Another Day

This is Eve, our little Ossabaw Island donkey. I took her picture to send on to the child of a friend. It seems taking the picture was about all I accomplished yesterday and I've yet to send it on. I got up, gathered eggs, went to the feed store, stopped by my son's home in Pendleton to pick up something, ran up to Seneca to pick up a pig that had been processed, went to the grocery store, gathered more eggs, began to dye a single ball of yarn, spun half a bobbin of white yarn to dye, washed out four skeins of natural grey yarn that I'd spun over the weekend, made a few necessary phone calls, paid a bill, balanced the checkbook, gathered the rest of the eggs and washed, dried and sorted them but did next to nothing that I have to get done by the end of the week. Now that I've had my morning coffee I'll gather eggs and hope to do something today!

Staying Busy

I am so busy dyeing, spinning and felting that I've not kept up with the blog. So here is a picture of a handsome rooster who was born here. He is not an identifiable breed but a hybrid whose mother and father are unknown. I'm sure some little hen hatched him out after hiding her nest for a few weeks. He's a gentle fellow and follows me around as I gather eggs several times a day.

Teeny Weeny

Teeny Weeny still doesn't have a real name. But he survived his latest brush with death. After a good week of being force fed, medicated and fussed over while he lived in my dye stall he has turned into a spoiled little baby who appears to be in good health. His fiber, however, shows what he has been through. He now has a stress break so is shedding out his lovely curls. Under his white curls he has a pretty reddish tan coat. He has also decided that he must follow me everywhere I go and that he deserves to be let into the stable at his whim.

This is the face of an angry llama

For some reason Ginger was not happy with me. She pinned her ears back and stared intently but I managed to soothe her before she started making that funny little noise in her throat indicating that she was ready to spit. I'm thinking her distress was due to the fact that I had been paying attention to Lyle and Ginger is a little jealous.

Giant Yarn Ball

This is not a camera trick but a three pound ball of German felted yarn. I only let the cats around it long enough to take a picture as I certainly didn't trust them with it. It took me too long to wind it and I didn't want to start again!

Time for Pickles

The dill is about to flower, the garlic is ready & son Glen delivered a basket of cucumbers yesterday. I called my mother for my father's old dill pickle recipe. I had a hard time finding my 3 gallon crock until I recalled that it was sitting in my fiber room filled with knitting needles, mill quills and spindles. So shortly I'll quarter the cukes, boil my brine and start the pickling process. Obviously, step one will be to wash the pickle crock!

Settling In

Lyle and Ginger have established their own little routine after almost two weeks here. They are doing beautifully with halter training. They also no longer look absolutely stunned when a chicken flies around the corner at them. They are learning to cush - laying down on command - with Ginger obviously much less stubborn about the lessons than Lyle.

Pretty Curls

This little Angora goat was enjoying a shady spot next to the old barn. Her curls are growing back in so beautifully after her spring shearing. I'd dyed some mohair curls earlier in the week and am already looking at hers and making new plans.

This is where my time goes...

Apparently Vincent, the white & black goat on the right, snapped a connection to the electric fence when jumping into a portion of the chicken yard that is off limits to goats. Then Kermit & Harriet slid through the used-to-be-electric fence to the neighbor's back yard. Which wouldn't be the end of the world except that the neighbor has no fencing & the goats could shortly be in the highway. So I grabbed a bucket of grain to encourage them to come back. Once the whole production was almost over Abe, a huge old man of a sheep, decided to see if there was any more grain left in that bucket.

A Bit of a Scare

I came through the old barn from the chicken yard to find Ginger on her side with her legs sticking straight out and her head twisted in an odd fashion on the ground. Toots, the little black dog was sniffing her. Closer inspection revealed she was merely napping after having rolled to dust herself in the dirt. Thanks goodness.

Lyle as a mother hen?

This is not a very good picture so I'll fill in with the words.... I came around the corner of the stable to find Lyle, the white llama, resting. Ginger was standing next to him. Both moved just a bit as I'd startled them. And when Lyle moved chicks came scurrying out from under his tail. You can look closely to see about three of them at his hips. Their mother was just around the corner but the must have figured snuggled up under a fuzzy llama tail was as good as under the downy feathers of their mother - and there is certainly more room for six growing chicks under Lyle than under the little hen.

Such pretty fiber

This little gal is an angora rabbit that had belonged to a lady with lots of rabbits. She did a beautiful job with all of her shorthaired rabbits but felt she didn't have time to keep up with the angora that needs lots of extra grooming. We bought the rabbit a few weeks ago and she really is in wonderful condition. Katy was just giving her a nice trim to get rid of a few small matts and now her fiber is growing back in so uniformly. She'll need a good brushing for spinning fiber this week. She is such a friendly and sweet rabbit and we were glad to add her to the family.