of swipes at her and then split.  Zelda got a couple licks in too, but stopped to think...a little.

"Why are you trying to sneak in another chicken?!?"

Zelda was actually more afraid of her than it looks like here.  I only snapped a couple of pictures and then removed the intruder.  When I came back a few minutes later to finish evening chores, I found Zelda hiding in a laying box.  I put her back on the roost and she was okay.

I wasn't completely surprised that they acted that way because a few days earlier, "the other Sarah" had come to visit and brought her hen and three chicks and they received the same negative attention from another hen.  

Chickens are complicated...but if you actually read the pattern, they are pretty easy to knit :-).

As You Plan To Carry On

I enjoy the New Year's Day challenge of trying to fit in a tiny bit of EVERYTHING that I hope to carry on throughout the new year.  I never get it all done, but it's good to at least think about what I'm hoping to accomplish in the upcoming trip around the sun.

I haven't done any spinning or knitting yet today, but it's only 8:30.  I might even at least dust my loom!  I did process a tiny amount of wool using a fun electric drum carder I have on loan from a friend.  You'll never guess who this is...so I'll tell you.

As I was looking for something else the other day I found this in a tub of odds and ends.  It's a couple of ounces of one of Renny's last fleeces.  Look!  A chicken!  (Instant distraction :-)

I took some pictures with my big camera with the plan to do a blog post (see how I'm fitting everything in?) and also made a couple of videos so you can see how the carder works.  It hums along with just a hint of sound as the wool brushes through.  A little wool processing ASMR.

 

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Time to get spinning :-).  Happy New Year!

The Renny Sweater

The Kentucky Shepherd's Market on Saturday went really well.  We had great vendors and a good crowd, excellent food, perfect weather and tons of fun.  Auntie Reg was there to keep things rolling in the booth so I was able to teach drop spindle lessons throughout the day and that made my day.

Well, maybe what really made my day was wearing my Renny sweater for the first time.  Yeah, I'd never even put it on after it was finished.  This is not the first time I've done that.  Remember the Rebecca Boone capelet story?  I've yet to wear the Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb poncho.

Why is that?  

The Rebecca Boone capelet knit up without a hitch if I remember correctly, but the Renny sweater took years to get the colors right and pattern settled.  I loved both items when they were finished, but I think I was worried the capelet would be too short or I'd look silly wearing it and that the Renny sweater wouldn't fit right or be comfortable to wear or something and then I would no longer love them as much.  

You'd think after learning my lesson about the capelet that I wouldn't be so funny about wearing the other two items.  I wonder if part of the poncho is because of the trauma of losing Abby and Early.  I miss those two lambs especially, but I've also backed way off enjoying all the lambs like in the old Lamb Camp days.  The poncho was made for lambing time.

I got lots of compliments on my sweater Saturday and when I told the story of not wearing it before, everyone understood and one knitter even finished my sentence for me "...you were afraid you'd no longer love it."  

That might be the beauty of gathering together for events like these.  I ended the day feeling inspired and encouraged and...a little less crazy.  And, like the Rebecca Boone capelet, I now love the Renny sweater even more.

Fun With Friends

"Hi!  My name is Marshmallow!  I just spent a week here at Equinox Farm and while I was here the sheep lady knit me a sweater before I headed for my new home up north."

"It's a really nice sweater and it's super warm.  It was made from a sheep named Renny.  She said you'd all know who that was."

"Once she got my sweater finished I got to go out to the barn and meet all the sheep.  I didn't get to meet Renny though.  She said she lived here a long time ago.  I'm sad I didn't get to meet her.  She sounded like a great sheep.  Pinto was really nice though and he even let me kiss him on his nose!"

"Then we had a big cookie party.  That was pretty crazy.  I'm glad we took lots of pictures. If you ever get to come to the farm, you definitely want to do a cookie party!"

"Then I went in and wrote a story about all the fun things I got to do while I was at the farm.  It has lots of pictures. You can read it here if you'd like.  There's a funny picture of what the sheep lady said was "Maisie, being Maisie."  That sheep is a little scary if you don't have a lot of cookies!"

"I had a really good time, but I'm glad I made is safely to my new home with my new mom.  The sheep lady says she's known her for a long time and that I'm going to have a lot of fun here, too."

My Favorite Tree...Of The Week...Or All Time

The Crowing Hen and her tiny friend Blondie have been here for almost ten years.  There were originally two tiny hens and the two tinies hung out together and the Crowing Hen, now affectionately called "Yaya" because that's what the bantams sound like when they're talking to me bossing me around, was brave enough to mingle with the big hens.

The two tinies slept each night side by side on one of the beams just over the cart stall in the barn.  Yaya chose the Sheep Chicken's perch in the outside stall.  The big hens are locked securely in the coop.  I've always wished all the chickens would sleep in there, but the bantams have never wanted to do that.

Something happened one night and the two tiny hens moved from their normal perch to way up into the rafters for a few months.  They eventually moved back down and then the silver hen started having trouble getting up into the lower perch.  She let me help her for awhile and then one morning a year or so ago I found her dead.

Blondie continued to sleep over the cart stall for quite a few months and then one night she wasn't there.  I eventually found her sleeping in the rafters over the Easy Breezy stall.  I'm not sure what scared her over there, but she seemed okay with that spot and that's where she's slept for many months.

A month or so ago I found the Crowing Hen with a bare spot on her neck (!).  I'm not sure what happened, but I feel like something had tried to grab her, luckily unsuccessfully.  Because I knew that a. she was pretty comfortable with the big chicken and b. she was in a location I could easily get to, I started picking her up and locking her in the main coop at night.  She still makes me move her each night, but at least she's basically okay with it.

One night last week Blondie moved back over the cart.  There is a nest of fledging barn swallows near where she had been sleeping and I wondered if they'd told her to get lost.  The next night I found her in the tack room.  I made her a perch in there and hoped she'd move in there at night, but the following night I couldn't find her anywhere.

She did show up the next morning (whew!), but that night I again couldn't find her.  That went on for several days.  I tried to be as stealth as I could, watching her every move, trying to clue in to where she was going, but she kept eluding me.  The fifth morning she showed up looking very tired and cold. I really needed to get this figured out.

Tuesday night she walked into the Wool House and looked around, eyeing the loft.  I love this little chicken...but not that much ;-).  I'd seen her poking around a little with the big chickens recently, I think trying to talk herself into moving in to their secure coop, so I tried to stick her in their with them, but she was too scared.  I set up a small cage in the wash room like she'd slept in during the Polar Vortex and she settled right in.

Last night I propped the door open and hoped she'd go in there on her own.  As I walked back up to the barn after dinner I found her heading across the yard.  I stood there quietly, watching, thinking at least now I was going to find out where she'd been sleeping every night.  She headed for the big pine tree and just as she was going to make her big leap, I scooped her up.  

My first thought was how scared she must have been to move out of her long time barn home into the "wilds" and how scared she must have been out there huddled in a tree all night.  No wonder she looked exhausted.  

Then I thought about finding blind Rocky out there after the night he wandered out of the barn and got lost.  And Salt always sleeping under that tree and Ewenice and Renny and Kate and Tilly and sitting out there with bottle lamb after bottle lamb and who knows who else has sought shelter in and under that kind tree.

It's had a rough life.  The top has been ripped out of it time and again by wind and ice and lightning.  Because it's lost it's ability to grow up, it's grown out.  Way too far out.  We've tried pruning it back a few times, but I know it's days are numbered.  It maybe does as well because it's setting a bunch of pine cones this summer.  

I'm hoping I can harvest some seeds from these cones...but I mostly hope I don't need a replacement for a very long time.

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.  

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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 :-).  

Just In The Nick Of Time

I think the last time I dyed the yarn for this sweater was fall of 2019...which is around the time the blog got sketchy, so who knows what really happened :-/.  

I do remember the yarn started out (years ago) in springtime colors, then (years ago) tweaked to be more summer and then (two years ago), when once again I wasn't finding much inspiration from the yarn that was so special, it occurred to me to shoot for a fall palette and then, even better, a blanket flower palette. 

I started (for the last time) knitting the sweater for the 2020 Iknitarod.  Something went wrong, I think the gauge in the green section (?), and it didn't get finished until the 2021 Iknitarod.  At least it was finally finished and I miraculously remembered to take pictures the other day just before the blanket flowers were finished for the year.

I regret I was not able to finish this sweater while Renny was still alive.  I would have loved a picture of it with her.  I would have loved for her to see her beautiful yarn made into something that will last long after she and I are gone.  It's hard not to compare the hard fought journey from sheep to happy sweater with her hard fought journey from what should have been her tragic end to such a happy life.

Blanket flowers make for happy bees, too :-).

There are so many previous posts I should link throughout this post to tell a more complete story of the sheep, yarn and knitting, but it's a beautiful fall day and I'm going back outside.  Long time readers know her story.  If you are new, follow this link or her "label" on the right hand side of the blog and meet a tough sheep and her even tougher yarn.

Oh, And Here It Is April 6th...

...and I've forgotten to post the March month end video. It's long, but there were lots of good memories. Re-watching it I realize I haven't shared any of the Iknitarod and Renny sweater updates, shearing pictures, Frankie's first horse show... Good grief. Stay on me!

 

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Is everyone able to watch this even if you don't have an Instagram account?

The New, New, New, New, New, New Plan

We definitely need a score keeper!  That's okay.  It's only knitting.  Important to me knitting, but...just knitting :-).  

I decided that the Renny sweater deserved a big official and fun finish under the Burled Arch without me rushing to get it done or setting the detailed after-knitting finishing touches aside until after this year's race.  I've entered this year as a WIP (work in progress) Iknitarod entry.

The Iditarod is not following a normal route either. The 2021 race will be an "out and back" loop they are calling the Gold Loop in an effort to keep the more remote checkpoints safer from COVID exposure.  By turning around at Iditarod (the old town) the race is "only" going to be 852 miles rather than the usual around 1000.  Whether that affects the times remains to be seen.

I think the amount of work I have left on the Renny sweater should carry me to about that halfway point.  Once I'm headed back, I have something fun planned for the second half of my race.  I'll post more about that later.

If you remember last year's ravatar, you'll notice the similarity to this year...with a couple of changes.  Hank and Comby, no longer with us, are now the bright star.  Possum has taken Comby's place, but also now stands close to Salt...as she would.  I changed the sweater I'm wearing to the FINISHED Renny sweater and the light gray scarf and dark gray mittens are representative of her light and dark gray wool that was dyed to make all the colors.

I was also asked to design the Iknitarod's group Ravatar this year and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It's a little busy, but hopefully the design reflects the unusual course route and the musher's red jacket is a nod to one of my pretty much everyone's favorite musher, Aliy Zirkle, who has announced that this will be her last race.  

I had originally planned to use this as my personal Ravatar this year, maybe changing out the dogs to match Kate, Salt and Weaslie, but once I decided to continue on with last year's project I wanted to use last year's graphic as well.  I enjoy making these little "cartoons".

Mushing on!

For Anyone Who May Still Be Keeping Score At Home

Mini Moose was looking quite knitworthy the other day!

I have not given up on the 2020 Iknitarod!  This sweater should have been finished...honestly...years ago.  At very least months ago.  It will be finished before I allow myself to start on my 2021 Iknitarod project, which should start this Saturday.  Which will start this Saturday.   

I'm happy to be getting back in the knitting groove at least a little.  You know the groove where I knit a bunch of inches and then have to rip back a bunch of inches and reknit them and hope I don't have to re-rip them back out and re-re-knit them...  

Me and Stella...keeping it real on the lane ;-).

A Sweet Story About A Sweet Sheep

A couple of weeks ago I needed to run to town and pick up some groceries and pet food. Or, I should say, go to town to pick up pet food...and some groceries ;-).  

I shop mostly at the small family owned grocery because "small, family owned", but also because there's (sadly for them) less people.  However, when you are feeding a large Pyrenees who likes her dry food topped with canned cat food and a couple, okay all three, "complicated" cats, about once a month I brave the big box store.  

So, well stocked with hand sanitizer and my mask, I headed to town...and the parking lot looked like it was a holiday weekend.

My first thought was to just turn around and go home.  We're pretty good at scrounging the pantry for weird stuff that needs clearing out and, in fact, it's become my main house cleaning strategy this summer ;-).  However, Comby really needed his special food :-/.  Sigh...  Wait!  I could go to TSC (Tractor Supply Company).

As I walked in, for some reason (special sheep spotting super power :-) I looked in the sale bin at the front of the store.  I never look there.  But I did.  And I spotted two dog toys stuffed sheep tossed in the bottom bin!  I picked up one and immediately texted a friend who I knew would come rescue the other one.

From there my new little sheep friend and I "crossed the river" and went to the little grocery.  No four year old tin of black eyed peas for dinner that night ;-D. 

Look how happy he looks to be out in the fresh air and blue skies! :-)

...and then I started worrying about his friend back in the dog toy bin.  What happened if my friend couldn't get there in time and some terrible person who would buy a stuffed sheep for their dog to rip to shreds got to him first :-o.  Since I had to drive right back past the farm store on my way home anyway, I decided I should foster the other sheep.  Crisis averted ;-).

...and I pulled in their parking lot just behind my friend :-).  Before she went in to rescue her sheep, we stood outside talking for awhile.  She's not had a stellar year.  I haven't had a stellar year.  We commiserated on our not stellar years and counted our many blessings and I left feeling a little better and less alone and I hope she did as well.  

...and I thought of how if the box store hadn't have been too crowded, I'd have not gone to the farm store at Just The Right Time and then on to the little grocery and back to the farm store at Just At The Right Time and of how two little stuffed sheep could help brighten up a couple of afternoons.  

Meet Chocula Chip :-)

Of course I had to pull out some Count Chocula roving I have stashed and spin a couple of ounces so he could learn about his namesake and a bit about his new home and what we do here.  He watched very carefully.

...and picked up spinning right away.

Then we washed his skein to set the twist.

That is a happy little sheep :-).

He even has the ear pillow down pat :-).

...and if I can ever get the Renny sweater finished, he'll have a warm wool sweater to wear this winter...before the next Iknitarod starts :-o.

Well...

Well.  

I've tried to find the inspiration to post a blog.  I've even gone out on three occasions and taken some good pictures specifically for the blog.  I write "BLOG!" on my daily To Do list.  I don't know.  

I've kept the Instagram/FB feed going, which has been nice.  Sharing pictures and videos of the normal craziness of the farm is a respite for sure.  The ups and downs of the 2020 Iknitarod - no, I didn't finish...yet.  Rebecca Boone getting sick again...and now doing better again.  Frankie and Lancelot rolling in the mud.  Billy Belly sleeping with his head on Woolliam's back.

Billy Belly.  Billy Belly flew under the radar here for years, just another one of those crazy Jacobs who, while they might sneak up and take a cookie from you, really didn't want any other sort of attention.  He was probably 10 years old before I realized that whenever something was wrong with someone, Billy Belly was always there.

As Renny lay with her head in my lap that last morning, Billy Belly stood next to her.  He looked at her and then turned and looked at me.  I hope he wasn't looking for me to do something to help her and was disappointed that I couldn't.  Hopefully it was a look of understanding.  Maybe it was nothing more than a look.

I wish I could explain "looking".  I think about it a lot.  Cheeto lives here because she looked at me several years ago.  She still looks at me.  Lancelot looks at me in a way Frankie does not, even though Frankie does look at me all the time.  I never walk into the barn when I don't lock eyes with Maisie.  Everyone watches me, but only a few actually look at me.

Billy Belly is the sheep looking at me.

He was the caretaker of the flock, especially the old sheep.  

I'm glad I took these pictures last week.  He got down the other day and couldn't get up on his own.  I was able to help him up the first day and he could then get around.  The second day he could no longer stand on his own...and he was completely over me trying to help.  He was older than the blog.  To the best of my recollection he'd have been 15 next month.

I hope everyone is okay.  I really don't have any words...but I can share pictures.  And a new puzzle.

The 2020 Iknitarod

I'm starting this post with my 2020 Ravatar because if I led with the picture of the actual project, everyone would just pass on by because you've seen this yarn so. many. times.  

For the 2020 Iknitarod...I am knitting the Renny sweater!  

I think about the Iknitarod off and on all year long and some time ago I picked this sweet gray dog to be my Iknitarider.  I had originally planned to spin and knit a Jared sweater and have been tossing patterns around for months.  I could never settle on one though and I kept feeling bad about never knitting the Renny sweater and when it dawned on me that Charcoal had something in common with Renny, I knew what I was going to do.

"Are you sure?  That is a LOT of color!" ;-)

Like many animals on our farm, Charcoal was a rescue.  In his early life he had worked hard in a grade school classroom.  So hard that he ended up with a patch on his backside, just like Renny :-).  When his teacher retired, she took him home with her and kept him until she found a new home for him...and he eventually ended up with me.

With the dog connection to Renny - the bad dogs who caused her to end up here in the first place and the good dogs who took care of her for the rest of her life - and how old those dogs have all become, this year the dogs are center stage, along with Comby, who is a close to a dog as a cat can get :-).  And of course Renny is there, too, up in the stars.

I am knitting the Icelandic Star pattern.  The pattern is written as a bottom up sweater.  It's written to be knitted flat, back and forth, not around and around to then be steeked.  If you remember waaaay back, learning to do a steek was one of the original goals for the original Renny sweater.  I'd link all those old posts here, but even I don't want to revisit them (and I'm hungry and want to go eat lunch ;-).  

I have done the math to convert the pattern to be knit in the round.  I am worried about running out of yarn, so I've also done the math to convert it to be knit top down.  And, just to throw in one more challenge, I am between sizes so I've done the math to create my own personal size.  What could go wrong... ;-D.

*   *   *   *   *

As always, I encourage you to follow along with the actual race at www.iditarod.com.  The Insider coverage is fantastic!  I'll be posting my usual daily Iknitarod updates on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and the Iknitarod group is in full swing and we have several on the scene "reporters".  

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.