Summer is Over

Summer is almost over, and I haven't written anything at all!! That is because we have been busy with the business of daily life. Plus, I got a job at a local fabric shop. I can't even think on one outstanding thing to say about my summer. Other than my childhood friend was able to visit with her family, and I survived VBS, and we didn't go on a vacation. But, I went to Romney last week and Eric's girls Katie and Alexa were visiting. They are actually on their way to my house as I write. Things went pretty well in Romney. It was nice for the cousins to spend time together, getting to know each other.

I finally finished my shawl that I started last fall. Maddie and Katie went to town on knitting, also. Subsequently, I am now obsessed with knitting. I think I have craft A.D.D. I just have to try everything, and I will go through phases of sewing, rug-hooking, knitting, whatever. It must be summer coming to an end that makes me itchy to be arsty. Summer is so busy with swimming and gardening and grass cutting. But fall is for cozy craftiness beside the fire. I can't wait. Of course, it is about 90 degrees here right now. Makes me dream of snowy days, and icy creeks and warm quilts.

I wanted to get some photos of Mom knitting. So here they are. Did I mention how much I love my mother?? She has such patience with me, with us. Any knitting snafu she can fix, without cursing. I wish I had inherited that trait.

More Surprises

You just never know what you will find around here. This morning when I let the sheep out of the barn I found one of our long-lost bantam hens sitting in the middle of everything. Claudia and I both assumed she'd "disappeared" or "relocated" a couple weeks ago. BUT NO. She hops up and there is a chick. Just one. So tiny, maybe 2 days old. I tried to get some pictures. They didn't turn out well. I hate using the flash, but it is so dark in that barn. I told myself I wouldn't interfere with what had happened naturally. But I just couldn't stand it. The sheep and lambs were tromping all over the place and that poor chick was running around like mad and mama chicken was having a fit. Soooo, I moved them into the other side of the barn, where apparently I have another broody bantam hen. It just makes me smile. Under my best efforts of hatching out eggs, mama just goes into a dirty old barn and takes care of business.

Lambs are well. They don't like to be held anymore, and they can run really fast. Ohhhh...THAT'S what shepherd crooks are for!!!!

Today is the last day of school. As in years past I have sworn we WILL have a schedule, we WILL do crafts AT LEAST once a week, and we WILL all work outside as a happy family. This is assuming I can get them out of bed and deal with all the whining about " this is my vacation! I don't want to work!". I'm not good with the whining.

Sorry about the bad pictures. At least you get a ballpark idea. That little thing beside the chicken is a peep.

This is the one who had a change of heart. Amazing!





I have a few updates. The ewe that was going to explode, she only had twins. For real! I was shocked there weren't five lambs in there. She started laboring early Friday morning. I was able to take pictures, until we had to ASSIST! I knew this was going to happen! My pics are pretty graphic, more for my observations than for public consumption, so I will spare you those. JP came home from work, and after watching this poor sheep struggle for TOO LONG we had to pull the lamb out. Very quickly after that another slipped out. Unfortunately, mama sheep was not interested in her babies at all. She wouldn't clean them off, or even look at them. This started our stressful weekend. We were not going to let her get away with this, if only for the fact that I did not want to be bottle-feeding two babies around the clock for weeks. What we did was this: One of us would hold onto mama around the neck, and the other would gather babies and help them nurse. The first day mama wanted to struggle and we would have to chase her around the barn to catch her, but she finally knew that when we came in, DARN IT, she was going to have to let these annoying babies nurse. On Sunday JP went out to check on them and couldn't believe it - she was standing there letting them nurse BY HERSELF. Shocking, really. So there you have it. Now they are all out in the pasture, and it is a distant (for mama, at least) memory.

I took some self-portraits of myself with a lamb. Sans makeup, grey hair and all. That is how much I love everyone and want them to see lamby up-close. It has rained on and off since last night, and thankfully cooled off. So I took some pics of the farm today. I love days like this. I have nothing against the sun. I usually feel more cheerful when it is sunny. But I loooove a rainy, cool, grey day.

Newest Babies

Here are the newest members of our farm. #1 and #2. I was quite surprised, as I didn't expect them until next week. I come to find out that JP had calculated it wrong, and they are indeed due this week. I'm keeping close watch on my other two ewes, especially the one who looks like she is going to explode. I wish I could get better pictures, but I worry about invading "Mama's" space. She doesn't seem to mind that I am in the barn, and I have held the lambs a couple times. Their skin has tight little woolly curls and their heads are very soft. But the worries! I remember worrying like this when I had my babies. Are they getting enough milk?? Are they sleeping too much? Am I cut out for this? I didn't have to assist at all in this birth. They just magically appeared, all dry and cute. I'm not so sure about the other two. If I have to pull out a lamb I'm afraid I'll pass out. Stay tuned!

My Mother

This was taken on Mother's Day 2009. Isn't she beautiful? I always thought I had the prettiest Mommy, and I still do. We had the best weekend. Mom, Paula and myself. And then JP brought the girls over for lunch, and then I was able to spend ANOTHER night! Bliss!

A Few Pics

We've been so busy lately, so yesterday we had some down-time.  It was lovely to sleep in, I almost didn't even feel guilty about missing church.  A lot has happened.  I had 5 chicks hatch out of 15, which was very disappointing, but was a lesson.  Sometimes you just can't fool Mother Nature.  I have lots of pictures of them for later.  JP's truck club came Saturday for a picnic/meeting, so we had lots of preparations for that.  It was a lot of fun, and people always seem to feel that we live so "far out".  It's funny to me, because it doesn't feel like that to me.  Unless I have to go back and forth to town, that is.  I took some pictures a few mornings ago and am posting them.  The sun was shining through the fog, and I tried to capture it.  Still on the hunt for the "Perfect" camera. 

Egg Hunts

We had a hunt early in the morning, as is tradition. Then after a wonderful lunch at Nana and Bob's, we had another hunt.

Did I mention it was J.P.'s birthday, also. And he is now 40??? His sister Aimee made the cake(s).