The lamb and the hen.

Went out this afternoon to gather eggs. Can you see that black thing at the top of the hay bale?

It's a hen. She had the best ever nest in the top of this hay bale. Nice and comfy. She was there to stay for awhile.

   Til Cassidy, the sweet lamb, came to see what she was doing up there. All by herself. All comfy cozy.

           She asked the hen, "Can I see what'cha got in there? Is it something good? Huh? Huh?"

                                                                    And the hen left.

                                                                              The end.

Snow on trees...

 I love  bare trees covered in snow. It's so pretty.

And the big tall majestic cedar trees, bending with the weight of the heavy snow.

Husband went out and measured the snow on top of the Trooper. It was 6" Looks like so much more. In some places it is more.  We lost power last night about 11. Normally I wouldn't mind at all, except now we have well water. Which is run by an electric pump. So no power, no water. I have to have water, like all the time. We have wood heat, so we're ok there too. But water? That's scary. But it came back on a few hours later. I am SO thankful. My mom or Mrs. T never lost power either. I was so happy about that. If they did, I would have had no way to go get them. We are quite snowed in way out here.

Bad dogs and a braided kid head.

If you can see through the horribly awfully dirty nasty door, you can see the 2 horribly nasty very stinky bad dogs. I don't clean the storm doors but maybe when we have company coming over. We have 2 dogs.

They got out of the yard and went out back this afternoon. To the very nasty pond. And went swimming. Or maybe chased some geese. Or went fishing. Whatever they did, THEY STINK! Really bad.

They are now out in the side porch. Waiting for me to figure out what to do. Or spring. Which ever comes first. Because they are not coming back in the house like this. I mean really, they stink. I just went out to feed them and I almost got sick. It's gross.

And look at Bubba. He's like, " Um, Stella made me go. She wanted to go and I didn't. But she made me go back there. Can't you tell she's the bad one?" HA! It's all Bubba. Always is. He jumps the gates and she has to follow him. Just because.

But really, good grief they stink.

And this is Kansas' head. All braided up in little teensy tiny braids. She looks so cute. She already has 1 dread, wrapped in blue yarn. She hates to have her head touched. It was not fun for her. But she really hates to even wash her hair. So I've always said she should have dreads. I think one day she will have her whole head in dreads. Just because. But right now, it's braids.

So school was out today because there was a little snow last night. That's all gone now. But tomorrow we might could get up to 4". So probably no school the rest of the week. I'll leave the braids in til she goes back to school. I'm just afraid this is a bit too much for where she goes. She might get teased.

What do y'all think? I love these pictures of her.

A little progress.

I've got 24 of these Sunburst Granny squares made so far. (I'm using cotton yarn. Love it.) I love them and they are so easy and fast to make. And they're so pretty and colorful. I need colorful right now. Everything seems so black and white right now. Not very happy lately. Just seem to be plodding along, doing what needs to be done. I think, if I didn't have animals to feed, I wouldn't even get up in the mornings. Just blah, blah, blah. ugh. It's not just the weather. There are lots of other things going on that aren't good. I hope when the sun comes out and dries up all the muddy mess and grass starts growing again, maybe things will be better? But I don't know.

Here is some silliness. My youngest daughter Abby and her husband came out in the snow and brought us a bunch of things. Brought Kansas and Chloe some things to do. Hair stuff and make up. This is what they did with some of it. Kansas thinks she's a cat all the time anyway.  I won't put Chloe's picture on here. It's too sad.

It's a lot warmer here today. Husband just said he saw the sun! We're supposed to have some more freezing nights to come, but warmer days. So spring is on the way here!

And today...

How many days til spring???

It's been a week since I posted last. Goodness. I have no idea why, other than just laziness I suppose. And trying to stay warm. Well, not really laziness when I am trying to keep animals watered and fed and alive. It's been SO COLD here the past week. I mean, like 8 degrees last night and tonight. And not much higher than that during the day. It's so cold, I have to haul warm water to the sheep and chickens several times a day because it freezes fast.

I know it's cold all over right now and I shouldn't complain. But I read on someone's FB post that last year this same time, we were at 70. That's a really dig difference.

I am so glad I did not breed my sheep. I see a flock of Katahdin sheep up the road popping out lambs this week and I feel so sorry for the lambs. They have no shelter at all. And it's so cold. I know they are sheep, but these are new born babies. The big cattle farm about a mile from me used to have calves in Jan. and Feb. but is now having them earlier. I am so glad.  It's just hard on little baby animals. But they survive somehow. All that good warm milk from momma.

I hope you all are staying warm where ever you are. We have a wood stove that we have been keeping filled up. It's a lot warmer this year because the wood is nice and seasoned. Last year we couldn't get the house warm when it got below 40. But now it stays about 70.

In other news, I am working on dreads. I have always liked dreads. And have been thinking about doing my hair in dreads. I have long hair nearly to my back end. And I hate washing my hair. It's always in either a pony tail or bun. So much easier to take care of that way. So I've done 3 so far. And I really love them. They are underneath in the back. And tonight, I wrapped them in some blue yarn. I hope it will make them lock faster. I also did one in Kansas' hair in back. She loves it. I'll probably do her whole head this summer. I always said she should just have dreads. She really hates to brush her hair. She could just do the neglect method, but I don't know. It would all be a matted mess. So I don't think I'll do my whole head in dreads. And I have only done the top half so far. So the bottom is normal hair. I might just do some and be done. I'll just see how my hair does. Most people say their hair has a mind of it's own when it comes to dreads. We shall see.

Poor ole Stella.

This is what happens when the grand child takes the dog hostage. She is dressed in a very old Halloween witch costume and had every nail polished. And some perfume for good measure. Because she's a farm dog. And she stinks. But she sure looks good right?

Almost...

 but not quite ready yet.

I saw a friend had posted some daffodils her kids had just picked for her and she's just up the road. So I walked out back to the patch  back there and they are almost ready to bloom. I hope the 14 degrees tonight doesn't hurt them.

I'll be covering the bee hive up tonight. And then on Saturday night, another below 20's night. I am ready for this week to be over!

Some crocheting going on here.

I was bored yesterday so got on you tube and looked up granny squares.  Found a really good video, in 4 parts, teaching how to make these pretty sunburst squares. I love them! And fairly easy to make. But will take a lot of yarn.

I have a big bag full of cotton yarn so I am using that. I  love working with cotton. I'll see how many I can make. I have a huge cone of the cream color for the border.

And also made some flowers. I love you tube! So much good info there. The big ones are wagon wheel flowers, but I only did the first row of petals. I could not understand the rest to make the back petals.  The smaller one is really easy. I made a scarf with a hoodie and it needs some embellishments so made these for it.

I am really liking the free well water. We might just use it til late spring. It's not a deep well so will run out in summer really fast. My husband's good friend said he and his son and a few others can come do the water line and save about $1000. So we will just wait. I hope the city water police don't catch on.

Mmmmmm...

Wow. Just look at all that green. It doesn't even look real to me right now. Right there where the sheep are is just mud today. And old hay all over the mud. And bare tree branches. Just lots of brown. Not a bit of green.

It will look like this again. Soon.

On a brighter note...

this morning, I just pulled a little wool off Cara. It was so pretty, I decided to get a little off all the lambs. I am really happy with it all.

These are the quads, Click, Campbelle, Cameron and Clack. Cara is a single.

I was thinking the boys, Click and Clack, would have horrible wool. But theirs is really nice. Clack has the longest and lightest and Clack's is thick and darker, but shortest. They are on both ends here. Cameron's is really pretty. And all very crimpy.

Campbelle has the longest of the quads. And she's almost white. She's to the right of the pen.

Then Cara's is long too.

They are all so nice! Now I am really anxious to get them all sheared. I didn't get any of Cassidy's yet. But I will later.

This is Lucinda's. She was my very favorite ewe of all. She's really the reason I got Finn sheep. She was Annabelle's mother. She died a few years ago from barber pole worms. Back then, I didn't know enough about them to save her. Makes me sick. She was beautiful. Just look at her wool.

And I am sick because the girl who sheared her back then, did a horrible job. Had lots of second cuts. But I am working slowly on getting this fleece all cleaned and carded then spun. She is also the reason I wanted to learn to spin. I want to make a sweater from her wool.

This is her fleece. Most is really nice.

But you can see all the waste in the little basket on the left. Lots of waste. I am using a dog brush to flick the ends so I can card it. I've already spun some. But it's going to take a LONG time to get it all done. I want combs and a hackle so bad.

So my husband figured out a way to run the well water to both houses and just plugged the bad water line up. We are working on getting the money to get the plumbers out to get the new line dug. I asked on the bee forum what I should do about my bee hive out in the garden. They will have to go about 10" from it with the new line. The guy said it's mainly the vibration of the ditch digger that agitates the bees. I don't want the bees to leave or attack the workers while they are here. Some are saying to move it and put a screen on the entrance. Or just screen the entrance. Or wait for a warm day so most bees will be out foraging. Or a really cold day where they'll all be inside. And run water over the entrance to make it look like it's raining. I think I'll just put screen on the entrance. Or just leave them alone. I run the mower right in front of the hive and they aren;t bothered too much. We will just have to see. I just want this new water line in soon.

Apparently, the going rate for plumbers is $3.00 a foot. So it's going to be $1950.00. Yippee!

What we've been up to

About ankle deep in mud and old broken leaking water pipes. As if there wasn't already tons of mud on this farm and not a dry spot anywhere. UGH!

We have been dealing with this very same spot here for years now. Seems like we patch a little every year. It started to the right in this pic. Then it moves down a few feet. We don't even cover the hole back up any more because we know we'll just have to dig it all back up. Which is probably not very bright.

So from right here, it is now gray PVC pipe. But going to the road from here is all very old galvanized pipe. VERY OLD PIPE! The main house here, where we live, was built in 1948. They had a well back then. Then about 1975 or so, the old man had the little house built to the right beyond this picture. So this is in between the 2 houses.

I don't know when they got city water here, but they re plumbed it all over to city and disconnected the well. There is a hole that's covered up with a wooden box in the cat room, which is next to the kitchen. We think it had something to do with the well. It's creepy though.

You can see where this river is headed. To my garden shed where my mowers and tiller are parked.  To the right is the bigger sheep pasture, where the sheep are staying now til we can get this fixed. It's just a muddy mess over there.

My husband called a plumber this morning and they're supposed to come out and look things over and give us an estimate. I'm thinking a couple thousand bucks. It's about 650 feet to the road straight ahead. And when we do get this all done, I want a faucet for my garden and to water the animals over on the other side of the driveway, to the left. If you can see under the shed to the left, I have the old kitchen sink under there. I  have wanted to be able to use it to wash produce there. That would be so nice. Then run a water line to the garden from the wash water. And be able to water the garden without having to drag 10, 586 feet of hose all over this farm. Because the only 2 outside faucets we have on this whole place are at the little house and the well house. That's all.

So, the husband has this bright idea to put a Tee right here, about 12 feet from the well house, to the faucet there, for the 2 houses to have water. From the well. I have no idea what he's talking about. Til I see it. This is all well and good right now, since we have so much rain in the winter. And NONE in the summer. And the well goes dry after filling up the sheep trough. But we have an 11 year old girl child here now. If anyone else has one of those, you know what I'm talking about, right? 30 minute showers and all. So this might work til we can afford to have the water line fixed.

This is the old well house. I use it for all kinds of things as you can see. But the water is amazingly cold in the summer. I love getting soaked after working out in the garden. So nice. That little hole is to the left of the picture here, about 12 or so feet away.

  And just a little bit of mud for your enjoyment, just in case you don't have any right now. This is where my poor sheep have to go through to go out back. And where I have to go to get to my studio. I hate it!

So anyway. I hope it's not going to cost an arm or a leg to get this done. But it so needs to be done. because I am sick of having to deal with this mess all the time. That's all.   ( I might do a Go Fund Me project.)

Just dreaming.

It is SO wet here right now. And I cannot remember what dry ground feels like. Or even what it looks like. I don't think there is a piece of dry ground anywhere in the country at this moment. I am so tired of slipping and sliding all over while trying to get to the animals to feed the poor things. It's just a slippery slimy wet mess out there. And I am tired of it! I'm tired of having to pull on my boots just to go outside. Then having to pull these things off is a nightmare anymore. The handles are ripped so I have to get them just in the right place on the steps to yank them off. Just another of life's little inconveniences, right? I know this summer, when it's dry as a dessert, I'll wish for these days. NOT!

But really. Why is winter SO wet anymore? Seems like this whole winter, it's just been rainy or freezing or snowy. Which, by the way, I LIKE walking on frozen ground so much more than wet slippery ground any day. But hate being so cold! Awe, will I ever be satisfied?

SO, I will dream of spring and seeds and gardens and DRY DIRT for now! Look back at all my pretty veggie plants with all their pretty blooming goodness. And dram of all the good healthy veggies I'll be canning this year for us. Because I am down to just a few jars of green beans. And they are from 2008. And just a few jars of tomatoes. So, I will be concentrating on growing a canning garden for us this year and now so much for selling.

There is so much to do out there too. Last fall, I threw clover seeds out on most of the rows. They all came up. But now I want them to bloom for the bees. I did plant a lot where I won't have to till under, just for them. I am seeing all the good rich manure the chickens are composting for me in their yard. And all the old wasted hay they are scratching around. I am throwing their feed in the old hay so they'll scratch it up some more. I'll be using it for the garden.

And I'll be getting a few new critters in 11 more days. Feb. 14th, this farm will be a whole lot different.

I will also be looking for a few milk does too. I've been buying cow milk from a friend, but at $6.50 a gallon, twice a week, it's getting a bit expensive. So I am going to have to break down and get a few does. I have really missed them. But not so much during all this crappy weather.

So, enjoy some pretty color and dream of your own gardens!