Speaking Of Names

A couple of weeks ago I walked out late one night to check the back gate and turned around to find that Krista Two/White Krista/New Krista/K2 had walked out in the dark to come see what I was doing and we stood out there together for quite a while.  We do this a lot.  She's just. that. sweet.  

Having two Kristas though is just. not. working. 

20 and I went to see The Sheep Detectives movie yesterday. We both loved it. It was so good and so fun that we are going to probably see it at least one more time and I've promised the sheep that as soon as it comes out in DVD (I think they still make those?), I'll get a copy and we'll show it in the barn so everyone can watch.

In the meantime, one of the main characters is named Lily.  This is not a spoiler as she's in all the trailers ;-).  By the end of the movie, as I watched how she and her shepherd interacted, it was obvious that Lily would be a perfect re-name for a great little sheep who deserves her very own special name.  I told her she'd understand when she got to watch for herself.

In the meantime, meantime, if you are not aware of the new Sheep Detectives movie, I've included one of the trailers here.  There are tons of clips all over and it's currently sitting with a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and I saw somewhere that it's Hugh Jackman's highest rated movie.  It's that good!

Don't miss it!  Grab your best sheep friend and go to the movies :-D.

And After

I always love Murphy's marbled colors.

And how black Muffin still is.

The two Kristas, grandmother and granddaughter.  I wonder if the little gray ewe on the left is related to them as well.  She looks more like the OG Krista than the new Krista does, although her "Baa" sounds just like her grandmother :-).

Everyone in the main flock together in one picture.

And a new puzzle!

February

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Lots of fun things to remember last month.  It was cold, but I'd do it again. 

Friends And Family

A local shepherd needed a place for her small flock of beloved sheep...so three of them came here.  The other two went to another friend.  

"Hi!  My name is Krista, but I've heard there's already a Krista here, so I might get a nickname.  I haven't met her yet, but I've been told she is my grandma.  I wonder if she'll recognize me when we get to meet?"

"My name is Coonie and I'm actually really friendly.  My ears are back because the photo lady told me to Stay Back so she could take my picture.  Me and Krista were trying to get a good sniff of her to see if she maybe had some of the cookies she gave us last night in her pocket.  She says my face markings look just like Mini Moose, but that I actually AM mini.  I have no idea what that means."

"My name is Holly and I've been told my cousins Biscuit and Muffin live here.  I don't remember a Biscuit, but I think I remember a little scrawny black lamb who hung out in the front of the barn with her mom and drank a bottle.  I'm not sure how friendly I am, but I was the first one to try the cookies last night and I really liked them."

I think Holly will come around, but Krista and Coonie are already pocket sheep.  That's how they ended up here.  You know there's nothing I like more than a friendly old ewe.  

Everyone settled in quickly yesterday and this morning I was standing out with them and noticed Krista's pink nose and it reminded me of Maisie's cute pink nose...and then I really looked at her right ear.  

I noticed it looked a bit off yesterday, but she's missing her ear tag so just assumed it had torn out funny.  On closer inspection I found the whole bottom had been sliced off along the edge, not from a torn tag.  I'm guessing an old freak shearing accident.

Why is this even worth mentioning?

I think it's maybe a little wink from an old friend.

December

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December...much like the whole year.  Plough on and focus on what went right...

Hair Cut Day

I kept meaning to go out last week and take pictures of everyone while they were still in full fleece because as much as I love knowing my sheep are comfortable and cool, I miss tucking my hands in their long curly fleeces, so shearing is a little sad for me.  I also planned to take a bunch of pictures throughout shearing yesterday and didn't manage to get that pulled off either.  

I did take this quick picture of Krista and Maggie right before we were ready to start shearing and I love the two of them side by side.  Krista loved both of her lambs, but was always a bit sweeter on Christopher as a baby and I remember watching Maggie get just a tiny bit less attention and thinking about what would happen once they both grew up.  Christopher still hangs with the family, but Maggie is always the one right by her side.  

I did take some pictures of a neighbor's sheep as she was getting shorn and while you don't know or recognize this sheep, if you look behind her, you might recognize the orange and white kitty.  Bullseye stuck around for all the people showing up and the clamor of sheep moving and the first sheep being sheared before he decided it was a bit too noisy on the front line and moved onto the hay stack behind him.  He's come a long way and is just a darling kitten.

Thankfully I had the idea to set up my iPad to do a time lapse video throughout the afternoon and that worked really well and is a fun souvenir from a good day with my favorite sheep and friends.  

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I realize some of you can't watch it without an IG account, but I don't know any way around that so just know that I'm sorry.  Maybe some day I'll try to get YouTube going, but at this point I'd just be happy if I could keep the blog current.  Hopefully now that the stress of shearing is over and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted, I'll get re-focused...pun intended.

Wolf Moon

Yesterday was depressing with all the slushy melting snow that I knew was just going to melt enough to turn to very slick ice as the temps dropped back down last night, but we've had a nice inch or so of fresh snow this morning that has brightened things up a bit and provided just enough traction that I can once again walk to and from the barn without as much trouble so I can revisit this picture from the other night and turn it into a fun new puzzle.

I've enjoyed the snow.  Even yesterday was a bit fun driving out on a errand.  I know the animals are really struggling and that's depressing.  The horses were finally able to go out into the field yesterday and that surely cheered them up and the chickens made it around the corner and were able to hang out with the sheep in the afternoon.  Everyone is tired of being cooped up.

The tracks in the snow in the picture are where Lancelot did make an effort to go dig through to find some grass last week.  That's how you could tell the Krista was the sheep who'd been eating grass in the last post.  If you look closely you can see the snow on her forehead where she'd dug through and buried her nose deep into the snow.  Ellie's just been hanging out in the barn eating hay ;-).

A Tale Of Two Sheep

Krista and Ellie.  One has been eating hay and the other has been eating grass.  Can you tell which is which?

Also Rans

Here are a few more pictures I liked from the Solstice shots.  It was really nice "having" to take my camera out to the barn.   Thanks for playing along :-).

Ellie

Murphy

Maisie

Mini Moose and Big Moose.  Big Moose is not so big compared to Mini Moose.

Kaala

Levi, Big Moose and Ellie in the back.

Muffin

Biscuit

Tavia

Krista

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Krista

Of course Krista would be closely following her baby boy!  She was/still is a very devoted mom.  She was such a devoted momma that she was still calling those two lambs over to nurse a couple times a day when they were NINE MONTHS OLD.  That all changed when Pinto arrived.

If you'll remember, Pinto was still an intact ram when he got here.  Krista, Short Round and the lambs were living in the side field at the time and we put Pinto in the adjoining paddock we call Del Boca Vista.  Krista took one look at Pinto and acted like she'd never seen those two lambs before in her life...and they were never allowed to nurse again ;-D.

Now, three and a half years later, her brief love affair with Pinto is long over, but she's still taking care of her last two lambs and I'm so glad she got to keep them with her.  Short Round kicked Ellie out of the house as soon as she walked across the high school graduation stage.  Maggie and Christopher are Krista's family and they are important to her.  Sheep do have friends and families.

"Come on you two.  Time to go in."  

"Okay, mom."

Krista loves all treats and even though she's small, she will fight her way through the crowd, especially for a handful of the "good alfalfa".  She also loves apples so I think we'll have an apple party this afternoon.  Today is a sheep work day.  We are checking eye scores, body condition and trimming feet, so a treat after will be welcome.  I'm posting this early because I'm guessing I'll need a treat later, too!

I think that second picture would make a good new puzzle :-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Christopher

Photographs are interesting.  Christopher looks like a fairly normal sized boy here, but standing next to you he's actually a hubba hubba sized sheep who's almost as broad as he is tall.  His fuzzy forehead is hand sized and you can bury your hands deep into his creamy wool.  He has one of my favorite fleeces.

Christopher is still very attached to his momma and would like to be as friendly as his sister Maggie, but he's just a bit shy.  Sometimes he lets me rub his ears and forehead, and sometimes you can tell he really wants to, but just can't bring himself to do so.  I'm not sure why this is as his mother, Krista, is very friendly and Maggie is as well.  Sheep definitely have their own personalities.

Look at those big chukka boot legs :-).

Christopher is not good at fighting his way through to the front to battle for cookies, but he does like them if you sneakily toss one back on the ground in front of him.  I may set out a couple of flakes of hay out to distract everyone else tonight and then try to sidle up to him and see what he does if I have a cookie in my pocket :-).  

Update:  He let me walk up to him and I think wanted to take a cookie, but hasn't actually eaten a cookie from a hand before I don't think so he didn't really know what to do.  He nibbled right on the edge and then before he could get brave enough to take it, someone else would grab it.  We'll practice some more.

Morning Mystery

Biscuit was the first sheep through the gate this morning, coming over to me for his morning back scratch.  I reached down to rub on him without too much thought...and then realized he was there and no one had gone out.  That's unusual.  

I looked back up the hill expecting to see Murphy fighting his way through, but he was just standing there (the tall sheep between the Krista and Liddy).  I waited a few moments expecting him to start down the hill, but he stayed put.

Everyone else was now looking back at him too.

He kept looking around...

Everyone kept waiting...

 And kept waiting...maybe not quite as patiently...but they waited all the same.

He finally gave the all clear, marched down through the group and they all headed out.  No clue.  I just find this fascinating.

Weekend Wrap Up

Things mostly started settling down this past week and we could all take a deep breath.  We still had some cold and windy weather, but there were some nice days mixed in and that was appreciated by everyone.

I suspected this would be the case if Murphy messed around at the barn too much in the morning.  He figured out that Liddy and Tabitha were getting to sneak into Easy Breezy for breakfast and he spent a couple of mornings thinking maybe he could do so as well.  Krista ain't waiting for no stupid man to tell her it's okay to go out for breakfast ;-).

Our new friend Dug had a big week.  Or I should say a getting bigger week :-).

Big J met me in the driveway one morning.  What a relief!

Maisie reminded us that she is our little ray of sunshine :-).  This is an odd occurrence, the sun shining in the front of the barn.  What actually happened was the sun hit the front of the horse trailer parked over next to the Wool House at just the right angle to reflect back into the front of the barn, spotlighting Maisie.  It will probably never happen again.

On the cold days the cats took turns tucked in next to the heater in the Wool House.

Possum pulled the night shift.

Dug went to Dug(gy) Daycare in the toasty warm greenhouse.

The cats fought over the wool box on the porch.

And Archie eventually won.

Dug got a warm wool poncho...as one does on a wool farm :-D.

Another frosty morning.  The last one...I hope.

And today two of my oldest (long time, not old ;-) and one of my newest friends came to visit and Andrea (of TdF fame) gave spinning a try and I tuned up an old wheel.  Thanks for the photo, Ericka (of Foro/4-0 fame).  It was a great way to end the week.

 

Weekend Wrap Up

The first part of the week was still a struggle mostly due to dealing with the weather, worrying about the weather, being beat down from dealing with and worrying about the weather.  It started warming up during the days some, but stayed cold at night.  We all took advantage of the sun when we could.

Jared and Short Round have been sweet for a couple of years now.  Remember when Jared lost Rocky and she sat out with him in the yard?  They are often seen together, but I've never seen him cuddle up and rest his head on her.  He was tired and still a little beat down by the weather and I was so glad to see him get some comfort from a friend.

You'll have to zoom in to see the bird gathering up stray locks of wool leftover from shearing.  Spring is here...even when it doesn't feel like it.

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This video of everyone heading out one morning was fun.

And on one warm afternoon even Betsy came up to the barn for a bit.  I enjoyed sitting out with everyone for awhile and got a few rows of knitting in.  I love to knit in the barn.  I'm still mushing.

This is an interesting picture and not just because the barn wall is reflecting green...surely not from the grass outside (?).  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this was again a weather feature.  Look how many sheep are standing in the outside shed and how few can be seen in the inside stall.  

The wind was blasting from the south, the back end of the barn.  I had all the doors pulled closed, but left an opening in the door on the inside stall so they could still go out and get a drink and if anyone wanted to brave some grazing.  That opening was enough to drive everyone to the closed off side.  

Wind from the south sounds warm, but it always feels extra cold to me...and it looks like to the sheep and chickens as well.

I have always suspected that if Murphy stopped leading everyone out, Krista would take over.  She's not going to put up with his nonsense and headed out to get busy that morning.  Her kids weren't far behind her and when Murphy realized everyone was leaving without him, he ran to catch up and take back the lead.

For a couple of days Pinto decided he'd like to settle down and tie the knot.  He got sweet on Muffin after shearing and stayed pretty infatuated for awhile, not letting her out of his sight and making sure no one got too close to her...including Biscuit :-/.

Muffin put up with it for several days and then I noticed her walk away with Biscuit once morning and Pinto just kept eating and didn't seem to care.  I wonder how that all got decided.  I never saw any fighting between the boys, so I'd like to think Muffin took care of it ;-).

When Maisie gets cold she stands in the skirting area surrounded by bags of wool.  She's so clever.  That's also how I've been deciding if she needs to warm her puffy coat each night.  Sleeping in the straw with your friends has to be so much more comfortable than standing up by yourself.  She happily kits up.  Last night was the first night she didn't need her coat.

This was a fun new addition to the family and will be a funny story to share heading into the new week, so stay tuned :-).

* * * * *

The week ended on a much better note and I feel like things are getting back to "normal" finally.  Frankie and I have started back to work...just in time for a week of heavy rain predicted.  I'm hoping I don't lose my momentum outside and can instead focus on some inside jobs on the deluge days.

I'm really tired of complaining about the weather.