Mrs T. and her new shawl. And a squirrel.

 This is Mrs. T. She was so happy to get her shawl, "knit with love". I put the buttons on at her house this morning and gave it to her. She loves it. She kept saying how wonderful it was that I knit that for her. It looks really pretty on her. She's a beautiful lady.

I had my camera today and was taking pictures. I love to sit right here and take her picture. The water color painting above is her house. This is where i always remember her, sitting, reading the paper or watching the news.

We were sitting on her sun porch, eating lunch, and this squirrel ran up on this feeder and started eating as fast as he could. I got my long lens on and started snapping pictures. These are a few of my favorite shots. Squirrels are so pretty.

He saw me looking at him, but he just stayed right there and ate til he was full. Look at that long fluffy tail!

I am loving this camera! Can you tell yet? I think I'll take some of these really good photos and print them and frame them to sell in my shop. Who knows, someone else may really like them too. My daughter has some really good pictures of her new puppies that are so cute. I'll have to get her to frame some too.

Happy weekend y'all!

History of the Little House.

I really don't like to paint. Maybe it's because of all the prep work it takes to even begin to paint. If you're living in the house, then there are pictures and things on the walls to take down. Furniture to move out.  Cleaning the walls. It just goes on and on. And then there are millions of colors to choose from. It's just awful for me.

Since this little house hasn't been lived in in a few years, there wasn't too much to be moved. Just all the crap to throw away. Then, since we've never bothered to paint the sheet rock after we fixed the ceiling before we could move in 10 years ago, I had to tape and mud it. Which, to me, is the hardest thing to do. Especially a ceiling.

This house was built by the man who lived here. There has only ever been 2 families who've lived here: the Bells and us. The Bells built the rock house we live in back in 1948. It's as old as my husband. And they never had children. From what I've heard about Mrs. Lillian Bell, she was a mess. Not a happy woman. So Mr. Bell had this little house built for him to get away from her, back in the '70's. It's very well built, like the big house. And the barn out back. These 3 things will be here forever, I do believe.

So he had this house built for him to get away from his wife when she  wasn't being agreeable. This was his "man cave", back in the day. He had it all fixed up, with a bed and all. Had washer-dryer hook ups, phone jack, tv, I'm sure. And lots and lots of outlets! He died back in the early '90's sometime and left Mrs. Bell here, all by herself. Well, she never did like this house, so she just left it alone. It was a mess for sure. Roof leaked really bad, enough for the ceiling in the whole front of the house to fall in. We could barely get in the front door to look inside when we came to see the house. And the other house was even worse. She apparently was a woman who thought everything should be done for her for free, by family members. So, not a whole lot got done, in either house. And she was put in a nursing home not long after he died, I think. So the houses were empty for years.

So, during this time, people came and got things from both houses. There was only a bed and a table and chairs in this little house. AND, all along all the walls in the living room, were OLD black and white pictures of just about everyone who ever lived in this Cove. From back in the '20's thru probably the '70's. AND Mr. Bell, being the man he was, put up 12' 1x10 board all up and down the walls to hang all these hundreds of 8x10 pictures on. I mean, they were on all 3 long walls. Full of pictures.

We had to first get a roof put on this house and fix the ceiling so we could move in here while the big house was being gutted and renovated. We took all the pictures down, put them in boxes, and started asking people of the community if they wanted any of them. I took several boxes down to the local churches.

Then we had to take down all those boards. Which we used to make our new chicken-goat-horse shelter. They are still up, doing rather well. Free wood is great. So that's why all the sheet rock mud is on all the walls. And Mr. Bell didn't believe in doing anything half way either. That man used 6" long nails to nail up all those boards on all those walls. Yes he did. And in the big house too. They built stuff to last, back in the day.

So now, I am waiting on the mud to dry. I'll pick out some colors to paint the walls tomorrow while I'm in town. I'll sand later tonight and maybe paint the ceiling.

I don't mind painting an empty house, with nothing in my way. And I so look forward to what this place will be soon. And how much room I will have to spread out and get some things done. And not have to put stuff away!

I love this old light fixture in the kitchen. I think I'll leave it up. We've kept all the old light fixtures in our house too. I like old stuff.

I'll post more pictures in a few days, when I've done some more. Or when there's actually some color to see.

Getting started...

I cleaned out the little house this morning. I just threw everything away. It's been in there for too long and was nasty stuff. There are mice  and long legged spider things all over. There's even a skunk that has been living underneath the house all winter. When we first bought this place, there was a ground hog family that lived there. Lots if wildlife. So they all have to go now.

This is all I can get on this truck for this trip. It's loaded. I still have the couch and fridge. I'll take the fridge to Chatt. to sell. We got $30 for the old freezer we took a few months ago. It takes that much gas to get there in this truck though! Not really worth it. But I can put that money toward another fridge.

The porch is a mess right now. The stuff on the left side I'm keeping. Needs to be cleaned real good. But it can all be used over here. I'll paint the porch and put a railing up. And something to hide under the porch.

Still not sure what color to paint the outside of the house and porch. The roof is tan. I have always loved green. So I thought a nice light mossy green. I'm going to have real screen doors over here too. There's a back door that needs some work. And all the windows need screens fixed. It's pretty cool here with all the cedar trees around the house. And I'll get a ceiling fan for the porch and inside. I also have a small window AC I'll put in the kitchen window.

This is facing the kitchen. To the left is the bathroom. And that wall here has washer-dryer hookups. I hope to get some for this house. And a wall to cover them up with sliding doors. To the left is the front door, then a small closet. The small door is a little pantry. I can store all my soap making things in there. That's what I want to use the kitchen for. I can put wire shelves in the there for curing soaps too. And also I'll make jams and jelly for market. And cheese for us!

This is the big room. The front door is to the right here. This whole big wall will be shelves for yarns and roving. And then I'll have some cute comfy chairs and lamps for knitting. I want a big sewing table-work space in the middle of the room too.

This is the back wall with the back door. It faces the goat's pasture-yard and barn. I'd love to have a small window on this wall. But not any time soon. This will be shelves and cubbies for yarn and fabric here to.

So tonight, I went over and swept all the crap off the floors and spackled all the holes on all the walls. I'll leave the flooring down til I paint the ceiling and walls. Then I'll just paint the floors. I'll have rugs all around too. I might just paint big stripes or squares. Who knows.

I feel like I've gotten some things done over there. I feel motivated and ready to do this! It feels good to have a goal and plans to work toward now. Can't wait to see more progress.

Just one more...

 I joined a beginner knitting group in Feb. The project was a prayer shawl. I got some Lion Brand Homespun yarn for the project. 3 skeins.  Glad I did, because it really hides all the mistakes of a beginner. And believe me, there are many!

I started this shawl with my friend Libby in mind. She was just getting over brain surgery and battling cancer. But she passed away in early March.

So this shawl was going to be for Mrs. T. The little lady I help take care of. She's 96, going to be 97 in July, but swears she's going to be 100. You just cannot argue with her. Even though it says the year plain as day on her DL. So, when I go to her house for the day on Fridays, I take things like this to do. She asked what I was making not long ago, and I told her it was a nice shawl for her, to keep her warm. She was so thrilled. She keeps saying I'm knitting it for her with love. And I am. She gets cold easy even in summer, so doesn't like the AC on too much. So we all are burning up most of the time. This will keep her warm, and all of us cool!

I added a crocheted scalloped edge for the border. Just looks better to me to have it all evened up.

And I found some pretty wooden buttons to add to the front, to help it to stay on her shoulders. I'll give it to her next week and take pictures. She's a beautiful white-haired Southern lady. I love her. I think we will all be happy now!

I need to knit a few more now. One for my mother. And one for me. And probably one for my husband. We have still not turned the AC on yet.

Zarah, Lucille and Mabeline

I just sold all 3 of them to the nicest, sweetest big family ever! I've been emailing them and they came up tonight from Calhoun, Ga. In a big huge white van. With 6 of the cutest little kids, all under 7. So sweet! And very polite and just so cute.

I got all the goats and kids in the little holding area. And all the 2 legged kids and mom and dad were in there too. The Zeeboo just laid right into poor little Anderson and knocked him down. Poor little kid. He was wearing an orange shirt. He was ok and I got the mean goat out of there real fast. And all the kids kept asking if they were going to get the mean goat.

So they loaded them all up in the big van. The 2 legged kids were so excited. These goats are huge compared to their little tiny Nigerian goat kids. They might be breeding for mini Manchas.  Just thought of that.

I always hate to sell my goats. I want them to go to homes just like this. But sometimes they don't. So I am very happy about this sale. I feel real good about it. My dream sale for sure!

And this is more money to put into my new adventure, the fiber studio! Getting started tomorrow. I bought sheet rock mud and tape for the ceiling. Then while it dries, I'll get paint. I am thinking a nice calm soothing blue for the walls? I am a sucker for green and have it all over my house. But I am really liking blue right now. So it may be a blue room. Then the bathroom might be green.

So, I am on the way to a fiber studio-shop! And Zarah, Lucy and Mabel are on the way to their new home. With a bunch of great kids. So fun!

Practice pictures...

 I went out this morning and just took pictures. My daughter Abby came over yesterday and showed me several things about this new camera that I wasn't doing right. So these are a bunch of pretty good practice shots, from my yard, gardens and the hay field. I hope you enjoy them!

Some of my Stella D'Oro day lilies in full bloom with the pretty blue chair and pot of blue flowers. Also some Lamb's Ear blooming too. Bees will be loving that!

This is my "Bee Garden" full of blue, purple, pink, yellow and white flowers and herbs for the bees to enjoy. I really love this garden. It's surrounded by my 12 blueberry bushes. They are full of berries too!

Finally, some nekked sheep!

 After waiting what seemed like months, my sheep have all been sheared! (I can't tell them apart now til I get closer!) They've never gone this long, and I was getting worried. To me, they seemed really hot, especially when they stood around panting like dogs. But it's not been too hot, except for maybe a few weeks. And not all together. Nights have been really nice and cool.

So I found out, on a sheep forum, that sheep's wool is an insulator. It keeps them cool on hot days and warm on cold days. I just never knew this. The shearer, Rosemarie, said it's true. After a few others said the same thing. So I learned something new. Again. It's good to learn something every day, right? But they look much better without all that heavy wool all over them. And I believe they feel better now.

AND, I now have 6 bags of wool from them!  Adele's wool will be good for felting. Since she is half hair and half Finn, her wool is a bit hairy. I may end up selling her if I don't end up breeding any of them next fall. I could use Bilbo The Hobbit Ram on her and Darla for some meaty lambs. But those would be the only 2 ewes I'd breed. I think I'm done breeding the Finn sheep.

Also, Amarillo, the ewe that had the quads, her wool had some breakage throughout. It could possibly have been because she had quads. I'll also use her wool for felting this time. And hopefully, next year, her wool will be fabulous!

Annabelle and Adelaide's wool is amazing! And my little tiny Buttercup, who just turned a year old in April, has beautiful buttery soft wool! Can't wait to get it all cleaned and carded now! Rosemarie was really impressed with her wool and the other 2.

And they were all really healthy looking, weight-wise. And all had nice pink eyelids too! I was SO relieved to see that. I had been so worried, with so many sheep, that they would get Barber Pole worms again. Especially since the grass just wasn't growing and I couldn't get all the poop raked up fast enough. But they are all looking good. Except for Amarillo, she's a bit skinny, but she had quads. Still has the 2 ram lambs on her. Which need to be castrated!

They are in the big pasture now for awhile. It finally started growing. They'll stay there a few weeks til the other pasture gets growing taller. I quit feeding grain! They were getting a little chunky.

They got in the little barn in the pasture next door. It seems to be cool in there and the flies are really bothering them. I need to either buy or make some spray for them. The poor alpacas are not liking these bad flies. They are like horses and the flies get in their eyes. Poor boys. I made a spray yesterday with citronella and tried to get it on them.

This is Cassidy, Adele's ewe lamb. I decided to keep her. She would be at least 85% Finn. Something like that anyway. She's a big girl. And I hope she will have some nice wool. Rosemarie seemed to think she would. Not too sure about one of the black lambs though.

It is finally starting to feel like it might start getting warmer now. The lightenin' bugs are all over the place. I love seeing them all over in the trees. The garden just got watered really good tonight from the sprinkler. Got more corn, beans and okra planted last Thursday. The squash and zucchini are looking good. A bit slow, so they got a good soaking. The okra I planted a few weeks ago is a few inches high now. And the tomatoes need staking bad! I just mowed down the radish and lettuce rows and will plant cucumbers there. And the one wide middle row will be for butternut squash. Then I wait. I'll take a break from the Wed. market a few weeks. Do some weeding and mulching. And wait some more.