Woolliam - stealing hay he would never touch if it were given to him, but hey, he has cool hair so he can do whatever he wants...
Handsome Jester with Allie peaking into the picture on the right, Ford behind and Peabody's tiny ears (to match his tiny brain ;-) in the foreground.
Rebecca Boone - a sheep of strong opinions. That's Petunia behind her (she too loves to have her picture taken I think as she always tries to get in the shot) and Beanie Baby with the big horns.
Not a great video, but you might enjoy a little peek into the fog. It's been awhile since the last Friday Feature.
Test video from the new camera - don't panic, folks, I'll get better...I swear.
The four punks are Handy and T-Bone (chestnuts), Attie (bay paint) and Ace (black paint). You can see Aria up on the hill. She has better things to do than run around like a fool. T-Bone can always be counted on to ham it up and that's him sticking his eye up to the camera at the end - a little gift for everyone who followed his serious foot problem last year.
Boy, what I wouldn't give for some green out there - ugh.
I not only sort of forgot about the Friday Feature (until I was reminded this morning), but I also sort of "forgotted" about asking Santa for a better video camera.
Some good friends came in town to go to the races and I took the afternoon off to join them. Now I'm not a huge fan of racing those too young horses, but even the biggest cynic has to admit there is something special about Keeneland.
I'm out at the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival in Falmouth, Kentucky, this weekend. Today is the day the school kids come out and we are all happy to teach them a little about our sheep and wool and what we do with it. The festival goes on through the weekend. If you'd like to enjoy a beautiful drive through northern Kentucky (right next to Kincaid Lake State Park), come on out and say Hay!
Yesterday we had a last blast of summer sun and heat. I knew it was probably my last chance to jump in the pool...and I blew it. I am so busy getting everything ready for the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival next month that I put it off and put it off and put it off and then the day was done. Lesson learned. Again. Life is short. Go jump in the pool.
I did snack on some of the last of the concord grapes just a little while ago though. Once again they've outdone themselves. While out there I was struck by how the wind today seemed different from the wind yesterday somehow. The dry leaves rattling in the trees, no longer gently rustling. The birds seemed busy - working, not playing. And no bees to keep me company.
I sheared Buddy yesterday. He was hanging out inside the barn this morning, looking for some cookies to warm him up. Ewenice and Woolliam are not quite ready for their fall buzz cuts. Lucky for them, we can look forward to an Indian Summer. Right?
Well, more just chickens eating, but if you like claymation or Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run is a great movie. My "movies", on the other hand....not so great. Maybe Santa will bring me a real movie camera, but in the meantime, my tiny Sony cyber-shot is doing its very best.
More porch sitting! We are so happy it's cooled off enough to eat dinner outside. Now if we could just figure out a way to eat dinner outside...alone.
Eli doesn't give you the time of day until you sit down to eat and then he just must sit on your lap. Iris, Weaslie (Miss Tilly) and Boo, while well mannered (mostly - right Weaslie?), stare holes through you trying to will a table scrap to magically hit the floor. Comby is good for awhile but then thinks things are too quiet and decides to pick on someone - which is funny when it's Weaslie (poor Weaslie). Brushy shows up and Iris has to pin him to the floor to wash his ears, but then Boo wanders over and gets too close and she has to snarl at him. Comby really gets into the mix then and slaps Claire Bear. Which scares Weaslie, so she tries to run away and runs into Iris. Claire Bear doesn't take any gruff from Comby and retaliates. Eli thinks maybe it's time to hit his porch roof condo and thecrazysheeplady loses her temper and runs everyone off the porch.
Saint Tim goes back in the house for more wine. Dinner continues. And as evening falls, we listen to the last of the summer cicadas and the birds wind things up for the night and watch the sheep emerge from the barn, saunter out to get a drink and then head out to graze in the cool of the evening.
Why is this noteworthy? Because we haven't seen rain in far too long. While the bushes in the background still look green, nothing else does. I hope the rain lasts for more than one minute, but at this point we'll take whatever we can get.
Okay, one of these days we are going to look back on these videos and laugh. Until then, pretend that the fence post tripod is workingjust fine.
They say the early bird gets the worm. What I was wanting to catch were those early birds waking up out at the Frog Pond this morning, singing their morning songs and swaying back and forth on the cattails. While it will seem hard to believe that the first video clip was any worse than this one, it was, and by the time I got back out there for another try at 7:00, everyone was already sitting at their desks drinking coffee. Sigh.
Miss Emily and Caspar Belly always sleep in this corner. Heidi and Sunshine sleep in the opposite corner and Woolliam and Petunia sleep side by side over by the little door to the right. I am standing at the full door looking in. I frequently spend more than one minute watching.
One thing (of many) I've really enjoyed about running a blog is learning to do all sorts of new things. I remember, not really that long ago, when someone was showing me how to just get on the internet and how to use email. Now I'm formatting web pages, uploading pictures and basic videos and getting ready to learn how to edit my videos so they are actually enjoyable to watch.
Today's Friday Feature is just a minute of some of the adult sheep out grazing. It's not a great video, but here are a couple things I found interesting. Ford is the big horned sheep that walks up to me today. As he does, you see Henrietta walk away. In the background you see Beanie Baby pushing Elizabeth out of the way and Jester bumping Allie off his clump of grass. I like to watch my sheep throughout the day as I'm doing other chores and I just love to observe the general herd dynamics.
But let's go back to Ford. I've been wanting to tell you a story about him anyway. He was our breeding ram a few years ago and has since been "fixed". Fast forward a couple years to one day back this past winter. I had everyone up for a general check and to trim their feet. Ford (like all of our rams) has traditionally hid in the back behind all the girls. That day however he was out in front and it almost seemed like he was trying to hang out close to me. While none of our rams have ever been mean, you just don't, for safety reasons, ever trust a ram or want him hanging out with you, especially if he's acting a bit abby normal, as he was.
I tried to get him to back off, but couldn't. If you think hard enough about something like that, there is always an explanation - sort of like Border Collies, except sometimes you have to think really hard to figure out what they are thinking (just kidding Iris ;-). It finally dawned on me that the herd dynamics had changed and Ford's son Beanie Baby had taken over as top "ram" and therefore he was in the back of the pack and Ford had been kicked out. Ford didn't want to be out in front any more than I wanted him out there, but once we understood each other, everything worked just fine.
That he calmly walked right up to me out in the field today is unusual. None of our Jacobs except Henrietta have ever been very chummy with people and Ford tends to be one of the most shy. So, as I'm sitting on the mower today, I'll have something interesting to think about. Unless Iris figures it out first.
*Sheep May Safely Graze is from Bach's Cantata 208 and not a reference to safety on our farm, although if Boudreaux doesn't quit biting me while I'm trying to take pictures, he should maybe be learnin' to play that famous piece.