New Additions

Judging by the amount of times I worked sheep already this Spring, it became obvious I was going to need more sheep.  So I got some.  They were being sold as a group, and the rancher I bought them from wasn't sure if he had the right ewes with the right lambs, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  And, at the last minute, another buyer and I switched out a ewe for a ram lamb, further confusing things a bit.  Turns out, I have a ewe with twin ram lambs (which will be wethered) ...

... a ewe with a single ewe lamb ...

... the ram lamb I traded for ... Meet Pepe's replacement ...

... a pregnant ewe ...

... and an adorable little bummer lamb.

The little bummer lamb is getting picked up tonight by the woman who took the other little lamb I had that got chomped on by an unwelcome visitor.  That little ewe lamb's name is now "Flower" and is getting pampered and loved on and is doing very well.  And now she'll have company! 

Here's the group.

The black-headed Dorpers make really nice puppy sheep.  The round pen is getting quite a bit of use from the Echo x Zip litter, the rescues, and people wanting to get out and do something with their dogs now that Spring is here.  So these Dorpers will do well for that.

My own lambs are getting huge.  Remember the paint looking black and white ewe and her adorable twins?  Well, they're almost as big as she is!  Here's the ewe on the left with one of her ewe lambs on the right.

And here's how silly it looks when her babies are still trying to suck off of her.

Tomorrow morning, I'm headed to D&B.  They have the 16' welded wire panels on sale and I will need to make a few holding pens.  I will also be on the lookout for some materials I could make a portable free-standing pen with for the other pasture.  My place is almost to a point that I'm pretty happy with as far as having a lot of workable spaces for the young dogs.  Another thing in the works is a much larger pasture I can trailer out to that's not far from here that I can work the more seasoned dogs.  I'm excited!

J

Much Better Bread

This morning, I made a loaf of bread, and I forgot to put the yeast in it.  It makes for a very dense, flat, tasteless, hard lump of cooked dough.  The ducks love it. 

I am making another loaf now, and I made sure to put the yeast in it.

Makes for much better bread.

Oh, and speaking of much better bread, or er, um bred ... the roses I planted last year don't seem to be off to the wonderful start that I see many of the roses around town off to.  So I was looking up different roses.  I didn't realize what all went into breeding roses.  There are even websites and more websites devoted to it!  Who knew? 

I guess some roses are just much better bred.

I should probably replace mine. 

I had some dreams ...

... they were clouds in my coffee

Clouds in my coffee, and...

A Snail's Pace

Nothing happens in a big hurry around here.  I've just been busy cleaning up and trying to get this place presentable.  I'm always so embarrassed when people come over and the place looks like no one has touched it in ages. 

I finally burned the pile of trimmings from the backyard trees I trimmed last fall.

Believe it or not, that area is all raked up.  I need to find someone to till it all up so I can level it out and re-plant seed.  But ... that isn't going to happen any time soon.  It's just me here.  I don't have some big, strong guy around to do it for me while I hand him beers and tell him jokes.

Haven't decided what I'm doing here yet.

The corner of my pump house that needs fixing.  This is something that I haven't a clue how it works, so I will probably end up paying someone.  Eventually.

I finally cleaned off the concrete pad out my back door.  Got rid of some crap, raked, swept and washed this down.  It doesn't look like it, but it was quite a project. 

See the problem?

The pad goes downhill from right to left, where the water gathers along my house.  Not good.  When ... or I should say if ... I get a job before I lose this house, I will need to invest some money into having this fixed if it hasn't already affected the foundation. 

Raking and cleaning up the lawn off my front deck.  So at least when I sit out there in my isolated little world, it will be clean.

Round and Round we go ...

Phyllis and Rita came over today to work Jade and Pearl (Jam) in the round pen.  First up was Pearl.  She's just like her dad ... good amount of eye, very natural balance, very biddable, and won't get a novice in trouble. Hopefully, she will teach Rita as much as Zip has taught me over the years.

Jade is more like Echo ... a bit of a firecracker ... but very nice.  Lots of push, tons of presence, good power, and the heart of a lion.  Not to mention ... she's as pretty as a show dog with Phyllis' grooming skills!  Needless to say, she went home and got a bath!

Later on in the day, I couldn't help but push the sheep around a bit with my own dogs so I could take a few photos.

First up ... the Monster.

 And the old man ... he looks pretty good, doesn't he?

 And, of course, Reese.  She is really coming along nicely.

You'll Have to Excuse Me ...

I have no life.  Cabin fever gets the best of me and I start spinning in place.  And taking pictures of the same puppy over and over again.

Cruzin'...

Well, my blogging days have become sort of a pain in the ass.  I filled up my allotted space for photos connected to my main email account, so I've created a new email account to get more space, but now I have to switch accounts every time I want to blog and attach photos.  Rrrgh.  Need to figure out the best way to fix this problem.

Anyway ...

Colleen came down and stayed for a few days.  It was nice to see her.  The weather sucked, but we did manage, at least, to go shooting one day.  Shot Colleen's new 7mm 08 ... that gun lets you know it's there.  It was good for me, though.  Made me much more conscious of my stance and stuff when I shoot my little .22.  Also, got to see how a firing range works, so now I won't be so intimidated to go down there on my own.  Boy, you can sure tell those who know what they're doing to ... complete idiots -- and their children!  Yikes!  The good news ... lots of eye candy!  Will definitely be going back down there!  LOL!

Added some cuteness to my life.  Welcome Cruz!  This little guy has been a complete joy!  Ok, not complete.  He's a bit of a pain in the ass like all puppies are, but he keeps me laughing. 

Broke out the bubbles.  He dug that.  (No, his tongue is not gray.  That's some gack hairball he found.)

Contemplating ...

Does it get much cuter than this?

He wasn't the only one having fun with the bubbles.  I would blow them, put the bubbles down, pick up the camera, and then have to hurry and manually focus because the bubbles were blowing the brain of the auto focus on my camera.  It was quite tricky, but fun!  I like the different backgrounds and such.  Will play with this some more, hopefully, next time with someone here to blow the bubbles for me.

And, of course ...