This new family joined us this morning. Mom was not expected to birth this early
therefore, did not get sheared on Sunday. My friend is taking off the excess wool so that the babies can more easily nurse. Another boy and another girl. I almost think they should have Valentine type names. I am getting very good at 1/2 naps. We are now at 3 hour intervals between feedings day and night. It does remind me of the sleepless nights when our children were babies.
Monthly Archives: February 2018
New family
Catching my breath and cleaning
20 bags of fleeces to go through. It was so fun to view each of them under the sun bleached tips as they were sheared. Today, I’m catching my breath, taking the day more slowly, and cleaning up. The fleeces are nearly all at the house now (warmer here), the garbage has been taken care of and the stalls are also cleaner with fresh hay for all to eat.
I thought we might have a birth, but that is probably waiting until I am fast asleep, though I prefer to be there in case of trouble. It’s difficult to tell when babies are coming and if I wait up – well you know about the “watched pot”. My friend was sure that one of her ewes was going to pop each day for 2 weeks as she was so big, but in the meantime two of her other ewes not as big decided to deliver some surprises. One just doesn’t know until it happens.
Feb 2018 Shearing day
Feb 2018 Shearing day set up and ready to go
I know we did more than 20 sheep, but I don’t know how many and don’t have enough energy to count the fleeces. So tomorrow…….
Pierre is so good at shearing them, that many just lay there very relaxed so he can get on with their spa day. (this one may birth in the next day or two)
In contrast, this is one with the vet. Just to make life interesting, this girl had a prolapsed vagina. If not treated immediately, it meant death. So the vet (in green shirt) came out, put everything back inside her and we hope for the best. This was not fun for anyone because she had to be held upside down to shove this large ball of protrusion back inside her body. It is stitched in to hold it hopefully until the baby arrives and then she will not be bred again. She is a good family pet prospect as she has beautiful wool and will be useful for that.
The spools quilt is together and ready for borders. It seems this week has been fast and furious. Last night I finished getting everything into Quicken so I can pull up categories for taxes. I showed it to DH so he could assemble what he needs for the part he does. I found a couple mistakes which I will repair and then it is ready for my visit with the tax man. We have added the farm this year as a business so I don’t really know which numbers he will want. But they are all there and that is a huge relief.
Wool is fiber and an adventure. Today we skirted (meaning picked weeds, and other etc out of the fleeces and 
Beau must stand on his back feet to chew this polyester cord, so the board will slip and he can get through. He is a challenge. Maybe a wider board will do the trick.
When we got up this morning, we were 20 years older, than we are tonight. At breakfast, I decided we were not getting enough done and DH was doing nothing other than the gym and the dishes and napping. Well, that’s because he retired without hobbies. So using the phrase “mind over matter”, I told him, he is now 64 and that’s how he gets to act and think. WOW! I should have come up with this earlier. He actually did act younger. And since he is 20 years younger, I also am. So the greenhouse beds are all weeded.
I still need to clean the weeds near the entrance. I brought in a load of the cabbage leaves we love for our cooked greens
I washed them and stemmed them, then he cut and cooked them, freezing some.
Mary came over today and we enjoyed catching up on each others lives. We started by having a fast food lunch and came back to knitting for me and crocheting for her while we chatted. As you can see, I got a very few rows knitted on my next pair of socks, but start, I did.
The feeder is full, the floor is cleaned with fresh straw and 
she’s almost ready – just in the last stage of waiting. You can see her eyes are closed and she is tired. She’s breathing heavily and babies have dropped. We may be looking at 2 days, but you know nature has a way of it’s own.
Between watching sheep and cleaning stalls, I took some time to finish putting these spools together. I still have the strips and the squares to put between the rows. That will take time to decide which color to put where, but I am happy with the progress I made today.
Spool Souffle’ row 1 is together. Most of the day was spent researching stem cell for Parkinson’s. One has to dig and make many calls to learn much. And that means much time on the phone. So I’m linking up to Elm Street Quilts in the hope that I can get this done as my “OMG” for February http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/02/one-monthly-goal-february-goal-setting.html