Limping along

I have managed to transfer some photos, a few at a time, to my laptop so I can post "in the manner to which I am accustomed." However, I feel handicapped. Ah; First World problems.

I am also periodically limping thanks to the sheep. Not from shearing; that has gone more comfortably than I can remember, and I am grateful, both for my healed knees and my quieted sciatica. No, twice now I've been felled by my sheep. In order to take them out to sections of the neighbor's pasture every morning, I halter and lead five of them, letting the other three follow. Last week, my neighbor startled them from behind as I was doing that, and they bolted forward. Five ewes weigh considerably more than I do and are probably stronger, so I ended up on the ground; a secondary startle made me fear serious damage to my shoulder. Yes, I was still holding the ends of five leashes, a not-always good habit from a lifetime of handling horses; if I'd let go I wouldn't have been able to catch them again and the halters could have endangered them. This morning it happened again, this time in the driveway, wrenching my left knee. Don't judge them harshly; it is their nature as defenseless prey animals. The daily handling is making them easier to catch, halter, and lead, but doesn't change their instincts!

Speaking of the sheep, here are photos of all of them. I missed a few before and after photos until I got my act together. Let me know if you see a fleece you're interested in; Bench's and Bitta's are already reserved.

Bridget, after

Bridget's midside sample

Bench, before

Bench's midside sample

Bernice, after

Bernice's midside sample

Sanson, before

Sanson, after

Sanson's midside sample

Bethany, before

Bethany, after

Bethany's midsize sample

Broadway, before

Broadway, after

Broadway's midside sample

Bitsy, before

Bitsy, after

Bitsy's midside sample

Bette, before

Bette, after

Bette's midside sample

Bernadette, before

Bernadette, after

Bernadette's midside sample

Bitta, before

Bitta, after

Bitta's midside sample

Forty-six years ago while I graduated from a Nebraska high school, Mt. St. Helens erupted catastrophically. Most of my life's biggest moments have happened in the interim; strange to think about that!

That's it for now from . . .

Foiled

I have lots of photos to share of shearing progress, flowers, and Mothers Day activities, but am at a complete impasse getting them from my iPhone to my (old) laptop. I used to be able to text them, but that no longer works. I should be able to AirDrop them, but they arrive in a format my photo editing program can't open. I should be able to email them, but nothing arrives in either inbox. I am beyond frustrated, even while realizing this is an insignificant problem compared to what has been happening in our country and world, and in our church family the last week.

A week ago two members were in an auto accident; the passenger was killed and the elderly driver is still in hospital. Another member died from cancer early Tuesday morning. Still another member (and a vet client of Rick's) took his own life early yesterday morning, leaving his disabled wife unable to care for herself or their rural acreage. And our retired pastor and his wife who are still involved here flew to Taiwan yesterday to say goodbye to their daughter, who is also dying from cancer. The weight of all the shared sadness is heavy indeed.

Personally we're doing okay. I had an allergic reaction to the contrast agent used in last Friday's CT scan, so have added it to my medical chart's notes. Rick got kicked in the leg by a horse he was x-raying; he's very sore, but nothing is broken. Brian is Brian....

I don't know when I'll post again; I'll keep trying to find a way to download photos. Sharing photos is largely the point for me, and much of the enjoyment for you from your comments. In good news, I've figured out how to comment again on the WordPress blogs I follow!

That's the report from . . .

How it's going

Shearing? No more progress. I'm hoping to harvest two more fleeces this week, probably the rams because the ewes are busy during the day....

Stretching our hay with grazing? Wonderful! Our good neighbors on the north have almost five acres of grass that someone used to harvest for cattle hay but no longer does, and they have made it available to us. We both had some electric netting and we've combined it so the ewes can intensively graze one small section at a time, eliminating their need for hay. To get them out there, I selectively halter five of them each morning and lead them (with the loose three following) through three gates. To get them in each night, I take out a can with some sheep feed to rattle and they follow me back to the fold. We may end up grazing the horses over there part of the time as well, but right now they have good grazing in our upper pasture. As for the middle pasture, at least some of the grass seed has germinated; hurray!

Hopefully the barn swallows can raise a clutch before we fill the barn with hay again.

Agility with Poppy? Slightly better results at our trial yesterday, and no falls. In fact, I felt better physically than I have in a long time, no knee pain or sciatica to impair my movement or make standing uncomfortable.

Agility goals: This woman is 90 years old and is an amazing handler.

"I just exist to look cute."

Gardening? I bought some starts and Rick weeded the strawberries last week, then tilled the garden Sunday. He says he might till it again to work in some compost but I'm not going to wait too long to plant!

Rhubarb at back left, walking onions in the middle, snowpeas on the right.

Sky shows? Still happening; I capture them when I can.

That's it for now from . . .

Wool work

I've finally picked up my Dala sweater again. I ripped back several inches after running my needle around  as a 'life line,' then started knitting again with centered double decreases under both arms to take in the body. However, one side's decreases are looking wonky and have strayed from a vertical line, so I'm going to drop those stitches and fix them. No point in spending this much time on a spindle-spun, handknit sweater only to be unhappy with it!

If only I was a quicker knitter (and spinner). Last week I picked up enough fresh roving for at least two more sweaters!

The brown is a Romney lamb fleece I purchased years ago already scoured and picked. I planned to finish preparing it with my drum carder but that never happened and now I've sold said drum carder, so I decided to take it and my one remaining 2023 fleece to a mill's booth at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival last fall.

While I'd love to lose myself in spinning the above, the longer, warmer days demand a different kind of wool work – harvesting and marketing this year's fleeces. Today I started with Bridget because she's the easiest to catch – and the easiest to shear. Yeah; it's all uphill from here.

That's it for now from . . .