What’s in a name?

I love naming animals, but there are some names that certain breeds should never be called.  For instance – Rebel or Rowdy are not good horse names, Chase is a horrible name for a herding dog, Charger for a ram, etc.  Most of these observations are based on past experiences (most not good).  I’m sure everybody has negative conotations towards certain names.  I have often wondered does the name make the animal or is the animal living up to it’s name, but that is just silly – a name can’t decide the animal’s personality!

Nobody told this little girl that…

meet Queenie.

She is a very pretty ewe lamb from Joan at Mud Ranch .  She was named Queenie because her mom is named Princess and it has turned out to be quite fitting.

You see, she feels entitled.  She feels that she has earned the right to be in this pasture…

I have everybody locked off of it so it can grow and the new seed is coming in nicely.

She has been sneaking in now and then, but I was very surprised to see Queenie and her buddy, Annie, in there enjoying the tasty, tender grass.  I couldn’t figure out how they were coming in and out. 

Oops – BUSTED!!!

Oh, you guys are very creative!  They were born later in the year and are still small enough to fit through this crack.

Here is a picture of my glove to show you the size of the crack – little stinkers!!!

On a side note – Queenie’s grandpa’s name is Houdini

Look at what came flying through our front yard!

Even more shocking then having this in our front yard, is that the driver crawled out and was absolutely fine!

I was sitting in my office, when I heard this horrible commotion out front.  I feared the worst and my stomach did a flip flop when I looked out our front window and saw this.  I called 911 and was headed out the door when the driver crawled out.  I was so thankful because I was very concerned about what I was going to find. 

He doesn’t remember what happened, but he thinks he fell asleep and drifted off th road.  He hit our driveway and went airborne and then flipped in our front yard.

Aside from a tree being pushed over and some of our hedge being taken out, the damage was very little and there is so much to be thankful for.

My husband and son were gone for the weekend and Theron was so disappointed that he missed the ambulance, sheriff, and tow truck!  The tow truck driver flipped the truck over…

and all of the damage could be seen.  Looking at these pictures, I am still stunned that he was ok. 

It made for an interesting day!

Sun, Rain, Sun, Rain…

Welcome to Fall in Oregon!  We are in a very nice pattern at the moment – a day of sun, a day of rain, a day of sun, a day of rain, etc.  This is also the perfect forecast for one of the items on our ’to do’ list – replant our pastures! 

Due to my husband being an avid hunter and gone a lot in the fall, it can be hard to get bigger projects done. 

This year I was bound and determined that the seed in the barn was going to get planted even if I had to spread seed one coffee can at a time with this tiny spreader!

I spread 1/2 a bag in this pasture and

this pasture and then my husband came to the rescue    He called his uncle and borrowed a much bigger spreader.

Look at it spitting the seed out!

Instead of a coffee can, it can hold 3 bags – 150 lbs.  That went so much faster! 

After spreading it, he rolled it with this item and pushed the seed in.

I am so excited that we got this done and can’t wait to see the results.  We will keep the sheep off the pasture until it is several inches tall and well established.

Meet Deuce

This last July, we lost our lab – Major.  It left a very large hole in all of our hearts, but especially my husband’s.  He was a graduation gift and had been part of his life for a very long time.  He has been unable to even think about getting another lab, until he had to go swimming this last weekend to get his ducks.  Major was an awesome bird dog and could always be count on to retrieve Tony’s birds plus anybody else’s that were lost.  He was such a great dog and left some very big shoes to fill.  We spent the beginning of this week researching dog breeders and talking about things that were important.  We were  both ready to wait awhile.  He wanted a black female this time and as it turns out there was a litter not very far from us that had 1 black female left.  We decided to go take a look at the parents and the puppy and as the saying goes…the rest is history.

Say hello to Deuce.

She is 10 weeks old.

She has a great temperament and is so willing to please.

On the second day, I sent a message to my husband asking him when he was getting himself a dog   He laughed!

Darby is just as thrilled as Theron is to have a lab puppy running around.  He was Major’s buddy and has missed him with the rest of us.

Kate isn’t as exuberant…

I think she is a little jealous – luckily he has enough love to spread around.

Tony has already started her training and they are both having fun.

As you can see – she loves the training bumper and she is already retrieving it!!!

She is so snuggly - she just melts in your arms.  I’m soaking it up now because she is going to be a big girl and I won’t be able to pick her up very soon.

Summer Lake 2009

Summer Lake is a large, shallow, alkali lake in Lake County, Oregon.  It is approximately 20 miles long and 10 miles wide.  The lake was named by explorer John C. Fremont on his expedition into Central Oregon in 1843.  It is also home to one of the tallest exposed fault faces in the world, over 30 miles long and 2000 ft. above the valley floor. 

The marshes around the lake support a wide variety of birds and other wildlife and the second weekend of October it becomes a very popular place for duck hunters.  My husband hasn’t missed opening duck hunting weekend there for the past 20+ years.  He grew up going with his grandpa, uncle, and cousins and has taken our son every year since before he was 2.  I haven’t gone the last couple years because it is just too tempting to have a weekend at home by myself, but this year a friend convinced me to go and I’m glad she did because I had a great time.  I went on numerous walks, enjoyed the campfire, and was able to finish 7 1/2 felted bags   I love having a craft that can go camping!

I was inspired by Joan’s recent roadtrip photos and took a couple from the passenger seat on our way there. 

I love the wide open skys in this part of Oregon. 

We saw a lot of antelope.

On Saturday morning, while everybody else got up at 4 am and headed out to sit in the freezing cold marsh, I slept in until 7:30 in the comfort of our warm trailer.  I took the dogs for a walk and enjoyed the sites. 

This is a muskrat mound and the hunters often use old ones to sit on to stay out of the water.  The younger boys like to go sliding down them

I love the various stages of cattails.

These two are such a couple of goof balls   Kate likes to lick Theron in the ears and he thinks it is hilarious. 

The crew.  Theron didn’t understand why Kate couldn’t be their hunting dog and go out with them.  I got some pretty funny looks when I was walking them around.

The mighty hunters.

This kid knows how to work it!  Complete with chocolate milk and bag full of snacks.

and they are off…

The weather was perfect and it was great to get one more camping trip in.

Joining the “why” club

Over at Patchwork Fibers, she has started a “why” club – as in why was that ewe bred to that ram?  I love reading about why people make the decisions they do and hope other breeders join in.

We bred 30 ewes this year and some of the decisions were based on past performances – some crosses just work.  Other decisions are based on what doesn’t work because sometimes no matter how nice each parent is and how nice the pedigree looks – the results aren’t good!

For producing ram lambs – I wish everybody was like this girl.  This is Maverick Marloe and she is amazing in her ability to produce high quality ram lambs – no matter who she is bred to.  They all have amazing horns, consistent/soft fleeces, great structure, and luckily they don’t inherit her nasty temperament   Here are some of her boys…

Jaq

Wrangler

  Nitro

Torrent – currently for sale

Unfortunately, she doesn’t produce very many or very nice ewe lambs.  I chose Julian this year for her to improve fleece quality and they both have impressive horns and nice structure.  I am going to keep my fingers crossed for a nice girl.   

For Infiniti, I also chose Julian…

The fleeces should be incredible and they both have nice clean/clear black spots.  He has a nice nose patch and I know there are leg spots in the background, so will hope that they carry forward.

For Rae-Ann, I chose Junior…

This is a combination that looks great on paper (pedigree) and I hope the lambs are as promising as I think they will be.  There is a slight possibility that Rae-Ann is a lilac carrier, so I can’t wait to see if she is or not.

For Petunia, I chose Reno…

He has really nice leg color and they both have great lateral horns.  They are both black and white, but have lilac in their backgrounds, so it will be exciting to see their lambs.

This is our 8th year in breeding jacobs and I have definitely learned that it can be unpredictable   From now until lambing starts at the end of January, I’ll feature a few more pairs and why I made the decision that I did.

Look who I found…

Thanks to Michelle and her positive thinking!  My little hen has been stashing away some eggs for quite awhile!

13 eggs!!!  Hers and some others.  I’m glad she’s ok

Not good…

This title seemed to fit a couple things that have happened over the last couple of days!

When we left for school yesterday morning, this is what I saw when I looked up the road…

not good.  Those branches belong to the tree that is supposed to be standing IN the ram pasture.  I backed back into the driveway to evaluate the situation.

We knew the tree was having issues…

but not this much.  The poor thing split right in half.

Since it was laying over the fence, I had to move some sheep around.

I didn’t want these big guys running down the road and really causing a problem!  My husband has started cutting the tree up for firewood, but it’s sad to see it go.

When I was out front taking pictures of the tree, I took a picture of my favorite chicken…

she reminds me of ‘Henny Penny’ my chicken I had growing up that would let me carry her around.  Unfortunately, when I went back outside a couple hours later, the door to the chicken pen was open – not good – and chickens were everywhere!!!  Several were hiding in our front hedge. 

I was able to round most of them up, but I was still missing a few and one of them was my little brown hen.  I tried coaxing them out with food and I was a little concerned when she didn’t come – she was the friendliest and loves her food.  When my husband got home, he helped me catch a couple more, but still no sign of her.  By dusk, I only had two missing – her and one of the roosters.  We went out with a flashlight right before bed and the rooster was on top of the pen, but no sign of her.  I left one of the doors to the pen open hoping she would be there this morning.  Still no sign of her and now I’m afraid something got her, why does it have to be the one I like???

While I was moving the rams, I noticed that Junior is starting to look like an old man.

Rams are so hard on their bodies!  He has been demoted to the bottom of the pecking order and seems content to stay there.  I also noticed that his right side horn was looking a little wierd.  It reminded me that it had been bleeding after him and Wrangler had a disagreement.  He also looked a little off.  Sure enough, this morning that horn is no longer attached to his head. 

We caught him up tonight because there were suspicious bugs in the horn on the ground – not good!!!  He wasn’t very happy with us, but we had to thoroughly clean the area and apply some fly spray.  I think we caught it just in the nick of time – bugs in the head is a nasty situation :)  Flies love to lay eggs in gooey, warm areas.  I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest.

Now the old boys can share their war stories and reminisce about the good ol’ days.  I think I will set-up a new pasture for Junior and Julian, so they don’t have to put up with the youngsters – they deserve it. 

 

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2009

What a great weekend!  After school on Friday we headed North with 4 sheep, 2 dogs, and a car FULL of fiber stuff.  We each had a place to sit, but not much more than that  

Theron’s grandparents met us at the fairgrounds and he spent the weekend with them.  That left me to enter my fiber arts pieces, get my sheep settled, set-up the vendor space, let my dogs out, and get the tent set-up - thank goodness for friends! 

Robin and her friends, Kris and Diane, drove up from California and arrived shortly after we did.  Robin and I camped at the fairgrounds and the weather was perfect.

Jacobs showed first thing Saturday morning.  There were 4 Jacob breeders with a very nice entry.  Thanks to my friend, Kristine, I have some pictures to share! 

Here I am with Flirt, she won Reserve Champion ewe and Best Fleeced Jacob.

Kenleigh’s Torrent, owned by Brenda and Alan Searle was Champion Ram.

Jeff Jaqua with his ewe lamb that won Champion Ewe and then went on to win Champion ewe of the Classic division. 

The Classic division consists of Jacobs, 

   

Shetlands and

Navajo-Churros.

The event was very well attended, especially Saturday.  When Kristine arrived mid-day, she couldn’t find a parking spot and had to park at the Rite-Aid across the street.

I shared a vendor booth with Robin and it was a bit interesting getting everything to fit!  Here she is demonstrating a rigid heddle loom.

There were 150 vendors at this year’s event and it was a bit overwhelming!  So many colors and textures.

This is all I came home with – I am so proud of myself

I was on a mission to find a good red/brown color for felting dogs.  I found two that I think will work well.  I had prearranged to meet Michelle and trade some of Wrangler’s fiber for some of Braveheart’s.  I can’t wait to spin it up!  The Jacob shirt is from Brenda and Alan for helping them get their sheep to the show ring and showing Torrent.  They (along with many other people) thought the Classic sheep show was on Sunday, not Saturday.

Kate’s favorite part of the weekend was the daily duck herding demo that she participated in.  She was the highlight for many people because she belly crawls when she works ducks – very funny!

I love this picture – Kristine took it at another event we were at, but I got this look a lot this weekend.  Notice the head is pointed in my direction, but the eyes aren’t.

The felted bags were very popular and this was the first one to leave.

I entered my felted jacket and whippet wall hanging in the fiber art’s division.  Both took 1st place in their categories and my jacket took…

Reserve Champion!!!

We came home with one less sheep and a lot of good memories.

Post Breeding Season Blues

Breeding Season is an exciting time of the year – anticipation of what’s to come and hope for the future.  Once all of the groups are decided upon and sorted, the excitement quickly fades…  Chore time is doubled/tripled as I wheel the wheelbarrow from pasture to pasture doling out the food to my screaming adoring fans. 

The groups have been together for 5 weeks now and most everyone has been bred, so I decided to pull the rams and put all of the ewes back together.  This was also in anticipation of being gone this weekend, I wanted to make chore time easier for my husband.  I also noticed that a couple of the boys were getting bored and restless because all of their ewes were bred. 

Not naming names, but one in particular was very naughty yesterday morning…

I put Junior and his girls in the barn because I knew I could walk through there with hay and not have to worry about him.  Unfortunately, he took his frustrations our on the poor gates and lambing jugs.  I was not happy and I told him as much!

We sorted the rams off and put their halters on and into the small pen they went.  This is my absolute least favorite thing about owning sheep and using multiple rams.  If we were to simply turn them all out together in a pasture, then we would run the risk of one of them getting seriously hurt.  So, we put them in a very small pen, one tied in each corner to prevent them from ramming and hooking each other with their horns.

They stay this way for about 24 hours.  We then turn them out with several piles of really yummy alfalfa, in hopes that the food will be more enticing than causing each other bodily harm.  We then stand back and hold our breath and hope all is well.  We are at the ready with Kate to herd them back into the pen if it doesn’t work and we try again in another 24 hours.  Hopefully they behave themselves tonight.

Julian is the lucky one at the moment because we are using him as a clean-up ram, which means he will hopefully breed any of the ewes that did not get bred the first time around. 

He has proven to be quite the ladies man and it looks like a couple of the girls were saving themselves for him.  He has been funny to watch – he is a wine ‘em and dine ‘em kind of guy. 

 

The girls were happy to be reunited and could be heard most of the night catching each other up on what has happened in their part of the world for the last month. 

Chore time was drastically reduced this morning, but we now have gates and fence to fix and 3 very unhappy boys.  Hopefully all will be back to normal in a few days.  I hope everyone behaves themselves while I am away!