Darwin Award?

Murphy was already up and at it this morning when I walked out to open the gate.  He marched on through...and no one followed him.

The rest of the flock eventually started congregating in the barn lot, watching...but still, no one followed him.  Not even the chickens.

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I stood out there for several minutes trying to see if I could spot a problem, but even Bea was quiet.  Murphy made a couple circles down at the bridge, looking back up to see where his flock mates were.  He and I were both stumped.  

Eventually the rest of the sheep started down the hill and everyone headed out back to graze, but it was a bit of a head scratcher for sure.  

Interesting morning!

 

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

 ...and other explanations from the last three month end video compilations that I finally put together.  And I can use that title because almost the entire fall felt like summer.

"...last seen near Lake Michigan."

First I'll post the three month ends (August, September, October) and then I'll do a short write up of what's going on that isn't super obvious.

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Happy Halloween

For many years we dressed up the newest lambs for Halloween.  It was always hilarious and frequently chaotic, but always fun.  Maisie had been the craziest costumed lamb and after watching her paw her wizard hat off and stomp it into the ground, we figured we'd never dress her up again.

Several years later the humane society hosted a Halloween fundraiser at the local Dairy Queen and I got the idea to bring her out of costume retirement and dress her up as The Devil Went To Dairy Queen.  

We trailered her to town and I'd recruited lots of help for what I was sure was going to complete carnage.  She marched off the trailer in her devil costume and walked right up on stage like she was meant to be there.

After that, she become the official Halloween sheep and we laughed until we cried at some of her crazy costumes.  She knew she was the star and every year we laughed about how much she hated her first Halloween and how much she loved Halloween after she "grew up".

Last year I couldn't bear to try to figure out who was going to replace Maisie for Tricks or Treats.  We just had a good pumpkin party and muddled through.   This year we were presented with the perfect scenario :-).

Remember how I changed Lily's name?

I'd tried to explain to her what a Sheep Detective was and how Lily in the movie was the star of the show, but I don't think she really understood until she read the book with me ;-).

"I get it now.  This is a pretty good story!"

I was pretty sure she had never been dressed up for Halloween before, but thought she'd probably not mind and I was right.  We tied her hat on and then the magnifying glass and she just happily stood by my side while everyone snapped pictures like she was a celebrity.

"Happy Halloween!"

Saturday Morning Flock Walk And More

Tomorrow (Saturday) is National Hug A Sheep Day...and Halloween.  We have plans for both :-).

For the last several years, I've done a Hug A Sheep Day morning Flock Walk live on Instagram.  I know not everyone uses Instagram and I'm sorry about that, but for the folks who can watch, it will start at 8:00 (eastern time) this year.  

I love watching Murphy, and now Lily sometimes too, lead the flock out to pasture and I think that's something everyone will enjoy.  Usually I stop for a few minutes and chat with everyone before I open the gate and think that might be fun to share as well.  

This picture is a screen capture from the barn cameras yesterday morning.  Everyone mills around, checking in with me, getting a drink, loosening up, staring out back and then once the gate is open, get to business "making the donuts".  It's a great way to start the day.  

If you can't watch it live, I think it will stay on the grid so you can watch at a later time.  I'll try to remember to share a link over here, just in case that helps.  

The farm party will start at 1:00 and run until 4:00.  If anyone needs directions, let me know!  

As it's also Halloween, there will be a costume this year.  It won't be quite the same without the little darlin', but it will still be fun - more sweet than exciting...probably.  I'm going to shoot for that to go off around 3:00 and I'll share pictures later for everyone not able to make it out.

Speaking of donuts, Auntie Reg is bringing the famous pumpkin donuts from Winchester and we'll have hot and cold cider from Stepping Stone Farm, too. 

The weather looks fabulous.  Not wool wearing weather, but bring it anyway.  We can all enjoy a show and tell...as we sit around in our t-shirts.  

How are you celebrating Hug A Sheep Day this year?

2027 Calendars

After re-taking all the pictures of the calendars this morning...I guess my photo skills peaked somewhere back in the early summer.  The colors on these are better than the first try, but still not good.  I color corrected them as best I could without setting up a third photo shoot and just included a screen shot of the back cover so you can see what they should look like.  Sigh...

I used the same format as the last few years so there are fun big pictures and lots of little pictures and a story-ish caption at the bottom of each month.

You know Pinot's going to be there.

Sweet Lily got a feature.

Of course the horses.

And crazy Archie.

I love including a night shot each year.  

Air Fryer (the chicken peeking in from the left) noticed that she didn't get a big picture (oops), but almost everyone else is there.

* * * * *

Everything is basically the same as in past years.  The calendars will stay at $25 each and I will still only charge actual shipping costs.  The shipping itself is where things might change a bit.  

 

The post office has still not found my package mailed August 28 that is still lost somewhere IN one of their post offices...but they don't exactly know where (thanks AI :-/).  I have heard so many horror stories lately that I really don't know if I want to trust them with anything anymore, even if they are somewhat replaceable if they lose them...or several of them.  

Tim printed 100 calendars.  There's no longer a cost effective way to add on a few more if we run short.  And if we run short because of how many the USPS loses, I'm going to be really cranky.  How does everyone feel about UPS?

Local folks...I'd just come pick them up.  If you'd like to come out to the farm for a visit, we can do a fun 'sheep side' pickup option (please make an appointment).  For anyone near Lexington, a pick up at Tim's shop is an easy option, too.  We will also have them available on Saturday for the Hug a Sheep Day farm party.

As always, if you'd like to purchase a calendar or anything else from the farm shop, just send me an email with what you'd like and where it should be shipped.  I'll include an invoice and return envelope and you can send your payment the old fashioned way.  

Please don't chance sending cash anymore due to above mentioned mail issues.  Checks are easiest for me, but I can also figure out a PayPal invoice or maybe even Venmo if that's preferred. 

Am I missing anything?  Any questions?

Insert Face Palm Emoji

  "I'm actually just eating a piece of spinach, but it looks like I'm sticking my tongue out at my mom and she thinks this is a pretty funny picture and even if it probably wouldn't have made the calendar, she wished she'd have remembered that she had a whole group of pictures that had never been even looked at and just now found when she downloaded the pictures she took of the finished calendars this morning using the wrong white balance setting so now she has to take them all again.  Or something like that."

As has been the case all summer and most of the fall, I can't seem to get out of my own way.  The calendars are done and they turned out well even if I missed reviewing a whole group of pictures that might have been contenders.  

Luckily there was nothing heart breaking in the missed folders.  I can still share them here and I bet there will be a few that will make nice puzzles.  So, as has been the case all summer and most of the fall, it's all okay.

I'll be back tomorrow with an official calendar post!

Because Every Day Is A Good Day...

...to Hug A Sheep :-).  

 

And it's A Really Bad Day that can't be helped by hugging a sheep.

I went out to New York over the weekend to visit friends and pick up seven bags of beautiful roving from Acorn Works Fiber - Levi, Murphy, Tessa, Tabitha, Tavia, Muffin and Blossom.  I stopped by Skoog Farm and picked up Lori before we went to the mill.  Lori did a fun recap and as always it was a too short visit.

Of course I then went on to Nistock Farms and helped Robin get ready for her WAFA (Wool and Fiber Arts)** sale and learned more about how that works.  We also did our usual visiting, maple syrup and ice cream run, Chinese carry out, sheep checking, dog walking, rock hunting, story telling...  Another too short visit, but what a privilege to be able to go do these things.

A really nice surprise was finding out that Murphy's mom is still there.  Her name is Copper and she's 16 years old.  She's a moorit (brown) sheep, but other than being smaller that the big galoot, she looks and acts just like him.  

It took both Robin and Andy to get their hands on her.  I guess if you can outsmart and outrun two experienced shepherds when you are 16 (very old for a sheep), you are doing alright.  Robin handed her off to me and I told her about Murphy and how he was doing well and how important he was to the flock and she actually seemed interested...for about a minute...and then said "Okay, fine, that's enough updates" and split.  

Those good old crazy sheeps.

Speaking of hugging sheep, don't forget that this Saturday is the Official Hug a Sheep Day.  It's always the last Saturday of October.  We will, as usual, be hosting an open farm party from 1:00 to 4:00.  

This is a very relaxed event and if this crazy nice weather holds, it will be a beautiful day to sit out with your spinning wheel or knitting and enjoy visiting with friends two legged and four.  We'll have treats of some sort and the sheep are hoping you'll bring treats as well ;-).

The party is for everyone, not just fiber folks, and if you have any questions or need directions, just shoot me an email.  We'd love to see you.

* * * * *

**The live sale is over, but you can still watch the video and if you'd like to purchase any of Robin's  beautiful colored curls and roving, fiber tools...I think you just send her a DM or you could also visit her website or email her if you don't do Facebook.

I Guess He IS Paying Attention

There is going to be a 2027 calendar this year and in the calendar I threw Murphy under the bus for not paying attention to anything as he barges through the crowd, leading everyone out to whatever perils might be facing them out back.

Turns out maybe he does.  

This morning I opened the gate to let everyone out and he headed down the hill...and stopped halfway to the bridge.  I watched for a minute or two and then walked down to see if I could spot a problem.  

I stood next to him, Jared style, scratching his back, telling him how much I enjoyed watching him work and that I appreciated his care...and he tolerated that for about 12 seconds and then walked down a little further and let me know That Was Enough.

I walked back up the hill to hang out with my friends.  Lily especially enjoys a good morning chin wag.  I watched out back for most of a large cup of coffee and eventually he slowly lead everyone out.  

I never did see anything of concern which leads me to think he found out I'd trashed him in the calendar and decided to show me up.  That is definitely something Murphy would do ;-).

In The Fall, When An Old Rabbit's Fancy Turns To...

...digging a burrow for winter.

This is a zoomed out picture so I could include the huge pile of dirt he's collecting (on the left) and the entrance to the tunnel he's digging on the right (the dark spot).  

The window spread is over six feet and the big corner rock he's tunneled under is about 16", so the tunnel itself is well over two feet so far and he's pushing all the dirt about five feet back to the dump pile (which is way bigger than it appears).

I've tightened up the flower fence a bit more this morning, but I'm not sure it's going to be enough to stop him.  When he gets a construction project started, he's hard to dissuade.

The papers poking out on the right are calendar proofs.  Pinot is Mr. January and the caption is Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit (said for good luck).  Mr. February is Murphy and his caption is Murphy, Murphy, Murphy (said with frustration).  

If Pinot doesn't watch it, his good luck might not be enough to keep him from a caption change.

 

Pay Attention. Be Astonished. Tell About It.

One day last week I looked up and saw what appeared to be a flock of a thousand light colored birds flying around just over my head.  I stood and watched for several seconds trying to figure out what I was seeing.  

I knew it wasn't birds, but the way the huge group swooped around like a flock of purple martins settling in to bed in Nashville was mesmerizing.  This lasted almost a minute and then the "flock" started to break up and continue floating south.

It was leaves from recently harvested corn.  

My guess is a dust devil formed over a neighboring field, picking up thousands of dry leaves in all shapes and sizes and then luckily flew over our farm.  

Over the last few days I've found some leaves that floated back to earth.  I hope they don't mind hanging around for a bit longer.

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

Mary Oliver

Still Spinning

Well, that's sort of a lie, but it made a good title after yesterday's post.  I did actually spin some yarn over the last two days, but if I spun anything else all summer...I can't think of what it was :-/.  I got my Jared shawl knit though and it turned out exactly how I'd hoped, so that's a win.  I'll share some pictures of that on a later post.

This is a small skein of Levi that I spun for a special project...that has been lost in the mail for well over a month now.  I don't feel quite as bad about that since I found out that the USPS has also lost our entire county's property tax bills too, but it's still very frustrating.  That being said, I'd probably look elsewhere for holiday shipping.  Seems to be some serious mail issues currently.

 

Still Out Standing In The Field

I'm still here.  What a summer.  I could go on ad nauseum about...so many things, but I'm just going to share this picture of me and Lily standing down at the gate this morning waiting for it to get light enough to let everyone out.  Still standing.

I'm disappointed that I haven't compiled my August or September "month ends" yet, but there actually was a lot of good to share, so I will, if for no other reason than to remember it all and be grateful.

Everyone else still standing?  

Walking To Work

There was some trouble in the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago so I am now back locking the sheep up at the barn at night. This is our normal fall and winter routine, but in the summer, when it's so blasted hot, I take a chance and leave the gate open so the sheep can head out in the wee hours of the morning and be back in the shade before the sun gets hot.

Murphy is still the flock leader, but he doesn't get up and moving as quickly as Krista used to like, and now her granddaughter Krista, renamed Lily, has taken over as the "Maybe I'll just head on out without the lazy sod" sheep.  

I visited with her for a bit and watched her looking all over the back acreage and tried to see if I could see anything suspicious with her.  She looked left and right and then back left...

 

...and then Murphy came busting through, not looking either direction, and everyone headed out.  

Sometimes he stops and looks and listens, but mostly he just charges on out and those are the days I think maybe the rest of the sheep just let him be the leader so if the lions, tigers and bears are out there...they'll still have a good chance to head back to the barn. ;-)

If you'd like to walk to work with everyone this morning, here's a fun puzzle :-).

A Picture Of Your Cat

Back in the golden old days of blogging there was a common suggestion that if you didn't have something to post to keep your blog current you should at least post a picture of your cat.  Does anyone remember that?  

Here's a picture of Archie. 

I love the lighting and the layers of lights, gates, rafters...  I wish I'd thought to check that he wasn't looking straight at the camera.  Archie... 

July

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One month closer to fall!

Nice Hair, Holly

 "Sheep with character; producers of fine wool products."

Leaning a bit heavier on the character these days apparently...

Birds Bees And Blooms

Do you see it?

What about now?

I have loved watching the hummingbirds and big bumble bees working the salvias and borage this summer. I've still not seen any birds or bees in the fountain though.  

I have a different spray pattern nozzle thing that might be more attractive, but the spray is lightweight enough that the wind blows it out of the bowl pretty quickly.  I'll keep playing with it.

BYFC Random Tip #10

If you are looking for something fun to take to a sheep-y party, try a traditional Welsh Shearing Cake.  While apparently not as commonly made over there these days, we embraced this historical cake several years ago and it's now a staple on shearing day here and at nearby Tring Farm.  

This hearty cake is designed so you can grab a piece while you are working and eat it on the go...or with a quick cup of tea during a break.  The recipe is a fairly basic cake with the addition of some candied citrus and caraway seeds.

I've tried two slightly different recipes and this is the recipe we like the best.  It's even better if our friend Ed makes it :-).

I hope you enjoyed the Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl, whether from near or far.  I had fun picking my favorite tips and really enjoyed blogging every day.  I wish I knew I could keep it up...and I'll try.  Ah, the good old days.

Let's try to keep all these old traditions alive!

BYFC - Random Tip #9

 BOOKS!

There are So Many good books and magazines out there that were written by really experienced and real live fiber artists and teachers.  They have put incredible amounts of time into researching, writing, photographing and marketing their books and you can learn so much from them. 

Take the time to learn directly through them, not by reading an unethical AI synopsis.  You'll get better information and enjoy the journey so much more.  You can find great selections in stores, your library, your guild's library, estate sales, friends houses...

BYFC - Random Tip #8

"This yarn sucks."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's all over the place, thick and thin, lumpy and bumpy, underspun in spots..."

"Just knit a swatch with it."

"Why would I even want to waste my time?!?"

"Hmmm, where are all those bad spots now?"

* * * * *

Don't hate on your early spinning.  Go ahead and knit a swatch with it.  You might be very surprised.  

That being said, if you've spun something that looks pretty, but when you knit a swatch you aren't super happy with your fabric, figure out why and fix it.  One common issue with new spinners is putting too much twist in your singles or plies.  When you knit with yarn like that, you may not be happy with the softness, or lack of softness...but you won't know that until you KNIT A SWATCH ;-).

You'll learn more about spinning by actually using your yarn (even for just a swatch) rather than just spinning and spinning and spinning.