Lambing started the day after I got back from Texas. I’m sure that Dan was grateful I was back. There was one lamb on the 22nd, nothing the next day, and since then they’ve been popping out right and left. I haven’t had time to do anything with photos until now (although I should probably be sleeping).
Shadow Mountain Shelby was the fourth ewe to lamb. She is a lilac (Jacob terminology for markings that are not black but are gray/brown), ewe with beautiful blue eyes. I got to the barn and found her with a lamb.
Lamb #1. These aren’t usually a pretty side when just born. Slime, dirt, blood. 
Jacob ewes are usually very good mothers and the lambs are vigorous. Shelby was cleaning up her baby…
…even while pawing the ground and having contractions for the second.
I got them inside the barn and the lamb got to its feet and started looking for milk.
Lamb #2.
The first lamb is nursing while Shelby cleans the second.
I love the look of this one. These are both lilac ewe lambs sired by Catalyst.
Here they are three days later.
These lambs are listed on my website lamb page. I’ll be updating the listings with photos as I get time.
It seems that nightgowns are also good workout attire (see 
After a strenuous workout it’s hard to stay awake for lunch.
Wearing the unicorn hat she got for Christmas. Yes, there is a unicorn horn and mane on the back of this.
This time Kasen fell asleep before he made it to the high chair.
When one goes to sleep sometimes its worth going on a walk so that the other will take a nap without an argument.
Jacob sheep at the Austin Zoo. This zoo is a rescue/animal sanctuary zoo. All of the animals were seized in animal cruelty cases, retired from other facilities, individual exotic pets that needed rehoming, retired lab research animals, etc. 
Kirby didn’t want to see the lions or tigers, but I thought that this was a rather intimidating photo (not so much the tiger photo but the little girl in front of the giant tiger).
Building a lego tower with flowers on top.
Singing Disney tunes.
From Wikipedia: “… the four parks, together, protect 45% of all remaining coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres. These trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth.”
In 1850 there were 2 million acres of redwood forest along the northern California coast. After years of unrestricted logging the Save-the-Redwood League, created in 1918, was successful in establishing three State Parks in the 1920’s. 
Redwood National Park was created in 1968 after 90% of the original redwood trees were gone. Now the State and Federal agencies cooperatively manage the forests and watersheds as a single unit.
I’ll mention here that all these photos were taken with my iPhone because the previous night I dropped my camera (on the carpet in the motel) and the lens popped off. I couldn’t get it back on and knew that I wouldn’t be able to get it fixed until after I came back from Texas (where I was headed as soon as we returned from this trip).
We took a side trip to the spot where the Klamath River flows into the ocean and walked down the steep trail to this overlook. That’s Dan looking across the ocean for Meryl (my DIL who is in Australia right now).
We drove farther north to the Stout Grove in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. 
Every time we stopped we continued to be impressed with the grandeur of these trees and the forest.
This tree had fallen and then was cut to clear the path.
Look at that brilliant color.
We were surprised that we didn’t see more mushrooms and fungus, but this one did catch my eye. Late in the afternoon we headed toward the coast at Crescent City.
Our map book showed two lighthouses so we started with Point St. George. We found that lighthouse (manned from 1891 to 1975 and abandoned in 1995) but it was 6 miles offshore. The Battery Point Lighthouse is accessible at low tide so we were able to walk to it, but we were too late for a tour.
We walked along the breakwater (seen in the lighthouse photo) and then out on a pier. This is a view looking back toward Crescent City.
This is the view looking back toward the breakwater and the setting sun.
Mini Road Trip!
From the Central Valley you need to drive through the hills to the west. We turned onto Highway 20 at Williams. You can see a slight tinge of green if you look hard but this time of year they should be emerald green. That green is the grass that began to grow after our early January rain. We have had negligible rainfall since and there has been no more growth. This is the time of year that ranchers in the non-irrigated hills count on abundant forage for livestock. Very scary to think of another year of drought to this degree.
This is a view getting closer to the hills. The almond trees are beautiful this time of year but I am disturbed at how many acres of land all over California have been put into almonds now. That’s a story for another time however. It seems I didn’t take more photos until we got to our first stop.
From the Humboldt Redwoods State Park website: “In the early 1900s, loggers came to what is now Humboldt Redwoods State Park to cut down lofty ancient redwoods for grape stakes and shingles. The founders of Save the Redwoods League thought that was akin to ‘chopping up a grandfather clock for kindling.’ From the acquisition of a single grove in 1921, the League has raised millions of dollars to build and expand this park. Today Humboldt Redwoods spans 53,000 acres, an area almost twice the size of San Francisco. About one third, or 17,000 acres, of the park is old-growth redwood forest—the largest expanse of ancient redwoods left on the planet.”
What is special about an old-growth forest?
The size of the trees.
The mix of tree sizes. Unlike a reforested clear cut, there are trees of all ages and sizes and this makes for an open forest instead of a monoculture of trees and brush that you can hardly walk through.
The ecology. When old trees fall they open up space for light to reach the forest floor and opportunity for new growth of other species.
The grandeur.
We ended the day at the beach. 
Our fabulous shearer is John Sanchez. We started with the rams. This is Peyton, the new BFL. His fleece sold right away.
Next was the 2 year old lilac ram, Catalyst.
Here he is afterwards and…
…here is his fleece.
A staple of Catalyst’s fleece.
Catalyst’s son, Cayenne, after shearing. You can see what he looked like before shearing near the end of 
One of the shearing day jobs is weighing and recording fleeces. Kathleen and Lisa did that job.
We had two skirting tables set up this year. Farm Club members skirted their fleeces and helped others skirt and sort.
I set up the GoPro for some shearing video. That will be coming later.
Roy and Gina worked in the sheep pen.
So did Deborah and Shelby. They all made sure that John never ran out of sheep.
Kathleen, Lisa, and Dona. Dona is our “official” Farm Club photographer because I’m always too busy to take photos on our Farm Days. She took some of the photos here.
This is what a fleece looks like when you take the coat off the sheep.
Here is that same fleece after shearing.
Locks from Jolene’s fleece.
Another beautiful fleece on the table.
Doris made Jacob sheep cookies for us.
Hot Lips.
Janis
Some of the sheep are coated. This is Honey.
Sylvia.
Stacy
Shelby and her daughter, Lavendar.
Almost 1-year old rams, Cayenne and…
…Serrano.
I not only found a plastic tub to keep the dust and cobwebs and rats away but I wrote the names on the tops of the bottles so that I don’t have to pull each of them out every time I’m looking for something. This is so simple, but it makes me inordinately pleased–why didn’t I think of it before? 
While I was cleaning inside the barn Dan was working outside. We had finally had some rain so felt more comfortable burning the brush pile.
By the way we burned this on Thursday. This doesn’t look like much but it was a pretty not fire. Even though it looked like it was out on Monday there were still hot spots and smoke.
That burn pile is right next to the ram pen. Here are the five of them. The 4-horned rams are Serrano and his dad, Buster. The lilac 2-horns are Cayenne and his sire, Catalyst. That’s Gotham in front. 
In the meantime, Dan is working on the west side of the barn. This has been a multi-year project but I think it may get finished this year.
Let’s put the GoPro on a sheep. Jade is the obvious choice, being the best pet sheep.
The first thing she did was run into the barn. When one sheep runs, they all do.
At that point I needed a scoop of grain to entice her. 
I had used the headgear that is meant for wearing the camera, but it was meant for a human head and didn’t wrap around the horns very well. I found the brace I use for my elbow and that seemed to secure it better.
I’ve looked at the footage. It’s not as exciting as we might hope for. Maybe if she wore the GoPro all day (and there was enough battery life to do that…and then we condense it all into a minute) it would be interesting. But it’s not like she’s going to be skydiving or snorkeling. For this trial run she pretty much just looked at the barn, the pasture, and me.
I will still do something with the video but it probably won’t be winning any film festivals.
This is Serrano and his dad, Buster.
One of these days, Serrano may come out the boss.
But not yet.
Buster is still boss.
This is Gotham sleeping on a foggy morning. When the rams lie with their heads propped up by their horns they do look dead.
It’s hard to imagine now with unseasonably low-70’s daytime highs for the last few days and predicted for the next week, but during most of January we had fog and drizzle. On he morning of our Farm Day this was what the brush pile looked like–a wool flower forest.
I don’t really like to see this because it means the sheep are rubbing on these branches.
We are shearing tomorrow. This is Cindy in full fleece. 
The lilac ram, Catalyst.
I love Shelby’s blue eyes.
We caught each sheep and inspected their fleeces. Farm Club members get first dibs on fleeces on Shearing Day and they can pre-select them on our Farm Day.
We also clean the ear tags so that they will be easy to read on Shearing Day. That’s Carole with the towel working on the tag.
Mary makes sure that fleece reservations are recorded on cards and that the ear tags match the ID on the card.
Another great day with Farm Club.
I noticed that white line in the fleece of Terri, a 2017 lamb. I don’t have an explanation for that.
I love the ability to write on the photos on my phone.
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