Where to Start

Do you get the idea that I save everything up and then blog all at once? That seems to be my pattern, doesn't it? Not that I remember who said it, but one blogger I read recently said something about that she would like to tell us that she hasn't gotten much blogging done due to being busy actually having a life, but ..., well, I guess I am actually having a life and I get too busy to blog about it. But my classes will be over in about a week, and then I will have to find something to do with myself. Actually, they have wound down significantly already. In case you were wondering what my plans are for next year, I really thought that I would know by now, but it is still not settled. Only one of the graduate schools I applied to gave me an answer (it was "no"). That was back in February. But my chances at the others at this point are not encouraging. Last I heard, I was on the alternate list at one program. I will probably be applying to graduate school again next year.

I wish that I had kept a few more goats. We still have more than enough sheep, and we keep getting the most beautiful lambs. Another one was born yesterday.



He's a quick little guy and wouldn't stand still with his face towards the camera. This lamb was born about as big as Lucky is, with teeth and hard hooves, and an inch of wool. He has pronounced horn buds. Four of them! One eyelid does have a slight break. Some people say that it isn't possible to have four-horned Churros without at least a marker of a split eyelid. I think he is a very nice lamb, very healthy, with beautiful colors. Click here for another shot.

Nessie is his mama.



She is a favorite of mine. Our very first Churro was a ram named Jo-Jo. He was black/dark brown, and four-horned. After about a year we got a few ewes, and Nessie was in that group. She came with a mature daughter and a granddaughter, so at a minimum she was two years old then, which makes her at least thirteen now. She had triplet lambs the year we got her (we didn't get the lambs - purchased her at weaning time), and twinned every year for us up until the last few years, when she twinned every other year for a few more years. I didn't even expect this old matriarch to have a lamb this year. Her wool is a bit finer, with less outer coat, and shorter than typical for Churro, but given her age we can allow for that. Hers is my favorite to spin, as it is soft, and a lovely brown/grey color. She is a special old ewe at any rate.

We are still waiting on Dolly (the llama) to have her cria any day now, but she is holding out. Dolly is bred to a guanaco stud, so her baby will be a very interesting critter.

Lucky is doing great! He figured out that his milk comes from Jitterbug, the La Mancha goat, and persuaded her to let him have it straight from the source. Since we didn't breed Jitterbug this year she seems glad to claim a baby. Leia (Lucky's real mom) was milked for a couple of days but went dry before Lucky was quite up and around enough to join the flock, and didn't quite seem to remember him anymore by that time or know what she was to do with him. Ashley thought that Lucky was her baby and was not happy with Jitterbug for stealing him, but since Lucky still plays with humans happily, all it really means is a little less work for us.



Easter



I hope that you all had a terrific Easter. This is all the eggs we colored, as we all know the true purpose of Easter egg dye, don't we?



The daffodils almost bloomed in time for Easter. They are open now, but here is the picture of them from Sunday:



Yesterday I got drafted once again to demonstrate spinning to all the fourth graders in Uintah county for the annual "Farm Day" activity. I took my camera, and thought about asking someone to take pictures, but then I got so busy that it didn't happen. Ashley was a major help with that - I couldn't have done it without her. She passed out the materials to each group of kids, acted as a partner when there was an odd man out, and helped show them what we were doing. Each fourth grader (about 450 of them) spun a small sample of wool using a modified spindle (actually just a metal hook). One student was the spinning wheel, and turned the hook, while their partner drafted. Then they changed jobs. Each of them made their own sample of yarn which most tied around their wrist as a bracelet.

So all this focus on wool and spinning and shearing time (I still need to get my critters sheared - the weather turned too wet to do that last week) is motivating me to start getting some wool processed. I've been washing some, but there is a huge amount to do and not much space for drying it.

No knitting is currently in progress. There are lots of things I want to knit, but I need to get the patterns and the yarn matched up together. Some knitters like starting projects, and I do too, but I like finishing them more. I don't mean the sewing up and working in loose ends - I mean having a finished project. So I get something started and obsess about it until it's done, leaving me with nothing to knit. Instead of having lots of things in progress, I have lots of things in the contemplation stage. And I think I need to start something that won't get done quite so fast - maybe it's about time to work on another sweater. The problem with hand-spun yarn is that you have to work so hard to have enough of it that matches to be able to knit bigger projects like sweaters.

Well, it sounds like I am starting to ramble now - could it be a sign that I am up past my bedtime? Nah!

I'll leave you with a picture of the horse-drawn cart that happened down our street Sunday afternoon. This is not actually an unusual sight for us if you can believe it. Although cattle drives down our street are slightly more common. We are definitely rural out here, aren't we? Still walking distance from the public library though. I grew up in cities, but can't imagine living in one now!