Every evening here is what is going on while I’m sitting at my computer:
It sometimes looks and sounds brutal, but Ozzie seems to hold his own.
Ozzie is none the worse for wear. He is actually using one of the cat baskets I made from Jacob fiber.
The show is up at the Artery. Here is a preview. These photos aren’t as sharp as I like because I need to get a faster lens or bring a tripod. After I take better photos I’ll post them on my website so you can visit the whole show.
Red Canna in chenille with Julia’s felt hat.
These are 12 felted berets by Julia. You can just see the photo of the Kandinsky painting they represent.
Ruffles in bamboo.
Pleated scarves.
Hooded ruana in Zephyr wool/silk.
It was a beautiful day today in our part of California. After a little morning fog the sun was out and it was warm. The ground is wet and there is new grass in the areas where it has been dry all summer. That means fall, but it felt like spring.
There were even a few new flowers.
It really is fall however and there are noxious weeds to show for it. I am vigilant about keeping the worst of these weeds out of my pastures, but there is one area that is not regularly grazed and I wasn’t paying attention.
Pretty flower, but appropriate for a Halloween post, this is Devil’s Claw.
Here is the green seed pod.
This is what the seed pod looks like as it dries out. Those two pointed tips are very sharp. When they get stuck in wool you can’t get them out.
Fortunately this plant is very easy to get rid of. The stems aren’t tough and one chop with the shovel will take care of it. These are in the burn pile now.
I have done pretty well at getting rid of most of this spiny cocklebur, but missed the plants in this area. Why is it bad? Take a look at a close-up.
Not only is it spiny, but those burs stick to wool like velcro as well as having an extra sharp point on the end. In the summer I hoe all the small cockleburs that i see. Even though I chopped and will burn all of these plants today they left hundreds of cockleburs (seeds) behind on the ground.
Here is a lesson in seed dispersal.
I spent the weekend with Shannon of Kenleigh Acres and Joan of Mud Ranch at Shannon’s place in Oregon. The original purpose of the visit was to pick up Clint, a ram lamb for this year’s breeding line-up.
But Joan and Shannon and I turned it into a private retreat. I taught Joan to spin. Joan gave me photography pointers. Shannon helped both of us with sheepdog issues. I was trying to figure out what Shannon got out of this deal and I realized that it was Houseguests.
Here is Joan spinning away on the Ashford Travellor double treadle wheel, which worked really well for her.
Shannon is giving Joan’s collie, Hank, his first lesson.
Joan’s Dad is getting pointers from Shannon on how to train his Australian Shepard, Harley.
This is the English Sheepdog puppy, Tolo, at the end of a leash held by Joan’s mom.
Rusty waited patiently for his turn.
Shannon put Rusty through his paces.
It could be said that Rusty is a little too enthusiastic. But more to the truth is that Rusty has been confused by his handler (that would be me). It was very helpful to work with Shannon because she saw things that I was doing that are counter-productive to the way I’d like Rusty to behave as a sheepdog.
I spent some time working on one of the many projects that I brought with me.
I’ll post photos tomorrow of what this became.
Shannon felted a bowl and several soaps while I worked on my fiber project.
It rained all weekend. After all, this is Oregon-what did we expect? The rain cleared on Saturday afternoon, but on Sunday it seemed continuous. The rain has its advantages however.
This fence post holds a whole ecosystem on it’s top.
On the way home I felt as though I had changed seasons. After about 3 hours of driving in the rain I was back to California.
Mt. Shasta always is a spectacular scene.
Rabbitbrush in bloom is a colorful contrast to everything else that is so dry and dusty right now.
I went to a Sheep Field Day at UC Davis yesterday. Good program, but that’s not what this blog is about. Look what I found when I got home…
It may not look like it, but this is a good thing. This is what is left from 3 stacks of hay. My husband had started to move it into the barn.
We have to stack all this hay by hand. Notice I say “we”. That’s used loosely. I helped after I got home, but I had gravity on my side for a lot of it. I am good at knocking the hay off the stack. Then I used the hand-truck to move the bales into the barn. Dan did all the stacking. I’m lucky that Dan likes to have a good work-out now and then.
Here is Dan dropping hay off the 4th stack. In 4 stacks of hay there are 320 bales. I bought 20 tons of alfalfa so each bale is about 125 pounds.
All the hay is in the north end of the barn. (The hay in the stall is left over from last year.)
Its good to know that we can stack that much in one end of the barn.
It seemed that a Sunday morning newspaper was a privilege well deserved. Note cat position. It’s hard to get good photos of a black cat.
For the last several years I have been getting hay from a grower north of here. This year I ordered 4 blocks of hay and called several times to make sure that it would get here in time to get it in the barn before it rained. I was wondering if I needed to call again. Then I walked into the north end of the barn and out the south end and was face to face with a stack of hay! The first block was delivered while I was hauling sheep to butcher.
Three more blocks. This is a total of 320 bales.
It is fine stemmed and perfect for sheep.
While in the barn I took sheep portraits.
IDEAL Sunny’s Summer
Kenleigh’s Terraza
Meridian Fanny
Fanny’s daughter, Fran
Meridian Bridget
Amaryllis
I love California quail and we have hundreds of them. They live in the blackberry bushes and the quailbush, both of which have grown completely out of control. When I went out to do chores I saw the quail on this fence rail and went back to the house for my camera. It didn’t take long before all the quail headed for the blackberries where they spend the night.
I had plans to do all kinds of stuff at my computer last night. Update my blog, make website changes, Facebook, update sheep lists after selling a lot of lambs, update photos of sheep, work on handouts for a weaving presentation, etc. Aren’t computers infuriating? It was soooo sloooooow. It took a half hour just to close the programs that were open. (I controlled myself and only clicked the red x or box once for each task.) It took another half hour to for the computer to turn off and restart. I ran a mal-ware program overnight. No malicious content. Maybe the computer just needed a rest. This morning it seems OK although all I have asked of it so far is to show me e-mail.
Sometimes I have another problem when I work at the computer. This I can identify:
I’m told that getting an Mac would solve all of my computer problems, but I don’t think it would take care of the one above.
While I’m showing Ozzie photos, here is Ozzie with a mouse that friend, Jackie, knit and felted and filled with catnip. Isn’t it cute?
We had an unscheduled Farm Day yesterday.First order of business was chores.
Stephanie greets the Farm Club. She seems to enjoy pestering Kathy. I think she must smell Kathy’s goats. Everyone had a chance to milk a little.
We’re only milking one side because the kid is nursing from the other. This is Tina milking.
Here is Shelby. I haven’t been putting Stephanie on the stand because she is easy to milk and I’m only milking one side once per day.
We were going to start trimming feet, but got side-tracked when Rusty decided to roll in the leftovers from yesterday’s butchering. The guys that butcher clean up well, but there is always something smelly left. I think he found the rumen contents. I had just made Rusty an appointment at the vet to remove a foxtail that he’d picked up that morning. I didn’t think that my husband or the vet would be too crazy about holding a really stinky dog. So dog-washing was in order.
We don’t get too fancy with this. A hose and some soap.
Usually I wear my rubber boots or flip-flops. We were trying to keep our feet dry but get all the soap off of Rusty.
Tina and Kathy are trying to get the dogs to pose. Rusty is back from the vet already (foxtail in right ear) and Mobi (Jackie’s dog) wants to play.
We moved on to trimming feet, putting my squeeze chute/flip table into service again.
To get more work done we also tied some of the sheep to trim feet. This is a lamb that needs to be halter broke anyway because she is one I’ve chosen to keep.
The dogs keep watch. Note the trimmed feet. I have trimmed his feet three times this year to avoid foxtails in the toes.
“Well, if you’re not going to let me work, I’ll just lie here.”
We quit trimming about noon. I forgot to take photos of the chute being used for sheep with varying horn types. I think I need some modifications to use it more effectively. Shelby offered to be a sheep. I’m not sure these are the photos I need to work on the modifications, but laughter is always a good thing.
Somehow the Farm Club is starting to remind me of the YaYa Sisterhood. We’re accepting more members!
I showed photos of my daughter’s graduation in my last post. We had quite a full 2 1/2 days visiting in Texas. I must say that when we left the airport building to find the truck I understood what is meant by the phrase “suffocating heat”. Our 100+ days don’t come with the humidity. That sure makes a difference.
We had a little time to kill between leaving the airport and going to Texas State where Katie had to take her last final (5 p.m. the day before graduation). Cabella’s was on the way and air conditioned. We wandered around Cabella’s looking at all the mounted animals and saw everything from elephants to muskox to prairie dogs…or should I say from Armadillos to Zebras?
Katie gave us a tour of Texas State. It is a beautiful campus.
On Friday Katie showed us the Blanco River where she and Kurtis go to cool off. The river is low now and full of algae. A few weeks ago there was water covering these tree roots and rocks.
I love how the cypress trees spread out at the base.
We climbed about a million stairs to the top of Mt. Baldy, the highest point in Wimberly, where you can some perspective of the country.
Here is another graduation photo in case you missed the last post (!) This is Katie with Kurtis, her boyfriend.
Saturday morning we went riding around the property where Katie has been living. The last time Dan was on a horse was when he was in seventh grade. Katie is riding Libby, her 12-year old mare that moved with her when she left California. Dan is on Slim, a 12-year old quarter horse who was a recent acquisition and a very good deal. He was given up by his previous owner because he was too arthritic for barrel racing. He seems fine for the light work he is getting now. He is also a lot happier than when he was kept in a stall almost 24 hours/day.
My turn. I’m on Libby. She is much calmer than when she was in CA. Is it her age or the fact that she and Slim roam around on 20 to 80 acres when they aren’t being ridden?
Isn’t Libby a pretty horse?
Slim looks forward to his bath after being ridden.
Libby, not so much.
Slim loves the water. Katie and Kurtis and the horses are moving to Vermont next month. These horses are going to have to start growing some hair.
We few home in the evening, chasing the setting sun. With the sun on the west I had views of reflected water and was fascinated by these patterns. But it couldn’t keep my mind off the quick trip to see my daughter. She’ll be moving even farther across the country now. I hope to get to Vermont in the fall.
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