Good morning!

Freja and Olga, at my studio door this morning. Good morning, girls! Have a nice day. It's only supposed to be about 71 today. Isn't that nice? I need to go ride my bike. I'm down to 218 right now! So need to really start exercising. I hate exercising. Really hate it. I'd rather walk or ride my bike. But need to work on my mid section bad.

I've had a few animal escapes this week. I think it was Sunday, I looked out at the sheep in the South pasture and saw Clack, the wether, on the road. Yes, he was on the road. He'd climbed through the barbed wore and over the laid down chain link fence, right onto the road. My neighbor saw him and ran him back in through the far gate. So I had to put them all over in the North pasture, with the chickens. And the 2 momma hens and 3 chicks. Who are outside of the coop. And sleep in the corner of the middle stall. Where the sheep go into at night.So later that night, I peeked outside to check on everyone. And heard loud chickie chirping going on. Ran out there to see what was going on and where the chicks were. They were on the other side of the coop, with the mommas. So I got the sheep back over to the studio yard, and the mommas and chicks went back to bed. All was well again. I guess I can't let the sheep back over there til the chicks get bigger and can roost.

Then yesterday, driving up the driveway, I thought I saw Bubba. But it wasn't Bubba. It was Freja. In the yard. Olga was at the gate, looking at her.  So I jumped out and caught her. I have to leave the leash on her because she is hard to catch sometimes. So I'll just step on the leash to catch her.  Got her back in. And husband comes out to see if  I'd gotten her. He said she'd been out about an hour. All my fig bushes and blueberry bushes were still ok. The maples still had leaves. He said she just stayed right near Olga the whole time.  So we had to fix more fences. Darn goats and sheep!

Wednesday wool...

This is some of the Cormo roving I bought up in Townsend last month. I bought 2 of this color and 2 white. Then a yellow and pinky-orange. I did not enjoy spinning this pencil roving at all! I havd to hold on so tight to keep it from breaking, my fingers hurt. And then it broke anyway. Many times. It was not fun. The white roving was lots thicker, so much easier. I don't know if it was the wool, or the roving size, but I didn't like it. First time spinning Cormo though. It's really soft.

So I decided to ply these 2 together. I had much more of the white. So still have a lot left of it.

                                                     It's really pretty. Peaches-n-Cream.

I love my porch since I cleaned it up. I sit here and spin and listen to the sounds of the country and my farm.

                                   This is the skein of the Peaches-n-Cream. 95 yards and 8 oz.

This is the yellow and pink roving, all spun and plied. I used my Adalaide's wool that I've been hand combing with my new combs. It was just enough to make 54 yards of yarn. I kept thinking it reminded me of something. I thought maybe that coconut candy? Then maybe the board game Candyland? At first, I wasn't sure of the colors together. Now I love it and wish I had more. 

So what could someone make out of just 54 yards? Or could these 2 skeins be combines? I think they would would make a pretty baby blanket or hat and sweater.

I still have a bag of Merino roving to spin. And the brown, I think it's Jacob, I will finish hand combing the Wensleydale that's the same color, and ply them together. Should be really nice.

I am so hoping my shearer comes Friday. Haven't heard anything from her yet. 2 more days. I hope the wool isn't too messy to work with now.

And here is Olga.

 So poor Freja has been very vocal since I got her last week. Her Nubian is coming out really nicely, I must say. So I figured she needed a goat friend, as the sheep just weren't her type. She did ok with them, but they'd just all get up and leave and not bother to tell her where they were going or how long they'd be gone. So it just wasn't working for her. And she let me know. All day. And night. She needed a goat friend.

So my friend Kendra, who I got Freja from, had a friend who has Lamancha does and wanted to sell a few. I went to see them Monday. She had a really friendly smaller black doe that I just loved. But not for sale. The other one was 5 years old, never been bred, half Nubian and Lamancha. Looked like Freja but with elf ears. Really nice looking doe. Already had nice formed udder and teats. But 5 years old. And half Nubian. Which is great. But Nubians are LOUD animals.

So I chose this girl. When I first saw her, I thought for sure she was part or mostly Toggenburg. But no, full Lamancha. Just some of her line has long hair. She had the sire on site and he's huge and black. And not hairy. And they had 2 sisters. One had hair but not as long. The other had short hair. She comes from a really good line of dairy goats and the sire throws some really nice does with great udders. So She came home with me.

And she didn't have a name either. I'd been looking at old Norse Viking names. Not a lot of pretty names. But Olga kept popping up. And she just looks like an Olga, doesn't she? Her and Freja hit it off great. No head butting at all. It started raining right after I got home, so they went into the shelter. I have a hay rack with fresh hay back there for them in the back yard.

Isn't she pretty? Just 2 years old, by the way. She'll be more than ready to breed in November. My friend Sarah, who got Sandy and Woody, said I can use Woody to breed them. He is John Henry's buck kid from last year. Really handsome buck. And the same color as these 2.

I went ahead and started getting her used to the stanchion. Just a little feed in hers. I have to pick her up to get her on the stanchion now. But pretty soon, she'll be jumping right up. Freja is finally jumping up by herself now!! She's heavy!

Olga saying hello. I love her already. This is just enough for me right now. Just 2. And I'll sell the kids soon after they're born. I just don't want to have as many as I've always had. 2 is a great number to have.

Freja is giving a little over a half gallon of milk a day now. Total, twice a day. Pretty good for a first freshener. And the milk is SO good! And her udder is amazing! Great teat size and good orifices, so the milk just flows right out with no problem. I love udders like hers. Now, I just hope Olga has a good udder.