Tuesday, June 24, 2008

count down to OLDS

Only two more sleeps before i leave for Olds..i have waffled between going on Thursday or Friday..but think i will leave on Thursday to miss the huge traffic rush, the cost of the extra night in the condo is only 45 bucks, so i think i will do that and then explore the campus on Friday.. see where i am going to take the course, I need to know what and where to go in advance.
The good son came up for the weekend, he loves the lambs.. especially the tiny one..looks even smaller in Matt's big hands. He stayed over nite and left after supper on Sunday... he was suppose to call me when he got home, but forgot...worries me half to death, i am always afraid he has had an accident on the way home...
this is Haystack... she looks like a little hay stack with all the hay stuck in her fleece...looks funny now with no coat.. Larry figures she looks like a bug with those HORNS

this is Jackson, rolling around on the grass with his huge mouth open...won't want him to close that mouth on me...

Jesse and i had a good day at Agility today.. Maureen is making the courses harder every week, but we did good, we do the whole course, and then break it down into sections, and then run it a final time, boy what a difference, we did the final run with absolutely no mistakes... that means we are getting better. I am home from Olds on the 2nd of July and then off to another one day trial July 12th..one day trials are good... 4 different runs... I will write when i get home... see ya probably a couple 100 bucks lighter.... S

Thursday, June 19, 2008

REALLY, REALLY big oophs

Yup we had a really big oophs around here last Friday... went out to do the chores in the early morning and found these two little darlings... little purebred Shetland lambs... and there wasn't suppose to be a ram in that pen..
I had separated the Shetland ewes from the other sheep and the ram in September... so technically there shouldn't be any babies... now you are wondering why i didn't notice that the ewe was bred, when she looked like this just before she lambed, but you must remember that i wasn't home

when they were sheared..actually this picture is of another ewe who lambed on Saturday..so you are wondering how they got bred..well i had two wethers (neutered rams) or so i thought... after i found the lambs, i did some checking, and although i am positive that i banded both of them, one had a testicle..and i guess it was enough... so now i have 5 lambs, and 3 more ewes also bred and getting ready to lamb...double damn.. the other older ewe had a nice set of twins, girl and boy, and the 2nd one had the tiniest little boy you have ever seen... i will take a picture of him...guess the "lord" must have got even with me for not being concerned with Larry having to help with the shearing . Now what am i going to do with these little darlings... guess will have to find homes for them over the next couple of months, or plan on having them butchered in the Spring...they take much longer to finish. Oh well, guess that is life.. Get ready to go to Olds next week...will be gone about a week.. leaving here on Thursday, doing the convoy bit with Andrea, and Hanlo, who is coming along to help Andrea. I am taking 3 course, "spinning for strips", Fibre blending, and a two day Silk spinning course. Was able to get into a Condo the last couple of days, staying with 3 ladies that i have never met, that should be fun. I like meeting new people, and hopefully we will get along.

Our WWKIP day was lovely, didn't have many knitters show up, about 4 or 5, but it was a beautiful day, and we had a nice get together. Lita and Joe Mijo are back for 10 days or so, first time they have back at the lake since Joe broke his neck and back last June. He is doing fine, and was glad to be back, i think Lita was too.

this is Bev, Lita and Jean under the huge Elm, with Bailie House (heritage house) in the back ground.
this is Kay and Mrs Hassel, very old friend who knits constantly, Mrs Hassel knit a pair of slippers in the 2 hours she spent with us.
this is Andrea and Annie enjoying the sunshine
Sheila S and Bernice concentrating on their projects. It was so nice we decided that we will met there again, just to enjoy the beautiful yard. It is Bailie House's 100th Birthday this summer, they are having several open houses over the summer and have invited us to help them share the day, so we jumped at the chance, the first one is 5th of July, i will just be home from Olds, but will be there with Bells on..better go do the chores and get ready to spend the day in town, and then start getting ready to leave for Olds... talk to ya soon........... S

Monday, June 9, 2008

a whole week of birthday fun










Hi... i know i have been absent this last week, but have been just too busy, went down to FENN Lodge in Harrison Mills on Monday, met Toni, Melody and Isabel @ Diane Brady's. We had a great time, i really needed to get away, and what a better time than to spend it with my spinner sisters. Monday nite supper, Isabel made a great East African Stew with noodles,it was de lish.. It poured all day Tuesday, we never stuck our noses out the door...I made supper that night, homegrown chicken (2) stuffed full of rosemary, thyme and a whole bulb of garlic in each one, drizzled with olive oil and real BUTTER cooked on a bed of little spuds.. took longer to cook than we planned, we also had my cheater Caesars salad... romaine lettuce, and tons of garlic mixed with mayo and a bit of lemon juice, with croutons and asiago cheese, i used 3 heads of lettuce and there was nothing left... only enough chicken left to make soup for lunch the next day..we celebrated my birthday after supper that nite, Toni gave me some lovely teal coloured silk,with orders to make myself something, and Isabel gave me 200 grams of merino/silk, and Diane gave me a home made pin cushion.. and we had a Black Forest Cake that was too die for..I came home on Wednesday as i had to head out for the agility trial on Friday afternoon. We left Merritt at noon, and got to Kamloops and unloaded by 3, trial didn't start till Saturday 8 am, i know way too early. We didn't qualify in anything, but we had some really nice clean runs,(No mistakes), but our time was slow... Jesse doesn't care too much for the tetter totter , so we plan on working on that part of our run...we had another birthday party on Saturday nite, my agility partner made me a Healthy Carrot cake, and she gave me a necklace made with some Hawaiian sea shells, and my instructor gave a me some fancy candles for around the tub..and all of them signed a card for me... what a great way to spend a birthday, with friends doing just what i wanted to do...I phoned Larry on Sunday morning, we are not much for talking to each other 20 times a day, we have been married 40 years and we don't need to be in each others pocket anymore..anyway, I asked him what he was doing, and he said..."GETTING READY FOR THE SHEEP SHEARER"...oh damn..he wasn't suppose to come till next week... the shearer had been in town in April, but i had hurt my knee and it just won't work...but then it was a good thing as the spring has been so very cold, they needed their coats... so anyway after we left on Friday and L got home there was a message from the neighbour saying the shearer would be there Saturday at noon, well by 4 pm the shearer phoned and he said he would be there early am Sunday...well there was nothing i could do about it, as i wasn't going home.. so i apologized, and he said that he could do it, and that it was my birthday present... so i told him i loved him, hung up, and felt guilty for all of 2 seconds and then forgot all about him... Saturday, the weather had been very cool, short pants came out about 3 pm, and back into long pants by 6, Sunday morning, everyone was in short pants and we had a lovely sunny day, i even got a bit of a burn..but by 4 the winter coats were out... and of course, i did the last run of the whole trial... and there was no one to cheer us one... so the ones who were there working, cheered us on.. and we missed that one by one little mistake, handler error... but our time was great on that one..

















this is Jesse my agility canine partner...our little rat dog... i think we do really well together as i only have her two hours a week for our class..she just loves it so much...









This is Diane's little Jack Russel, Tidy... she used to have two... Neat and Tidy..she is getting old and loves the sofa... don't ya love the face...






this is Fenn Lodge... hope it turns out as it is a little dark.. it is a 100 year old hunting lodge that Diane and her partner fixed up..it is on 60 acres..if you ever get a chance, check it out... they have got it up for sale, so they might not be there long... better go and see what L is doing out side... he seems to enjoy his retirement... he was dug around all the plants and has given them all a big shot of sheep do do... and has made 15 trips to the dump with all the junk that we have accumulated..will take some pictures of the critters with out their coats... hugs... S