Reckoning

I had to make a terrible decision yesterday. Oscar the ram will have to be slaughtered.... I'm so upset. He is my all time favorite sheep. But the decision was made because his horns do not have a good configuration.... that sounds so dumb really because it sounds like we are out to keep only animals that look nice... but horns can be tricky things. The horns are full of nerve endings and if they are not polled when they are very young then it is more difficult to poll them as they get older. You would think that horns would grow properly but like human teeth they don't always do that. Oscar horns started giving us trouble early in the spring when they began to curl against his eye. Teapot bought a little saw and we began to saw the tips off so that they would not cause blindness or worse. The problem is that as Oscar's horns grow longer they also begin to thicken.... and the thickening is beginning to squeeze his skull. He is such an easy tempered guy that I hate to slaughter him but unfortunately I've tried every source I can think of to find a solution and unless I want to spend a fortune dehorning him then I have to slaughter him.... When you are trying to run a farm then the idea is to make it as cost effective as you can and this time that means slaughtering one of my favorite sheep.

Xavier, our other ram is still on our list of keepers, so at least I can breed again when the fall comes. Xavier is a pure bred BFL (Blue Faced Liecester) and he will make a very good breeding ram over time. He has a lovely configuration and to my eyes no sign of horns yet... mind you he is still young so perhaps the horns haven't come in yet, but it is certainly something that I will watch for. But then, not knowing a whole lot about the breed other than I really like their fibre, I do believe that both sexes are polled.... meaning that they are bred to be hornless I think. I really never gave any of this much thought when I bought him, since I was planning on using Oscar primarily and Xavier would be just used to breed with Oscar's offspring.

Teapot wants me to cull the flock back even further than the six/seven I had picked out and since he does so much to help me with them and since my back issues dictate that I need help, I will have to take his desires into consideration. I have decided on Xavier, Greigg, Fanny, and Nellie. That will give me ten animals in all when you include the alpacas.

For days now I have had a bad back.... this is nothing abnormal for me since my back has gone through horrible stresses and surgeries since I was a child. Normally, medication keeps everything going along tickety boom... but this week the back monster reared it's ugly head and I have had shooting pains up and down my legs as the nerves for these areas are being horrible compressed.... I continue to hope that nothing back there has changed radically in the last week but am beginning to wonder since five days of drugs is the most that it has ever taken to get things back under control. Like Oscar, my day of reckoning has come..... well... I'm not going to meet my maker..... I'm just going to have to stop treddling for a few weeks, which is a horror since I have not made much progress over the summer on the level 3 homework. But I have two questions that I can work on for sure. I have to spin a yarn appropriate for a summer top, and I have to spin a yarn appropriate for a baby outfit.... both of these can be done on things other than spinning wheels. The summer top of course will need cotton and so I will spin that on my charkha, which does not require my feet or legs at all. The other can be spun on the charkha as well if I use cotton, or I can spin on my drop spindle if I choose to use some other fibre.... possibly a blend of silk and alpaca and wool, (for a christening gown). I might even be able to spend the time writing up the questions on count since I have tons of samples from the t.p.i. questions that I can use them for the count questions. I also have the fibre spun for the distaff and the distaff is pretty much finished but I need construct a handle and do a little trimming on it to finish it off.... all these questions can be completed without treadling and so I am going forward today with that.

After the last few weeks, and though rain has been sporadic and only a little, there is some green on the ground.... not lots mind you, but at least it is not that brilliant golden almost white of dead grass... I took a short walk yesterday on the trails through the forest and discovered that the leaves from the Poplar trees are beginning to fall, see these little yellow things in our driveway, they are dead fallen leaves.....
and this tree has turned mostly yellow under the outside canopy of green....
and autumn coolness is definitely in the morning air. As I sit here with the window open above my desk, the air is penetrating my joints and making both my fingers and toes very cold. Many of the birds have begun to flock and head south. The crows began their journey a week ago. We are on the slippery slope down into another kind of reckoning.... the reckoning of winter, and probably an early one too!

Accomplished

The long weekend is over and all those out camping this last weekend have gone to their homes with the idea that they should get up this morning and go to work. I'm glad Teapot is a teacher and has his summers off.

Over the weekend he began culling the flock... he butchered three of my animals and got some work done on the fencing. Once the fleece started rolling in I had to take a look and decide what I wanted to do with it all... we spread them out on the deck and I have to say that they are quite nice fleeces. Both are somewhat coarse but that's the nature of those two particular breeds. What I was amazed at was the size difference.....

The fleece on the left came from a Shetland and Shetlands are quite small.... there was absolutely no fat on her. The fleece on the right came from a Cheviot/Merino cross and she was nothing but fat..... The Shetland fleece is fairly coarse but I am keeping it because Lopi yarns can be spun fairly softly and they are usually done from Icelandic sheep or you can use Shetlands which have similar characteristics. The Cheviot/Merino fleece is just gorgeous.... I would have kept her but she was a glutton and feeding her took reams of hay and the others sheep suffered for her gluttony.

The fleeces lay in the sun yesterday as I picked through them to see what was what and along came Tootsie the Chicken herder who no longer has chickens to herd and.... well..... maybe I could teach him to herd the sheep?!!!...

He really seemed to be enjoying having a snooze on this fleece in the sun, because when Teapot woke him up, he looked like this....Now if that is not a dismayed face then I don't know what is.

Over the weekend there were all manner of things accomplished.... besides what Teapot was up to. I finished my bag from the percentage dyeing.... well, it still needs a zipper at the top and I still need to put the handle on, but I think it looks really awesome. Those colours blended so nicely.... you can hardly see where one ends and the next begins.... except for the yellow, the yellow was a little bit bright. I do like the dye I used... they are Mother MacKenzie dyes. (I'm sorry I don't have a link I couldn't find anyone who stocked these dyes in Canada.)


Then I wanted to get the Ombre samples woven and written up too while it was still fresh in my mind so here are my woven samples.... and they look pretty darn good too....

Then I finished the skein of yarn that I was spinning from the pencil rovings.... I used the multi coloured pencil rovings for one single and I used a teal coloured pencil roving for the other single and I got quite a nice 2 ply yarn..... this one will be among my stash for sale.....

In addition to those little projects I decided to start a weaving project.... well, it is just a little one.... not at all like the Big j.c. I have decided to make a baby blanket out of commercially spun yarn which happens to be a merino wool bought from Louet. I am doing this because I am working on an article for the Threads Along The Peace newsletter. I will weave on my Hazel Rose loom, 6 x 6 inch squares in a Brooks Bouquet pattern, enough squares for the baby blanket... some 48 in all. The clincher is that I am going to finally try the 25 shades of dye in Logwood, something I've wanted to do since last year when I finished the 25 shades of yarn in Madder.
You can see here that I have begun to skein the fibre into the right amount to weave my samples remembering that I need 25 skeins.... and of course I ran out of fibre. I have 8 skeins of 56 yds. each and 1 skein at 100 yards. The 100 yd. skein will be for the sewing together at the end and the other 24 skeins will give me 48 blocks. So I will get 25 shades of Logwood.

Having run out I will have to wait till my supplier can order more for me which she assures me will take about ten days. That will be ok as the next newsletter is due out on the 16th of August. If I get the fibre in time (somewhere around the tenth) then I will be able to get the dyeing for this project done in time for the newsletter, which is the important thing. The weaving can take all winter if I want! I may even do the weaving on knit night.

Anyway, that is it for today... I actually did accomplish a little bit, even though my back has really been terrible over the last four days..... I hope it gets better soon so that I can get even more done. I think I'll go take another anti-inflammatory....... hmmm...... but then maybe I'll sleep and get nothing done..... argh!

A Conversation To Myself

Yesterday: OHHH God..... (groaning as I roll out of bed)... I can't straighten up.... this is sooo not good. I had better take an anti inflammatory...

Later: Cr-p! I've slept half the day..... that is those stupid anti-inflammatories... I should have had a whole lot done by now.

Later still: Aack! Good Lord. August 1st and I only have two of the t.p.i. questions done..... this is soooo not good. I had better do some spinning today.

A whole lot later: I had better get those pencil rovings finished so that I can free up the bobbins for the t.p.i. questions.

Later Still: What the heck am I going to do with another fleece! (Teapot just finished shearing from the sheep that he was currently butchering).... hmmm.... nice fleece though.... like I need another fleece!

Later still... like evening by now: I had better bag up all this fibre that has been sitting around since the retreat.....

Bedtime later: I got nothing done today.... there is still all the pencil roving to spin and ply.... there's all that fibre that I was supposed to put in bags... and I never did a bit of spinning on the t.p.i. questions..... aaack!

This morning: Ohhhh, God, (groaning).... I can hardly straighten up...... I had better take an anti-inflammatory again...... I love drugs.... I think I will go back to bed.....

I'm seeing a trend here..... this is soooo not good.

A Bit Of Thisa..... A Bit Of Thata....

I have been knitting on the bag for the level 4 knitting. It is really looking awesome. Yesterday CJ came for a day of yaking and spinning but I'm spun out for a few days and so I just felt like knitting. I carried on on my bag that I started Wednesday night and wow is it ever cool. I don't have a pattern for it but I started out with a circular needle and 120 stitches in blue. I knit rib stitch for about 8 rows and then I switched to the next colour and stockinette stitch. The colour change was more abrupt than I liked but that was ok because I decided that it would work with the stitch change too. But from that point I wanted the colour change to be more gradual. I began knitting several rows in one colour and then introducing the next colour on every alternate stitch for a few rowes and it worked. You can hardly tell where one colour ends and the next begins. It is truly inspirational.... now I just have to decide on the handle and how I will do that. It will be just big enough to carry around little tools for knitting or weaving.... actually it is more of a pouch than a bag. I might even designate it to my 2 x 6 Weavette that I make bookmarks on. It would be pretty cool for that purpose.

With the relief of the hay situation off my mind now, I feel like I can turn my head to other things. Of course I will have to figure out a way to haul the hay in here but I think I have that figured out... it's just that Teapot needs to be consulted first. I guess it is time to get back to the level 3 spinning and those dreaded (dratted) t.p.i. questions which continue to confound me.

There were some rip roaring thunder storms that passed through the region yesterday and overnight, with some rain but not lots. I am beginning to see little patches of green again but they are very sparse. It is really only enough to make you feel at ease. If you actually dig in the dirt you realize how bad it actually is. The moisture in the soil only goes down about a quarter inch... the roots of the Dandylions are surviving and some of the grass will come back but it will take a lot more than a few quick showers to turn things around in this area. Another year of drought like this and I may have to reconsider having fibre animals at all..... that would be horrible!

Having Teapot away has made me realize a couple of things. It has dawned on me that our friends think Teapot is a moron and that I am a capable person or they just like Teapot better than me. When I go away for ten day trip.... all of our friends (including my parents) are doing everything in their power to invite him out for dinner and feed him and the girls.... but when he goes away I never hear from anyone.... now this is not a complaint... it is just an observation.... I'm just not quite sure what to do with that observation. Do they hate me and love Teapot or do they think Teapot is just a complete idiot.... and can't cook for himself.... (he is actually the better cook of the two of us).

The other thing that I have realized is that raising two daughters through their teens would be an absolutely terrible tragedy without Teapot. Teapot has a great sense of humour which I don't seem to have, well, at least it is not as apparent when he is not around.... Somehow Teapot evens out all the bumps and bristles in me and makes being human a whole lot easier.... otherwise I turn into a total monster and the girls resent that.

I have watched my two daughters turn into scary things indeed this summer.... Daughter #1 has a desire to look like some kind of street walker and Daughter #2 has seen fit to become the laziest piece of flub around..... we had it out the other night and I am just so done with that..... Daughter #2 at least had the where-with-all to apologize for her behaviour..... Daughter #1 eventually apologized but it took a little stewing first..... I really liked them a whole lot better when they were enthusiastic 6,7,8,9, and 10 years olds. After that it got a little dicey. I actually do enjoy them but sometimes I just want to knock their heads off! : ) and I wonder what alien life form has now taken over the body of my child..... Actually it is not all that bad and they haven't come home with anything pierced yet, thank heavens!...... so we will suffer through somehow and hopefully will come out of the teens a little better and a little wiser..... argh!

The flies in the house have now reached epic proportions and they are buzzing me regularly as I sit here which is not a good thing for the temper and for the office either, as I seem to want to destroy the computer each time I swat at the buggers... so I think it is time for me to move on this morning and find a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal.... yeah....

Knitting pictures to follow when Teapot returns with a decent camera.....

Yipee! Yahoo! Yeah! Hay At last

I finally found some hay..... I had a fellow sell me a small bale of hay that will last about a week and a half... but in the meantime I called a farm way North of FSJ and secured 20 bales of hay. It is about three hours drive away but at least I have a source for hay. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the stuff here! I am sure there is someone around the area who has a three ton pick up and I think I can get my hands on a trailer to haul it here. I just have to come up with a good situation. It's all good.

I still have to cull the flock but not as badly as I thought I would. I will keep 6 alpacas and 6 sheep and the horse. I will see if I can find a home for the llama.... anyone out there who wants a llama? : )

So I will be able to keep Axton, Benny, Coal, Dexter, Eddie, Fanny, Greigg, Lulu, Mishka, Nellie, Oscar, and Xavier I might even be able to keep Zag , and of course there is the horse Dreamer....

The bails are 1350 pounds so with the 28 pound of feed per day for Dreamer (that's 10,220 pounds of food) leaving approximate 5 pounds of feed a day for the sheep and alpacas.... and the sheep won't eat all that ... they will eat about 3 or 4 pounds of food and be nice fat little blighters... so that means that I have enough food.... I'm sure it was all the luck you folks were emanating through the air in my direction... thanks....

It is a real relief.... I will sleep tonight... at last.

By the way the knitting I started this morning for the level 4 homework is almost done..... and it looks really awesome....

And best of all there is only one more sleep until Teapot is home.....

Yipee! Yahoo! Yeah!

Trying To Stay Upbeat... (which is really hard)!

It is really hard to be up beat when all around me there is the terrible devastation of this drought. The soil in my garden is no longer soil it is dust. Every good thing in it has dried up and blown away. This morning there is smoke on the air which means that somewhere there is a fire. I had a look at the CBC news and I'm sure half of B.C. is on fire. It really is scary how dry everything is. I just wish that some of the rain that is causing havoc in Saskatchewan would fall on us. Last night I sat out on the deck and watched lightning all around us on the horizon but no storm hit here and certainly no rain.... it was hotter than Hades last night.
But enough about that. It's just too depressing.

I started working on some knitting for the level 4 homework last night and though I haven't finished level 3 I decided to go ahead with the level 4 knitting sample for my percentage dyeing because sometimes you just don't want to spin.... knitting last night was just what I needed. I am making a small bag using colours in such a way that they run together.... I am sure it will look really great when I finish. Besides I miss knit night and haven't knit all summer.... so it felt good to have the needles in my hands again.

I went to FSJ yesterday and took the Daughters to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was a nice little movie but all the way to town I kept thinking about hay. I have enough hay for today's feeding and then I am out. So it has really become crucial that I find a source of hay today. I thought I had one. On the way to town yesterday I passed a farm that seemed to have lots of bails out and there was a sign with "Hay For Sale" so I stopped to see what was what. They had hay but it is hay that has a high alfalfa content. Well I figured even though that is not so good anything is better than nothing. So I talked to the lady and she said she would have her husband call me... I waited and waited last night but nothing.... so now I am not sure that there will be hay for me. I will call them today but I have to get hay..... absolutely... if not from them, from somewhere.

In the meantime I have a friend dropping by today... we will sit and spin.... and no doubt gab. I haven't caught up with her in ages... not since before Olds.... so I am looking forward to that. I figured it would be a good time to try those t.p.i. questions again since maybe while I'm distracted I might just spin the t.p.i. that I want exactly.... hmmm ... not likely but it's one theory... ha!

Teapot will be home tomorrow and I am so glad our time apart is over I can't wait. I can tell you that after 10 days apart, I know I do not want to be the sole owner of a hobby farm and I certainly wouldn't want to raise two girls on my own. Both are daunting tasks, better done by two than one.

So that is it for today... hay, spinning, a little knitting.... lots of colour.... and some watering of animals. I sure hope I can get hay.... I have until 4 p.m. tomorrow to find a bail.

Wish me luck..... and wish my poor sheep luck too.... Saturday is culling day.

Death

Death comes creeping on little tiny feet. He doesn't carry a scythe and he does not wear a black cloak and hood. Death comes knocking on the door with grasshoppers in one hand and dry dust in the other. Death opens his mouth to speak and dry wind is all you hear. Death has eyes as hot as the sun and as unyielding as time itself.

Sorrow comes hand in hand with Death. She is chained to Death and cannot get away. When Death comes to your door, Sorrow leaves a little piece of herself behind. Sorrow comes in the form of lonely paddocks with lambs with no moms. Sorrow sounds like baas from lambs calling for mothers that will never see the light of day. Death and Sorrow are knocking at my door.

I am looking out my window and know that on Saturday we will have to make decisions that I do not want to make. In the spring, when all our lambs were born I thought I would be able to keep a couple, but then as the season progressed I thought that there might be a problem feeding them and so I was satisfied to pick out a few of the ewes and the two rams and a couple of the old sheep that we think of as pets and just keep them. This week the axe fell. My supply of hay has run out and if I want to keep any animals I will seriously have to cull my flock. I want to keep the alpacas and there are 6 of them, and Daughter #1 has the horse which we will have to keep. But everything else.... well, there's not a lot of hope. I am hoping that I can find hay for the alpacas and the horse, I will be lucky if I can get that. I would really like to keep the two rams and two breeding ewes.... probably Fanny and Nellie but the rest of my full grown ewes and withers may have to be killed for sausage meet. While the lambs will be fattened on grain and slaughtered. I am very worried. Right now I am rationing the hay for all of the animals and Daughter #1 has to take her horse out to the side of the road where the grass grows on the south side in the shade of the trees and lets her graze for hours at a time. But what do we do in the winter..... that's what I would like to know.

It is so dry and hot.... it is scary.....

This is what Death feels like.... the hopelessness of the unknown....