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

I thought about just taking a week off from the Sheep of the Week.  I hadn't found the time to go out and get a good portrait and I'm running so behind on the Iknitarod that I really needed to focus on that.  I hated skipping a week though because then it gets easy to skip another week when I can't manage my time and then another week...

The request for this week/last week had been Tabitha.  She is one of the five young(ish) Jacobs we have.  She's the only sort of chummy one in the group so she stands out.  Chummy as in she will come up to you to get a cookie.  The rest like cookies...but you have to toss them from a distance.  Jacobs... ;-)

 

When I was doing the barn check this morning, I found her front and center, almost like she was reminding me I hadn't taken her picture.  It was still pretty dark, but the iPhone does a great job in low light and this is not too bad.  I will try to get a better portrait this week though.

Here is as close to a baby picture as I have of her.  She and her fellow Ts arrived in January of 2017. She would have been maybe eight or nine months old here. I don't have any funny stories about these five crazy Jacobs, but their trip up here from WV was a pretty cute post.   

I had them set up in the horse stalls for quarantine and I enjoyed using Kate to move them out to the yard to graze every day and then back in.  Tilly even helped a little.  Those were fun days.

I love Jacob sheep.  I think they are beautiful and if I could only spin one type of wool for the rest of my life, I'd pick Jacob.  Their fleeces are easy to care for and process.  They yarn spins easily and can do quite a few jobs depending on the individual and whether they are on the softer side or more medium.  The fun you can have blending the colors is the best.

What I don't enjoy as much about Jacobs is their more "primitive" personalities.  Henri was a friendly Jacob and Annabelly was sweet, too.  Tabitha is as close to "friendly" as we have anymore.  Tavia could probably be talked into being more friendly if she didn't have the other three bad influences around.  

That's okay.  We have quite a few less colorful...but more colorful sheep who are more than happy to fill the sheep are so fun roles :-).  Everyone has a place.

Special request for next/this week?

Snow Angels

B. Willard was a gift that kept on giving.  He came over as a lamb from Tring Farm years ago.  I think he'd been weaned.  I don't remember bottling him...but maybe I finished him here...  Okay, blog to the rescue.  He was 5 weeks old and anyone looking at this youngster would know this was Baby Willard.  That classic Willard look.  

It's fun...and a bit sad...to go back and read the old stories and look at pictures.  Willard was a never ending source of entertainment.  We called him the Sheep of Impeccable Character.  He truly was.  I said B. Willard B. Mine to him all the time.  He was the star of the very first Hug a Sheep Day.  

Willard's biggest gift to me was his sweet and cheerful personality.  He ended up with terrible arthritis in his legs, but he kept "making the donuts" as long as he could, hobbling out to graze in the yard each morning, giving me a nod as he walked past the porch where I was usually sitting.  He and Cheeto took the best care of Early and he never seemed to mind when Ellie used him as a springboard.  I think he loved those lambs.

A gift we gave each other was the late night and early morning barn checks.  Willard had always been a good napper and loved to sleep flat out on his side.  I can't count how many times I saw him like that over the years and raced over to make sure he was still breathing.  As he got old and stiff, he frequently could no longer get himself back up and he'd get himself in trouble trying.  

After one too many times finding himself "upside down" for too long (sheep are not designed to lay like that) and worrying that one day I'd find him dead, I started making a late night trek to the barn and setting my alarm to get back up there early in the morning so he wasn't unsupervised so long.  

I am not a night owl.  I like being up in the morning, but I'd used the rising sun as my alarm.  Trudging up to the barn in the pitch dark was something new.  I didn't hate it.  In fact, walking up there with a big cup of coffee and the dogs and cats, especially when Salt was here, became the highlight of my day.  

I'd click on my flashlight, and say "Hey guys, just me." before I walked into the barn in an effort not to startle everyone else.  If there was a problem, I'd fix it and if not I'd say "'Morning, Willard.  'Morning, Cheeto." and go sit on the Wool House porch, drink my coffee and watch the sun come up.  

I did this for at least two years and I think they loved that morning routine as much as I did.  And seeing the two of them cuddled up together at night sharing a pile of hay was the sweetest way to end each day.  They took the best care of each other...and that took care of me.

I miss that so much.

It's getting better.  My day is not ruined now by not seeing their smiling faces, but I did have the conversation with myself the other day that there was really no reason anymore for making that early morning trek.  They were gone.  My driveway buddy Salt was gone.  The rest of the barn would really prefer I not bother them until daybreak.

That morning I found Ellie stuck somewhere needing help.  This morning I found a "snow angel".  In the near dark it just looked like a dark spot on the ground, but when I got closer I saw it was a sheep print (camera brightened).  Seeing the two legs stretched out in front told me this had been where a comfortably warm and happy sheep had slept...and that made me happy.  

I'd have missed it if I'd not been out there early.  A gift.

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 Little Weasel

Miss Tilly was named after one of my favorite old neighbors from years past.  I always seem to end up with a good neighbor almost everywhere I've ever lived :-).  

As most puppies do, Tilly dug some holes in our gardens and Tim started calling her The Garden Weasel after one of those "as seen on tv" ads.  The Garden Weasel soon became Weaslie and then Tim's dad called her Weaser.  She picked up Short Round and Tilly Bobby from a couple of favorite movies.  The Little Shriner came from the guys who drove the tiny cars around in circles at the circus.  Tilly would run in circles trying to figure out what direction Iris was heading.  Dammit Weaslie because...corgis ;-).  

We got to sit outside under the still standing Christmas card tree yesterday and enjoy a dog picnic and one last afternoon nap.  There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Miss Tillly

September 2006 - March 29, 2021

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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!

The February Photo Diary

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The January Photo Diary

This poor neglected blog...  As I prepared to post my February Diary, I realized I'd never posted January :-(.  

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I re-watched this (what it's there for :-) and while I'm disappointed that I don't do a better job keeping the blog current anymore, I'm really proud of my Instagram account.  So many fun photographs and great memories.  

Warmest Before The Dawn

In the summer I wake up with the sun (around 6:00 a.m.) and start my day.  I let the dogs out, feed them and Bad Betsy, fix myself a big cup of coffee and walk up to the barn to do an early morning check.  

My main concern is B. Willard.  He likes to dig himself a comfy bed, but if he isn't careful how he lays down in it, he can get stuck with his feet higher than his overly round body and then not able to get up on his own which can be dangerous.  I hate to find him that way and on occasion he's given me a bad scare.

If I wasn't worried about him, I'd probably keep my 'get up with the sun' schedule during the fall and winter and sleep later in the morning like most animals.  However, that leaves him unwatched for a couple extra hours each day as the sunrise is so much later right now and I don't think it's worth the risk.  Plus, I love watching the sun rise

During the fall I sat on the Wool House porch with the dogs, and now frequently Possum, and check on my social media sheep friends while I finish my coffee.  If it's too rainy or windy and cold, we sit inside.  If it's not windy, I can tolerate some pretty cold temperatures and those cold, still mornings are some of my favorites.

This morning the moon was still pretty bright even though it's almost a week past full.  I did a flashlight check to make sure Willard was right side up and then stayed outside talking to Salt, giving Possum a snack, visiting with the horses, listening to the neighbor's rooster crowing and watching the stars disappear and the sky brighten.  There was no wind, so even though the thermometer said it was cold, I wasn't. 

This is the first year I've had to do these early morning checks and by doing so, I've learned a few fun things.  One, I love to be outside at dawn. Being able to watch everything on the farm wake up is a peaceful treat.  Another, you might think the coldest part of the day is right before the sun rises.  It's not.

The first couple of times I got too cold outside I thought I was imagining that it had gotten instantly extra cold.  Then I thought maybe it was just that I'd stayed out too long.  I'd be warm as toast for an hour or so and then suddenly freezing cold.  It didn't happen every day though and I noticed it was only happening on clear mornings with a bright sunrise...

Sure enough, if you google "Why does it get colder after the sun comes up?" you'll find the answer.  

Did you know it got colder just after dawn?

P.S. Today's frosty sunrise is a new puzzle :-).

The 2021 Calendars

Equinox Farm Calendar

From the back cover...

"As most of you know, I really struggled with creating the farm calendar this year.  2020 was a year of incredible loss on and off the farm and I've heard so many folks talking about how much they are looking forward to welcoming the new year and putting the old year behind them. I can't help but agree...and yet, in having to look back through all the photos I took throughout this strange, sad year, I actually found so very much to be grateful for. I hope I’m not alone in that.

So, once again, Miss Tilly is still keeping our feet warm, but now Kate is mostly just trying to keep herself in line.  Salt has taken on as many of Hank's duties as she can and hearing her deep ba-roo makes me smile.  Betsy is still on house arrest for not only the menacing of birds, but now also sweet little Possum out in the barn. Every so often I catch a glimpse of orange out of the corner of my eye and can't help but hope that Comby is napping in the sun somewhere nearby. 

As always, a very special thanks to Saint Tim for doing all the hard work and heavy lifting and a grateful thank you to all of you who have become such an important part of our farm family.  You were spot on in voting to give everyone a Victory Lap.  I hope you enjoy welcoming the new year with this calendar."

The Victory Lap was hard...but it was the right thing to do...if for no other reason than to force me to go back and look at pictures from when the year was new and some of my oldest and dearest friends were still pretty young at heart.

I like the new format.  The calendar is a bit larger, but not outrageously so.  It was a bit more expensive to print, but luckily I "know a guy" ;-).  The shipping will be a bit more too, but hopefully not outrageously so.  

The big pictures are a little bigger...but so are the little pictures and I like that.

There are more columns (7 days) than rows (weeks) which left a gap at the bottom, so I filled that in with a little something, sometimes a story, sometimes just some thoughts.  I like that, too.  The calendar feels maybe a bit too personal at times, but as the only place it will be for sale is here with us, not at a random crowd festival, I think that's okay.

Of course there's Hank...

...and Early and his adopted moms and dads.

...and Comby with some of his oldest and dearest friends.

Lamb Camp

The Lamb Camp calendars are comfortingly the same.  Lots of cute lambs and good mommas...

...and Early doing what I hope we all remember most about him.

The Lamb Camp calendars are still $10.00.  The Equinox Farm calendars are $16.50.  The shipping, which has become the bane of my existence these last few days, is where it gets a bit messy.  

For the past couple of years I was able to use the USPS flat rate envelopes no matter where in the country I was shipping. The new calendar doesn't fit in those envelopes.  This could be good news if you are close by because it may actually be cheaper shipping to you now.   If you live in California, the shipping could cost around $15.00...if I'm understanding everything correctly.

To make this even more exciting, I'm going to try to do all the shipping from home this year rather than stand in line at the crowded post office every day.  Also, I realize that UPS or FedEx might possibly be cheaper...but I don't have those options in my small town.  Thank goodness for the USPS.

While especially in this year of no fiber festivals, these calendar sales are going to be an important fund raiser for the farm, I also know that the farm calendar is important to many people who look forward to turning the page on each month, each year.  

2020 was hard on everyone.  I'm sorry the costs have gone up.  If you are not in a position to pay for a more expensive calendar this year, send what you can.  It will all work out somehow and 2021 will be better if we have Hank, Salt, Tilly, Kate, Comby and Possum at our back.  Maybe not Betsy so much ;-).

As always, if you are interested in buying a calendar or anything else from the farm shop (except for the felted pumpkins that I just can't seem to get made this year :-o) just drop me an email and tell me what you would like to order.  Don't forget to include your address.  I'll send everything out from my "on farm postal desk" (:-o) and include an invoice and return envelope and you can drop a check back in the mail.

As always, always...thank you for everything.

Like A Diamond In The Sky

I've spent the last several nights watching for the Comet NEOWISE.  I finally realized that I was probably missing it due to all the trees around our house, so last night I packed up the dogs and my camera (but forgot the bug repellent and my binoculars) and headed for the hill in the back field.

About the bug repellent...I really don't notice many bugs around the house and barn at night.  If the back porch light is on, then yes, but if not, they really aren't a problem.  Bug repellent never even crossed my mind.  The binoculars...never crossed my mind either but that's a mind issue, not an experience issue.

Turns out the bats are taking care of a LOT of bugs each night.  The back field was brutal.  Between not having any luck spotting the comet and knowing even if I did I wouldn't be able to see it very well without the binoculars and The Bugs, I finally bailed around 10:30 and headed back to the barn.  

As I drove through the gate next to the barn I looked up and just like finding a four leaf clover, there it was.  Right over the Wool House.  I took this picture with my iPhone.  I'll try again tonight to get a "big girl camera" shot...or maybe I'll just watch it through the binoculars and enjoy it.  

You can see it pretty well with just your naked eye, but the tail is really incredible with some zoom. Here's a link that might help you spot it.  Sounds like we have a couple more days of visibility.  Go out and find it.  Don't forget your binoculars...and your bug spray if you don't have a hard working bat colony.

A Funny Story About Early...And Maisie

I've had several questions about what Maisie thinks about Early...and there's a funny story there.  

"This is NOT a funny story!"

I know she's seen him playing in the barn aisle.  There's no way she's missed that.  He's in and out all day long and usually at least once at night.  She's the barn guardian now for crying out loud.  

One night last week I was putting out minerals in the feeder in the outside stall and I heard a loud commotion in the barn aisle.  My first fear is always the short dog.  Tilly hates lambs...and Early LOVES Tilly.  Not a great combo and I try to never be out of sight when they are together.

I raced back in and found Maisie frantically running laps in the aisleway, Early close on her heels doing his very best "Hi!  I'm Early!"  Her eyes were as big as saucers and I'm pretty sure she was using some grown up words.  Very grown up words.

There has never been once in her life that she's ever done anything I told her to do.  I opened the cross gate and called her name and she raced back in, tail twirling.  And I'm pretty sure she'll never sneak out that gate again ;-).

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".  

The One She Always Watches For