Oops - I spoke too soon!

Umm - I think I should have kept my mouth shut about spring finally being here.
Hopefully this won't last too long.

My Apologies

I have been very busy this past month. Getting ready for pottery sales coming up in May, getting ready for lambs coming in June. And baby chicks coming in May as well. It has been crazy. I've also been away taking several pottery courses this past 6 weeks - but you'll have to visit my pottery blog to check out: http://greendragonflypottery.blogspot.com/
If the link doesn't work - I have it on my sidebar in links.

I've worked a lot of overtime this past month as well. As you know, we are in a recession, and I
have really been packing in the overtime this last month to keep the work flowing at our business.
It seems to be working somewhat - but darn am I tired.

The good news is - winter seems to have finally taken it's leave. The snow is gone, the days are warmer.

The bad news is - we are now into the season of mud. So - I've had to be very selective of how many sheep could go out onto the pastures - and when.

Yesterday - we had some pretty gusty winds here - they took down the old honeysuckle bush out by the barn (I confess it wasn't in very good shape, and was dying anyway). Unfortunately - we also lost this wonderful "Huge" cedar tree out by the pond.




It split a couple of weeks ago, and we chained it back together - but the water in the pond has been so high this past year, that all the earth has eroded around the roots.











At least the sheep are enjoying it.










We've had a tremendous amount of wind damage in our woods this past winter. There have been some ferocious wind storms over the past few months - and huge trees are coming down every where. Mother natures way of changing the landscape I guess.

Well - I hope to get some good pictures of my sheep in the next few days, so I will have to post them, and I will try to keep posting a little more often. At least now that the weather is a bit better - it's easier to get outside.


Until next time.

It's March Already!

I Can't believe it's already March! And to be honest - I'm not sad to see February gone. It's been a dreadful month - cold and snow (I mean that's what February is all about) - but enough is enough - and I'm tired of it. Of course the month couldn't have ended much worse here.
On Friday, I had to make the dreaded vet call, and he had to come out to euthanize my poor old
Cherrington Queen Mary.


This is actually a terrible picture of her (she would
never stand still for a picture) - but it was the only
one I could find of her.
Mary was going to be 14 in May. She was still as black as black could be - not a white hair to be found. And
her fleece was like butter. So incredibly soft - almost
like a lambs.
Last year, Mary went blind, and we moved her into our
special needs stall, where she was quite content to spend
her time - and be lavished with lots of attention and
treats. However - age, arthritis and this darned persistent cold took its toll, and by last
Friday I knew that her time had come. She could no longer get up or down easily - and several
times she rolled onto her side and couldn't get back up. I spent a lot of time with her last week, just petting her, and reassuring her that her new world would be free of pain and warm - and the grass would always be green there - and all of her friends would be waiting on the other side of the rainbow bridge. Adieu my friend - for we will meet again.


So - February is gone -- thankfully. It was a busy month - I logged a lot of overtime at the office - and many evenings at home till midnight. I was also away a few weekends for pottery workshops.

Now - I'm trying to get some work done around the house (this seems to be a real losing battle).

Pippin loves to help:


And we wonder why we can't get anything done
around here.












One thing my DH did get done in February was this:

This - is a square bale hay feeder.

(They aren't painted yet).


The great thing is that they break down into 4 easy to move panels - that probably weigh about 50 pounds each. The panels set up around the bale of hay - so no need to move the bale to the feeder with a tractor - you can bring the feeder to the bale.







As the animals eat the hay - they push in on the feeder - which causes 2 sides to move inwards and compress the bale. They work quite nicely. We built this set for a friend who has goats, llamas and horses - and they really like them.

I'm debating whether to have the bars running
up and down vertically for the next set to try that out with the sheep. Of course - any of my
rams won't be able to use these as we would worry about them getting their horns stuck.

I also think they would work great with the small square bale (or large square bales) - you could stack the small square bales - probably in a group of about 8-12 bales (removing the strings first of course) - and then the sheep could work their way through them. I'm going to test this out in the large stall next winter to see how it works.
I think it would beat the heck out of throwing down 2-3 bales out of the loft everyday.

I may tweak the design a bit to see if we can make it work along one wall as well.

Will it Ever Melt??!!

Well - I got a call from the office this morning - telling me to stay home for a few hours. So I thought I would take the time to update the blog a little bit.

Last night - we were supposed to get about 1 cm of snow (just under 1/2") - however:


I got up this morning - and there is at least another 6" on the ground - and it's still coming down.
In Sarnia (where I work - about 15 miles to the north) - they tell me that it's closer to a foot of snow on the ground. I think I'm gonna become a weatherman - I mean really - where else can you have a job where you are wrong most of the time - and you don't get fired.

Just as an aside here - that birdfeeder post is 8 feet high. This morning I was standing on the snow drift (yes - standing ON the snow drift) - and I was eye level with the top of the post - I'm only 5'4" tall. Will we ever see the grass again?

They are forecasting that the temperature is going to rise to about 45 degrees farenheit on Saturday - and rain. Do we believe them? Stay tuned.

Well - I had been wondering about where my remote control kept going:


I think the picture says it all.

It's a Good Thing!

That I like snow!

INUK is getting a bit tired of shovelling this white stuff.

We were supposed to get about 4" on Saturday night. We got somthing more like 10" - then another 3-4" last night and this morning.


Like I said - it's a good thing that I like snow. It's the dreadful cold temperatures that I don't like.


Johnny doesn't like them either - he wouldn't even lift his head for the picture - no way - if I hide under here - it might all go away.


The birds are happy though. I filled all the feeders for them last night. The dolly cart tipped up is actually protecting a ground feeder that keeps filling up with snow. So far this winter, we
have blue jays, cardinals, piliated and downy woodpeckers, juncos , sparrows, turtle doves and
goldfinches to name a few, along with deer, possums, raccoons and squirrels all frequenting the feeders.



On another note - we have been working on my studio/garage this past few weeks. It's starting to come together nicely. My husband and I worked through this terrible cold snap to get the
old garage door taken down - and the doors and windows on the front put up.


It's starting to come together nicely. The door and windows are recycled from a friend's house when he did renovations. I also have some more windows and another door from him - they will go into the back wall so that I can look out at the pond while I'm working. The glass in the door and windows is all bevelled - it's from a 1920's Arts and crafts house - gorgeous stuff.

It's much warmer in there now (notice the kitty door in the corner for the stray cats). I scored a wood pellet stove online last week - along with 30 bags of wood pellets - so we have been working to get the area finished that the stove will go into (the stray cats will love that).

When it's done in the spring - there will be an area for my pottery studio - as well as an area for washing and cleaning fleeces.

I'm going to be out of town for the next few weekends at pottery workshops - but will get back to it as soon as I get the chance.

Oh - and stay tuned for my new pottery blog. After many requests - I hope to have it up and running sometime in the next few weeks. Until then......... think warm!!!

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