Another Story

"So what's this sheep's story?" Dr. Bridge asked as she knelt on the ground next to us yesterday morning.  The stories... 

As I sit there with my friends, waiting, I usually tell them stories.  "Remember that time when..."  Sometimes I just sit with them and tell them they were good girls, good boys, good ponies, best dogs ever... Sometimes I just cry and say "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." 

I was told years ago that life with an animal is lots and lots and lots of good days...and one really bad one.  That's true with the stories as well - lots and lots and lots of good stories...and one last really sad one.  And even though the day is bad and the story is sad, at the end of the day I'm still grateful for the opportunity. 

Lila had some classic stories, especially as a bottle lamb. It's fun to go back into the blog archives and re-read them. She was a character.  She will make you laugh.  And even though she settled a bit into the background as she grew up, she became a part of so many other sheep's stories. 

Lila was one of my girls...that group of sheep as close to daughters as I'll ever have.  I had fun raising her and Grumpy Lila (unless there were cookies involved ;-) could always be counted on in return to raise up any new flock members, young or old. 

Everybody loved Lila.  Probably because she told good stories.  Maybe because she was a good pillow ;-).

Lila Lambie

April 16, 2011 - March 22, 2019

Adventure Chicken Ingenuity

I gave a head's up last night on Twitter that I'd taken a video of one of the Adventure Chickens catching a ride on Maisie's back.  You know that's gotta be good!  In my excitement over that I forgot that I'd taken a couple shots earlier in the evening.  Now, looking back at both sets of pictures, I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence that Lila is a chicken's choice in (wide) backs or if they purposely team up every night. 

 Whether Lila likes it or not ;-).

Kate and I had everyone locked out last night while I put down some dry straw after two days of pouring rain.

This particular chicken likes to sleep in the outside sheep stall, up high on my 'out of Graham's reach' working shelf.  

She's gotten old (or smart) enough that she can't fly up on her own.  She uses several sheep to help out...starting with Maisie.

Yep, that's the face we know and love ;-).

Watch what happens next! 

This is long (three minutes) and sort of like watching grass grow if you aren't really that into interesting animal behavior, but Oh sweet, sweet Petunia.

So here's a chicken question for you.  I've been offered eight laying hens - older, not chicks.  I still have four old hens here.  Very old hens - probably close to nine or ten I'd guess.  Our chicken house is a good size for twelve hens, but I don't want to over stress my old girls by bringing new hens in.  Is this an issue?  Any suggestions on how to integrate two flocks?

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Speaking of questions, I've had several about calendars, mugs and yarn.  I'm going to do my best to have some available for pick up Saturday.  I know where the mugs and yarn are, but I have to find the box of calendars packed away in the house.  As far as mail order...I'm hoping to be able to start that next week.  I so appreciate everyone's patience.

And while the Hug a Sheep Party was not designed to be a shopping party, don't forget that this year we have some special guests bringing some goodies Saturday as well :-D.  If you've been to the wool festival, you probably already know them, but here are some faces to put with the names in case you don't.

Sweet, sweet Hannah, (ewe fluffly ewe) who really is that sweet.  I'm looking forward to her helping carry the sweet load around here Saturday in case I've 'done used up all my sweet' by then ;-).

The talented and also sweet Melanie from A Yarn Well Spun.  We are holding out hope that Daniel's yarn will be ready, but will still have a ton of fun if it's not!

And Tonya, of Flat Creek Wool and Pottery fame, also very sweet and a fabulous shepherd and potter...and somehow I never got a picture of her actual face in all those festival years.

See you Saturday!  Oh, and for everyone too far away, don't worry, another very sweet friend of ours, Amy (Auset Images), is coming to take lots of pictures for us.  Maybe she'll bring her harp as well :-D.

Speaking of sweet, sweet Auntie Reg is bringing her sweet carrot cake cupcakes and some other sweet goodies :-D.  

Yes, all my friends are sweet...but you already knew that :-).

This really should have been two separate blog posts.  

A re-cap - laugh at Maisie, awwww for Petunia, answer chicken question if you can, come out Saturday and hug some sweet sheep :-D.

No, Maisie probably won't be in the hugging pen.  Remember..."sweet" ;-D.  

She hates sweets anyway ;-).

Yarn Along - Meanwhile, Back At The Wool Mill

Somewhere between shearing and skirting (months ago) and heading to the mill came washing and deciding if snipping the sunbleached tips off Baaxter's lamb fleece was going to make enough difference to justify the effort.  Miss B and I pulled out two samples (also months ago :-o), snipped the tips off one and not the other and then combed and carded each and...

...yes, there was a significant difference.  Baaxter Black should be as black as possible so I snipped as many sunbleached tips as I could stand.  If I ever have another black lamb, I'm going to do that while the fleece is still on the sheep.  It was a Job.

So here's Baby B. all washed, snipped and ready to go to Ohio Valley (at least a month ago - what is going on around here?!?).

I'm sure I am speaking for everyone in saying how comforting it is to see Beth and Darlene still running these wonderful old machines.

The wool is dumped into the back of the machine, comes up over the top...

...down into the beginning of the rollers...

...and out as beautiful ready to spin (if you can just find the time!) roving.

Here's a short video:

We took up seven fleeces that day - Billy Belly, Allie, Henri, Ford, Baaxter, Woody and one for Miss B from shearing at Kathy's (also months ago and still not on the blog even though there are some great pictures to share...I think...if I remember back that far.)  Am I ever going to get caught up???

Maisie's headed to the mill tomorrow along with Auntie Lila, Daniel's stunning first shear from last year that I finally talked myself into washing and processing and the dark green Renny.  I'm excited!

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I listened to A Cold Day For Murder by Dana Stabenow (first in a series based in Alaska) this past week in hopes it would remind me of cooler/cold weather...but it didn't.  It's just plain hot.  To make matters worse, I somehow (and this is actually a pretty funny story, so don't let me forget to share it) ended up jumping into several really miserable (because of the heat) projects outside...in the midday sun...when I could have been inside spinning or knitting!

Joining in with Ginny...

What To Do About The Beloved Barn Quilt, I Mean Bat House

In giving folks directions to our farm, I always say "Look for the big black tobacco barn with a barn quilt."  Now it's a barely black barn and the barn quilt is starting to disintegrate :-(.  It used to be just me and Saint Tim discussing the situation.  Now everyone asks about it.

While it may seem rude to think of friends, family, and yes, complete strangers ragging on a quilt hanging on someone else's barn, it's actually more of a curiosity than a complaint.  The bottom of the quilt is 40' in the air.  Yes, what ARE we going to do?

We hired a tree service with a huge bucket truck to hang it in September of 2007.  It was a big job. He'd have to come back out to take it down.  I'd have to re-paint a new quilt and that was a big job as well.  We'd have to coordinate all that with getting the barn re-painted, which is...another big job. And then we have to hire Mr. Clifford to come back out to hang the new quilt. And then the plot thickens.

The other morning, dark and early, the day we dyed Renny's wool, I was up at the barn dividing her fleece and setting out what amounts I wanted to dye.  Around 6:00 I noticed some swooping and fluttering out front and some weird chirping noises.  The bats!

We've hosted a (sadly) very small bat community since we've lived here.  At best count the most bats we've had is probably five.  For the last couple of years I've only regularly seen two I think. I've assumed they lived in the barn, but I've never seen them or any signs.

The curiosity has been killing me and here they were, flying in after a busy night!  I quick stepped it out into the driveway to watch.  They swooped and rose and swooped and circled in front of me. Definitely more than two but they were so quick I couldn't keep track. Then one would whoosh and disappear.  More swooping and then whoosh, another gone.  Where were they going?

Up under the barn quilt!  No wonder they weren't using the bat house we'd hung on the side of the barn.  They were already installed in the barn quilt bat house out front.  Now I definitely don't want to take the quilt down and I'm leery of even painting the front of the barn.  I need to get up with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife to see if they can figure out what kind of bats we have and if they will migrate for the winter.  Until then, we're just going to stay shabby.

Of course, now I'm obsessed with seeing the bats come in and out.  I haven't made any more pre-dawn trips to the barn, but I know I will.  First I wanted to see them fly out!  I set myself up the other night with a concrete block chair on the utility trailer aka spaceship.  Camera at the ready. And I waited.

While I waited, here's the back field before the hay was cut.  Complete with the all too familiar thunderheads building.

Graham and Daniel through the barn portal.  I took some pictures of Liddy and Blossom and Lila through the new shop windows portal, but they were pretty uninspiring.  

So I waited.  And the sun set.  Notice the difference in light between the first and last pictures? And I waited some more, watching very carefully.  And then all the bats were flying around and I didn't see a single one come out.  The end.  

Un-weaned

Liddy hangs out used to hang out with her aunties almost all the time. She'd come out into the aisleway to eat lamb cereal twice a day and hang out with me while I did  morning and evening chores, but she'd been happy to go back to her endless salad bar and cushy fence plank bed.

Saturday morning I was putting together a metal stand that I could set the Del Boca Vista Annex fan up on to maybe get a little more air flowing into the rest of the barn aisle.  I asked Liddy if she'd like to come out and help.  She did.

Halfway through I had to make a quick run to the house help a friend with something on the computer.  While I was there I decided to grab some lunch.  As I walked back to the barn almost an hour later...I remembered that Liddy was loose in the barn!  I took off running, fearing the worst - pillaged bags of wool, chewed off flowers, lamb level electric cords :-o.

Not to worry I got lucky.  Most sheep would have ransacked the entire place.  Liddy?

"I love when the fan blows my ears back!"

She spent the rest of the afternoon there, cuddled up next to her favorite bag of hay.  I had to use a Cheerio bribe to get her back to Blossom and Lila.  Now every time I'm in the barn, she's yelling to come out - not to see me, but her beloved fan.

This might be my toughest weaning yet!

In case you missed these on Twitter:

Spud is feeling much better.  Whew!  We sheared the bellies of Hershey, Woolliam and Murphy over the weekend and that seems to be helping them.  We added another fan to the middle stall and the open aisleway and extra water tank has been a popular addition.  Other than keeping plenty of salt set out, there's not much else we can do.  I hate summer :-/.

Yarn Along - Another Liddy Shawl

I wanted to have a fun knitting project to work on while I helped Liddy get used to living in the barn last week.  I always like to try a pattern with something new to me and this time picked a ruffle.  The yarn is some beautiful Cotswold yarn from Nistock Farms and the pattern is Jadyn Shire by Lynn di Christina.

Liddy and I worked on the shawl together or I should probably say I knit and Liddy tried to steal and chew on the needles and rip everything back out.  We worked in the B A R N and out in the paddock. After a day or so I added Blossom to the mix  and then several days later added Lila in, too.  And by the end of the week Liddy was pretty well set and I had a new shawl and a couple of new skills :-).

By the way, I started the shawl a few days before we moved to the barn.  I did get a little faster knitting with this project, but not a 'shawl in a week' faster ;-).

Here's where things got a bit disappointing.  The shawl started at the top center and built down, back and forth, longer and longer.  Doing this left a big hump at the top - actually way taller than it looks here.  I should have taken the picture looking down on it instead of at an angle that minimized it...  I was sure it would never block out straight.  Still, you know I loves to block me some knitting ;-).

Even if it didn't need an aggressive block, after spending a week in the barn with Liddy, it needed a good wash.  I used fairly hot water and my favorite Mrs. Meyer's lavender laundry soap.  I let it soak a good long time - around 25 minutes - changed the water and let it soak again, changed the water and added a tiny bit of lavender fabric softener and gave it a final rinse.  Wrapped it in a towel and headed to the porch.

I again used my de-lux insulation boards and floral pins.  I keep toying with getting a set of blocking wires, but for now, these work just fine.  I started at the top by pulling the right and left tight enough that the top line became straight, pinning as I went.  I then pulled down the bottom center and pinned that.  I then started working my way out on each side until magically it all laid flat and smooth and...

... straight!  Honestly, I was a bit surprised.  I really didn't think that would work.  And notice how all the wonky stitches from the top picture look nice and tidy now?  Always block your knitting!

I wasn't sure how to block the ruffle so I just futzed around with it a bit and let it do what it wanted.  I think it looks pretty good, but would welcome some better suggestions.

Pats on the back for everyone :-D.

After listening to A Man Called Ove (now twice), I could hardly wait for the release of Fredrick Backman's new book, My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry.  I listened to the audio sample on Audible and was a little concerned.  I thought about getting the actual book and just reading it myself, but really wanted something to listen to while I knitted.  Not to worry.  The reader was wonderful.  They just picked an odd spot to sample.  The story was fabulous!  

Joining in with Ginny...

Portal Pics

I purposely took the Liddy/boat/truck portal picture, but when I downloaded the other shots, I realized I had several other portals too :-).

Liddy's doing very well out in the B A R N.  She's got Blossom and Lila with her now.  Blossom is pictured here.  Lila had already headed in because it was getting hot.  

I'm toying with adding Maisie to the mix today.  Liddy needs to get used to dealing with multiple sheep and while Maisie will probably punch on her some (the little darling ;-), she doesn't have horns and might be more apt to "play" a little.  The older aunties are pretty dull I'm afraid...which is also why they make great aunties.  Miss Ewenice would be proud :-).

Look at that smushy mouth.  Sweet Daniel sleeping on his foot :-).

Poor Kate has had a rough couple of weeks.  Between the never ending thunder storms and then days upon days of fireworks (don't get me started!) she's worn out.  On an interesting note, when Liddy is with her, she's much less stressed.  Or maybe she's as stressed, but if Liddy lays down, Kate does too and that makes us all feel better.

Del Boca Vista Summer Annex.  The storms and cloud cover kept things cooler last week, but now the sun is back out and Jester is really struggling.  He's in pretty good shape in the cool, breezy aisleway, but he sure complains about having to move in here every morning.  Of course, that's after he's complained about being outside first ;-).  Those opinionated Jacobs!

Tour de Fleece Update:  I've gotten quite a bit of wool work done now that Liddy is (mostly ;-) hanging out in the field.  I have several fleeces washed and ready for the mill.  I spun some Billy Belly on the owl spindle at the house Saturday night and started Petunia on the wheel yesterday afternoon.  We have a great group checking in on Ravelry.  It's never too late to join!  Or just pop over to see what everyone's working on :-).

Fleece Peeks

Spud - I normally don't like sunbleached tips, but I think his are stunning.

Woolliam

The longwools (Woolliam, Keebler, B. Willard, Buddy, Rebecca Boone, Hershey) have nine months growth instead of six this year, so the staple length is really nice.  Long, but not too long and no one had a heatstroke last summer :-).

Murphy

Henri

Baby Belly - I still can't get over how clean the fleeces are this year.  Thanks, Kate!

Lila.  This is my sleeper favorite this year.  Lila just cruises along under the radar...

Buddy...the best curls...and the "best" lanolin producer ;-).  It really does wash out.  Just be prepared with super hot water!

Keebler - another grease ball, but we know how he cleans up :-).

Chocula on the left, Ford on the right.  Guess how much Chocula weighed!  Well, you'll never guess because the picture just doesn't really capture it.  13.5 pounds :-o.  Daniel weighed just over 13! That's a lotta sweaters!  I'd be willing to divide those two fleeces into two 6.5 pound fleeces...which is still a lotta sweaters :-D.

Liddy, working hard growing her first fleece :-).  Kate resting up for VM (vegetable matter/hay) patrol next winter :-D.

The forecast is looking a bit damp for this weekend...so just dress appropriately and come have some fun anyway :-D.