Black Sheep Gathering – Road Trip with Friends & Sheep

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Robin

Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon is a favorite event for my friends and me. We gathered here on Thursday morning, loaded sheep, and were on the road only a little behind schedule. We made it to Eugene in about 8 1/2 hours, settled the sheep into their pens, and found our motel. Some years I camp, but this year a motel sounded good.

Friday was show day for the Jacob sheep.I showed ram lambs, ewe lambs, and yearling ewes. My ewe lambs took first and third place in the ewe lamb class. 2-DSC_1639Fandango My yearling ewe, Fandango, took first place in her class and was awarded Champion Jacob Ewe.

Besides showing sheep, what else is there to do at BSG? Admire several hundred sheep in the barn. This is a Bluefaced Leicester from the farm where I got my ram, Faulkner. Admire wool. Watch the wool show judging. These are the fleeces to be judged. After two days of judging the fleeces are for sale and dozens of spinners line up to be first in the door.

Shop! My friends are very good at that!Watch sheep dog demos by my friend, Shannon and her amazing dog, Kate.Take classes. Mary and Dona made these scarves in a nuno felting class.Relax with friends. Farm Club member, Tina, who moved to Portland last year, came to visit along with 10-week old puppy, Ragu. It has become tradition now to eat dinner at La Oficina. On Saturday afternoon all the breed champions are shown together and the judge chooses one to be Supreme Champion. Look at all those different sheep! It was a fun four days, but it’s always good to get back to California. That’s Mt. Shasta in the distance.

Getting Ready for BSG

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Robin

It always takes so long to get ready to leave on a trip. This time it should be easy. I’ll only be gone for 4 days. Dan will be here to feed sheep and dogs. I’m not packing up a vendor booth. I am taking sheep, however. Friends and I are going to Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon for four days. Dan has been fixing up the box on the truck that holds the sheep. New gates, new paint, new wood. Pack the tack box. Check. Match up the coats to fit the sheep so that they don’t get full of blowing straw in the back of the truck. Check…well sort of. I found the coats and dumped them out. I’ll have to figure out sizes tomorrow a.m. Figure out which fleeces to deliver and have made into felt. Scratch that one. No time. No energy. Deal with the bills and paperwork. I did go through the piles to find the sheep registrations that I’ve been meaning to mail and will now deliver. Good thing. I found my AAA membership bill…now expired. I’ll call in the morning and get reinstated. Jacob Sheep registrations. I was going to get a pile of those done tonight. Nope. Water my pathetic very late-started garden. I finally just threw zinnia seeds in the larger empty area. It would be nice to have something growing even if it is not edible.

Move more boxes into the shop so that it doesn’t look so messy outside. No time for that. Tarp it again. Paint shelves so that they will be useable when I get back. I cut and painted three. Work on truck. Dan changed the oil and rotated the tires. I cleaned the inside, including the console that collects all the junk–I’m not sure that has been cleaned out since we bought the truck from my son years ago. Notice my little mower there. I mowed one paddock this morning. Dan will irrigate while I’m gone (that’s worth going all by itself–having someone else irrigate.) (Chris, if you read this, notice the hood up on the jeep–didn’t start.) Remember that I didn’t plan what to do about signs for over my sheep pens. I found a magnetic white board that the magnetic sign fits perfectly. It will hang from a PVC pipe framework painted black.Getting late. We put the box on the truck about 11:30. I guess we’ll be doing more to get ready in the morning.

Time to Go, Stephanie

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Robin

This was a tough week. I knew that it was getting time to think about easing Stephanie out of pain.

Stephanie was a Toggenburg goat that my son, Chris, got in his second year of 4-H. She was born February 15, 2003 and we brought her home as a few-day-old kid and bottle fed her. As the years went on Chris raised many other goats from the offspring of his only purchased goats, Susannah and Stephanie. Stephanie is the goat who stayed here after Chris got out of high school and moved on to other things. In the last three years or so I have been the goat care-giver and Stephanie has been my friend.I can’t find any baby photos of Stephanie but this is her at about 6 months at the State Fair. She first kidded at age two and Chris showed her every year along with his other goats. That’s Stephanie on the left in this photo. She was never as productive or showed as well as the other goats, but she was my favorite to milk, because she had hand-sized teats instead of finger-sized ones. That’s Stephanie in the lead in this photo and Chris’ favorites, Trista and Suzannah, along with SparkleBerry, a Nubian who somehow ended up here. Dairy goats are bred to produce more milk than their kids can handle at first and we milked the does and bottle-fed the kids. That’s my mom drying one of Stephanie’s newborn kids.Stephanie might not have been the top show goat, but she had her good days. Reserve Champion at the State Fair in 2006.

Chris graduated from high school in 2009 and after he showed goats one more summer, most of the goats were sold to people who wanted to show and/or milk them. I didn’t want to do either. Stephanie became a “personality” here.

She knew how to intimidate Rusty.

In 2010 I bred her to kid at the CA State Fair Nursery, where I also take pregnant sheep to lamb. I handled this like we do with the sheep and Stephanie got to raise her own kid. In the last couple of years I often found Stephanie “hiding”. I think that maybe she was annoyed by Amaryllis, the donkey, who though of Stephanie as her best friend. I don’t think the feeling was mutual. Stephanie was beginning to have less mobility and she couldn’t easily move away from someone who was bothering her. For the last year or more Stephanie had her own stall at night so that I knew that she would get enough food. She was too stiff and arthritic to walk out to the pasture unless the sheep were grazing the closest one. Last winter was hard on Stephanie. I put a coat on her and gave her a heat lamp at night. The recent heat wave (though short at 2 days) was equally hard for her and the summer will only get worse. I talked to my veterinarian about her the other day and told her that I don’t think Stephanie ever lies down anymore because she is so stiff and sore. I would find her sleeping on her feet with her head resting on a bale of straw. We agreed that it was time for her to go. As the vet said, it’s better to make the decision a week too soon than a day too late. Stephanie died this morning as sat on a bale of hay and held her head. It was very peaceful and she didn’t suffer at all. This whole thing makes me think of my mom who died of Alzheimer’s 5 years ago. It would have been kinder and more respectful of her had she been able to die long before she finally did.

Views of the Farm

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Robin

As much as I love to read, when I look at blogs I’d rather see photos…especially good photos. That is one reason I like Celi’s blog, thekitchensgarden . I don’t know how Celi finds the time, but she writes a daily post and it’s fun to keep up with what is going on at her farm. Celi recently posted a request to see the views from her readers’ back porches.

My back porch view isn’t too exciting: The back porch looks directly at the back door of my on-farm shop where I teach classes and sell fiber and yarn and related equipment. It’s less appealing right now because we have been remodeling it and it’s essentially a construction zone for the time being. Nevertheless, Farm Club members enthusiastically encouraged me to send Celi a photo.

Celi’s idea made me think of other views that I thought I’d share. How about the views from the barn? From the second story of the barn looking northeast. That’s G-2 (Dan’s hide-out) on the left, and G-1 is hidden in the trees. My shop is barely visible in the break in the trees on the right and the house is behind that. By the way, none of those trees were here when we moved here in 1999. I’ll have to post before and after photos some day. View from the barn looking south. I irrigated yesterday so the sheep are all locked in to the barn area. Normally they would be in the pasture, which is strip grazed using electric fence. View from the second story of the barn looking northwest. We are on the western edge of the Sacramento Valley and those hills are the easternmost part of the Coast Range. The mound in right foreground is the all important ~~manure~~ compost pile which features prominently in several Lamb Game Videos.

What about a view OF the barn?Here is a view of the barn looking west. The sheep are on the non-irrigated side of the fence since the pasture will have to drain for a few days before they go back out. The house and the shop are to my right in this photo. pasture view to barn This is from the pasture looking north. And if I turn slightly and look more north I see the end of the shop and the house that my mom used to live in. Our house is right behind that one.

What about a view INSIDE the barn?This isn’t all the sheep. There are about 60 adults, counting rams, and 80+ lambs. There is Amaryllis in the upper right. The sheep can go under that fence, but Amaryllis has to stay on the other side so that she doesn’t get the alfalfa I feed to the sheep.

There is another view that is important to me. We have only 10 acres, but it feels like much more because we are fortunate to live across the road from much larger farmland. This year’s crop is sunflowers. It doesn’t look like much now, but in a couple of months I know I won’t be able to put my camera down when I walk over there. This is the view of the field from my mailbox. I have been taking a photo of this same view once a week since January with the idea that it will be interesting to see at the end of the year. Remember, without irrigation the Sacramento Valley would be a desert all summer.

Ironman – Part 3

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Robin

When I left Chris in the last post he had just finished the 112-mile bike portion of the Ironman Triathlon. It was the middle of the afternoon and the temperature was in the high 80’s. Perfect timing to run a marathon (26.2 miles).The run course was spectator friendly although I don’t know if the competitors liked the idea of running the same loop three times. I think this is about mile 6. Here is the ever-important support team. Dan had scoped out areas to watch for our runner.

I took photos each time we saw Chris, but he doesn’t look much different from one photo to the other (and that’s a good thing in a 26-mile run). So I’ll skip to the finish. First, a couple of photos of volunteers. There were aid stations at each mile along the marathon course. Some of the volunteers got a little creative with their outfits.There were even super-heroes helping out. While Chris was on his third lap we decided that we’d better find our place at the finish. Dan stationed himself to take a video at the end of a loop where the runners turn for the finish line. Kurtis, Katie, and Meryl stood in the bleachers right at the end. I stood just below so I could get photos in two directions (and I wasn’t directly in the path of the blaring sound system).

Chris coming into the finish area with two turns before he sees the finish line.

It’s in sight. As the runners cross the finish line the announcer gives the name and says “You are an Ironman!”

First smile we saw all day.

Not quite finished with the support role. Happy sister & brother-in-law Proud parents.

Ironman – Part 2

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Robin

In the last post I described the day prior to the Ironman. Saturday morning we got to the swim site about 5:30. The first task was to have a volunteer mark numbers on arms. Next it was time to stand in the porta-potty line with 2,999 other competitors.Daylight now. Don’t forget the chip on the ankle……and the sunscreen. The pros started at 6:45. The “age-group” competitors started lining up in the water during the singing of the National Anthem. Green caps are men and pink caps are women. swim The age-group competitors began their event promptly at 7 a.m. Chris told us later that he got kicked, punched, and knocked around. I can see why. I think there must be some strategy to avoid that–maybe get out ahead and stay there?This is a view from the bridge over the lake. The swimmers start out on the right, turn around the yellow buoy on the end, and then head for a channel that goes to the left of the photo. In this photo the swimmers on the left of the buoy are the pros who have already made the turn. The large group on the right of the yellow buoys are the age-group competitors and the group in the foreground are the swimmers who chose to wear wetsuits (see the black arms) and, therefore, had to start 10 minutes behind the non-wetsuit swimmers (see previous post about that).

Speaking of strategy, it was important that the support crew developed a strategy also.Here is the support crew (minus me, the photographer). That’s Dan, Katie, Kurtis, and Meryl. Our job was to figure out how to find Chris and cheer him on in as many places as possible, all the while keeping ourselves fed and watered and in the shade as much as possible. Oh yeah, and get good photos too. Katie and Meryl were able to spot Chris in the swim and get a photo there. They cheered him on as he emerged from the water after swimming 2.4 miles in just a little over an hour. These are the bags in the swim-bike transition area that hold the gear necessary for the bike component. I stationed myself at the bike area to try and catch Chris as he started the 112 mile ride.

Once Chris was on the bike we knew it would be about six hours before we would see him again. Time to find coffee and breakfast. I mentioned the infrastructure necessary for this event in the last post. About six hours before the winners would run across the finish line the equipment and structure was still being assembled.Security was also an important consideration and included dogs as well.The bike area before any of the cyclists have returned. While the others of our crew were waiting at the bike-run transition to see Chris begin the marathon I waited at the end of the bike course to cheer him on there. Do you know how hard it is to spot a cyclist in time to make sure you get a photo of the right one? White helmet, white jersey with blue around the arms. He wasn’t the only one who could be described that way.Cyclists must dismount at a specified point and run with their bikes into the transition area and on to where their run gear is bagged. The last component is the marathon. I think that will have to be another post. Stay tuned.

Visiting Texas for the Ironman

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Robin

I just got back from Texas where I visited my daughter and we watched my son, Chris, compete in the Ironman in The Woodlands, near Houston. Some of you may not know about the Ironman. Here is what Wikipedia says: “An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.”

Chris prides himself in being in good shape for his firefighter job (USFS Hot Shot), but the Ironman requires even more. It requires a lot of planning and dedication by the athlete to put in the hours necessary to compete at this level. And it doesn’t hurt to have dedicated family and friends for support. The infrastructure and number of staff and volunteers necessary to put on this event is amazing too.

Here are some photos I took after we got to Texas in the days before the Ironman.You can’t do a triathlon without a bike, and we shipped Chris’ bike to Katie’s and Kurtis’ house near Wimberly. Chris had to reassemble all the parts that we took off to fit it in the bike-shipper box.After assembling the bike Chris needed to ride to make sure that everything was working right. This is his introduction to the hills and humidity he was to face (although fortunately the Ironman was not in the Hill Country).

We drove to The Woodlands on Thursday so that we would be there for check-in. Dan, a dedicated teacher who rarely misses work, arrived early Friday morning (2:30 a.m). We spent Friday organizing equipment, driving the bike course, and resting up (as important for the support crew as for the athlete, it turns out).Bags ready to go. There is one each for swim, bike, and run. Making it through the transitions quickly is an important part of the competition. Once the event starts, there can be no support (other than moral) from family or friends, so everything the athlete needs for the transitions has to be in these bags.

Friday morning the athletes were allowed to go for a swim to get a feel for the lake. There are temperature limits that dictate whether or not wetsuits are mandatory, optional, or not allowed. It wouldn’t be until 5 a.m. the next morning that the athletes would know for sure. (It turns out that the water was warm enough that wetsuits were optional, but if you chose to wear a wetsuit you would start 10 minutes behind the others.)After the swim practice it was time to deliver the bike and the bags of gear to the swim-bike/bike-run transition area. bike racked 2

Bike racked and ready to go. There is room here for 3000 bikes–an amazing site when it is full. Getting tips from Dad. Chris has a lot on his mind.Here is a preview of the Support Team. Stay tuned to see photos of the Ironman.

Getting to the Mountains

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Robin

I am fortunate that I if I wanted a guided tour somewhere in the El Dorado National Forest and surrounding area I only need to ask my son and daughter-in-law (as long as fire season hasn’t started). They live in Pollock Pines, work for the Forest Service, and spend a lot of their off-time enjoying the mountains so they know all the best places. Last week we took a short hike to Bassi Falls. This is an easy hike to take with dogs because you are never far from water. I took my 44 mm lens–and I have to get used to it again when I switch.

This is Sam and Kirin, my grand-puppies. Here they are with Matt & Kaleena. Sam and Kirin pose better than Rusty and Maggie. By the way, Maggie did so well on this hike. It was only a couple of months ago when I got her that I wondered if I’d ever be able to take her somewhere off leash. This is probably the first time that she has ever had a chance to go for a walk in the mountains. She got along well with Sam and Kirin, who each tower over her. Here is the only photo I got of all four dogs–like herding cats. Sam and Kirin go for the water, Maggie still tries to move away from the camera and Rusty comes towards the camera to watch shadows and sparkles. Sitting in a tree?On the way home we drove to Big Hill, where there is a heli-spot and fire lookout. That light spot surrounded by shadows in the middle of this photo is Bassi Falls.