Mama Goes To The Mill

Remember Mama? After washing, I had hand processed a small bit for a spinning sample. I was finally able to get the rest of her fleece to Ohio Valley Natural Fibers last week.



First it gets picked.



Then headed on to the drums (I switched sides of the machine for this photo).



Around and around from drum to drum.



And the last step turns it into a long tube of ready to spin wool.



Look how pretty.

Here's a video (not Mama) that shows more of the process.



This is Mama.





Guess who this is? Well, you'll never guess, so I'll tell you. It's Renny!



Huge, smushy Sherman. That's one fleece. I think it might become a huge, smushy blanket that I can keep forever.



Messy Boudreaux. At the last minute I decided to take his awful (too bad to show you the pictures!) fleece just to see what would happen. While I sure wouldn't try to sell it to anyone, it's clean enough that I can spin it. Would be nice to get something outta the boy. He can't really help it; the chickens are sabotaging him. At least that's his story... ;-).



This is a lovely (clean and washed like they all should be) Border Leicester lamb fleece from one of B. Willard's cousins. It's running in the first video above.



Lined up ready to go home. Renny, Willard's cousin, Boudreaux, Sherman (how they smushed all that into the bag is a wonder) and Mama. I waited on these to run and left several others for later pick up.

It's almost time for the Kentucky Wool Festival!

Who Does This Look Like?

Just every now and then and only from certain angles, but when he does, it's really startling. Of course Graham doesn't act like Miss Ewenice ;-).

So from the department of "laugh or cry", here's the latest chapter in Graham's book of tales. Yesterday I pulled my CRV into the barn lot so Dr. Barron, Louanne and I could put Blizzard in the back to take him to UK. Immediately Graham started trying to open the driver's side door. He gave it several good tries, to no avail. He stepped back, surveyed the situation and WENT AROUND AND TRIED THE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR!

What sort of sheep thinks like that?!?

Just adding to the reasons why I'm afraid to go to the barn half the time ;-).

___________________________________________________

Everyone seems okay today. We are still formulating our plan(s) and I so appreciate everyone's input and kind words. Sounds like so many of us have had a fairly crappy summer :-/.

I've had several questions about Sherman's necropsy and we learned nothing helpful other than he had a blockage due to bladder stones. Toxicology came back normal, no red flags. Should have preliminary results back on Blizzard tomorrow.

Sweet Sherman

The relief of Marcel getting better was quickly dampened by Sherman having trouble. We treated him as aggressively as we could, but ended up having him put down this morning. Such a sweet, sweet boy.

They are not sure if it's residual damage from the drought (mild nitrate poisoning can apparently mimic a phosphorus/calcium imbalance and other nutritional abnormalities and would be common during and after a drought because the plants in the field are stressed and do not chemically act right), a supplemented mineral issue, something completely unrelated or just general bad luck to have two sheep in less than two weeks with similar problems after years of none. We sent him for a necropsy in case there was anything to learn.

Making a call to end an animal's life, especially a dear friend, is tough. Seldom are you 100% sure you are doing the right thing. You frequently struggle with worrying that you didn't give them quite enough time (or too much time), maybe the meds would eventually help, maybe the animal themselves isn't ready. Sherman was ready.



As I was scrolling back looking at pictures I found this series. These might be my favorite pictures of one of my favorite sheep.

He was a good sheep. Even Comby would agree.

Siesta

These long hot afternoons... The temperature is down a bit today, but the humidity is way high and just wearing me down. I've been a pretty darn good sport about it all for weeks and weeks and weeks. I can't promise how much longer that will last :-o.

To top it all off, something's wrong with Marcel :-/. Something urinary, but his ultrasound and urine smear showed only minor crystals, no stones. Bladder stones are almost always a death sentence, so that was a bit of good news...except that leaves us with what really is the problem??? We are treating for stones (just in case they are just starting) and a UTI (only other possibility we can come up with). Any thoughts?

So, while it would be nice to be sitting inside in the AC watching the Olympics and knitting on the Jester sweater, I'm sitting out in the sheep shed, watching. At least I'm in good company. Even if they are all asleep ;-).



The Keebster.



The Hankster. There's a funny Twitter picture of him from earlier today.



Lila. She has developed the funniest tuft of hair smack on the top of her head. You might be able to see it if you biggify. Gives her a bit of a Flintstones look. Would it be mean to take a picture of that? Like maybe if we all promised not to laugh? Too loudly?



Marcel, finally laying down to take a nap with his buds. I'm hoping this is a good sign - as opposed to mostly standing up and hiding away by himself. Poor Marcel :-(. Him leaning on my leg as I rub his ears trying to make him feel a little better is breaking my heart. Such a sweet guy.



Keebs, Sherman and B. Willard. Almost like Neapolitan ice cream. This shot is focused on Willard in the back, with my aperture set to blur out the front.



And vice versa.

Which do you like better?



"She's never going to get my sweater finished at this rate."

Wishful Thinking

Doesn't this look like a fall picture? B. Willard and Sherman. Still good brothers :-).



Yesterday morning.

Last big crunch day on the barn renovation and clean up. Looking forward to a return to "normalcy".

Sunday Stills - Roads

The sheep road.


iPhone

Sherman's not sure it's even worth the walk.



Same road, one month ago.

For more Sunday Stills...

The Dog Days Of June

Ugh. 102 degrees today. This is the hottest I can ever remember being and I went to Texas one time! One time. That place was so hot I've never been back ;-).



I've got the barn opened up as much as possible. There's a good breeze - usually - through the aisleway, so I made a temporary stall at the end and picked up another fan.



Woolliam's still not happy. Everyone is hunkering down, trying to stay cool.



Marcel: "Sherman's hogging the fan!"



Sherman: "Yeah, it's great! You should get yourself one."



And poor Blossom. So hot. So miserable that all she wants is her momma. So she can lay on me. To feel cooler?

Some iPhone shots.









Nothing like a wool blanket in the middle of summer :-o.

Blobs

It is so. hot. All the sheep look like blobs, laying in front of the fans.



I look like a blog too, but as I'm the one operating the camera... ;-).



Sherman.



And his pillow.



Boudreaux, using his ear as a pillow. You can just barely see it in front of the blob.



Let's bust out the wide angle and include Graham Lamb.

"Stick it, lady!"



Our fearless Tour de Fleece leader. Nice decoration there, Petunia :-/.



"Stop throwing straw on our backs. You are getting us in troubles!"

Good girl, Lila!

She's maintained her interest in law enforcement.

A Spring Sheep

Sherman

Sunday Stills - Back Light

Keebs has obviously started decorating (himself) for Christmas ;-).

For more backlit Sunday Stills...

Sheep On The Street

I was going to title this post "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas", but I didn't want to give anyone a heart attack ;-).

It is looking like it though. Not only is the new Christmas card finished and "gone to print", but I have a decent (as in Not Zero) amount of holiday shopping completed and I even thought this morning about ordering some new Christmas lighting. In November.

Maybe the post title should be "It's The End Of The World As We Know It."



Last night 20, Marcel, Sherman and B. Willard headed up to the state capital. This weekend is the Candlelight Tour of Frankfort and the folks at The Woolery were excited to have their beautiful new location open for business.



Having some real live wool sweaters (still on the sheep ;-) in front of the store seemed like a fun idea. Oddly, I couldn't believe how many people had no idea why they were there. Once we pointed out the spinning/knitting/weaving/rug hooking store behind us..."Oh, cool!"

Definitely some educational opportunities up there...or (coming from a sheep person) maybe it's because The Woolery has "rabbits" as their logo ;-).



I love the little boy peering around his dad's shoulder. You'd think taking sheep out in public was just for the little kids, but I think the adults love them just as much or more.



The new store is lovely.



Much bigger (translated as even more stuff :-) than the previous location.



And neat things to see. Cotton!

Side note: If you'd like to see commercially grown cotton being harvested and processed, Linda from Life on a Colorado Farm did two great posts this past week.



The weaving section. Well, part of it. Wow!



The street view - very pretty. You can see the sheep pen on the bottom right. What a nice spot.



Willard and Marcel are old hats at "city work", but this was Sherman's first trip off the farm. I was worried he might be stressed, but he did a great job. Some kids feeding him popcorn off and on didn't hurt ;-). Near the end of the night though I caught him staring at Saint Tim - driver of the "space ship" that he knew hoped would take him home. I was pretty cold by that point too.

Yep, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! :-)