Out And About

Occasionally, errands take both Andy and I away from the farm at the same time.  Yesterday we both had business in Hammondsport and with the sun shining on the autumn colors it was a great day to be see some sights.

First of course we had to let the sheep out.  They had a very leisurely stroll out into the pasture.



The sun slanting in from the east really showed the colors in the woods south of the ram's pasture.

Holly and Calvin were companionably soaking up a sunbeam in the front room.

One of the reasons we went to town was to see to some things at the Fiber and Art Emporium where some of our goods are for sale.  The shop owners are always moving items about and changing up the displays in an effort to showcase new things or just make everything look fresh.  Quite a lot of the fiber here is ours and I think they did a great job making it look really attractive!

Hammondsport, voted "The Coolest Small Town in America",  is at the south end of Keuka Lake and it enjoys a robust tourist population most of the year.  It's about the only town I know that has every store and shop filled with merchants or services and the windows and sidewalks are always decorated with pretty seasonal displays.  The bakery has an alert doggy sentinel carved out of a log - better than your typical bear I think!

Returning home we still had a few hours of daylight and it was just too nice to work indoors so I finally got back to finishing the rock wall and flower bed on the front of the house.  A couple of years ago while ago we pulled out the ancient evergreens that were supposed to be a hedge.  They had matured to the point that they couldn't be trimmed back to size anymore - they were just thick stumps with no branches if they were cut to fit under the windows - so Andy pulled them out with the tractor and my plan was to put in a nice bed of hostas and other shade loving plants (it's the north face of the house).  Of course a flower bed needs an edge or border of some kind and we do have a lot of rocks........hmmmm. 

Earlier this year dear Andy took my request with good graces and we went to the woods and wrestled rocks OUT of the piles they had been dumped in after being picked out of the field.  He said he had thought when they were dumped that he'd never have to handle them again let alone lug them home.  They joined the load of screened topsoil that we had delivered.  A couple of them were freakin' huge very large ones that I wanted to use to give extra interest to the wall and we needed the tractor and front end loader to pick them out of the pile and put on the wagon.

Wrestling the big ones into place involved both of us, a lot of pushing and a good bit of patience on his part as I waffled over how to best set the big ones into the trench so they'd "look best".  I think at that point Andy thought they'd look best back out in the woods.  But we persevered and got them settled.  Then I started in laying the flat rocks which was actually a lot of fun.  It was like working a jigsaw puzzle with a side of architecture thrown in.  I worked at laying the stones in the evening (when evening lasted till 9 PM) and then things got busy and the project stalled.

Now, in October, on a lovely sunny day we got it finished!  Stay tuned - pics to come!

But Of Course

We're planning to put coats on some of the Cotswolds tomorrow, check eye scores and weights one last time before going into winter and probably separate the oldest ewes into a group that can get a ration of grain once a day.  To that end I gathered a few sheep coats that needing mending, set up the sewing machine and realized I didn't have the scissors handy.  A two minute search ensued and when I came back into the room.......

Dexter and Calvin, ready to help.

Cats.  You can depend on them to appear when you least need their assistance.  

Cat-ness

Despite being underfoot one way or another every hour of the day the cats have gotten short shrift on the blog all summer with the exception of both Ivan's and Alexi's passing.  It's about time to rectify that with some kitty updates.

First, Kittin got clipped by a car in early August the day after Daffodil died.  A glancing blow left her laid out, unconscious, in the center of the road and relieved her of about seven of her lives.  Except for a broken tooth she miraculously had no outward injuries (or broken bones) but closed head trauma and severely bruised lungs kept her at the vet hospital for four days and  I've held her in the wool shop to recuperate ever since.   Her right side appears to have taken the force of the blow and she has loss of strength and coordination in the right front leg leaving her with a rocking, limping gait.  She can't flex the toes of that foot yet and perhaps never will.  I'm hesitant to let her out because she's so compromised and she actually doesn't try to dart out the door which surprises me but I'm sure she's realized how hampered she is.  She spends her days sleeping, eating, chasing flies if they land on the floor, washing her fur and thinking cat thoughts.  She's getting kind of fat.  She enjoys our company (me and Holly, that is) when I'm in the shop and lays under the skirting table with abandon, oblivious to the bits of cruddy fleece that drops down.

And when that gets boring she moves to the blanket I have for Holly to lay on.  

Natasha moved back to the barn after it warmed up in the spring and has been doing just fine down there although I haven't seen her do more than step out the back door to sit in the pasture on sunny days.  She does like her sun patches and now that it's getting a little colder she seeks them out as soon as morning sunbeams come in the east-facing door.

She's intimidated by Clem, but Chloe gives off different vibes and they seem congenial with each other.

When it gets seriously cold I'll take her back to the wool shop too.

"Heck, take her now, would you?  She's hogging all the sun."

Chloe's brother Clem has become the defacto king of the barn.  He's quite a regal boy although he's more silly than serious.

And boy, does he love him some sheeps!  (Includes scenes of intense cat sniffing!)



Popeye is growing like a weed. His bum eye doesn't give him any problem but he seems blind on that side for sure.  At least it doesn't look gross, just like a gray marble.

Pretty soon I'll make the appointment to get him neutered.  "Unpack his bags so he won't go travelling" as they used to say but since he's going to be an indoor cat it's a moot point. Calvin is his best play buddy, but surprisingly Dexter is the one he sleeps with!  Dexter and Calvin don't like to sleep together, but the little furball has worn him down won Dexter over in this regard.

But Calvin is a good 'buddy cat', always interested in helping even if it just means sitting on the other office chair keeping me company while I do computer stuff.

"Really?  The intertubes are full of cats?  Amazing!  Tell me more."
House, barn, shop..... cats everywhere.  ;-)

Shamelessly Using Lamb Cuteness

....to make up for lack of narrative.  We've been occupied with finishing shearing the flock, sending wool out for processing, getting fleeces ready for the Maryland show and generally taking care of everyone.

Andy did finish building three creep feeders for a fellow shepherd.  These are free-standing and can be moved but are designed to stand against a wall.

They are deep enough to hold slices of hay and slanted at the front so the hay will continue to drop down as it's eaten (and also hampers little lamb feet from standing up against the grid and reaching over the top).

The bottom of each feeder is solid to catch hay fines or a grain ration and the lip in front will keep good stuff from being rooted out onto the floor.

The lambs here are growing well and doing all kinds of cute lamb things.  The gray one on the right was racing across the pen, accelerating into a blur like The Flash.

These two little boys were starting to play at head butting.


There's the 'bouncing around together in a group' event.......

About half way through, notice the white guy that jumps so hard he falls down.

Everybody chews on hay, either for real eating purposes or just for something to do.
And the older ones have started to chew a cud. (Sorry this is grainy - I tried the zoom function on the phone).
And we've finally had some sun and warm weather.  

If there were room and time I'd join them!

Austerity Budget

Times are tough.  Our cats are reduced to sitting in "wish-it-was-a-box" boxes.

"Seriously?  This is the best you can do for me? "

 

Cheer up, Calvin.  Christmas IS coming.....Santa Claws might bring you something better.

The View From Inside

The winter storm they predicted arrived pretty early today, starting with the power going out at about 2:15 AM.  That Andy crawled out of bed and got the generator going.  With the house having a wood fired boiler in the basement, leaving the power off isn't an option - we need electricity to run the circulating pumps to keep the hot water moving and avoid a cold house and a too-hot boiler! 

After daybreak the weather deteriorated from rain to snow pretty quickly.

It was a wet snow that clung to vertical surfaces, even windows.  My stained glass suncatcher lamb looked like she was lost in a blizzard.

 

 

The sheep in the barn are all happy as can be.  They are eating nice alfalfa, not huffing and puffing from full fleece and have nice clean bedding.  We finished cleaning the last section of pens yesterday.  Spreading the dirty bedding will have to happen later (a "soon" later) as there wasn't time to take load after load out and still get the area cleaned in a day.  The litter from the barn is stashed in the feed bunk for now.  We cleaned the ram barn a couple of weeks ago and had no place but the great outdoors to put it.  We've jokingly named the pile Mt. Crap-sta.  Anyway, the ewes are happy and just waiting for the lambs to start arriving.  First due date is the 23rd.

 

Kelsey, left, and I think Ginny on the right.

 

Moorits Ginger, Copper and Tiffany

 

Gem.  This will be her last year as a mom.  Then she can retire!

 

A group shot of expectant moms.  They aren't really this crowded.  It's an odd illusion and the perspective of distance is whacked.

 

How many lambs are YOU carrying??

 

"I'll be a mom for the first time.  Just one would be fine with me."

 

We're so happy we've provided a secure barn for the sheep.  Tonight, viewed from just inside the back door, it looks like this:

 

 

 

It's a little hard to see just how thick the air is with blowing snow until the end when you can make out the fenceline. Crappy weather but not lambing yet.  I'll take it.  Good news all depends on your view.  Maybe it would look even better upside down!

 



 

 



Suspicion

What the heck is THAT, and why did you bring it in the house??

 

I'se just a widdle lamb.

The Next Step

With the new concrete floor in place the next step in enlarging the ram area is actual construction.  To build something you need lumber.  To get lumber you need logs.  To get logs you go to the woods.  (Ahem.  Your own woods.  Not trying to suggest that timber theft is an approved method of obtaining materials.)

Hemlock number one.

Hemlock number two.

Logs cut to length and brought home on the dump trailer.

And put over the mill and sawn into the needed sizes.

Meanwhile, in the barn one of the cats has given the new floor the seal of approval.

It wasn't us.

Don't worry guys, you were never under suspicion.

Tree-mendous

So what does every house with cats need?  A cat tree for them to call their own.  After we removed a cabinet that Dexter liked to perch on he moped under the dining room table and really seemed sad.  Andy thought building a cat tree would be just the tonic he needed.  A little ingenious construction and a $50 carpet remnant and we have a cat tree perfect for perching.

King Dexter and his minion, Calvin

It has four platforms spiralling up the central post which has a telescoping top plate that Andy screwed to the ceiling (which will eventually get finished and be pretty, but that's another story).  Now when they rocket up the post it won't go crashing through the front windows.

The king's not here.....maybe I should ascend to the throne

There.  If you can't make your cats happy you're not doing something right.



Standing (OK, Lying) On Principle

This is Holly in her chair.  She picked this as Her Spot when she was still a little puppy.  If nothing interesting is happening in the house, she goes here and gets comfy.

I'm comfy.  Really.

Enter Calvin the kitten this spring.  Calvin has no sense of personal space.  He would love to curl up with Holly in her chair, but since she considers herself Queen Over All Cats, this is beneath her.  Calvin is not big, and they could certainly both be on the chair.

Plenty of room.  See?  I even left you a spot.

Holly made the choice to not share the chair.  Somehow she's decided this is the next best spot.

Hmpf.  The Queen does. not. share.

Gosh, you're really showing him!  Boy, he'll be sorry now!  You really know how to.....wait a minute.... Oh.

And there's a lesson for everyone.





Nothing Very Special

I haven't blogged in too many days.  It felt like nothing particularly noteworthy was going on, just routine work and the progression of the season.  Then I chided myself about that just being a lazy a** excuse for not doing it, and blogging isn't about sensationalism every time, it's about what happens daily.  So after 20 whacks with a wet skein of yarn as punishment, here it is.

The honey locust trees on the front lawn have bloomed.

Locusts in full bloom

At least 100 years old, and we have the pictures to prove it!

The clusters of blooms are really pretty and smell wonderful as you might guess from the name.  The bees give them a real good workover.

If only the blooms lasted longer

Warmer weather brings out more interesting bugs.  I'm a bug person, also reptiles and snakes.  I can honestly say there's no critter out there that makes me go "Ewww" and while I don't exactly LOVE earwigs, I can appreciate them for how the good Lord fit them into the scheme of things.  I'm still working on appreciating ticks and deer flies :-/

Anyway, this spider set herself up in a perfect spot in a doorway.  The breeze actually kind of sucked the bugs right into her web.  It was pretty tattered when I noticed her, and she was carefully de-constructing the web, following a strand around the circle of the web, gathering the silk up in a wad, and then she deliberately threw it off the web.  Way cool. She had a new one built in a few hours.

This spider literally keeps a neater house than me.

We keep a flourescent light on in the barn every night to act as a night light.  It helps keep the sheep from spooking and causing a stampede if the cats get into a row or a pigeon falls down the metal silo chute after dark.  This guy must have been attracted by the light.

Yeah, I'm soft and fuzzy.... but so's the picture.

He also has cool eye spots on the wings underneath the top ones, but you really can't see that picture worth crap :-(

The cats spend a lot more time outside, but still manage to check in at chore meal time. 

Clem says, "You're looking at bugs when you could be petting me??"

Speaking of cats, we got a new kitten!!  Say hello to Calvin.  He is going to be a strictly indoor kitty.

Calvin

Calvin's about 11 weeks old and adopted from the Yates County Humane Society's Shelter of Hope.  Us deliberately adopting a kitten is like taking coal to Newcastle since we're usually the unwilling recipient of drop-off kittens.  But.  You can't count on that sort of thing, and while I love our current housecat, Dexter, to pieces, he's not a cuddly cat.  He does not want to be hugged, loved on and certainly not sit on your lap.  Besides, he was lonely.  After a couple of days convincing him that the kitten is SMALL and not up to being used as a chew toy, they are now best pals.

Hold still kid, I'll get that spot for you.

In other news, we sent 3 Cotswold yearling ewes to a new home - the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore where they will be joining a display of rare breeds of farm livestock.  At first I thought, "Ummm.......I don't know...."   I mean, there are zoos and then there are zoos, but after talking with the Mammal Collection Director and asking questions we knew it would be OK.  To city people, farm animals are as exotic as anteaters and capybaras, so the MD Zoo has a great display area of some of the more rare breeds of livestock - Dexter Cattle, Flemish Giant Rabbit, Ossabaw Island Hog, Nubian Goats, and until just recently when they went to the big green pasture in the sky from old age - Jacob sheep.  So, wanting to have sheep, but looking for something a little different, one thing led to another and we sent Kay, Kate and Kiera the Cotswolds to be lambassadors. 

I'm going WHERE??

"I'm sure it will be fine ..... but maybe keep eating just in case."

They rode in fine style in separate giant Sky Kennels inside a nice van with AC.  Probably had a good radio, too.  Or maybe a book on tape.

Bye.  Thanks for everything. We'll try to write once in a while.

Private accomodations.

These three are on the small side of the breed standard which is what the zoo asked for, and they won't be used for breeding - just sit around and be fed and looked at all their lives.  They're just coming into pretty curls post-shearing, so they'll look nice when they get there.

Cotswolds......the girls with the curls.

It's finally warmed up and the William Baffin rose is just coming into full bloom. 

Tough as nails, and blooms like crazy.  My kind of plant.





And that's pretty special.