Awesome Are The Wonders Of Nature

If this wouldn't make you think twice about a greater power than man, I don't know what will.
This is a lightning storm last week over the Icelandic volcano eruption.... you can read all about it here.

No Lambies

We arose this morning to no new wee lambies.... I'm still waiting for Fanny to produce.... she's fit to burst. I think her belly must be dragging on the ground. In the meantime I've made a discovery. Our white ram is not a ram. I have been wondering. Last year when we got him he was not quite six months old. Well the dangly bits don't always show when they are that young. Then when November came and we put him in with the ewes and you could almost hear the ewes laughing at him I knew something wasn't right. We watched for two weeks while the gals bumped him around and generally ignored him. That is unusual behavior for ewes when a ram is around. I thought that it was just because he was young. Two weeks went by and not seeing him jump any of my gals, I began to panic about not having lambs in the spring.... so even though I hadn't planned on using Oscar, who is black, I felt that black lambs were better than no lambs. Ipwitch was removed and Oscar gave those girls the low down on how thing were going to be run in his harem right away. All winter I was troubled about Ipwitch. but since it was winter and he was young I let things slide. Until yesterday. Hubby went out in the paddock where Ipwitch lives and caught him and promptly turned him on his butt. We had a really good look... no dangly bits. So Ipwitch is a dud. He is a wither. Somehow the lady who sold him to me made a mistake which is really weird. Because she doesn't usually make mistakes. Hmmm....

In the meantime our two new lambies are doing very well. Jonas is running, and jumping around and Twinkle is starting to.

Last but not least we are hoping that we have found a dog...... and that is all I am willing to say about that at this time since I don't want to jinx ourselves.

Oh, and one sleeve is finished for the big j.c. and I am now working on sleeve #2. Will I ever finish this thing?!

BBG

Little Red produced for us, first thing this morning, a bouncing baby girl (BBG).... and she's white! She has the cutest pink ears and I'd show you a picture but my batteries in my camera need charging. I left it on yesterday after uploading the pictures of Jonas, stupid me. Our new lamb will go by the name of Twinkle.

If you are wondering how we go about naming our animals then let me enlighten you. There is no hard and fast rule for naming animals... you know.... the barnyard type.... not the house pets... but a friend of mine who I bought some of my sheep from named her animals by assigning a letter from the alphabet to each year and all the animals born that year would have names beginning with whatever letter was assigned to that year.... so lets say that 2001 was "B" then all the animals that year would have a name beginning with "B". Using the method, she was able to keep track of which animals were born when, and how old they were. But she had a much larger operation than I do.

Naming my animals kind of happened by a happy accident. The first animals that I purchased were Axton, Benny, and Coal, which are my three alpacas, already named by the previous owner. Notice that their names begin with "A", "B", and "C". I would call them my ABC guys. Well from there it went.

The next animals I bought were also alpacas but they had names that didn't fit with my ABC guys so I renamed them. Here's the names of my animals as it stands now.

Axton..... male alpaca, 4 years old..... white.... likes to spit and gave me my first full frontal... aaak!... recently gelded... ha! the dirty bugger... that will serve him to spit at me and give me a full frontal.
Benny.... male alpaca, 4 years old.... fawn..... very pleasant manner but likes to be the boss.... recently gelded.
Coal..... male alpaca, 4 years old..... black.... my favorite alpaca because he is so mild mannered and curious.
Dexter..... male alpaca, 3 years old.... fawn.... has a testy attitude.... but smiles a lot and spit occasionally... likes to "talk"!
Eddie..... male alpaca, 3 years old.... fawn... smallest alpaca and has the nicest fleece but aloof.
Fanny..... female sheep, 6 years old.... white Shetland/Merino x... excellent mothering skills... aloof.
Griegg.... male sheep, (withered), 5 or 6 years old.... soft grey, Shetland x.... stubborn but I like him.
Honeydew.... female llama, age unknown..... brown and white.... likes to run away but has a really great attitude.... but skittish and aloof.
Ipwitch..... male sheep, 1 year old.... white, BFL/Merino.... untried ram.... aloof.
Jonas..... male sheep, 1 day old... black.....BFL/Merino/Shetland x..... cute but food.
Kracker and Krunch ... both female sheep, 2 years old.... Shetland/merino x... black.... nice gals.....good moms... Fanny's twin offspring from 2 years ago.
Lulu.... female sheep, 3 years.... brown to black with grey in it... Cotswold/Merino x.... sterile.... lovely fleece.
Mishka..... female alpaca, 2 years old.... white..... lovely curious creature.... who wants to be a mom to all the lambs being born... will be bred this summer.
Nelly.... female sheep, 2 years old..... white, Cotswold/merino.... gorgeous fleece but crazy skittish... and wacko... probably sterile.
Oscar.... male sheep, 2 years old... black, BFL/Merino proven ram.... love him to bits... very nice fleece and wonderful nature... loves to be scratched, but bit of a pig... (can you tell he's my favorite sheep).
Palmer.... male sheep (withered), 1 year old....first lamb ever to be born on Nicholsville farm...black..... Romney/BFL/Merino x... nice little guy but kind of stupid.... I think that is a trait of the Romneys.
Queen... female sheep, age unknown... quite old though.... pure bred Merino, obviously white.... nice old lady.
Red, (also known as Little Red)..... female sheep, blond to brown.... pure Shetland.... awesome Mom.... but fleece sucks.
Sal.... female sheep, 3 years old....Canadian Arcott/Merino.... she is the fattest old cow you have ever seen a total hog but wow what a fleece.... probably sterile.
Twinkle..... sheep, born today,..... Shetland/BFL/Merino x.... cute pink ears.... keeper....

So the next lamb(s) born will have to have names beginning with "U" that will be a hard one to come up with....

Any ideas?

Finally!!!

Here is our new mom.... and still wet from the sheep's hind quarters, making his debut and what a gorgeous day for his debut, comes Jonas....

Damn... it's a boy and he's black..... he's also supper..... well, next year anyway.....



Kracker: Hmm.... something just fell out of my butt.

Mishka: Hey did you know something just fell out of your butt..... that's weird.... what is it? It looks like a very short necked alien.

Jonas: Arggghhhh!


Kracker: Hmmm... what is this thing? It smells like me.... it looks like me.... hmmm... maybe I'd better lick all this gunk off to get a better look.

Mishka: I wanna see too..... I'm coming around to look.

Jonas: Waaahh!!! I'm cold and I can't see anything. Oh wait now... I think I see something... what is this thing licking me.... oh! ah!.... I think I smell something yummy!



Jonas: Could you stop licking me?! I'm trying to get to the nice smelling part of you. I can't get these long things under me to work. What's happening?

Kracker: It's trying to move.... gak.... it's trying to lick my belly.... hmmm.... that's weird.

Mishka: I still can't figure out what it is.



Jonas: Gak! What the heck are you..... I sure hope you are not my momma.... hey what is this.... ahhhh ... what's going on? One minute I smell milk, and the next I'm getting checked out by this big woolly white thing.

Mishka: See I told you something fell out of your butt..... it is kind of cute though.

Kracker: Slurp.... I think it is a baby.... Oh my God..... it's a baby!?!!!!!.... how did that happen... I bet that big black balogna butt with the curly horns had something to do with this last fall. He kept jumping on me and shoving something where the sun don't shine.



Mishka: Hey you guys come and look at this..... uhhh... ain't it cute....

Jonas: Whaaahhhh..... I want milk..... I wish these stupid legs would work.

Krunch: Hey.... I'm an Auntie.....

Kracker: Yeah well... you wait.... I saw that big curly horned balogna butt jumping on you too!

Sunday Morning Relaxation

This is the second week of relaxation on a Sunday morning. Retirement is great. Now I can decide to go to church when I want. I, at the moment, am having a self imposed exile from church. That doesn't mean that I am no longer interested in God or anything to do with Christianity. I am just basking in my Jonas-like lifestyle away from my local church. For the last ten years I have been a lay reader here in HH. I started out ten years ago as a help to our half time minister. Over the years there has been an escalation in my duties as a lay reader. I also have taken on many other positions to the point where I am worn out. So when I decided a few weeks ago to resign from all my positions as a church leader I wasn't quite sure what my reaction would be. Would I feel good about it or would I feel a sense of loss. So two weeks has passed and I am realizing that for the first time in years I feel free. Sunday is now a day of choice and not a day of obligation. Now I can choose which church I would like to attend, now I can choose whether I want to attend or whether I would like to stay home and enjoy Michael Enright on CBC radio. It is a pleasure that I have fore gone for many years.

I am hoping to enjoy a day at the shooting range later on with the JCRs. There will be hot dogs for supper and I may bring a pot of soup along. Hubby will be heading off momentarily for a birthday party and bringing along a gift for a little guy who is the son of a friend of ours. Sunday without the obligation of church is strangely different.

Yesterday I headed over to Alberta for a day of learning about Temari balls and recycling for spinners and weavers. I started my first Temari ball and didn't get very far. So I will work on it when I get the big j.c. finished. Speaking of the big j.c., I am working away at it. I have now got one sleeve half finished. I probably would have more done except yesterday was lost to my workshop. So today I am back at the big j.c. and sleeves which need to be finished, then, the lining needs to be cut and sewed in, collar sewed on, embroidery finished and buttons dyed and painted. Almost there. Just a little more effort and I will be done. I will be glad.

So what am I doing, sitting here writing? I should be weaving. And so it begins. Once again the day has begun and so should I.

Its A Better Day

The sun is shining gloriously and today the big j.c. rears its ugly head. Its head down and arse up as I get down to this project once again. (I know that head down and arse up will raise an eyebrow or two but for fishermen hanging over the side of their boats and hauling in a catch of fish it was the way to say hard at work! It might work for a prostitute too!! Anyway, for me it means hard at work on the big j.c....) The warp is on and today means weaving. I think weaving on the deck will do quite nicely.

We are still waiting for lambs and Fanny looks like she is go to bust a part at the seams. Little Red looks like she is a ship on the ocean with her rolling gait. They both carried twins last year and I'm thinking that they are carrying twins again. But each morning I get up expecting to see wee lambs in the paddock but no lambs await us yet. I'm not quite sure who is lambing this year. We will see. I don't think Ipwitch, the white ram, was successful but I know Oscar the black ram was successful. So now we will see which colour lambs I get black or white. I'm hoping for at least three white ones... there are three black sheep that I want to butcher and I want to have white ones to replace them. But then the good Lord only knows when and what.

I have been having knitting DTs lately as when I put down the lace gloves a few months ago I stopped thinking about knitting for a while today I got out an old project that I didn't finish last year because I ran out of yarn and looked it over with the thought of getting back to it. I have since then spun enough yarn that matches to go on with. With tonight being knit night I think I will work on that project this evening.

We have all been feeling a little subdued with the loss of Duff. But we all feel that a new dog will help with taking our minds off our loss. So I have been looking around with that in mind to bring home a pup of some kind. We are being very specific though. Primarily we don't want a black dog or a dog with black as the main colour.... I don't know why.... we also have to have one that will be good with animals. We want a medium to large dog. Tootsie is still our house dog and we do not want to replace him. I severely miss having a dog to walk with in the mornings and though Duff has only been gone for a little over twenty four hours she has not walked with me for well over a week. We thought about a pure bred dog and decided we are a mutt family. Tootsie is a pure bred and while we love him we weren't really concerned with the fact that he has blue blood. Who cares. Mostly we want a dog that will groove with our family and that is not always easy to find.... it may take us a long time to find something we are happy with.... the most important thing is that we find a dog that is young.... and trainable. I always say that it takes a good two years to get a dog trained the way you want them.... and it is hard work.... I do really like Irish Wolfhounds though and always thought that one day I might own one. Mind you with our small house an IWH might be like putting a horse in our house!

Anyway the morning is moving on and Hubby has left to go to FSJ for a teacher workshop. The girls have eaten breakfast and since I am taking them to school I had better have at it and get myself ready.

Spring is definitely in the air.

Emptiness

The day is blustery. The grey clouds pass quickly overhead and on the fence there is a yardage of bailing twine blowing in the wind. I walk out my door this morning and there is something missing. There is no big galumping dog waiting for me to give the word to head down the trails for our morning walk.

A new Inukshuk stands on a knoll by the trail leading to the electrical shed. Inukshuks were used for many years to give the Inuit of the North markers on a markerless landscape. They were meant to help show the way home. Our Inukshuk is to show our old good dog a way home. She watches, ever faithful over our home and farm in her final resting place. I hope she has found her way home.

And our hearts are broken.