Campbelle. And 36 years.

Mom and I drove down to get my sister Monday to take her to Savannah for surgery Tuesday. Heidi had a job interview at Ga. Southern before we left for Savannah. She was already so stressed about the surgery, so we hope her interview went well and she gets the job. She's worked there before for several years before she moved to Colorado. So we all hope she gets back in there again. With her house burning and not being able to find a contractor to rebuild, plus everything else going on, she has had a rough time of it for the past few months. She needs some good stuff to happen. She'll be looking for an apartment so she can get closer to GSU while they are rebuilding her house.

We stayed til Wed. when they finally let her out if the hospital. At 3:30. What happened to discharging patients before 11:00? Geeze, all the computer work these days is crazy! So we got her back to her daughter's and settled in. It was about 6 by then. And we had another 300 miles to drive. Got to mom's about 12:30. She was so tired. I kept trying to get her to lay the seat back so she could sleep. She said she can't sleep in a car. But I'd look over at her and her head would be down flat on her chest. Poor mom. She got a little sleep. But she's in bed by 7 most every evening.  So I know she was slap worn out.

I got home about 1:30. Soon as I got out of the car, I could hear a lamb, far away. All the other sheep were right where I could see them. I'm the only one with sheep within several miles. So I knew it was one of my babies, calling for help. I got my flashlight (thank you SO much Sue! That little tiny flashlight is amazing and bright and I can see all over with it. Best little flashlight ever.) and took off for the front corner of the pasture, where I knew she was. I knew who it was, because she'd been in the same place a few days earlier. Poor Campbelle. I don't know how long she'd been there, but my husband said he heard baaaaing when he got home after dark too. But didn't associate it with a lamb needing help.

I have a cattle panel in front of some field fence in the corner of the pasture, where my cow had messed the fence up years ago. This is how I fixed it. This lamb has been stuck in the same place a few times already. All I have to do is lift up on the field fence and she can get out. Poor baby. She was probably there all day like that. She was a little wobbly when we started walking back. So I moved the sheep back over to the other side til I can get that fence fixed properly.

She's one of my 3 bottle babies. One of the quads. She's the sweetest one of the whole bunch. I can get all the sweet lamb kisses I want from her and she just lets me. I love her. And I would hate for anything bad to happen to her.

This is some of the other sheep, in the back pasture. Don't know why Campbelle was in the back yard by herself. But then some of the other lambs came to be with her.

It's such a beautiful day today. Cool, but nice. I'm washing and hanging clothes out on the line.

That darn rat is still hanging out under the sink. The other day, I noticed this thick brown liquid on the floor under the cabinet.  It was some furniture polish that the nasty rat had bitten into the bottle and gotten all over the cabinet under the sink. So it's nice and stained real pretty. And I got it cleaned good while I did that. I never did find the bottle.

When I got home last night, I heard some noise and went to look under the sink. There was a bottle of vinegar water on it's side with holes chewed in the bottom of the bottle. Got that cleaned up and thrown away.

Then this morning I was looking for a bucket and saw this. In the bucket. It's my hand milker. Without the rubber tubing and syringe that hooked to the teat. Gone. Can't find it anywhere under there. I can tell it's been chewed off. I guess that nasty rat is making a nest? Ugh! I am going to have to get a trap. This is getting bad. Stupid rat.

While we were gone, me and hubby celebrated our 36th anniversary. Apart again. I think the past 30 years, we have never spent one together. He's been on the road. And last year, he got home and almost died. But he got me roses. And he sent me a text with a picture of my roses for this year, while me and mom were waiting for my sister's surgery to be over.  I almost cried. He's so sweet. Don't tell him, but I really never have liked roses. But he's always gotten them for me. One year, he had to leave the day before our anniversary. When I got up the next morning, he had yellow roses in the fridge. I did cry then. It's just the fact that he's always done this for me. No matter what. Last year, he could barely walk and was so sick. But he went to a store and hobbled inside to get my roses. Then got to his truck stop and called me and said he didn't think he'd make it home. He was in the hospital 7 days. One year ago. I do love him. And his roses.

Washing fleeces...

 A few days ago, I washed Amarillo's wool from this past spring. I used nearly all that was in the bag. Just a little tiny bit was no good. I was really pleased with how well it turned out. It's very white and fluffy and soft. I really don't know all the terminology that goes along with wool and fleeces and such. I watched some good you tube videos on how to wash fleeces and just went from there.

This is Amarillo's fleece. It just kept coming out of the bag. There was a lot of it. And not too awfully dirty either. Not much work in this one.

And it's really pretty. All of this I am thinking can be spun on the wheel for yarn. When I learn to spin. In 3 weeks. I am so excited to be going to the John Campbell Folk School in N. Carolina to learn to spin. And they will also teach up to the spinning as well.  So when I come back home, I just might know what all this means.

And today, I decided to get Adalaide's bag of wool out and start washing it. Man, was it a mess! Full of VM and nastiness. Took a while to just get it all untangled and looked over. And she has some really nice wool right now. I might have to look into getting a coat for her and Amarillo. They are both full Finn. And this was their 1st time being sheared.

Just look how nasty this is. A whole lot of it was so matted together I don't think I'll be able to use it.

This is really pretty here. So nice and fluffy. And some pretty good crimp, I hope.

This is the really crimpy part of her fleece. There was a lot of this. I tried to keep most of it together.

                                   Here it is in the wash water. And it's not pink. Just the lighting.

And all washed up on the drying rack. When it's all clean and white like this, I see all the crap I missed. But I'll get it all clean as I pull it apart.

I still have a little more of Adalaide's to wash tomorrow. I just got tired of doing it and it was getting dark over at the studio.

The 1st weekend in Nov. is a fiber show in Murfreesboro, Tn. I am going with my niece on Sat. I have never been to one before and am very excited. And a little nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to want a little of everything there. I do want to try some different fiber from different breeds. I would like to get a few different breeds for my farm later.So I hope there will be sheep there to see. If anyone is up this way next weekend, come by the fiber show.  I have to clean out my Trooper so I will have room for wool!

I hope you all have a great weekend. It's beautiful here.

Thursday...

Last night, on the way home from market, I saw a few houses with smoke coming out the chimneys. I just imagined how nice and warm it would feel inside. So when I got home, I saw smoke coming out our chimney. My husband had started a fire in the wood stove. But when I walked inside, the house was full of smoke! It was not very inviting at all. He said he was having a hard time getting the fire going, so had to crack the door, so all that smoke just came into the house. We had to open doors and windows. But he finally got it going and we are nice and toasty. This week is good weather for a fire. But starting Saturday, back up into summer again. Highs at night in the 50's and 60's with days in the 70's and 80's. So we'll let the fire go out Sat. morning. Anyone else have fires going?

I had some hay left from when the bucks were here, so I gave some to the sheep. They're nibbling on it. I'm just waiting til next week to get a round bale delivered for them. It's that time again. There's still green grass for them to eat.

Here's Stella, sitting in the sun by the front door. My husband brought the "wood box" in and started filling it up. See all the stuff that comes off the wood that we have to sweep up all day? What fun!

Tuesday, mom and I went out. She had an eye appointment that took a few hours. She got to see the eye doctor after all the eye tests the before person does. Then she went into another room and this really old man with a white coat came in. I mean really old man. And the nurse was pretty old too. She's already had her eyes dilated, but she put more drops in her eyes. So this doctor checked her eyes for 30 minutes. With all kinds of what I thought looked like antique devices. he was very thorough for sure. And the nurse put all he said into the computer. When they were done, we went up to the check out and I asked how old the doctor was. She said 88. I was amazed at how good he was. She said he's the best eye doctor they have.

We were starving so we went to the Chinese buffet around the corner. Ate like pigs. It was so good. Then went to Target. I found these boots. I love them. So warm and comfy.

This is so funny! Whatever is coming from under the house into the cabinet under the sink is driving Bubba crazy. It hasn't been back in about a week, since he spent so much time hunting it.  I heard it again a few nights ago. I opened the door and in Bubba went. I shut the door just for fun. Tried to get a picture of him opening the door but I couldn't get the camera to work fast enough. Stella is waiting for him to come out here. She kept watching the door. He was in there about 5 minutes. Silly dog. He just wants to kill something so bad. I hope he gets whatever it is real soon.

It hasn't rained in over a week here! We are actually pretty dry in most places. Except under the cedar trees. I need to have at least 8 of them cut down. They are so thick, the sun can't get through to dry the ground. So it stays muddy most of the time. But it's been really nice lately. I hope the trees will start turning now.

Going to work in the studio today to get ready for the next few weeks. Next Wed. market will be  3 hours. I did really good last night, so I hope to do even better next week. Some Chattanooga chefs will be cooking food from farmers and bringing it that day. So we hope to draw lots of shoppers in.