Monday, June 30, 2014

Ready to fly away

This morning on my way to work (Rick's secretary is on vacation) I was listening to public radio (as usual). One of the segments was on Scotland's upcoming vote on independence, and how much that vote has to do with North Sea oil in the Shetland Isles. Of course, my ears perked up at that. My interest in all things Shetland was jump-started by my dear little woollies but the on-going fascination is well fed by four Shetland blogs that I follow, My Shetland, Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary, Shetland Handspun, and Shetland Misfit (can you believe only ONE of them is fiber-related?!?). Anyway, some native Shetland Islanders were interviewed, and I was captivated by their lovely, lyrical brogue. In spite of the near-constant wind and serious shortage of trees, the thought of getting to hear that speech every day and be with people who love horses or sheep was enough to make me want to pick up and move to Shetland Right.Now.

Then the next segment came on, and an in-country stop was added to my itinerary. It was an announcement that the largest private collection of Alamo memorabilia, owned until now, believe it or not, by British rocker Phil Collins, has been donated to this shrine of Texas liberty (you can watch the press conference here). A new building is going to be erected to house this collection, which includes a rifle of Davy Crockett's. San Antonio is one of my favorite domestic destinations, which I'm much more likely to get to visit again than to see Shetland. Oh well; at least I have the internet!

That's it for June's daily postings from . . .

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Cryptic

Sometimes you're a dahlia,

sometimes you're the cucumbers.

That's all I got for now from . . .

Saturday, June 28, 2014

"Not even Solomon in all his splendor...

...was not dressed like one of these." Matthew 6:29

That's it for today from . . .



Friday, June 27, 2014

It's raining (pictures of) woollies!

I fell asleep to the refreshing yet soothing sound of steady rain. Ahhhh. But before the weather turned wet, as I mentioned, it was uncomfortably warm and humid. I would have chalked up my misery to menopause if the sheep hadn't laid around like wool rugs much of the time. Dogs have nothing on sheep when it comes to summer behavior; why don't we call them "sheep days"?
Don't let Bali's innocent, sleepy look above fool you. Minutes before, she had been on the wrong side of the fence with the other naughty lambs, pruning my lilac bushes and probably the basil in my herb barrel. I've put up various barricades that have been keeping them in the pasture, but this week they figured out that they can still wriggle under the fence into the yard where the grass is much greener.
I've now blocked another access; we'll see if that keeps them in.

Yesterday morning I left the sheep in the fold just in case (hopehopehope) it poured and thundered. While Brian finished his part of the chores, I sat in the fold and monkey-picked Bali so I could get her beautiful fleece covered. Like Jet, she quickly forgot about the halter and melted into the delicious attention.  :-)
Such a sad-looking ear; I hope it perks back up!
Now I need to clean up Blaise, my other for-sure keeper lamb.
Since none of Benny's prospects have panned out, we need to do the deed so he can stay, too. I guess it's a good thing he's not polled, or Rick and I would probably be at odds over me keeping a second ram. If only he had been a girl, so Annabelle's genes could continue into the future here!
Then there's Barbados. Tiny little scurs, super conformation and fleece, and full of that special, indefinable "presence." I just can't bring myself to end his potential as a future flock sire, even though he would be of no use to me here, closely related as he is to three of my four breeding ewes/ewe lambs. If I can manage him long enough, I am confident someone will be interested in him as a ram eventually!
That's it for today from . . .

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Stay awhile

After a few days of beautiful clouds (along with higher temps and humidity than I'd prefer), we are getting light drizzle off and on. We need a good soaking, so I hope the precip either intensifies, or stays awhile.
The plants hope so, too.

Of course, rain or shine, the bang-bang-banging goes on.

That's it for today from . . .

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Pulling the pugs

Last night the pugs left for their forever home. The lovely couple who took them are relatives of a church friend, and already have a little black pug who is missing her recently departed dachshund friend. They were praying for another pug to love, and we were praying for the perfect home for them; God does answer prayers, yes, even the "small" ones. (Still praying for good homes for a couple more sheep and one fleece!) Rick, Brian, and I were all a bit sad, as Rosie and Woody were charming, adorable little characters, but we know they will be happier where they have the run of the house, a fenced yard (they were an escape risk here, so had to always be on lead), more attention, and no intimidating big dogs or mean sheep. (Once, when Rosie took off through the middle pasture when the sheep were out, Marta took issue with the strange little black "wolf" and rolled her!) Here are some snaps of the photogenic duo during their temporary reign at Boulderneigh:

Blogger is back to normal and I'm happy. Except that I'm scared. This electronic stuff over which I have no control matters waaay too much to me. I think the bottom line is that I want emails and phone numbers for all my blogpals, so that if Blogger or even the internet dies, our friendships don't have to. See that email link on the right? Send me your info!!! Unless I scare you. Which I could totally understand.  ;-)

That's it for my ravings today, from . . .

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

When do you pull the plug?

Don't worry; I'm not talking about life and death here. Blogger/Google is having issues and the Dashboard Reading List isn't functioning. That means I cannot see with a glance or a scroll all the new posts on the various blogs I follow. I miss keeping up with new posts; I follow the blogs I do because I enjoy them. Some are fiber-related; some are about horses, or dogs, or farm life, or just life in general. Some are educational and some are philosophical; some are inspiring and some are funny. Some have introduced me to true and dear friends, whether we've met IRL (in real life) yet or not.

Feeling deprived, today I started down the list of blogs I follow, going first to those I knew would have posted since Blogger's troubles started. Then I started clicking on some of the blogs that haven't been updated in awhile – some in a looong while. Quite a few have been silent a year; some two or three years. Us followers are left to wonder. Sometimes I offer a prayer for these blogpals gone missing, hoping life has not brought them crippling challenges.

At what point do you stop following a blog; free up that spot on your list so you can follow a different one? (Yes, I am pretty much at the maximum number of blogs Blogger lets you follow.) After three years, should I assume someone is never coming back to blogland?

I know what my problem is: I'm too curious. I don't want to miss anything! What if one of these long-silent bloggers starts posting again, explaining their absence while sharing their heart and life? I have to ask myself if it will matter. Will my life be any different if I'm not following when someone revives their neglected blog? Maybe; maybe not. But if our connections make us richer, then I would be poorer, right?

Do you ever pull the plug?

Just in case, here are some flowers for the deceased. My grandma's lilies.

That's it for today from . . .

Monday, June 23, 2014

Music Monday

From Brian's violin lesson last Monday.



That's it for today from . . .


Sunday, June 22, 2014

Tagged, bagged, and delivered

or
The shortest visit ever to Black Sheep Gathering

Just under the wire of Jet's departure to his new home, Rick helped me tag all the lambs Saturday night.
Yes, there is blood on Benny. He jumped when Rick punched, and got a little half-circle cut out of the bottom edge of his ear, poor boy. So he got two wounds!

After tagging them all, I monkey-picked all the stickers and foxtail seeds out of Jet's fleece. At first he fought the halter, but then he started enjoying the attention and finally melted into my hands.

This morning bright and early I loaded Jet into a big dog crate and Sarai's fleece into the cab and drove to Eugene to deliver both. Jet's new owner looked him over and approved her future flock sire, then he was installed in his deluxe accommodations for the trip to California.
(Love that small stock box; it's just what I need for moving adult sheep in the back of my pick-up!)

Next I grabbed Sarai's fleece, walked briskly through the vendor halls to the Jenkins Woodworking booth, and handed it over to Wanda. I took about 10 seconds to admire a couple tulipwood Turkish spindles before jumping back in my truck to head home. No time to shop; I had a date with some friends and horses I didn't want to miss! (Details from that part of my day will be on my horse blog.)

That's it for today from . . .

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Seeing red

That's it for Friday's harvest, at . . .