Sunday, February 26, 2023
My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Silly Boys
Monday, February 20, 2023
Major Sled Repair
Saturday started off cold, but turned nice by the afternoon. I love sitting and knitting in the sun on cold days and my favorite spot is still the old Grahaminator. 20 decided to join me, Archie jumped up and climbed into my knitting bag and then Zelda walked up the ramp. Possum was sitting over on the water tank cover, Bea was just under our feet and the sheep were hanging around the barn lot.
Since we were obviously now having a barn party, we called Auntie Reg. I half jokingly told her that I hoped I didn't end up in the ER by falling through the very frail wooden stand. There was one basically solid section in the top, right in the middle. The two sides and the front corner were "spongy" at best.
The Grahaminator had been built in February of 2012 and had been designed to give Hank a safe place to eat without having to deal with Graham stealing his food. Luckily Saint Tim built it pretty heavy duty, because I loved sitting up there too. For the last year or so, when it really started to fall apart, he kept saying we needed to take it down. So we did :-(.
And then we rebuilt it! :-D
I was able to save the old end boards and several of the short boards. They weren't in great shape, but with the new framework they were no longer structurally needed and I wanted to keep as many of the old boards as possible. That's where the memories are stored! Tim had left by this point ;-)
As I worked to fit the face pieces I looked over and saw Bea sitting up on the hill watching the sheep and I immediately thought of Hank. Was it just because I was already thinking about him as we rebuilt his old "tree fort"...or was he still around, checking in. That was one of his favorite spots to sit.
Everything was going well until the last two boards. I'd decided to add a bottom board to cover up all the rotted ends and cut the front one just a hair too short. I remembered from an earlier barn project that "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and barn building," but if we've learned nothing from all the knitting rip outs... It matches perfectly now ;-).
Saturday, February 18, 2023
My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week
This week's Sheep of the Week is Spud, although as I scrolled back through all the old Spud posts, he was usually referred to as Sweet Spud.
Spud arrived here in the summer of 2014 along with Murphy and Woody to be buddies for Baaxter. They got into all sorts of fun that first year. Besides normal teenage hijinks, they dressed up for Halloween and even had a Christmas party. Do you remember the Spaceship? He was one of the Spaceship sheep :-).
Spud earned Sweet Spud by, well, by being sweet. He loved Hank and would always stop to visit with him and "close talk". Hank never seemed to mind. Spud would also check in with me almost every morning, lean into me for a sheep hug and we'd visit for a couple of minutes before he headed out for breakfast.
My favorite Sweet Spud story however, is how he was one of the main Sheep Chicken sheep, helping the old hen up onto her perch each night. My favorite of those posts was this video. There are several pictures and a couple of videos of the sheep working to help that old hen. I loved that.
The picture up top was taken last winter. It's the December picture on the 2023 calendar. Salt was Miss December in 2022. That calendar is still hanging in the wash room. I can't bring myself to take it down. I doubt I'll take 2023 down at the end of this year either. I had to make the hard call this past week.
Sweet Spud
Spring 2014 - February 13, 2023
He was one of the very best.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Monday, February 13, 2023
Wool You Be Our Valentine?
Last year was a pretty funny Valentine's Day with Pinto still in quarantine/lockdown in Del Boca Vista. It's hard to believe he's only been here a little over one year. Somehow I never thought to share the pictures from his Kissing Campaign over here so for fun and posterity I'm going to share them here this year.
He was pretty sure ALL the girls wanted to be his girlfriend and when he did finally get released into the general population later that month, Jared quickly set him straight. I'll share that video at the bottom. It's long and not super action packed until around the 16 minute mark, but it was a beautiful afternoon so if you want to hang out on the farm for awhile, you are welcome.
This year we are going to have a Valentine's party for everyone. I have a big stash of cookies from farm friends who included some cookie money with their calendar checks. The kind notes that get included* in the return envelopes completely make my day. The cookies make the sheep's days :-). One of my favorites was the extra money specifically designated to replace the Cheerios Archie ate from Maisie birthday cake. Thank you!
It's supposed to be a nice afternoon, so the cookie party will be at 4:00 eastern time tomorrow, February 14. It will be live on Instagram, but if you can't join us there, I'll post the recorded footage over here and on Facebook later.
Without further ado...Happy Baa-lentine's Day from Pinto (2022). He's hoping everyone can be his Baa-lentine this year!
*You absolutely do not have to include a note or extra cookie or hay money. Your purchases themselves support the farm and are very, very appreciated. The personal touches though make it very hard to even consider turning the farm shop into a "click to purchase" website :-).
Sunday, February 12, 2023
My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Thursday, February 9, 2023
An Interesting Development
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Sunday, February 5, 2023
My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week
Friday, February 3, 2023
Sixteen Candles
Yesterday was my 16th blogiversary!
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
January
The first month end photo compilation of 2023 is done, right on time. Having to put five together to catch up at the end of the year will definitely scare you straight!
January was a....a...month. Definitely some highs and lows. So many highs and lows that by the end of the 365th day of the month I'd forgotten some of the earlier ones. That horrible storm in the middle of the night and then torrential rains for the whole day after that...forgotten. The late evening walk out to the back field with the sheep as the moon rose...forgotten.