Could It Be?

....signs of Spring?

The welcome color of crocus. Do you see the hidden bonus?

There it is, a sluggish bee,
throwing off winter's lethargy.

This weekend has been just beautiful. At last Spring has escaped the grip of winter, peeling her icy fingers off one by one. At least I hope. The sun shone, the temperatures were in the 60s--even the mud was reasonable. Enough to make one wax rhapsodic, er, or something.

Maples budding out

Saturday I got quite a bit done. Never enough of course, as the list grows longer, but still it's a good start. I was able to get seven of the sheep 'worked' including all five of the possibly pregnant girls. The other two were Blue the old ram and Rouen, my old Shetland girl.

The girls wait nervously for their 'spa' treatment and (required) cookie treats that follow

Most of the Shetland's feet were in great shape, even with the wet winter. And there were only a few that did some half hearted thrashing around, which was nice for a change. All five girls seem to be preggers and have little udders developing. Only a week until the first possible due date!

Also barn cleaning is in full swing, as I do my usual down to the wire clean up of the lambing stalls. About eight loads out so far and much to go! Once the stalls are clean, I'll go ahead and set up a couple of lambing jugs. I've been assembling the panels and working on lamb proofing as I go.

Relaxed woolly sheep. Notice the giant sheep in front of the hay bale? That is Lanny Wilson who normally lives with Blue the ram.

When I wanted to do something that didn't involve lugging heavy loads of sheep muck or flipping sheep on their bums, I worked a tiny bit on the travel trailer (remember it?) It is a bit overwhelming as I haven't the slightest idea on how to do some of what should be done. After days of studying the door and looking on the nets AND finally in some books I had, I was able to figure out how to remove the old torn up screen from the door. Now it's all pulled out, and the doors are scrubbed down and it's ready to have the new screen installed. I'll let you know how that goes! I also took out the old plexi glass peep window in the door and bought a new piece for it. Still have to find something to remove the old adhesive and it'll be ready to put into place. Still am clueless on how in the world to get those torn screens off the inside windows....

Cats soaking up the sun--Noah

One of the nicest things about the weekend was that the hose unthawed and I was able to water the sheep without lugging buckets of water to them. I think there were maybe five days all winter long that I had the luxury of using the hose, so this was a much welcome break.

During 'break time' I sat out on the front porch in my Adirondack chair and soaked in the sunshine, sounds and smells of Spring.

Hot dog. Can we get my pool out yet? Boone asks.

Rain is suppose to move back in this week, and I'm sure we'll have some more cold spells, but this weekend restored hope. I'm taking a couple of vacation days Monday and Tuesday so I hope to get some more things marked off the list. Tomorrow it will be off to the big city to stock up on supplies, as once it commences lambing there won't be many opportunities to get out and about for a few weeks.

Hope you all have a great week!

Tired dogs. Snoopervising is hard work!

p.s. anyone who thinks cats are aloof and disdain attention, tell that to the cats. This post has taken twice as long as needed, due to the revolving door of needy cats.