Category Archive: sheep
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.Lambing supplies
Normally, sheep take minimal care-just feed, water, and cleaning. I’m hoping that the birthing process this year doesn’t take any more care than it has in the past. However, since there should be between 15-20 birthing, it was essential to purchase some emergency lambing supplies for insurance. There are some supplies that are needed for each birth, like the iodine, syringes with needles, etc, but other things are just for emergency. I think I have everything put together except to grab some old towels and purchase some more buckets. $250.00. Fortunately one lamb will pay the bill.
And to add to the fun we have around here, Beau tried to get through this gate as I was trying to keep him from getting through. Now the rotten post is being held up by the latch. Just another something to keep us from getting too comfortable. I think this summer will include replacing many posts.
And the skies just keep dripping – no, today, they were running. I am so ready to see the sun. But the forecasters are telling me that is still at least 10 days away.
New year mystery quilt finished
The New Year mystery quilt is totally finished at 42 x 60″ for a lap quilt. I’m linking up to Elm Street OMG http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/01/one-monthly-goal-january-finish-link-up.html
If January is any example, this year will be a much slower year than the last two years. It’s not that I don’t work, but I’m trying to get some barn cleaning done daily, instead of waiting until it gets too deep and really hurts to get it done. Plus it seems as if some of my drive has gone without me. I need to catch up and get that back.
Heated gloves
My fingers get so cold when working outside that I purchased these heated gloves from Amazon. There is a place in the cuff to put batteries which will heat the fingers. I was so happy with them for about an hour as they actually were warm. After an hour, the batteries died. I really need gloves that will keep my fingers warm for longer than that so will do more research. But while they worked, they were wonderful. Today I cleaned stalls for more than 2 hours and it is important to have warm fingers. Otherwise, they hurt too much when I come in.
No, I didn’t do any craft today, just relaxed after the barn chores and the lunch – oh, and had some company.
We went to Paneras for our 55th anniversary lunch. Interestingly enough, the area where we sat had 7 tables, 5 with people at them. There were mix ups in the meals of 3 of the tables. Eventually everyone did get what they ordered. Does that mean the caliber of people being hired has gone down?
What did we discuss at lunch? Why of course, the ups and downs, the left and right turns and in the end we are glad we stayed the course. The roller coaster ride has been interesting.
Shabbat Shalom
Juliette won!
Today, DH felt a real need to go to Costco, because we hadn’t been there this year yet and this Parkinson stuff makes him worry even more than before. So while he was putting on his shoes, I started out to the car. You don’t have to guess who bolted past me and past him, going from one end of the house to the other, with a pause in each room as if looking for something. Juliette won! She toured the entire floor (without mishap) before I could get her turned around with animal crackers. Then out the back door and up to where the other sheep are, she followed. She is now a sheep again, in the pasture with the other sheep. Grain does wonders.
And we did our damage at Costco. It is amazing how much one can spend without buying much food. We did buy raisins and figs, and some dog treats. The bulk of our buying was things like toilet paper, dishwasher soap, jeans, etc. and it added up fast. I was glad I had made mashed potatoes, with falafel patties and green beans to fill up before we went to a grocery store. It does save money.
Unusual day
I started my day with a trip to the gym which was nearly the only ordinary thing about yesterday.
When I got home, my boomerang son met me with the fact that we “have a very limping big white sheep” which was the start of my unusual day. I assumed she managed to get a foot caught in her coats which happens occasionally. Not so! After some work, I managed to get her and another sheep into a partially empty stall. It is at times like this, you find doors that don’t work and other “fun” farm chores needing attention.
Diagnosis: prolapsing started. Vet called. Meanwhile I stayed at the barn since I had a stall that I needed to clean and had actually started the day before. This stall floor hadn’t been cleaned in 6 weeks, so there was a lot of wet, matted, decomposing, heavy hay. I worked on that until lunch, ran home, made lunch, mopped two floors, ran to the grocery for half a dozen items, and came right back to the job. Intermittently, I was keeping track on what was going on with this sheep.
The vet was here about 1/2 an hour and a friend came to help. Now the two sheep will stay in this 10 x 12 stall until she lambs in 2-3 weeks (sheep always need a companion). The extra hay has been removed so they have more room. I will check on them 2-3 times a day. It appears there will be 2 or possibly 3 lambs. We don’t have long to wait. This is why I always like to have another stall ready to go. One just never knows. I did finish cleaning out the other stall, and have 5 more to go. 3 have deep winter bedding which means it is about 2 feet deep in places and will take a lot of time and effort unless I get lucky and find someone needing a few dollars. Now that the weather is warmer, I need to clean the stalls every 2 weeks
Yesterday was definitely not an ordinary day, and I stayed and worked there until 4. I came home and fell asleep. It has been years since I worked that long and hard. As I continually point out to my DH, “the sheep will keep us healthy as they make us use our muscles and we have to get outside daily”
And if I didn’t have them, I probably would have done more shopping, or sewing, or even house cleaning. There definitely would not be some unusual muscles complaining today. And I would have had my blog done yesterday, instead of so late.
However, I love this way of life and am so thankful to be living here. Enjoy the day. Company will be here shortly.
Spool soufflé quilt start
Beau enjoyed riding out to the meat market to get bones for the dogs this morning, then he “helped” me do some cleaning on one of the stalls.
Because I tired of the other quilt, I started this Spool Souffle quilt. I had it partly cut out, so cut out the background today and
sewed the background onto the sides. And guess what!. The top and bottom of the spools have 144 lovely triangles that I get to draw diagonals on. Not happening today and tomorrow I have gym and cleaning the house. Maybe I should start another quilt – no, maybe I should finish something started.
Just for fun, my brother sent this site for me to add to my blog so you could be entertained. It is a knit village – very interesting.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/entire-northern-ireland-village-knitted-wool-crochet-cloughmills-county-antrim?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9c6bc42389-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-9c6bc42389-64485021&ct=t()&mc_cid=9c6bc42389&mc_eid=54eb2a57cf
Split pea soup
Somehow I didn’t get a photo, but we made two batch of split pea soup. We canned 24 pints and the rest will happen in the morning. DH enjoys this EVERY evening for dinner.
Some days, I run out of energy. Maybe because I spent time in the barn changing sheep coats and cleaning out a stall that I left too long, so it was deeper than I like. Tomorrow after I get back, I have more stall cleaning to do. If I was really, REALLY smart, I would pick up the dropped hay weekly and then it wouldn’t have a chance to mat so badly and would not be such a workout.
I did a minor amount of work on these brown flying geese. I think these geese will take all week, because tomorrow I have to go up to the mall and return some items. I keep putting this trip off. Shopping is not a high priority anymore. But eventually they will get done.
Brown flying geese
In finished the 200 flying geese for step two and since today was dry, I cleaned some in the barn. It has been so wet, that it’s a real mess and the loads are heavy, so I’m cleaning that in increments.
I skipped over to step 5, since I noticed brown flying geese, and have one wing on each of these 200 geese. As long as I’m doing geese, I might as well get them done, right? There are a lot of geese in this quilt.
Sheep help us live better longer
I told DH, we need the sheep to help us live better and longer. They will help us because we will have to go outside each day and take care of them. 
That is true, we do have to get fresh air each day while we do the minimum maintenance. But one can’t always do the minimum and today, was cold and sunny and this stall was really calling my name as the hay was getting too deep to easily open the door.
So 3 hours and 18 full wheelbarrow loads later, the stall is clean of hay and ready to start over. This photo was of the half way point. Tonight, I’m not sure if the sheep will help us go to the grave earlier or help us live longer. They certainly give me exercise. There was a lot of twisting involved in getting the pitchfork loaded and into the wheelbarrow and then I dumped the contents in mole town which gave me balance exercise. But I do love the sheep.
Tomorrow, I will do a walk through on the rental and go to the farm store for a few supplies. The sheep will get fed and watered, but I have no plans for stall cleaning, though there are still 3 to go. The body changes over the years – have you noticed – and it resents doing what it could easily do just a very few years ago. I should have kept up instead of taking a vacation from physical work.