Additions Merge

The new flighty girls are merged in with a small group of 2-year olds. They are so light that I've decided to keep them separated so I can work Beau on them. This will build confidence and will "dog break" these ewes who may not have seen a herding dog before? They are all meshed in with the group of 3 I put them in with. Funny thing...you can tell these ewes are from a range flock. They really don't graze, per se. They much prefer hay or to browse. Our pastures are so nice, there isn't a lot of "browse" except for weeds once we get drier later in the season. Funny how different breeds like different stuff to eat.

Stella - A Goner

I wrote about Stella a few posts back. Sadly, Stella was killed last week by a cougar. Another lamb is completely poof. We did find Stella's body. She probably had a quick demise, which is all you can ask for when this sort of thing happens. Sampson and the dogs were carrying on like crazy late last Saturday night (2 Saturdays ago now actually) and we shushed them in no uncertain terms....like "shut UPPPPP!" Two grumpy shepherds wanted their sleep. We thought feral domestic variety cats were fighting and heard yowling but it didn't sound like BIG yowling. Ya know? Won't be ignoring a "little cat fight" outside again, let me tell you. 

It was a cougar! How do we know? The mechanism of kill for one thing. You can read all about predation and kill mechanisms here

Secondly, the neighbor called us about 6 weeks ago saying their dogs treed a cougar across the irrigation canal from our property, so it probably scoped out the smorgasbord we supply here on the sheep farm. We were on the lookout for a couple of weeks after that sighting but we got lazy....as happens to two old shepherds who want their sleep again now that lambing is over

So, we are again on the lookout. Things have been quiet for the past week. Did hear the usual coyotes calls last night which the dogs love to join in and sing. Beau has a tendency to have this really high-pitch baby bark anyhow...the most annoying, silly thing ever. You want to put him in a diaper or something. LOL!

Over and out for now.

Scored a nice little chair from Freecycle!

I scored a nice chair (actually a glide rocker) from Freecycle recently. Maybe you haven't heard of  Freecycle.org? It's an online listserve organized by locality where folks list free stuff and can get free stuff. You sign up for your local area and there is no shipping involved. It's a pickup and drop-off type of swapping. Local yokel only. This chair has been Freecycled (now it's a verb..look at that!) at least twice so far. And I daresay someday I will pass it along as well. But  not quite yet....cause I've got big plans for it.

I have received a sewing machine ---and a rack for drying wool plus this chair so far from Freecycle. I've given away a ton of stuff too...and it's surprising what people will want or give away. I fixed up the sewing machine and gifted it to my sister-in-law, who was machine-less.

Geez, new furniture is expensive even when it's cheap stuff. Ya know? I've been looking for a chair for the guest room for a while and now I don't have to back burner the chair any longer!

The chair needs:

• a good scrubbing - CHECK!
• a couple of screws to sturdy it up - CHECK!
• a paint job - UNDERWAY
• new seat and back cushions

So, I need some advice on what fabric to use for the new cushions. I'll be back with the process of fixing up the chair with photos. For now, it's in pieces so I could scrub it and primer the pieces in preparation for painting.

Wind is blowing too hard to paint tonight (spray paint) so I took a 3.5 mile walk around the block with Windy. She is not nearly as leash friendly as the pup, Beau. But she improved a lot after a couple of miles. It's the first time I've taken her for a long walk like that.

Happy trails.

Th- th-th-that's all folks!

All finished lambing. Hurray! 73 lambs all told, 38 ewe lambs and 35 ram lambs...well, now a whole bunch are wethers. : ) Lost 2...boo.

So, I washed up all of the towels and little lamb coats and put them away for another year. Still have milk replacer in the kitchen and bottles because I'm supplementing a couple of lambs from a couple of my old, old ewes that just don't milk like they used to.

Tonight after work I went out and watched the group have their evening races while the mothers ate their dinner. It's hilarious. They run and split up at one point and meet back up again. It makes me smile. 

So, this is Stella....I named her this because I wanted to go out and yell "STELLA!!! STELLA!!!" just like Marlon Brando. Hey, a girl gets her farm kicks where she can.

Stella is a twin out of an old ewe . She sort of got lost in the shuffle for a few days until I took off her lamb coat she was all hunched up and sunk in. Now she's filling out and is my sidekick and her mother is acting like I'm doing her a favor instead of tossing Stella into La-La land of bottle fed lambs.

I have a new project....will share next time.

Baa'ck! With lamb photos too!

Okay, it's been a long while since I've posted.

But...the real baa'dgirls are keeping us busy....

Bringing us these little cuties!

 

31 so far....but expecting 80 this year! Can you believe it? Whew.

Wyoming Flowers Inspire The Dyepot

On the hike up at Happy Jack, were some spectacular blooming cacti and flowers. We tried to name them but, for accuracy's sake, I won't do that here because I am sure we are way off. I was surprised to know that cacti grew so abundantly in Wyoming. I guess they are an adaptable sort of plant that can grow in lots of places. You probably all know this but I had fun being delighted by such a revelation. My simple mind can be delighted fairly easily...in fact, the simpler pleasures I enjoy the most as I get older. This must be why the AARP keeps sending me membership applications, cause I'm getting so old and wise?LOLLL.

Okay, onto the flora pics. By the way, I might just have to show you the new roving colorways I was inspired to dye from these flower photos (next post, too many pics today). They will be offered for sale at our booth at the Kittitas Valley Farmers Market this Saturday, June 19th. I'd love to see your shining face there so if you make it, please stop by and say hello!  

Whew! Happy trails...I'm outta here!

Spring Road Trip - photo intensive

Happy Friday! I got the pictures of our road trip to Laramie, Wyoming off of my camera. Thought I'd share some gorgeous shots taken 2 weeks ago. Some are truly out the car window shots and others we actually stopped to shoot. When you drive 2,200 miles in 5 days (including the family visiting time), pretty soon, the hubby says "we've got to keep driving!" The drive to Wyoming from Washington (we take 2 different routes for variety to and fro) is truly a gorgeous one. The west is a fantastic landscape and although I am always saying I want to move to Ireland or some such craziness, I would not live anywhere else than the west. It's the wide open spaces for this girl!


And awayyyyyy we go....next post I'll show you some flora and fauna close ups!


Happy trails.