OOps, she did it again.

 Have you ever had one of those friends that out-nices and out-thoughtfulnesses you all the time? Don't judge my vocabulary, those are real(ish) words. I have several of those kind-hearted, thoughtful friends who, when you think you have done something nice for them, they turn around and do something even nicer for you. One such person is my dear friend, Miss Effie. A couple of months ago she asked me to do a favor for her, I was more than happy to oblige. She never asks for anything and I never feel like I can catch up with the aforementioned surplus of niceties that she has bestowed upon me.
It was a horrible task that she asked of me. She and her husband would be going away for a few days and one of her outdoor cats had given birth to two kittens, Miss Effie was worried that while she was away,  the mama cat might not get enough to eat to keep her babies warm, and well-fed in the cooler temperatures. Even though they had plenty of dry food in their feeder, she asked that I stop by and give the new little family some canned food every day.
So every day for THREE whole days, I had to drive THREE whole miles to Effie's farm, open a can of cat food (exhausting), and feed these horrible, awful, hideous creatures...where is the sarcasm font when I need it???

 It was a tough job....I almost took them home with me.

I was happy to finally have helped Miss Effie with something, even though it wasn't very significant.

Last week, Miss Effie called me, "Are you going to be home for a bit?" I told her that I would be home and to come on over.

When she and her husband came in, Miss Effie was holding something......oh no, she is going to out-nice me again, I thought. Sure enough they handed me a beautiful sign with my farm name on it, hand painted by the very talented Jen VanOort, a local artist. "What is this for?" I asked. "Remember when you watched the cats?" OMG, seriously?

Of course I am joking about out-niceing each other, I know that nobody keeps track of these things among friends; we do things for each other because it makes us feel good to see our friends smile, and this certainly did make me smile. Thank-you so much Effie, and Thank-you Jen for creating this for me.....darn it, now I have to think of something nice to do for BOTH of them........out-niced X two (sigh).

Nancy goes to Iowa.

Well, here we are, only a week into 2011, and already I have been slacking on one of my New Year's resolutions: I will post more consistently on my blog.
 I am going to try to follow through on that one...really, I am....notice that I said, "try?"

The holidays are behind us, the tree and decorations have been packed away, our kids have gone back to their respective homes; Nicole and her husband, Andrew, back to California and our son, Justin, off to Navy bootcamp-yeah, bootcamp, that's a story for another post- things have been pretty quiet around here. So, when I got an email from my dear friend, Nancy Krohn, asking if I was up for a visit last week, I was very excited. Nancy is almost as nutty as I am and a visit from her was sure to liven things up. After giving her some minor clarifications on directions from her place, in Minnesota, to ours, in Iowa- "No, Nancy, Iowa is not to the 'right' of you...Iowa is...ummm, 'under' you" -she was on her way.
Nancy arrived at our house later that evening and my sister Marie came over as well. The three of us chatted, laughed and had a lovely time catching up. Nancy had to head home the next morning, so we had to cut the evening a bit short, but it was still a nice visit.

The next morning, it was time to introduce Nancy to the critters.

She met Daisy and Menemsha.

I think she was trying to steal my little spotty girl, Laurel, from me.

She also made friends with Holly. Holly just thought Nancy had cookies, but we won't tell Nancy that.

Then the rest of my attention-starved animals felt it necessary to molest my guest.

Emma even shared her Jolly Ball with Nancy....well..sort of shared.

Jordan shows Nancy the love...maybe too much love?

Nancy even took something home with her, but you will have to check her blog to see ; ).

One of my favorite things about raising Shetlands is the wonderful sheepie people that I have met over the years and the great friends that I have made along the way. Thanks for visiting, Nancy, and thanks for being a great friend!

Five Fabulous Farmers...a Bizarre Bazaar

If you are brave, and happen to be on the East coast of Iowa this weekend, you might want to check out 'The Five Fabulous Farmers...A Bizarre Bazaar' at my friend Miss Effie's flower farm, featuring a crazy group of creative farm women selling their handy work. Come and see the Summer Kitchen with the swoopy roof (try and say that one fast!), and the 'Tea cup tree'........yeah, only Miss Eff would have a Tea cup tree.......

..that also serves as a snow gauge.

Here is a peek inside at the goodies that will be available.

 Who doesn't love hand-knit fuzzy slippers?

And, of course, you may see some of my Salted Nut Rolls there too ; ).

Maybe even a clay Santa, or two!

Oh, yeah, if you do come and visit us there, remember that heat is a bit limited in the Summer Kitchen...'cause it's intended for Summer, so wear your Carhartts...and maybe your ear-plugs, 'cause Miss Eff and I laugh kinda loud sometimes.

I'm not worthy!!

First I have to say thank-you to Nancy K. for giving me this amazing blog award! What a nice surprise, and yes, Nancy, it is worth at least a pumpkin cake for you....now I just have to figure out how to mail it to Minnesota!
I am not sure that I am worthy of an award for the nonsense that I put in my blog, but I am honored that Nancy would think of me : ).

Update on breeding groups.

I put breeding pens together on Sunday, and, as you probably predicted, I changed my mind....a little. In my last post on this subject matter, I solemnly declared that I was going to put my new ram with 3 ewes, 3. Well, I did.....and then I added one. I decided to add Sommarang Dolly to the group. I have a completely rational explaination for adding another ewe....give me a minute............more spots.

Rammy with the ladies.

I put Max in with his girls. What? Oh, yeah, I did say that I was only going to give Max two ewes didn't I? Here's the thing, I was afraid that with only two ewes, I might get all Ag and no gulmoget, so my chances are better for gullies with an extra ewe.......right? I never was good at math.

I've been tagged!

After I originally posted this, I couldn't stand the fact that I had not included any photos....one of my other quirks, I guess, so I went back and added a few.

I was "tagged" a few days ago by fellow sheepy blogger friend, Melanie, and asked to tell 6 things about myself that people might find interesting, or quirky. I don't know how interesting this will be, but since we are talking about me, the quirky part goes without saying.

1) People might be inclined to ask me, "Were you born in a barn?". No, but I was practically raised in a tent. My first camping trip was at the tender age of 6 weeks. I don't mean the occasional camping trip with the family, plugging in your R.V. into an outlet next to 100 other R.V.'s lined up in a K.O.A. "campground". I was born in Connecticut, and my Memere and Pepere (grandma and Grandpa to you non-French-Canadian folk) had a cottage on Cape Cod. I am the youngest of 6 kids, and every year as soon as the older kids were out of school for the summer, we would load up the Vista Cruiser station wagon with 6 kids, 2 parents, Happy, our German Shepherd, and head for the Cape. When we arrived at our destination, not wanting to impose on my Grandparents, my Mom and Dad would pitch a huge tent, set up camp outside of the cottage, oh yea, and then dig a new pit for the outhouse across the road from our camp. We didn't go inside the cottage at all....ever...unless one of us was dieing....maybe then. We had a pump outside for water and the good old Coleman stove for cooking. Bathing? I don't really remember bathing, but we swam all day in the lake and then would go to the ocean on weekends. That would be our home for the entire summer. My dad would have to work in town during the week and come out to spend the weekends with us. Yup, we ran around like a bunch of feral children....loved it. LOVED IT. That is probably why I hate being indoors.

I found proof that I did have at least one bath...sort of.

Here is the whole motley crew. I am the goofy little one on the end.

Still goofy, now on the other end.
Here I am now, still goofy...but with a lot more teeth....like an Osmund...or a shark.....a LOT of teeth. A lot.
I know, you are confused, everyone that has read my blog and not met me tells me that they pictured me as a portly girl with dark curly hair and glasses. Well....maybe my roots are a little dark. Okay, they're dark, whatever.
B) I hate clowns! Loathe them, detest them, can't stand them. Don't try to tell me that they are funny and cute, 'cause they're not, and no.

III) I don't own a dress, or a skirt. I have bought them on occasion for a funeral or wedding and, yes, I have actually worn them, but then by the time I need one again they are out of style. I wear jeans. I have my 'good' jeans for going into town and such (they are generally newer and clean). I have 'riding' jeans (they are longer so that they don't start creeping up my legs while riding), I have 'around the farm' jeans. I have 'painting' jeans. I am hoping to get some Carhartt flannel lined jeans for winter....just to complete my wardrobe. I am a high maintenance kind of gal. My husband is a LUCKY guy. Did I mention that I am slightly sarcastic?

4) I don't eat anything with a face or a mother. I hate to say that I am a vegetarian, because people automatically assume that I am some kind of freaky flower child. I just don't eat meat. I cook it for my husband, I have no problem with other people eating it. I just don't. It irritates me though when people ask, "Well, you eat fish though, right?"..."Chicken?". ARE THEY VEGETABLES??? Okay, let's go over this again. Face? Mother? Then no.
Chocolate, on the other hand....no face, no mother......perfectly acceptable.

E) I am kind of...well, a lot of, a germaphobe. I don't mean animal germs, I can handle any kind of animal germs. No problem putting my hand in either end if necessary. I can clean up anything oozing, dripping, seeping, snotting...from an animal, but geeesh, shopping carts at grocery stores really gross me out...I don't even want to talk about the days before cell phones, when we had to use a public payphone in an emergency....or drinking fountains. GROSS!

6) Not quirky, or interesting, but I love this time of year. I love the colors of fall, I love the cooler temps. I love that when the crops have been harvested my neighbors allow me to ride my horses wherever I want on their property. I love planning for spring lambs. I love watching the combines out in the fields bringing in the harvest. I love watching the flocks of birds flying south.

Well, there you have it. I have lots of other quirky stuff, lots, but I don't want to scare off my dear readers. Thanks for the assignment Melanie, it was relatively painless! I can't believe I posted something without any pictures!

Alpaca and internet friends

I finally got to meet my friend Sheri (whom I had never actually met in person), at her Sunset Hill Alpaca Farm. We "met" last fall through a mutual spinner friend, who thought that Sheri and I might be able to share information with each other, since we both raise fiber animals. We kept in touch with email and a phone call or two through the winter. Yesterday, I finally got to go out and see her farm and meet all of her gorgeous babies. Upon meeting Sheri, it was interesting to find out that she had imagined me as being overweight with dark hair, hmmmm, I must have a chubby voice. I guess maybe I should add a photo to my profile.
Sheri and one of her boys.These are some more of the boys, or "Thorns" as Sheri refers to them. She has a female alpaca named Rose and for the last 3 years she has hoped for a female cria (baby alpaca) out of Rose. Instead of a pretty rose bud, all she has gotten are thorns! Although I must say, these boys are pretty darn handsome.

Finally this year she had her little Rose Bud.
Four day old Rose Bud and Mama Rose.
"Hey, I'm pretty cute too.....I think....I can't see very well through all of this hair".

If you like spinning Alpaca fiber, you have to get some of her fiber. Clean, clean, clean and soft. And extremely reasonably priced. She also has some mill spun yarn.

This is some roving that I picked up for my niece who just got her first spinning wheel, perhaps this will inspire her to update her blog (hint).

Isn't the Internet wonderful? I think about how lucky I have been to have met so many interesting, enjoyable people through my sheep and this silly computer.

I do, however, sometimes question my judgement at traveling halfway across the country to pick up sheep, sometimes in the middle of nowhere, from someone that I have never actually met, without giving it a second thought ( hmmm....sounds like stuff that I warned my children not to do...although, I don't think that they are inclined to pick up sheep...more so the not meeting strangers on the Internet thing). Most of the time my sister, Marie, accompanies me on these excursions....well, now there's a lot of protection. My husband doesn't really worry about me when I go on these sheep procurement expeditions though, he is fairly confident that if some ill intentioned person was to snatch up Marie and I, the perpetrator would be the one calling him, in tears, begging, "PLEEAASSE, come and get them, I can't take it anymore".

Twisted friends and obese cats

Farmer's market is winding down for the season and there are only a few market dates left. I was just thinking this morning that when it is over on October 27th, we will have been there nearly every Saturday for 6 months (with the exception of "playing hookie" for the sheep show....Hmmm...where did the expression "playing hookie" come from? And is it "playing hookie", or "playing hooky"? I know for sure that it isn't "playing hockey", because that is a sport and I don't like sports, so I know that I wouldn't skip work to play hockey, plus I still have all of my teeth, so I know it wasn't that. Sorry.........I digress). It just seems really strange that the market has been going for that amount of time. Speaking of strange, we had a scarecrow contest at the market yesterday. I was not aware of the the upcoming competition since it had been planned and discussed while I was at the a fore mentioned sheep show, otherwise I would have concocted some sort of bizarre straw stuffed man creature.

There were only a few vendors that had notable entries.


This guy was created by the "corn people" that have a booth across from me. I call them the corn people because, yes, you guessed it, they sell corn. It would seem that they sell the world's best corn ever because they have a line waiting to buy their sweet corn before they even set up every Saturday morning and are sold out before the market starts at 8 a.m.. Anyway, this was their scarecrow, a nice stereotypical all-American scarecrow.


This little beauty was lovingly crafted by my friends Melsie and Jeanie (now it is all making sense isn't it? My friends are just as twisted as I am). Their scarecrowette has a shapely silver mannequin body, and if you will notice, claw hands and a fashionable burlap toga style dress with a stylish fringy flowered hemline (all the rage on the runways right now). Jeanie chose a stunning shade of green to make a devastatingly gorgeous gourd head sporting polymer clay eyes and lips handcrafted by Melsie. I believe that Jeanie laced together the marigold lei. The votes have not yet been tallied, but I am guessing that Scarecrow Chick is a shoe in to win this one.
Don't you love artsy people that think outside of the box and keep life interesting?

Here are my very artsy friends, Melsie, Scarecrow chick and Jeanie.

The market has become, for reasons that I do not comprehend, a dog show extravaganza every Saturday. Every breed imaginable is represented, sometimes donning the latest doggie fashions. But Saturday a lady was walking around carrying this huge cat. I commented to Jeanie that I thought that that cat was extremely fat, after which Jeanie laughed and was kind enough to remind me that I also have an obese cat. Which, sadly is true. I must emphasise though that it is not my fault that our cat is fat (contrary to what my children say) and I certainly don't carry him around on shopping trips.

Mr. Marshall is 14 years old. He has always been height challenged for his weight. I do not feed this cat any table scraps or treats of any kind, he is only allowed the same dry cat food as our other house cats...plain old indoor cat food, reduced calories etc. our other cats are of a relatively normal weight.......stop laughing...I probably should not have said "relatively" because obviously when compared to Mr. Marshall relativity takes on a whole new meaning, he does, after all, weigh 25+ pounds.


I don't know why I chose to share this disturbing information with you, I suppose it is because there is not much happening with the sheep right now.......but breeding season is fast approaching!