Sinda's Big Day!

Wow! Sinda is 20 years old today! She has been waiting at the gate for you all to arrive!









It should be a beautiful day!


















A few of our farm critters, Franklin & Felix, Ruby and their moms have stopped by to wish her a Happy Day.










Me too, says Wicket - Happy Birthday Sinda!










Look Sinda! - some cats & beans brought you presents!





And Mother Nature brought out these beautiful tulips just for her, I'm sure.

Sinda's Official Birthday Photo!

Sinda, aka, "Baby Girl", Miss Priss, Squeekit, or Sweety Pie, was born April 21, 1990. Her daddy was a "travelin' man cat" and her mamma cat was a beautiful Siamese, taken in by his wiles and charms. The lady bean from Sinda's first family worked with mama and knew that she and her kitty Jaxom were lonely, because Delores, the one who came before, had gone to the Rainbow Bridge. Mama took pictures of Sinda and brought them home to Jaxom and told him all about her. When Sinda could eat by herself, she came home to mama & Jaxom - it was a very happy day in their lives.

So very much has happened in our lives since then. Mama met The Shepherd and they decided to get married and move to a little farm in the country. One day Jaxom had a stroke and went to the Rainbow Bridge to be with Delores. A couple of months later, mama & The Shepherd brought home this bratty orange thing that they called Neelix. He was supposed to be company for Sinda, but they never got along. He lived with us on the farm for about 12 years an when he got sick and went to the Rainbow Bridge, The Shepherd and Mama were very sad. Sinda didn't seem to be too very broken up about it though and The Shepherd said that Mama couldn't get any more kitties until Sinda joins Jaxom on the Bridge - she's just too old and set in her ways to have another kitten around. (Sinda, that is, not Mama - although she's kind of old and set in her ways too...)

Thanks so much for stopping by with your Birthday Wishes for Sinda. We hope you'll stop by again sometime - it's kind of a crazy place around here - you never know what you'll find - animals, yarn, recipes for yummy things. pictures of pretty flowers, etc.


Ok Baby Girl - mama's got to go earn some green papers to keep you in the Gerber Chick-hen baby food that you like so well. Sit up on your perch and enjoy all your company today.


I'll be home in time for dinner.

More preparations......

Catnip for tea for the kitties...check

Friskies Party Mix for the kitties...check

Frosted Animal Crackers for their beans...check

Earl Grey Tea for their beans...check







Sinda, patiently waiting in the garden for her big day...check


Come on, baby girl, you know what they say about "a watched pot". Your company will be here soon enough.

Getting ready for the Celebration!

The table is all set and the tea will be brewing soon...













The sandwiches and cookies are all made - the Party Mix is out in bowls ready to put on the floor for our kitty guests









Sinda is out pacing in the garden - waiting for her guests.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010, she will be 20 years old (almost old enough to take to the bars!) .

Little did I know when I brought my baby girl home those many years ago that she would still be here 20 years later.

I hope you will stop by for some tea and cookies on Wednesday to wish her Happy Birthday!

Look what's happening

this week in the greenhouse!
















All kinds of itty bitty things growing........














and growing........















and growing...... under the watchful eye (and very orange gloves!) of The Shepherd - corn, two types of green beans, broccoli, sunflowers, and pumpkins.

MORE BABIES! (This is the last of 'em, finally)

The shepherd found these two little charmers when he went out to the barn yesterday a.m. Actually Violet had been on baby watch since the night before - I checked before I went to bed at 11:30 - she was out boogieing around in the pasture with her buddies. She'd had one before his breakfast and then one afterwords. I caught these pictures before I went to work.

I'm calling them Skippy and Bosco - for lack of better names right now - they will most likely go to Denise for the beginning of her spinner flock, in exchange for the beautiful vest that she knitted for The Shepherd this winter. So she gets naming rights.

Meanwhile, Luna and her week old babies nestled in under the eaves. . . They got kicked out of the barn temporarily because they were causing such a ruckus.
















And Pearl waits to know if it's safe to come in yet. Yup, all's clear girl.

.








Speaking of Pearl, It often seems that when one ewe has her lambs if her friend is anyplace close to lambing it will happen within 24 hours.

Last night, The Shepherd noticed that Pearl was "kicking her udder" and "talking to her side". When she started burrowing into the corner of the barn, he knew things were going to happen soon. Nothing this a.m, and The Shepherd/Gardener had appointments with customers, so he had to take off.

When he got home after lunch, Pearl had already cleaned up this young lady. Her name is Ruby - she will probably be fawn and brown like her momma -


Here are a couple of pictures that I took of the boys this afternoon - they are just a little over 24 hours old here. Sure wish they'd been girls.....

Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

Happy, happy, everything!

The Color Purple.....

While we wait for Violet to have the next batch of lambs I was inspired to show you the "violet" things I found around the farm last weekend.

Pacific Rock Cress - No picture I've ever taken has shown the intensity of the purple of this flower.

There's a house in town that has beds of this all around it in the spring - it is so bright it practically hurts your eyes.



The peonies are really shooting up there - I should have my gardener (aka The Shepherd) dig out the plant stands that go over them before they get too tall.

I brought one of these from my old house in town. It is bright pink and smells like roses.






This is one of The Shepherd's bonsai collection. Our minister's husband calls them plants in bondage.

I call them soul satisfying for The Shepherd.









This is part of his collection - there is a purple leafed maple and a purple leafed plum here in this picture - check out the upper left hand corner - and what do you think my Ashford Traveler is doing out in the greenhouse?

Come See the Babies!

Lots of changes on the farm in the past week. We've added Krissie to the list of lambs - she was in the little pen with her mom for just a day or so - she really wanted to get out and play with the "big" boys.











Speaking of "big boys" - here is Bode's "Whatcha doin?" face













And Wicket gets cuter every day.









Kind of reminds me of that scene from "West Side Story" -

"When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way..."







Common Krissie - you stay away from those bad boys...














Speaking of "bad boys" - look at what The Shepherd found in the hen house yesterday morning!






Just after he found these two in the barn. This is Dusty. Actually he was born second - The Shepherd helped clean him up and get him going after Luna dropped him out on his noggin.










Now this is where the cat blogger term "Sheep Furs" really comes from - doesn't he have the prettiest wool?

OK all you Shetland Shepherds out there - what do you call these markings?







And here is Robin - She is a pretty brown with krunet markings on her head and ears.











We had an "Open Barn" this morning for some friends who wanted to see babies - Luna had about had enough and really wanted out of the jug. (ie, lambing pen)








Out to meet the new neighbors....














Then a few dashes up and back in the pasture - but as you can see here (click on the picture to biggafy it) poor little Dusty got his new found legs tangled up in the long grass and, as my dad used to say, went "ass over teakettle"










Oh, Dusty, you'll be OK. Just look where you are going the next time.







We think that Violet will be next - what do YOU think? ? ?

My Review of WPI Tool Kit

I very rarely review products - sometimes on Amazon if I really like the book or what ever I've purchased, but I'm really excited about this little doo-dad. I found it originally on my friend Vicki's blog The Virginia Purl and immediately knew it was something I'd been looking for. So I ordered it right up, and it came (as promised) within 3-5 days, and then I got an email back from the folks at Village Spinning & Weaving asking me if I'd like to review it.

"No prob", I thought to myself - It's something I'm excited to have and I know I'll be using it a lot. When I got done with the review, their web site asked me if I'd like them to post my review to my blog. Well, that was a cool idea, since I was going to tell you about it anyhow - so here is my review and their dandy picture. One thing I see that this has that the other WPI things don't have is the cool little chart that comes with it. I mean, what good is knowing your Wraps Per Inch, if you don't know what kind of "commercial" yarn measurement it equals. So, I'm a happy camper - I'm going to play with it tomorrow during our "Open Barn" - Oh, that's right, I didn't tell you yet, Luna had her babies yesterday - Just wait til you see them!

Originally submitted at VillageSpinning & Weaving

WPI Tool Kit from Nancy's Knit Knacks This Wraps Per Inch Tool and Knit-Kard is useful for the following: Measures the thickness or ''weight'' of the yarn Identifies yarn with poor or no labeling Makes

WPI Tool Kit

WPI Tool Kit will Deliver

By Tina T-P from Bellingham, WA on 3/26/2010

5out of 5

Pros: Easy To Use

Best Uses: Home, Professional

Describe Yourself: Experienced

As a spinner who crochets with my own yarn, I am often perplexed as to what "weight" my yarn really is - I end up having to make sample after sample to get things the right gauge. This WPI tool kit will help me from the very get-go as I can actually do a WPI on my singles to make sure that I am spinning for the size yarn I want as a finished product. I like that it has more than one inch so you can measure bulky and novelty type yarns too. Very happy with this product!

(legalese)

The Colors of March -

Sue at Life Looms Large has a great monthly "blogging exercise" that she does called "The Colors of (this month)"


I enjoy looking for pretty things and places in our beautiful corner of the world to share with everyone and I think this exercise is also helping me learn more about my camera (that I've had for almost a year and still haven't gotten much past the "AUTO" setting on the dial...)






The cherry trees have been out in town for weeks now - pink haze as you drive through the streets - but ours in the back yard has only bloomed this week.









The white Japanese birches are showing their new skin.

















And how could I leave the new lambs out of the colors of March -




The quince is probably my favorite spring flowering plant. The Shepherd says they spread too much and won't "allow" me to have one - well, he's the one who does all the yard work, so I just have to enjoy the fleeting glimpses that I get of them as I drive around.







Along with the pink haze of the cherries goes the yellow blaze of the forsythias. They have been very bright and colorful this year.







This beautiful roving that was at our Spin-In last weekend. I bought 16 ounces of two different colorways to make baby sweaters for my boss's "upcoming" twin girls - they are due next summer - I figure I should be able to get the spinning done and the crocheting done by then, don't you?

This colorful roving is from Sunset Fibers in Olympia, WA. It is hand painted Corriedale, and should make some nice soft, warm sweaters.




My sister Wisten has given me several Lenten Roses (Helleborus Orientalis) over the past few years. This one lives by our back porch - a true sign that spring can't be far behind.













I hope you've enjoyed the colors of March from the Pacific NW. Now, go visit Sue and check out the links to March in other places! Maybe even add your own colors to the list.