Leading Sheep, Fleeces and Upcoming Hints

Hey! Who's that Handsome Shepherd with the Scottish Blackface cutie? Why.... it would be none other than DH, Dave, and ewe lamb Sweet Pea ready for the Lad's Lead at the Skagit County Fair. Don't they make a striking couple? ...don't tell Sweet Pea - his vest is made from Shetland wool!
They walk 'round and 'round the show ring while the announcer reads their story. Each competitor writes up their own story - something about themselves, their sheep and their wool clothing. Here is what Dave wrote:

"Hi, my name is Dave Lawniczak and this is my Scottish Blackface ewe lamb, Sweetpea. We are from EverRanch Farm in Auburn, Washington. Sweet Pea is just 4 months old, and this is her first trip off of our farm. This is also the first time that either of us has been to the Skagit county Fair."

"The Scottish Blackface Sheep breed originated in the highlands of Scotland. Their long, coarse fleece provices them excellent protection from rain, wind, and other elements. The Scottish Blackface is the most numerous breed of sheep in the British Isles, but is not very common in North America."

"Today, Sweet Pea and I are showcasing the good looks one can achieve by wearing wool. Sweet Pea is looking stylish in her 100% pure lamb wool fleece. This is accented with a wool scarf in a tartan pattern, and finished with a Scottish Clan Pin. I am wearing 100% wool slacks, a stylish 100% wool Pendleton hat and a lovely 100% wool handmade sweater vest that was a Christmas present from my lovely wife, Franna. She sheared, washed, carded, spun, plied and knit this for me. I offered input and suggestions as I thought is was to be a gift for someone else!! We would like to thank you for dropping by and watching the show. Feel free to drop by and say hello to Sweet Pea, and all the other EverRanch Sheep. Have fun at the Skagit County Fair!!! "

They won First Place in their class!!! Congratulations, Sweetie!

A few classes later, Franna and Bossie the Gotland-Finn cross do the same thing. I'm wearing a vest made from Gotland sheep pelts over my pink blouse and black wool trousers. Bossie livened up her fleece with a pink silk scarf tied in a bow. We took Second Place. :-)

This was our writeup:

"Franna and Bossie thank you for attending the 2007 Skagit County Fair. We are wearing our wool clothing for a comfortable evening at the Fair. Franna is a native Washingtonian and Bossie is a Gotland-Finnsheep cross ewe lamb. They both live at EverRanch Farm in Auburn, Washington."

"Gotland sheep are a medium size, short tailed, luster longwool breed of sheep who come in all shades of grey. They were developed in Sweden primarily as a peltsheep, and now provide wool and meat as well as pelts. The elven cloaks in the Lord of the Rings movies were made from Gotland type wool. Gotland sheep are being introduced to North America through the use of imported semen from pure Gotland rams in the UK and Sweden. Nine different foundation ewe breeds are accepted in the upbreeding program."

"Franna's pure Gotland wool vest is an example of the use of Gotland pelts. Bossie shows off her natural grey coat in Gotland-Finnsheep wool. Franna's all wool slacks are comfortable all year and never need shearing. Their pink accessories show off the richness of the natural grey Gotland wool."

"Please visit us in the sheep barn to find out more about the wonderful qualities of natural wool."

The Lads and Ladies Lead classes were Friday evening, August 10th, at the Skagit County Fair.

The next day the sheep show started at 9 am. The NW Washington Shetland breeders held our first Shetland show here this year. Tina T-P did a wonderful report of the show on her blog (See August 11 and 13 blogs). Thank you, Tina! Since we were handling sheepies, our camera didn't even make it out of the case on Saturday!

Also many thanks to Donna Schoonover who put together the Shetland show; to Linda and Don Jonasson who did a wonderful job of putting together the whole sheep and wool show, making sure the numbers were evenly spread, and making us feel very welcome; to Joyce Thomas and her granddaughter for helping us show sheep. And other helpers who I know were there. Also to Amy Wolf, the judge, who obviously had taken the time to read up on the various breeds of sheep that were shown - including the Shetlands and Scottish Blackface.

Before the show in the ring, the Shetland group - exhibitors and spectators - got to evaluate all of the Shetlands for Best Tail, Best Horns and Best Fleece on the Hoof. It was really fun! This was a very nice group of Shetlands, and gave me an appreciation for the difficult job of judging them! The winners were pretty evenly split among the three farms. (Tina posted the results in her blog.)

On to fleeces:

Following the sheep show, there were about 50 fleeces to be judged. Amy did a wonderful job of judging all of the classes, the groups, then the overall best. She talks about each fleece, it's merits and faults, the breed characteristics and what they mean to handspinners. It was very educational.

We had 6 fleeces entered - fleeces from a ewe and ewe lamb Shetland, a ewe and ewe lamb Finnsheep and a ewe and ewe lamb Scottish Blackface.

Our Shetland lamb fleece, from Lil' Country Val, won Best Shetland fleece, and went on into the final competition.

Our Blackie ewe fleece, from EverRanch Luna, won Best Scottish Blackface fleece, then won Best Commercial (white) fleece - the judge's comment on this was "how can you beat a nice commercial fleece that is also a wonderful handspinner's fleece?"

As the judging progressed, our Finn ewe lamb fleece from Triple L Spot, won over the adult Finn, then went on to win Best natural colored fleece. The judge was really impressed with the fineness and crimp of the fleece. One of her comments was "Merinos - eat your heart out! ... and we can raise these (Finnsheep) here!" (Franna's note - Merinos don't do well in our Maritime climate.)

In the final lineup of five fleeces, three were ours!!! Wowee! That would have been enough. After poking and comparing, Spot's fleece was selected as the Overall Champion fleece, with Val's fleece coming in second. That is really special! EverRanch fleeces have done really well over the last year. :-) So, here are some photos:

First - Reserve Ch. Shetland fleece - a gorgeous moorit from EverRanch Ovaltina. This was shorn last fall and is very, very clean.

It even includes the soft, crimpy neck fleece (lock on the top right).

This next photo is of Val's fleece. She's a fawn katmoget, so is mostly a very light cream with a few darker locks from the edges. She has a lot of crimp in her fleece and it has a wonderful soft handle. I will be sending her next fleece in for micron testing, hoping for the mid-20's that it feels like.


Luna's fleece is very nice for a Blackie. She has very long staple - almost to the ground in full fleece, less kemp than a lot of Blackies and a nice handle.


Typical of Scottish Blackface, Luna's fleece is dramatically double coated. The outer fibers are the long ones, and are very coarse - 40-ish micron? I need to test it someday. The inner coat is surprisingly soft, and quite long as well. These locks are shown, top to bottom, inner coat, outer coat and both together. It washes up much whiter than shown here!

Yes, I saved the "best" for last. Here is Spot's fleece. It is very dark with a bit of sunbleaching on the tips. If you look closely, there is a white "dust" look on the cut ends. Spot is now grey, and at shearing was just turning grey. The very ends of the staples are grey. Very unique.This is one of the staples showing fineness and crimp structure. The judge kept a lock closeby and used it to compare to the other fleeces. Handspinners - if you can find nice Finn fleeces, don't pass them by!


Well. What do shepherds do once they get home from the show with their sheep and all the paraphernalia? We start practicing for the NEXT show of course.... Below, friend Clarissa, takes Bossie for a walk.

Then they pose for the camera. Don't you think they make a great pair of "ewe lambs" for the Ladie's Lead?

- Franna

Body Building

I moved 10,000 lb of hay this morning. That's 5 tons of hay! It was already in our horse trailer. Sometimes we tarp the trailer and use it as hay storage. This time, though, we need the horse trailer to take our sheep to the Skagit County Fair on Friday. So I moved the hay.

These are those Herculean bales that even the muscle bound, young Adonises break a sweat over. Of course, they bench press the bales to break a sweat, and move them in minutes, tossing them like salad into the horse trailer. I, on the other hand, definately do not bench press 100+ lb bales, and it takes me more like an hour to get it all out of the trailer and stacked in the garage.

I, being the consumate Engineer, use all the Engineering principles I can find to help - levers and wheels, friction and fulcrums. I, also being woman, use every finesse technique possible to move gargantuan hay bales - one layer at a time, tip them out of the trailer onto the hand truck, tip them off the hand truck onto the pile - use the hand truck!

Every bale had to come out of the horse trailer, some higher, some lower, some right at the door, some way back up in the tack area. Knock 'em down, drag them back, tip them out, tip them up onto the hand truck. That's Once.

Next they're trucked across the garage from front, where the horse trailer is, to the back, where the haystack is. That involves tipping the hand truck, rolling the hand truck keeping the bale stabilized, rolling into place at the haystack, then tipping them off the hand truck. That's Twice.

Now they get stacked. The first ones are easy, just tip them off. The last ones are hard - they go up. The first ones are easy... but not too easy. They have to be positioned, scooted, tipped, pushed, pulled. And they're lowwwwww on the floor. Ugh. After a few are in the first layer, I use those as a platform to lever the next ones up. Tip a bale against one on the bottom layer, remove the hand truck, push on the upside to get it horizontal enough to push - push it into place. Repeat. Repeat. Third layer? Lever it on up from the floor to the first layer to the second layer, then finally the third. Three layers is enough! That has to count for two times... Three and Four.

Twenty five 100+ pound bales of hay moved four times is 10, 000 lb of hay. And, there was "stuff" in the way, so it had to be moved first - lawn mowers and pallets and bags of alfalfa pellets and sheep feed. I didn't count that this time. ;-)

Those sheep better appreciate all this!
- Franna

Day's End

My Day for Me. It's after 9pm and my sock yarn sits. Actually it's on my desk in front of the keyboard. I'm touching it as I type.

All of the Fair Sheep got walked on a halter. All 16 of them. Plus an extra. Plus Pixie the Shetland (above), who is going to her new home on Friday. The all got their feet trimmed. Several got thistles and burrs removed and the Gotlands got bits of cotted wool teased out. That was my day. Plus feed and water for everyone.

The 4 sheep that got introduced to the halter on Saturday did quite well - Captain (White Ears), Bunny, Franjean and Elora. They all remembered the nice treats they get when they behave. Everyone else had to figure it out.

Captain and Charcoal (both GotlandxFinnsheep) were "walking" partners. They're shown below at the "stationary" station. After introducing them to walking and treats, I tied them to the fence for a bit. Here they got more treats, got their feet trimmed and preliminary grooming. I was amazed, everyone stood (with some patience on my part) to have their feet trimmed. After that, they walked in tandem to the pasture.
I don't have many good photos of Charcoal. She let me put her feet in place and stood there for this one. For some reason, she's finally decided I'm okay after months of skittishness. She was an exemplary student during haltering lessons. Charcoal has wonderful wool! It is soft and silky and lustrous charcoal grey. I can't wait to spin some!

Teebo (Scottish Blackface) on the other hand was the Wild Man. He and Admiral (GotlandxShetland) vied for the title and Teebo won. He spent more time in the air and collapsed on the ground than any of the others. Below he's getting ready to explode.

Here he comes! There's a name for this type of jump in dressage. Sheep dressage anyone?And back on all fours.He actually walked a little and was excused early from class for getting plain stressed out. Scotties aren't known for their people bonding skills.

It really was a day for me. I got to play with lambs all day long. I got my fingers in exquisite fleece hour after hour. I got to see the lights go on in all the little lambie heads when they found out good things happen when they walk nicely.

Now for the last part of the day, I'll measure stitches per inch and inches per stitch. Maybe tomorrow will be a sock yarn dyeing day.

- Franna

My Day for Me

Last night I decided that today would be a day for me... my projects that have been waiting for the "extra" time. The first of those is sock yarn. I've been collecting undyed sock yarns and planning different patterns and color schemes to dye them. Yesterday I knitted several swatches to determine stitch gage and how many inches per row they need. There is Blue Faced Leicester yarn, superwash Merino, Merino and Silk (oooooooo!!!), and Merino plus nylon.

Of course, there are things that have to be done every day. So before my "day for me" I went out to lead the fair sheep to the pasture. They are set up so I only have to open the gate and they can "lead" themselves out, but! we are showing 16 of them in the Skagit County Fair on Saturday, and they really need to have some halter experience before Friday. Yes, this is Monday, 4 days from Friday.

So. On my way to "lead" the lambs out, I notice the Hilton ewes really should be moved into the next pasture... just a few minutes to reconfigure their electronet, put the fence panels around the stalled tractor and move their water tub.

Back to the lambs. It was the second lesson for the first two, Bunny (Shetland-Gotland) and Franjean (Shetland). They both did admirably for a second lesson. Good sheep! Led to the trough, got a couple handsfull of grain, then on to the pasture. The next two were easy to catch - Eve first, then Wicket (both Scottish Blackface). That was all that was easy! Both did the rodeo thing, and lunge line around in the lane. The finally calmed down enough to eat out of my hand, then tied off to the fence and trimmed hooves. That went fairly well. Next, lead them to the pasture.. one step at a time... one by one... one maybe two at a time. Pretty good. Now 4 lambies are in the pasture and 8 to go.

Now, it's lunchtime. I indulge myself with some blog reading and Ben and Jerry's lunch. MmmmMmmmmm. :-)

Will I get to "My Day for Me? I'm back out to teach a few more babies. Stay tuned.
-Franna

One Month of Retirement!

Wow... it's really gone fast. Do I feel retired? I think I'm starting to. Some mornings I actually feel like I don't have to be "somewhere". Then, too, some of the backlog is starting to diminish.

The last 2 weekends I judged agility trials, first in Billings, Montana, then in Colorado Springs. With these 2 assignments, I completed my provisional requirements and am now fully approved to judge agility! It's been over 2 years since I passed the agility judging seminar. I'm so glad to be "off leash". :-)

Some of the Secretarial stuff for the Gotland Association is now complete. We have copies of the Constitution and By Laws, Upbreeding Rules and Standards published. We are close to having a registrar, fees, and assigned flock numbers. Wheee! At our annual meeting in September, I'll most likely be taking on the Presidency and turning over the Secretary office to someone else. heh... I'm a much better President than Secretary. Take a look at our fledgling website:

http://everranch.com/development/GSBANA/index1.php

Our EverRanch website has some new updates, too. Mostly they're photos of the Gotland lambs. You can take a look here:

http://everranch.com/Farm/Sheep/2007Lambs/GotlandAI.html

They're interesting sheepies. Very friendly. I spent about 20 minutes teasing thistles out of the fleece of one of the ram lambs this afternoon. He just laid there and let me pull and tear away at the thistle heads. I thought I'd kept up better with the thistles in their pasture... argh. In the next couple of weeks, several of them should be sheared for the first time.

Then next weekend is our first fair of the season. We're having a mini-Shetland show at the Skagit county fair in Mt. Vernon, Washington. EverRanch Farm is taking 8 Shetlands, 4 Scottish Blackface lambs and 4 Gotland lambs. Sometime between now and then, we need some kind of Gotland poster, halter train the lambs and get all the "stuff" together.

Retirement??? Bring it onnnnnn!

"Captain" - one of the Gotland-Finn ram lambs. "Captain" is staying at EverRanch.

- Franna

First Lambs to Leave

Sunday two lambs left the farm. They left together in a 500 size dog kennel in the back of a Subaru. They went to a family that bought two pet Shetland wethers from us, and they'll be grown out for lamb chops. yum!

This is Jill's boy, now known as "BaaaaBQ". He's a half Finn, out of our Mule type ewe, Jill - half Scottish Blackface, quarter Blue Faced Leicester and quarter Border Leicester. The other lamb was "Bullseye" another half Finn ram lamb out of a purebred Scottish Blackface ewe. They felt somewhere around 50 lbs when I lifted them into the Subaru. Nice boys. Two down!

- Franna

Fiberworks - Grey Shetland and Cotswold Edition

The Grey Shetland is progressing albeit slowly. I decided to trim off the sunbleached tips. Here is what it looks like with and without the tips. ...hint - the trimmed raw locks are on the left. There isn't a lot of weight in the tips, so I'm feeling pretty good about deciding to trim it, especially after seeing the washed result!

The first batch of washed, trimmed locks! There is a little sunbleaching evident, just enough that the finished yarn will have a warm cast to it, and be somewhat heathery looking. The different shades of grey will add to that heathery look, too.

I also weighed the washed Cotswold - 22 ounces. Now, what to make...? A vest would be nice, and 22 oz. is probably enough. Though I like to knit as much as possible in one piece, in this case, I need to make skeins that preserve the light to dark aspect of the design. My Majacraft Rose with the Wooley Winder can ply 4, 5 and sometimes 6 oz skeins. That means the singles will need to be 2 to 3 oz each... safer to be 2 oz each, then 2 plied will yield a 4 oz skein. So, one skein for each front, and two skeins for the back. I start dividing the fleece, and weighing for the singles.

The nice tissue paper from my Coldwater Creek Birthday shopping excursion became the packages for the weighed locks. Below are the locks for one side. Two ounces each, each group containing light to dark locks.

Now, the back's a little trickier, since it is slightly bigger than the two fronts, especially if I make a vee neck. These are divided light for the top skein, two groups of 2 oz each, and dark for the lower back - a little larger skein for the lower back - 2.5 oz in each group. 9 oz. total for the back

As you can see, I may be retired, but am still an Engineer... Engineering... errrr... Designing fibery projects using math. :-)

For those keeping track, I used up only 17 oz of the 22 total. I figure the other 5 oz might either become sleeves - two 2.5 oz skeins, be "in reserve" for the body skeins, and/or serve as sample skeins to determine the final grist of the yarn and knitting gage. Much more to go!

As an addendum, since finishing the birthday socks for my Mom (from Socks that Rock yarn - yummy!), I have two new projects "on the needles". Several years ago, I spun some yarn from a roving exchange intending to make sideways garter stitch gloves. Last Wednesday I finally started the gage swatch for them at my neighbor's "Yarn Arts Happy Hour" - more on this later.

I also wanted something relatively easy for the concert. A couple years ago, I bought some of the Louet Euroflax linen yarns. I even made a bag out of it in basketweave stitch, which worked okay. My intention was to make sampler washcloths out of it but I hated knitting those patterns with it! A French Market bag (from Folk Bags) sounded like it would be mindless knitting, plus be useful in picking up our CSA produce. So that's what I started - modifying the pattern so I could knit it in the round. As it happened, I only got a couple rows done on the way to the concert and between sets. That counts as being on the needles!

- Franna

Concert Report

Well, darned if we didn't miss most of Pat Green's set. We got to our seats as he was finishing up with Wave on Wave - one of my favorites! Great seats! We were on about the 50 yard line in the first row of the second section up. The front of the stage was on about the 30 yard line, so we were plenty close, and no one could stand up and block short me! Yeaaaaaa!

I was a little disappointed in Sara Evans - I like her music but the sound system wasn't quite right and it blasted right into and through my ears... ouch. Interesting that she had 2 sisters as backup vocals and a brother on guitar. Wow! The earrings those girls were wearing! It made my ears hurt even more. One wore huge round flower outline hoops, the other wore a matrix of big circular coin looking discs. Sara wore saucer sized, but delicate looking hoops. Do these really hang from one little hole in their ears?

I went for eats during the first part of Sugarland's set. They sounded really good even in the concourses. The garlic fries are to die for, but it took me a long time to find them. I got back for the last couple songs, and it was even better from my seat - energy and well coordinated sound guys. Way to go!

Now for the best part - Brooks & Dunn. They Rocked!! Hillbilly Deluxe, Red Dirt Road, My Maria - one of my all time favorites -, Boot Scootin Boogie, and on and on. So we're figuring since they're not the headliner, they won't do an encore. Wrong! Ronnie came back out and did a tear jerking rendition of I Believe - My Oh My! They then closed with Only in America, complete with uniformed servicemen and red white and blue streamers shot out over the crowd and themselves. Kicks looked like a Maypole. And Their Sound guys did Great! They had the crowd on their feet throughout, and a rousing standing ovation to bring them back for the encore.

They changed sets really efficiently and we didn't have to wait long for Kenny. Oh. My. Goodness! He started on a stage on the 70-ish yard line, then moved to the front stage. That man has so much energy - he'd jog from side to side on the stage, out the runway to the tee and back and forth. By this time, the whole stadium was full, full, full - something like 50,000 people. This was the only time - at *any* concert - I'd heard the crowd singing - all together, in tune, and could hear all the words! We did it twice! I think Kenny was blown away by that, too. As good as it was, his sound guys weren't quite as good as B&D or Sugarland's were, and there were times it was difficult to hear him and understand words. And lights! Wow - what a light show! It must've looked really cool to the people in the airplanes landing at SeaTac - their pattern was taking them right over Qwest field. Kenny's encore was She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy - complete with John Deere green light show.

As always, it was a lot of fun crowd watching. There was a mini-Peyton Place going on in front of us. Five 20-something guys were really into the concert (and the beer!), to the chagrin of their wives(?) and dates. The wife of one finally got up and left - that made an impression. The others seemed to be picking up girls at the concert, leaving and coming back, meeting different girls... going shirtless and spinning their shirts around, high fiving, singing, standing on their chairs, spilling beer on the guy in front (then giving same guy the beer as an apology). There was a Kenny look-alike about 8 rows in front of us. At one point between sets, he got mobbed by people thinking he was Kenny (he sure looked it to us), then lo and behold, he was still sitting there when Kenny actually came on stage. During another set change a couple guys started to mix it up about 6 rows in front of us. Seattle police eventually came and took them away when they didn't back down. At least no blows were exchanged.... There is something to be said for "dry" concerts. ;-)

heh... for all that this Flip Flop Tour concert was great (and it was!)... Brad Paisley's concert was still the BEST. Even if you're not a Country fan - go to CMT.com or Yahoo music and watch his new music video titled "Online" It is soooooo funny!!! :-)
- Franna

Update on Milking and Country Concert!

This was the third morning of sheep milking. It went a lot better without Daphne and Asa in the milking "string". The sheep still don't like the head gate, but pigs that they are, they eventually stick their heads in. I'm letting them eat sometimes without closing the gate, so it isn't such a scary thing. Tucker the Finnsheep is the only one I couldn't get in the opening. I tied her to the gate and started milking anyhow. She eventually put her head in and started eating. :-)

They're tapering off quite a bit. I got almost 8 cups this morning. That's still half a gallon, and enough for half a batch of Italian cheese, or quite a lot of yogurt. The yearlings have tapered off the most, so I'll just let them keep drying up.

Ohhhhhhhh - what a treat! After milking I had fresh raspberries with cold sheep's milk and a sprinkling of sugar. MmmmmMmmmm Good! Maybe some of that sheep's milk will become ice cream.....

This afternoon we're going to the Kenny Chesney Flip-Flop tour concert in Qwest Field. I still have to pick out my knitting project for the concert. There are FIVE country acts scheduled - Pat Green, Sugarland, Sara Evans, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny - the weather is awesome and I'm ready for a sitdown break! We've seen B&D and *know* they put on a great concert. Kenny has been voted Entertainer of the Year multiple times, and what I've seen on TV is great. Of course, it will have to be something extra special good to be better than the Brad Paisley concert we saw last month. OMG! That was waaaay cool. If you're a Country music fan, don't miss Brad Paisley.

...off to choose a knitting project. :-)
- Franna

Sheep Milking and No Rest for the Retired

Wow... That's about how I feel after my first week of "Retirement". It wasn't really a whole week with July 4th tucked in there. I have to blame Kathy L. somewhat with talking about milking sheep - Kathy did you get any of yours milked?

On July 4th, we separated all of the Shetland and Finn moms from their lambs (except for Fancy and Emmie who lambed later). It was NOISY around here with fireworks and unhappy sheep and lambs. I waited for a time (after retiring!) when I could try milking ewes twice a day, so Thursday morning I went out with my handy EZ Milker, extra bottles, washing basin and a bucket of grain. Our creep gate has a head holder in it, so my bright idea was to hold ewes in the head gate, give them a pan of grain, milk them one by one, and try to get a couple gallons of milk to try making sheep cheese.

Well, the first morning we fumbled a little, but mostly got milk. About 6 cups worth for the first try from 2 adult and 2 yearling Finns, 5 adult Shetlands and 1 yearling Shetland. Some behaved well and gave pretty good milk considering they're late in their lactation cycle, some went wild and were very difficult to get any milk from.

Thursday evening, I went at it again. Thinking to save my back a little, I took the shearing stand and placed it against the head gate. Once the sheep were on the stand and in the head gate, it worked great! It was the getting to that point that whipped me good! No one willingly led up the ramp, it was all I could do to pull and push them up. By the last sheep I was ready to quit - but they gave me 10.5 cups this time! One of the Finnsheep gave a whole pint by herself, and one of the Shetlands gave most of a pint. Good sheepies. Another of the Shetlands was such a PITA that she was taken off the milking roster. Once on the shearing stand, she collapsed and wouldn't get up. After she finally got up, she bucked and reared in the head gate, making milking nigh onto impossible. I think I got a cupfull from her.. maybe.

This morning I went back to milking on the ground, and got almost 9 cups (without Daphne's contribution). Still, it was not the relaxing experience I'd kind of expected. Sheep are supposed to learn that the milking makes them feel better - releasing the pressure of that milk buildup. hmmmmm. I guess they didn't read that part. A couple of the sheep did, and they're pretty easy, Thank you Electra, Bessie and Daisy! The rest fight the head gate, fight the EZ Milker and fight me. After tonight, I dropped another from the roster - Asa, for such a gentle sheep, you're a bear to milk. We got another 6 cups tonight.

Actually, it's part of my plan to taper them off, so the smaller amount is okay. I have almost 2 gallons in the freezer, enough to try some cheeses and maybe yogurt. My original plan was to milk them for a week or two. Unless things get much easier, a week will be more than enough for this experiment!

Even considering the "difficult" sheep, it is kind of rewarding to sit amongst the ewes, milking one while several others snuffle around and try to see what's going on. Maybe after a couple more days, we'll all be used to the routine and things will go easier and faster. heh... maybe by then I'll only be milking Electra, Daisy and Bessie and won't even need the head gate. One can wish.

Milking these few sheep twice a day, including preparing bottles and freezing the milk, is taking 4 to 6 hours out of my day. That's half or more of a regular workday! I have new appreciation for folks who milk any mammal regularly.
-Franna

Fibery Fruits of My Labor

Yesterday was my FIRST day of official retirement - from Boeing, certainly not from the rest of the world! One of my "first day" projects was washing an eye catching silver grey Cotswold fleece I'd bought at Shepherd's Extravaganza. One of my guild "sisters" shared this fleece with me. Thanks, Darliss! So here it is all washed up and dried outside on shelf racks.

Cotswolds are one of the luster longwool types of sheep, and can weigh 200 to 300 pounds at maturity!!! Contrast that to our Shetlands at 80 to 120lb! Cotswold wool grows 8" to 10" in a year's time. Most people let their Cotswolds fleeces grow less than 12 months because they tend to get very dirty and felted if they go too long on the sheep. This fleece had 6 months growth. The wool is very "strong" and tends to be coarser (microns in the 40's) than ideal for next to the skin wearing. It has this back and forth wave character to the staple, with a twist at the tip. Some people use the fleece for Santa beards, and it has been called "Poor Man's Mohair".

Locks up close. You can see that the "grey" is really a mix of white and grey fibers.
Without having a specific project in mind, I decided to sort the locks from light to dark, and will spin them so that I'll have skeins that also blend from light to dark. I've done this on a smaller scale and it is very unique. Below is the sorted fleece. It almost looks like it'll get up and start baaaa'ing. I wonder which is the head end??? ;-)I also finished the Orange Romney potholder on the CAMEL loom. heh... in this photo it looks like a grimacing Jack'O'Lantern. It's actually called "Star" and when it's laid out flat, you can see a four pointed star in there. I still need to cut it off the loom and hem the ends.
So, this morning I started in on another fleece - the gorgeous, soft "modified" grey Shetland lamb fleece from Linda Wendleboe - that also "followed me home" from SE ;-)

After much deliberation, I decided to trim off the tips. You see, I just love the grey color, which is next to the skin, and about 2/3 to 3/4 of the length of the fiber. Shetlands tend to sunbleach, and these tips are sunbleached. There is lots of length on the fleece, so off come the tips! There will still be some brown tint to the yarn - it'll be a warmer grey than the Cotswold. It has yet to tell me what it wants to be. :-) I'm thinking now that I'm retired... ... I could comb the locks and spin a fine yarn for lace. Ooooooooooooooooo!

-Franna

Gentlemen (and Ladies) - Start Your Engines!

DH is a die hard racing fan. I've learned about NASCAR, CART, SCCA, and SOVERN. Every year SOVERN sponsors benefit races at the local race track, Pacific Raceways (the "old timers" all know it as SIR - Seattle International Raceway) over the July 4th weekend. Proceeds go to Children's Hospital, so we can have fun and feel like we're contributing something, too. We go with friends and make a day of it, cruising the booths, taking photos of race cars, watching qualifying rounds, then the races! This year we went on the first day, Friday, June 29th.

These aren't just any races, they're Vintage Car Races. The cars are all race cars from the 50's and 60's and have been lovingly restored, and are carefully (mostly) raced since some of these cars are worth in excess of one MILLION dollars.

The highlight of the Vintage Car Races (at least for DH) is the Trans-Am Class. Old Camaros and Challengers (among others) put on a big show for the fans on SIR's road course. This year was a bit disappointing because the rains came and none of the Muscle cars came out for their race. We got to see them on their qualifying runs and on display, though.

We had carefully listened to the weather forecast - partly cloudy with sun breaks and showers - and brought one of the canopies. It's a good thing, because when we went to the infield for the races, and set up for lunch, the sky opened up and dumped water all over us!! Only the die hard race fans stayed after the rain started:

Several races were complete by then. After the on again, off again showers, one event was scratched (the Trans-Am class) and one had 1 car - guess who won that one???, and one had 5. The last race, though, still in the rain, still on a wet track, had the whole field show up - 25 odd cars! The curves below us were filled with vintage cars!

The roadway and corner above us was filled with cars!

The sun tried gallantly to come out and dry off the raceway. This little car comes through some of the steam on his way down the hill.

We have a picnic lunch in the infield watching the races. Our friend Julie always outdoes herself with dessert, and we bring the sandwich fixin's. This year Julie brought tiramisu (!!) in honor of my retirement, and cinnamon apple pie, just in case the tiramisu wasn't good enough????? We made pigs of ourselves again. ;-)

DH got all kinds of photos for his model making hobby. He has almost as much stash of models and model parts as I have of fiber! These cars have wonderful stories. He was taking photos of one of the cars and started talking to the owner. The car had been "lost" for decades. Way back, someone (known) had stolen the racing transmission and kept it hidden, afraid to bring it out for decades. Meanwhile, the car had been converted to a street car in Canada. At long last someone found the tranny (or fessed up to stealing it...) and traced the car through the VIN number. Once the car and tranny were reunited, the car qualified for the vintage races... well, that and many thousands of dollars later.... At this series, the driver was an original driver who'd won several races (DH, of course, knows all these people and names... and I know that he knows, so I don't have to remember... ;-)

We were talking to another driver/owner (DH brought a model of the driver's number 77 Green Challenger, and got his autograph - right on the roof!) and he points out the team next to him. They are the guys who run the TV Auction for old vehicles. They were just like normal dudes, and were very cool to talk to. ;-)

Pretty fun way to spend the day before my 55th birthday.

-Franna

Happy Retirement to ME!

Wow. My first official day of retirement, and it's almost over. So, what did I do all day???

First off - I did NOT sleep in. :-) The sheep still need to be fed and let out, as do the dogs. Besides, sleeping in could easily get to be a very bad habit!

Next, I had made a "date" with my Mom to meet her for breakfast. She meets with a group of friends every morning for breakfast/coffee at about 9 am. So, I met them and had coffee. That was a treat! One of the things I've been wanting to do is spend more time with my Mom. At 80-something, she's lived a long and active life, and I certainly hope she's around for many more years. That's not something to take for granted.

After leaving breakfast, I went to spend my Birthday money at Coldwater Creek. They have a fun little store in a new shopping area in Kent with a lot of nicer casual clothing. I'm judging two agility trials this month and need something nice/casual/summertime to wear. I found a long denim skirt, madras plaid shirt jacket and nice tee - all on SALE! :-)

From there, I was homeward bound, and it was already after noon!

At home I went out and checked on the sheep, read email, and felt somewhat ... odd. My feelings ranged from anger (!) to sadness to apathy to excitement. hmmmmm. Now what? Do something fibery! I pulled out the pretty grey Cotswold fleece that followed me home from Shepherd's Extravaganza and started scouring it. I plied up some flaming orange Romney to use in the potholder project going around the Moonspinners Guild as a C.A.M.E.L. project. While waiting for the Cotswold to soak, I wove. (CAMEL - Creative Approach to Mobile Education Loom - one of the experienced guild members chooses a small project, warps the loom and guild members sign up and weave the project and pass the loom along to the next person - wonderful!)

DH came home while the Cotswold was still in the sink, and the potholder was still on the loom.

Monday evenings we have people in to "play" agility. Tonight we were breaking in a couple of new judges for 4H fairs this summer. My dog Clifford did okay for having very little practice over the last several months. ...okay, he wouldn't have passed even the beginner course, but by the end of the session he was paying attention and following directions, at least mostly. ;-) He gave the new judges plenty of opportunity to call faults.

After agility, the sheep got fed, watered and attention. Poor Tori, my beautiful Shetland ewe out of Island Skeld, had mastitis a few weeks ago. She had a complete break in her wool from the illness, and tonight I pulled the rest of it off of her. Amazingly, once I caught her, she stood fairly quietly while I pulled tuft after tuft off her. Beautiful soft, crimpy, white wool that wasn't long enough to do anything with.

Now, here I am blogging. After I post this, I'm going to work on agility courses for one of the upcoming trials. This trial is full - 330 runs per day and I'm the only judge! The courses are going to be fun. :-)

One thing I didn't do was take photos. Maybe tomorrow. After the potholder is done.

-Franna

Messin' on the web

So, poking around at Blogger, I came on this fun little quiz. How they can predict your accent from a text bunch of questions is a bit of a mystery. Here are my "results":

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English 10% Dixie 10% Upper Midwestern 5% Midwestern 5% Yankee

You, too, can take the quiz and see what they divine your accent is:
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

That's all fer now y'all.
- Franna

Tagged, Updates and Ramblings

Tagged!
Michelle tagged me for the 5 random facts topic. As copied below, this topic requests each tagee to disclose 5 random facts about themselves:
**Here are the rules: Each person tagged gives 5 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 5 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 5 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave a note in the comments of the blogs of those you plan on tagging so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.**

First, though, it's been a while since I updated the blog at all. That isn't for lack of things to write about, fer sure! I think of suitable topics all the time - while driving to/from work, while feeding the sheep, while feeding the dogs, while feeding me (as I am now....), while spinning, while moving fences, while filling water tubs... you get the idea. When my blog is "quiet", life is just the opposite.

The last entry was before Butch had his splint removed. Since then:

• He and his sisters are now integrated into the rest of the "Scottie flock". That's a subject for a whole blog by itself.
• I went to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a week to give a paper at the North American Manufacturing Research Conference. While there I visited Stephen Rouse and Heather Ludlam's Shetland flocks. Hi Steve and Heather! ...material for another blog
• We hosted more farm visitors plus held a Memorial Day BBQ. The all homegrown meats were exquisitely barbequed by DH Dave.
• Etta, one of the SBF lambs, lost a horn in the evening feeding frenzy. - another blog subject, though we got no photos of the very bloody incident! For some reason, we weren't thinking of photos at the time.
• The local stores are out of later cutting hay from Eastern Washington, so we're feeding some lousy looking 2006 first cutting hay. At least the sheep like it.
• Finally decided that Stripes the cat isn't coming home. :-( She disappeared several weeks ago and we've found no trace of her. We decided to imagine her being picked up by a loving family and now enjoying her new home rather than the not-so-nice alternatives.
• Contacted a feral cat rescue organization and arranged to adopt a couple of feral cats for rat and rodent control. Since Stripes has been gone, we've noticed more and more new ratholes appearing.
• Today, my youngest niece, Alecia Lee Pitt, is having a graduation party. She's graduating both from High School and from Junior College with her AA degree. I'm so proud of her. :-)
• And of course, spent lots of time watching, stroking, and evaluating the many EverRanch 2007 lambs!

Soooo, while writing that list, I finished breakfast. Recently I've been eating Cascade brand Greek or Mediteranian plain yogurt mixed with fruit, nuts and uncooked rolled oats. This yogurt is really thick and creamy and tastes deliciously rich. There are lots of variations on the theme. This morning it was Greek style yogurt, rolled oats and chopped Braeburn apple topped with cinnamon and sugar. Another of my favorites is to use Bear Naked granola instead of rolled oats. Bananas, raisins, blueberries and apples are my favorite fruits to add. Walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts are my favorite nuts. YUM!

Well! On with the trivia... drum roll, please!

1. I was born and raised in the Seattle area. There have been many, many changes in those almost 55 years - some good, some not so good. The mountains and green, growing things are still good. The traffic and cost of living is terrible. Don't come here to live. ;-)
2. In 1996(?), my son discovered the online text RPG "Gemstone3". After watching him play a bit, I started in. We played for several years and became part of the online community as a result. My main character was Lady Rosamir Rockette, a Sylvan Wizard. We started online through e-World, then AOL and all its ups and downs, and finally to bare bones unlimited access internet servers. Wow! There have been a lot of changes along THAT path! (He's now playing WOW... I don't even want to go there.....)
3. In 1994, my son (again! what's with that kid???? ;-) said he wanted to ride the STP. This is a mass 2 day bicycle ride from Seattle to Portland and is approximately 200 miles long. At the time, we weren't riding bikes much... in fact, I wasn't riding at all! For many reasons, I agreed and we started training. We rode that year with about 9,500 others, and enjoyed it so much that we did it again for the next 4 years. The last year, 1999, I rode by myself. 1999 was a beautiful ride, perfect weather, I was in good shape and ahead of the pack for most of the ride. The final approach to the finish line went over the St. John's Bridge in Portland. Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams were all out in their white gowned splendor. It was wonderful and sad at the same time. I missed having company on the ride, yet it was so beautiful. I hope to ride again someday.
4. My first car was a powder blue 1968 VW Squareback. I went all through High School and partway through college without wheels of my own. I got married (at 19! waaaay too young) and my husband was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Washington. I needed a way to get around and we found the car in Tacoma. It had been stored for a couple of years, so was low mileage and cheap. Gas was less than $0.30/gallon and with the 10 gallon tank, I could fill up for $2 plus change and drive for hundreds of miles. I drove that car all over the state - to dog shows, camping, school (again!), work, moving several times. We finally sold it to get a pickup truck (bad decision) and I miss it even now.
5. I'm competitive. I want to win, but I want to win fair and square. I get more pleasure out of competing fairly and losing than even thinking about cheating and winning. If you compete fairly and beat me, I have a great deal of respect for you. I'm not tolerant of people who win at all costs. That said, I'm very proud of having owned, trained and handled the first AKC TDX Labrador Retriever and the first AKC JH Labrador Retriever in Washington State. translation - TDX = Tracking Dog Excellent, and JH = Junior Hunter. Tracking tests and hunt tests are part of American Kennel Club competitions that emphasize performance skills rather than good looks. Dogs are a big part of my life and have been since I first started reading Albert Payson Terhune books in grade school. My first dog was a Norwegian Elkhound. She was actually the family dog. The first dog of my own was a Rough Collie (remember APT?). Labrador Retrievers have been *my* breed since 1972, but I've also had a Shetland Sheepdog, several Rough Collies, a Welsh Springer Spaniel, and a German Shepherd (actually DH's dog).

Okay, there are 5 things about me. :-) Now for the other part of the rules - tagging 5 more people. Hmmmmm. That's the hard part for me. I read only a select few blogs, and looking back, all those folks have been tagged at least once for the trivia disclosure. This one will take some thought and more time.... Right now, the sheepies are calling and my niece's party is coming up ... then there's getting a place fixed to confine the new barn cats while they get used to their new home, websites for the Welsh Springer Spaniel Club and Gotland Sheep Association....

- Franna

ShepherdDoc Catering Service

Featured on today's menu are mixed fresh greens: Add a bowl of granola tossed with molasses and a side of sun baked orchard grass.

Delivery is included.

Some customers sample the variety.
Others dig right in.
This exclusive catering service serves "bedridden" and restricted patients (and their family members) who aren't allowed to enjoy harvesting the bountiful spring harvest by themselves.

The ShepherdDoc catering service expects to go out of business by June! :-)

-Franna

Hello to the World

Last night we put Emmie - EverRanch EMF - into a jug. There was just something about her... maybe it was the way the ram lambs wouldn't leave her alone, or that she wasn't quite as enthusiastic about eating, or her heavier breathing. Whatever it was, when I got up this morning and checked the Lamb Cam, she had this dark shadow with her!

There's not much question to this lamb's sex!! I'm thinking maybe Faraday would be a good name for him....
Thanks, Emmie!

This closes EverRanch Farm's 2007 lambing season. We have 40 healthy lambs bounding around. Four Scotties gave us 7 awesome lambs (3 rams, 4 ewes) from Scottish Genetics; 7 ewes gave us 15 half-Gotland lambs (10 rams, 5 ewes), all of whom are turning gorgeous, lustrous grey!; 7 Shetlands gave us 14 outstanding Shetland lambs (7 rams, 7 ewes); three others gave us 4 half-Finn market lambs (2 rams, 2 ewes). From 21 ewes - including 6 yearlings plus 2 other first time moms - that's almost a 200% lambing rate. We may have to bottle and sell the water. :-)

- Franna

Electra

This is Electra. She's one of our favorite Shetland sheep. I know you all have favorite sheep. They're usually the ones who don't meet your goals for the flock, but they're characters or best friends in sheep suits or something else that makes certain that they are forever flock members. Electra is one of those. Her wool is coarser than ideal and she isn't very productive but she's so friendly, has friendly lambs and is such a character that she's on our "A" list. That's the list of sheep that will stay on and be buried in the "back 40" when their time comes.



Electra decided recently that she doesn't like drinking out of the buckets and tubs we supply with fresh water twice a day. She wants to get it right from the source as we're filling said buckets and tubs. Of course, the hose leaks just enough for her to get a good drink by licking right at the faucet connection.

Mom once had a cat named "Spook" (who wasn't spooky at all, and was calico colored at that) who decided she'd get her drinks by licking the bathtub faucet. Spook was catered to by letting the bathtub faucet slowly drip all day long. I used to cat-sit for Mom when she'd go traveling, and of course, had to leave the bathtub faucet drip for Spook. Those memories all came back to me watching Electra lick the hose at the leaking faucet connection.

Thanks, Electra. :-)

- Franna

Broken Leg update and What's Next

Several weeks ago, Butch, one of our Scottish Blackface ram lambs broke his leg. He was only 4 days old, and a result of insemination using (real) Scottish semen. As a potentially valuable breeding ram, we chose to have the vet set his leg. He then spent the next 4 weeks in an enlarged jug and creep with his two sisters and his mom. Last Monday, at long last, the splint was removed!!! His leg has a pretty good callus forming, even if it's not quite straight. Being immobilized at such a young age, though, his leg hasn't developed a lot of calcification, and the joints are fairly stiff.
Butch is shown below in my arms on his arrival home after the splint was removed.

A close up shows the difference between the newly released, injured right leg and the good left leg.

We put him back in the pen with Mom and sisters to stay confined while he learns to use it again and it regains some strength. He's shown below with mom "EweOne".

He's started out putting only a little weight on his leg when he was standing, and dragging it along when he was moving. Now, almost a week later, he's using it to walk with more and putting his toes out front more often when he's standing. Progress is slow and steady. I've been cutting grass every morning to feed Ewe One and her triplets in the hope that they'll be somewhat accustomed to eating grass by the time they get to go OUT.

Butch is shown above just 6 days after his splint was removed. It's amazing the difference a week makes. Notice how his hock and ankle are bent to a more normal position and his foot even looks more substantial. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he recovers plenty of function in that leg so he's able to easily breed ewes and pass on his superior genetics!

__________________

A while back, Kathy L. asked what we had in mind "next"... after winning Best Shetland Ram Fleece, Best Shetland Lamb Fleece and Champion Shetland Fleece at the Shepherds' Extravaganza. Kathy, I've thought a lot about your question.

What's next? Isn't that always a good question to ask yourself? There are lots of categories to think about. Some years ago, I decided to go back to school to serve as an example to my daughter and to keep my mind busy. "What's next?" in that vein became a Masters Degree in Engineering in 2000, then a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2005.

When we bought our current 5 acres for the primary purpose of having space to practice dog agility "what's next?" became the sheep farm. "What's next?" for the sheep farm is to move to our 20 acres on Whidbey Island. That should come to pass by 2010, hopefully, even sooner! In agility "what's next?" became the impetus for both Dave and I to pass the test and become agility judges. Now both of us judge AKC agility trials several weekends per year. "What's next" for the sheep is to continue to breed for fine - mid 20's micron - fleeces in the Shetlands, increasingly pure bloodlines for the Gotlands, and improve the gene pool in Scottish Blackface sheep with imported genetics from Scotland.

This year's "what's next" for the farm is to exhibit the sheep and their fleeces at three or more competitions. The first was Shepherds' Extravaganza. We just evaluated our time commitments and maturity of the lambs and decided that Black Sheep Gathering just isn't one for us this year, disappointing but realistic. The Skagit County Fair will be our next sheep competition. I'll be sending fleeces to Fibre Week at Olds College in Alberta before then. After that, we'll exhibit at our "local" fair - the mega-sheep show at the Puyallup Fair. The up and coming Gotland Association is planning to exhibit at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in late September. We're tentatively planning to take some of our 50% Gotland sheep there.

Probably the very most exciting "what's next" for me in 2007 is my impending RETIREMENT!!! After 40 years in the work force, most of it in full time employment, I'll be retiring on my 55th birthday - June 30th. I'm so excited that it's hard to concentrate on my last few weeks at work. :-) :-) :-) After July 1st, all those things I talked about above, will be so much more do-able. Plus I'll see my Mom more often, visit my daughter and husband in their new home, go to Albuquerque to visit my son along with about a thousand other things that are "next".

Kathy, thanks for asking. :-)

-Franna

Farm Visitors and Sheep Moving Day

Today was the first weekend we had "free" in quite a while. It was wonderful to spend the whole weekend on the "farm" :-)
Saturday, we sheared two sheep that we'd sold to some friends. Tina and Jim bought one of our first Scottish Blackface lambs, Lucy, then last fall bought Shetland "Ovaltina" just before she won Grand Champion Shetland Ewe at the Puyallup fair sheep show! Both Lucy and Tina had nice, clean fleeces, and are living the good life as Pasture Pets. I then attended an 80th Birthday bash for a longtime family friend, then went by the feed store for supplies (they know me by name). We also got ready for showing folks around the farm and for sheep moving day.

We rotate the sheep through the pastures, letting each pasture rest and regrow in turn. When we get the timing right, the grass is still in its vegetative state (no shorter than 4") when we move the sheep out, and it grows quickly. We try to size each pasture so that the sheep are in for about a week. Then we do the moving on weekends.

The first to move were the rams. Here is what they got moved into. This is our backyard. Other people mow their backyards. We graze sheep in our backyard. The boys were very happy to move into this grassy jungle. The white Shetland is Winter, the black Shetland is Willie and the (sunbleached) Finnsheep is Eino. Buddy the Shetland, and our 4th ram, was just out of the photo.
Below is the "upper" group of Shetland and Finn ewes with their lambs. They are impatiently waiting to get their new grass! Niblet the Finnsheep is in the back baaaa'ing very loudly about her displeasure at having to wait. They really aren't as packed in as they look. When I came up with the camera, they all crowded to the front trying to be first out. Silly sheep.

This morning (Sunday), Michelle McMillen of Boulderneigh fame came visiting with her Dad. Her excuse was to pick up fleeces from the Shepherds' Extravaganza, but I know she was looking for a "lamb fix". I had a great time providing said "fix". We looked at lambs, and talked about lambs, and caught and felt lambs, compared birth coats and how they felt, and of course had to pet the adults as they crowded around.

It was wonderful to talk about Shetlands and wool types and tails and conformation :-) Thanks, Michelle! Later we got to meet son Brian, Michelle's husband, Rick, and her Mom. Brian (hi, Brian!) was more interested in our Labrador Retriever, Thomas, than all the wooly sheep. It was mutual. Thomas was much more interested in Bryan than a bunch of silly sheep.

We spent a lot of time looking at the gulmoget ram lambs, Franjean and Rool. I've been watching their "horns", earlier noticing that Franjean's nubs were loosely attached, but Rool's seemed to be firmly attached. Today it was obvious that both boys have loosely attached scurs. Franjean is shown below with his small nubs.

Then Rool's larger nubs are shown in the photo below. Also noticeable is the difference in color - Rool is very dark brown, and Franjean is considerably lighter - and wool character - Rool's birthcoat is very dense and straight, I call it "plush", and Franjean has a slight wave that is also softer feeling.

Of Bessie's triplets, Sorsha is the softest feeling. If we didn't already have two fawn katmoget ewes, she'd be on the potential keeper list! She has a shorter head like her mom, Bessie.

And a longer fleece than Franjean or Elora with even more wave to it. She didn't even object too much to being fawned over.
All too soon, Michelle had to pack up the fleeces and leave for the long drive back to Oregon. (Michelle took pictures - my camera was charging....) . I wish we lived closer together :-)

Our second set of visitors were Dave's coworker, Ron, his wife, Deb and daughter Hannah. Hannah was thrilled to meet Thomas, as well. Must be something about those big brown eyes and that wildly wagging tail.... We walked around and met the sheepie groups, then sat Hannah down with the "Hilton" group and just let the lambs come around. The Gotland-Finn lambs surrounded her and Bossie laid down and snoozed between her feet. What a deal for an animal loving young lady. We finished the tour with a demonstration of the spinning wheel where I'm spinning up some gaudy bright orange, yellow and hot pink Romney. Spinning had a lot more appeal for Deb; Hannah's heart was still in the lamb pen.

I got the Romney at Shepherds' Extravaganza from Lin Schwider of The Pines Farm. All four days I could see it on the shelf across the room from our sheep pens. It called to me, and kept calling until I gave in and bought it. It's garish, it's wild, it's *not Shetland* and I'm having fun spinning it. See, Michelle, I do get some time to spin. :-)

Also at SE, Dave found this lime green kid mohair with his name written all over it. He wants socks made from this so he can wear them with his Birkies in the wintertime. I'm going to card it with some white SHETLAND wool to add resilience. If it mutes the green too much, Lin offered me some electric yellow dye to enhance the white wool.

My name is Franna and I'm a fiber addict. This beautiful gray Cotswold fleece followed me home from SE. (This was the day after one of Linda Wendleboe's charcoal Shetland fleeces jumped into my arms - more on this fleece in a future blog!) The house is full of fleeces and roving and locks and yarn. Did I need more? Nooooooo. I haven't spun Cotswold though, and it is such a pretty color. Just look at how it shines with luster. Our Gotland sheeps' wool should be similar in color and luster and considerably softer.

Another weekend gone into history. The sheep and lambs are all on new pasture eating their favorite bits (dandelions and clover). By next weekend, they'll be eating the less favorite greens (fescue and seed stalks) and eagerly looking for us to move them again. Michelle and Ron and families, we hope you enjoyed your visit; we sure enjoyed having you here. Y'all come back now, y'hear! ... I think I'll spin a little more brilliant orange Romney before bed.

- Franna

Scottish Blackface Lambs

I took these photos a week or so ago, and they've been simmering in my computer. Now they want out! All of our Scottish Blackface lambs are a result of artificial insemination with semen collected in Scotland from real Scottish - Scottish Blackface rams. We used one of the rams last year, and two others this year. The little beauty below is "Bonnie's Girl" by ram #3631. We hope she develops mom's lovely flowing, long fleece along with dad's superb conformation. These two boys are out of our nicest fleeced ewe, Luna. Luna also has wonderful, wide, sweeping horns. In our very small flock, within this low NA population breed, Luna is the least related to our other ewes. We bred her to the "third" imported semen line (#4236) hoping for a ram lamb. She gave us Wicket and Teebo. Thank you, Luna!
The left hand lamb in the photo below is our 75% Scottish lines ewe lamb. She's the daughter of the first Scottish Blackface born in North America of Scottish semen, EverRanch Genesis. She deserves a name, but for now is "Jennie's Girl". She's a half sister to Wicket, shown behind her, and half-first-cousin-once-removed to Bonnie's girl at right. Ram 4236 (sire of Wicket, Teebo and Jennie's girl) gave us more substance and darker color than Ram 3631 (sire of Bonnie's girl and EweOne's triplets). The 4th lamb in this photo is Bubba, single son of our BFLxBL Hortense and Gotland ram "Denzel". Bubba is the biggest lamb we've had at EverRanch.

The Scottie triplets are still confined in the oversized jug in the barn. "Butch" had his splint changed on Monday - it's now a bright red. The good new is that his leg appears to be healing well, and just possibly they'll remove his splint next Monday! We'll keep them in the pen maybe another week, just to have him get used to walking on it, then have to introduce all 4 of them gradually to the pasture. Whew.
- Franna

Penultimate Lambing for 2007

Fancy had her lambs this morning. She'd been hanging away from the other ewes and generally looking suspicious, but not enough to stay up with her. This morning on the lamb cam, she had a little black lump with her in the far corner of the Hilton. When I went out to take care of them, though, the lump diverged! There were two "black" lumps. Let the other ewes and lambs out, dip navels, get weights - just under 6 lb and just over 6 lb, nice sized girls for a first time mom - then put them in the waiting jug. Motherhood brings such a pleasant change over these girls. They become more calm and trusting of their shepherd and seem to gain patience overnight. The last two who've lambed, Fancy and Tori, have been known to jump fences when we're trying to pen them - not good - but with their lambs, they're settling down and only giving me a wary eye when I get close.

Twins. That puts a crimp in my colostrum saving efforts. Not that I'm complaining! I decided not to "steal" colostrum from moms with twins or triplets, or yearling moms. That left only two mature ewes with singles. Hortense donated about 3 cups, and Lindy lambed during the Shepherd's Extravaganza, when there was essentially no time to milk her within that first 12 hours or so.

Total lambs at EverRanch is 39. Thirty nine! A lot of other farms routinely have more lambs than that. I'm overwhelmed, thrilled and looking for ways to extend our pastures and protect the younguns from infections, parasites, and predators.

Thank you, Fancy. Emmie is now the only one left to lamb and we're thinking her due date is still a couple of weeks out. C'mon Emmie! Photos at 11 ;-)

-Franna

Destressing at the Hilton

There often isn't enough time during the week for work, taking care of the farm, eating and sleeping. Sleep is usually the one that gets shorted.

It was getting quite late last night and the last thing we had to do was put down some clean straw in the Hilton. I wrestled the bale through the gate and could feel little bodies clustering around my feet. Shuffling slowly and letting the bale down carefully, I was just ready to cut the strings when it was discovered! Discovered by multitudes of black and white bodies (and one brown body).

The Lambs at the Hilton were not ready to go to sleep, no, not at all. They commandeered the hay bale as the center of their impromptu playground and played king of the mountain - up and down, up and down, leap and spring! It was just too great for us to spoil their fun right away, so we stood there and felt their fiber, looked at color, socialized and played with the lambs.

And eventually, what do adults do? Well, we spoil the kids fun, of course. ;-) We opened the bale of straw and spread it out - leaving a couple of mini-piles for late(r) night fun. Bed felt even better after destressing with the lambs, and I'm sure sleep came faster than usual.

- Franna