Andrea Minicozzi came to visit today and took home G25, in the picture with Samantha my best farm helper. It was great to find a home for him since he has one of those "touch it once and you love it fleeces." I hope he does a great job breeding her Black welsh ewes. From what she tells me, he was ready to work as soon as she put him in the barn.
Unfortunately, Andrea and her friend could not stay for a visit. I felt like I did when Garrett, Rayna and Becky and I got together at Becky's home last year and I had to leave too soon to get back for my sister-in-law's wonderful dinner. Sometimes you just want to sit and talk sheep! It's an obsession. Life is so much better if you have a passion and share it with others who also have the same interest. What a great way to learn.
Andrea and I will get together again soon AND I will drive to MN again for a longer visit. That's a threat Garrett and Becky. I want to visit with LeeAnne too.

Rescues

Several weeks ago my 4 year old day care child Lillian and I took an aenemic,limp Romney ewe lamb home from a local farm. Lillian immediately named her Whitey. Dewormed,medicated and loved, Lilly and I found Whitey walking out to the road 3 days later. We no longer had to lift her to get her on her feet. Putting her in with the Blues didn't work. Whitey hated them and refused to go near them. SHE had decided she was a Shetland. Putting her in with the wee terrors was so funny to watch. In true Shetland style, they wanted nothing to do with this stranger. She was butted at the feeder and tormented. Since she needed calories, Lilly and I supervised feeding to ensure that Whitey got enough grain. Last week Whitey started butting the Shetlands back. Her wool is peeling off but the pink skin underneath reassures us that life is good for Whitey.
Yesterday, my husband directed a dumptruck driver to unload "topsoil" from our neighbor's driveway project in our front yard. We live on a piece of PA that does not have one level acre so Bill has made it his life's mission to collect enough dirt to turn this place into the great plains of PA. We have piles of dirt everywhere. Even the local gravediggers bring the dirt here. A woman at the local market once referred me to the woman married to dirt man. Well in yesterday's pile of topsoil, there was a well rooted little evergreen shrub. There was a perfect spot for it by the barn so I planted it. Shall I name it Greenie and hope for the same result?

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.