One month closer to fall!
Showing posts with label bea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bea. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2026
Thursday, July 30, 2026
BYFC - Random Tip #7
Another sheep tip...that may seem familiar if you have a dog.
All the Punkin's Patch sheep stay here for their entire lives. Old age for a sheep starts around 10ish. Smaller sheep can live longer, like smaller dogs, but they all face many of the same old age maladies as old people, dogs, horses...
One of our oldest sheep right now is Krista, who is probably 14. She's gotten pretty arthritic and is now on a daily dose of meloxicam. She comes out to get a little breakfast with three other old sheep each morning, but instead of trying to keep her breakfast, with her dose of ground meloxicam mixed in, separate from the others, I just make her a little jelly sandwich ;-).
While this looks like burnt toast for some reason, it's actually just one slice of whole wheat bread (to make it healthy ;-) with a spoonful of grape jelly smeared all over and the ground meloxicam sprinkled on top. Fold and go.
Going...
Gone...to Bea's dismay.
What makes this nice is that I don't have to stress her (and me) by catching her every morning to stick a pill down her throat. She comes running for her "treat" and I come out looking like Mary Poppins ;-).
To prep your sheep to take medicines like this, start by having some plain bread parties. Sheep love bread once they figure it out. You may want to do a practice run with the jelly too in case of any super suspicious characters.
Feeding medicine "treats" is a great way to handle many situations with sheep, but you still need to get comfortable giving shots and oral drenches when needed.
And remember, I am not a vet. You should always run something you read on the internet by your vet first...but I'm pretty sure if you ask a vet about this, they will probably tell you not to feed your sheep jelly sandwiches ;-D.
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Saturday, June 6, 2026
May
May was a big month and so much never made the blog...because sometimes it's more important to keep your head up and keep treading water. Springtime...
Maryland Sheep and Wool seems like forever ago. May rain brought lots of May flowers. The butterflies are arriving. The bees are doing great. I may still try to say more about the little rabbit sweater. I definitely will say and show more about the addition to the Wool House...when it's finally finished.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
April
April was busy (unless you were Archie), but fun. Lots of spring flowers, new bees, new raised beds (that I'm having to replant after the really hard freeze over the weekend :-/) all the spinning, a little painting, beautiful moons, interesting fog, good sheep, good friends...
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Friday, March 20, 2026
Speaking Of Cats
I just added a cute picture of Bullseye to yesterday's post. I'd saved it...and then promptly forgot about it.
On a crazy note, a video of Possum and Archie with a little bit of Bea went viral on Instagram last week. Not millions of views viral (thank goodness), but as of this morning, 230,000 views.
Leave it to Possum, the Murphy of the cat world here.
I think part of why this happened was a short poem by Carl Sandburg that begins "The fog comes on little cat feet." I wasn't aware of that, so am happy I got something of value from the 318 (!) comments that the post received...most of which I don't believe were bots.
Friday, March 6, 2026
Monday, March 2, 2026
Friday, February 13, 2026
Thursdays Are For Spinning
A friend picked up some leftover fleeces from the North American wool show last fall and I claimed a Romney fleece. I think that breed is exceptionally pretty (and cute) and by looks felt like the wool would be a Sara fleece (aka Not Merino), but wanted to find out for sure. I washed my fleece a few weeks ago and yesterday pulled out a big handful to process and spin.
There was no wind and the sun was shining so even with the snow on the ground, it was too pretty to sit inside. I carried my wheel outside and thought this picture was kind of funny with my muddy barn boots contrasting with the pretty wheel. I ended up using them to hold my waiting to be spun bundles :-).
Pretty (and cute :-).
As the afternoon cooled, I moved back inside for the last bundle.
I wound my bobbin off into a center pull ball and wrapped it around a plying ball. This is my favorite way to ply samples. Putting the two ends together around the plying ball keeps the two strands tidy and well behaved.
Ready for a soak.
And after.
I've called some of my Cotswold/Texel crosses "fake Romneys" and now I can say for sure that I was pretty correct. Not too soft, but not too coarse. A nice bit of halo and a good bounce. Definitely a yarn I'll enjoy using ;-).
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
The 74 Days Of January
It wasn't really that bad, but it does seem like a long time ago since we had green grass!
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Wishing For A Maisie Christmas
"Where the heck is Maisie?"
"Seriously? I have to wear the hat this year?"
Saint Pinto
As I unpacked my Christmas decorations this year and pulled out the Santa hat I thought...all the thoughts. Part of the fun of dressing Maisie up each year was how I believe she always enjoyed playing the part and we were all just her foils or fall guys. Or maybe she was just sassy.
Too Cool Pinto is the king of annoyed looks and I thought it would be fun to get a picture of him looking annoyed with the hat on so I could write this blog post and try to make it sort of funny. I had to really search through the shots for a picture where he looked even a little annoyed.
I don't know if he understood that someone needed to step up this year or he was happy that he got to be recognized for being special. Or most likely he understood someone needed to step up and he was happy that he was the one who was chosen. He didn't mind the hat at all. It was a bit of a let down.
Tomorrow night I'll do my normal Instagram Live Christmas Eve from the barn. We won't wait until midnight even though it would be interesting to see if the animals talked. We'll let them keep that secret.
I'll go live on Instagram at 9:00 eastern time and we are usually on for about 20-30 minutes. I will answer questions, show you your favorite sheep... We'll share some cookies and crackers, too. Bea will be with me and probably at least a cat or two. If you can't join us then, I'll share it so you can watch later.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 18, 2025
Merry Christmas!
Every now and then I catch a little glimpse of white out in the field or a flash of orange in the garden and I hope we are all still here together under Hank and Maisie's watchful eyes, the bright stars and occasionally the northern lights. I wonder if Maggie and Big Moose see them, too.
* * * * *
I couldn't fit every beloved ghost in the scene, but ghosts are fluid and other than Hank and Maisie watching out back and Salt and Comby out front, everyone else can be whoever we are missing the most and catch out of the corner of our eye. Remember, they might be tucked in the barn or curled up in the Wool House.
I'd love to know who you see.
Merry Christmas!
Oh, and it's a puzzle too :-).
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Bea Appreciation Post
(This picture was from over the weekend.)
I really miss having a Border Collie because they have just the best personalities, but I don't miss having the working farm dog aspect because I have Bea.
Corgis were originally bred to be working farm dogs, but I'd always assumed that was so far back in their past that they'd been "dumbed down" into pets. The two other corgis we've had were very nice dogs, but didn't really show a lot of interest in working on a sheep farm.
Even as a puppy I noticed Bea stepping up when she thought something wasn't going right in the barn. At first I just chalked it up to dumb luck and being bossy, but it started dawning on me that she really understood who needed to be where, and when they weren't she wanted to put them right.
Over the years I've incorporated her help into several aspects, mostly penning sheep, but also rely on her letting me know when there are sheep (mostly Murphy) some place they shouldn't be. I can tell at the house if there's a problem at the barn.
Over the weekend I got run over twice at feed time. Murphy got past me on Saturday night and was so obnoxious that I ended up losing my cool and thumping him with a feed scoop (plastic, but I think if it had been concrete I wouldn't have cared at that moment). Sunday morning Biscuit ran over me. I ended up kicking him in his fat butt with my rubber boots (but wouldn't have cared if they were concrete either).
Both of those sheep outweigh me by double...at least. Both are Cotswold crosses and let me just tell you, do not get between a Cotswold and some stolen food. They are fearless and do not care. Still, to have that much trouble in less than 12 hours...
What. The. [Heck]. Was. Going. On.?!?
Oh, wait. It was super cold and Bea was in the Wool House. I had no back up and those fatties knew it. "LET'S GET HER!"
The next morning Biscuit tried it again, but this time I had Bea with me. I was ready and quickly moved myself and the oldies into the corner and yelled "Get him, Bea!" and Christmas came early for her :-D. Biscuit was out of there in less than two seconds and didn't even come around that side the next morning.
Kate was a tactical herder and smart enough to not get hurt by occasionally taking the high road. Bea is out there throwing concrete feed scoops and boots, nipping heels and barking like a maniac and I'm assuming using some grown up words because the sheep understand perfectly.
This morning, as I rounded the corner to feed my skinnies, I found Biscuit in the stall waiting for me (stupid or greedy or most likely stupid and greedy). I called Bea in...
I can't decide if the best part of this video from the barn cameras is Bea's sharp bark, Biscuit making a fast exit or me saying "We should have had that on video!" Probably it's "Good job, Bea. That was perfect."
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