It's Suddenly Fall

After the horrible humidity last week, I woke up to a wonderful cool morning. Suddenly, my energy was back, so I sorted the ewes and put the BFL rams in. From the looks of things, they were glad it was fall too. Isn't it funny how the separation of the ewes is painful to some. I had about 6 ewes pining for a friend that had been moved into another group. They are still standing at a gate bawling. 2 ran to me as if to say,"You made a mistake,I don't belong here!" Even though my flock numbers 90,all my sheep have names and personalities that distinguish them. It annoys me when people refer to them as "dumb". It's obvious people who say that don't work with sheep on a daily basis.

My Shetland ram will go in October 1st, since putting him in early doesn't give me lambs sooner than March anyway. He had a head banging temper tantrum when he realized he was not to be reunited with his girls. Dealing with him from now on will not be as easy as it was all summer. I love the mellowness of my BFL rams in comparison.

I was really happy with my ewe lambs this morning. They are growing well and starting to become quite stylish. Usually ewe lambs here are all exposed to a ram but this year I don't think I will exposed more than the 3 largest ones. The yearlings that did not lamb last spring are all so much larger than those that lambed. The yearling that had twins has a lot of catching up to do.


My son Tim left for Europe last Monday. He's been in Athens with my nephew and his wife so he has been calling,thanks to Vonage, and emailing daily. Today he left for Venice on the Greek ferry system so we are incommunicado for 2 days. I'm not liking this. Now I understand why my husband gets so nervous when I drive cross country by myself. Tim's final destination is Prague, where he will be studying for 2 months.

Disappointed

For weeks now I have been excited to drive to the BFL show in Wisconsin. Getting the booth at Rhinebeck put a glitch in those plans. Not enough money to do both so.... I have decided to skip Wisconsin this year. Bummer. But being a believer that everything works out for the best, I'm excited because now I can attend the Shetland Show in NJ on the same weekend. It's 2 hours away...a lot closer than WI. I might not be learning more about Bluefaced Leicesters, but I sure do need to learn more about Shetlands. This should be a good opportunity. Maybe I can stuff 1 or 20 of the Shetland ram lambs born here last spring into the truck for door prizes. One thing I am hoping is that someone can tell me why we had all those ram lambs and only 4 ewes.

Itchy Revenge

Molly returned to Utah last Thursday after 2 weeks at home and Tim left for his course in Europe on Monday. It's too quiet here. The barn always makes me feel better so I sheared my CH V2 ram Finnegan. He is such a big guy but so gentle. Shearing went very smoothly so happily I went down to the pasture to take pictures and repair a gate. That's when things went downhill fast. The gate was full of yellowjackets who attacked. Now I have multiple itchy stings to go with my itchy hives that plague me periodically. Revenge is sweet tho.....I filled that pipe with insecticide and watched those suckers die! It did help me forget about missing my kids for a while tho. Benedryl time!

Two Ram Lambs For Sale

G4 is a Bluefaced Leicester ram lamb with a Titan sire and a Loyalty/Laird dam. He's a triplet with a very fine fleece. I think he's going to be a big adult ram.


Repeat is son of Pete, the Shetland ram pictured on the home page of my website. He has a super soft fleece and great horns.

A Vendor Space at Rhinebeck

I said I would blog once a week and here is my third post in as many days. Is this blogging thing an addiction? Oh well, I have great news... I got a vendor booth at Rhinebeck, NY. Lisa Westra, another Shetland breeder, and I will share a space in the horse barn. We found out at 9:30 last night so we have spent the day frantically gathering wool to send off for yarn and roving hoping it will be ready by the 17th of October. The dye pot is simmering too. If you have never been to the Rhinebeck show, you have to go at least once. Great location, great food, super vendors and it's HUGE. Lisa and I are so excited.

Painting the barn

Our 1880 barn was looking a bit faded so Tim took the painting job.... It turned out to be Murphy's Law day. The lift wouldn't level, the pressure washer died,temperatures soared to the mid nineties, and the bucket shook with each stroke of the roller. By sunset, with a side remaining to paint, Elisabeth, Tim's girlfriend arrived to help. What a sport! Elisabeth likes sheep and paints barns. She is a keeper for sure.

Brenda says I can do this blog thing

Since it is finally raining and I can't mow the pastures as I planned I will attempt to revive the blog Molly set up for me long ago. She refuses to enable me any longer and says I am on my own. Well here goes......after I look at everybody else's blogs and see what I am suppose to write about.

I just read a great book for the sheep obcessed SHEEP The remakable story of the humble animal that built the modern world. by Alan Butler If you love sheep and history you will love it.