Working Hardly

Well, you know what the boy's up to most of the day. What about those hard working Jacob sheep?

This is Miss Emily and her too-big-to-be-using-me-for-a-pillow-in-this-heat baby, Billy Belly.

Ewen On Safari

When Ewen and I get bored, we like to go out back and explore. Now, if you give McTeagle a choice between climbing up a tree to reach a single leaf and staying on the ground and eating clover free choice, he's going to climb the tree every time. Here he is bushwacking through the riparian strip we leave along the little creek.

Ewenice is all about the nature walks, too. Not that she's a big adventurer...no, she's in it for the food. But while she's not about to let her adopted baby out of her sight, she's sure not going into "the bush" after him.

Might muss her hair.

A Different Kind Of Dog

Meet Matt Dillon, guard dog extraordinaire. I think he's a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd cross. There might have been one other breed crossed in there, but I was paying more attention to the dog than the tour guide. This is a big friendly dog (with a head the size of a bowling ball) who was happy to greet us as we walked into his area. I might not have been paying close attention to his breeding, but I sure listened up when his owner told us it was good we hadn't brought any dogs with us and that we shouldn't try to touch any of the stock - he'd turn on an instant! And, seeing how this is primarily a sheep blog, I bet you are thinking he was guarding sheep. Nope.

Did I bring one home? Surprise - nope. I did see some chickens I liked though. They were everywhere. All shapes, sizes and colors. Most running free, the babies in cages and some setting hens in pens. And all perfectly safe, guarded by Matt Dillon.

Seems Like...

...there would be something noteworthy happening around here, but no. In the immortal words of Tim's brother Schwinn, "I've got nothing."

Been working on several gallery orders. I thought this little needle felted ewe turned out nice and I like the presentation, sitting on the fence overlooking one of our sheep paddocks. That still somewhat green grass of a few days ago is now brown. We could sure use some rain.

Augusta Art in the Garden

We spent this past Saturday in Augusta, a beautiful northern Kentucky town right on the Ohio River. The weather was brutally hot, but we were quite comfortable set up under the most wonderful shade tree. We enjoyed looking out at the river, watching the ferry run and visiting with some of the nicest people. I brought my spinning wheel and Tim some fishing gear (no fish were harmed, although maybe a little scared ;-) and Augusta Art in the Garden will go down as one of our favorite shows. We look forward to returning next year.

On an interesting animal note, the geese in this photo apparently were protecting an injured bird. They might leave for a few minutes, but would come right back and encircled their friend. They know.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Ewenice and Ewen were helping me clean horse stalls the other evening when a big storm blew in. Sheep apparently don’t appreciate thunder and lightning any more than Border Collies. I’m happy to report that while he’s gotten a bit hard to pick up, he will still fit on my lap :-).