N is for News from Lake Wobegon

Story #1: The public is mislead; this is not Lake Wobegon, there's not even a pond. But the woman is strong, the man is good-looking, and the child is above average, at least in height. Does that count?

Story #2: Brava rejoins her flock!Briefly. Sunday morning I let Brava out with the lambs and other ewes. She looks and feels better and plainly wanted out; I thought rejoining the flock might make her feel even better. That's her in the middle, enjoying some grazing time before I put everyone in the sheep lot. After the grain was gobbled, the lambs gathered around "Aunt Brava." Soon most lost interest, except for Bryden, the youngest and randiest of the boys, and Bluster-the-horned and second horniest."Who? Me?""But girls SMELL so good!" When it looked like Bryden was going to run himself and Brava into the ground, which in her weakened state might cause her to relapse, I opened the gate and Brava gratefully escaped the harrassment. Looks like it might be awhile (like weaning time?) before she'll be able to join the flock for good.

Story #3: Lambs pass muster. Yesterday morning I was able to examine all the lambs up close and personal. I particularly wanted to look over Blizz and Bluster to make sure they were show-worthy, and I think they are. I also wanted to look at the roots of my three dark moorit lambs' fleeces to see if there is any color change. They are still bittersweet chocolate to the core, and Browning and Bryden have stunning luster as well. And everyone, every single one, looks to be stamped with Braveheart's perfect tail!

Story #4: Irises open at Boulderneigh. Yes, the long-anticipated buds have finally started to unfurl their gorgeous petals. These are the first show-stoppers:
Story #5: Record-breaking heat abates. Sunday was actually pleasant, sunny and still quite warm but with enough breeze to keep it tolerable. Friday and Saturday saw record high temps all around the state, with some areas even on the beach hitting triple digits. With rain forecast to move back into the area on Tuesday, there was only one thing to do - get the rest of the garden in. If you recall, Rick took advantage of early warm, dry weather and planted (from left) onions, peas, leaf lettuce, spinach, cabbage, head lettuce and radishes.That is all looking good, and we've been eating leaf lettuce and radishes. Today we added "green" beans (Royal Burgundy), carrots (Scarlet Nantes), eggplant (a Japanese Long and a Satin Beauty), bell peppers (two Golden Bell, one Sweet Chocolate, and one Purple Beauty), zucchini, yellow straightneck (Early Prolific), cucumbers (Muncher), watermelon (Sugar Baby), a pumpkin (Spirit) a cantaloupe, a honeydew, seven tomato plants (one Delicious, two Fantastic, two Manitoba, one Sun Gold and one Grape Juliet. Brian desperately wanted his "own" garden, so Rick tilled up the NE corner and they planted a short row of radishes, a short row of beans, two hills of zucchini and one of yellow straightneck, the grape tomato, and a Gerbera daisy that he begged to have when we were buying plants this morning.We ran out of time before getting the corn planted; hopefully we can get that in this week. It feels good knowing that no matter how bad things get politically and economically, we should eat well this summer.

That's all the news for now at . . .