Babies got a new barn (and PJs)!

So we moved the two SCI girls into the partially renovated barn. I think they like it.

The hay this year hasn't looked so great (too much rain, who'd have ever thought that would be the problem) so I had to go out and get some fancier hay and a bit of grain to supplement. Hopefully this is good enough to keep everyone good this winter.

I'm just glad they have a secure area where we don't have to worry about coyotes at night and they will be able to keep warm this winter.

And speaking of keeping warm....

 

somebodies got new jammies! She looks a bit embarrassed, but she will be happy when it comes to snuggle time and she can keep warm!

 

Happy almost Christmas!

-M

K9

I have the best and most talented roommate in the world! She sculpted this little version of K9 (from the BBC series Doctor Who) out of clay and toothpicks. She also made a very impressive cat for our other roommate. Lover her!

 

-M

Dyed in the wool

I decided since we had the fire going that I would dye some wool and let it dry on the hearth.

I used kool-aid to dye these small batches and then soaked them in vinegar solution to set the color. The color was very vibrant. It looks like a basket of Easter fluff now.

 

-M

Sheep on the tree

It time for the annual Christian Veterinary Fellowship Christmas dinner and ornament exchange. The last two years I have brought one of my felted sheep figurines made into an ornament and there was a lot of thievery trying to end up with it. Unfortunately the first year’s sheep promptly ended up in the new owner’s dog’s stomach after it was snatched from their mantel. This year, I’ve upped the level of cuteness.

"Shepherd watches his flock by night"

 

And one of my friends had a special request for a goat ornament too.

 

There was a lot of strategy in this year’s game (we limited steals to just three per ornament), and my roommate ended up bringing home the sheep family. The other popular ornament was a rather ridiculous shiny monster thing.

 Hope you all have fun at your holiday parties, stay safe out there!

-M

Its boards time!!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the trials of veterinary students everywhere, all senior veterinary students across the country take a little test called the NAVLE (North American Veterinary Licensing Exam), commonly referred to as Boards. Over the period of about three weeks, hundreds of students study, cry, panic, and weep (yes, I said cry and weep. We shed a lot of tears over this) as they head into testing centers across the nation. It’s a bit like a death march as each student goes in to the testing centers to spend 6-9 hours taking one very, very long test (or six slightly smaller tests depending on how you want to think about it). Anyway, my point is, it’s boards time!! Therefore, I am taking a hiatus from writing for a while so I can know out this little shindig.

Post-it

Today we set up our new auguer on the tractor. Unfortunately one of the pieces they had sent us was locked up and we struggled for an hour trying to get it on the tractor, thinking we must be the biggest idiots. Luckily we weren’t quite as stupid as we thought and with a new PTO shaft we were in business and had all of the post holes dug in no time. Now for the fun part of tamping.

 

-M

The Paper Garden

Winterizing has begun. To try and get a heavy layer of mulch down in the garden I stated spreading old newspapers and grocery adverts. I ran out half way though, but I wanted to make sure it was very thick. I layer it with 6-7 unfolded sheets and then scatter leaf/dirt/compost/mulch on top. Hopefully and seeds underneath are smothered when they start to come up next year (the paper will act like the garden-tarps) and will break down over next season to make a nice compost for the veggies. We will have to cover it with a tarp as well to keep seeds that haven’t fallen from being added to the top.

 

 

At the very least, our little lizard and worm friends seem to like it when we add the paper. It amazing how many earth worms we turn up when we layer paper out.

 

-M

Apple Festival!!!

Today I took the day off from chores and fence-fixing to hang out with my mom at the Blue Ridge Apple Festival. It was an awesome art festival and a beautiful day to spend time with Mom. There wasn’t much in the way of fiber/wool related art, but I did find an adorable little booth with primitives and came home with a sheep figurine and some cute prints to hang up.

-M

 

Taking in the last of fall

We won’t have grass/weeds for too much longer, so we are taking out time grazing as much as we can. If all goes well we might still have something to nibble on through December, but not usually past that. At least the goats are having a good time.

 

 

Unfortunately the girls decided that when they were done they would just come hang out on the porch. It looks like we need a goat proof gate.

 

-M

Behind bush number one..... a fence!

Oh, you can see there actually is a fence! It’s amazing!

 

Today I focused on the road front, clearing away the thistles and weeds to check out the split rail that fronts our property. As it turns out, most of it is in surprisingly good condition for being 40 years old. The corners will have to be repaired and a few cross pieces, but I have plenty of rails for that.

 

Little Glow enjoyed the warm fall sun while hanging out with me, but she sure was tired at the end of the day. It’s just harder being old.

 

-M

Schroedie-odie-o

Today was a hard day. I drove home last night to the farm (a two hour drive from my school) because I got a call that Schroeder wasn’t doing well. He was fine when I got home and I made the judgment call that he was stable and would be better off waiting until morning, but since he hadn’t eaten his food I decided to take him back with me. I drove him back to my apartment and when we got inside he just didn’t look right, and when I examined him his gums had gone white so I rushed him in to the UGA vet school. He was bleeding internally and from the ultrasound it looked as though his spleen was involved. We ruled out clotting abnormalities (like a genetic disorder or warfarin rat poison). It appears as though he had a tumor (hemangiosarcoma being the most likely culprit) on his spleen that ruptured. Unfortunately, even with the $2000 I had available, his likelihood of even making it through the night was very poor and I made the decision to put him down rather than have him panic all night in a kennel (his worst fear).

It’s hard not being able to save your pet, and it’s even harder being this close to having my veterinary degree and not having the ability to do something more. Unfortunately this isn’t something that I could have predicted even with medical knowledge. At least I was with him and I know that if something could have been done we were at a place that would have had the ability to do so. He was such a little bugger, but he was a good boy and a great goat-dog. The farm won’t be as safe as it was with my little white wolf.

Schroeder 2001-2013

 

 

-M

Snug as a bug in a rug

Finally! That project I talked about forever ago, it’s happening!

It’s taken me quite a while to card out enough roving for the backing to the rug, but I’m ready to go. I selected fibers of varying lengths from two fleeces (corriedale crosses) that I got a few months ago. There is a mixture of brown and white with vary shades in the brown. I wanted a very natural, rough look to the finished rug. I (very carefully and with much frustration) stood all the raw fleece pieces tip end down, trying to vary the lengths and colors and trying to create a natural wave of length like in a whole fleece (shorter pieces on the ends). Then several layers of the washed roving in perpendicular angles to each other. The final layed-out piece was nearly 8 inches tall.

 

 

 

I very carefully ladled hot, soap water onto the piece and slowly smashed it flat on top of the bubble wrap. I then covered it with more bubble wrap and lightly rubbed it until the piece was starting to felt.

 

Once the rug started to hold together on the back I rolled it up with a rubber shelf liner around it to help hold it together and started to roll. First I just sat and rolled it with my feet, but that wasn’t great and I didn’t have enough patients.

 

So I turned to the dryer. Tumble dry low, no heat. As it turns out, my roll was just wide enough to fit in the dryer and tumble around. I added a small towel to make sure it was knocked free from the sides while it tumbled and let it go. For the most part it stayed rolling and worked out quite nicely.

 

It took a few hours to dry out well, I think it was a good bit faster because the centrifugal force of the dryer. The final piece is about the size of a bath matt and I love it. I think it will end up as a cozy cushion for my office chair.

 

 

-M

 

Spinning in circles

I’ve had a little down time and have gotten back to the wheel. Mostly I am plying some reclaimed yarn from a few sweaters I bought at the thrift store. This one is a really nice green cashmere sweater that was very fine and I thought the yarn would work better for me as a Navajo-plied yarn. I think it will work nicely as a shawl, it should have a lovely drape to it.

 

 My other project has been to take apart some tips. We have had some of our wool made into very nice, thick socks and the company asked us if we wanted the tips that they cut off when they finish them. It is about a ½ inch bit of sock, almost like a hair tie but not elastic. We said sure, why not? Well, as it turns out there are several yards of a thin single-ply in that ½ inch and I’ve started un-knitting them and putting them on some dowels in a make-shift lazy kate. Then I’ve plied those together to make a heavier three-ply yarn. I’m not sure what will happen to it next, we shall see. It is the brown skein in the middle.

 

The other two are my funky art yarn that is plied with a reclaimed green cashmere yarn and a solid white, single-ply yarn from the bag of starter yarn that came with my wheel.

 

I should probably stop bouncing around between projects, but I can't help myself. Happy spinning everyone!

 

-M

Oh baby!

I went over to help my friend for a little while, and look who showed up? Little Pixie Stix had a cute little kid just as I was visiting

 

 

-M

"A man on a tractor with a dog in a field"

The look of a freshly mown pasture.

 

 
 I can’t help but smile looking at it. Even with the huge hedge of privet and roses. Actually, I wish I could keep the hedge, but unfortunately a hedge doesn’t actually keep animals in and the fence under it is too old and weak to do much of anything so it all has to come down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But we are trying to at least get some good out of the hedge while it is here. By cutting through the fence and hedge just enough to slip a chain link panel through on either end we are making portable goat grazing pen.

 

 There was a lovely little spider on one of the panels. I've seen a few like this so far this year, but I've never seen them before. They almost look like they are carrying a little shell on their back.
 

 

Added bonus, the panels fit nicely on the bush hog so we can move them around to different areas fairly easy.

 
Not a bonus- little dogs like to roll in things when they are out running around. She looks guilty.

 

-M