Sunday, fun day, and a ton-of-work day

When I learned that last weekend was the last weekend of the Canterbury Renaissance Festival, I decided that if at all possible for both of us, I wanted to take a friend on Sunday as an early birthday gift to her. So I picked her up at 9:00 a.m. and off we went. We (mostly window-) shopped, took in parts of several shows, watched the herding dog demonstration and all of the jousting. We didn't eat a single thing there, but did both buy olivewood kitchen tools. And Debbie got to meet Caesar the No-Drama Llama for the first time and thought she might want a couple llamas if they are all like this. (Ha! They are NOT. Caesar is seriously the chillest creature, of any species, I have ever met. He works the State Fair for four days straight every year and never looses his cool!)

Debbie loves dragons

Notice the stare-down between Caesar and the cat!

Because of honoring the Sabbath and Rick's unpredictable work schedule, Sundays are our main opportunity to 'get things done.' So while I was off playing, Rick and Brian (the latter under duress) picked 89 lbs. of peaches (17 lbs. for my MIL). Then Rick picked up a load of hay and made a start of freezing peaches. When I got home we unloaded that hay and a second load, too, then worked on prepping and freezing the ripest peaches that would not wait before falling into bed shortly before midnight.

Needless to say, I didn't have time to finish the last of my fiber on the final day of TdF. I did take it to the festival and spun some, but my spindle was getting too heavy for safe casual spinning. I spun the last of it Monday morning; then I have to decide how and with what to ply my two IF Mushroom Blend colorways.

In 'maybe' news, I have an opportunity to acquire a ram with new genetics and a pattern I don't have in my flock (he's a dark katmoget). Unfortunately I don't have a good place to keep him unless I can sell one of my two rams, so I am going to take new photos and post them on the Facebook Shetland forums to see if I can do that. Now is the perfect time, while people are planning for the fall breeding season.

That's it for now from . . .

More of a show than the 4th of July!

Yesterday was wild, weatherwise. Thunderstorms are rare here; we've never had literally hours of lightning and thunder before in the 37 years we've lived here. One of Rick's clients lost a horse to a lightning strike, which made me worry about our horses at home in a small pasture with tall trees on either side. Fortunately everyone was fine when I got home from work; even our dogs didn't mind the weather. There were some beautiful clouds around, even while thunder and lightning continued in the distance:

We got 1/4" of rain, too, so I took advantage of the softened ground this morning and pulled weeds, then planted more bush beans and beets in the gaps where the first planting failed to germinate. I picked a tomato, and admired the other ripening produce. It's been a 'cucumber year' so far; if I'd known, I would have planted enough to make dill pickles but usually they don't grow well for me.

already harvested and eaten

Maybe the pastures will get a boost from the rain, too. The sheep have eaten down all their paddocks on the neighbors' property so are home eating hay again; the horses are still picking at their half of the neighbors' pasture . . . most of the time. The first three days of this week they had to stay home where they have access to water, since I had to cover Rick's vet office and couldn't let them in for their afternoon drink.

I've been seeing quite a few mice recently. Natural ebb and flow of populations, I guess; we had a terrible infestation in barn, tack room, and henhouse before a few years of near-absence. I'm going to have to resort to deadly measures in the tack room, as they are destroying soft things like saddle pads and blankets.

In TdF spinning, I finished the first 4oz colorway, and am now working on the second. These are both part of the Inglenook Fibers Mushroom Blends:

second turtle of 'Rosy Bonnet'

first turtle of 'Truffle'

That's it for now from . . .

Friends and neighbors

For reasons beyond my ken, I was able to email photos from my iPhone to my gmail account – for a day. Now all methods of transferring photos have locked up again. Ah, the vagaries of technology. Maybe Mu$k sneezed – or fathered yet another child (ick).

Moving on to the title. Friends. A long-time horse buddy and I met up for our once-every-year-or-two catch-up lunch date recently, and boy, was there a lot to catch up on. She had just purchased a second horse after her partner for the last 12 years was diagnosed with cancer. Said partner is still doing well, but the handwriting is on the wall. I told her she inspires both jealousy and hope – not only is she a member of the Century Club (the one thing on my bucket list), she welcomed an exciting new dressage horse the month before she turns 80!!!

trying out her new Lusitano partner in AZ

new guy on the left, "Century Ride" partner on the right

My own two horses are still happily grazing the neighbors' property. For awhile Stella was ducking under the single-strand electric fence gate to go where she wished on the upper half of their property (until they put up a more substantial gate). Then the neighbors set up an unused utility sink as a watering trough during a hot spell (I bring them back to the barn midday to get a good drink). Stella showed her appreciation for their thoughtfulness by pawing in it, splashing most of the water out and then grabbing the stopper and pulling the plug (they removed the sink).

Stella on the lam – and in the landscaping

before the shenanigans

only 14 years until we can do our Century Ride!

If you count sheep in the photo below (don't fall asleep 😉), you might realize there is one ewe missing. Bette wasn't up to snuff for two or three weeks. We tried antibiotics but they didn't help, so Rick drew blood. The results indicated liver failure, and she died during the night shortly thereafter. We have no idea what caused the problem; no one else shows any symptoms. One of those sad sheepy mysteries....

and then there were seven

In dogs news, Poppy and I tried a new agility venue. There is a training and trial facility just ten minutes from home that recently hosted a trial put on by an Aussie club but open to all breeds. There were so many lovely Aussies and they really made me miss dear Jackson; maybe someday I'll have another. But for now Poppy is my pet and partner, appreciated for her size and slick coat and loved for her personality and intelligence.

one of the few other non-Aussie competitors

We ended on a good note!

spotty dog!

In homefront news, Chuckie's still relaxing, the young swallows (I think only two survived fledging) are still hanging out, the garden is still growing, and the sun is still setting every night, sometimes spectacularly.

That's it for now from . . .