Friday, August 28, 2020

It's been a week

As in, "it's been a week since my last post." Or, "It's been quite a week." Both would be true.

Bardot broke a leg strap of her coat, so I took a photo of her before putting on a larger coat. On Tuesday a new fleece customer came out and we looked under the covers of ALL the sheep. (I take that back. We didn't look at Vienna's fleece because she is already reserved.) It's always enjoyable to have "sheep visitors" and talk about all things woolly.

Brian hasn't had much work this week, but isn't making great use of his freed-up time to do all that needs doing before leaving for college. We wouldn't want to change any habits now, would we? (Dripping sarcasm; shame on me.) Having him hanging around the house being unproductive while on the verge of being very, very expensive stresses the mama. And I can't decompress on the back of my big, red goober of a mustang, because Lance came up lame this week. The likely problem is bad news, but Rick will have to do more diagnostics to know for sure. I do groundwork with Stella every day in anticipation of eventually riding her, but I don't know when she'll be ready for that. Oh! The other day when we were working in the arena, a young buck walked up through the woods and laid down next to the arena fence. Using Stella as a 'blind,' I was able to get fairly close for a picture.





Poppy was really whiny the first half of the week, I think from lack of 'play' and lack of 'prey.' The mice are either getting scarcer or smarter; we haven't seen any for awhile in tack room or henhouse. But last night we checked the henhouse after the light went out, and there were four. She managed to get three of them once Brian helped flush them out of the cranny between the nest boxes and the wall. Between that and three playdates in three days (above is the first one on Wednesday), she is much more settled now.


I've been busy making yarn, plying up the singles I've been spinning for the last couple months. Above is four ounces of yarn ready to skein and wash; I've started another ply job since. I want to be ready to start spinning a new fiber when we make the long drive to Walla Walla, WA and back to drop Brian off at school.




The days are getting noticeably shorter now. I'm catching more sunrises (the photos above are from one morning), and find myself willing to go to bed at a more reasonable time. Does anyone else need a few hours of dark before their mind and body can wind down for the night?

That's it for tonight from . . .


6 comments:

Leigh said...

Michelle, your yarn is so prefect! Love the colorway of the 2-ply.

I might have missed it, but it looks like Poppy is back to full use of her leg? She looks pretty mellow in that last photo! I'm sure she recovers pretty quickly though.

Retired Knitter said...

That Poppy! My guess is she will be one of those lucky beings who never stores an ounce of fat on her lean musclar body!!

Mama Pea said...

Uh-oh, doesn't sound like good news re Lance? And it would certainly have been a better situation if Brian could have been kept busy right up until he left for school.

We could profitably rent Poppy the Mouser for a week or so. It seems early, but we've been experiencing a lot of mouse movement lately. We've never had one in the house, but they're very active (as is my husband's trap line) in outbuildings and vehicles!

Yes, the longer days are affecting me, too. I'm sleeping later in the morning and doing a much better job of winding down earlier at night. Feels good!

Jeanne said...

Michelle, your picture of the young buck is great! He looked like he wondered what was going on!

Your yarn is lovely! I'm anxious to see what you make with it.

Poppy's playmates are cuties. Are they Cairns?

Mary Ann said...

Michelle, I need to start reading blogs again more often. It seems like I am up and down and outside so much, I don't take time. My computer is still a desktop, I am more comfortable with that... but it probably also limits my time.

I love your Decker, Poppy, she is a beautiful dog! I asked if you followed Miles and Etta on Instagram, Miles is a Decker, he is also beautiful.

I'm sorry about Lance. I am connected to a bunch of lost and found pages here (with amazing success!) and yesterday, a mini horse came up lost! His owner was found in hours because of the power of the internet.

You know I have sheep from a wonderful family who took mine in, in my pasture. I have so enjoyed watching them all summer, I try not to get attached... I do really love two of them, but .... they will be going home for the winter soon. The family (three young men) and their mom and dad are also using my neighbor's pasture for three cows, so it has been a fun summer. Troy and Kathy and I have encouraged them to please use them again next year. We had rain yesterday and are getting more on Tuesday, I am hoping Sam and Ben leave the sheep now until the end of September, but we shall see.

I have a good breeze blowing through the window... it so nice not to hear the air conditioner going!

Michelle said...

Well, it's perfectly imperfect yarn at least, Leigh! It's Southdown, a fiber I'd never spun before, and I really enjoyed spinning it. Yes, Poppy has been using her leg for months now, but the leg and foot are still visible different than her good legs/feet. I'm beginning to think that foot will always be flat. Hopefully the injured leg won't be problematic in the future, like from arthritis; I've started giving her Cosequin and I think it's reducing her slight limp.

That's possible, Elaine, but I suspect with spaying and maturity that might change. However, she's not in love with food, which helps.

No, Mama Pea, the news re Lance isn't good, but at least I never expected to be able to do more with him that what I've been doing, and he should heal well enough to go on easy rides with me again. Poppy would happily hire out; she's getting frustrated at the lack of mice in the tack room!

Jeanne, one of Poppy's playmates is a (CUTE!) little Cairn, the other is a Glen of Imaal Terrier, a breed I'd never heard of until my friend got one. She's built like a standard dachshund, around 35 lbs. so heavier by 10 lbs than Poppy. My friend's 150 lb. American bulldog was also in on the playdate for a bit, but CLOBBERED Poppy in his exuberance and really frightened her. He was put back in the house.

So good to see you here, Mary Ann! I've missed your comments, but love to read your blogposts and see your IG posts. I've been so happy for you to have sheep to watch with responsible owners who take good care of them – and a good, strong helper for odd jobs, too! We need rain; hopefully September will bring some. Unfortunately, it's heating back up into the 90s this week.