Weirdness

I've been trying to start a new post for days, but Blogger wasn't having it. Last night it decided to work; go figure.

Not that I was going to actually post again until Broadway lambed, but she continues to waddle around grazing with the rest of the girls, carrying her load high and wide with no sign of the drop of impending birth. Thursday night I thought (hoped) she was acting suspicious in spite of her looks, so Brian helped me fashion a dividing wall in the Sheep Sheraton so she could be safely sequestered. Bridget has been her frequent attendant (as she was with Boop) and I was concerned that she might try to steal a lamb(s) and precipitate confusion or rejection by Broadway. No dice, but at least things are ready.

Bridget 'attending' Broadway

Bridget 'attending' Brian

The two ewes with lambs are still sharing the divided barn stall at night; Blaise and Bitsy go out with the other girls during the day although they aren't that comfortable doing it and mostly stay off by themselves. Blossom and Bud are doing well in spite of Boop; she has not relaxed into the roll of motherhood yet. She definitely prefers Blossom, frequently butting Bud away. Sometimes I hold the witch Boop so Bud can nurse his fill, worried that he isn't getting enough; other times I see her letting both of them nurse. I'd love to get them outside to take better, updated photos, but I think Boop would be a poop....

an uncommonly integrated flock

this is more typical

Blossom

these three photos were taken Thursday

Bud

My research into improving my shearing situation next year brought unexpected results: a professional shearer is coming Wednesday evening to finish shearing my flock! If I am happy with the results, I will continue to use him; if not, I'll likely order an adjustable shearing stand to make shearing easier for me.

Yesterday morning I had a good session with Stella. We warmed up and schooled in the arena, and then headed into the woods in search of my favorite spring flower, wild iris. When we got back I rinsed the sweat off her and turned both horses out for a timed grazing period.

beauty underneath and all around

How this tulip end up along a track in the woods among nettles?

lots of yellow; Oregon grape and Scotch broom

no iris yet, but there was a big patch of this blue flowering plant

Finally, my quest was rewarded! Couldn't get closer because of poison oak.

these were growing in the middle of our path

That's it for now from . . .

Blossom and Bud

'feral' cherry

one of the last daffodils of the season

part of our home orchard

pieris in flower and new growth

this tree is always a highlight of the season

Eek, another week has zoomed by! Until today, it has been rather uneventful except for a miserable bout of vertigo(?) that kept me in bed and unproductive from nausea most of Sunday, and threatened again on Monday. That made me leery of trying to shear anyone because of all the movement that shearing on my short stand requires. So I've spent more time researching options (equipment vs. professionals) for next year than shearing this year's fleeces since my last post; c'est la vie.

Of course I've been keeping my eye on Boop and Broadway, above. Sure glad that I didn't separate my breeding groups any earlier as they were obviously bred in the very last days of 'togetherness.' This fall I plan to wait until mid-November to put my breeding group(s) together so that next spring I can go to our church's women's retreat; I'm tired of missing out and my ewes don't reliably cycle in October anyway. Bridget mystifies me. Even though she is clearly not pregnant, she has been acting late term – slow to leave the fold in the morning, the last one into the fold in the evening, and often staying off to herself in the pasture. This morning Boop was acting suspicious, and Bridget was staying close. My ewes often ask to go back into the fold by themselves when they are nearing delivery and Boop did that this morning; it was tricky letting her through the gate and not Bridget, who then proceeded to call for her.

Boop's coat was on the loose side after shearing, so it needed to come off. I gave her some time to settle, and then managed to catch her without much drama (she is my wildest sheep) and remove it. Then I left her to it for awhile, checking in discreetly from the upper window to keep disturbance to a minimum.

Oops; she spotted me!

When I saw a water bag, I settled in to wait and occasionally watch. In between peeks, this happened!

It didn't take long to see that another lamb was presenting, but Boop was too busy reacting to the first strange new creature lamb to  settle down and push. Eventually, I decided to intervene, finding only one front leg and a nose. I felt around for the other front leg, then managed to ease #2 out using just the one leg. Lamb #1 took advantage of Boop's interest in #2 to get its first meal:

So you might be thinking I buried the lead, but after checking for plumbing I named these two . . . Blossom and Bud. 😊

Both are strong and vigorous and have nursed multiple times. I divided the barn stall with the chain-link panels Rick refurbished for me, and moved Boop and her lambs in next to Blaise and Bitsy. Blossom (lamb #1, a ewe) looks black with HST spotting (HST stands for white on Head, Socks, and Tail), but will turn gray. Bud (lamb #2, a ram) is black with the gulmoget pattern. Because Sanson, their sire is a gray (Ag) gulmoget, all his lambs will be either gray or gulmoget.

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Today I finished the second rug on the black warp. The first one will be short (I ran out of the darker pink); this one will make up for it by being extra-long. I did identify a couple threading errors which I'll fix before using the remainder as a dummy warp. My next warp will be a variegated cotton thread with a natural wool weft; I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Rug #2 above the beam; reverse side of rug #1 winding on below

Rug #2 finished

My crafting room has gotten more cluttered because I'm putted bagged fleeces there as I shear them, but I am still focused on my One Big Thing of 2024. What I've already accomplished has made room for my drum carder; I'm much more likely to use it if it is easily accessible (it's currently closeted in a storage space off the crafting room). I have assorted old fleeces, mine and others, that I can then prep and spin, and already have spaces where I can crank out the yarn with my Louet or miniSpinner. Decluttering by tossing is much faster, but decluttering by utilizing is so much more satisfying!

That's it until the last lamb(s) drops at . . .

Hopping and dropping

An Easter Eve sunset from horseback

On Easter morning I 'hopped' into both Brian's room and ours to give my lie-abed guys some Fortunato treats – causing some alarm before I informed them I was their 'Easter bunny' (maybe some rabbit ears would have helped explain my ponderous jumping?). Then I dashed off to an agility fun match with Poppy for the morning. Back home, I caught Bridget and sheared her; I told myself I had to take advantage of a few nice days to shear the three pregnant ewes, and made a good start. Only Bridget isn't pregnant!

Poppy enjoying a sunny bathroom spot after agility in the morning

Bridget is in good flesh, but disappointingly not pregnant

Work and errands on Monday didn't leave enough time to shear someone that afternoon, so I planned to shear both Broadway and Boop on Tuesday. Ha; Broadway took way longer than I hoped and behaved very badly at one point, trying to hang herself from the head rest which necessitated releasing her so she could drag her half-sheared fleece across the ground. ARGHHH. I had to physically wrestle her back onto the stand and onto her feet; by the end I could barely drag myself up to the house to drop into my recliner.

Broadway's fleece has developed interesting mottling

Definitely pregnant when viewed from front and rear

Even though today was much cooler and cloudy, I am nothing if not determined, so I dressed in warm layers and set up at the barn aisle entrance (in case it showered) to shear Boop. I don't know why, but I am getting slower at doing this myself. Part of it is that my fleeces have gotten denser and finer over the years (as evidenced by micron testing; very happy with this year's results) which makes them harder to shear with scissors as I do, and I think part of it this year is trying to shear at a less than optimal point in the rise. At any rate, Boop eventually HAD ENOUGH, making Broadway's bad behavior the day before look like a little snit. Boop thrashed herself off the stand repeatedly, making me fear for her safety and forcing me to heave my biggest sheep back in place multiple times; and yes, she managed to drag half of her fleece across the dirty ground, too. I don't want to admit how many hours it took me to finish shearing her, or how close I came to sobbing with exhaustion. That's one third of the flock finished; can I make it through the rest? Give me a few days to recover; I'm sure I'll forge on, at least through this year's fleece harvest.

Also obviously pregnant; sorry, lambies, for the wrestling matches!

Here is one of the waiting two thirds, and the sire of the coming lambs. One of Sanson's leg straps came unstitched so I caught him to swap coats and took a photo. His hogget fleece, with its variations, will make gorgeous yarn; next year it will likely be uniformly light. Hopefully it will stay uniformly soft and fine; his micron test results are 22 AFD, 5 SD, 22.6 CV, 8.3 CEM, 21.7µ SF.

Before it gets too far past to share, here are photos from a recent 'field trip.' Our church women's ministries organized an outing to the Willamette Heritage Center on March 26. I wasn't planning to go, but one of the leaders urged me. She took weaving classes at the Center and gave me my loom, so thought I'd enjoy it (plus they needed more bodies). Even though I've been to the annual "Magic at the Mill" Christmas event several times, I got to see much more of the Heritage Center during this visit, and of course was much more interested in the weavers and looms that occupy the fourth floor of the old mill building now that I'm weaving myself. As a bonus, the PNW Community Coral Reef Project was on display in the Mill Building!

The millrace that powered the mill for most of its existence

I was amazed to learn that the crown gear teeth are made of wood!

That diagonal pipe was used to BLOW wool from one building to another

I liked, but didn't buy, this t-shirt in the gift shop

That inspired me to dress my loom with the warp I'd wound and get to work. This black cotton warp is long enough for two rugs plus a 'dummy warp;' I'll be able to tie on to this existing warp instead of starting from scratch.

First rug finished

That's it from the pooped shepherd at . . .