Goodbye, Mr. Hillerman

One of my favorite authors of all time passed away Sunday. His simplistic, yet vivid portrayal of Navajo culture and the land they call home, invited the reader to briefly glimpse this fascinating region, in the pages of his books. His stories centered around two Navajo Tribal policeman, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee. Leaphorn was his first character, introduced in 1970, with Chee appearing eight years later. In 1987 he brought the two characters together and experienced his first best seller.

My favorite, of his books, are the early Chee stories, and then the eventual introduction of the two characters together. To me these are the 'best of times' in the series.

Neither Leaphorn, nor Chee were impossibly perfect or brilliant, which made them extremely likable and easy to relate to. Leaphorn is an older man, who has become a legend in his own time on the force, due to his skills of deduction and dedication. Chee is younger, confused by his role in the world and his heritage, but extremely intelligent, when he is not second guessing himself. They form an uneasy partnership as the series progresses, each admiring the other, and yet not entirely comfortable which each other either. Their world is the stark southwest, and Tony Hillerman could make you feel like you were right there, driving over those dusty, lonely roads, with only the sporadic crackle of the police radio and your own thoughts for company. He makes one long for the land of the 'four corners' even when one is a die hard trees and hills and hollers sort of gal.

I read many, many books, but few get re-read over and over. In that number are several of the Chee/Leaphorn novels. These books are like old friends, and even though I know 'who-dun-it' I still enjoy the getting there, no matter how many times I read them. If I'm having a bad patch, and need something to distract me, oftentimes it's one of the Hillerman books I pull off the bookshelves.

It saddens me that Tony Hillerman has left us, but by all accounts he lived his life to the fullest and enjoyed his place in it. While it's hard to imagine that no more books will spill out of that marvelous mind onto paper ever again, he has left us the legacy of his existing books to read over and over.

Thanks for your years of dedication, wonderful imagination and way with words, Mr. Hillerman...and thanks for sharing them with the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081027/ap_en_ot/obit_tony_hillerman

Breeding Group 2008

The breeding group has been together now about a week, but it seems like it is taking me forever to get their pictures pulled together and posted! So, I'm just going to go with these pictures and have it done, and on 'record' so to speak. I'm finding the blog to be a good record keeping tool for me to look back on! It looks like I will likely get mostly moorit based lambs next year, with this group. I should get some spots too... hopefully on ewe lambs this time! Of the six ewes, five have absolutely lovely fleeces. The handle and feel of these girls is so nice....I just like to sink my hands into their fleeces while I'm pretending to scratch them....;-) All five are my "Red" girls from the ram I used for those two years. Duckie the sole 'sheep of a different color' has a more primitive fleece and is double coated. The inner fiber is very soft, but I'd like to get a primitive/double coat with a softer outer fleece as well. So here goes. Six ewes this year, as well as the ram, pictures and brief comments to follow.

Introducing: (drum roll please)

Three Ring Ranch Sprat
(Sheltering Pines Jerome x Locksfield Brietta)

He is a fine fleeced little fellow with overall nice conformation and excellent horns! His sire is a "UK" style fleeced ram and while this ram lamb has a longer staple, he still has plenty of crimp and nice handle . I'm very excited about the fleeces on next years to be lambs!

Fairlight Duckie
(Fairlight Callum x Shandrew Rouen)
Beautiful compact ewe, with a primitive fleece. She is the dam of Omen (the smirslet ram lamb), so I hope she will again throw markings this year. She is out of an Ag Flecket ram and a solid black iset ewe. She is a black iset and has no markings. Duckie has the sweetest personality as does her daughter, Chickie.

Fairlight Selena
(Minwawe Redford x Fairlight Blackberry Winter)

This girl didn't settle last year, so I'm especially looking forward to what she will produce. Selena is out of a smirslet/sokket ram and an Ag grey ewe. She had (and still shows seasonally) a large krunet. I believe that she is fawn. She does carry the horned ewe gene which unfortunately produced these curly horns. Selena is my biggest Shetland ewe, and is very long bodied.

Fairlight Luna
(Minwawe Redford x Locksfield Willow)

Beautiful, sweet and shy, Luna is the mother of Orion (moorit yuglet ram) from this year. Hoping that Sprat's horn genes will prevail. Luna is my smallest ewe, and very nicely put together. She is a musket flecket and was wildly spotted as a lamb.

Next is the terrible three. :-) Actually they aren't terrible, but at times I have a terrible time telling them apart! They are all 2007 lambs and this will be their first time to lamb.

Fairlight Lark
(Minwawe Redford x Shandrew Rouen)
This girl is a moorit, and has retained a nice dark color underneath the sun tipped edges. She is sweet, friendly (but has a loud mouth), and carries a tiny krunet. Her fleece is shorter stapled and very dense, with a lovely handle.

Fairlight River
(Minwawe Redford x Locksfield Rain)
This pretty girl can't decide if she is 'wild' or putty in my hands. Her mother and grandmother are 'thinkers' so maybe eventually she'll figure it out. She is a lovely light almost shimmery color, and I believe she is fawn. Her mother is a very dark grey and her sire fawn. I wish I could get a good picture of her fleece, it is amazing. It is long and flowing and almost silky looking.

Fairlight Rosemary
(Minwawe Redford x Locksfield Tabitha)
Last, but never least is my beloved Rosemary. She loves attention and scratches and constantly is begging for more. Her fleece is buttery soft and I love her sweet face! (Although she also has a loud mouth!) She is a fawn as well. Notice she likes to wear feathers in her, er, wool.

Rosemary again.

Hey, girls! Girls?! Wait up!
Sprat and the girls shortly after setting up the group.

Autumn

Just a few pictures as the foliage begins to turn. As it did last year, the Forsythia can't seem to make up it's mind whether it should display colorful leaves...or flowers! Hope you enjoy.

Boone & The Big Snake

The snake put up a mighty fight, but the big dog won in the end....


Here is a picture of the only real snake I've seen around this year... it was quite alarmed when I disturbed it while washing screens. Oh, and the big dog didn't even know this snake was around...

Winter Cometh

After a little bit of a warm spell, we got some rain and the weather has now cleared off, cool and crisp. It won't be long before fire in the wood stove will feel nice. Before that can happen though, there has to be some cleaning and preparation. First it was the wood stove itself---every bit of ash moved out, doors and outside scrubbed. For now this scented candle is the only 'fire' needed. (and there are my stubby bare feet reflected in the door--you can tell it was still warm!)I've been gathering up kindling for the last several weeks, before we got the rain. I cleaned out my kindling bucket, and it's filled with nice dry bits of wood to help get the fire started. The kindling in the white container is what I've gathered after the rain and needs to dry out.

Filling the wood box that sets in the hall took top priority, before the rains moved in . This box holds almost two weeks worth of fuel. See the kitty in the 'cage' behind the wood? That is Tibby, but she isn't really shut in a cage. This will be her winter house, and she can come and go out this end. I'll put plastic around the open sides and stuff it full of wool and blankets and her heated disc on really cold nights.


Here is the woodpile (what's left of it) after I got it all re stacked and covered. I've gotten a bigger tarp to put over it though, since this one is really too small to keep the wood dry on all ends. I have another, smaller wood pile over to the side as well, and quite a bit more that needs to be hauled up to the house.

And lastly here is the chimney---there were some Virginia Creeper vines that had escaped my notice and climbed the sides, so those were all torn down, plus cleaned out the trap at the bottom.

I'm getting closer all the time to being 'ready', at least physically for winter! The temps are nice and warm again, but it can change fast this time of year.

Working on Vacation

I've been on vacation this week. So nice to be able to set my own hours and do what I want--even if it is working! The only trouble is is that it goes too fast. Way, way too fast.

Today I've gotten quite a bit done--some of the more tedious 'preparing for winter' tasks have been marked off my list.

Here are Callum and Jeffery --Shetland wether and ram. They are twins, in case you can't tell. I had just opened up a new pasture for them and they were sampling some of the goodies. I'm hoping Jeff will stay put, as he can see the girls during the day--even though it is way across the pasture. If he doesn't, I'll have to move him back to their old pen and start feeding hay...and hope he will stay in there!

After moving Jeff & Cal, I went up and started working on the back line fence. Remember that big wild Cherry tree that fell on the fence during the Spring? Well the guy that owns the land behind me finally got it sawed off the fence, and I had the fence sorta 'jerry-rigged' all summer, so it was time to get it fixed. In the first picture I've removed the flattened post. Afterward I took down the new piece of wire, drove two more fence posts, straightened the old wire as best I could, and then put the new wire up again, stretching it as I went. It's not too pretty, but it's nice and solid, with everything triple wired to each other and the posts. I also attached several large cut limbs to the bottom of part of the fence. This is where the roots of the old tree were and there was an indentation, so the fence had a small gap along the bottom. This fence faces about 40 acres of pasture and woods, so I want it to be as coyote proof as possible. (The orange fencing isn't mine--it was put there by the guy to keep his cows from breaching the fence).

Next it was time to fix the eyesore, also known as Blue and Lanny's 'hoop house'. This is their shelter during the winter. The tarp has lasted almost three years, but really started falling apart this Spring. I cut away most of the rotten part, and wired the new tarp into place.
Now, should be nice and snug for the winter, and looks so much better! The breeding group will actually be using it for awhile and then later on after I break them up, I'll move Lanny and Blue back over. Those two are most unhappy right now, and refuse to use the part of the Shetland barn that I opened up for them. Such creatures of habit!


I wanted to show you the mess I cleaned up Monday! What you are looking at is cockle burrs. Last winter I had some hay that had some cockle burrs in it. It wasn't a happy discovery. There was one little area where I fed hay, that the sheep couldn't get to this summer, and these things sprouted up everywhere. The sheep will eat them, especially when they are young and tender and have no burrs on them. They'd probably eat them with the burrs, but it would also trash their fleeces. I let them in there once during the summer and they ate them all down, but then I forgot all about them, and they put burrs on. I spent close to a half hour or better, pulling them and stuffing them into feed sacks. Then I picked up all the escapee burrs that fell off on the ground. I ended up with three feed sacks crammed full. I guess I'll try and burn them on the brush pile, once they dry out a little.
I've also gotten some windows washed today and my storm door up, and I think I'm gonna call it day!

Fairlight Omen & Fairlight Orion

Here is my 'ram crop' from this past Spring. Due to space restrictions I seldom keep ram lambs. This year I decided to go ahead and keep the "O"s as ramlings to see how they matured.

I have likes and dislikes on both boys, but so far here is what I think about them.

Fairlight Omen
(Locksfield Griffen x Fairlight Duckie)

Omen is an overall nice looking fellow. He has a nice topline, good solid 'bone', is wide in his hocks and also has a nice wide front. His tail is probably as close to perfect as I've seen. He is a good solid ramling.

There are a couple of things that I'm not as pleased with. His rear hocks have a slight 'tip in', even though I would not consider it to be of that bad, as they are wide top to bottom. His horns are not going to be as wide as I had first thought, but I think they will still be quite nice and clear okay.
He will possibly have a primitive double coat. So far his fleece has a nice handle, but only time will tell on this. His mother has the typical primitive type fleece with a very soft undercoat which separates easily from the harsher outer coat. Omen is for sale, if you are interested you can check my website for more info and prices. I think he will have much to offer to a flock, and can definitely help improve tails, hocks, bone and all over structure. He comes from an interesting mixture of Stone Ridge, Locksfield, Shandrew & PetitePet lines.

Fairlight Orion
(Locksfield Griffen x Fairlight Luna)

Then there is Orion. What to say about this guy? My heart breaks over him and I've come close many times to just loading him up and taking him to the vet to be wethered. But he is sooo nice. He is a big boy, but I think this comes more from being a single and also being supplemented after weaning, as his family lines are on the small side. His fleece is so lovely and soft. It's long intermediate and doesn't have allot of crimp, but a nice 'wave', the handle is very nice and he seems to just 'shimmer'. He also has good bone, nice topline, square and wide rear and front. He has come a long way from the timid little guy he once was--afraid of his own shadow most of the time--now he is calm, interested but not overly wild or friendly. His manner is mild towards the other ramlings.

His tail is a bit on the long side and what I would explain as a bit 'rat' tail, but it isn't excessive and neither does it have long puffy appendages of wool either. He is musket ( think--his color has darkened again), but that of course isn't a fault. So really it comes down to the horns. Those blasted horns. If you look close at the picture, his left horn curls right towards his face. I'm letting it grow for now, as the horns keep fooling me and so far haven't grown terminal yet. If that one does, I'll be wethering him after all, and looking for a fiber home for him. For now though, I'll just keep watching and waiting to see how it goes.

Congratulations Doctor Tessa!

There she is....not Miss America, but even better--Dr. Tessa!

My niece, Tessa, has worked hard for eight years to accomplish her doctorate in

psychology. I know at times she grew weary, but she never gave up, and kept marching towards the career she felt God was leading her into.

This past year was her internship and finally she got to settle in and work in her chosen field. Now she is working in her residency and has some definite ideas of what she would like to do within this field.

I couldn't be prouder--of what she has accomplished, and who she is. She is often an inspiration to me and I do appreciate all those free counseling sessions. (--yes, I know what you are up to missy! ;-) They do help me put things in perspective at times.

I have no doubt that she will make an impact on many lives throughout her career. I believe she has every intention of 'doing no harm, and doing good', so that as God's ambassador to hurting and confused people, she can use her training to help them to a better life.

Again, congratulations Tessa, and I pray God will bless you and keep you and help you hold fast to your chosen path.

The Fifty Year Old Scarf

There is a legend that says......

No, seriously though, this scarf is really probably at least fifty years old...maybe older even.

This is the story as I have been told. This scarf was originally my Aunt's, I think. I'm not sure if my Grandma made it or bought it. She probably made it out of some woven cloth. I know she didn't actually weave it, so it was likely store bought material. It could have been boughten already made, but I doubt it.

So, as the story goes, it was then passed on to my sister (older sister--sorry, sis, just speaking the truth!), when my Auntie obviously didn't want it anymore. I don't remember any of this, because I was much, much too young. (sorry sis) Frankly I can't even picture my always stylish sister wearing it.

My Mom used it awhile--I do remember that, I think. That is the trouble with these legends--facts get clouded up over time.

I don't know when it became mine, but it has been many, many, many moons ago---at least twenty or maybe twenty five years. It's my 'chore scarf', and it's the warmest thing, as well as being very generously cut, so I can wind it around my head, and face. The only drawback is it's sometimes so warm it fogs my glasses up. That gets exciting.

It feels like hundred percent wool, and has a very tight weave in the cloth. It doesn't shrink, and has resisted tears. It also doesn't fade, or suffer from weak spots. It's the real stuff, folks. Really.

Somehow I just think its amazing this simple piece of cloth has managed to last so long and so well, and still be on the 'workforce'. It's fought off many frigid winds and kept several of us nice and toasty over the years. Wool....it's the right thing to use!

(I just hand washed it for the coming season, and once again thought of how long it has been around. And..ah hah! I just looked it over more closely, and it is hemmed on one side only, and the all the other edges are just cut and left 'raw'...hmmmm so what did this piece of cloth/scarf start out as??)

Arrival of the Hay

At last the day finally came, when my round bale hay guy and I worked out a time for him to deliver my big bales. The guy is a Mennonite, brother to one of my neighbors, and I've been calling back and forth with him for about four weeks. He is an extremely nice guy, but it just took some time to work out the details. He was very concerned he couldn't get the load into my driveway, due to the narrow gate by the road. I asked another neighbor if he would stack the bales for me with his tractor, once they were unloaded. The backup plan was if the trailer didn't fit through the gate, he would dump the bales on the ditch alongside the road. This wasn't the best case scenario, since the guy who was going to move them couldn't get there until the next day. We often have some real weirdos driving around at night, so I was concerned that someone might think it great sport to set the bales on fire...and poof there goes my $ and my hay for the year. Backing up for the first try.

When D. the hay guy arrived, he had his cousin with him, to help direct him into the driveway. I really tried not to laugh, but these guys were so funny! D. seems to be a bit high strung, and he was having a hard time trusting himself as he backed in the gate. R. (the cousin) was ultra calm and kept assuring him he could make it. He 'talked him down' several times. D.'s voice would rise almost into hysterics at times, but there were no angry shouts or words, which was refreshing.
It took about three or four tries until D. made it into the driveway, then it was a simple matter of backing up the drive and dumping. This wagon is so clever in that you release about two levers and the bales dump off to the right, slowly and easily. No unloading required. As they were driving off I could hear D. saying in a subdued voice to R... I was afraid I'd get hung on the fence... and I could hear R. calmly telling him that he did okay.

A short time later they were back with the second load, and managed to back it in with only two tries. D. told me later that R. was a truck driver, and 'he laughs at me sometimes, cause he can drive anywhere!', said with a somewhat sheepish expression.

I was quite astonished by the size of the bales! They are huge--I just went out and measured them--most of them are five by five, with some closer to five by 4.5. Just hope we can load 'em on the old bale buggy! They are net wrapped, and a mixture of brome and grass hay. D. said it's the best 'low growth' he could find in his bales, with the strange wet spring we had. I don't see any big stemmy stuff or horrors--briars, seed heads or cockleburrs. I'll probably put the first bale out in about a week or so. There are 16 bales and I think there will be plenty to last well into Spring. I also hope to get about 50 more squares before I'm done buying hay this fall.

It's mighty nice to see those bales sitting out there, as the pasture starts fading away for the season. My main flock is down to 18 now, with 13 of those Shetlands, so I feel it's very manageable, and the hay should go quite a ways. Once I feed the first bale, I'll have a better idea of how many weeks one will last, so therefore, how the supply will last through the winter. There are so many variables--like how much of the bale is 'good hay' that they will eat---it's hard to know before that first bale is consumed.

On another note, my last four wethers went off to their new home on Friday. It was kinda hard to see them go, since I was quite attached to Kelly and Angus in particular, but also a relief. Kelly was always 'my baby' from the get go, but Angus managed to worm his way into my heart, when I spent so much time with him and Deen while readying them for the Celtic festival. They have went to a nice home, and will (eventually) run with goats on a larger field. Right now they are close to the house, in a smaller area, so they can get to know their new Shepherd, Jama. She plans to eventually use their fiber along with her Angora goats, and just enjoy their sheepie personalities. The flock has calmed down considerably, since the boys were really pestering the ewes. It's that time of the year when the ewes start getting feisty as they prepare to come into season.

I'll be setting up the breeding group of six ewes and the ram by the end of the week. Right now, Sprat and his new buddies Orion and Omen are enjoying a bit of extra freedom. I turned them out from their smallish paddock onto one that is about three times as big. It is mostly a 'dry paddock' but there are newly blown leaves to snack on, as well as lots of interesting things to explore--like the big dozier pile. They really enjoy the freedom, as I've noticed most of the Shetlands in particular do. Exploring and snacking is a great deal of their personality.

Omen & Sprat playing King of the Mountain

Well, I best be off to cover up the wood piles--it's suppose to rain and I hope it does, since we need it!

Meshach's Turn

Yow...Yow...Yow... (translated---I wanna go home!!!)

Last night was Meshach's turn to go to the vet. As I mentioned in the previous post, he has been having a few 'problems'. One was very stinky breath, and the other was the 'twitchy back'. Little Beaster (as I often call him.. for no particular reason...) was not happy about being crammed in the PTU and toted out to the truck. For most of the journey over to the vet's he demonstrated his unhappiness---loudly. He has very few 'Siamese' traits, but he does have the voice when he chooses to use it. Boy, did he choose last night. It's 38 miles to the vet's, so I got to hear an earful. Add to that the stinky breath issue and I was mighty glad to pull into the vet's!

Meshach settles in for the trip..but mouth is still in motion!

I went armed with video clips of Meshach and his twitchy problem. I really feel a bit bad about not getting him into the vet's for the bad breath problem a little sooner. I just had it in my mind that he needed to have his teeth cleaned and I was afraid to see him have to go under anesthesia.

It didn't take the vet long to diagnose that he has gingivitis. Ouch. His teeth are really in good shape, very clean for his age, and not loose (yet), but left unchecked the gum disease will eventually cause his teeth to loosen and fall out, plus of course not to mention the ulceration in the mouth itself. Hopefully it's been caught in time and will respond well to the antibiotics. Time will tell. It was interesting that the vet gave him a shot of Convenia which is a somewhat new antibiotic that lasts up to fourteen days! So no trying to shove pills or liquid meds down his throat several times a day. Wow... He also got a shot of Depo Medrol to help relieve the inflammation. So far he seems to already be improving. I hope that he does well. It's always a bit worrisome, especially as they get older.

After receiving the diagnoses about the gingivitis, I then asked about the twitchy back. Well... I was pretty much blown off, but this didn't surprise me. The vet said it was from 'itching' and that it was very common. I told him I thought it was a little more than just 'itching' but didn't get much response. He did say that the depo will probably help relieve the symptoms of the twitching for awhile. (and by golly I think it has for the moment anyway!)

So, how do you really feel, Meshach...Meshach????

The official name of this condition is Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS), you can learn more about it by clicking the link. Meshach does not have it as severely as some cats do, but it is still distressful for him at times. When he first started manifesting it, I did quite a bit of research and learned there is often no obvious reason why cats display this ailment.

So for now, we've gotten the main problem under treatment, and hopefully the treatment will help with the other as well.

Back at home Sage was waiting for his PTU/new bed to get back (oh, and his brother too, of course!)