After having looked at this on the quilting machine for the last month plus, I am excited to have finished the quilting. But the binding will have to wait a bit yet. I somehow injured my ankle so we spent nearly 4 hours going to urgent care. They were extremely busy. The outcome was that I just need to stay off the ankle as much as possible and see what happens. I am so very fortunate to have a neighbor who has offered to clean the stalls for me this coming week. By mid April, the pastures should be in good shape and that will cut the work load.
Then last night Zelda decided she couldn’t hold out another day and had twin ewe lambs. These are Shetlands and 1/2 the size of the Cormos, weighing in about 4#.
This afternoon, Zoe, another Shetland, got it right. These are the St Patrick day lambs. At least as of right now. Sometimes a sheep will not give any indications that she is going to give birth and other times, she looks like it for a week or two ahead of time. Zelda didn’t indicate. We’ve been watching Zoe for 2 weeks. The orange color on the coat indicates it was a difficult labor and will wear off soon.
This afternoon we went tractor hunting. We had already looked at the John Deere, so today was Kubota day. There are many choices and though we were looking at the lower end, these creators cost plenty. So how do we find a used one that we won’t have to spend a lot on repairs? I don’t yet know, but will try to learn. Farming is expensive and labor intensive! Even though I don’t want to pay any more than I absolutely have to for my food, I also realize how inexpensive it really is to go to the grocery store and purchase it. I am thankful to those who spend their time and energy in this way.
See this handsome fellow? The head and horns are incredible! Sheep are very visual and after shearing do not recognize each other. So there is much noise because babies can’t find their mothers, and the ewes don’t know each other. The two males had to re-establish their pecking order, which meant they were brutal to each other. We have to put the males in a very small pen for a day or two so they don’t have room to back up and get a run at each other and kill the opponent. The two boys were in a 4 x 6′ area with chain link on three sides and 2 x 12″ lumber on the other. They bent the chain link and were trying to go through the wood. They were acquainted with each other enough this morning that we were able to put them back in their big one acre pen with hot wire. If you ever see two of these fellows establishing who is primary, you will have a very good understanding of the word “ram”.
Here is Beau in the car with all the bags of wool. He is making sure the car is not moving without him in it.
I left the gate lock open so Beau could follow me up to the barn, and apparently when he pushed it open, the gate came tumbling down. When I started back to the house, this is what I saw. This is only one of the reasons, it is difficult to accomplish what is on my list. It is a vicious cycle trying to keep everything from wearing out before one is done using it. In our case, fence posts have been here long enough that some of the posts are rotting.
The mountains are coming along. It will be about 48 x 50″ plus whatever I decide on borders.
I have now completed two pattern repeats on “As time goes by” socks. I think I will need 5 repeats, so 3 more to go. This name just seems so appropriate as the time has been flying by.
The big equipment fellows finally came back this week and are once again working. They left the machine here all winter, so I can only assume it was too wet to need it. They are now removing dead trees and blackberry brambles. Then we can plant pasture
Another unfinished project. The iris didn’t get weeded much last summer, but they are still volunteering to come back up and give us a show of beauty this summer.
Some days it feels as if I spend the entire day feeding triplets, even though that is not true. It just seems that way. This morning for the first time in 3 weeks, I was able to spend my hour at the gym. Although I come home tired, it is worth the time. I try to get a rest time on those days, for at least half an hour. However do humans who have triplets manage all this – they can’t walk away for 2 or 3 hours, knowing all will be safe until they return?