T'was the night AFTER Christmas

...and all through the house, The Shepherd is happily watching football games & here I sit, on the computer. A few words for you all then I have to get cracking on my church's newsletter, of which I am "The Editor" - which mostly means I nag at people until they get their articles to me, and try to find other news-worthy items that I think might be of interest to our church members.

But first - check it out - look what Santa brought our friend Yvonne!! These two cute little critters are CVM babies.(short for California Varigated Mutant - sounds like some sort of strange nasturcium don't you think?) I love the little brown spot on the backside of the one on the left - They were born on the 20th and joined this fellow - the birth weight of the CVM lambs is almost triple that of the birth weight of a Shetland lamb - so these little ones look half grown to us!









Yvonne was telling The Shepherd about the fact that her "teenage girls" (the yearling ewes behind the mom in the picture above) were having a pretty hard time with everyone fawning over the new rug rats - since before THEY had been the centers of attention. Yvonne had one of her friends come over and, instead of going to the babies first, talked to the older girls and told them how beautiful they were what good aunties they were being. Problem solved - things settled right down. A sheep whisperer - who'd a thought?

Yvonne is a very talented spinner, weaver, & knitter - I met her at the Skagit Highland Games in 2006, when our spinner's guild did a Sheep to Shawl using one of our Shetland fleeces. Then less than a week later, I saw the name "Yvonne" as a commenter on a blog I had just begun to read on a regular basis - Leigh's Fiber Journal and I'll be darned if it wasn't one and the same. (Leigh is a very talented spinner, weaver, knitter too, so it shouldn't have surprised me that they would "know" each other in the blogosphere - I love reading her blog and have learned tons from it - I just find it funny that two people from Bellingham separately knowing another blogger from a whole 'nother part of the country.) Anyhow, I digress.......

Anyhow - Congratulations to Yvonne and her hubby Doug who are not only learning to be shepherds, but, because they want to move their barn, they are learning to be land use consultants too!

On another note - I get a very sweet note of thanks from Meg Gregory at Black Sheep Creamery. I had sent a donation to her directly through our friends Kim & Doug who are caring for the remaining sheep in their flock.

Reading her blog on their website (click on "Musings") is somewhat of a teary adventure. The stories of their flood clean-up rip at your heart, but reading of the generosity of the folks who have come down to their farm to help them clean up and rebuild, mends those rips. Understandably, they have a long way to go. I hope that the money our NW Shetland Sheep Owners raised from our auction helps them a little - and that it helps them to know that other "sheep people" are holding them in their hearts and prayers as well.