August 31 (thought it was Sept. 1st)

Last night, on the way back down the mountain. It was quite foggy. But when I got down to the bottom, it was clear again. It's always sort of spooky driving through fog. I keep expecting to see some mystical creature go across the road, like a majestic buck with golden horns and glowing body. But didn't see any last night.

I wanted to start a group of other kindred spirits to meet together and spin or knit or weave or crochet. And talk and have fun, just being with other people who love doing what I love. So I met with a friend who lives on the mountain and has Finn sheep and a fiber studio. We decided on Wed. evenings up at her studio. Then when she can't be there, we'll have it down here at mine.

We started last night. We were the only ones. But it was nice, spinning with someone else. There are several more that will start next week. It will be so fun. And I'll have time with kindred spirits.

When I got home yesterday, I found this pile of clothes in the bathroom, right next to the almost empty clothes hamper. UGH! So I called my husband and grand daughter in there to ask why. My husband said he'd been working outside and his clothes were sweaty, so he put them there, on top of Kansas' clothes. They picked them all up.So fun right? I'm sure other people have this same problem.

This was my view a few days ago, when I finally went out and got in my new hammock. Oh my, it was so boring, just laying there, doing nothing. I started feeling guilty. Then I wished I had a book. And a sick to push myself with. The cicadas were very loud there. And the birds. The sheep looked spooked when the saw me in this big red thing. I laid there and took pictures of the trees. Really is amazing, just being there under such beautiful trees.

                                           Isn't this beautiful and peaceful? It really is nice.

And these 2 trunks are so big. Not sure what kind of trees these are. But I'll find out. I love them.

Wild hair...

Every now and then, I get a wild hair. To clean or make things. Today, I had already decided I was cleaning the bedroom. I had already gotten the dresser cleaned off the other day. So got in there and got all the clothes in bags to take to a thrift store. Vacuumed. Made up some rug freshener with baking soda and some different essential oils. The house smells so good now! I even put some on the beds and pillows. Got all sheets and washed them and hung them out, along with shirts and pants and towels.

Then went out to the pear trees and got all the pears I could reach. Got a big pot cut up and simmering on the stove to make pear butter.

I got 6 pints and a half quart. It is SO good! I have enough pears for dinner tonight. I like to slice them up, put them in a baking dish with butter and roasting them. Then I add cinnamon and honey. Yum!

                While this was going on, I cut up 2 big packages of pork fat I had in the freezer to render into lard.

I got almost 3 pints. That'll last a few months I hope. I put them all in the fridge outside.

It just feels good to be productive and actually do something. I have been on a reading binge the past month. I found a book by Nora Roberts called Jewel of the Sea at a thrift store. It takes place in Ireland. It's a 3 book trilogy. So I had to find the other 2 books. Found the 2nd book at McKays used books. Didn't have the 3rd, so got it from the library. While there, I found another 3 book set of hers called the Dark Witch trilogy, in Ireland too. Oh my goodness, these books are so good, I could hardly put them down to go to bed at night.  Now I have to go to Ireland!

I moved my sheep and alpacas to the back again. We have not had rain here is quite awhile, so the sheep are all so much better and I have seen no signs of those horrible barber pole worms. I am so relieved. But we are supposed to start getting rain tomorrow for several days. Ugh. I have hay for them, so they should be ok. And we do need some rain. Can't believe I just said that.

I went outside to get some cobwebs off the windows and saw a million hornet and wasp nests all under the back of the house and under the shed. I have never seen so many before. We have used so many cans of spray, only to have that many more building nests again. But these back behind the house were huge! I didn't have enough spray to get them all. I hate them!

My Ent

I am obsessed with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I love the Ents. And now I have my own!

I was looking out a back window last night and saw him. I wish I had taken a picture then. But this is from this morning. I can see his face. I don't know his name yet. But I feel very happy to know he's been here for so long. He's in the back of the house, keeping us safe here.

Hammock

Yesterday, my husband and grand daughter Kansas went out back to put up my hammock. Can't wait to use it now. Kansas is behind the tree. And I just noticed Stella is out there too. Can you find her?

Just random stuff

Last night, this was so pretty. I love when the moon looks like this. And that big bright shining star, or planet, what ever it is there, to the left.

Went out to pick some pears yesterday. I heard buzzing and saw some of my girls, drinking pear juice from some of the very over ripe pears. Bees are amazing.

This is pears and figs, from my own trees, in bowls that I made myself. So cool. And so very good!

So the hens have found yet another nice cozy place to lay eggs. This is a hay bale in the corner of the milk room. I'll get a few eggs a day here. The rooster will start cackling when the hens sing the egg laying song. You'd think the boy laid an egg himself, the way he goes on and on about it!

And this. Oh my goodness, this. Really? There's probably a few little teaspoons left in the jug. I really do not get it. Also, the same person who does this, leaves about a spoonful of food in a pot or bowl. Just drives me crazy!!

Right now, this minute, all my sheep are looking great!! I was just about to throw in the towel with them. Seems like every day or so, for the past 3 months, one of them would have puffy jaws. I just wanted to cry. It's been awful. But right now, this minute, they are all ok. I have seen people all over this country talking about barber pole worms, and losing their sheep or goats because of them. It's been really bad this year.

This morning, my husband's outside spraying more hornet nests under the eaves of our house. I went outside to see one. I bent down behind him to look at it while he sprayed them. Then he brought his left arm down, right on my face! I kinda saw some stars. And I have a headache now.

The door...

that disappeared in the previous post.

I really would like a screen door.

Strange day

Yesterday was just a bit different around here. It was Monday, the day I always go to town and do the payroll for Mrs. T, go to the grocery store, walk my daughter's 2 Boxers. I wanted to hurry and get it all done so I could be home during the big eclipse.

I was in my studio, doing some spinning, listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album on KZ 106. It started getting a little darker, but there were clouds out.I went outside several times, just to see what was happening. I saw these really cool shadows under the trees. I had heard to look for them during the eclipse. Glad I did. Really cool!

The goats went to the barn. I was thinking they might start whining, want to be milked. But they just laid there.

Stupid rooster, he just walked around, then he'd stop and look around. I think he was a bit confused about the whole thing.

So it was not at all what I was expecting at all. It didn't even really get dark, just dusky really. Then a man came to ask about goat milk. Right in the middle of it all. And Pink Floyd still playing.

So later I went to fix dinner. I had watched an episode of Bobby Flay where he gets challenged by "regular" people and they see who makes the best dish. Well, this lady was the queen of tuna noodle casseroles. She made it look so good. She won. So last month I think, I made one. It was so good. We used to have tuna casseroles when I was a kid all the time.So I made another one for dinner last night. It was so good!

After cleaning up the kitchen,I went in the bedroom to read. I heard this horrible weird crazy noise. I heard Kansas run to the door, then out the kitchen door. I looked out the bedroom door and saw what I thought was foam sprayed all over the storm door. It was so weird. Then I heard crackling sounds coming from it. My husband was out front mowing. Apparently he ran over some little gravels somewhere and they ended up breaking the storm door. Into a bazillion little tiny pieces. It was so weird. So we got that all cleaned up.

Then a little later, Kansas got herself stuck in our bedroom. We have a really old house with weird doorknobs. If our door is shut all the way, it gets stuck. It took about 5 minutes to get her out.

Then, about 10:30, I thought I better go out and get the milk bucket out of the freezer before it's frozen solid. Went out to the milk room, looked in the freezer and there's no bucket. No milk. Went to the kitchen to see if it was in the fridge. It's not.I had totally forgotten to milk Olga. Didn't even cross my mind to milk her.

So I ended the crazy day by milking a goat at 10:30 last night. She was quite relieved, thank you.

The spider

I was sitting inside today, spinning some more alpaca, listening to Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. Waiting on the eclipse. It was getting a little darker. I looked up and saw this. I had noticed the outside door, that used to have a screen in it but not any more, had a nice huge web all the way across the opening. She must have thought it was turning to night time and she came out to eat. She wasn't out long. I think she got mad.

Deer Darcy

Can you see her, right in the middle of those trees?  That's Darcy. She's been hanging around the outside of the fence where the goats are for the past several days. My husband first saw her out the bathroom window one morning under the trees on the other side. She'll listen when we talk to her. She's so pretty.

I don't know why she's alone. We have seen a whole herd of deer over on the North side of us. I hope she's ok. She looks young.

And this is why I have to give the alpacas Ivermectin every month. They carry parasites that can be transmitted to alpacas. Menegial worms. Probably shouldn't encourage her too much. But she's so pretty and sweet.  She will be called Deer Darcy.

My view..

My view today, while I'm spinning some alpaca. So pretty. And a horse to boot!

A little bit of nature.

Tuesday, I went to get my middle grand daughter from school to go shopping for clothes. On the way home, we went down 24 along the Tennessee River. It was amazing, the whole way to Trenton. And there is no way to actually get that exact same color on any camera. God sure is an awesome artist, right?

And my youngest grand daughter Kansas picked these flowers last night for the table. They are surprise lillies I think. I have been digging these things up for years now and they still manage to come up here and there. But they were so thick before. Now there's only a few. They are pretty, but they get in the  way.

Before and after...

Freya before...

and after.The left side was a big hard mass. It's since gone down to nearly nothing. I'm hoping it will get back to normal. Sometime. It still has a little hardness, but so much better.

The right side is now full of really good milk! I am milking this side once a day now. So I am hopeful for the left side.

Before...

and now. She is so much better. Gaining weight like crazy. She is the best goat. I'm so glad she's better!

Freya is half Nubian and half Lamancha. She has the Nubian mouth! And is a milk goat, so will be a little bony.

The hawk...

I thought I had this picture on the last post, but it didn't show up. I just thought it was neat. That's my grand daughter Kansas.

More birds and bees.

Ok, this hawk is just a little too comfortable here. I was going out to get ready to move the sheep yesterday and saw this. I actually threw a water can at him but didn't hit him. I thought it was hurt, or a baby, but it had a sparrow. It went under the fence here and over to the corner. That's when I saw the little bird. It was still breathing. So we got the hawk away from it and it flew into the maple tree. The sparrow got away.

                   

This is where it stayed for a long time.It finally went back to where the sparrow had been and stayed there for awhile. Then I had to run it off. I went out to the coop and put some fence back up at the top where it was before. I am so glad I did. Because later, after the chickens were in the coop, the hawk had flown over there and was on the roof. 

This morning, the hawk was sleeping on the fence by the garden. I walked out there to see what it was. I could have caught it. It was sleeping and the head was under the back feathers. Anyway, it flew off and we haven't seen it today.

Allan finally came about 8 last night to get that little swarm. It was there all day. We cut off all the little branches and just put the whole thing in the nuc.

Then he went over to check my hives, to see where those bees came from. He lifted the lid on that hive over to the left and those girls were so mad! They were all over him! It took about 10 minutes for him to get them off him.But he did say the top box was full of honey! So when he brings me my extractor back, I will rob the hives! Probably Thursday or Friday.

I stopped on my way home today to check on 4 of the lambs that a friend got from me. She's had them about a month I think. They've been doing really well there. But when I got to the fence, I heard that sound. That raspy weezy sound. So we went in and sure enough, the female, Emmy, had a big ole puffy face.

So went home, grabbed some wormer and red cell and went back over. Got all 4 lambs and gave them all red cell. I did not worm the boys. They looked fine. But she was going to get B complex and I'll go back in the morning and we'll start that.

Geeze, I am SO tired of sick sheep!! That's all I've been doing for 3 months now! All my ewes are finally better. I have been giving them B shots every day for a week now. I think they might make it. But really, I am tired of this! I am not the only one dealing with this apparently. All over the country, it's pretty bad.

So I am going to milk the goat and go to bed. Good night!

Wool, sheep and hawks, oh my!

It's SO hot here right now. It was only 98 yesterday. Just miserable. It's affecting the sheep. They either stay in the barn or under the trees or porch. They have had barber pole worms real bad too, with all the rain then this heat. I think I finally got the worms under control. I am now trying to get their blood built back up. So I am shooting them every day with B complex and giving them red cell. This seems to be working. And I just moved them back over to the front pasture, where it's been rested about a month now and the grass is looking real good.

This is Ella's wool. She's one of the triplets and the one I kept. She's 4 months now and her wool is about 2 inches long. It's really pretty. All the lambs wool is looking really good. I will have SO MUCH wool again next spring!

This is Darla and her boy Sam. I have never kept any of her lambs before. But he is the sweetest boy and he will be staying here awhile. He loves his momma!

This is Annabelle and her baby Goldberry. She had quads and I gave the other 3 to friends up the road. They all look like her.  I have yet to get Goldberry to let me touch her. It actually took about 4 years for me to get near Annabelle. She now lets me pet her and scratch her face and back. Goldberry is going to be like her.

Annabelle's only other daughter, Buttercup, was like this too. Til she had her lambs. Not I can pet her.

This is some yarn I've been spinning for the past few weeks. I started the white wool a few weeks ago. When I went down to S. Ga. for my sister's surgery in Savannah I took my wheel and spun in the waiting room at the hospital. I love seeing people's expressions when they see me spinning! And I am so surprised that most people have never seen someone spin before. Or know anything about sheep or alpacas. So I get to do a little education about the whole process. Also, the older people come over and tell me about growing up on a farm and how this brings back memories for them. That's fun!

SO I finished the white wool there and started the brown alpaca. Finally finished it yesterday and started plying them together. I really like this and it's so soft too. I really love doing this, but I get so sleepy! It's like driving. Or just sitting. I get so bored. I wish I could do something else while I spin. I'm such a multi-tasker, it's just hard to do only one thing!

And we have a resident hawk family here. I did notice last week a hen was missing. I was hoping she might be sitting on a nest of eggs somewhere. But then I saw the hawks. So she may have been breakfast. These hawks are awfully brave too. I see them in the apple trees. And this morning, I was going to the coop and saw one right in the middle stall. I threw the green feeder at it. Darn hawks. I like them, but not right here.

Have a happy Sunday y'all!

Us

Sorry this is turned sideways. But this is my husband. This is when we first met. He was in a motorcycle club called the Rappers. They called him Tiny. I didn't know his real name til almost before we got married. Seriously.

We went to the Sherrill family reunion this past weekend and someone brought this box of pictures from years of the reunion. We got to take some of our families pictures. There were some really funny ones! And some of my girls when they were younger that we had to really look close because they looked like the grand daughters.

                        This is us. The girls are probably 11 and 9 here.So cute and sweet!

                           And this is probably 3 or 4 years later. Teen agers! They grew so fast!

It was really fun looking at all the pictures of everyone who's come to the reunion for all these years. This was my 38th year going. It's changed a lot through the years. So many people not here any more. And so many more new ones coming.

Farm stuff...

I had hooked this feeder onto the stanchion last week and have just left it there. I'm glad I did. And it will stay there too. Olga is a very wasteful goat. When I had both stanchions in here and milking both goats, under her stanchion would be about half her feed. She'll take a huge bite, then lift her head. And when she does that, about half of it falls to the floor. I tried sweeping it up and putting it back in. But no, goats will not touch anything that's been on the floor! So the chickens would get it.So I kept hearing things hitting this feeder and it's the food that would have hit the floor, falling into the feeder! Ha! So when she's done with the feed in the wooden feeder, I just dump what's in the green feeder back in. Solved that waste problem!

This is Sugar. He and Misha are always the last to go anywhere. Well, Sugar is.He is either not paying attention when the sheep move to another place or he is pooping. This is the world's slowest alpaca ever. Seriously, this guy saunters. He's the slowest saunterer in the world too. My sister saunters. She never walks fast, even when she's in a hurry. Or when anyone else is in a hurry. She's always behind everyone else. So is this guy. I have to wait a few minutes for him to go through the gate. And if I'm too close, he won't go through. He's so weird.

And THIS guy. Oh my, I want to kill him! He literally crows ALL DAY! And especially when anyone is outside. He follows me into the milk room where the feed is in the morning, and crows in there. First thing in the morning, I am already pissed and cussing! I hate this rooster!

Anyone else have a rooster that just crows all day long?