On Easter morning I 'hopped' into both Brian's room and ours to give my lie-abed guys some Fortunato treats – causing some alarm before I informed them I was their 'Easter bunny' (maybe some rabbit ears would have helped explain my ponderous jumping?). Then I dashed off to an agility fun match with Poppy for the morning. Back home, I caught Bridget and sheared her; I told myself I had to take advantage of a few nice days to shear the three pregnant ewes, and made a good start. Only Bridget isn't pregnant!
Poppy enjoying a sunny bathroom spot after agility in the morning
Bridget is in good flesh, but disappointingly not pregnant
Work and errands on Monday didn't leave enough time to shear someone that afternoon, so I planned to shear both Broadway and Boop on Tuesday. Ha; Broadway took way longer than I hoped and behaved very badly at one point, trying to hang herself from the head rest which necessitated releasing her so she could drag her half-sheared fleece across the ground. ARGHHH. I had to physically wrestle her back onto the stand and onto her feet; by the end I could barely drag myself up to the house to drop into my recliner.
Broadway's fleece has developed interesting mottling
Definitely pregnant when viewed from front and rear
Even though today was much cooler and cloudy, I am nothing if not determined, so I dressed in warm layers and set up at the barn aisle entrance (in case it showered) to shear Boop. I don't know why, but I am getting slower at doing this myself. Part of it is that my fleeces have gotten denser and finer over the years (as evidenced by micron testing; very happy with this year's results) which makes them harder to shear with scissors as I do, and I think part of it this year is trying to shear at a less than optimal point in the rise. At any rate, Boop eventually HAD ENOUGH, making Broadway's bad behavior the day before look like a little snit. Boop thrashed herself off the stand repeatedly, making me fear for her safety and forcing me to heave my biggest sheep back in place multiple times; and yes, she managed to drag half of her fleece across the dirty ground, too. I don't want to admit how many hours it took me to finish shearing her, or how close I came to sobbing with exhaustion. That's one third of the flock finished; can I make it through the rest? Give me a few days to recover; I'm sure I'll forge on, at least through this year's fleece harvest.
Also obviously pregnant; sorry, lambies, for the wrestling matches!
Here is one of the waiting two thirds, and the sire of the coming lambs. One of Sanson's leg straps came unstitched so I caught him to swap coats and took a photo. His hogget fleece, with its variations, will make gorgeous yarn; next year it will likely be uniformly light. Hopefully it will stay uniformly soft and fine; his micron test results are 22 AFD, 5 SD, 22.6 CV, 8.3 CEM, 21.7ยต SF.
Before it gets too far past to share, here are photos from a recent 'field trip.' Our church women's ministries organized an outing to the Willamette Heritage Center on March 26. I wasn't planning to go, but one of the leaders urged me. She took weaving classes at the Center and gave me my loom, so thought I'd enjoy it (plus they needed more bodies). Even though I've been to the annual "Magic at the Mill" Christmas event several times, I got to see much more of the Heritage Center during this visit, and of course was much more interested in the weavers and looms that occupy the fourth floor of the old mill building now that I'm weaving myself. As a bonus, the PNW Community Coral Reef Project was on display in the Mill Building!
The millrace that powered the mill for most of its existence
I was amazed to learn that the crown gear teeth are made of wood!
That diagonal pipe was used to BLOW wool from one building to another
I liked, but didn't buy, this t-shirt in the gift shop
That inspired me to dress my loom with the warp I'd wound and get to work. This black cotton warp is long enough for two rugs plus a 'dummy warp;' I'll be able to tie on to this existing warp instead of starting from scratch.
When I get stuck behind a backlog of photos and blog fodder, I have to think of a title or theme to jump-start the post. So I give you a mostly Purple Rain of flowers, since we are getting way too little of the real kind:
We are dry, dry, dry. April was the driest on record, and May isn't looking like it will rectify the problem. Hay should be ready a lot earlier this year; I wouldn't be surprised if our favorite hay guy is putting up his first cutting right now. We won't be needing as much this year.... (See next paragraph.) This was our upper pasture last week, when the 'neighbor boy' came over to play with Poppy:
Today I plan to lead Lance and Oliver up there to graze for a bit. With Lance's metabolic disease, I have to be very careful with fresh forage; if I just turn them loose, I might not catch Lance again before he gets too much! Oliver, on the hand, would probably be easy to catch . . . and can probably enjoy as much green grass as he wants right now. His front legs are shot, and it has been plain to Brian and me for months that he is miserable. Rick finally came to the same conclusion after taking the time to examine him more closely last Sunday; now the only question is when Rick is going to put him down. It is sad, but Ollie's had 20 more years of life than he would have had with his breeder, and 21 more years than it appeared he'd have when he almost died of sepsis as a foal.
On the other end of the spectrum of age and vitality, little Berlin goes out to pasture with the big girls every day now and loves it, although she and her dam Vienna still go in their own enclosure when in the fold. (I just need to take the time to break down the lambing jug panels and open up the space.) She still looks tiny to me, but I realized when she stood next to the little water bucket last night that she has grown quite a bit. Here she is at two days old, followed by the photo I took last night:
It's hard to get good photos of her; I need to try harder because she is quite the looker. Definitely feminine with a pretty little head and properly pert Shetland ears; excellent conformation; and lovely, crimpy chocolate fleece all over. I sent in fleece samples on all my breeding animals except Bridget (shepherd oversight), and am very happy with the results. Seeing Vienna's and Spot's fleece data on paper along with their offspring in the flesh makes me want to see if I can help Vienna stay in good flesh to breed again this fall, as she is my finest-fleeced sheep even at ten years of age:
Vienna is still wearing her fleece, as is Bittersweet. I had hoped to have everyone sheared by the end of April, but my plans were overwhelmed by family drama and stress. In fact, I even started on Bittersweet on April 20 – and got interrupted by some of said family drama. Here he is as I prepared to start:
And here is Bette before I sheared her on April 21 (my iPhone battery was dead by the time I finished), and her mother Bree after I sheared her on April 27. Obviously both are in fine flesh.
I don't feel too bad about the two still in full fleece; Bittersweet is very thin and our weather is see-sawing between hot and cool, and Vienna has a lamb with pointy little hooves. So I am working on skirting the other eight fleeces for now.
All our 'gardens,' flower beds and food-growing alike, are frustratingly overgrown and unkempt. Even if I was able-bodied, I can't do it all alone. I finally went to my favorite physical therapist for some help with my right shoulder and elbow; I've been struggling with a frozen shoulder for over a year now and I think that has contributed to developing tendonitis in my elbow. That leaves me without much grip in my right hand; I feel like I'm practically one-armed. Rick finally did a little work in the vegetable garden, weeding in and around the strawberries so I can at least water them and hope for a little harvest. I bought three pots of basil and may have to stick them in a pot on the deck; I'm having doubts that the rest of the garden will get prepped for planting anything. I am working hard to "let it go, let it go-o" and be at peace. Fortunately I can still spin and knit. Last month I spun up some homegrown Dorset/Merino cross roving I got from a blogpal years ago, then knit up some fingerless mitts from my go-to pattern. This month I'm working on pink BFL roving gifted to me by a different blogpal. (I didn't provide links because neither of them blog anymore.)
Spinning, reading blogs, snuggling a lamb, working Stella, and taking Poppy to agility class are good distractions in this crazy life.
I'm a homeschooling, horse training, animal loving, garden growing, part-time business running, spinning and knitting shepherd who loves the Great Shepherd.
