Oops, I Did It Again

Somehow the bulk of the month has slipped past without a blog post.  Sorry about that. Until recently the weather was so fine that it was easy to do outdoor work until dark, eat supper and then box up orders or answer emails or peel apples for applesauce or other things that ate up the evening.

Several fleeces were skirted and sent to eager spinners.  Odds and ends wool was sent to the mill to become quilt batts.  Two lots of wool went to Acorn Works to be made to roving.  I'm hoping this gray fleece which was dyed lilac will come back a smoky amethyst.

Typical of "October's bright blue weather" it's been sunny with low humidity during the day and in the low 40s at night.  The sky, the trees and the field corn all say we're deep into fall and winter is coming.

The sheep (waaaaay out in the far middle pasture) have been enjoying some really fine weather although a sudden cold wet weekend pulled off most of the colorful leaves.  

They've got a pretty sweet deal right now - cool enough to be comfy, no flies, still nice pasture.....  they spend the day moseying around at their own pace and then gathering at the back of the barn to come in before night.

Drambui is still looking good at 12 years old.  She's the oldest ewe in the flock now that Daffodil's gone.

Daisy, using the old rock pillow.

The Cotswold lambs were shorn last month and this little cutie is already showing some nice tight curls growing back.

We actually had wet snow over the weekend (shudder) and two hard freezes in the upper 20s, leaving heavy frost that lay on the grass even after the sun had touched it for awhile.

We were already well aware of the need, but this kind of weather really spurs firewood activity.  First Andy cleaned up some piles of limb wood that he had left in the field from the previous year.  This partly seasoned wood will go into the cellar first.

Then we head into the woods to drop trees.  Once they are down on the ground I'm not too fearful of him working by himself but I always go with him when he's actually felling trees.  Too many bad things can happen even when one is experienced and careful.  And Holly is always ready for a good woods walk!

We're still cutting dead and dying ash from one certain area.  Dead trees are particularly unpredictable and have a bad habit of shedding limbs as they fall but this one behaved properly.

I finished a major overhaul of the 'yarn' page on our website and now have current pictures of Cotswold yarn I've recently dyed, like this:

and this:

And even that Gosh Darn Big Yarn that I pictured earlier this summer.

The page was a lot of work and I'm happy that it's done and functional.

Holly says:

"Oh, good grief.  I don't know why you spend all that time at the computer when you could pet ME!"

Right!  Time for some "pet" therapy!