School's in session: It's recess time!

This morning the three lambs and Marta, Bing's dam, played and played and played! I had fun watching them; I hope you do, too.



That's it for today from . . .

Silent Sabbath: Shall we go for a walk today?

Que Sarai, Sarai

I'm dating myself with that earworm!

Yesterday morning when I turned the sheep out, Bramble was the last to leave the fold. All the rest bellied up to the hay bag; she laid down and stretched her head out as if to take a nap.  Odd – and with sheep, odd is a warning sign. So I went over to check her out. Of course then she popped up and acted as if nothing was wrong.

Bramble is my pretty poser – some of my best sheep photos are of her – and likely a freemartin. She has never settled, and her external anatomy differs a bit from my other ewes. Like the wethers, she will pay for herself in fleeces and friendliness unless and until a good fiber pet home opens up for her.

My presence in the sheep lot was duly noted, and sweet Sarai sought stroking more over sustenance.

To my great disappointment, this girl didn't settle last year. I put her in Whistlestop Bunker's breeding group, and anticipated exquisite offspring from my finest, softest ram and my finest, crimpiest ewe. Here's a shot of Sarai's fleece midside that I took yesterday:

I just love this!

If I am blessed by the sale of a few more sheep before the end of the year, I will put Sarai and Bunker together again – and cross my fingers and toes for a EWE!

Que sera sera, from . . .

Fun with color – and black and white!

 I was admiring some hydrangea bushes in town today when it struck me that they would be a dandy inspiration for dyeing. So I snapped some photos for my friend Laura – spinning and knitting mentor and master dyer. When I downloaded them to my computer, I was disappointed with how the blue turned out, as it was much more vibrant IRL. I played with my color settings a bit, and fell in love with the results. Here are two of the photos, each shown SOOC and altered.

Brian had an activity in town today, so while he was occupied with that, I met a friend and her five-month-old flat-coated retriever puppy Silly at the local dog park. I didn't even know our community had a dog park until my friend suggested meeting there. What a great little place! Since it was a hot day, I left Dozer at home (bulldogs overheat easily) and took Jackson.

Jackson was very interested in reading the local "news," but not very interested in playing with a puppy – or the other two dogs that showed up while we were there.

He did chill out in the shade of a tree for awhile – which he thought a MUCH more dignified option for cooling off than Silly's method of choice:

That girl is an eel!

"Come on in, the water's fine!"

Silly was enjoying the kiddy pool so much – and Jackson was so hot – that I urged him to just try it. He put his front feet in . . . then his back feet. He sat down . . . then . . .

Aaaah!

I have a feeling we'll be doing this again!

That's it for today from . . .