Moving On

I find that when I am sad, the best medicine is to keep busy to help keep my mind off of my sadness. So this past week, I have been very busy.

We buried Alice last week in the rain. As the day wore on, the rain steadily grew to a downpour accompanied by high winds.
By the next day - all of our snow was gone. There was flooding everywhere.

In the early afternoon - as the winds howled outside, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, a young couple greeted me with an unusual request. They were to be married in a few days, and the site for their wedding pictures was flooded. They requested permission to have pictures taken in our woods, and in the field alongside our property because it was so beautiful.
Ah - young love - how could we resist?
And so, On Saturday afternoon, they came out and had their pictures taken.
I was trying to stay out of the way, and took these pictures from the kitchen - the first is of the bride - with her photographer, and the second - is of her groom approaching. They lucked out - the sun was shining and there was very little wind - unlike the previous day when the wind was really driving and cold.


I've asked them if they would send me a picture of the two of them taken in the woods.
I think they had fun - the wedding party spent most of their time in their cars in my driveway - trying to keep warm. I also made a large pot of hot apple cider for them to warm up after pictures were done - and had a plate of cookies as well. They were all so very cordial and thankful - and who says young people have no manners?

We have a few new additions around here too.

I had a friend come by this weekend for a visit - and she brought me a little gift. Actually - it was an exchange.

This is Gustav (the grey fella on the left).
He is a splash silkie rooster.
Isn't he just the cutest little guy?
I am smitten with him.

My friend Erin, brought Gustav to me - and I gave her a lovely buff brahma rooster in exchange.

She also picked up some golden phoenix chickens for me (2 hens and a rooster) and brought them down with her. The rooster will get a very magnificent tail when he matures. The hens are kind of dowdy looking.

This last few months, I have spent working on my flock of chickens - trading, selling and buying
little feathered friends. I have had chickens for about 18 years. I find that they are as a rule -
hilarious pets. Most of the time - they plainly - make me laugh. This next few months should see some great new additions to my chicken flock. Part of the fun is in finding the breeds and colours that you are looking for. I'll keep you posted.

And finally -my beautiful little girl has left me again to go back to University in Newfoundland.

Here she is at the airport - we are separated by glass as she is in the passenger lounge and I'm outside the window crying.
Tara has been home since the 19th enjoying some well deserved time with her family and friends. We are so proud of her - and we are going to miss her so much. Depending on some upcoming news - she may not make it home again until next Christmas.

Cherrington Alice 1997 - 2008

Rest in Peace my little Ali-baa-baa.

Sadly, after a brave battle, Alice passed away on December 26th, 2008.

I write this as a tribute to the wonderful ewe and mother that she was - and to help make me feel better. I always find writing to be very therapeutic - but, as I write this, I can't stop crying.

Alice (or Ali-baa-baa as I nicknamed her), was a most gentle and loving ewe.
She loved to eat, she loved attention. She was a wonderful mother to her lambs -and had a very friendly personality. She was never skittish, and thus her lambs were very friendly. She was totally trusting.

Ali was not the most correct shetland I've ever had. She had a jelly belly because she loved to eat - however - her fleece was the most amazing - white, single coated, crimpy and soft fleece I have ever experienced. We never sheared more than 3 pounds from her - but what we got was a treasure. She never complained during shearing, and willingly submitted in exchange for food.
A couple of times, Alice spent the evening in the back pasture alone - under the pear tree, because she was too busy eating pears to join the rest of the flock.
In the autumn - she knew where the good stuff was - and always led the flock out to the pear tree for wind fall pears.

Alice had a most unusual and Deep Baa - she could have sang baritone for the opera. She had the ability to let out a deep baa - and hold that note for a long, long time. At first, when we got her, she drove me crazy with her baa - then, after a while - I found it soothing, reassuring. I knew that everything was good in the pasture or the barn when I'd walk in and hear her. Someone once asked me to sell her to them, and I declined - based mostly on the fact that I would miss her baa in the mornings - what am I going to do now?

I bred Alice 2 years ago, as a final breeding before I retired her. I noticed that she was having a hard time keeping the weight on, and last winter moved her over to my special needs group so that she could get a bit of extra grain and mash every day, and she rebounded.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that there wasn't a baa when I went out to the barn.
I had been busy getting ready for Christmas - and away tending to several pottery sales. I hadn't been spending the time with my sheep that I should have.

We pulled her from the flock to the special needs stall, but she really wasn't all that interested in her food. She was content to sit under the heat lamp and look around - loving the attention - chewing her cud.

Although we treated her aggressively, in the end, we knew that it was best that we spend as much quality time together as possible. I spent a great deal of time just talking to her and petting her and scratching her ears - which she loved.

We aren't sure, but do suspect that she may have had pneumonia, although she
didn't show real signs of respiratory distress until late Christmas night. Yesterday morning, I knew - and I hugged her one last time. When I returned to check on her a few hours later, she had slipped away.

Silly - but we buried her with a pear to nourish her during her journey. Many people will tell you that animals have no souls - I beg to differ.

Alice isn't the first sheep I've lost - and of course - she won't be the last. But we will remember her fondly as one of the best sheep we ever had

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas - and a happy and blessed New Year.

Sorry - there will be no pictures with this post - but I will have more pictures with my next post.

As 2008 comes to an end (and many of us will be happy to see it go), we all hope for a
wonderful, happy and healthy 2009. May it bring us all better days.

I seem to be playing catch up an awful lot these days. It seems that Christmas crept up on
us without warning.

So, here's what has been happening around here:

This past week, we have had 3 snow storms - and 18" of new snow on the ground. That's 18" of snow on top of the already 12" of snow on the ground. Then, on Christmas Eve day, we had rain - pouring rain. Now - we have lots of ice. We still have lots of snow - but under it all is Ice. This week is forecast to warm up a bit - but we're supposed to get another 2" of rain on Saturday - at least it may melt some more of this snow.

Luckily, my daughter was able to get a flight in from Newfoundland last Saturday (hundreds of flights were cancelled due to a storm the previous day, but hers managed to get through) - we changed her flight at the last minute - otherwise she would still be in Halifax. It was so wonderful to see her again - since she's been away at university in Newfoundland since September. It appears that for the next few years, we may only get to see her at Christmas, as she will be doing her officer training with the Armed Forces in New Brunswick during her summer break (more on that when we get confirmation).

On the sheep front - my poor sheep are all barn bound - and a little bit stir crazy. We have had horrible cold weather, snow storms, wind storms, rain, freezing rain, you name it. They have all been locked in with very little time outside. I am able to get them outside on a bit of a rotational basis when we have the odd nice day, but that hasn't been very often.

Unfortunately, one of my favourite ewes "Alice" is down - and it doesn't look good. She
is 11 years old, and since breeding her last year, I've had a hard time keeping weight on her. I noticed that other day that she was looking really skinny, and when I pulled her, she's not well at all. I suspect pneumonia - and am drenching, giving shots and treating her agressively, although I don't hold out much hope, as she really is refusing to eat. My vet will be back out on Monday to re-assess the situation. At that time, I will have him also look at my oldest ewe Mary, who is now 13 years old and is having great difficulty getting around. Mary has the most wonderful and soft fleece - even at 13 years of age. She is very arthritic, and this past year has been rough on her. I've noticed with this last cold snap that she is having a really hard time getting up and moving around.

As far as family goes - luckily, we are all healthy. I currently have a nasty cold, and feel quite blah - but other than that, all is well. We feel blessed that our daughter made it home from Newfoundland for the Christmas break. Our wonderful son, who has just turned 16 has been a wonderful help here on the farm. Both him, and my husband have both been wonderful in helping with the barn chores in the evenings while I have been so busy with work, pottery sales, and getting ready for Christmas.

That's all for now - hopefully, I won't get so busy again that I can't post for 6 more weeks.

Overdue Thanks

While we're waiting for the next snowfall (8" predicted for the next few days), I thought I should send some overdue thanks to a wonderful friend.

A few weeks ago, I opened the mail and found this little gift:

My wonderful friend Kim
made this little purse out of a silk cap. If you read her blog, she explains how she made them.
I e-mailed her and told her how much I liked them. I forgot all about the e-mail until a few weeks ago when the purse showed up in the mail. THANK YOU KIM - you are a wonderful friend - and very talented too.

I've also been busy getting ready for a few more pottery sales coming up in the next few weeks.


The other day when we had all the snow - I spent a few hours making mini bird house ornaments for the sale. These are about 2" high. I'll fire them in the kiln this weekend, so have to get them dried before Saturday. I have to also make some fridge magnets and spice balls - then fire it all up - and glaze them for next weekend. I can see now that I'll be spending lots of late nights in the studio this next week.

After all this is done - I'd really like to clean my house and get ready for Christmas - I haven't even started shopping yet.

So much to do - so little time.

We are NOT Amused!

OK - here's the update on yesterday's snow.

It stopped snowing around 3 pm in the afternoon - the final amount - 18". Thank goodness for the wind shift - it took the snow streamer off to the east of us.

That's my car under all that snow. It took us 4 hours to shovel out the driveway - and to shovel paths out to the barn.

All right - the really UN-funny part of this whole thing. They (the weather experts) are calling
for another 4" to 8" of snow for us on Thursday, and then another 4" on Friday - but - first we're going to have some Rain! Yippee - I can hardly wait (note the sarcasm).

I REALLY, REALLY hope they are wrong!

If I get home before dark - I will try to take some more pictures and post them.

Still Snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just an update..

It's Noon - we are supposed to get at least another 6" of snow today.

I just took this picture a few minutes ago in my backyard - this is in INCHES! This has fallen since 5 am this morning - 16".



It is snowing harder than ever. You can see the birdfeeder on the right hand side - there's at least a foot of snow on the roof. Most of it slid off because the roof is plexiglas.
The plows are not out, so I guess I get the day off of work. Ah - to live in the Great White North.

By the way - this is a localized snow squall - it is about 20 miles wide x about 40 miles long.
Everywhere else - the sun is shining - and they aren't getting ANY snow at all.

The good thing about this - it's fluffy - so it will probably compact down to about 10" in the next few days. And the ground isn't frozen yet - so it will probably melt within the week - famous last words.

Oh - and my sheep - they're all safe and sound inside the barn today. However - my ducks are out in that pond somewhere - refusing to come inside.

I'll try to post some pictures later - after the snow stops.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like.....Winter!

This is what I woke up to this morning:


6" already on the ground - and another 6" forecast for today.

I'm going back to bed!