Keepers

Onyx and her 4 lambs are thriving. Based on size, they are taking after her Border Leicester ancestry. She was hoping for grain.

It was a lot cooler than it has been recently, so I did not have to turn the fans on. We have had quite a bit of over 100 degree weather. Pearl and Onyx are the only ones in the arena still not shorn, so they hang out near the fans.

This is Ruby with her mother, The Witch. The Witch has progressed to the point that she will stand still for Ruby and Rica when I come into the pen. The kids don't even try to drink from her until I show up. They know my voice and start hollering as soon as they hear me, a car door or the house door closing. It is funny, but kind of sad, since they obviously know that their mother does not love them.

This is a close up of Elgin's fleece. The kids' ringlets are starting to show up. She is almost all silver now and has a lot of the recessive trait for black in her background. She is gorgeous! I have severl others who look like they will also be silver. I am excited. I had two silvers last year, but both were bucks. Not whatI wanted to keep!

This is a full photo of Elgin.

This is one of Cinnamon's buck, Peak. I plan to use him for breeding this year. His color catches my eye every time I go out. He is also very placid, a lovely trait in a buck, if you ask me!

This is Bisbee. I plan to use him with the white does. He already has his facial hair coming in. He is almost as big as his mother and it looks odd to see him go under his mother to drink.

I have several shades of red. I prefer the chocolate color on the right. I find the others look a little to0 red. Of course, none of them will be quite that color when they are sheared in October.

I have start spinning small sample skeins. A lot of these will be perfect for creating trees or prickly pears on a landscape or for knitting or crocheting freeform. Most are 6 yards long.

This batch of batts filled an order for someone wanting landscape colors in these shades. I made several more for the shop and plan to spin some for fall. The blends turned out really well.

I discovered another reason for sticking with pellets for the animal feed. I was cleaning out my mud room and sorting fleeces. I found two with moths remains in them and was very interested to discover that the moths had only been in the areas with the alfalfa hay and had left the lanolin covered area alone. My bags were mixed in and none of them had any signs of moths whatsoever. No vegetable matter does make a huge difference!

I am always reading and then going back a few years later and skimming through books on fiber related subjects. Tonight I picked up a book that I bought a year or so ago on felting. I noticed this time around that they consider nuno felting and purse/bowl felting to be master class level felting. Those are the two things that I teach on a very regular basis and to people who have never felted before. No one seems to think they are that hard. I sure don't - otherwise I would not be so willing to teach for free!

I have only managed to get one estimate for the hay barn. Not too many companies make those things! I need one more for the insurance company. The hay barn is now an eyesore. Can't wait to get it cleaned up.