sheep dreams

Friday, March 27, 2009

Buster

Farming with livestock is so often about life and death. It becomes somewhat easier to be philosophical, especially if it pertains to an animal with whom I have not formed a close bond. Please don't think I take death casually, even then. I care a great deal for all of my animals and only want to provide the best care I possibly can. The real pain comes from losing an animal that has been a big part of my life for a while.

My old cat, Buster was such an animal. He came to me over 15 years ago at a very difficult stage of my life. I was going through a divorce from someone I had been married to since I was 18 years old and Buster was a welcome distraction and a comfort. He always had a quirky personality and was affectionate to everyone; people, dogs, sheep included.(The exception was the cat we "inherited" when we bought the farm. He never really warmed up to her and periodically tried to "muscle" her around, just to show her that he was the barn boss!) All this to say that last weekend we made the difficult decision to put Buster to sleep. He was in kidney failure and was so very sick. It seemed cruel to prolong his suffering.It was hard.Now he's buried in our little pet cemetery with the other cherished pets who have died since we moved to the farm. The picture above is the only one I could find on my computer, but it very much captures the way he was.

I tried to write this post on Monday and just felt maybe I was being too maudlin, so I ended up deleting the whole post. I'm better now. Still missing him, but trying to remember all the funny, quirky things about him and the good memories. And in an effort to end this post on a happy note, here's something I found today on youtube. I'm probably one of the last on the planet to have watched it, but I thought it was great. (Be sure to turn your sound on--that's half the fun!)

Have a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

I'm coming down with something

Those few wonky little unblocked squares were supposed to grow up to become a full-sized afghan, but it's looking as though they are now destined to become a pillow top or a doll afghan.

Recently a friend and fellow blogger, Lindy, turned me on to another blog that has started a craving. Attic24 has turned me into a crochet wanna-be! I am not much of a crocheter, but man-oh-man, I want to make a granny square afghan and a ripple afghan. Right now! And the colors--so far out of my usual palette, but exactly what I want to be working on at the moment. I've never been particularly drawn to bright colors. Mostly, I go for the earthy shades and more subtle hues, but her colors are calling loudly to me. I did a little search in my studio this week and came up with a few granny squares I started years ago. My idea was to make a throw, all from my hand-dyed, handspun yarn, for the back of the sofa in the sunroom. (I had visions of being curled up next to the fireplace, with the afghan over my lap, knitting away on a snowy afternoon. Not likely to happen, but I love the vision!) That dream has been replaced and, as soon as I can gather up all the colors, I'm starting a bright, sunny afghan. My reasoning is that it will be the perfect project for summer----small, portable, and I can even take it out on the boat. Perfect!

As you can probably tell from the size of those bellies, we are still waiting on the first lamb. All the pregnant girls want to do is eat and lay around groaning with every breath. Not that I can blame them.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Update

Well, she did it. I wouldn't have put money on the possibility of that hen actually hatching out any of those banty eggs, but on each of the last two days, an egg has hatched, revealing a teeny, tiny chick! Yesterday afternoon, after one of the chicks fell out of the nest box (about 3 feet off the ground)and survived, I decided I needed to move chicks, surrogate mother hen, and the rest of the eggs to a lower and safer location. This was somewhat tricky because once I moved everyone, the hen could have abandoned the nest. I cut a cardboard box to resemble the nest box and filled it with some straw. She was very indignant when I started pulling the chicks and eggs out from under her! I managed to catch her and put her under my arm, and with the chicks and eggs in the box, I moved them all into the 10 X 10 dog kennel. When we put the peahen and her chicks in there last summer, we put netting around the bottom of the pen to keep the little ones from wandering outside the safety zone and getting picked off by the barn cats. I was so relieved to see her settle back on the nest and tuck those babies right under her wings. They are so tiny, it's a little scary to try holding one in my hand (the spool of thread gives you some idea of their size). She still has 6 eggs in the nest, so time will tell how many more (if any) will hatch.

And don't you just love that expression?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

LED Sheep?

My son, Justin, sent this to me today. Unbelievable. Check it out!