I finally finished this hat after 3 frogging sessions and trying to figure out how I could use the yarn from my scarf to make a hat that included them.

This hat contains a little over 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon yarn in 209 and 185 - this is the same yarn that I made my Noro scarf from. The hat is reversible with 209 on the outside form the very light blue stripe ( above the shaded pink stripesand below the purple and brown stripes ) and the rest is 185 ( I had more of this yarn - and now it looks as if Noro may have discontniued 185 because I can't find it anyplace ).

This hat is VERY warm. I wore it out this morning in 34 degree F weather when I came back inside I was sweating. I am anxious to see just how warm it is when the weather gets colder ( but Mother Nature doesn't have to drop the temps just for me, tho).

Will probably make another one in a different color after the holidays.

Bye for now.

I decided that I needed a new hat to wear this winter that had the same yarns in it as the scarf I wear, so after stash diving I came up with 1 skein of Noro Kureyon 209 ( on the left ) and # 180 ( on the right ).

What I did was to hold 1 strand from each skein and knit them together so the hat would be warm.

I like to way the colors play against each other. Should have it done in a couple of days and will post a picture of it then.

Well, we have a new member of the family. She's been here for 2 weeks today and has taken over the place. I will let Travis tell you all about her on his blog ( he already thought the world revolved around him before he got his blog - now there's no living with him ). But I told Chloe she could say a little bit about her, so here's Chloe

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to tell you that I have a new baby sister and her name is Gracie ( MOM says her fancy name is Duegar's Say G'nite Gracie ) and Travis does not like her. Oh, he'll play with her but when he tries to stop her from getting near the food bowl when he's ready to eat and he growls at her, well Gracie stands up to him and gives her opinion about him hogging the food bowl. I just love it !!!!! If he plays with her and gets too rough and pinches her a little too hard - MOM has to come in and pull Gracie off Travis' face because she goes after him. It's absolutely wonderful to see him back down from someone else and be told he isn't the king of the world.

I'd better go for now because I don't want to have to listen to Travis complain that he was supposed to talk about the new baby and not anyone else. PPLLeeasseeee.

Bye for now - Chloe.

As Chloe said, it's been wild around her since Gracie came to live here, but I'll let Travis tell you all about that - just remember that he isn't happy she's here because she isn't afraid of him and he can't bully her around. It's interesting to see a 100 pound dog cower away from a 20 pound pup because she will rip him apart and is any thing but subtle about it.

Til later.

Hi All

MOM decided that, since things had been bad around here during the last few weeks, that SHE wanted to change some things. So, she tried a new website and found out, after she had put a lot of work into making a new blog, that the website was under attack and had to close out that blog. ( I could have told HER it wouldn't work but you can't tell HER anything when SHE's like this ).

So, here we are. And MOM decided to let me tell you what's going on around here.

We will be changing a few things around here during the next few weeks and hope you will bear with us.

We are bringing back Chloe's Chlosett ( because Chloe has been driving everyone NUTZ about not being able to make pretty clothes for all her doggie friends. Girlie stuff, YUCK!!!! ) and we will also be bringing back Just My Stylle ( Stylle asked MOM, nicely, if she could start baking goodies again. YIPPEE, COOKIES!!!!! And I get to be the official taster. Life is GOOOOD!!!! ).

MOM will be selling some yarns SHE has in HER stash ( whatever that is ) and I get to help HER do that ( I'm a big boy now ) and SHE says that SHE will also be spinning some of the sheeps wool into yarns and selling them and making other things ( sweaters, socks, scarves ) for sale, too.

I still have my blog ( Duegar Kennels ) where I will keep everyone up to date on what I'm doing and all.

So, come in, sit a spell and chat - you never know what you'll find here at " A Sheep's Tail ".

Travis

Well, it looks like it was a pack ( or at least 1 ) of dogs that got into the pastures and ran the sheep to death.
A friend and I went out last Thursday,7/17, to put down the last surviving ewe from the attack ( the other Shetland ewe and the border Leicester wether are still fine, but continue to look for the rest of the flock ), but we found her dead ( the last time I'd seen her was around 10 am and she looked bad then ). So we dragged her to the edge of the front pasture and the woods and " dressed " her for her killer(s). Can't say what type of " spices " were used as it's not exactly legal what we did but it's my property and my sheep and since the Indiana DNR is useless, it doesn't matter what we did.
After we took care of the ewe, we walked the fence row looking for ways the killer(s) could have gotten in. My friend had 2 rifles with him and had me carry 1 as he went across the back fence where we found a hole dug underneath it ( this hole was about 4-5 inches deep and had markings showing that the killer(s) had slid underneath the fence to get to the sheep ).
I walked the interior of the fence line and my friend walked the exterior and into the creek bed and found 2 foot prints that looked kind of like dog but the rain had washed part of 1 away and the other was on hard-pack and couldn't make a positive ID ( he decided that with everything else we found, there was a good likelihood that it was dogs that got the sheep ).
We found all of the missing sheep. One was a surprize, tho.
When I came out the backdoor to get things ready to go out back I heard a familiar voice calling from the neighbor's drive way. I looked over to the neighbor's and saw Lacie, my favorite Shetland ewe, standing there calling to me. I called her name and she ran to the gate and thru it , paused long enough to get a cookie/ handful of dog chow and then went to greet the other 2 sheep left. I just stood and cried because I thought I'd lost her in the killing spree and now she was home. Since that day, she comes into the backyard withthe other 2 every night and expects to have a cup of dog food or a cookie waiting for her - yes, she has always been spoiled and now even more so. I can hardly wait to breed her and Wen again to get more of their babies, but that won't happen until I get at least 1 Pyr to protect them - something I will be doing next spring sionce I won't breed them unti I graduate in the fall of 2010 from college.
As I have always said, I don't mind as much if a wild aminal kills one of my sheep as that's Mother Nature's way of keeping the species going BUT I do mind it my animals are killed by someone's pet dog - that's just pure laziness on the pet owner's side. My dogs are not allowed to run loose ( even tho Vinnie does like to get out and hunt along the creek bed for wood chucks and rabbits ), I expect others to keep their dogs under control or face the fact that if I catch them in my pasture chasing/killing my sheep, they will get their pet back with a bullet in the head ( I will let the state police do the delivering ).
Now, I can get off my soap box and just enjoy the sheep again.
Thanks for all the caring I received from everyone during this stressful time, I hope to never have to go thru this type of thing again.
Benita

It's been a bad week here.
I came home Tuesday, 7/14, and found 2 of my sheep waiting at the gate to the front yard ( I had let them into the back yard because of all the clover growing there ) which wasn't unusual because TJ thinks he's the guard wether and Wennie is his back-up helper. But what was strange was that the dogs ( who are kenneled right next to this gate ) were in their dogs houses and never made a sound ( now these labs will bark if ANYONE pulls into the drive ) but not that day.
I went into the back yard and didn't see any other sheep, so I called to them, and banged on metal feed pans but no one came, which was strange but I thought they may have found something good to eat in the back pasture and were too busy to answer me.
So, I put the 2 sheep with me in the front pasture and were in to let the house dogs out to potty and came back out. Well, when Chloe and Travis hit the ground at the bottom of the steps Travis cowered to the ground on his belly and both of them tried to climb thro me to get back inside - I 'd never seen them do this before .
I went back out into the pasture to see if I could find the sheep - I found 1kat Shetland ewe hidden under a broken tree branch in the yard and just about never got her out - she had blood on the back of her neck and was walking funny ( Like she was hurt - no clue what had happened ).
I walked farther into the front pasture and found my other 2 year old kat Shetland ewe dead lying next to an old tree stump. She had 1/2 inch cuts on either side of her neck but no other injuries I could see. Something had chased her to death.
Walking further towards the woods, at the edge of the woods/ pasture I found my border Leicester ewe down with part of her rump eaten away. I'm thinking a coyote got in. So, I slowly walked farther into the woods looking for the other 3 ewes when I came upon my moorit Shetland ewe. She was lying in the middle of the path dead with no visible injuries but her wool was soaking went ( whatever got into the pasture had run her to death and tried to bite her but all it got was a mouthful of wool because I hadn't sheared them yet ).
I continued to look in the pasture and didn't see any other sheep - still missing a yearling kat Shetland ewe and a 5 year old AG Shetland ewe. As I was coming up over the hill between the pastures it dawned on me that if I had come across whatever animal had killed my sheep, I was unarmed and had no phone with me - just had the 2 unhurt sheep glued to me. Not a good situation to be in. Needless to say, I made a fairly rapid return to the house.
Last night, 7/15, I talked to the guy who lives up the road and told him what happened and he and his brother ( who lives next door ) drove around my property on their 4-wheeler and checked everything out. He said they saw a foot print but, because it had rained yesterday morning it was too distorted to id the animal.
The ewe that was walking around hurt was worse and the flies had gotten to her on Monday before I could. I looked at her the best I could and saw something " dripping " from underneath her and she was in a lot of pain. I decided that if she lived thru another night and was still as she was I'd have a friend of mine come over with his gun and put her down.
Whatever had killed my sheep also came back laast night and ate more of the border Leicester ewe but didn't attack the injured ewe.
This afternoon, 7/16, my friend will be over and we will put the injured ewe down and use her carcuss as bait for the killer after " fixing it up " for it. Can't say what we're going to do because you aren't supposed to do anything to stop a wild animal from killing your livestock or so says the Indiana DNR - but they want you to let them know what you did with its body - now, if you can't/won't help me get rid of a preditor that's killing my animals, don't expect me to tell you what I did with the carcuss - it ain't gonna happen that way.
I have been asked, since this happened, if I want more sheep. I can't give an answer yet, it's too soon. I'll have to let everyone heal from this ordeal before I do anything.
Hopefully, we can find out what type of preditor it was and stop it.
Benita

A New Year … Better Late Than Never

It's been a while since my last post. Travis came to live here and has been to a dog show ( and didn't embarrass himself ), Chloe and Stylle are doing fine and continually try to train Travis on how to be a " good boy " ( an all consuming effort ), and I'm back in school for the spring 09 quarter.
I have been told that I will graduate with my bachelor's in nursing in the fall of 2010 (which is around the Turkey day holiday) and think it will be time for a PARTY!!!!!! In a way, I want to go on and get a law degree but then I think I will have at least another 3 years in school and I'm not sure I want to spend THAT kind of money (grad school is very expensive – even more than undergrad) and I'm not getting any younger (I'm not sure I want to possibly graduate from law school when I'm 60 years old and then try to find a job to pay off my education). We'll just have to wait and see what time brings. * sigh *

I'm still knitting. The sweater/ cardigan I was knitting on last summer/fall was changed to a sweater (it didn't like right as a cardigan) and now has changed again. Who knows what it will be by the time I get through with it. I am also knitting a fisherman aran sweater from Alice Starmore's collection in pure cotton. The pattern calls for Rowan's cotton yarn and it (the pattern) is worked so that each piece is washed BEFORE sewing together (along with some yarn to sew with) so that it will shrink ON PURPOSE and then is sewn together. The yarn is a little hard on the hands but works up nicely. I had to tink back on it a couple of times – once because I screwed up one of the diamonds and then when I was almost ½ way through the back I looked at it from a distance (more than arm's length) and I didn't like the way the ribbing looked and tinked back and started all over again with a tighter rib and it looks much better. It's slow going because you have to pay attention to the pattern because it's easy to mess it up but it's worth it. I figure if I get it done by this fall (in between going to school and showing Travis) I will be doing well. And a big plus for this sweater – it's machine washable!!! I even started ordering more of the same yarn, in a different color, for my next sweater from the same book. This other color is a lightly faded blue that will fade even more as it's worn and washed – I'm excited to see how it does as opposed to the off white of the yarn I'm now using ( gees, it takes so little to excite me anymore ).

Well, better go for now. Travis and Chloe are together and quiet so it's hard telling what they're into.

 

Hi Everyone,

It's Chloe again and I'm here helping MOM write an entry.

We now have some pictures of Travis ( he held still for a nano second or 2 ) and MOM said I could share them.

Travis has been here with us since the last Friday in August when MOM brought him home from the dog show. Stylle and I were not expecting to have a new little brother ( even tho MOM said SHE wanted a new baby in the house ), so when he was brought in we were not happy. We didn't like his pulling of our ears, neck, tail or biting us. Stylle bit him several times and he FINALLY decided ( I think boy pups must be slow - it took Stylle about 3-4 days of doing serious biting ) to leave her alone.

But, lucky ( ? ) me, he plays with me all the time.

This is a picture of the little boy-pup wondering what MOM is up to. He can be cute when he wants something - like ALL of MOM's attention.

I think he should stop being cute and then MOM could play with all of us. But, NNNOOOOO - he wants ALL the attention. Stupid, boy-pup.

It looks like he has horns growing out the top of his head but MOM says it's just the way his hair is marked ( Personally, I KNOW those are horns.

He is soooo mean - he bites me all the time and gets in the way so I can't sit next to MOM and cuddle. )

Guess, I'll close for now as Travis is in here chewing on my feet and legs and with his baby teeth - IT HURTS!!!!!

`Bye for now,

Chloe.

Hi Everyone!

I'm back again with some info about my baby brother.

If you go to www.ukcdogs.com and then click on the site ( on the right side of the page ) where it talks about the 2008 Autumn Oaks and then click on 2008 Autumn Oaks bench show candids, you'll come to a page of pictures. About 1/2 way down the page ( or for those of you who would rather count the pictures ) - if you count down 20 pictures you'll come to a pair of pictures.

One of the pictures ( on the left side of the page ) shows 2 women in the " Thompson Hillbilly " golf cart. Just opposite this picture is my MOM holding my brand new baby brother !!!!!!! Even tho it isn't a good picture of MOM, it shows my baby brother and just how cute he is. I'm hoping to find this picture of MOM and Travis in the October issue of Coonhound Bloodlines so I can post it here.

MOM and I were looking at the UKC website when we found the pictures. Well, I immediately told Stylle about it, but as usual she didn't want to see anything that has to do with Travis ( but she did look at MOM's picture ).

Well, I need to close because Vinnie, Maggie, Cather, and Rosie are loose in the backyard AGAIN - MOM had to put them up this morning and they're out again. Something tells me that they are in big trouble now.

I will be back soon with more pictures of Travis and the rest of us here at ValleView Farms and Duegar Kennels.

So `bye for now.

Chloe, Style, Travis, and MOM

Hi Everyone!

I'm here to introduce all of you to the newest member of the Farm and Duegar Kennels.

I suppose I should give you a little background on Duegar Kennels before you meet the " new kid on the block ".

MOM started Duegar Kennels back in the late 70's or early 80's when SHE was raising dachshunds and doing color breeding with them ( whatever that is, SHE says I'm too young to know about that kind of stuff ).

Anyway ... She showed the dachshunds and did fairly well in that she put points on one of the first dappled ( you spotted Shetland breeders will read this as " spotted " ) dachshund in the midwest ( second only to her father - the first dapple dachshund champion in the country ). SHE also tried to breed for a chocolate dapple dachshund before going back to school to get a degree in nursing.

After school, SHE started breeding Labrador retrievers ( Stylle: yes, this is where I come in at. ).

And did some showing with Mama Dee ( she has a trophy form when she was in a show that she showed me one day ). Stylle : MOM also showed my mom but Jynxie didn't like the show ring so she came home and had me and Vinnie.

Now, SHE is returning to school to finish HER bachelors ( ??? ) degree and possibly a Masters (?) degree.

I came here 3 years ago after Thanksgiving and have been here since.

MOM says I am her girl-pup but can't be bred ( SHE said I had some type of thing done to my tummy so I can't have babies ). MOM says that I get to help HER with any new pups that come here AND that leads us to today.

MOM has been telling me that SHE wants to get me a new baby brother or sister but wasn't sure if SHE was going to do it now ( with school starting on Tuesday. I wonder what " school " is ? )

SHE came home last Friday from a big coonhound dog show ( that's what I am !!! ) with the most handsome boy I have ever seen !!!!!!!

He is a red-head ( like me ) and has lovely deep brown eyes and the prettiest ( can you say that about a boy ? ) red-ticked ( MOM says this is kinda like spots ) coat. His " registered " name ( MOM says this is just a fancy name on papers ) is Duegar's 4Evr N Evr Amen but I get to call him " Travis ".

MOM won't let me play too rough with him because Travis is just a baby ( he will be 8 weeks on tomorrow ) but we do get fairly roudy when MOM isn't looking. MOM said that when SHE was carrying him to the car to bring him home that Wayne Cavanaugh ( the president of the United Kennel Club ) stopped HER and took HER and Travis's picture for Coonhound Bloodlines magazine ( I must admit it is a nice magazine with pictures of all kinds of coonhounds - and now MY MOM and BABY BROTHER will have their pictures in it. WOW!!!!!! ). He must be some special kind of brother to have such an important man take his picture.

We haven't had any time to take any pictures of me and Stylle with Travis but MOM says we will soon.

Stylle : I wish MOM hadn't brought this thing home with her. He stinks and has VERY sharp teeth. I bit him about 3 times to make sure he knew NOT to bother me. Altho I do have to admit he does keep Chloe busy so she doesn't bother me much any more. So, I guess he can stay for a while as long as he understands that I am the boss around here.

Anyway, I really like Travis even if he does play with my toys. I hope he stays for a LLLLLOOOONNNGGGG time. ( even tho Stylle doesn't like him. She acted the same way when I came here to live wiith her and MOM ).

So, I'm going to go see if Travis is awake yet ( he takes a lot of naps - MOM says it's because he's a baby ) and ask MOM if we can go outside and play for a little bit.

I will be back real soon with pictures of MOM and me and Stylle and Travis. MOM said as long as I'm a good girl that I can come back and tell everyone bout Travis. It's so hard to be good but if it means I can use the computer WITHOUT getting in trouble I'll do it.

See everyone soon.

Chloe, big sister to Travis. And Stylle, too.

The Tour de Fleece is over .....................................

It's been over for about a week now and, unfortunately, I wasn't able to do any more spinning than I did at the start. Thanks to a change in my work schedule, I wasn't able to finish anything ( it's hard to spin when you work 7 straight night shifts in a row, with 3 of them being 12 hours long and the rest being 8 hours ) it doesn't make for much time but sleep a few ( maybe 4-5 per day ) and work and somehow eat in between all this.

Chloe and Stylle were not at all impressed with this work schedule and they will like next weeks even less. As of Monday 8/4 I will be working 8 days in a row. I normally don't do things like this but I'm transitioning from a 13 week contract to per diem until another contract becomes available. That is, if I live thru this. * sigh *

I finally got my sheep shears from Premier One and they look HUGE. I haven't tried them yet, but I will, probably after Labor Day when I'll have some time ( I'm taking a well earned vacation during the week of the big coonhound show on Labor Day weekend ). I don't have a dog in it,but I'm going to be looking for a new puppy so Chloe can be a " big sister ". If I find the pup I want, I'll be bringing her home with me ( yes, I said " her " because I want a little girl-pup to go with my big Girl-Pup ). Stylle was heard the other day to be muttering something about another one of those damned loud-mouthed coonhounds coming to live in her house - I don't think she's too happy with the prospect of having another pup around since Chloe will be 3 in Oct. Poor Stylle, I guess I just upset her apple cart.

Well, as usual, Chloe is quiet and that ain't good so I'd better see what she's into.

Come back and see the new baby ( hopefully ) after Labor Day.

Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy

Sorry for the fuzziness of the picture but the camera is having a " bad hair day ".

This is the first part of the first single of Baron's roving that I've spun for the Tour De Fleece. It's a little finer than I wanted so I'll have to spin the other singles a bit thicker to make it the weight I want. It did spin up easily, I just didn't have much time to work on it and haven't done anything since Monday because of work ( I keep trying to convince the dogs and the sheep that if they wouldn't eat then I could stay home with them and get more done. For some reason they don't like that idea. Silly animals. )

I have been knitting with this yarn for about 10 days and I love it. It's Noro Taiyo yarn and it's made up of 40% cotton, 30% silk, 15 % wool and 15 % nylon. It has a nice soft handle and stripes it self into some of the prettiest fabric I've ever worked with. I was going to make a sweater of my own design but decided 1/2 way thru the back that I wanted it made into a cardigan. So, I will continue to knit it as if it were a sweater but when I'm finished I will cut the front ( I plan on putting steeks in the front ) and knitting on button bands. I think I will get more use out of it as a cardigan than a sweater.

This is what the yarn looks like knit up so far. The colors from my camera don't show up as pretty as in person. The fabric has a lot of green in it but it also has some very pretty blues, peachy oranges, purples ( from a lilac/lavender to a rich deep royal purple ) and blacks. It's interesting to see the progression of the colors within the stripes because almost all of the colors found in the yarn are seen in the stripes as they're knit. It's a very entertaining yarn. I normally only wear striped socks but with this yarn I'll make an exception ( besides I figure if others don't like it , then they don't have to look. ).

More later.

Le Tour De Fleece

Here is the roving I plan to spin into a 3-ply worsted weight yarn for my cardigan. It's from my favorite wether, Baron, who I lost 1 year ago this past March.

Baron was one of the few Perendales in the States. He started out as a very dark chocolate moorit when I got him. After his 1st shearing with me, his fleece started to lighten with the increase in grey fibers. He continued to lighten til his death, when he was the color of coffee with a lit of cream in it . His fleece has always had a very soft handle and is springy when spun into yarn. I have spun some of his darker fleece into yarn that will go to make an aran sweater.

This is the cardigan I plan on making out of Baron's wool that I will be spinning in the Tour De Fleece. It's called Oblique and calls for 19 balls of yarn that have 72 yds/ 40 gm ball ( which figures out to 1368 yds needed - I like my cardigans to be big enough that I can wear another sweater beneath it ). I'm gonna try my best to get at least a good bit of it done during these next 3 weeks and I will be posting daily, or as close to daily as my job and sleep schedule will allow, so you can see how things are coming along.

Well, it's time to get off the computer, dust off the wheel and get started on this yarn. Will post more soon. Good luck to all who participate.

Well, I just signed up for Le Tour De Fleece 2008.!!!

I will be spinning Baron's tweedy roving into a 3-ply worsted weight yarn so I can make the oblique cardigan this fall/winter ( it's just a tad too hot to really work with wool yarn right now - it's supposed to get up to the mid to upper 90's today ). I like the way his wool looks after it was turned into roving - it should work well in oblique.

Have just about enough energy left ( after working a 12-hour boring night shift ) to finish this post and crawl into bed.

Will post more later ... stay tuned for pix of the roving ( if I can get thsat *&^%$# digital camera to work, that is).

Ducks .... Ducks .... Ducks .... And rain

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting pretty tired of Mother Nature having these temper tantrums of late.

Now, I'll concede that she can have a few thunderstorms if she wants ( it makes for good sleep ) BUT I must draw the line with all these tornadoes/ straight line winds crap!!!

In the 12 years I've lived here on the farm NEVER have we had not even 1 tornado warning. Oh, we do get the occassional severe thunderstorm watch/ warning or maybe, just maybe the rare tornado watch but to have a real live-honest-to-God tornado warning (and not just one but THREE ) this is a bit too much. And to beat it all, ..... there WAS a tornado in the neighborhood of the farm.

Now, I don't have any idea just who pissed Mother Nature off but I suggest that that person do whatever it takes to get her back in a good mood and stop this foolishness. It's getting embarrassing.

Back to the ducks. Chloe loves ducks and since the real ones went to that great duck pond in the sky a few months back, Girl-Pup has been checking out their pen on a daily basis to see if they've returned yet. No, this ain't a pretty picture.

So, whenever I hike thru Wal-Mart, I have been buying her some of the squeaky rubber duckies they have for little kids to play with in the bathtub .... and let me tell you that Girl-Pup is beside herself. I think at last count she had somewhere are 10 of these things (if not more ). She wants to take pictures of them and write a post about them and I told her she could but that I was going to take the pictures ( I don't relish the thought of cleaning out coonhound slobber from my camrea - yeah, I know spoil sport ). So stay tuned for the " ducks on parade " ( Chloe's idea, not mine ).

What No Rain ? .......

It's quit raining for the time being but the weather people looked at their tea leaves and said it's gonna rain again tomorrow - to be honest, I'd rather have this rain than the drought we had last year - at least, my pasture is now green with grass instead of the mossy stuff that was there last year.

Speaking of the sheep, they seem to be doing ok. I've been feeding them some alfalfa hay cubes in the morning for breakfast then turning them out into the pasture for the day ( they usually spend the night in the backyard ), and call them back for supper after 6pm for some more alfalfa cubes and pelleted grain mix. They are starting to put on more weight and look 100% better than they did earlier.

I finally got Alyse rooed. I have NEVER had a ewe as filthy as she was. She had soft stool mixed into her britch that was absolutely nasty. It took about 2 hours to get her cleaned up even with some of her wool starting to roo on its own ( of course the little growth - aka Sonni, the lamb - helped roo some of her wool by climbing on her back ). Her wool ( of course, it was her lambswool ) was full of thistle stickers,vm and tons of stuff I don't even want to think about, so it was thrown out. Her new wool shows some spotting over her sides and a nice dorsal stripe. Now, all I have to do is roo Wenny, Lacie, Maddie, Glorie, and shear Linda and TJ and I'll be done for this year. Think I'll invest in a shearing machine for next year instead of doing it by hand - I might be able to have everyone sheared before Thanksgiving that way !!!

The lamb has a name. She will be known as ValleView Sonzarai. I worked with a nurse who was named " Sonzaray " and thought it a beautiful name. Sonni is growing like a weed and as happy as a clam with her " mom's " attention. I think she might be just a little bit spoiled.

The pastures are coming along fine. I actually have enough grass in them to cover the sheep's hooves - not everyplace in the pastures but in most, so the stress is of them and hopefully, they will recover without too much difficulty. Will be keeping the sheep in the backyard and catch pen this fall/winter and do some fertilizing and reseeding of the pastures so they will be better next spring. No lambs next year but maybe the year after, I'll rent a ram for a season and see what happens. Who knows.

Well, Chloe is too quiet so I need to see what she's into. Still can't trust her completely.

I guess the weekend decided NOT to end ......

When I went out to close the pasture gate on Monday, I found that I was 1 duck short. Some critter had gotten into the kennel over the night and taken one of my duck hens ( and they were just getting started in laying eggs well ). No footprints were found ( it's kinda hard to see a foot print in straw ). So I fussed and fumed until it was time to go to work.

I had told the boy I buy hay from that if he could use a used 75 foot garden hose, it was his and I told him where he'd find it. At this time, I had 2 drakes and 5 hens. He said that all the ducks were there when he came to get the hose.

When I got home around 2 am on Tuesday, I still had the 7 ducks. They were a little flighty, but they would do that if I left them out in the catch pen and not put them in their kennel. So I went to bed.

When I finally got up around 7:30 on Tuesday morning ( I had to have a ppd placed for work was the only reason I was up then ), I went out to close the pasture gate and found 7 dead ducks in the catch pen !!!

They were scattered around the pen as if they had died where they had been runnig to get away from whatever was after them. To look at the ducks, only 1 had visible signs of blood on her until you walked up to the hen at the gate to the front yard - her head had been eaten off !!!!

I had had these ducks for 3 years ( they were 6 months older than Chloe ) and I was very upset.

I talked to the boy I get my hay from and told him how it looked and he said it sounded like a raccoon had gotten in the pen and killed all the ducks but couldn't get them out. I was so upset all I could think of was to find that beast and do to it what it had done to my ducks - I didn't care if it lived or not. I WANTED IT DEAD!!!

I have calmed down since then and will be getting more ducks and some geese later this spring and have been told how to make sure this doesn't happen again. So ...

This is a WARNING to all the foxes and raccoons around here :

NO MORE FREE MEALS FROM MY ANIMALS ALLOWED. ANY ANIMAL FOUND TO BE HARMING THE DUCKS/GEESE WILL BE DEALT WITH SWIFTLY AND FINALLY. NO EXCEPTIONS MADE.

Now, let the bastards come around and try for a free meal - they won't like what their next meal will be.

It's not been a good week around here and only got worse.

I have been at orientation for a " last ditch " psychiatric hospital ( the hospital is state run and takes in patients that have been deem incompetent to stand trial, are child molesters,rapests, and patients that have such chronic psychiatric disorders that they have been shipped there as a last resort ) and have been taught how to " take down " a patient that is totally out of control.

Things were going fine until we did the hands-on take downs with the instructors and, lucky me, I got one who said ( out of one side of her mouth ) " we are not trying to hurt you " but, would laugh and smile like a fiend when someone got hurt because of how " rough " she was acting . Now, I'm not afraid of patients and am not afraid of being hurt in the line of protecting the safety of one of my patients, BUT I do draw the line when someone who is supposedly teaching me a way to remain safe and not injure a patient deliberately goes out of her way to cause injury to us and thinks it's funny !!!

I felt a pop in my left instep ( which was ignored when I said so ) and way thrown into a solid cement block wall because this chick wanted to show us ( we were in groups of three ) what a patient can do to you. And, if that don't beat all, because of her actions every instructor was concerned about her getting the wind knocked out of her at the same time I hit the floor with my bad knee and couldn't get up!! Thank goodness, she works days and I will be working evenings/nights.

AND as if that wasn't enough to frost you're cookies, I get home on Thursday and was met by my a#^h*le neighbor stating if I don't do something with my sheep he's going to shoot them.

Now, my babies are between 3 months and 4 weeks of age and I was getting ready to place ads on one of the Shetland lists I'm on but because of this threat I had to call a friend of mine and ask him if he could help me catch the sheep on Friday so I could send them to market on Saturday. We caught eveyone of the little buggers - which if you've ever tried to catch a wild slippery youngster who doesnot want to be caught you know what I mean.

Saturday morning, I got up and caught the sheep I was going to keep ( my 2 border Leicesters, 3 adult Shetland ewes, 2 yearling Shetland ewes and the baby of one of the yearlings. ) Total sheep kept = 8. Total sent to market = 19 babies and 19 adults.

Needless to say, yesterday wasn't a good day. The 3 adult ewes spent the entire day calling for their babies and running all over the pastures looking for them. It was heart breaking. One of the ewes had horns and it broke off in my hand as I caught her and before I could get a halter on her - so she won't have anything to do with me ( can't say I blame her ).

Today, the ewes aren't calling as much but everytime I walk out the back door, they want me to come to the gate and let them in the backyard. The lone baby is now spoiled because when she cries for her mom she has 3 other ewes answer her and come to her to see what she needs.

I can only hope that my sheep and their babies went to good homes - the man that took them to market for me ( I couldn't go - it was all I could do not to cry as I sent them off ) that the babies will probably sell for more than the others because they are little and can be made into pets easier than the adults.

At least now, I hope , they will go to people who can give them all they need. After last year's drought and even though we did have a lot of rain this spring, my pastures are just about shot to pieces. I hope that with just 8 sheep, the pastures will have time to re-coop and do better. But , it still was very hard to get rid of my old girls and some of my favorites and only keep the ones I did. Truth be known, I cried along with the ewes - it was heart-breaking.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

Weather forecast ...

Rain...rain...rain...rain...rain...rain...rain.....OMG, I think the Ark is up and running !!!

I am tired of the rain, the sheep are tired of the rain, the dogs in the kennel are tired of the rain, and the house girls are tired of the rain.

Now, I know we need rain to help the spring flowers/bulbs/trees grow and it will/would be nice to get some rain this summer so the hay/feed grains/other veggies can grow ...BUT ... do we have to get All Of The Summers Rain In One DAY ?????

I hope to shear everyone the end of the month and as wet as they are now, if it stopped raining right this minute and didn't rain until after April 1st, I might, just might have the sheep dried out enough to shear ( but I sure wouldn't hold my breath on it then ).

On another side of farm life, Candi ( ValleView Candida = Underhill Ferguson x Shandrew Pekin ) had her baby this morning during the deluge. It's ( I haven't ventured out of the house to check the new baby's sex yet ) black with sugar lips and the appearence of light rings around the eyes. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts this little one is gonna be a grey kat mollet like its mom and granddad. I just hope its a girl ( so far the boys are winning ).

I still have over 15 girls to deliver and I'm crossing my fingers that I will get at least 1 baby with spots ( Dani was the only spotted baby from last year ).

Well, it's time to put on the hip waders and swim out to the car and get to town for my allergy prescription - it's soooo wonderful to have hay fever that lasts 24/7/365. I wouldn't know how to handle being able to breathe without taking meds ( but I'd love to try ). Yeah, it's one of my delusional days. * sigh *

Was walking thru the bedroom this past weekend and, of course, Chloe was present to help me ( I might get lost making my way from the sofa to the bathroom and back again - me thinks the Girl-Pup thinks MOM is loosing it ?!! )

Anywho, she was out of sight for a couple of seconds ( and without Stylle around to help keep tract of her - THIS can be a dangerous situation, as she is in the middle of THE TERRIBLE TWOS - and yes, they are as bad with her as with any human child I've ever seen - it just ain't pretty ), and knowing Chloe as I do I called her name.

Well, she popped around the corner of the bed and made a single bark as if to say " WHAT ?!!! " ( in a very exassperated tone like MOM I AM RIGHT HERE - WHAT DO YOU WANT - not the best tone to be speaking to you mother with unless you have an overwhelming desire to get the crap slapped straight out of you !!! ) and just looked at me. I just looked at her and thought " well, it was easy to figure out what she was saying ".

Right now, Chloe is glaring out the front window at a pair of squirrels digging for walnuts. This is not tolerated in HER front yard !!!!- she barks at the squirrels and then runs up to me " telling " me about these horrible creatures in her front yard and then will run back and forth between the window and me barking until I get up and confirm that , yes there are squirrels out front, at which time she lays down in front of the window and fusses at them under her breath.

Sometimes, it's amazing what kids ( human or canine ) will say.

Want to have a little laugh ???

I found this website in my email box this morning and took the test offered. It was hilarious.
Give it a try ...


www.dogster.com/quizzes.