Forty-four feet

Flock work, phase one is complete; all eleven sheep have had their feet trimmed and their annual photos taken. I got three done last Friday afternoon, and the last four on Sunday. Except for Blake, who has been mostly sequestered because of his lame front leg (his limp is pretty much gone now!), trimming was very easy this year because the sheep have been out and their hooves weren't dried out and hard.

The girls' fleeces all look about the same as last year's; the boys', however, are quite different. Bittersweet and Bing, the wethers, are both thin and their fleeces haven't grown as much as usual. What's there is pretty stuff, there's just a lot less of it – and less 'sheep' underneath. They get free choice third cutting orchard grass hay and lately lots of kelp meal; I'm hoping once I get them sheared and out on their little wooded pasture lot (which has had a nice, long rest), they will pick up some weight. If not, some supplementation will be in order. They aren't old, but they aren't young anymore, either.

I've had requests for a sheep 'family tree' of sorts. I've thought about how to draw one, but going back to the beginning of my flock, or even the origins of all my current sheep, gets more complicated than I want to tackle. I will, however, share this year's fleece and sheep photos by relationship as much as possible; hopefully that will help the curious. (Pay close attention; there may be a quiz at the end! 😉)

Boulderneigh Bittersweet (b. 2012):

Bittersweet (Kimberwood Cadbury x Whistlestop 0338, called Annabelle) only has one relative in my flock, his nephew Bing (Whistlestop Bunker x Kimberwood Marta). Bing's sire Bunker was Bittersweet's half-brother; both the dam of both Bunker and Bittersweet was Annabelle.

Boulderneigh Bing (b. 2012):

Bing has one other relative in my flock – his half-sister Boulderneigh Blaise (Lil'Country Nightcap x Kimberwood Marta, b. 2014):

Blaise was sired by Nightcap when I had him here on lease. A couple years after that, he came here to stay, and I kept the two ewe lambs he sired. Thus Bette (Lil'Country Nightcap x Boulderneigh Bree) and Bernadette (Lil'Country Nightcap x Boulderneigh Babette) are Blaise's half-sisters.

Boulderneigh Bette (b. 2017):

Boulderneigh Bernadette (b. 2017):

Bette and Bernadette aren't full siblings, but almost. They have the same sire and their dams are full sisters. Bette's dam Bree (Boulderneigh Blake x OK Acres Vienna) still lives here, as do the maternal grandparents of both.

Boulderneigh Bree (b. 2015):

Here's grandma OK Acres Vienna (Crosswinds Nantucket x Lil'Country Velma, b. 2011):

And grandpa Boulderneigh Blake (Valiant Braveheart x Valiant Brava, b. 2010):

Blake has two other daughters here besides Bree, twins Bridget and Bardot (Boulderneigh Blake x WhitePine Sarai).

Boulderneigh Bridget (should have been registered 'Brigitte', b. 2017):

Boulderneigh Bardot (b. 2017):

That leaves their dam, WhitePine Sarai (WhitePine Levi AI x WhitePine Sedalia, b. 2010):

So there you have it, all 11 sheep, and how they are related to others in my flock. Let me know in the comments if you want to reserve a fleece, because I generally shear on a first-reserved, first-sheared basis. (Some fleeces have already been spoken for; I need to look over my emails and Ravelry messages.)

Quiz/contest time. The person who can name the most previous flock members NOT mentioned anywhere in this post will get an as-yet-undetermined prize. (Possibilities off the top of my head: fiber from a previous flock member; knitting books; something handknit just for you; favorite flock photo in an 8"x10".) To keep it fair (no peeking at others' answers), EMAIL your answers to mmcmillen AT macnet DOT com by Sunday, March 29, at midnight. GO!

That's it for now from . . .

Sun/drops/smoke/tops

Yesterday's sunrise:

This morning's flowers (biggify for raindrops):

After two warm, sunny days (Rick mowed the lawn and started the burn pile!),

today was a little cooler and rainy – a chance to wear my new Anvard Boot Toppers!

Alas, neither pair of boots with which I planned to wear them would zip up with the added bulk. Waaah! So if anyone has some loose boots (Romi's pattern shows them with cowboy boots) and would use these fraternal twin boot toppers (they really did feel cozy on my often chilly lower legs), they are available. I will mail them to the first person in the U.S. who speaks for them and provides an address. (I haven't washed and blocked them yet, so need to do that.)

In the meantime, I've switched back to spinning. A generous fairy godmother sent me a fibery care package recently, and I couldn't resist this:

It reminds me of Easter, and is a dream to spin.

Question of the day: How come the feral flowers at the front gate bloom better than the ones I've planted near the house?

Oh, and if you're wanting horse news, it's over on my other blog.

That's Tuesday for you at . . .

Prizes and surprises

Last month our local feed store announced a contest for best "favorite dog" photo.

I sent in one of each of our dogs – and Dozer's won the grand prize! (I sent in a full-color version.)

Since our dogs don't sleep outside, I asked if I could trade the dog house for a dog bed, and the store agreed. Look at this beauty!

Yesterday I invited Dozer to try it out:

Today he decided he likes it:

I got an unexpected package in the mail today. Theresa sent me three skeins of absolutely gorgeous handspun, and a pattern book:

for no reason other than she is an incredibly thoughtful and generous blogpal friend.

Love the fog in this morning's valley view, a sign of the changing seasons:

And look at this fluffy blue butt!

(The sheep adventures of the last 24 hours will have to wait for another post.)

That's it for now from . . .

Sheep inside, outside, downside, upside

Inside:

Hunky polled ramlet Bogie, taken a week before the last lambings

A fairly successful attempt at capturing Bardot's amazing fleece and structure

Bette, left, and Butler, right, to show their slight difference in color

A better look at Bette's beautiful back end

Bette's scrumptious fleece without flash...

...and with flash

Bernadette's color and crimp for comparison

Outside:

The littles got left behind! Then ONE ewe remembered her babies....

Little lambs

Big lambs

No lambs

Friendly lambs – Bacall and Bardot

Downside:
In their lust for lush grass after being cooped up a couple days, Bree and Babette abandoned their lambs! Bree came to her senses almost immediately; Babette, unfortunately, did not. Confused by the big, big world, Bernadette hung with her cousins until Bree realized she had an interloper and butted her away. So I scooped her up and went to find her mother – who kept moving on to avoid me. I finally got them reunited, and left them all to graze and play. Then it started to rain – no, pour!

Hard to see just how wet it is out there

Upside: The newborns got a shower to help clean off the birth fluids. When I brought everyone back in the fold, I toweled off the three littles so they didn't get chilled.

Last night I realized that all the data is in, so I needed to calculate the winner of my lambing dates contest. I tackled that this morning, figuring out how many days off each person was for each lambing and adding them together. Diane started off with a BANG, missing Sarai's and Vienna's lambing dates by just one day each (-2). But after all four ewes lambed, a new leader emerged – Tina, with -17! Since Tina spins, knits, and weaves, I'm hoping she'll appreciate winning my first Fair Isle project, Sheep Heid:

I started another Sheep Heid out of scraps today while at a memorial service. (It lasted over two hours – I sit still ever so much better when my hands are busy!)

That's it for a busy day at . . .