A Certain Something

Who is he?

Any beverage is improved by the addition of a few of his hairs.

Fleas won't jump on him because they know they're not worthy.

Jeans and a Tshirt become formal wear with his fur all over them.

Zen gardeners study his litterbox for design inspiration.

He is......

"Stay furry, my friends!"

.....the most interesting cat in the world.

Random Friday

I'm going to drop all pretense of making a post with a story or plot.  Just assume this is the Reader's Digest Condensed Version (boy, did I just date myself) of the longer narrative and at least we'll get caught up.

We've separated the ewes into groups according to age and body type (and changed up some coats again).  Youngsters and geriatrics are getting a grain ration and the rest of the flock is too, but in smaller portions.   Dividing them into pens is safer (nobody gets trampled in a grain-induced stampede) although it does make for a bit more work on our parts.  The weather has been helpful in that most days the water will run and we don't have to schlep it with buckets.  Astonishing!  The hay is not the best quality due to conditions last summer preventing us from cutting it when it should have been, but an unattended bale is apparently plenty yummy.

I've been working with the shearing from last year and got a new color back from Acorn Works - Tropical Seas -  and am very pleased with it.

I've started dyeing for another 3-way color combo.  This part is going to be a dark plum-purple.  The dye broke into red areas and dark blue areas and the overhead lighting exaggerates the contrast.... blah blah blah.... it looks nicer in real life.

Quilt batting returned from Zeilinger's Mill.  This is the odds and ends from lots of fleeces that didn't look good enough to go into roving.  It can function as quilt batting or be used for felting or even spinning.  It's very free from VM and I think it would felt well, making a blank canvas to do cool things with.

I skirted a couple of nice Cotswold fleeces that were still here - gray Gilly......

....and white Louise.

They both sold quickly on Facebook.  Yes, typical of the way I do things I'm firmly planted on the back side of the social media wave and have only just put Nistock Farms on Facebook.  Man, there's a lot of buttons, icons, doodads and nooks and crannies over there.....  Anyway, please stop over and "Like" our page.

I also skirted Crazy Cocoa Puff's fleece and that's still available if anyone is needing a gray fleece with variable crimp and texture!  It was a coated fleece so it's totally free of VM but has a split personality in grade and type.  Got multiple projects?  This fleece is ADHD and can multitask - maybe a sweater for you, a fulled tote bag and a saddle pad for your horse?  Just shoot me an email for details if interested.  robin AT nistockfarms DOT com.

I finally finished spinning the last of Mr. Bill's fleece and hope to start plying the two giant bobbins.

We had a streak of crazy warm weather that let us get to the woods to take down a few more trees.  Andy needs them for an order of grade stakes for a surveyor.  There was no snow.  Not one drop!  Bizarre, but at least in a useful sort of way.

Popeye has grown into a sleek big cat and is back to his normal sassy self after being "tutored" in December.  I rescued him in June so he's probably about 10 months old now.  His left eye still looks like a marble and likely always will but it doesn't bother him and doesn't weep so it's no big deal.... at least for an indoor cat.  He can't judge distance for beans which would be a hardship outside.

This morning it snowed about an inch so it looks wintery again.  Holly was thrilled.  She likes a little snow if there's sun.

Looks like good weather to take a walk and plan the next task.  Always better with a dog!

Can I Sleep Till the Solstice Passes?

These short days really kick my butt.  All I want to do is eat and sleep.  My energy is at a low ebb just when I need to be doing Christmas things - decorating, cooking, making/buying/sending presents....  normally I'm a night person but as soon as it starts to get dark (that would be freakin' 4:30 in the afternoon) I start hoping it's close enough to bed time to go there.  Uh, no.  I know once the days start getting longer I'll feel more motivated.  So I will blame my recent lack of blog attention on the tilt of the earth and an attitude that makes a sloth look like a Type A personality by comparison.

Even so, we have been doing things, so let's get caught up.

We went to the woods several more times and Andy brought home enough wood to last both boilers through the winter.  He still needs to run the giant pile of pole wood over the buzz saw and the big blocks through the splitter but at least it's all right here handy.  This big ash is in the process of dying but we'll leave it alone because it's got lots of character and because it would be super dangerous to mess with!

The sheep have had a pleasant time without breeding groups and rams disrupting their routine and surroundings.  Even though we have good, quiet rams the whole flock is generally more restless when they are in the barn.  Just more motion and low-key disruption in the vibes. 

There's a lot of sitting around......

Which gives way to outright sleeping in the middle of the floor.

Most of the sheep are wearing coats now since we're feeding all hay.  I intend to try coating some of the Cotswolds this winter.  Their curls are just so pretty and awesome and while our feeders are a very good design they still get a little bit of fine trash down the back.  I'll keep an eagle eye out for any felting under the jackets.  We are utilizing the feeder out in the bunk which was built for a breeding group one year.   It's working very well to alleviate crowding at the indoor feeders.  We're calling it The Picnic Table.

I finally joined the rest of the world and got the farm on Facebook.  Oh. my. gosh.  Sooo many icons, buttons, settings, notifications.....  still fumbling my way around.  I'd love it if you'd Like our page.  I need to get a snappy link to it on the blog sidebar here.... add that to the list.....mumble, mumble.  I do like the immediacy of it and that you can just post a quick little thought or news item.  

The Christmas On The Farm craft/fiber show I attend in Phelps in early December was a good day's outing with a nice crowd.  I got a little Christmas shopping done too!

The following weekend was our spinning guild's December meeting in which we do an anonymous gift exchange (if you want to - it's not mandatory) of nice, ready-to-spin fiber.  One selects a gift from the pile based on which wrapping appeals to you.  Wouldn't you know, I was the first name picked!  And pulled this from the pile.

I was loving that needle felted chickadee on top but alas I didn't get to keep it.  'Stealing' is an option instead of picking from the pile on the table and this box had about 10 owners before we were done.  It was all good though - this pretty package came home with me and......

.....held this:  Into The Whirled blueface leicester roving in a colorway called Vegetable Medley.  Can't wait to spin it!  I already have someone's Christmas gift for next year in my mind.

Also at guild I showed off Andy's newest product - blending boards.  Here's a good video on how to use them.  These are fiber processing tools intermediate in size and capacity between hand cards and drum carders.  They are great for combining smallish lots of fiber which you can then spin or felt and are particularly useful for seeing how different fibers or colors will work together.  

Here's a sample I did in a few minutes using two different colors of Cotswold wool, some dyed silk and a little firestar fiber for extra shine.

When done, I pulled the fiber into thin roving and chained it lightly so it would hold its shape until I could spin it.  Soon as I get a couple of minutes.....

The boards were well received and both sold there that day.  He's ordered more of the blending cloth and will be making more in time for Roc Day in Ithaca on January 9 where I'll have a booth.  Once he's made more I'll take 'real' pictures and get them listed on the website.

We've started the 'big barn clean out' in the lower barn.  Andy got the east side done in a (long) day.  The sheep were a little crowded being all in the west side but it was only for a day.

I'm sorry to note that we lost Lucky last week.  He had been losing weight for some time despite all the extra measures one does for an older animal and we couldn't find a reason.  We knew we'd probably have to have him put down "at some point" before we got into deep cold winter but he sustained an injury that was going to be too hard to overcome so we had the vet out and he went gently from this world.  He was a well-behaved boy who came when called and we miss him.

In better news, Peanut continues to improve!  I finally dare speak positively about progress.  She's still penned and wears a light bandage but the wound on the outer surface of her leg has healed over and the bigger, deeper one on the inner surface is coming along very well.  There's still a raw wound but it's closing at a good pace and she has no lameness at all.  Whew!

  

Dexter and Popeye say

"You humans work too hard.  You should learn the value of a properly performed nap."

There's a skill I'd love to learn!

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.  ;-)

Bits and Pieces

A brief recitation of events since the last post........

Way too much of this.....

Followed by this......

Means we have done blessed little of this (two sessions - about 800 bales so far).......

On one of the far-too-infrequent hottish days I treated myself to lying on the patio concrete for a little while and found I had company.  Like minds. Heh.

I did some dyeing to finish up a colorway I'm out of - Twilight Time.  This is the spruce component.

My friend Julie and I went to visit Thecrazysheeplady of Punkin's Patch in Kentucky and had a marvelous time.  We came through torrential rain as we neared the farm and so an escort met us at a corner.  Yes, that's a lamb.  She loves to ride in the car.  Being an escort was likely her idea.  ;-)

"C'mon, follow us!  You're almost there!"

Saturday night we went to a friend's house for dinner on the deck and Liddy the lamb went too, sitting politely next to me on the back seat.

The property is located just above a quarry - a rock quarry, that is - so there are lots of building materials lying about.

Liddy was interested in the heavy machinery.  Headed to a trade school when she grows up, I bet.

"Yes, much more efficient than shovels and wheelbarrows!"

"Aw, mom, I could totally have driven that.  The boys at home told me how."

Sunday we went to church, which is about the best church I've been in since they allow dogs (and lambs on occasion).  Miss Tilly and Kate went along, sharing the back seat with me.  Kate was eventually IN my lap being hugged which was fine by both of us.  :-)

All the rest of Sunday we dyed wool which was a first for Thecrazysheeplady but she handled it very well and got some great results.  It was huge fun and I was sad when the weekend ended too soon, as wonderful weekends tend to do.

On the way home we transported a young English Setter named Jed back to our area where the new owner picked him up.  It was a serendipitous series of associations and timing and worked well for everyone in the end.

"Crated in the back seat with AC, a blanket and cookies after every rest stop - a dog could get used to this."

And I managed to get a whole lot done on a scarf I've been knitting.

The little kitten I rescued in June, now named Popeye, is doing much better and has a new bed thanks to Thecrazysheeplady's cat Betsy not wanting it.  Thanks, Betsy!

And after an evening of playing a lap is good too.

Oh, to be a happy little kitten!