For the first day of summer we got SPRING!

Last weekend we enjoyed a lovely throwback to spring weather, which for us ended abruptly and much too early. It was cool and cloudy Friday-Sunday, and on Saturday, gloriously wet. A half-inch of rain was enough to rinse off the dust, refresh the earth, and save me watering duty for a few days. It also added enough weight to an already loaded branch of our bigger prune tree to bring it down. 😞

This coming Sunday I'm looking forward to going to Black Sheep Gathering with a friend. As usual I will be proxy-shopping for several people, although I do have a short shopping list for myself. I'm also delivering three fleeces to a buyer; glad I thought post that option to the Jenkins Spindles group on Ravelry.

I thought I'd also be celebrating Mom's arrival in Lincoln, NE by the end of Sunday, but for the second time my BIL has had to cancel his flight to TX to drive her north. Mom has decided – again – that she just can't get everything done in time to leave then. My sister and I don't know how long this situation is going to dribble out, but figure she can't back out of the move now that the bulk of her possessions are already sitting in U-Boxes in Lincoln. Mom's freshly carpeted and painted two-bedroom apartment is waiting for her as well; below are a few of the photos my sister sent me. As you can see it is a lovely space inside and out (all her windows face that green space which cannot be developed). Now if we can just get her there....

Below are a couple recent sunsets, the first enjoyed on horseback, the second during an evening walk. I'm trying to walk more often to build back my endurance post-surgery.

Our nine hens are still keeping us and the neighbors in plenty of fresh eggs. Occasionally I manage some decent photos of a few:

Amber Stars Snowcone and Toffee Bits, and Cream Legbar Honeybun  – GREAT layers!

Puff and Ashes, 'farmyard mixes'

Spangle, a Whiting True Blue

Poppy and I did indeed return to agility class last week. She was a rock star, and I managed to keep up, so we're back!

I'm not quite this bad, but am certainly not up to full speed yet.

That's it for now from . . .

A day for ourselves

Quite different than the same day 41 years before, which was as much (more?) for family and friends as it was for us. As a child of divorce (and subsequent remarriages) it was impossible to please everyone, although I tried. I especially mourned that I didn't/couldn't have my step-dad walk me down the aisle, as he was more of a dad to me than my father. Mom said he understood, but it still tore up my heart. Anyway, that's water long gone under the bridge, along with FIL, birth-dad, and step-dad, in that order. The male halves of the six parental units of that day gone, all men. I'd better enjoy my man while I can!

And enjoy him I did. Rick managed to take a weekday off work completely, though it was a struggle to keep it open. We headed towards the coast and spent a carefree day eating and seeing, both the coast in the wild and the coast contained, by visiting Boiler Bay (we watched whales!) and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which we hadn't visited in years. Infrequent fantasies of exotic vacations aside (we've never taken one, exotic or not), it was a lovely way to celebrate our years together.

sculptures made of retrieved plastic waste were sobering

That's it for our anniversary date from . . .

My blog is nagging

June bugs, June blogs; it would appear both are rare around here. Time to do something about the latter; you can keep the former, if you have them. I don't miss those big, buzzy beetles from my California childhood!

I'll start with a garden update. Everything is growing well and looking promising, with the exception of the beets and carrots. (I'm pretty sure the beets sprouted decently but got eaten by something. The carrots didn't germinate well, but there are some.) The other plants from seeds (bush beans, snow peas, and Long White Palermo zucchini) are burgeoning but not yet blooming. The starts we planted are blooming and setting fruit; I think our first harvest will be burpless cucumbers. 😍 

Next, an assorted animal update. Because it's been so dry, the seed Rick sowed in the middle pasture and the grass he mowed in the upper pasture have done nothing, so all the sheep and horses are feeding exclusively on the hay we picked up at the end of May. We need to source and store a lot more hay to get us through until next spring, but Rick has been busy with too many other things to do that yet. Bryan the solo lamb enjoys annoying his dam and the other two ewes in his group. The bigger group of ewes knocked over the hay feeder in the wooded lot (no doubt trying to get every blade of hay) necessitating a rebuild; they were not sure the new-old structure was trustworthy. Deer keep frequenting our property, but I haven't seen any more fawns – until this morning while driving down our hill to an appointment. Same twins? Last Sabbath, Rick and I took the dogs for a walk for the first time since my surgery. Poppy, as always, was an Energizer Bunny; Leo got overheated even though it was a lovely day with a cooling breeze. The next day they were enjoying the morning sun together; I was tickled to catch the shot of Poppy using Leo as a pillow. Tomorrow evening I'm going to take Poppy to agility and see how that goes; I know she'll enjoy going back!

Can you see the 'ornery'?

It's not a done deal yet, but crossing fingers that my mom will indeed be moved – at least out of her house and up to Lincoln, if not into her apartment – by the end of the month. There have been numerous postponements, but the U-Haul U-Boxes are supposed to be picked up tomorrow, and the new departure date (my BIL is flying down and driving Mom up in her car) is Sunday, the 29th.

Rick and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary earlier this month with a day trip to the coast. We had a lovely time; I'll share my photos of our day in a separate post. I'll close with this photo of a recent sunrise:

That's enough for this post from . . .

A "State of Nearly Everything" address

Once again updating this bloggy has gotten away from me! And the more time passes, the harder it is to wrestle the updates into a post; I've been working at this for over a week weeks.

Sheepy things first; after all, that's why this blog was begun. 😉

Drumroll: skirting has started! I neglected to collect mid-side samples from two of my sheep during shearing, so I finally pulled and skirted those two fleeces (on two different days) in order to collect samples and get them all sent off to Texas A&M for micron testing. Skirting involves more standing than my knees can comfortably handle, just like too much sitting, but I need to tackle one a day whenever possible to 'git er done' so I can ship off reserved fleeces and advertise the rest. Here are Sanson's and Bonnie's fleeces on the rack:

Young Bryan continues to please and impress. He is getting a taste of 'flock life;' I've started turning the 'barn sheep' (Bernice and Bryan, Bridget and Bitsy) out into the middle pasture. Rick tilled and seeded it but nothing germinated; still, there are a few patches of grass here and there and around the edges for them to eat, and get some exercise and sunshine while doing it.

this one was taken on 5/26; the photos above on 5/21

The larger group of ewes are currently 'forest sheep.' The small wooded lot had a lot of grass, mostly decimated now, but there is a hay feeder there and lots of shade from our early summer heat.

Another drumroll: the day of my last post I did get the garden seeds in the ground: green beans, snowpeas, beets, carrots, and zucchini. Sprouts of all are up, and the starts we planted are looking good. The strawberries are producing big fruit which we are enjoying fresh for now, while the apples, prunes, and cherries work on their crops. Hoping for LOTS of apples, as we're getting close to using up all of the sauce in our pantry.

Last Thursday I had my six-week post-op appointment with my surgeon. If I had expected cheers or high-fives, I would have been disappointed. He thinks I'm doing well, but said I'll need to continue to work hard at PT since my goals are much higher than those of his typical patient. I asked about agility; he thought I should wait on that until the end of June. I asked about riding, and to my surprise he said, "Go ahead and ride; I'm not concerned about that." Woot! Of course I went home, saddled up Stella and rode (proof provided by Brian), and have ridden nearly every day since. Very short rides they are, just walking at first but now we are trotting just a little, too. To my relief riding is mostly comfortable, if I keep my feet in the stirrups (instead of letting my legs hang like I usually do during warm-up) and don't trot too long. Stella has been a good girl, although she would still prefer to go faster-faster-faster.

On Sunday evening when I led Stella to the arena to ride, a young buck was already there. He didn't seem to notice me and wasn't worried about Stella, so I managed to get fairly close using Stella as my blind. A week before that when I was doing groundwork with Stella, she noticed something in the bottom pasture. As I watched, I saw a doe, then a fawn, then a second fawn. I put Stella in the barn, called my neighbor, and together we relocated the two babies to my neighbor's side of the fence (their mom had already jumped over), where there is plenty of tall grass to hide in and no horses or terriers to worry about. Seems to be a banner year for deer; I may call them 'meadow rats,' but still enjoy seeing them.

Speaking of using up all our stock. As of Memorial Day, we were down to three bales of last year's hay, so picking up the small crop of first cutting our favorite local grower had in his barn for us was imperative. That necessitated a bunch of other labor first, though. Through various combinations of equipment and muscle, we had already moved the miscellaneous cabinets and bookshelves from Rick's old clinic out of the barn aisle and up to the new shop, but there was still old clinic stuff on our big trailer. This time, through combinations of borrowed equipment and muscle (and removing a header board to make room), Rick and I got the huge stocks off the trailer and into the shop (along with the old washer and dryer); then it was off to pick up two loads of hay and stack it in the barn. I helped as much as I could (probably too much); Rick did yeoman's work. Chuckie, of course, was chief inspector.

Crossing fingers that the coming month sees my mom relocated from TX to an apartment near my sister in Lincoln, NE. A date has been set; my BIL is flying down on June 21 to drive Mom and her car north. But lots of things have to happen before that, so my sister purchased a refundable ticket. She and I have both observed a steady decline in her cognition and memory, even long-term memory. I look forward to flying east to see her and my sister and family once Mom gets settled. It's been a long three years since Dad died....

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