Monthly Archives: September 2017

2017
09/29

Category:
Life

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Yom Kippur thoughts

Yom Kippur starts this evening at sunset.  Although this is not a day most Christians celebrate, I think it is a good time to reflect on the early times of Judeo-Christianity.    This was the one day of  each year that the Israelites were to meet with God in a very special way.  They were to have totally clean bodies and homes.   Any wrongs they could remember must be made right and any sins forgiven.   Nothing was to be left to distract them from the meeting with The Almighty.   This God is so holy that anything left undone would cause the death of the Israelite who was negligent.  Their entire year was geared to being ready for this most special day when they were to be “At one” with  God – The day of Atonement.   This was the day sins were physically removed from the  camp via the scapegoat.

They understood what reverence for God meant.    I remember as a child when we stepped into the sanctuary, we were not allowed to even whisper.   We were to be absolutely quiet in the house of the Lord.   It’s so different today.

And my house is rarely spotless. I have “company clean” areas, and “the rest of the house”  I make excuses, but I wonder how uncomfortable the angels are with all these piles of things I want to get to and that take up so much space – physical and mental.  Yes, I know that I am loved anyway, but am I showing my love and appreciation for Him by not being ready for His presence?  Or am I taking advantage of His love and longsuffering?   I can  assure you that if the Queen of England were going to visit, I would not find this measure of cleanliness acceptable, so then why do I find it okay when the King of the Universe wants to visit with me?  If I want to be ready for the next visit, I should start immediately after this day is over and probably best by reducing how much there is to clean.  I don’t want to be too busy to be ready for the King’s visit.  And I want the angels to be comfortable here.

I’m not looking for anyone to answer, but rather am thinking out loud and would like to cause others to think.  What better day to pause and consider these things than the anniversary “Day of Atonement”

2017
09/29

Category:
farming
Life
quilts
sheep

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Elm Street OMG for September

OMG for September – Hooking up with Elm Street quilts with my finish for their One Monthly Goal.   Finally the snow people have noses.

Plus there is the little pouch for the transformer to hang on the wall behind the snowman to take the weight off the quilt. This little quilt measures 27 x33 and is done in time for the this year.  It is “Twinkling Snowman” by “aquiltingroadshow@msn.com

The neighbor and I spent too much time getting all the sheep into the proper pastures for their breeding season.   The ewes will be reunited in another month.

And here is the news from today’s paper    “Expect rain and cold temps until July 5, 2018”.  I truly hope this is wrong.

2017
09/28

Category:
farming
food
Life

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sheep/grapes AGAIN

 

Grapes – bucketsful turning into grape juice.  I pick the grapes off the stem and then steam them.   It will be wonderful this winter.

Sheep:   He wanted a selfie.   I was trying to get this

photo of the wool on his neck, but he insisted on the selfie as well.  I wanted you to see all this crimp and this is on his neck.  For those who don’t know, this crimp is what gives the wool the ability to remember it’s shape after being worn.   This wool is next to the skin soft and lovely, sometimes referred to as buttery.

This is how guard dogs pass the day.   Should anything – like a coyote rabbit, strangers – show up anywhere near the fence lines, they would be instantly awake and taking care of the problem.  But don’t they look relaxed?   At night, they make fence line rounds, just looking and watching for trouble.

Today, I spent some time rearranging sheep in preparation for breeding.  Tomorrow, I should get that finished and the sheep will be in their new groups for the next month.   In November, all the girls can form one nice big flock, the Shetland boys will be separated once again and the Cormo ram will go back to his owner.

This big fleece (larger than a screen door) now has the soap rinsed out of it and is drying in the barn.  My hope is that it will be a nice big rug once felted.   And that ends another day on this fiber farm.

 

2017
09/27

Category:
farming
food
Life

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

sheep/meetings/grapes

Today consisted of showing the various sheep to a woman who is interested in marketing some of my wool, then meetings with the sheep coop, and lastly picking grapes off stems to make grape juice.   Apparently not  everyday can be exciting.     But I’ll try again tomorrow.

2017
09/25

Category:
quilts

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

Nearly finished snow people

It turns out that putting all those little lights into the fabric is hard on the hands.

First I had to lay out where the people were and reverse that pattern to lay on the  back of the hanging.  Then it was time to mark all the light positions

With an awl, I poked all the little holes through and then tried to get a little light into each of those holes. Rubber gaskets go on each side of the fabric to hold the lights in place.

This package has 108 lights.   I still have to make a little holder for the transformer to sit behind the snowman  and they will get orange noses

2017
09/24

Category:
farming
Life
quilts

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

Daisy and “Ribbons” table runner

On the left is Daisy at 4 months  (I know -not French, but she said that is who she is) and Beau on the right when he was 2 months.   I find it interesting how long those little noses grow.    Daisy has become quite playful.   She gets so excited when I come to see her that her whole little body wiggles.  However, today, Lacey let her know that she (Daisy) is at the bottom of the totem.  She didn’t hurt her, just rolled her over.

Here is the “Ribbons” table runner for which I tested the pattern.   It is available from the Quilt Pattern Magazine in their October issue.   It measures 20 x 53 and is easily made larger or smaller.   It looks so very different in different color combinations and it would be fun to have a different holiday on the reverse side.   I love testing for this company because I can choose which ones I want to test and the colors.   Therefore I can make items that I can use.

2017
09/22

Category:
Life

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Sheep show

I was given a ticket to the fair so I could watch the sheep show.   And I planned my week accordingly.

I enjoyed watching them ready the sheep for the ring and

enjoyed watching the judge choosing the winners and stating why he chose them.

My friend placed some first, some seconds, and some thirds so was very happy.

After the judging, I went over to the wool area.   I think I should enter some wool next year.

After the show I hurried home as I had a large bunch of grapes to turn into grape juice.     At least these were the plans for today.   Instead, I received a phone call asking if we could have lunch with family members here tomorrow.   Ok.  I could hurry home and be ready.   When I got home, I turned on the stove to continue steaming the grapes, then went to feed the animals.

Remember the sheep that stuck her head in so far, she got stuck?   Yes, she did it again and it took 2 hours before we finally got her out.  She should remember the headache from this and not try it again.  Oh and the hot wire we put up yesterday, we had to put a portion of it back up today as the sheep found a short in it and took some of it down.

At this fiber farm, life is interesting and we are never bored.   I hope I will sleep in tomorrow – at least an hour.  Happy Sabbath to each of you.

2017
09/21

Category:
farming

COMMENTS:
4 Comments »

New faces on the farm

WE HAVE NEW FACES HERE ON THE FARM!!!This new face does not yet have a name.   Since they are from the French side of the Pyrenees mountains, I was looking for a good French name for her.  So far, nothing I’m really fond of.   It may turn out not French.  She is 4 months old and since this was the first time away from home and family, she is SCARED.

She found a corner here to hide where she can also see.
The sheep wanted to meet her, but she is leary.

Let’s try again

And 2 pygmy goat kids have taken up residence.   They were purchased by people who didn’t realize how much time it takes to care for animals.   They asked if I would take them and they came named Betty and Billy.   They are cute and they should fit in as they were born in April, so still young and flexible.

 

2017
09/20

Category:
Life

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

Snowmen work

I spent some time today tacking this all together and just have to buy some orange felt for the noses and then decide where to put all the holes for all 100 little flashing lights to go through the fabric to shine on the front.   I have the feeling cutting the holes will take time.

2017
09/19

Category:
farming
Garden

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

Stuck sheep/garden update

This stuck sheep showed some real talent in getting her head in here.   She had to move forward while turning her head sideways.    However, getting her out took 2 of us.  One to pull her backwards and the other to twist her head.  She just kept pushing forward.  There are always lessons to be learned from these sheep.Once we helped her out, she was very happy to join her friends in a meal of grain.

The garden is giving us very large cantaloupe this year after starting out with giving us personal sided melons.   These are two people melons.   I am definitely saving seed from these.

This is the end of the cucumbers though there are still a few more zucchini and peppers in the garden.   This week, we will clean out some of the beds.

No photo as it seemed dangerous, but the honey bees are battling the wasp who would like to rob the hives.   Next year we will be putting up wasp traps.