A day at Black Sheep

After looking over all my sheep and moving Blake and Bunker into a grassy lot, Garrett and I moved my new sheep to the Ram-ada Inn-turned-quarantine-quarters Thursday night. Then we went inside to visit and spend some quality time with the three Cardigan Welsh Corgis Garrett brought along. This was my first opportunity to get acquainted with this breed, and I was delightfully surprised! Zoe did her best to win Rick over to the "Cardi side." :-)

The alarm rang early Friday morning so we could leave for the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene by 6:00. I drove my car and led the way; Garrett was kind enough to transport Barrister in the back of his truck (along with two ram lambs from MN). After we got the ram lambs to their respective owners, I grabbed my spindle box and set off to find the Jenkins. I had gotten a lovely lilac Lark from them, but decided I wanted something noticeably different in weight from what I already had. It was still early Friday morning, but the Jenkins booth was already buzzing with eager shoppers. I test-spun several before choosing this Standard in tulipwood:
At 43 grams, she is my heaviest Jenkins and will hopefully encourage me to spin a thicker single.

Then it was back to the sheep barn to visit with friends and watch the Shetland show. As expected, the classes were huge and the smallest lambs weren't given any consideration. You have to lamb early (and raise big Shetlands) to do well at this show!

After the Shetlands were finished in the ring, Garrett went to meet up with a couple other Cardi breeders to have them evaluate the two youngsters he had with him. I went along to watch and learn more about the breed. I had been teasing Garrett that I hoped the breeders hated one of his dogs so I could give it a good pet home, but alas, both were deemed show quality. ;-)

I was anticipating a good hug and visit with Sharon, but when I called she said they weren't planning to come to the fairgrounds until Saturday. Laura was around, so I found her at her travel trailer and hung out with her for a bit. She's got big changes brewing in her life and it was good to see her and talk. She also plied me with L-Lysine, cold medicine and water; by this point the cold I was battling was getting the better of me. I decided to bid her and Black Sheep Gathering 2011 adieu and point my car towards . . .