Charging Beaver

 Something must have happened (probably babies) because our beaver is now angry and guarding the grate that allows the water to flow from our pond here in Woodbine, MD, into the stream below. We would not bother to clean the grate, if we did not know that it would flood the lower pasture and kill the trees along the pond. Beavers are nocturnal, but this one has been out since this morning and Marc found him out there again at noon.

 I told Marc to drop the pitchfork when the beaver came chasing us. Marc was afraid that he would chew the fork up, but he left it when we backed up.

 Above is Marc trying to keep the beaver from following us. I took some absolutely awesome videos of him charging us, but our bandwidth is not good enough for me to upload them.

 This picture and the one of the geese below were taken in between the excitement of the charging beaver. I loved the play of the ripples of water as the animals moved and the reflection of the tree in the water.

Collars, Chantilly and a Frozen Pond

 With the wind howling, a desire to keep my neck warm was the inspiration for a group of felted and knitted collars. The felted ones are fairly quick, but I enjoyed knitting up some of my own yarns. Usually I am so busy spinning to keep the pegs filled that I miss getting to design.
This scarf used 100 yards of fingering weight yarn and 2 yards of a thick and thin crocheted in a random manner as an embellishment.

 I was at the Dulles Expo Center for the Chantilly Sugarloaf show. Gives you an idea of my current colors.

The weather here is definitely winter. I walked the farm this morning to check on the beaver activity. The pond is frozen and animals have been walking across is. Another tree is down, but the grate was clear. It is dreary, so a good day to spend indoors. I decided to have Marc help me unload the truck when he gets home tonight. Don't want to slip and fall on the ice while hauling heavy racks!

Goat Coats and Beavers

 The Oaks Sugarloaf show turned out to be a happy surprise. The Mountain Refuge Landscape at the back
left sold to a lovely lady who will cherish it. I met lots of interesting people and, as always, my neighboring
vendors gave me a new perspective on doing shows.

                                  

The kids were shorn on October 27th. It turned cold with the Hurricane Sandy and now is dropping down to freezing at night. The animals who were shorn are all in the white barn. Parts of the barn are drafty, so I put t-shirts and sweatshirts on the kids and one adult. I also bought a heater to raise the temperature and dry out the barn. I have a few that I am watching for pneumonia. Unfortunately, their immune systems are weak due to parasites. I had to treat all but one of the kids yesterday. They are all looking perkier this morning.

 Above are Flower and Orphan. I have a hard time getting photographs of them, since they hang on me when I am in their area. The does all got Onsies. Easier to tall them apart that way!

 I don't know whether the beaver is still in our pond since he did not cover the grate last night. His lodge looks like it has more canes on top and more trees are down since the last time I checked.

I don't know where the top of the tree on the right went but, in my Internet reading, I discovered that beavers have multiple tunnels running into their lodge and that they can haul entire trees under water. They also do not hibernate. I do hope that he is still around. Natural live entertainment!

I will be home this weekend and will be at the Gaithersburg Sugarloaf show at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds next weekend.