Snipping away

Yesterday I got Bardot sheared, she of the BIG fleece. It is an outlier in my flock, with looser crimp and longer staple, but still well within the parameters of fine-fleeced, Traditional 1927® Shetland sheep. The first photo was taken right after I led her out of the Sheep Sheraton; you can see why I coat my sheep from shearing to shearing – to keep most of that straw and hay out of most of their fleece!

As Sara at Punkin's Patch noted, wool grease can double as a camera filter. I unintentionally tried it for myself yesterday evening when I took this photo of the evening clouds: 😉

In other sheep news, I finally got Rick to evaluate Blake. You may recall that he was limping last winter. I thought it was hoof rot so I treated it and moved the boys into the barn where it was dry and clean, but Blake didn't get better. Now that all the boys are sheared I'd like to put them out in the wooded lot to eat all the grass that's grown up, but not until Blake was looked at. The verdict? A soft-tissue injury in the right knee. Rick's thinking about treating it with extracorporeal shockwave therapy, and the boys will probably have to go back into a divided Ram-ada Inn so Blake has protected recovery time. He's a mellow ram, but the boys still do their share of 'ramming.'

Ready for x-rays

A break for clover

Rick's x-ray machine has been busy here. He shot images of Jackson's lungs, trying to diagnose what ails him (we now think it is just aging 😞),

Setting up in the house for Jackson's exam

and he tried to x-ray Lance's neck to get more data on his arthritis (which he diagnosed with ultrasound).

(Unfortunately, the machine glitched that day and he couldn't get good shots of Lance's vetebrae.)

The garden is growing well. The strawberries and a few sweet banana peppers are ripening; the peas are blooming; there's kale, rhubarb and lettuces for the picking; wee bell peppers and tomatoes are forming; and a total of four zucchini plants finally made an appearance.

Last night I planted some "Blue Star" lavender in the cleaned-up bed along the front walk. What I'd planted there once upon a time died years ago, so it's just been collecting pots and weeds. I love lavender and this variety's flowers are so appealing with their purple "bunny ears;" I'm hoping they will inspire me to keep up this area!

Yep, th-er-r-r-r-e's Chuckie! He has been in rare form lately, feeling in fine fettle now that his injuries have healed and he's not feeding a load of parasites. Yesterday morning I turned my iPhone on him and serendipitously caught him in a spray of rainbows, making him look like an 'angel cat' (even though he can act like a little devil-cat!):

Here are few shots of flowers blooming around the place right now:

This is finals week for Brian, and the final week at work for my departing co-worker. Her son is graduating high school this week-end, and just got his first job. He applied at Walmart online Sunday night before last, got a call-back the next day, interviewed and got an offer that Thursday, started orientation this last Sunday – and is making at the same amount per hour that I'm making as a college graduate after four years on the job. 😳 Good thing I have fleeces to sell, a vet for a husband, and a garden to supplement our pantry!

That's it for now from . . .