This is your assignment, should you choose to accept it.

Yup, I did it again. I have abandoned my blogging duties. But, after several 'gentle' nudges, and some not-so-gentle nudges in the form of comments left on my Facebook page, I got the hint that it was time to update.

First off, for those of you that don't follow my Crosswinds Farm page on Facebook, I have some sad news. I lost Willow, one of my favorite older ewes, a couple of weeks ago. We will miss her very much. I know that many of you have followed her on this blog over the years, and many of my market customers have made lovely garments from her fleece and looked forward to purchasing her fiber every year. I know they will miss her as well. That is all I want to say about that.

Other sad news. 

I had to say good-bye to Larry, my truck, recently as well. If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you have met Larry through the tales of the misadventures that occur every time my sister Marie and I take a road trip. As my husband so aptly put it, "You and Marie have been lost in some of the best parts of the country in that truck."  He was not even joking when he said it. Dead-pan serious.

I've had Larry for over 10 years and he has carried sheep from every corner of the Midwest, pulled horse trailers on the way to trail rides, hauled goodies home from various flea markets, and kept us safe through all kinds of weather, crazy traffic and misguided directions from a GPS that wanted us to drive off a cliff.....don't say it....

Good-Bye Larry :(

There is good news though. There is a new man in town. Meet.........ummm...

this guy.

Here's where I need your help. This guy does not have a name yet. We used to always say, " Let's take Larry." But now is like... " Hey, let's take...ummm...the truck." It just seems wrong.

We are going to need a name before our first official road trip in this truck to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival the 9th, 10th and 11th of September...I know, it's only a week away!  I have faith in you, you can work under pressure.

You can leave name suggestions either in the comment section of this blog, or on my Crosswinds Farm facebook page. I will pick the top three favorite submissions on Tuesday night...sometime...not midnight 'cause I have already been in bed for a couple of hours by then. I figure the deadline should be Tuesday night because that will give those of you who only read blogs and check Facebook while you are at work ( you know who you are) a chance to catch up after the long weekend ....it's OK, I won't tell  your boss. Besides, this is so much more important. So, just get your suggestions on here soon(ish) and then I will add a poll on this blog on Wednesday so you can all vote on your favorite of those three.....geesh, I hope this works. In return, the winner will have the dubious distinction of being the person that named the truck, and in some small way you will always be a part of our awesome adventures. Thrilling, I know.  As if that wasn't rewarding enough, there will be fabulous and exciting prizes. 

This took a bit of deciding, and as most of you know, I am not good at deciding. 

SO, the winner will receive their choice of: 

An 8 ounce ball of roving .

OR

Two - 2 ounce skeins of handspun  yarn .

OR

For those of you that are not fiber enthusiasts, you can get 6 of my famous, homemade Salted Nut Rolls.

Here are the rules:

1) It has to be a people name...because it is much more fun to refer to him by a name associated with a human being, mainly because it really confuses people at a truck stop. For example: when you say, "Should we stop and wash Larry before lunch?"  it gives you many more raised-eyebrow-reactions from by-standers than, if his name was something like..The Blue Avenger.

2) It has to be a strong name...this guy is going to have to put up with a lot......like, listening to Marie's Queen CD's over, and over, at a decibel loud enough to shatter glass in passing vehicles..... I seriously have no idea why our husbands never want to come along on these adventures...I digress.

3) The new truck is a Ford, but it can't be named Henry, or Henri, because both my dad and my brother are Henris....Henries....Henrises....what is the plural of Henri, anyway? My point is, it would just be too confusing.

There you go. That is your assignment. Do it soon so we can decide on a name before the trip.

If you can, join us at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival. It is a huge, ginormous amount of fun. Make sure you stop by the Shetland Show on Saturday, there will be Shetland breeders from all over the country there with lots of pretty sheep ( and lots of other breeds as well )....you can watch me embarrass myself by trying to drag a 120 pound ram around the show ring....I really should have started halter-training a long time ago.  It. Will. Be. Awesome.

Don't worry Garrett, we have a new GPS, so we won't be driving over any cliffs this year....in theory.