Cute Grandbaby Photos

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Robin

It’s been almost a month since Kirby was here but I found some more photos that I took of her on the last day of her visit. They are so cute that I want to share. Here she is helping me pack up yarn for the mail. First has to pass a taste test. It looks as though she likes yarn. That’s a good sign! She seems to like the box just as much. First step. Yarn in box. Second step. Fold flaps over. I think I took over from here. Kirby with Aunt Meryl. With Grandpa.With Uncle Chris after a long day.

Ginny Gets Smarter (or Maybe it’s Me)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Robin

I used to take all three dogs for walks Across the Road. Rusty and Maggie get to run off leash once we’re on the dirt roads and away from the main road. At first I let Ginny go too because she stayed with them and I knew that she would come with them if I called. Then Ginny discovered Birds. That was the end of the predictable behavior. Well, there was a new predictable behavior; hear the killdeer, run back and forth across the field after them. The killdeer fly in short bursts, land, change direction. Ginny would follow. I would follow her and it was only luck that I would eventually catch her. It only took me three episodes of this to realize that Ginny couldn’t be off-leash anymore. I tried to take her on our walks using a long-line, but that didn’t work for me. No matter which leash I used (long or short) I wasn’t getting the behavior I wanted (walk nicely next to me) and she wasn’t getting the exercise I thought she needed.

This was all about two months ago. I complained to a friend about my lack of control of my puppy and the poor job I was doing of training her. Here is the light-bulb moment. She told me what I think I knew but wasn’t admitting–that I needed to work with Ginny separately and not when the other dogs were around. Duh!

I started to take separate dog walks. Maggie and Rusty still get to go off-leash Across the Road… Ginny …but Ginny walks on a leash. Ginny I found my sheepdog training flag that I had forgotten about. Carrying that has helped her get the idea of not pulling on the leash. Ginny She stills gets the chance to look for ground squirrels at times. Ginny For more exercise… …we go on a bike ride. These photos were all taken about a month ago but……this one was taken last week. Ginny wasn’t too sure about those balers.

Jungle Sheep

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Robin

The sheep were glad to get the call to go to the next paddock yesterday morning. Their favorite spot in the pasture is the weeping willow… …which has branches so close to the ground now that I thought a branch had broken.We will have to cut these branches before they fall across the fence but it is good that the sheep can eat all the leaves off first.

#214 Memories

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Robin

I was looking for photos of a sheep named Diamond, #214, for the last blog post. I didn’t find the sheep but I found a lot of other favorite memories while searching #214. In no particular order: This is a sheep named Fran who is still here. In this photo she looks like her mom, Fanny who had spectacular horns. Columbia ewes at the Imperial Stock Ranch. I carry this yarn. In Vermont, setting up an arch for Katie and Kurtis’ wedding in 2011. Libby meeting Kirby a few days after she was born. All my kids and spouses (and spouse-to-be) in 2013. A mule train walking up the trail in the Grand Canyon on our visit in 2011. Dan and me on the same trip to the southwest in 2011. Zion National Park Modeling a poncho that I wore only a few years ago when I was in high school. I used this as a template for a recent woven poncho. Spring lambs. Maggie. This is a catapult, one of Katie’s senior projects in high school. Chris showing Stephany back in about 2006. Mushrooms Across the Road. Dogs in the canal on a recent walk. Chris’ Ironman finish in TX in 2013.

Old Friends

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Robin

I went to a friend’s shearing earlier in the week. She has some “pensioners” who used to live here. This is Diamond who was born in 2002… …and Lucy who was born in 2007 and is Diamond’s granddaughter. Here is Diamond with one of her last lambs in about 2010……and Laura a few years before she went to live at Jackie’s. There is a video of Laura lambing a couple of years ago here.

Old Friends Forever.

Drone View

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Robin

My son was here with his drone again. It is always interesting to see the place from a perspective I wouldn’t otherwise see. I still think it’s odd to see this object hovering and darting about.

The sheep aren’t big fans unless if up high enough that they don’t notice it. Here is someone else who noticed it.I don’t know if she wanted to warn it off… …catch it and kill it… …or play with it. However, she never got close enough.

Here are the views:

From over the barn looking east “Across the Road”. The green to the right is part of our pasture. The brown to the left is the neighbor’s place. Our house and garage, etc is in the center at the bottom of the photo. From over the barn looking south. The green in the lower half is our pasture. I’ve been strip grazing from right to left. This view is looking north. That line of trees just above the lower quarter or so is our boundary. The hay field is the neighbor. By the way, except for a few trees between the house and the road we planted (or let grow) all the trees that are here.The view to the west. Our border is the dirt road and canal in the center of the photo. The drone is hovering over the barn.

Shearing at the Timm Ranch

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Robin

Here is where Colleen (Fiber Confections) and I spent last Sunday. I first got fleece from the Timm Ranch, just a few miles from here, last year in preparation for my show at the Artery. Here is a blog post with info about the ranch and photos of the blankets I wove with the wool. This is a view to the northwest taken while driving through the ranch.Much of the 2700 acres is leased for cattle grazing.The last gate before the ranch headquarters.There were about 90 ewes, several lambs, and five rams to shear. One group of sheep was already in the barn when we got there but I helped with the second group. These are a “ranch mix” developed many years ago and are a blend of Rambouillet, Targhee, and Polypay.

The sheep are brought into the barn (on the left)……move along a lane in the north side of the barn……and end up in the pens in the middle where they are visually contained by burlap drapes. The shearer pulls the next sheep to shear through the drape and when he is finished the sheep is released and…

…it walks out the door to the back.The wool is pushed through the window of the barn into a pile where it is later loaded into a wool press that compresses the wool into bales.These bales can weigh 300-400 pounds.

In this case Colleen and I diverted many fleeces to our piles and inspected, bagged, and weighed them. I had bagged up my predetermined amount of 200 pounds and was ready to leave (having been battling a cold for days and at this point in the day had completely lost my voice). But then it was time to shear the five rams.I figured that I’d been there this long. What’s another half hour?

I’m glad that I stayed.

The ram fleeces were gorgeous. Whereas the ewe fleeces weighed 5+ to 8 pounds the ram fleeces I bought weighed 12 pounds (two mature rams) and 8 pounds (the yearling ram with the horns).

Last year I had the wool spun into yarn and put on cones (easy for weaving). I think that I’ll have this year’s fiber put into skeins because of the appeal to knitters. Last year’s fiber tested at an average of 23.5 microns. I think I’ll send some more samples in from this year’s wool. Be looking for this yarn in a few (several?) months.

Distracted by Kirby

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Robin

Here’s why I was distracted the last few days. She’s 8-1/2 months old.

More Lambs

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Robin

Just photos of lambs in the evening.

Lambs

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Robin

Still trying for that perfect lamb photo. There are either too many lambs in the background/foreground, there is not enough light (lambs love to run around at dusk), there is a lot of clutter in the shot, or I am still not in the right place at the right time.“Fight, fight!”It’s never too young to start.