Texas Has Nothing On Us...

Here in Idaho sturgeon fishing is a big sport. You cannot kill or keep them but that doesn't stop anyone for going out to see how big a one they can bring in. My neighbor caught this one on Monday ... 8'1" long. Biggest one I have seen. They completely creep me out and these (and the leaches) are the reason I never swim in the Snake River.

Another pastime here in the Spring is the burning of tumbleweeds. I am always sure that we will start a range fire that will consume millions of acres and we never do. Everyone goes out to roll them into the middle of the road and then someone else comes behind and rolls the burning tumbleweeds along into the dry ones ... and great fun is had by all.

I kept thinking that I would wait to blog till I had lambs ... but since they still have not arrived I thought that perhaps I could tempt fate by blogging like I just don't care. If I am back in a few days we will know that it worked. Till then ....

The sound of the wind

In the forest behind me

A raven flies off.

The Iceman Cometh ...

and apparently intends to stay. Ahh, the winter months here ... snow, ice, rain, snow, rain (to create a slicker ice) snow. And did I mention cold? The news would have you think that the world has ended but in reality this is how winter is supposed to be. I remember winters from when I was a kid involved lots of sledding, a concussion or two (the ice) and freezing cold which caused much hot cocoa to be consumed. And there is a beauty to it ...

This is the result of ice fog ... which is a big part of the winter landscape here abouts. Pretty no?

One of the big projects at this time of year is the planning of the garden. And this is sparked by the happy arrival of the garden seed catalogs. After hours of pouring over them my selections have been made, the seeds ordered, and their arrival is eminent.

I have been dyeing sock wool non-stop in preparation for my dear friends, Jennie and Dawn, taking it to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year. I am nervous .... but hopeful that it will be well received. As a bribe, I am sending them with several boxes of Idaho Spud Bars ... so if you see them stop by and try one.

On the knitting front ... I am. I have finished several pairs of socks and am currently knitting two different scarves that I am working in a nice 70/30 wool/silk blend. Pictures to follow at a later date.

I am preparing for the arrival of this years lambs in approximately 6 weeks ... assuming that the new ram, Walker, did his part. I only bred three ewes this year as feed is so high but that still means that I could end up with at least 5 or 6 lambs ... maybe more.

Jennie (the puppy) is growing up and is at that gangly teenager stage. but cute as always and sharp as a tack. She has started trying to get the sheep to move about on her own.

And last, but not least, my friend Franklin has bemoaned his lack of orderliness and organization in his creative space. I hold that creativity occurs only where there is fuel to fire it ... and I know my desk/table looks like it could catch fire at any moment ... LOL!

So poor, my poems

But good company tonight

Reading them over.

A Time of Rest

Winter is about the only time here that I get to sit down and knit and rest and plan. It seems like the other nine months are spent running around trying to get caught up. But here we are ... the end of the year and I am finally knitting frantically and trying to get the newest member of the family situated ... and housebroken. I finally have a puppy!!! I am so excited it seems a bit pathetic but there you are. Her name is Jennie and she is a Border Collie. Sable coloured and very very cheerful. Here you go ... cute no? I of course think she is completely adorable.

Other farm news ... the cows have gone to a friends for winter feeding and the ram has gone to the same friends house to get him out of my pens so I could open them up to all of the ewes and the remailing lambs. Not too much else going on ... it has been unseasonably cold after being unseasonably warm well into December. So it has been the usual debacle of frozen water and late baby chicks who are having a bit of a time of it. And on the knitting front ... well they are gifts and can't be covered here till they have been given. New yarn colours are going to be coming out soon ... and even some new yarn as I will start to dye some superwash DK weight yarns too.

Clouds fly across the sky,
The plum tree in the garden
holds blossoms of snow.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation (part deux)

This is my garden ... and so I am busy weeding and canning and freezing. You would think I was feeding an army and not just the DH and I.

I had some cute little chicks that showed up with their proud MaMA one morning :

(this is what blogger refuses to load ... so imagine a big gold chicken with 2 little gold chicks and one little white one ... very cute ... eating ... by the barn)

And I went to .... ALASKA!!! It was so incredibly beautiful. And I met some fab people and I was able to spend a week with my dear friend Brenda of Cast-on fame. The glaciers were amazing .. there were real icebergs and sea otters. I cannot begin to describe the fun that I had. And there was yarn buying ... and lots of it. We were like a plague of locusts everywhere we went.

I have apples to pick and yarn to dye and now summer is almost over. I have two new socks on several sets of needles and a sweater to work on. Plus a trip to Germany and to Wales to plan .... so it's off we go ..... till later!

Hearing the grass sigh

I think, perhaps, the moonlight

Is too beautiful.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation ...

So ... no I did not fall off the face of the earth but spring and summer are very busy times here. Just to catch up ... here are a few new faces around the farm. This is Bob and Billy Bob:








They are my new calves and when they first came here to live they truly looked like little deer. They are a Jersey cross and I will keep them for about 18 months or so.

Blogger refuses to upload any photos again today so I will wait till tomorrow to try to catch everyone up on the farm.

On my needles I have the River Forest Gansey from Handknit Holidays. I am knitting it using Knit Picks Andean Silk ... a blend of 55% superfine alpaca. 23% silk, 22% merino in a beautiful colour called Hyacinth. halfway up the first sleeve and it looks wonderful. Also I am trying to knit up enough socks to get through the winter ... which looks like it could start as early as next week. Geesh!

My good friend Dawn has opened an Etsy shop for me ... check the side bar for link ... and I am SO excited. I love to spin and knit and am hoping to enable as many people to do that with me as I can. Come and check us out.

Every blade of grass

Under it's burden of dew

In time - each springs free.

Hail! Hail! The gang's all here!

So, let's go back to October ... the friend of mine who had my sheep sells them back to me and offers to put them in with his ram as soon as they have been sheared. Ok ... sounds great! They are supposed to go in with the ram the 1st of November ... don't make it till the 7th ... OK, no problem ... no lambs then till after the 7th of April. I can do that. Fast forward to today ... the day my last ewe has her lambs and I can announce that my 2008 lambing is at an end. Yep! Divine intervention you say? Naw .... seems he had left a ram lamb in with all of the ewes on the assumption that he was too young to do anything of any consequence. And we all know what happens we "ass-u-me" something. So here they are ... my newest pack of wild woolies:

This is Jasper with his mother Gabrielle (Gabby).

She thinks he is pretty cool ... and he is very bored being the only baby and so drove everyone crazy wanting them to keep him amused until ...

Lilly and James arrived. They are a week old here and their mom, Mattie, already lets them run with their friends. Lilly was very small when she arrived but is doing great now. James thinks that he should be in charge of everyone. Then just when I thought it might be going to slow down ...

Buelah decided to have twins also. However one of them was lost to us.This little beauty is Rory. One of the things that makes Rory so special is that he is white. All of my sheep are coloured and have been for generations so he is a bit of a throwback.

Agnes, not to be outdone, had twins also. This is Sean and Seamus. They are very tiny but very active and driving their mother crazy by refusing to anything she wants them to do. Today was their first day out in the pasture and they started out a bit surprised by how big the world was outside their pen but they are busy exploring all of it now.

And this morning Isabelle decided she was tired of doing all of the waddling ... and so she had Curly. The name may not stick ... we shall have to see.

So, I am all finished. As are "the Girls". And I shall be even happier in a few days when I know that they are all going to be ok. Life is full of surprises ...

By the lilly pond

The flash of goldfish - lost

In the falling rain.

No Rest For the Wicked

The last month has been full of stress and tragedy ... and a little quirkiness ... and some creativity. I am glad, quite frankly, that it has passed. My birthday is this month and usually I milk it for all it's worth ... like every other 4 year old that you know. This year though ... there is no joy in my life to celebrate. It will be a day like any other. Compounded by the fact that my work has asked me to attend 2 days of corporate meetings that just happen to span my birthday ... so I will spend it in a hotel room knitting ... which I think will be fine ... a bit of peace and quiet and time to reflect on the next 50 years.

As for the quirkiness ... Rupert wandered off a few weeks ago only to be replaced by my newest erstwhile suitor ... Quintus ... the quail.

He sits outside the dining room window and calls and calls all day. He is very devoted although somewhat confused I dare say. The kestrel has been gone for several weeks but I hope he will be back soon. And I hear Rupert in the evenings but he has given up his vigil by the barn completely.

On the creativity front I finished a pair of socks using some yarn from Ceyeberfiber's MamaE in the Brenda's Fire colourway:

In a twisted rib ... I think they turned out nice and several other people have requested a pair so I suppose I had better get started for next Christmas.

Then there was the other side of the creativity front. I started dyeing again and am having huge fun with that.

I found a colourway that I really love and could not think of what to call it. I had meant for it to resemble the sweet cherries that they grow in Japan but every time I look at it I think of salsa and fresh tomatoes. My husband suggested I call it "Socko de Mayo" ... and so I will ... and here it is:

The second colourway I have been calling "Miami" as it is a very pretty shade of coral. We shall see, though, if that name sticks. I will be dyeing more next week ... and will post that as soon as I can. In the meantime ... I am off to work ....

Cold rain -

From the pond in my head the

Sound of Basho's frog.