Ok, so I'm getting back to normalcy...

Normalcy...well, it's kinda back to normal here now. The garden is done and put away for the winter, with the chickens making their evening visits to clean up the leftovers. Most everything is picked up and now put away safely. The sheep are almost settled in for the winter too. The registered girls I purchased here several years ago and their 2 ewe lambs will be moving to the larger pen this weekend along with Barbados. We'll see if any of those girls are recessive for spots by spring I suppose! Then Captain will get the majority of the new girls to stay with, and Topple will get a couple to keep him company in his own quarters. Captain, the lovely, very soft fleeced State Fair winner has told everyone that he is the 'best' out there... he's rubbed the corners of his paddock quite clearly with his horns which has grown nicely.

I know, I know, I haven't taken pictures of them in quite a while now. Yes, I'm overdue. I would like to have a nice fresh snowfall down to show them off. We had snow last weekend, a good 3 inches, but it all melted this week before I took any photos. Phooeey!!!! So there's just some straw and hay on the ground and at this wet time of year, it's not too pretty.

We had an unusually warm week, in the 40's, but when we get unseasonal warmth we also tend to get high winds - which we had for 3 days. Not too bad, gusts in the 40mph range, but enough of a noise not to want to be out in it for too long. The sheep thought it was nice tho and enjoyed their thick, warm coats they're putting on while they stood out in the winds and enjoyed eating their fill. Now the temps are supposed to drop back to normal, the 20's. Perhaps will have snow soon, but the ground is going to have to freeze up again before the snow will stick easily. Normally the ground should be frozen solid by now... last November we had several weeks straight of record cold temps down to around -20. Really bad! Hopefully we won't see that again this year, it would be good to have an easy winter. The sheep would like it better too I'm sure!

Above I posted one of my favorite photos from this fall. A closer view of one of the mountains we see every day out our livingroom window. The trees loose their leaves quickly here, it was only a matter of a few weeks for them to all be bare. The grasses are still green tho and tomorrow, like usual, some of the ewes will get to go down to the arenas and graze for a while, taking their turns on how to teach the herding dogs to behave properly. Enjoy! And, good to be back.....