Catching Up

Summer's Last Hurrah--Sheep on new pasture

It's been way to long since I posted, and there has been lots happening on the little farm. I hope to do several posts that are a bit outdated, so I'll probably work my way backward and see how it goes.

Part of the issue with posting is that my computer is on it's last half leg. So far I can still post on the blog but it's slowly eliminating my options--for instance I can't access hotmail at all. Yahoo mail can be accessed and sometimes replied to (although often it takes about three or four tries of copying and pasting the message...). Turning on the computer is its own special challenge. To get the monitor to engage I have to plug in the power strip, rush to the computer and push a button to achieve 'takeoff'. Then sometimes it comes right on or sometimes it does a bunch of ominous beeping before it will do it's stuff. It goes on and on, but the upshot is, that sometimes it just isn't worth the hassle..... As finances permit I hope to get a laptop in the maybe not so near future.

On to other things. This past week I was on much needed vacation. I didn't get nearly enough done, and am feeling a bit flustered because I have so many 'projects' going at the moment that I can't seem to accomplish much of anything. However it was nice being able to set my own schedule and work around the place for a week.

Autumn colors and lots of dust from the road!

The first day of official vacation, I did manage to tear up my washer. The third day of vacation I spent way too much money getting a new one. Just for the record that makes it for the year (so far) --a new washer, dryer and hot water heater. Would have been a new air conditioner too, if the hot weather hadn't been on it's downward slide. I do now have a matching set washer and dryer and that was totally unexpected (since I got them six months apart from separate dealers), but nice.

The weather was perfect all week. We got some rain, but it was needed and so I enjoyed the cloudiness and rain. Most of the time it was really very lovely--cool, but not too cool, sunny and sparkly.

Fairlight Rosetta--she will be part of the group. Sweet little ewe with a gorgeous and very soft intermediate fleece.

I'm thinking of putting together a small breeding group with the Shetlands this year. Really it's been hard decision to make. It will most likely be the last 'hurrah' for raising sheep, and if I do carry on with putting them together, it will be only a select few. I'll be using Fairlight Jasper, the little grey Jeff lamb that went to Southard Farm last spring. Should get some lovely little lambs out of these pairings--much of it line bred. Individual pictures and information will be posted if I decide to go ahead and set up a breeding group.

A few weeks ago I went to a library book store sale. I think I ended up with somewhere around 17 books or so....Usually this sale happens when I'm gone on vacation and I don't want to travel back into the town I work at just to go to the sale. Because of that I had never actually been to it before, but had heard it was a 'must go'. This year they had it a week early, so I worked through my half day and planned to attend an early bird special part of the sale. For this you had to pay $5 plus the .50 or 1.00 for each book you bought. Since it's a good cause and I thought it would still be well worth the cost I forked over my $5--after standing in a long line for 20 minutes! I arrived well before the event, and kept seeing people dash around the side of the building where the entrance to the sale was. Although I knew it was way too early, I finally decided I better head on around too. Going around the corner revealed a line already formed--with hardcore book buyers clutching large tote bags, or pulling little carts on wheels...or dragging large plastic storage containers! Yikes...I didn't even bring a bag.

Ahem...I think this speaks for itself...

After waiting the twenty minutes and getting the scoop from a book sale pro, I was getting pretty antsy. Once the doors opened everyone moved in an orderly and polite fashion into a very large room with bookshelves and tables. The books were quite nicely displayed, most by topic or type and in alpha order by author. I was very impressed. The quiet intentness of the book buyers was a little creepy in a nice sort of way. Finding a section I was interested in, the best thing to do was just start pulling out anything that seemed to interest. I ended up with a few surprise buys when I got home, but for the most part was very pleased with what I got. Yes, I know I really did need more books.

Gracie--one of my first four Dorset sheep--I picked her out because she had such a cute face....she'll be 11 in 2012

The puppies have grown like mad and are now bigger than their mom. I hope to do a couple of catch up posts on them. It has been an interesting experience and I am glad I ended up keeping two puppies instead of one. Keeping two has had it's own special challenges, but the benefits outweigh the negatives--most particularly that they have the same energy level and tend to keep themselves entertained. More about puppies in a future post--including another puppy play day and the Celtic Festival!

Tempe says to check back on Tortie Tuesday! She has a very exciting secret to share.... (if her bad blogger 'bean will get in gear and get the post ready...)