New girls in town -

Since both Jewell and Moni had "birthing" problems, The Shepherd decided that they needed to go to a new home/spinner flock where there would be no chance of them getting bred - Since we had gotten both of them from our friend Donna - she graciously offered to take them back in exchange for two of her lambs from this year. Both of these girls have such beautiful fleeces, I am glad that they are going back to their original home to live out their lives.






In exchange, we got two new lambs - Tinkerbell and Pixie Dust - however, The Shepherd decided that he wanted to re-name them - so we now have DonnasSheep - "Donna" (so named because her wool is almost the same color as Donna's beautiful red hair)









And DonnasSheep Vanessa

We loaded them into dog crates and since it was cool, we all went to a local restaurant for the yummiest brunch.












So, after several years, The Shepherd has his little red sheep back. I think they will both hold their color too - as they haven't done the "lamb color change" yet - here are Wicket & Krissie checking out the new girls in town.





They both have just the sweetest faces and are different enough that even I'll be able to tell them apart.

They had only been weaned for a day or two when we moved them, but they were very good and quite quiet, in contrast to Wicket & Krissie (whose moms went back to Donna's) - they are STILL complaining.

Poor little things.

Baby, it's COLD outside!

New York, you can keep your "haute couture" - here on the farm, we have "oat couture"

The temps are supposed to hit lows in the teens tonight with an Arctic blast moving down from Canada. The Shepherd went shopping at Value Village this afternoon - Since it is not supposed to rain, he went with heavy fleeces (ironic...) H.B.'s new coat fits him like a glove.

We think that he thinks he's got casts on his front legs because he walks all stiff legged, but he seems to appreciate the warmth of his new duds as he snoozes in the late afternoon sun.


Like any teenaged boy, Taylor wasn't too sure about his new sweater, but he seems to have gotten used to it pretty quickly.

It was snowing a blizzard this a.m. when it was time for me to leave for work. Since snow equals no work for The Shepherd/Landscaper, he played Chauffeur and took me to work. I was glad for the ride - cars were slipping and sliding all over the place!






Hey Danny - you look pretty good in red.

Pearl and Luna got Ladies size M - The Shepherd said he thought the M should stand for Maternity - they are pretty snug around those bumpy bellies.

The girls are locked in the barn with the heat lamp on tonight - he said they looked pretty comfortable when he went out before bed.

Even in the few minutes that I've been writing the temperature has dropped a few degrees and the wind is picking up. I'm really glad that he decided to do this.






The shepherd resisted the little pink hoodie that said "Princess" on the front for Miss Violet.

The funniest part about his shopping trip was explaining to the ever helpful sales clerk that he wasn't buying clothes for his daughters but for his sheepie girls. I'd love to have heard the coversations that brought up this afternoon.









I think Jewell looks kind of like Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, don't you?

Moni update:
Moni is still in the hospital. (cha-ching) They were going to "turn off" her IV's over night in hopes that her body will start normal functions again, if that makes any sense. It sounded like her rumen system had shut down too, so they have given her something to get that back up and running.

The shepherd drove there this a.m. in the blizzard to take her some of our hay, as she wasn't eating. Everyone agreed that leaving her there overnight was safest considering the weather. We're keeping our fingers crossed.




Well, it is a neighborhood legend that when we have lambs in the front pasture, it stops traffic. I'm sure that these two running around in their new sweaters will give everyone a good chuckle on their way to work in the morning.

Never a dull moment -

Well things have quieted down in the little boy's pasture - now the concern has been for Jewell. Last week The Shepherd noticed that she was having trouble with "urine elimination" - she would squat, but nothing would come out (been there, done that!). So after talking to the V.E.T. (we'll spell it out so any kitties reading my blog don't get frightened) they decided that she probably had a urinary tract infection and the rest of the penecillin that had been going to Buddy for his "injury" now went to Jewell. The problem was, even after 5 days of penecillin, she wasn't getting any better!

Saturday morning, he loaded her up in the trailer and off they went to Lynden (about 35 miles) to the V.E.T. - they did tests, did an ultrasound, gave her IV fluids (she was dehydrated) and changed her medicine, including some pain meds. This a.m. was three days and things had not appreciably changed! So off they went to Lynden this a.m. (Remember that we are leaving Thursday for the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon, so we kind of had to get this resolved!)

Well, today, they did more tests, and finally decided that she had passed a kidney stone. Ouch - no wonder she was grinding her teeth! The V.E.T. said she could go a couple of days between shots now since the blockage seems to have passed, so we are OK and our poor house/farm sitter will only have to deal with Neelix's medicine. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Neelix News Up Date or - Kitty Hide and go Seekey

Catch me if you can, Mom........

The official diagnosis ($109 in tests later) is kitty hyperthyroidism -

There is no "cure" but pills will reduce the symptoms and allow him to start gaining some of the 6 or 7 pounds that he has lost. He's not a very good pill taker, but so far, I THINK they've gone down the hatch - they are ITTY BITTY pills - think 1/4 of your little fingernail and he gets 1/2 in the morning and the other 1/2 at night. The pills will cost $9 a month. If it doesn't work giving him pills, there is now a way to make kitty medicines into a tuna, chicken or beef flavored liquid. That type of medicine, unfortunately, is $25 a month. We'll see how it goes. He definately knows that I'm up to something when he comes in the house for breakfast & dinner. I'm going to have to stop visualizing giving him his pill - I think he can read my mind...



Buddy is back to normal - thanks to those who have asked - But, if it's not one thing, it's another - now Jewell seems to have a bladder infection - I'm hoping that Regina, who has been very grumpy lately didn't bash her kidneys or something. The Shepherd has been giving her penecillin shots every evening (which we conveniently had on hand from Buddy's ordeal). As you can see by the sweet look on her face, The Shepherd is her favorite guy (even if he does stick her with needles)

Two Jewels

The Countdown is over! We stopped at Donna & Tom's farm in Bow and picked Jewel on our way home from Yakima. Doesn't she have a pretty face?



We stuffed her little butt in a dog crate and headed up the road. She was none too happy, and now she is in a big pasture with her new sister Luna, and neither one of them are happy - we are talking big time wailing and gnashing of teeth here folks.
















(An unsuspecting Luna eating dinner)



The other jewel is this strawberry rhubarb pie I made last week while I was on vacation. I found a recipe on the Land'o Lakes web site -and changed it to our liking - (I have been trying to use 1/2 Splenda & 1/2 sugar in my baking recipes), and of course, how could anything on that web site not be good - everything is made with butter!

CRUMB TOP STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB PIE

Preparation time: 40 min Baking time: 50 min
Yield: 8 servings

Crust Ingredients: (OR, use your favorite crust -Pillsbury & I get to be pretty good friends sometimes)
1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup cold butter
1/8 teaspoon salt 3 to 4 tablespoons cold water

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup sugar & 1/2 cup Splenda) If the strawberries aren't very sweet add another 1/4 cup of sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups sliced 1/2-inch fresh rhubarb
2 cups sliced strawberries

Topping Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold butter


Heat oven to 400°F. Combine 1 cup flour and salt in large bowl; cut in 1/3 cup butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened. Shape into ball; flatten slightly. Roll out ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into 9-inch pie pan; unfold, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pan. Crimp or flute edge. Set aside.

Mix chopped strawberries with the rhubarb; Add the rest of the filling ingredients toss until well coated. Let sit for a few minutes to get the juices mixed while you make your crumb topping.

Combine 1 cup flour and 2/3 cup sugar in medium bowl; cut in 1/2 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Now spoon your filling into your prepared crust and sprinkle the crumbs over rhubarb/strawberry mixture. You can kind of press it down if you want to - makes the crust a little "firmer". Cover edge of crust with 2-inch strip aluminum foil. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until topping is golden brown and filling bubbles around edges. Remove aluminum foil during last 10 minutes, if desired. If you have made this with 1/2 Splenda you should store it in the refrigerator (that is if there is any left to store)

What a Jewel ~ or, the Jewel Countdown...

Earlier this month we went down to Skagit County to see our friend & fellow shepherd, Donna. John was kind of scouting around to see if anyone had a little ewe lamb from this spring to get to keep Luna company. The ones that Donna had that he had thought he might like had been sold, but as they were walking through the pasture he spied this little girl - her name is Jewel. Isn't she a cutie? And when we found out that she had been born on our anniversary, that sealed the deal - of course we had to get her.



As you can see, she is light on the top and dark on the underbelly and legs. This marking is called Katmoget - we've never had any "kats" in our flock, so John is quite excited.

She won't be weaned for another month or so, so we'll just have to wait a while - When she comes, we'll separate Luna from her mom and put her and Jewel in the front pasture so they can get used to each other - I am anticipating a whole lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Especially the wailing - maybe we can be gone that day...ha, ha, ha...