Excuse the girls please!

Please excuse the girls......last year one thing led to another and the girls were not fully sheared; you'll see pics in the next few weeks of them with their ever-so-thick wool still on them. Soon tho they will be 'nekked' again - the shearer is scheduled for mid-April when he returns from his honeymoon!

Lambing season has begun....

Lambing season has begun! Flutter presented us with 2 beautiful ewe lambs late this afternoon. Black with a big white krunet and nose spot, the other what could be a Blaget - black and white ground in together. Or she could be a very interesting gray. Too early for me to tell when she's still sopping wet . Flutter has always been an incredible mom; the closer I got to the lambs the more she had to have her face in there too. Good momma! Dad is Peyton the Gulmoget.

Quite the year....

2011 was quite the year. Suffice it to say it was one of those years you'd prefer to forget but you know you never will. My best friend and long-time companion cattledog passed away in June from a sudden illness that nearly took my heart with her. She had had surgery in April - only 2 months later she was gone. I lost interest in many things and just plugged along doing what needs to be done daily on a big farm. At the same time, as I carried her outside daily to sit with her in the grass when she could no longer walk, I got a spider bite and came close to being sent to the hospital and was told I could loose my leg. After 2 weeks of daily doctor visits and 3 time a day wound cleaning and dressing that literally made me scream each time, it closed up and life could finally proceed. The whole nine yards was life-changing. I didn't bother registering lambs, instead I sold a few to spinners to enjoy and for folks who wanted pets. They went to good homes and that counted for allot. Lots of others things happened last year and we'll just say I'm glad it's done and we've moved on to 2012!

This year most of the Minwawe girls are bred to Peyton, my lovely Gulmoget from Garrett. A couple of very nice lambs from a few years ago are bred to Minwawe Captain. I'm sure we'll have some nice lambs available to those who would like registered Shetlands - some will be Gulmogets, some spotted, all quite colorful with some having exceptional fleeces. Feel free to email me if you're looking for some lovely lambs this year in Alaska! Lambing will start the end of March/beginning of April.

We're waiting for lambs

When Peeps writes, my heart sings. There is a connection there that shepherds, or shepherdesses, have.....sharing the excitement of birthing and what colors are we going to get this time. Boy or girl, 1 or two, doesn't matter, it's spring and it's lambing time for primitive breeds like the Shetland.  Mine are doing very well. They are fat and sassy. With the terrible loss of Topple this winter, he only got a short breeding time with the girls. For those who didn't know, his necropsy showed a blocked, enlarged, and very red bladder. He was too young, and too beautiful and kind, to loose, but he is gone and his lambs will be his last glory. I will keep 2 ram lambs, if the girls have any for me this year of course since they rarely have ram lambs for me, and grow them up. Maybe I'll keep three, just to be sure Murphy's Law is kept happy too. And maybe Peeps will finally have a brown spotted ram lamb for me, who knows. I have been waiting for one for two years now, from someone, and I hope I see one this year. I would like some pretty brown wool here again. And spotted of course. I know a nice spinner now, I think she would spin my wool for me and make me a few things from my girl's wool. So that will be fun. I don't have the time to spin and make glorious yarns, I did use to crochet at one point in my life and I'm sure I could learn again. The only time I work with my wool is when I grab a hank and twist it into a thin 'yarn' while I am teaching herding lessons. It has an irresistible feeling to it, I love it. I hope we start lambing soon, they are certainly late this year.

Welcome to 2011!

I'm still here! And the only reason I've stopped in to post once again is because I've found my lost sheep - Peeps said hello today!! YAY!! Waiting for lambs to arrive here but that should happen any day now. It will be nice to post lamb photos once again........spring is in the air even tho there's still plenty of snow on the ground!

30 days and counting...

And we're still going...30 days of rain showers non-stop. I used the tractor and put fresh sand in the sheep paddock, they are very appreciative of the drainage too! No more standing on any wet manure or dirt. I hope this ends soon tho........

We broke the record!

Oh just lovely! We broke an all-time record here -
27 days in a row that there has been measurable precipitation.

Yeah, it's rained 27 days in a row.

Lovely.

Highs in the upper 50's low 60's, low's in the lower50's and upper 40's.

Gee, isn't that exciting................ not..................HA!