Saturday, December 15, 2007








This is what it looks like outside now - all kinds of slushy mess.



Earlier today, there was about 3.5 inches of snow and then the sleet and rains came and made this stuff.



I called in at work and told them that , for some unknown reason, the state police were telling EVERYONE to stay off the roads because it was too slick and hazardous. And, of course being a nurse, I was expected to drive in to work in this crap!! Needless to say, I made the super mad because I said I wasn't going out in this in a light-weight car and putting it in a ditch and getting hurt just so she didn't have to stay and work longer ( didn't make any points then ) AND that I'd call her tomorrow ( when it's predicted that we will get another 3-6 inches of snow on top of what we got today with ice sandwiched in between ) to let her know if I was going to be in then, which really ticked at me ( toooo bad ).


This is what is waiting at the bottom of the steps for anyone who ventures outside today - not my idea of something I want to walk around in.

And this is looking out toward the kennels and the woods. Looks pretty but looks are really deceiving today. Good thing I fed the kennel dogs earlier before it got tooo bad.

Think I'll curl up on the sofa with Chloe and Stylle, turn the TV on and work on some of my knitting instead of going outside.

Will post more later.

`bye.








The first snow of the winter. Got about 4 inches of the white stuff and it's on the wet side so it should be good snowball snow.



Girl-pup was out playing in it and climbed up the backdoor to get inside - her toes were cold. Stylle enjoyed lying in the snow and watching Chloe run around the backyard like a fool ( one of the joys of being a 2-yr-old pup - EVERYTHING is great, even if you do get cold ).





As you can see, the sheep aren't real happy with the snow - they can't go out into the pasture and graze ( not that there's a whole lot to graze on, it's the idea of it all ).


Candi and Brooke ( the 2 ewes looking at the camera ) are wondering " WHEN is she going to put down that fool camera and FEED US????"


Poor things have never been fed ( even tho there is hay on either side of them ) since their respective moms weaned them. But you should see them fly when the cookies or a bag of bread torn into pieces appear - then it's every sheep for themselves. That's the only time they don't look around to see if Chloe is going to sneak up on them.


This little pig ( in sheep's clothing ) is Lacie. She's one of my unregistered Shetlands ( the person I got her from didn't register any of her family members ), and she thinks she rules the pasture. Actually, Lacie is a big ham and thinks she's a lap sheep. She is so tame ( read: spoilled rotten ) that if you are bringing a feed bucket out and you aren't moving fast enough to suit her, Lacie will get behind you, place her head on the backs of your thighs and exert constant pressure to move you along at A FASTER RATE OF SPEED so she can be fed. Looks like she's missed a few meals, doesn't it?

Lacie says ... GOT COOKIES???? I'M STARVING!!!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Well, I finally got the fence up so that Chloe can be outside without her tie-out on.
And this is what happens when an active 65 pound coonhound is attached to a 30 foot plastic wrapped 1/8 inch tie-out after 1 year of use. Needless to say, Chloe did one hell of a number on the poor thing - she had it soooo knotted up that when I tried to measure it, it only measured about 15 foot long!!! If anyone has anything they need tied up, I have a girl that is willing to work on it and she get paid in cookies!!!
Now,Girl-pup can run her big feet off.
It was funny when I first let her out after finishing the fence. I put her collar on with its bell and opened the back door. She didn't realize that she didn't have the tie-out on and would only go as far as the tie-out would let her. But then, she saw one of the sheep near the new fence and she was off like a shot, got to the fence and turned around, ran back to me with a look on her face like " MOM, what happened ??? I went out to the fence and didn't hit the end of the tie-out??? " After that, she has been all over the yard running full out and wearing herself out so that when she comes in she collapses into a heap and sleeps soundly for about 2 hours at a time. Thank goodness for fences!!!
P.S. Don't believe the date stamp on the picture - I haven't had the time to change it after I put new batteries in the camera. One more thing on my " to-do " list. * sigh *

Thursday, November 08, 2007










Well, it's been a while since I last wrote anything because of my computer dying, but now that I have a brand spankin' new computer I thought I'd post some pics of what I've been doing lately.


As you can see, I've been dyeing some white Shetland roving with Wilton cake dyes and getting some nice colors - nothing has been spun into yarn yet - I'm waiting for the snow to fall so I can sit and spin myself silly.

I joined a sock club this past spring and have been knitting socks as they come in each month. It's fun to see what type and color of yarn comes in the mail each month ( it's almost like having Christmas every month !!! ) and to decide if I want to make those now or later.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Sorry, no new pics today just some ramblings.
It's been a busy month in April - with lambs coming frequently ( like 9 over a span of 2 days !!! - SEVERAL times in April!!! ), breaking a bone in my foot, working, and trying to come up with the name of a business that I can put on ETSY and sell things from the farm - that I'm ready for a breather.
I have come up with a name for a new business venture on ETSY - it's real original and I had to think a long time to come up with it .... the name is " ValleView Farms and Studio " - like I said, it's been a busy month. I will be hand-dyeing wool and roving and spinning it into yarns and selling them and kits on ESTY - figured I needed to do something with the TONS of wool I have lying around here ( and besides, it will keep Chloe out of it - it's not pretty when the Girl-Pup gets into the wool ). I hope to have it up and running by the end of July ( yeah, I'm getting delusional again, but it gives me a date to aim for ), so all of you who visit here will be able to buy some really neat dyed Shetland yarn/ kits to work with AND during the first month the business is open I plan on having free shipping. Can't beat that.
What I will be doing between now and then is washing/spinning/dyeing the wool like crazy so I can have some inventory to sell. I also plan to have the production crew ( aka the sheep ) have their pics taken and list their names along with the yarn so if you buy some yarn from Wen ( for example ) and want more, all you need to do is order her yarn by name and voila' it's on it's way to you - now if I can just convince everyone to let me take their pictures.
I can hardly wait to get things up and running - now, if I could just get the sheep to skirt and wash their own wool so all I had to do was dye and spin it life would be easier - don't think that's gonna happen in my lifetime. * sigh*.
Hope everybody will drop by the shop on ETSY and check things out.
Until later,
Benita

Thursday, April 05, 2007













BABY PICTURES




These 2 are 1/2 Shetland 1/2 border Leicester. The white is a ram and the black is a ewe and they may carry the modifier gene.



The 2 black babies are Pekin's - a boy and a girl.







This little cutie pie is Lacie's spotted katmoget boy. He has some nice yuglet eye patches and is friendly. The speed-demon on the right is the twin to the above spotted kat of Lacie's. His white " cap " is tipped to the right and has just a touch of it over his left ear. Unfortunately, these babies aren't able to be registered but are still cute Shetlands, anyway.

Thursday, March 01, 2007



Today was a sad day on the farm because one of my favorite sheep passed away.

Baron, my moorit Perendale wether, had been sick for about 1 week with what was either bladder stones or a bowel obstruction. He became sick last Thursday night after Linda had her babies ( there was no connection ).

He would lay around that night and act as if he was having stomach cramps and hump up his back. By the next morning he would let me literally crawl all over him ( he would eat out of my hand and let me scratch him a little but nothing like this ), so I called the vet to tell her what was wrong. I got 2 pain shots for him and the 1 worked so well that within 15 minutes he was up and walking.

He ate, or rather picked at his food all week but last night he ate real well and even watched the lambs play. But this morning things didn't look good - he was standing around by himself with his head down. I got him back up to the house so I could watch him better and he went back out but came back again.

I checked on him at 2:30 this afternoon and he looked a little better but I had decided to give him the last pain shot when I went out to feed at 5:30pm. I looked out at 3:45 and he had lain down by the tree and died.

Baron was 7 years old and after a rough, almost cruel, lambhood came home with me in a large dog shipping crate in the back of a small car in July 2001. He met TJ ( my dark grey border Leicester wether ) and became inseparable - where you saw 1 you saw the other and what 1 didn't think of to do the other did.

Baron was such a sweetheart that the ewes would leave their babies with him and he wouldn't leave the spot he was at until the very last ewe had picked up her lamb. He loved animal crackers, alfalfa cubes, sweet feed ( you would have thought he was a lamb the way he would eat it ) and in the last year, had let me scratch him on his back ( he was abused as a lamb and when I picked him you, the man who was helping me take him to the car used a cattle prod on him the entire way as I led him ). He rarely got out but when he did, he'd come back to the front gate and stand until you let him back in. There wasn't a mean bone in his body, he was just a sweet loving guy who will be sorely missed.

TJ was watching when Baron was taken out front ( to be picked up tomorrow ) but didn't try to follow. I think TJ knew Baron was sick because he would stay close to Baron the whole week he was sick to the point TJ would push me towards Baron. TJ will need extra care for a while to help him adjust to Baron being gone.

I know some people think " oh, it's just a dumb sheep ", but Baron had a great personality and loving nature that he could make anyone fall in love with him.

Sleep tight, Baron, we miss you.

Love, MOM and the rest of the flock.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Well, it's THAT time of year again - time to do everyone's favorite pastime - filling out tax papers. I have been up since 5am ( and since I'm NOT a morning person, this is above and beyond the call of duty ) and have been working on the taxes since then. I got the federal ones done without any problem ( and will get a nice return, too ) but let's forget the state taxes. What makes it even worse is that I live in one state but work in another - and I thought my home state taxes were bad, the state where I work is just as bad if not worse, and when you put those together - well let's just say that Chloe's life was on the line ( she decided that because mom was up, she could bark her bloody little head off ) - gotta give girl-pup credit, she made sure she was out of my reach.
I finally finished the blankets/hats for the premies - now all I have to do is weave in the tails on the blankets and pick off ALL the dog hair and ship them. This should only take about 2 days to do.
Had to restart a sweater I started in Nov. because it didn't look right ( something about the raglan shoulders didn't look right - could be that if the top of the shoulders were in place, the armpits hung down to my waist. And I knit the damn thing to gauge and followed the instructions to the letter. Oh well, the new version, without the raglan, looks a lot better.
It has been cold here for about a week now and on Tuesday 2/6/07 we got 6 - count them - 6 inches of snow!!! Luckily, it was just powder and easy to shovel. Will finish the drive-way this afternoon ( so I can go visit with H&R Block tomorrow ).
Chloe has destroyed her sweater. The first one I made her was too big but was ok to wear out to play in until Tuesday afternoon. She went out to play ( and potty ) and was harassing one of the ewes and this ewe turned on her. Now, Linda ( the ewe in question ) is usually very calm and laid back unless she's pregnant and getting close to her due date.
To make a long story short, Chloe decided to chase Linda and Linda wasn't going to have any of her , so Linda chased Chloe behind the kennel and wouldn't let Chloe out. Every time Chloe tried to crawl out from behind the kennel, Linda was there stomping her foot at Girl-pup. Well, Chloe got her sweater caught on the kennel wire and pulled it off, leaving the sweater attached to the kennel for Rosie to work on and she did. The leg was chewed to an unrecognizable mess and another hole was also added ( when Rosie works on something, she does a good job ). So now, Chloe doesn't have a sweater to wear ( I'm not too enthused on working on her other sweater after this episode ).
Have 2 socks on the needles that I'm working on from time to time along with my sweater.
Can't think of anything else to post, so I'll go see who Chloe is pestering . Hopefully, will have some pictures to post next time.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd just talk a little today - no new pictures.
It got down to 18 degrees last night and at about 9 pm, Catcher started barking at the backdoor ( I thought he was barking at Rosie because she wouldn't let im in the doghouse - she has a tendency to be bitchy with him ). I looked out and he was standing there with his right hind foot up off the ground and when he moved he was limping. I immediately put on a heavy coat and went out and got him out of the kennel and brought him inside ( Rosie was not happy with me - she thought she should come in too, so she woke up Vinnie and Maggie and the three of them made as much noise as possible ).
He greeted the other dogs - Stylle was not happy that he was inside ( and proceeded to growl at him and try to remove his face when he got close ) but Chloe thought it was great because she had someone to play with ( talk about having visions of the place being torn to shreds and those 2 smiling ).
Catcher played with Chloe for a little while and left Stylle alone, got something to eat and drink, and with a cookie and a teddy bear he went into Chloe's crate and immediately fell asleep. Chloe didn't know what to do with him being in her crate - she just stood there and stared at him and then looked at me as if to say " but MOM, he's in MY bed ".
All dogs went to sleep and didn't wake until about 8 am.
As soon as the mail runs ( and the sun melts the snow off the truck ) I'm going into town and get some straw for both kennels and Catcher will be back with Rosie and the house girls will be happy that their routine will be back to normal.
Am still knitting on the premie hats and blankets - have a grand total of 6 and started the 7th last night before Catcher came inside. Have designated about 7 more skeins of yarn for this project and then will start on something else. Have bought enough sock yarn to make 3 pairs ( sock yarn is exempt from the stash and can be bought when needed ) - one pair needs to have 2 more skeins because they will end up being heavy boot socks to wear this winter and I think I'm going to buy some more dk weight wool yarn to make some felted booties to also put inside my boots.
Am planning to make a log cabin blanket from the stash after the premie stuff is finished ( should be done with it by the middle to end of Feb the way things are going ) and I want to make at least 2 shawls ( 1 kind of a turquoisey blue acrylic mohair-type and a fushia/purple acrylic moahir-type in a Faroese or pi shawl - but this can change at any time ). Also want to do some designing from the stash because I found a real nice cotton/ acrylic blend that is just SCREAMING to be knit into a summer T ( will have to make a trip to the yarn shop for this stuff ).
Will try to post soon with some pictures.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Well, just a short post today, as I'm going to spin some singles today.
I've been knitting the premie blankets and hats for about 10 days and am on my 4th blanket at this time. The hats are still cute being so small and I found a website for even cuter hats - one looks like Kermit the Frog and another looks like a duck even down to the " webbed " feet ( will have to make thse at a later date ). These I'm working on need to be done by Easter so I've been knitting like crazy to get as many done as I can before I get tired of them.
This is about all I can think of today - now to spin some wool for me and then back to the premie blankets/hats.
Will post pictures of the premie blankets/hats when I get them done.