Spring is a comin' ...!

Got my first black egg this morning ... the ducks are laying!  I was going to wash it off and take a photo of it, but when I washed it, quite a bit of the black part came off.  I didn't realize it would.  Anyway, I'll have to figure that out as I go.

I put the sheep out in the front pasture now that everyone is done lambing.  It's nice having such a small flock.  I still have plenty of hay left, and I am not over-sheeped out by any stretch of the imagination.  I remember a couple of winters having somewhere in the range of 40 sheep.  I have 6 adults plus three lambs.  It's a good number.

Here's the one born a couple of weeks ago.  She's adorable, as is her mother.

And here's the cute little ram lamb.  His mother is a bitch!  More on that later.

Here's one of the lambs from last year.

The twins.  Mom needs a haircut.

  I got some stuff done today.  I started the endless raking process in the backyard.  Cleaning up after the dogs from the winter.  Yucko project, but it needs doing.  I also started trimming stuff back.  This bush thing was blocking my view from my living room.  I've been wanting to hack on this bush for quite a while now, and I finally did it. 

I now have yet another pile of sticks.

Here is what that bush looked like last year.   Hopefully it's a slow grower and won't get that big again for a while.  I have no idea what it is. 

Here's a picture of it from July of 2008 ... a photo I took about 4 months before I closed on the house.

And here's that little area in front of the deck.  I cleaned it up a bit after taking this photo, but haven't re-taken the photo yet.  This bush has been cut back to the ground, the leaves got raked, and those large fallen branches carried off to the burn pile.

The chickens have decided they can now roam wherever they'd like.  A couple of them came around to the front of the house to keep me company.

Actually, they found the bird seed I put out this morning.

This bush is also on the immediate list of stuff to get done.  Pretty soon, people will need to drive around this thing if I don't cut it back.  My neighbor is going to bring his chainsaw over at some point and help me cut it to the ground, or close enough thereto.

Seeing how quickly spring is moving in reminded me that I need my mower fixed ... like now.  So I put an ad up on Craigslist to see what people have or do.   I hope I can find a good deal.

My entire body hurts from the faceplant at Couch's I took yesterday.  Yes, faceplant.  Full on.  I was petting Kahlua (one of the mares who I created a name for), and then I went to pet the gelding in the stall next to her, and my leg was up against something, so my foot did not move forward, but my entire body did.  I went down like a tree.  I am way too old to be landing on my face.  Geez.

So now that it's starting to stay light out later, hopefully I can get some of the raking and burning under control and out of the way early in the season.  I really want to get the vegetable garden under way.  And get Reese on stock consistently.  She's ready.  And I'm ready to work a different dog for a while, I think.  And Reese ... she's definitely "different."

My ice maker is cranking out ice.  I'm making ice tea like it's going out of style!  Ha!  Take THAT ... you beast!

Oh and if anyone is interested, I have a Great Pyr / Akbash mix up for adoption.  His name is Ben.  He's a bit exuberant with the sheep and would do better in a pet home.  He's a large dog, neutered, and ready to be someone's buddy.  He's very sweet, and does not offer to jump on me.  I don't know if he's ever been in a house, but I doubt he's house trained.  I am sure he'll pick that up fairly easily.  He's wants to please very badly ... a very good natured dog with a great big, scary, very appropriate bark!