Saturday, January 27, 2007

Sheep Saturday

Since Leigh (http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com/) was nice enough to link to my blog when talking about her beautiful Rare Breeds Sweater that she is knitting, I thought maybe I'd better have some sheep on here in case anyone popped in over the next day or so. As you might have read in the header, my blog was started almost a year ago to keep my friends and family updated after I received a diagnosis of uterine cancer. After my surgery was over & I was proclaimed "fit" or, anyhow, cancer free, many people asked me if I was going to keep up my blog, as they enjoyed seeing pictures of our farm & critters, and much to my surprise, they also were enjoying my writing. Never one to disappoint an audience (remember, I performed - sang & played my 12 string guitar for 21 years in the "old days" and RARELY missed a Sunday night). So I took the torch and ran with it - telling you stories about our church and family , our critters, my cooking, as well as sharing pictures of our beautiful yard that my DH works so hard to keep up with. The amazing thing is, this is my 98th post - only 2 more and I'll be at #100 - maybe that's when I'll reply to Leigh's wierd meme - (I've been working on it, I really have -
It's just hard to come up with six wierd things about myself LOL!!)


So, back to business - Sheep Saturday -






Remember Gwendolyn?







She came to live with us the first weekend in July - John has been hoping that she would stay spotted, but it looks like she's turning white. Boy is that going to be a cool lamb fleece though? I'm going to have to make sure I stay home the day we shear this year, so I can keep track of it. Her wool is long and crimpy. (here's the blog entry from her first day here: http://ablipontheradar.blogspot.com/2006/07/all-kinds-of-company.html

The girls are milling around in the barn, waiting for us to finish clipping off the tip of Gwen's horn - it's just turning in too tight to her head, but we'll just keep the end clipped and it should be okay.


That's Pearl on the left - she is such a sweetie - John calls her Minnie (ie, Minnie Pearl - get it? Ok, you need to watch some old Grand Ole' Opry shows - she was the greatest!) We are worried that when Pearl is sheared there will be nothing left - she is very petite - Next to her is Anna D -

probably one of John's all time favorite sheep - she has an udder problem, so sadly, he will not be able to breed her again.
I don't know, Pearl's fleece is going to really be nice too - Maybe I'll get to keep both of them?




This is Regina - she is the daughter of Primolana Hanre and Mistic Knoll Rob. She had twin ram lambs last year - maybe this year she'll have girls (hope, hope, hope). Her wool is so long, you can hardly see her legs!








And last, but not least in the ewe department is Susie - She is Anna D's sister, but a year younger. They are all kind of skittish around me, because if I'm in the barn, it generally means worming or something icky like that. But I'm going to "sheep-sit" when John goes to Boise next month for the UU district annual meeting, so they's get used to me again. (especially if there are cookies in my pockets...)



And finally what's not to love here - no it's not some rare "siamese sheep" joined at the horns, it's just the boys having a little discussion on who gets the good bye snuggles from me in the morning.

Well, I'm off the watch "Law & Order, Criminal Intent" - I was really wanting to watch "Crossing Jordan" tonight, but I forgot - and if I had remembered, you wouldn't have gotten to see our flock. Later...

6 comments:

Rascal said...

Does this mean my mom's famous now? You have lots of very pretty sheeps. We like sheeps at our house, though we don't have any (only stuffed toy sheeps.)

vlb5757 said...

Tina, I do love the sheepie pics. I think the color of the wool looks pretty good. I have never spun or knit any Shetland. I might have to remedy that.

Kathy said...

What beautiful fleeces! (And Gwendolyn was my mother's name so you can't go wrong there!)
I really wish I had just clipped off Loretta's horns as well even if the vet did think they needed removal - I suppose because of how short and tight they were.
How do the cats like the sheep?

Tina T-P said...

Thank you Rascal - I'll be sure to pass along your compliments.

Vicki - We'll have to see what we can do about the Shetland wool thing...

Kathy - the cats aren't real thrilled about the sheep, but they always want to know what is going on out in the barn. The girls are just puzzled by Neelix - I don't know if it is his fuzzy-ness or what - but he'll sit just out of reach thru the fence - it's really funny to watch.

Thanks everyone, for "stoppin' by" T.

LavenderSheep said...

Your sheep are really lovely. I just love Shetland Sheep. If I ever had the land and could convince my husband I would definitely have Shetland Sheep.

Michelle said...

Gwendolyn's fleece is either going to make you a very happy spinner or bring you a lot of cash -- it's SO striking! Bella, my spotted baby, faded much faster and more completely, so I won't be getting those wonderful colors, but her fleece should still be very nice.