ornament winner

Well I deleted  all the crazy spam messages... it's ok that I didn't include their comments, right?   (i really need to change that setting)

By using random.org, the winning comment number was - 1.  Sharrie!

Pottery Ornament Give

Meet Sherman 

 He would like to spread a little cheer on your tree!

You know the rest... leave your name below and random.org will pick a winner Monday. 

"I help you Mom"

Not refusing that!  I will take all the help I can get.

Vote!

Give Win

The winner of the ornament give was comment #3....(via random.org) ...
Kelly! 

Ornament Give

I love those acorn tops.  I have seen them used for making small wool acorns and they are adorable.  I wanted to make something that would put a little more wool to use, and this is what came from that.

 

Could you use one for your tree?  Just leave your name in the comment and I will do a random pick next Friday and have it to you in plenty of time for the holidays! 

(I will send with a gift box in case your tree is full and you would rather give as a gift!)

Another "'Make Do"

I like old, rustic things that look like they have been used and then stored in a barn for years.  This shepherd's crook does not fit that description, but I have misplaced my wooden crook and I have been reminded how crazy it is to catch sheep (Even in the barn in a pen) without a crook. 

I put this together as a temporary until my other shows up (made from 3/4"pvc pipe and fittings) however, it works suprisingly well!   The crook needs to be wider for the big rams, but it catches the ewes and lambs and seems to hold them better than the one I lost.  It doesn't have much character, but has found a place in our barn (until I lose it)   

Sheep Watching

There has been so much going on this summer and fall, but Wyatt and I really enjoy taking breaks to go for a walk and check on the sheep.   It has turned out to be a beautiful fall, with so much color.   I hope to take a drive (just up the road) and take some pictures of the fall colors, but for now, it's sheep pictures.

 Wyatt will be 3 in a couple of months and even though I see him every day, I wonder when he got so big!  He is so sweet too.  I asked him the other day what he wanted for his birthday and he said "a candle"(as he blew out his finger as though it was a candle)   How many years before he makes a list from a toy catalog?   Loving this "candle" stage. 

 Of course, he couldn't be happier with having use of Daddy's 'ni-nocke-tars.  (binoculars)
Now where are those sheep?

I have about 20 left to shear, so I'm past the halfway point anyways, but hope to finish up within the next week.  (so much for that goal of being finished BY October!)

 This is our gray mouflon ewe lamb.  It looks like light hitting her side, but it is the variation of gray in her fleece.   We have been really happy with this years fleeces, especially the gray lambs.  The gray varies from white to gray to a shade of blue that gradually turns into black or moorit towards the tip.

This is the underside of the fleece, but there are a few locks pulled out in the center to show how the fleece goes from light to dark. 

 Roxy -before and after.   As much as I enjoy seeing them in their full fleeces, knowing what it takes to get them sheared, I think I  prefer  seeing them sheared!

Virgil Ram.

Mildreds Ewe Lamb before and after.

Mildred

then there's Sierra's little lamb.  He is considered a Gray Black yet his fleece is a light shade of brown... 

Hope the next time I have a chance to take pictures the fleeces will be on a skirting table.

Wishing everyone a beautiful fall full of sunshine and color!

Josiah

It is fun to watch the lambs grow up and mature.   This is Josie and her ram lamb Josiah. Josie is the mother to some beautiful rams, Joe, Virgil, and LeRoy and this year is no exception.  

Meet Josiah all grown up.   Well.. not really "all" grown up, but his fall lamb picture.  

 He is sure a ram that likes to have his picture taken (much like his older brother LeRoy)   I took probably 20 pictures of him and he seemed to be posing for all of them.           

Reminds me of a picture I took of Lambie a few years ago...(up in the right hand corner of the blog page)    they seem to say, "wait, let me stand here by this tree, how's that?"

He will be one of the rams we use this fall for breeding.

LeRoy seems to be saying "it's about that time"

Oh Sheep!

This time of year I'm pushing it to get things together for the Ky Wool Festival (coming up next weekend) and I sometimes have a post of what new things I'll be bringing to the festival. 

Not this post.

This is a "what I won't be bringing" kind of post.

I was finishing up shearing a few sheep tonight when Jack called me saying "I hope these pots here aren't the pots you were working on for the festival!"   I knew right away what he was talking about.  We have 2 lambs that I will turn loose in the morning and let them graze in the yard.  They don't cause problems (outside of today), and they stay in the yard.  Today however,  I sat these pots out in the shade because the pottery room had been so humid the pots weren't drying.  At the time, the two lambs were relaxing under the porch, so I didn't give this a lot of thought.  So much for not thinking!

oh well....it was better than I anticipated.  Jack told me on the phone that EVERY pot was broken. (There were a lot of pots there, so 5 broken pots was a best case scenerio). 

I have been needing some mugs for the house so it will be a good opportunity to pull out that old "pottery repair" recipe and see if it still works and do some testing to see if the repairs hold up.    (And if it doesn't work, maybe I can treat myself to a new mug that is intact?)  

As far as the sheep go, it doesn't look like they ate any of the clay, but I am watching to be sure they don't have "pot" bellies!

To follow up on the last post, this is where the images in the last post came from.

 They are simple, but when looking closer,  the delicate designs were just beautiful.

While we made these as a self awareness project for his "All About Me" book, they went along really well with his bible verse last week -
"I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made"
-Psalm 139:14

Preschool Art

Last week Wyatt started homeschool (preschool)

I am sure it will be an adventure and so far it has been fun for the both of us, and we are both learning and exploring new things.

    The following pictures are an example of that.

I don't remember fingerpainting as a kid.

(It's possible that the product wasn't even around then)

But I am enjoying the beauty of what can happen when you give a little one paint and paper.

  

 I sat for the longest time just staring at the designs and how beautiful they came out on paper. 

 Some of these you can probably guess what they are, but I will post the full pictures in the next post.

.

"Ewenited Air"

"Eweno!"

Say "Cheese"

Professional Mowers

In days past, when the pastures would get low, or it was just time to move the sheep off them, I would put up my  temporary fencing.  It was aluminum wire that I strung up on temporary posts supported by metal T posts on the corners.        It was very time consuming to put up and then take down and move, so I am really appreciating the real temp fencing that we purchased this summer.  (Sheep & Goat Temp netting from Premier)

This temp fence is really great - and so quick to move.  I just love being able to move it every few days without investing a lot of time in doing so.

As much as I like it, it's safe to say the sheep like it more!  Their pastures are practically bare, so it's worked out well to be able to turn them out in new areas. 

 Fresh weeds! 

The lambs are growing well and despite the heat and dry summer, they have been doing great.  I am really looking forward to shearing the lambs in the next few weeks.    Seems it is always starting in October but continuing  up into November before I am finished shearing, so hoping to get a jump on it by shearing the lambs much earlier than usual.

It's been one quick summer!

Feeling like Spring around here

Take away the heat, the browning pastures and it feels a little like spring with little bunnies running around and a new lamb.

I know it's not good to handle little rabbits, birds..etc, but this little bunny really was in danger.   The rabbit was hopping across the sheep pasture when our pyr Rosco took note and took off for it.   I called for him to stop (as I have thought before that he was killing baby rabbits earlier in the year when I caught him in a nest of squeaking babies)  So, Wyatt and I decided it would be best to take the bunny to the other side of the fence and we (ok, I) was hoping his mother would find him there.   I'm not sure if a rabbit of this size is still totally dependent on its mother, but we didn't want to move him far from where we caught him.  Long story short, Wyatt had decided it was "my bunny".   The bunny hung around for the better part of the day and then, was gone.   I've heard every day since "my bunny gone", and just yesterday we came home to find 2 large rabbits where we left the baby bunny, so now -"my bunny gone with his mom" and a happy ending it is.    

Roxy (from the last post) had her lamb 2 weeks ago.  Unfortunately, it appears she needed assistance as the lamb didn't make it.   I had been trying to keep a close eye on her, but when I went out to check on her (2:30am with a flashlight) she had just had the lamb.  I feel bad that I wasn't there to help her, but very thankful that she is ok.

Hiccup (one of our meat breed crosses) had her little lamb last Thursday.  

Cute as a speckled lamb!

Still.... still waiting on lambs

Seriously?     I have to research this, we've never had Icelandic lambs this late in the year.   I don't know if it's possible that their milk could be coming in without them being bred?   I have heard of it happening with goats, but this is a first for us.    Roxy here is one of two Icelandics that have been milking up.   I checked a few days ago to be certain that there's milk, and there is.. and I noticed as much as a month ago that her milk was coming in.   Maybe they're waiting for warmer weather to have those babies?  (100+degree record breaking weather right now)

Girlie here (below) is the other ewe that appears to have been bred.

Meanwhile, here's some of the other lambs that are nearing weaning.    This is Deloris' ram lamb:

And his sister:

 What a sweet little face

This lil guy is Murphy, and he's from our moorit ewe Sierra.   This is her first lamb and he has such a beautiful fleece of brown/gray and black.

This is one of DiDi's ram lambs.   He is one of a set of twin ram lambs.

Delilah's gray/black ewe lamb

(Deloris in the foreground) but one of our 3 gray moorit rams from this year in the background:

And the lovely Mr B.

Just a few of the 2012 lamb crop.   The heat is brutal here, but fortunately they seem to be handling it well.  Our pastures are terribly dry, but if we can make it to Sunday - hopefully we will get some much needed rain iand cooler temps!