Heidi Jade--Revisited

Remember Heidi? If not click on her name to read her post. Heidi is my Dad and Mom's 'new' dog they got last year in July. She was a mess. She still is sometimes, but she is now their special mess. My Dad has spent umpteen hours working with her and she has come a long, long way. She may never be like 'other dogs' but she seems very happy and content in her little world, and that is what matters.

My parents got Heidi in mid July, and then the 'perfect storm' hit my place during the first week of August, and I neglected to ever post another thing about her. (Perfect Storm = Six newborn kittens AND a new Collie (Ashley) myself within two days time) Can you tell I'm still recovering?

If you'd like to read an update and see some lovely pictures of the new Heidi, click here to visit my Dad's blog. Enjoy!

Why Cat's Go On Long Unplanned Trips

Time to take out the trash. Somethings funny though, the sack seems abnormally heavy. What the...?

Oh. Of course.


Help, help! My brother is stuck in the laundry sack!

(No cats were injured, thrown in the trash or suffocated in the making of these posts. I'm constantly trying avert such disasters and do not leave plastic around them unsupervised...since obviously they can not read 'do not play with plastic bags')

Spring....Long View

On the drive home. This photo reminds me of an oil painting.

Still catching up on posting some of the plethora of photos I crank out in the course of a week. Hope you enjoy!

Waning, or was it waxing(?) moon framed by tree branches

Morning sky

Contrast of stark trees and delicate spring green

River bottom farm

State park and ever present fishermen

The Best Part of Waking Up......

....is spying on your neighbors......

(Verity, Chaco, Gabe, & Trinity--back row--Sage)

A Bloom With Spring

Unlike winter, Spring is rushing by in a blur. For awhile there was sensory overload--sight and smell--with fruit trees, lilacs, and redbuds in full bloom. The grass grows tall and raggedy while I work to get the sheep on areas to mow--I refuse to use the mower first and waste all that grazing. So far no killing frosts, so it looks as if we might have apples, plums and cherries this year.

The lilacs were magnificent, profusely filled with large blooms. The scent lay heavy in the air, reminding one why they try to bottle it up into poor replicas of "Lilac" perfume. I'm blessed here on the tiny farm to have three huge old lilac bushes, that I was told were planted in 1935. I also have several smaller ones about that I've transplanted from the old ones, so blooms were abundant.

The redbuds were also amazing this year. Someone said they literally glowed, and I agree. I have four of these beauties in my yard and never cease to enjoy their Spring riot.

The plum tree out by the garage was the first to bloom and I couldn't get a good photo that justified the extravagance of blooms it produced. It's been several years since I have had plums. I do know they make jam or jelly that is very tasty. Since it always blooms a few weeks before anything else, it usually succumbs to a hard freeze.

Back in the yard, the apple tree was the next to burst into bloom. I bought this tree years ago and it was suppose to be a 'crabapple' --ornamental only. However it regularly produces blooms and tasty apples.

Several years ago, a few wild violets showed up in the backyard. Since then they've run amok and taken over many corners and crevices of the yards. Who can begrudge them though? They produce these lovely flowers in the spring and lovely green growth in the summer (that doesn't have to be mown). Win/win in my book. There are lots of different varieties in the bloom colors as well. The more common ones are the light solid purples, but these variegated beauties introduced themselves as well.

And for a 'flower' of another sort these beautiful fungus were few and far between this year. Sadly only one small batch of morels were harvested and feasted upon. My Mom actually fixed these, and I was re-warming them in the cast iron skillet. Mighty fine eatin' they were. As a side note, I saw on CraigsList where someone had morels for-sale for $30.00 a pound. I have a feeling they sold every one they had too.


Today is rainy and humid. I think it was suppose to be sunny, but what do I know? We did need the rain and got several good showers over the past few days. The sheep were pretty sure they were going to melt so it was a struggle to encourage their dirty selves out to pasture this morning. (And amazingly, the last time I looked, not one has melted away!)

I planted some shade garden seed in the rain this morning, hoping the seeds take off and make a beautiful flower bed in the expanse of my old vegetable garden. The trees have provided too much shade the last few years to grow any vegetables so it was time to find a better use for it. I also planted some Coleus in another area, as I try and transition my yard from sunny to shade gardening (as the trees have matured...). I've boughten some ferns that I would like to get planted too.

Not sure my tiny tomato seedlings are going to mature in time, but I have them started out in my 'greenhouse' (also known as the suppose-to-be-kitty-trailer). I need to pot them up as they are a little leggy. A few cabbages will go in the shade garden to see if they will grow in those conditions.

The backyard will be a corn/bean patch this year, and I'll move the pumpkins and squash outside the yard to uncharted territory. The last few years the squash bugs have massacred them on the plot they were planted on, so different plan this year. Tomatoes (when they are big enough) will again be planted in the side yard garden. I'm also toying with using some old tires for planters here and there.

This last picture is a sideview of my house taken from the road.


Guess that's it for today. A whole post without mention of kitties or sheep! (oh..well if you don't count the melting in the rain & kitty trailer thing....)
Have a great week.

Willow Lambs...Lambing is Done!

Willow was the one ewe I knew for sure that I didn't know when she would lamb. However, I suspected it would have been earlier on, near the time her daughter, Luna lambed. Nope. Then I figured it'd be the next week. Nope. I went ahead and trimmed around her bottom and udder 'just in case' before shearing, because I was sure she'd lamb before then. Nope.

Shearing came and went and still no lambs. I was sure shearing would bring on lambs soon--I mean it worked for Rosemary, right? Nope.

A week after shearing on Monday and still no lambs. I was home sick with a springsummer cold. Although I digress, my whole weekend was consumed with that stinking cold. Anyway. It was a very warm day, and when I went out about 10:30 a.m. to do a head count of lambs and ewes, I noticed Willow was secluded in the barn. Aha--finally! Wow, this was going to work out great, since I was home anyway. Suffice it to say there followed a day of frequent barn checks, watching Willow watch me. Watching Willow stand up and stretch, watching Willow waddle around, watching Willow dig into and snack on hay. I was worried (of course) as that old story about the ewe-that-goes-into labor-but-never-really-goes-into-labor-,-and-ends-up-with-dead-lambs-inside-and-dies-herself twirled around in my tired brain. Again, I stray off topic, but that is one thing I really liked about the Dorsets--when they got ready to lamb, they just went up to the barn a few minutes before and plopped them out--none of this days ahead thinking about it stuff the Shetland's pull on me. Anyways. Surely she would have them by night. Nope.

I checked at 9:30 p.m., and she was in the Shetland barn by herself. Uh-huh. At 3:45 a.m she was back in the main barn with the other sheep. Oh, for crying out loud. At 5:15 a.m when I went out to feed the sheep, she had a lamb. Oh yes she did! I was so thankful. I was just sure 'something' was wrong. I had planned to get up around 2:00 a.m. but I didn't manage it--I did manage to lay there half asleep/half awake most the night worst case scenario-ing.

At feeding time, I shut the gate across the barn and fed 'the big girls' (which includes Lanny Wilson the wether)in an unfamiliar spot. Once they screamed and panicked and dashed around in disbelief they settled down to eat at their 'picnic'. I was then able to go see 'what we got'. I was pretty sure she would be popping out a second lamb there anytime. What we got was this monstrous 'little' lamb with all kinds of swirly baby wool and color. I tentatively tapped horn buds (none). I dared not hope, so I tried to peek at critical areas. Key boy parts seemed to be missing, and then hope turned to reality when she --yes SHE---tinkled for the first time! WOOOOT. An ewe lamb.

A very frisky little ewe lamb who was hopping about her mommy while still damp and drippy. Finding the udder was no problem for this little girlie.

Meanwhile I was still waitin' for that second lamb. And waitin'. Finally I had to go to work, and came to the conclusion that she was done, and all that was coming out next was afterbirth. So into a lambing jug they went, navel dipped, despite Willow trying to side swipe me. Fresh water, hay and a handful of cookies to sooth the troubled waters.

The little lamb seems to be doing fine now. She is having trouble with a 'pasty butt' (for want of a better term), which often happens with single lambs that have access to all that rich milk and no one to share it with. She is a big thing---all tall and lanky besides. I have no idea what color she is..really. I know she is an Ag flecket (well, I think I know that much). Her head spotting is very brown, with the typical lighter rings around the eyes that usually differentiate the brown based lambs from the black ones. Her tongue looks brownish and pink. (spotted) However her body spotting looks black to me. I'm having the same trouble with one of Rosemary's rams. He certainly looks brown about the head, but the body spots look black. Now last night, I shone the flashlight on both and in that light they both look brownish. So, it's a puzzle, one I've never had to this extreme before. (Well, a few days later it's easy to tell she is brown based, even though she still has 'black' spots on her back--I'm still confused a bit on Rosemary's ram though, but I expect time will reveal his true color).

And so lambing is done. Stats up on the next post, I hope. So far everyone seems to be thriving, and even if they are all shapes and sizes, lamb races have commenced. This year many of the older ewes and yearlings are joining in and it's quite a funny sight to see.

Have a good week!

Tempe Here

My name is Tempe. Actually it's short for Temperance, least that's what my Humanbean tells people. The real story is that when I was only a few weeks old, I got out of the box where my fambily was, and when my 'bean saw me she put me back in, cause she thought I was too little to be out of the box on my own! Then I threw a big 'Temper Tantrum' and climbed back out. I guess I's pretty lucky I didn't get named Tantrum ....



In case you didn't notice I am a Torti. I'm sure everyone knows that Tortis are special and it isn't just about our marvelous swirled fur colors. See we are swirled on the inside too, and we have special Torti powers. And the 'bean says I have 'Attitude' too, but I'm sure if I do, I deserve it.


When I was just a smidgen I set about on my mission of making sure the 'bean got so smitten and attached to me that I wasn't going no where. She told me right off, that she didn't have nothing against Tortis (who would?), but she didn't plan to keep me, and she'd find me a real special home. Ha. Really? When I was 'bout four months old some other 'beans wanted to know if they could have me. You should have seen the look on my 'beans face as she stuttered around and turned them down! Mission Accomplished and frankly she never stood a chance. I am a Torti after all.

We used to stay out in the garage in our big play pen during the day, but we'd get out for awhile at night to play. It didn't take me long to make it to the house though, even though my 'bean would get all flustered and tell me it was dangerous with those big dogs. I wasn't skeered. I was gettin' in that house one way or another. And I did too. I got a job to do, and that's to keep an eye on my 'bean and I'm gonna do it, no matter what. It just took her longer to understand. Sometimes it takes awhile to train 'em, but you gotta be kind and persistent. Very persistent.

One evening when we were about three months old, I accidentally ran off to the road as fast as I could go. I knew that was the one place our 'bean said we couldn't go so I got 'steriously pulled down there. I took one of my brothers and sisters with me too. Our 'bean was having fits, and screaming and trying to get us to come back. Then this big old loud thing went roaring by and we all skeedaddled. The 'bean came running down to see how many of us got squished in the road. She didn't find none of our rotten little carcasses though, cause we didn't really go all the ways to the road. After that, we didn't get as much free time.....


Now, I think I should go outside with her too, when she goes outside, but so far she has foiled my attempts. I haven't given up yet.



I'm not a squishy lovey dovey kinda kitty, just so you know. I am a Torti, remember. When my 'bean picks me up and loves on me, I get all squinch eyed and pretend I'm not there. If she makes me endure the indignity too long, I will let out a polite little protest. She tells me 'that life is tough' so I have to endure it, but if looks could scratch....


Even though I don't like to be picked up and held too much, I do like to keep constant tabs on the 'bean. I can sit for hours and just watch, and usually that is what I do...pick a spot and sit there and keep my eyes on her. And I have those special Torti powers---I can not be there and then poof! I'm there. My 'bean says it's creepy the way I do that. I scare her all the time. It's fun. I do have troubles sneaking up at night though, 'cause I have this little yellow spot on my chin, and my 'bean says it shines like a beacon in the dark. I'll have to rub it in the ash dust when I have real secret missions to do.


Sometimes when I'm all sleepy I lighten up and get a little sweet and even purr. Don't tell no one though. It's hard enough being a Torti in this house. Also I can act all lovey dovey and lay on the 'beans legs at night and then all of a sudden bite her. That always causes lots of screamin' and kickin'!


I like to play with my fambily but I like to make sure I'm in control. Like if my sisters want to play barbies, I'll say lets play house instead or something like that. My brothers are just dorks. I don't take much from them at all. They is always 'crossing the line'. I gots lots of lines too. They do make good cushions though.


Once in awhile 'something will get hold of me' and I go a little crazy. I act like the hounds of ,well, the bad place, are on my tail and I run and skid through the house. Then I'll run and jump in the bathroom sink and roll on my back and bite the water and get all wet, then up and off again. I make my eyes all wild and crazy looking too. Everyfur stays out of my way when whatever it is gets hold of me.

Sometimes I'm just restless and I'll run around and poke into stuff, or just meow and carry on for no reason. When I do that my 'bean says I have 'ants in my pants and worms in my feet'. I'm not sure 'bout no ants, but I did have worms once....

My sister, Trinity, she is a calico --that's all small letters. She gets all huffy about me being a special Torti and all, cuz she says that a calico is the same thing only with more white on her, and that she is special too, and has special powers and stuff... But really? I mean come on .... she's a calico, I'm a Torti, what more can I say?
I do have one consuming interest (besides the 'bean), if you will. The 'bean she calls it an 'Obsession' but I'm sure that isn't true since I don't know what an obsession is. I love cheez balls. One day the 'bean bought some and she brought them home and thought it would be funny to see what we would do. Well. Love was born on that day. My other siblings tried to humor the 'bean and batted them around, but I grabbed one and wouldn't let go, not until it was half it's size and a 'grubby mess'. You see I don't eat them--I just carry them around in my mouth and growl at everybody and poke them into hard to reach places! My 'bean said maybe I can do a post of my own sometime about my favorite obsession, er, hobby. I got her trained pretty good--I get one cheez ball everyday to play with! I'm so special! No one else gets one at all. Just ME. My 'bean said that nobody else wants one, but I don't think that is true. I can see the envious looks in their eyes.


I also been working on my 'bean to let me do a Torti Tuesday post, but she is being pretty stubborn about it. There's other Torti's out there on the net and THEY get their own Tuesdays! Why not me? I could gossip about and cat bite all kinds of fur people here on the farm. It would be fun! Like for instance--Did you know there is a big Tom Cat that is hanging around and trying to make our 'bean let him eat here? She is hanging tough though and politely telling him he can't stay. She says he is very handsome and looks well fed. He is a dark solid grey AND she says he sounds just like us when we meow! In fact one day she went running out to the garage because she thought one of 'us devils' had somehow 'scaped from the house, because the meows coming from the garage sounded like one of us. But it was that big old Tom Cat! Now how's that for juicy gossip? See I could do this every week.. I could tell all kinds of farm secrets!


Well, the 'bean says that's enough, so I guess I better go. I still got lots to say, but the 'bean won't let me finish. It's almost time for my cheez ball anyway, so I'm going to go and sit on the container they are kept in so my 'bean doesn't forget! (Sometimes she does forget and I sit in there all alone for a long time). Hope you liked getting to know me. If anyone can ever truly know a Torti that is....



p.s. My 'bean says I'm in the Big Dog's House, and Grounded Fur Life, but I'm not very worried. She says I'm A Very Bad Cat, but as longs as I get my cheez balls, I don't care. You see I accidentally got up on the 'fridge the other night and was checking out some house plants. Then I got caughts and got a real spanking(!). Then as soon as the 'bean went out of the room I accidentally got back up on the 'fridge cuz there was something I needed to get a better look at. Then I gots another spankin' and put in Solitary for a little while. It didn't last very long though, cuz I turned on my Torti tears and the 'bean felt pretty bad....

p.s.s. I'm out of the Big Dog's House now! And what's left of them old cactus plants on the 'fridge got moved to a 'safe place'. Now 'us devils' sit on the 'fridge all the time and look out the door! One big furry leap for Cat-Kind..

Rosemary's Babies

(Sorry this took so long to get posted..it's been a hectic week)

Rosmary's twin rams--only a few hours old

Re-scheduled shearing was on the 5th and Rosemary was due on the 7th. No one in their right mind wants to shear that close to lambing, but unfortunately that is how things worked out. Rosemary and Willow were the first two 'out of the gate' to be sheared in order to keep the stress time as short as possible. She was sheared about 10:00 a.m and turned on to pasture.

This little guy has more black on him and is a perfect little yuglet--he is also the one I thought at first might be a moorit.

A little after noon, I went around to the paddock to open gates so the sheep could come in and get a drink if they needed to. As I was opening the gate I looked up in the pasture and saw... a little white lamb. Now wait a minute. I don't have any white lambs! Then the little tableau registered with me, and I realized it was Rosemary, standing with not one, but two wet little lambs.

Same lamb, a few days later.

She had lambed near the same area she had last year (most of the ewes head back to the barn, but not Rosemary). The day was very warm, and mostly sunny, so it was an ideal day to lamb outdoors. I went and crawled through the fence opening (sheep height only) to check things out. Both lambs were still damp, but were up and nursing. Both were good sized and very vigorous. Both were wildly spotted black and white yuglet/fleckets. And both were RAMS. Sigh.

This is the twin that is mostly white--a 'few spot' ;-) if you will. He also is a yuglet, although his eye patches are larger, they are distinct.

I kept tabs on them throughout the rest of shearing. Rosemary passed her afterbirth, the boys nursed and then nested in a bed of leaves. The rest of the sheep kept their distance after a few sniffs.

Whoa, Mom! Slow down....

Once every one left later in the afternoon, I went and fetched the twins and Rosemary. After dipping navels I moved them into a jug, where Rosemary got fed and watered. She seemed quite relieved to be moved into the lambing suite.

Last year Rosemary had her lambs while I was at work, while she also had a full fleece. The lambs were small and weak, and very nearly died. I made an emergency run home after my Mom called and after furiously working with them for awhile was able to get colostrum in them and get them up and going. Rosemary is an excellent mother and after their rough start they thrived and became very sweet friendly little lambs. Both of those lambs were solid moorit with some minimal head splashing. Their sire was Just Jack--remember him? The splashy moorit and white ramling that visited here the fall before. Rosemary's sire is Minwawe Redford,a fawn/white smirslet sokket, and Just Jack had lots and lots of splash so I was a wee bit disappointed that they didn't click and produce at least some head spotting. So, fast forward to this year. The ram I used on Rosemary was Jackdaw---Just Jack's son in fact. If you'll remember Jackdaw is a flashy black and white smirslet flecket ram.

Out in the big world for the first time the brothers console each other

Not sure what caused the sudden and violent outburst of color, but am very happy about it. The difference in the bloodlines came from the Jackdaw's dam's side and there is some distant sharing of Stone Ridge Harris and Shandrew Rouen bloodlines there with Rosemary.

The lamb with the most spotting on him has confused me a bit. In certain light he looks brownish around the head and eyes. But his body spotting is definitely black--I think. I've about come to the conclusion that he is black and white but has some phaeo brown on the head. I think. Ha...

Rosemary is in a hurry, and the little guys stay close and run fast!

I do know one thing--they are cute as the dickens and friendly as all get out! And..if there are no keeper ewes this year, at least one of these little guys may be staying.

One ewe, Willow, still left to go. She is as big as a house, but lambing doesn't seem imminent. I looked up records last night to see when I took the ram out and what her last possible due date could be. By my calculations she could go as long as April 27th! Yikes, I certainly hope not. Lambing season has already drug on much longer than it should have. The size of the lambs is all over the charts--from tiny to almost half grown.

Uh, oh, someone isn't paying attention...

Now my attention turns towards getting the girls out on grass--there is plenty of it and it's growing fast! Oh..and maybe some attention is turned to those silly little lambs playing in the pasture.

Tuckered little lambs after their first big day out.

For my non-Shetland readers---yuglet, flecket, sokket and smirslet are all color patterns (i.e. patches around eyes etc.). Moorit is a brown color. Phaeo is short for phaeomelanin which usually manifests as brownish coloring on young lambs (more often in lighter colored lambs and fades with time).