Saturday Musings

The Shetland girls awaiting their morning grain.
Front L-R is Tabitha & Blackberry, Second row is Rouen to the far left, then Luna, Rosemary & Persia, behind them is Lark and Willow with little Eve in the very back. This is my Shetland ewe flock minus three (Duckie was waiting outside the catch pen to make sure I wasn't up to something, Rosetta was at the hay feeder not paying attention, and I'm not sure where Chickie was, probably right up next to me.)

It's another grey gloomy day in the Ozarks. The temperature is about 46 but it feels colder because of the dampness. A good day to stay in and do inside projects. I keep hoping for a nice warmish sunny day on the weekend so that I can catch up with a few things outside. I would really like to sort through some bags of dorset/merino wool to find the nicest fleeces to have processed into roving and send the rest off for quilt batting. The damp misty weather isn't really conducive to doing that though!

Here's the big girls, chowing down in the main barn. L-R Hope---yes, she likes to eat her breakfast from the high ledge..., Nancy, Annalea and Gracie. Gracie is the mother of the other three and gets extra portions because of her age. There is a salt block between her side of the feeder and the others, and the other girls are trained to not invade Gracie's space.

Later today I will pack up my last three Shetland fleeces from 2008 /09 to send off to be processed into roving. It's been a great year for fleece and roving sales and my inventory is gone. I have two large batts of Merino/Dorset cross wool (great for felters!) but otherwise I'm sold out of roving. It's a great feeling.

Yesterday I had my taxes done, and the outcome was nice. I had my doubts with the tax change rates this year, but it worked out well. During the process of getting the paperwork ready to take in, I had to figure up all my income versus expenses. Combining fiber sales and sheep sales, for the first year ever I've actually made a profit from the little farm. A tiny profit, but none the less, a profit!

Looks like it's time to take the ring off the hay bale, so the girls can finish it up

I also got my hair cut yesterday. Probably not a big event for many of you, but...well, with one thing and the other I had managed to put off getting it done for at least a year. It was long, and becoming very annoying. I do trim my bangs myself, but my shearer, uh, hairdresser was as shocked as I at how long it'd been since I had come in for a cut. Five inches off, some layers and reshaping (to clean up all that bangs trimming) and it looks pretty nice and feels good. Lest you think I now have short hair, it's still about three inches below my shoulders.

The sheep love it when the ring goes off, they can land right in the middle of the hay and finish it up. That is Rouen and her daughter Duckie on the left (Rouen's fleece has felted badly from the rise), with Hope behind them and Gracie in the front. Little Rosetta on the right. That is bony old Blue way in the back. He is on special rations to try and get some weight on him.

Since the little trailer is not going to be a kitty condo after all, my thoughts are filled with how I want to re-do it. Plans are to convert it to a tiny wool storage area, and perhaps also a crafts room. Maybe a bedroom, since it's obvious I'm just in the way, according to the pet population. (just kidding...I think) I would also like to preserve the seating and table so that I can work on crafty things out there without having to put every thing away. The stove, refrig and at least one set of cabinets could be removed. I don't think I can get the stove out, so I will probably end up just boxing it in. I also plan to remove part of a built in bench seat around the table so that I can maybe put a nice comfy chair out there. The walls need to be painted or paneling replaced too. It will be so nice to reclaim my pantry area where I keep all the wool related things, but it will be awhile, I think.

Boone is pretty sure it's his new house. Not sure how he came by this idea, but every time I go in there, he is right behind me. Getting in and out for a big dogue is not an easy feat either, since there is only half a concrete block for a step. Once inside he pokes around and then goes over and climbs up on the bench seat at the end. He usually sits down and looks out the windows. You can see he is very proud of himself too. Funny boy.

Time to rise and shine chickens!

Inside the kitty population still continues to adjust. There was a casualty the other night, of an old tiny kerosene lantern I've had forever. Surprisingly it wasn't the kittens either, but Sage, who decided to jump way up on the curio cabinet and evidently miscalculated and brought down himself, an old electric fan and the little lantern. He used to jump up there all the time, but it's been awhile and I guess he was out of practice. I've put everything that I can behind glass or in a safe place, but there are just some things that I have no place to keep hidden away. In a year or so the kittens will settle down some, and I can go back to 'normal'. I'll probably get a new couch then as well. My old one is, well, old. Very old and the upholstery has begun to tear in a few areas, not helped any by rambunctious kittens. I had decided to start looking for new one anyway, but with the sudden addition of the kittens, I will wait until they are older and well trained to their scratching posts.

It's keeping me on my toes that is for sure, having four younguns in the house. I can't just turn my back and leave anything without them being right in the middle of it. I've got about five million cute pictures of them though, and lucky for my blog readers I only post about two percent of them. ha....

Have a great weekend!

Yep, it's still muddy.....

The pictures were from my morning round of chores....