# Bridgemoof--Sheep & Wool festival



## Bridgemoof (Aug 19, 2012)

-HI my real name is Bridget. One of the questions on the list for your own journal was...where do you go to get away?

Well, I have been coming to the backyard herd forum, to get questions to answers and to take a rest in between caring for animals. It's like my escape, so I thought I might start just documenting my everyday farm life. It's a wild ride, as you will see from my notes. I like to write sometimes to get away, so here we go.


Chapter One: The Farm Introduction
I haven't always been a farmer. IN fact, I knew nothing about farming up until about 2 years ago. Four years ago I lost my beloved husband to cancer, and I found myself alone in a big, beautiful house in the mountains of Maryland with my 2 dogs. Wow, only 2 dogs. I remember when life was so easy!  But I was lonely and restless, and the days went by so slowly after I lost my husband.

Two years ago I met Tim. A friend introduced us, and I went to go see him at the farm where he lived. I showed up one day in January 2011 and I never left. I was fascinated with the farm. Tim was a horse person, a horse breeder and farrier among other horse-related things. He didn't have many other animals, but he had horses. LOTS of them! About 25 or so.

I found out pretty quickly I was not much of a horse person, and I'm still not. I had ridden horses about twice in my life and they both were horrifying experiences. The horses were big and they scared me. I am not afraid of the horses anymore, but I respect them enough to stay clear of them, and I definitely get nothing from riding them. But I feed them! And give them water, and clean up a little after them. And pet them, and give them snacks once in a while.

Tim also had a donkey, and some chickens on the farm when I got here. Just a few chickens, and they laid fresh eggs! It was so exciting the first time I went to go pick up eggs from their nest. I was hooked!

By February 2011, I had my own flock of 6 laying hens. That was only the beginning. I now have probably over 50 chickens, I've lost count. Last summer Tim built a little produce cart for me and it turned into an even bigger produce cart by the end of the year. I sold my little fresh cut flower arrangements in mason jars, and the eggs of course, in little baskets with straw. The passer-bys seemed to love it, and word was getting around about my cute cart. I painted the sides with a scene of all the things I sold...the chickens and their eggs, the flowers, the pumpkins, the peaches.. It really was adorable. You can see it on my avatar, but sadly it doesn't exist anymore. This year early on, just when I was gearing up for an even greater season, some driver ran off the road and crashed right through the middle of my cart, rendering it completely beyond repair. We're now working on a new cart, which will be made out of an antique buggy Tim found on Craigslist. It will be great!






2011 was a great year filled with farm fascination and learning. We have about 17 acres and are right in the middle of foxhunting country. It's indescribably beautiful here, and we have a pond and a creek and lovely scenery. We live in a 1700s farm house, but share it with the elderly woman who owns the farm. We take care of her and the farm. Someday we'll have our own farm I hope. I'm renting my house in Maryland now so I'll be saving that money for our new place. Although I'm not completely sure what the future holds, Tim and I don't always get along so great at this point. We don't always see eye to eye when it comes to raising the animals. There are a lot of fights, which I don't like at all. But one thing I do know, I will always want to live on a farm no matter what happens with us!




I am a graphic designer by trade, I've been doing publishing work for 30 years, and have worked at home for 12 now. It's been very difficult, even with working for myself, to stay inside and get work done on my computer. There's always an animal interruption, or I just can't resist being outside with the critters. This one needs this, that one needs that. It's hard to sit still for a minute! But I do love every minute of it, and taking care of the animals makes me feel complete, or maybe it just makes me feel needed, I don't know. Maybe both.

Coming next....

Chapter 2: The Craigslist Sheep and Goat Explosion


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## Pearce Pastures (Aug 19, 2012)

That is a gorgeous property!  Wow!


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## elevan (Aug 19, 2012)

I love hearing how people come into the farming frame of mind.  I look forward to reading your journal.  And I agree - beautiful property!


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## RemudaOne (Aug 20, 2012)

elevan said:
			
		

> I love hearing how people come into the farming frame of mind.  I look forward to reading your journal.  And I agree - beautiful property!


X2!


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 20, 2012)

Thanks everyone! It is a pretty property.

Chapter 2: The Craigslist Sheep and Goat Explosion

In the fall of 2011, Tim and I went on a "field trip" to a friend of his farm in Southern Virginia. Jessie is a livestock dealer, and Tim had dealt with him over the years with various horses. Jessie has hundreds of acres and hundreds of animals. He buys and sells hundreds of animals every week. He has so many different kind of animals grazing around his property, he even has a herd of water buffaloes.

At some point Tim got it in his head that he wanted to be like Jessie. He wanted to start branching out from horses because the horse market wasn't what it used to be. There was a flaw in Tim's plan, though, to emulate Jessie: we didn't have hundreds of acres and we didn't have a full-time staff to take care of the animals like Jessie did. In fact, it is just Tim and I to care for what we did have. Which was plenty of work already.

After our little sojourn down to Jessie's place, Tim got onto Craigslist, his shopping vehicle of choice, and started to look for other livestock. That's where he found "Bernard," our hair sheep ram. We got Bernard for free from some farm that wanted to rotate their ram out of their flock. Bernard came home with us, and after a little while I thought Bernard was probably kind of lonely and needed a ewe. One day in December, Tim saw an ad on Craiglist for a whole flock of sheep, 14 in all at a really cheap, cheap price. I protested that we didn't need 14 sheep. He said we could take them down to Jessie's and sell them to him. So we did. Except we kept 3 for ourselves. They were a mixture of Rambouillet, Tunis and something else I can't remember. Their wool was so long I don't think they were ever shorn. The ones we  ended up keeping were the Tunis. Now that I know more about sheep, I would have been more selective in the ones we ended up keeping.

One of the sheep was a young ram lamb, just under a year. All Tim could see was dollar signs in his eyes. He had already made a profit on bringing the rest of the flock to Jessie's. He was already addicted and thinking he could actually make money doing this. He put an ad back on CL to sell the ram lamb. He quickly got a taker, a middle eastern man who was coming over to get the lamb and was going to put him in the trunk of his car and take him home and eat him! I was so horrifdied by this, I left the house and stayed away all day and cried. I was furious, sad, and felt so bad for that lamb.

It took a while to get over this. I am an animal empath, and the trouble is I fall in love with all the animals we get. Tim ended up getting me a spinning wheel for Christmas, and immediately I was taken with working with the sheep's wool and spinning. I thought if I could sell the yarn, we could save the lambs! Well, it hasn't worked out that way. The problem is I spend too much time taking care of the animals he gets and don't have any time left to spin. But I still have a plan to be able to set up an Etsy store and sell my wool products.

So the buying frenzy had begun, much to my protests. While Tim was out buying up everything he could find, I was home trying to take care of all the animals, and not really having a clue how to. In February we got 2 Jacob sheep, one of which was a pregnant ewe, Lily. She had twins 2 days after she got here. One ended up being Lottie, my bottle baby. I learned quickly how to care for her. Then we got the 5 Jacob/Icelandic lambs. From then on it was goats, more sheep, goats, more sheep. In one weekend alone, we picked up 5 lambs, 1 goat, 1 donkey and 1 horse. Every time he brings something new home, we have to move everybody around and make room to accommodate the new guys. It's pretty awful and stressful on all the animals and me.





This is Lottie and her new friend Fluffy.

Now it has settled down, we have a flock of 25 mixed breed sheep, 11 goats, 9 of which are boar and the other 2 alpine/pygmy cross. We've kind of settled down to this agreement: he can do what he wants with the goats. I learned quickly what a pain goats were, lol. I  haven't named them. He has sold a few at the livestock auction. I have agreed to give up any ram lambs that we have to his "enterprise." I just want to hang on to the sheep we have and work with them, get to know them, and then hopefully after breeding season is over, weed out the unproductive ones. I would love to have a flock of all one or two different breeds. But I realize that that is probably an impossibility with Tim's proclivity to buy anything he can find on CL.





My favorites, Dipsy, LaLa and Po, the Cormo sheep. We got them from a New Jersey Craiglist ad.

Besides the sheep and goats, we have also added a couple of turkeys, 8 silver pheasants, 10 Pekin ducks, 4 Indian Runner ducks, and one alpaca. We still have 25 horses, a pony, a donkey, 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 2 sugar gliders. It's insane. Tim and I fight a lot of over the animals. There really isn't enough room, even with our 17 acres, for all of these animals.

Today I am dealing with Snowcap and Beastie's leg problems, a lame rooster (General Tso), and our Bengal cat who just got neutered and isn't healing correctly. Every day is a multitude of conundrums.

Pretty soon I have to go move the electric fence around so I can move my sheep to a different area. Thank goodness we got a little rain yesterday, more rain means more free food!


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## BrownSheep (Aug 20, 2012)

Uhhh I think I'ld have trouble keeping all of that on our 60 acres. Good luck to you.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 21, 2012)

Yesterday was pretty good. Tim and his sometimes helper Lencho got the flight cage put together for the silver pheasants. It is a dog kennel, and it's huge. He got it on Craigslist, of course. So he went down to the creek and got a big branch for them to roost on. I want to get some kind of evergreen plant to plant in there so they have brush for cover. I want to try something they won't eat, and will stay green throughout the winter. We need to put a roof on it, then we can move the pheasants to their new home today. Yay!

Snowcap is doomed, so today is the day probably that the guys will put him out of his misery. See my thread on sheep diseases about his weak pastern problem. Poor Snowcap!

I ran the big flock of sheep down to the creek last evening. The two little lambs, Patches and Mac went with their mommies down there for the first time. Of course I'm worried about them being down there in "the wilds" and it's so foggy this morning I can't see them down there. But I didn't hear any screaming in the middle of the night, so I guess they are okay. I'll go down and check on them in a bit. I was thinking about winter, and told Tim we needed to think about making the water troughs heated for the sheep. I told him that sheep don't like cold water. He said "Sheep will drink cold water! If they didn't, there wouldn't be the species of sheep! They've survived for thousands of years without heated water!" Ok. Whatever. 

Today we'll move our little flock of Jacobs to the hillside. I've put the electroweb fencing up and it's ready to go. Now if we can just catch the rogue Shetland sheep to get them in there too, that would be great! They've been roaming all over the farm for weeks and we haven't been able to get the little buggers.

We have to take our bengal cat back to the vet again today. He was neutered last week, and his insides are popping out where they did the incision. They don't do stitches, they just cut off the testacles and tie the cords together and tuck them back in apparently. Well, his parts didn't stay inside. We have a collar on him so he can't lick. He is one miserable looking cat. 

Now I have to go feed the chickens. we have a new good rooster dynamic going on in the barnyard since we did a switcheroo with the roosters. We took the bad guys and locked them up, and let a couple of the newer roosters out. So far, no fights, no vicious attacks on hens. It seems more peaceful now.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 21, 2012)

Beautiful property! Love the cart idea. Sending best wishes your way.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 22, 2012)

Yesterday was a good day. We herded the Jacob sheep to the hillside pasture.  Of course that didn't go extremely smoothly, because every one of them is a pain in the you know what. Lily and Aidin escaped under the horse fence down the lane. But we managed to get them back where they belong. So now we only have the Jacobs on the hill, and Tim said they actually "look like an organized flock of sheep." lol They look cute as can be!

We said goodbye to Snowcap and buried his meat. Lencho skinned him and hung his skin on the shed next to the goat skin, from the goat that Tim ran over with the truck.  Lencho is the best helper ever. He's Guatemalan, and he is the hardest worker. I can't communicate with him too much because he doesn't speak english, but Tim can speak fluent Spanish so he can always tell him what needs to be done. We've been having him come every day for 4 hours a day, and what a difference the extra help has made!

We finished the pheasant cage and got them moved over. I took a bunch of sunflower stalks and made a low shelter out of them for the birds. They went in their new home and went right under the branches.

We took the cat to a different vet, and they looked strangely at the thing protruding out of him and thought maybe the other vet left a piece of his testicle in. Yuckers. So we will bring him back there on Thursday and they will put him under so they can investigate further. Poor Cheetah.

I think Tim got punked by a Craigsist ad.   When we were going to the vet, I noticed he had put a few chicken cages in the back of the truck. I asked him why do we have chicken cages back there? He said "We're picking up 30 free chickens that were on CL." omg. Just what we need. Well, we went to the house where these supposed chickens were, and it was a regular suburban neighborhood with a regular house and two dogs barking in the window, and nobody was home. We were supposedly going to be meeting somebody there to get the chickens. I don't know, nobody was there, the whole thing seemed kind of fishy, and there was no sign of any chicken coop in there yard or anything. I think it was a CL prank. We'll see what happens today. We've been seeing more of these CL pranks lately. One time Tim responded to an ad for "30 free boer goats". lol. He called the number, and apparently a friend of this guy's posted the ad and put his phone number in it. There were no goats. The guy had been punked.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 22, 2012)

O'BaJesus on the CL prankers! Loving your journal tho. Goes great with coffee.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 22, 2012)

Thank you GoatCRazyLady! I'm glad to see I have at least one follower, lol.

I'll try to post some goat antics since you are obviously a goat crazy lady! lol


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 22, 2012)

lol  That would be awesome. Thank ya.


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## jodief100 (Aug 22, 2012)

Wow!  You have a lot of excitement.  I love your property, it is beautiful.  The sheep are adorable.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 22, 2012)

LOL Jodi, "excitement" is a nice way of putting it. I would call it "chaos."


Tim came up with a new name for our "unihorn." He named him "Genius." As in "Way to go, Genius." "Nice going, Genius." "Get out of the way, Genius."






Genius is our kinda sorta rescue goat. Tim was going to pick up some Craigslist goats one day, and the guy said his neighbor had a couple of goats he wanted to get rid of. So Tim came home with these poor, pathetic old goats. "Unihorn" has the one horn that we are debating removing since it's covering his eye. Our vet said that we can remove it safely without hurting him if we get far enough away from his head. But I don't want any bloody surprises. He pretty much comes and goes as he pleases around the barnyard. He limps around, despite Tim trying to fix any hoof problem, so he's no great threat at escaping. Well, Genius's buddy, the old black goat, was no genius either, because one day he decided to lay down and take a nap under Tim's truck tire. Well, he ended up getting run over and is now in our freezer.

I don't have much to do in the barnyard since all the sheep are out on pasture. I only have to feed the alpaca and the pregnant goats, then later we'll feed the horses when Tim gets home.


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## autumnprairie (Aug 23, 2012)

Love your journal and the property is beautiful.  waiting for your next entry


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 23, 2012)

Well today is D-Day for the ducks. Eight out of the ten pekin ducks will go into the new freezer that Tim got on Craigslist (for free, no less). Now that we got the freezer, a lot of things can go bye-bye. So the last couple of days 2 of the ducks have been hanging off by themselves. There has been an increasing amount of duck angst in the barnyard since I think their hormones are starting to arise. The roosters are bad enough on the hens, but sheesh, the ducks are really bad on each other. One poor female duck was trying to get water, and 3 other ducks had her pinned down and were on top of her grabbing her neck and dunking her in the water. I don't feel sad about harvesting the ducks, they all look identical, don't have names, and they make a HUGE mess around every water trough. I have a sled/saucer out there for them that I refill about 10 times a day because they make a muddy mess out of the water. Nope, I won't miss them at all. And I'm looking forward to a nice duck dinner!

But the 2 ducks, last night they wouldn't go into their regular stall with the others. They came up to the front stable and went into one of the stalls up there. Tim said "They picked the right night to opt out, those two!" And they did. Because today their friends will be slaughtered. I thought we could keep just those two, since I haven't seen them lay any eggs yet, and maybe eventually they will breed and have baby ducks. That's what we do best around here. Breed. lol

I went to go feed the pheasants this morning in their new flight cage, and ruh roh. One, two, three, four, five six, seven...shouldn't there be eight? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...I counted again. Oh noes, something got a pheasant. Darn weasels! Or whatever mysterious animal can squeeze through tiny holes in cages. So I guess today we will be making that cage more secure, among other things.

We have to take the bengal tiger cat to the vet this morning to get his testicle worked on. He wasn't allowed to eat this morning, poor kitty. Then it's come home and work on my publication that's due on Monday.

I have to get busy painting my new produce cart, too, because fall is in the air and gourd time is coming! I have 15 or 16 birdhouse gourds that are growing in the back garden. The other day, though, our goats got into them, jumped over THAT fence, and started eating the vines. Thank goodness they didn't eat the gourds themselves. I have big plans for those gourds!

Okay, off to take care of a few things before we leave for the vet.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 23, 2012)

OofTa... Does sound to be a bit chaotic. I don't know how you do it.  I haven't had duck in years. Sounds yummy. Good luck at the vet today.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 24, 2012)

I'm supposed to be working on my publication, but my other computer keeps crashing, so I figured I would just come outside with my laptop and blog.

Yesterday the duck processing went well. Lencho did all 8 ducks. That man is the best! He can do anything, except organize. He's no good at that. As in, "go organize the tool shed." Pfft, forget it. Hes about as organized as Tim. But hard labor, he's the man! So we figured at his hourly rate, we paid about $5.00 per duck. I'm not sure if that's a good price or not, but I think if you go to buy a duck in the store, it's a lot more than that. So I had him save the livers, because I thought we could probably make some good pte. I absolutely hate liver though. And the smell of it makes me sick, but I didn't want those good parts going to waste, so we will try and make something out of it. Inkabod, our Catahoula Leopard dog, found some delicious crunchy duck feet to munch on. That was a spectacle, seeing the duck foot sticking out of his mouth. ew.

So we didn't have a chance to deliver the liver...Snowcap's liver that we are taking to the vet to get biopsied. I am going to take it today, and hope to God I don't get the duck livers and the sheep liver mixed up because our biopsy report might come back with "These sheep have something very wrong, they can swim!" lol I don't want to look in the bags to get the right one, but I guess I have to.

The cat is doing good! The new vet we took him to, an Aussie gal, operated on him again and said the other vet did leave part of his testicle in there. Oh man. So overall, this neutering has cost us $470.00 Tim's going to write to the other vet and try and get reimbursed for their botch job. But overall, the cat seems to be feeling much better now, and he looks better, too.

We tightened up the security on the pheasant run, and they were all accounted for this morning. Whew on that.

Oh, and 2 Mexican ladies came by yesterday and bought some chickens from us. They've bought a couple roosters in the past, but they said the foxes got them. Well, I thought they were looking for laying hens, but after talking to Tim, they left with 4 roosters. That's fine by me, less rooster angst! And I don't care if they eat them, we got $10.00 a piece for them, and that's pretty darned good!

I went and checked on the sheep at the creek this morning. They are all doing good. Mac the Tunis lamb is still limping a bit, but doing better than a few days ago. Those Tunis sheep always have foot problems! If he's not better in a few days, we'll bring him back up to the barnyard and work on his hoof.

Today, Tim is bugging me to call my mortgage company and see if I can get $100,000 in equity out of it to buy another house and rehab it and sell it. I hate when he gets so intent on spending other people's money. He loves to be a control freak and tell other people how to do things. If he were so successful, he'd be rich. And he's not. End of story. He doesn't have a pot to piss in.

Okay, now it's off to work again. Later gators!


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## BrownSheep (Aug 24, 2012)

You should send those ladies my way! I would be happy if I could give my roosters away!


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## Southern by choice (Aug 24, 2012)

I read your journal and love it. Guess maybe I should have posted and told you so...........  
Unicorn is a mess!


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 24, 2012)

Okay I just have to vent for a minute. Tim and I just had another huge fight..over how to make a phone call to the mortgage company to inquire about borrowing money. He always yells and screams at me, and I might add we are NOT married and we won't be. ever. I HATE him most of the time. I told him today forget about getting a house to work on, because if we can't even agree on making a phone call, we sure as heck won't be able to rehab a whole house together.

I want to leave, but can't right now for 2 reasons:

1) I have just rented my house with a 2-year lease., so I can't go back there now. And who do you think pushed me to do that? Yeppers. Tim.

2) I'm staying for the sheep. If I walk out of here, which I could do, he will probably take them to the livestock auction and sell them. And I just cannot bare to think of my babies being slaughtered.

So, my new goal is to save up money for a new farm and escape with my sheep somehow in the middle of the night, lol. Sounds like a lofty goal. But I'll work on it. In the meantime I will just try and ignore him and not let his yelling get to me.

Thank you. That is all.


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## SheepGirl (Aug 24, 2012)

awww


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## Southern by choice (Aug 24, 2012)

Very, very sad for you and your situation.


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 24, 2012)

Aww thanks guys, it's all good.

I feel better after....
1. Venting to you on BYH 
2. Going to Tractor Supply and buying stuff for me and the critters
3. Going to McDonald's and getting a LARGE Frappe Mocha
and...
4. Delivering the liver


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## autumnprairie (Aug 24, 2012)

because of your fight 
did you deliver the correct liver


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## BrownSheep (Aug 24, 2012)

for crappy situations


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## Roll farms (Aug 25, 2012)

Until and unless properly trained, most of the time menfolk ain't worth the aggravation they cause.

I used to stay just for the animals....


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 25, 2012)

lol yes the ones that are the most difficult to take care of and make the biggest messes around here are the human animals. 

So Tim and I spent most of the day not talking,  but then finally had to communicate because we had to go to the store to get dinner. So, guess what he went and got off Craigslist yesterday? Six more roosters  Now because he sold 4, he thinks that gives him free reign to go get more free roosters for the Mexican ladies. Well, he doesn't even have a way to get a hold of them, and it will probably be 6 months before they come back again. Agh. In the meantime, who's the one that has to feed them and give them water? Me. Otherwise they would be ignored.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw one of our Tunis ewes walking around in the riding ring! Holy cow, how did she get there? She was down at the creek, and there is a hot wire on the bottom of the horse fence. I know the little shetland sheep come and go through there, but she's big and I couldn't imagine how she would get under that bottom rail. So I started to chase her, not even knowing how I would get her back to where she came. But lo and behold! She went right down to the creek and trotted across the rocks and around the electric wire. The creek is so low they don't even have to walk in the water! Darn it. More security needed.

This morning when I went out to the barn, she and Dipsy, our ram, were at the manure pile, only several feet away from the corn bin! Hopefully they hadn't found the corn yet, because if they did and had been eating it all morning, they are going to be sick sheep, or dead sheep. I think I caught them in time, though. We could solve a lot  of problems with animals getting into the corn in by putting a gate in front of it, but that would inconvenience His Royal Highness too much so he doesn't want to do it. 

I was supposed to go to my sister's today in Baltimore, but she wants me to come tomorrow instead. I think I'll go to the thrift store at the church this morning just to get away for a while. I think somebody is coming today to look at a horse. That would be great if we could get rid of a horse. One less mouth to feed!

Happy Saturday everybody!:bun


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 27, 2012)

Saturday was a CL day...more stuff to pick up from Craigslist. Tim found some kind of lock down chains or clamps or something for the trailer that are normally $50/piece and he got abut 5 of them for $30. I love when he finds inanimate objects to buy on CL. Then we went to Leesburg and picked up 3 really nice hens that some guy wanted to unload for $0. He had great intentions to have nice chickens running around the yard and laying eggs, til he figured out there were foxes and other predators, and didn't have the time to build a nice chicken coop like he intended to. So we got 2 Partridge Rocks and 1 Austrolorp, only about 5 months old and very healthy looking. That was a good deal.






The pheasant run, before they got transferred to it. The Buff Orpington pullets are checking out it's viability. The roof is not on it yet.

Saturday morning when I went out to count the pheasants there was another one missing! Erggggg. Whatever it was completely bypassed the trap Tim set up, and burrowed it's way under the cage and through the wire mesh. Poor pheasant, his legs were still in there, but not much else. We have lots of rats, despite our efforts to put out rat poison in every hole everywhere, so I suspect it might be rats. Tim thinks something else. In any event, he put a hot electric wire around the base of the pen so the unknown predator will get zapped next time he tries to go after our pheasants. Ha! But sadly this morning, one of our Indian Runner ducks tried to sneak back behind the pen and the wall, and was laying there being zapped on his leg when I went out there. I couldn't see where to unplug the thing, so I watched in agony as the poor duck just laid there with his leg stuck on the hot wire. I lifted the wire with a stick and he was able to wiggle out of there. He's no worse for wear after the incident. Whew! That will teach them to stop trying to chase after our Pekin duck girls.

Oh, speaking of duck....I roasted one for dinner on Saturday night. The ducks are not as big as I imagined they would be, probably only about 3 lbs. So it was cooked in about an hour. I made a nice ginger, apricot spicy glaze to put on it. It was supposed to be scrumptious. It wasn't. These ducks are LEAN, and don't have half the fat store bought ducks have. The meat, while tasty, was also tough. I guess the free range critters just get too much exercise and their meat isn't as tender. Too bad, I was so looking forward to eating a delicious meal from our own farm, and it was just so-so.

Yesterday I went to my sister's house and we did a big shopping trip to Costco and Trader Joe' so I could get lunch stuff for Annie's lunches. Annie is Tim's 13-year old daughter and she started 8th grade today! I'll tell you,  this school prep stuff is expensive. I took her to get new glasses (she hadn't had an eye exam in 4 years), some clothes, school supplies, including a graphing calculator, and tons of lunch stuff. I spent hundreds of dollars, and I am disgruntled about it. Tim bullied me into doing all of that every step of the way. And I have to ask, why, if she has a mother AND a father, am I doing all of this stuff? I'm not even her stepmother. I guess I'm selfish, I dunno. Hopefully she's set for a while.

While I was gone yesterday, it poured and poured. I worried the whole time that the creek would flash flood and my sheep would be swept away but the rushing waters. I called Tim and told him to check the creek. He of course argued with me that the creek was dry and it would have to rain hard for days for it to rise that much. When I got home, I drove over the bridge very slowly so I could catch a glimpse of the creek. In my mind, I imagined muddy gushing water rising and violently sweeping my sheep downstream. Instead, it was a trickle, lol. Ok, so he was right. This time. It doesn't stop me from worrying about them down there.

This is my flock of Jacobs' (and one mini-cheviot and Stubby-the Jacob/Icelandic cross) looking halfway organized on the hillside. I like that I can step onto the back porch and clearly see them, unlike the sheep at the creek.


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## Southern by choice (Aug 27, 2012)

Hi bridge- I always look for your updates!

With the ducks, Indian runners are not meat ducks, Pekins are much better(but you probably already know that   ). Also the meat should be aged before cooking, that's what makes it tender.  The aging process is also somewhat dependent on your slaughter/processing. Just wondering what kind of duck did you eat? I love duck for dinner! Ducks can be a real pain but on the other hand they cost nothing!!! Ours only eat off the land, so no feed bills for our ducks or geese! The drakes really make us and the girls nuts- ALWAYS wanting to mate.  Our drake chases our geese around too and the dumb ganders don't even protect their own girls! What kind of plucker do you have, if you don't mind me asking... ducks/geese are so hard to get all the feathers off.

Not tochin' the Tim thing- family friendly forum and all.... I'd end up being banned for life! 

Hope you have a great day


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 27, 2012)

Hi Southern! lol on the Tim thing...you can always PM me. I don't want any of my followers to get banned, 

The ducks we slaughtered and ate were the Pekin ducks. They free range. I'd love to hear more about the aging process. We had the thing in the fridge for about 3 days before I cooked it. Is that not enough maybe? Anything I can do to make the rest of the ducks better would be helpful! They are still in the fridge and I am ready to put them in the freezer before they go bad. Oh, and our plucker is imported from Guatamala, his name is Lencho and he charges $10/hour and plucks them by hand.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 27, 2012)

Oh man! I'm reaLLY SORRY ABOUT YOUR SITUATION WITH tIM.  I was in a similar situation & it took me 6 years to finally beable to leave. My prayers are with you hun. Hope you are able to escape soon!


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 29, 2012)

Well, another day of farm management. I was so inspired about ordering my scrapies ear tags, I e-mailed the county extension agent to set up a meeting to see if they could help me with pasture management, grazing and weed control, manure disposal, soil and water conservation, farm tax management and wool marketing.  I guess my request was too great, because he didn't e-mail me back. If ther eis help available, I would like to take advantage of it. They claim they can help with all of this stuff.  We'll see if I get a call today.

A friend of Tim's stopped by yesterday to see what we had in the way of goats for his kids. We didn't have anything to sell him, (he even wanted Genius-the Unihorn, but Tim wouldn't part with him), but he did leave with several roosters. I guess they have hens that they wanted to get a few roosters for. So Tim sold him some and Peep-Peep, too. Peep-Peep was born inside, and as my first chick I raised and was friendly. Peep-Peep was a hoot. He would play with Pick, our schnauzer all the time, it was a stitch to watch them rolling around together in the grass. But, as with most roosters, once those hormones kick in they want nothing to do with you anymore. Peep-Peep eventually found his way to the barn where he had his eye on many a hen. The trouble is Peep-Peep took his job of protecting the hens too seriously and started getting too aggressive to the other roosters, picking fights on a constant basis. Maybe because he was so spoiled growing up. So recently, Peep Peep found his way into a cage where he waited on stewpot skid row. But luckily somebody came along and saved him, hopefully from the stewpot! I now have 2 new "porch chickens." Puff and Baby. But this morning I'm a little sad and reflective about losing Peep-Peep.






_Peep-Peep, all grown up and very handsome._

The Indian Runner ducks were causing such havoc with the remaining 2 Pekin ducks, one of them was limping around and they would all pile on her. So I relocated them back to the pregnant goat area, and they can live a peaceful existence. But that means I will have to dump the water trough out ten times a day and refill it. Oy.

Pheasants are all accounted for! Yay! Sheep are doing okay out in there pastures. I delivered hay to the guys at the creek, and argued with Tim again about how I didn't want them down there all winter. I think it fell on deaf ears.

Yesterday, I painted half of my new produce cart/buggy. I need to turn it around and do the other side now and maybe by this weekend it will be ready to roll! I think I have enough flowers yet to do some arrangements to sell. I think the passer-bys will be happy to see the new cart out there.

That's all for today....have a good one!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 29, 2012)

Can't wait to see the cart when you are finished. Have a good day.


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## autumnprairie (Aug 29, 2012)

GoatCrazyLady said:
			
		

> Can't wait to see the cart when you are finished. Have a good day.


X2


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 30, 2012)

I'm so excited, the county extension agent wrote me back and is coming out here on Tuesday to answer all of my questions! That will be fun.

All the animals are doing good. I just love walking out in the morning and opening all the chicken doors, etc. and letting everybody out...FREE!!!!!. Even the Unihorn, Genius, is really growing on me. He greets me every morning looking for food. He is looking so much better than when we got him. The turkeys are getting sooo big, and I think they are safely past the point of dyeing from that blackhead disease. I'm glad it turned out that we have one male and one female. The white turkey was strutting his stuff yesterday and fluffing up. Yesterday Tim discovered a big fat rat that was dead on the electric wire surrounding the pheasant run. Well that confirms my suspicions that it was rats getting them. They are still all accounted for.

Last evening I went down to the creek to feed the sheep and Koala was missing. Koala is the 6 month old Harlequin ewe lamb. She's a little chunkster. I called for her and heard her baaing from far off. I went down closer to the creek to see where she was. She was on the other side of the creek! D'oh! She was in the paddock with the two horses down there. I tried to coax her back under the fence, but she was a bit panicked and wasn't sure how to get back. All the other sheep were on the other side of the creek baaing for her, but she wouldn't go. So I went back up to the house and got Tim. We walked back down there and he had his lasso. She took one look at him with that rope and went right under the fence and ran back across the creek! whew.

This morning we finally trapped the little devil sheep, the roaming shetlands, in the pond area. Now we've got them! ha! They have been wandering around and off the farm for weeks. But now we finally have them trapped and we can move them over to be with the little flock of Jacobs.

On the liver biopsy front, apparently I got the right liver  and it's at the lab and we will have test results in about 10 days. It will be very interesting to see what the results are.

I finished painting my buggy, and today I'll put the hardware back on and roll it on out to the road. I've got some pretty nice flowers going right now, so I'll be sure to make a showy presentation on the cart when I put it back out front. I need to figure out some kind of signage. On my old cart, I used to staple price lists and signs all over it. But I don't want to put staples onto the buggy. All of this roadside farm cart requires lots of planning and ingenuity. Everything has to be clearly marked. People are stupid, for the most part, and if it isn't clearly marked they don't have a clue what to do. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get it all set up. I'm still sad about my old cart being destroyed by a car, but am looking forward to building up my new one.

It was dark when I got up this morning, and a bit chilly. I actually am looking forward to fall, and I feel a creative inspiration coming on. Last year I painted a bunch of pumpkins, they were beautiful. I want to do it again this year. 

Here are a couple I did from last year.


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## BrownSheep (Aug 30, 2012)

I wanna pumpkin! You're very skilled and my stick men feel quite incompetent when in comparison to your pumpkins.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 30, 2012)

BrownSheep said:
			
		

> I wanna pumpkin! You're very skilled and my stick men feel quite incompetent when in comparison to your pumpkins.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Aug 30, 2012)

I really don't know how you do it all. From now on when i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, i will STOP, think of you and get a grip!


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## Bridgemoof (Aug 30, 2012)

Haha thanks you guys! 

My life is rich and loaded with excitement, Goat Lady! lol But I am a good time manager, because I always make time for my NAP every day!

So this morning after I blogged, I thought I have 2 things I need to do this morning: 1. Take a shower (which has been an ever decreasing requirement in my daily activities) and 2. Go to the bank to get money to pay Anita, my cleaning lady.

Anita has saved my sanity in the past year. When I first got to the house here, it looked like a barn, noworse than a barn. Like a neglected storage unit WITHIN a barn. pffft. It did not resemble a home at all, and it has taken me and Anita over a year for me to be comfortable enough to invite anybody over. I mean, the living room didn't even have a couch to sit on, not that you could even walk in here. It had a bunch of broken chairs piled up on each other. The whole house was filthy dirty and mice turds everywhere, in every drawer, all over. Tim and his daughter are both the biggest slobs. I'm not a neat freak, but I'd like at least to be able to come in and sit down on a piece of decent furniture. So, Anita and I have been working away to make it a home and we have made great improvements around here. I've even invited friends to the farm without being completely embarrassed.

So, after I blog and am getting ready to go take a shower, Tim comes barreling in and says "YOUR ducks are loose and the Indian Runner ducks are trying to kill them. And the neighbor called and YOUR sheep are across the stream again."

ugh.

So I go out and round up the ducks, and sure enough the Indian Runner ducks were attacking the Pekin ducks. I got them separated and back in their new area. Then I had to hike on down to the creek again where I ran into 3 of the sheep coming up the lane. They saw me and turned around and headed back to the creek. Whoever said that sheep won't cross a creek were WRONG. They went right through it and up the other side. I calmly followed them and they went right under the horse fence, through the paddock, back under the fence and back across the creek in the area where they belong.

So, next thing you know, Tim says he wants to try and herd the devil sheep into the area with the jacob sheep, which involved carrying fence boards down the hill and nailing them up on the bottom of the horse fences. We got them over without them escaping. Whew.

So I finally got to take my shower around noon. I was able to scrounge up enough money from my eggs for sale box out front to pay Anita, so I don't have to go to the bank. And in a few minutes, I'm going to take my NAP!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 1, 2012)

*Chicken Rescue Operations*
Well, yesterday Tim made a deal with some guy on CL to pick up his 20 hens for free. I guess the guy was moving and needed to get rid of them quick. So Tim took a drive with his cages to get them.  
What he came home with was sad, sad, sad. He said the chicken coop where these 20 chickens lived was awful, muddy, dirty, small, disgusting. The guy wasn't there but he had left a hose running in the coop and the floor was flooded. There was no roost even. The hens looked terrible, scrawny, mangy, and just sickly. We put them in a stall away from our hens and Tim picked up some medicated feed for them. We cleaned all of the filthy water containers and food dishes that came with these sad hens. They are only about 5 months old but some of them are so small, I think the guy hardly fed them. They ate ate ate and drank drank drank when we got them here. Then last night I went to check on them and they were all huddled in a corner piled on top of one another. Two of the smallest, sickliest were at the bottom of the pile, so we moved them to their own cage. We put a roost up in there, but sadly they didn't even know what to do with it. Poor chickens!

So this morning, I went out to check and they already look soooo much better! I couldn't believe it! The 2 little ones in their own cage looked like different chickens. As much as I hate Tim shopping on CL, sometimes it works out that we actually find animals to "rescue." These hens will be much better off here.

Then yesterday, one of the barnyard hens that had been setting hatched two eggs, and two really cute little boogers were walking around with her. BUT, the turkeys started to attack the chicks! Agh! Tim saw them pecking violently after the chicks, but he couldn't do anything about it because he was in the middle of moving a horse. ell, h e was able to grab one of the chicks and put it in the wheelbarrow. When I came out he told me about what had happened, so we took the momma hen and the two chicks (one was bleeding) and put her back in the brooder area away from harm. But his morning, one of the chicks was dead, poor little guy must have had pretty bad injuries from the turkeys. So now we have to be more vigilant when a hen is setting to watch for chicks before the turkeys get them.

*Horse and Alpaca*
We had a guy come out yesterday to float one of our horse's teeth. I guess they grind them down if they are having problems with them. So Tim asked him if he had ever done an alpaca's teeth. He said no, but he'd try. Jules, our alpaca, teeth were way out of control. She was like that when we got her, her teeth protruding way out of her mouth. So Tim and the guy worked on her teeth, he had all the right tools and it only took them about 5 minutes. She looks so much better and was happily munching on hay again 5 minutes after he left. What a relief!

*Sheep*
We moved the sheep up from the creek because this creek crossing was out of control. So they are in the enclosed pond area until it rains and the creek rises again, lol. But Tim did have Lencho hot wire off one of the horse paddocks, so we are going to try and move them into there was with the 2 horses and see how it goes. The little Shetland sheep were in there for a long time when they were on one of their escape adventures, and there didn't seem to be any problem. Now it's starting to sprinkle a little and hopefully it will rain and our problems will be solved. We brought Patches and LaLa , Mac and his mommy and the other Tunis up to the barn, because Patches is having scours problems again. We gave her bio-sponge and pepto, but she's still scouring. She has a weird abscess on her cheek, and we are thinking she may have some kind of infection going on. So I will take her temperature in a while and see if it's elevated.

*Cart*
I didn't get my cart out yesterday because it was just too darned hot, and because all of the unexpected goings ons. Now if it's going to rain, that further unmotivates me. lol I certainly don't want to put my yarn out in the rain. I don't have a canopy for my new cart like I did for my old cart, so that's a minor inconvenience at this point. Tim will think of something brilliant in the future to cover it, I'm sure. He's pretty good at that. He's really good at making something out of nothing.

Well, that's the report for today! Happy Saturday!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 1, 2012)

Happy saturday to you as well. I was hoping I'd get my morning fix before my coffee was gone. ;-)


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## BrownSheep (Sep 1, 2012)

If you ca give those hens a pan to dust in. It will do wonders for them.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 3, 2012)

Thanks Brownsheep, I did that and they are doing great! I can't quite nail down what type of chickens they are. The guy said he got them from a hatchery, but after looking through my Meyer's Hatchery catalog, I haven't identified all of them. I know the white ones are leghorns, and I think there are some Americaunas, and a bunch of red ones, but there are a few I just can't figure out. I don't necessarily trust that the guy actually did get them from a hatchery, either.

So, what else is new? Two new boer goats--stinky bucks, ugh. Tim traded an alpine we had for them. Actually they are father and son, and they are kind of cute, and I think they are mixed with something else because they have ridgebacks. So Tim brought them home and put them with the pregnant nanny goats and Madeleine, the young boer doe. Well, she must be in heat because they both started humping her immediately. "Little Ricky" the son, started humping his daddy "Ricardo" who in turn was humping Madeleine. A three-way hump. lol. But before you know it, there was blood. Somebody was bleeding and we aren't sure who. The nanny goats were roughing up Little Ricky, and we thought maybe he got gored. There was blood on his feet, and on his daddy's rump from where he was humping him.

....intermission...I just drank a fly....ugh

Okay, so anyways, somebody is bleeding somewhere and we haven't figured it out. Everybody is acting okay, though. But it's a typical example of Tim going and buying something new and just throwing them into the mix without any thought. Now the guys are separated from the girls for the time being, til he figures out where he's going to put everybody. And Little Ricky is screaming like a banshee because he wants to get back to Madeleine. It sounds like somebody is being murdered in the barn.

Meanwhile...in sheepville...everybody is back down in the pastures. We had the limping Tunis and LaLa and Patches up at the barn for a few days. Patches was having that same scours problem she had before, so we dosed her up with a bunch of stuff.  She also had a weird icky abscess on her cheek, and today it resolved itself and popped on it's own. We trimmed and treated the Tunis' hooves once again. They have the worst feet. ever. So they are back down in the respective pastures. Also, we opened up a hole in the fence so they could now go into one of the horse paddocks which we hot wired. It took some coaxing on my part to get them to go through the hole, but they finally did.

My Extension Agent is coming tomorrow morning. Now I am drawing a blank on what to talk to him about. I almost feel it's futile to come up with a farm management plan when I have Tim here bringing new stuff in all the time. My sister called me today and decided I would be able to have my own farm and handle the animals myself, and could find help if I needed it. She is wayyy fed up with Tim and his "day trading" as she calls it. She views all the farm animals as pets, Tim views them as livestock, and I guess I am somewhere in the middle.

I'm not sure what my long term plans are, I just know that now that my house is rented, I am going to be saving every penny so I can do something in the future. The prospect of running a farm myself is pretty intimidating, but I suppose I can do it on a small scale. I also know that Tim is going to make it VERY difficult for me to leave. It's going to get ugly, and I'm not sure I am up for that right now. So, I'll stick it out for now, and just try to get along and secretly plot my departure!

Stay tuned......


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 3, 2012)

Oh I forgot to update about the upcoming alpaca trade. I guess Tim found some lady on CL who has a bunch of animals and has a pony she wanted to trade for something. So Tim decided Jules, our alpaca, would be a good trade for the pony. I don't totally object because I want Jules to be with other alpacas. Right now her buddy is Star, the Jacob ewe that came with Jules. I figure if Jules goes, then Star can go with the rest of the Jacob sheep we have. So we went to look at the pony, and it seemed okay. The lady didn't have a clue how to ride it, but she told us that the people she got it from let a child ride it for her. So Tim thinks that if anything, it would make an okay lead pony and that he can sell it. 

I really like Jules, and wish we could get more alpacas (I know, I shouldn't be wishing for anything else!) but Tim feels the alpaca market is in the toilet and doesn't want to deal in them. I think we basically paid $50 for her. But the hook is I have to find somebody to shear her before we trade her, I want her fleece! I've been trying to get our sheep shearer girl out all summer and she just keeps blowing us off. When the extension agent comes tomorrow, I'm going to ask him for the names of some other shearers in the area. All our sheep were sheared by her in May, but we got a few new ones and the alpaca after that. Tim thinks we can do it ourselves, but the prospect frightens me. Because he is going to want to use some old horse clippers he has, that I know he doesn't take care of.

I see an argument coming up over it......


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 4, 2012)

Good luck tomorrow!   Can't wait to hear how it went.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 5, 2012)

So my visit with the Extension Agent guy went well.  We talked a lot about pasture management for the amount of animals we have. Of course, no surprise to us, our pastures are overloaded  We talked about what kind of chemicals to put down and when to control the pigweed and other broadleaf weeds. We talked about rotational grazing. I did some calculations after he left of the size of each of our pastures/paddocks and the one that the Jacob sheep are on is only a half acre.  He recommended I divide that up into 4 strips and let them graze on each strip for a week, then move them down and so forth. That's not much for all 9 of them, but he said it would lead to more even grazing. Right now they are eating down the good stuff and leaving the not so good stuff, so it's very uneven.

He snickered when he saw Beastie, my fiercesome ram, lol. We discussed the possibility of meningeal worm as to the culprit that got Snowcap, and possibly Beastie. I'm still waiting on the test results of the biopsy. I'm not even sure if they can even tell form the liver biopsy the parasite load.





_Beastie looking fiercesome and resting after an hour of hard grazing.. "Rahhhr, I'm a beast!"_

Anyways, we talked about a lot of things, and it was a very good visit. We also talked about the local sheep producer's association, which appeared to be defunct. Apparently the leadership is butting heads and the whole organization is up in the air right now, which is a bummer.  I also got my scrapies ear tags in the mail, so I felt like a real farmer yesterday!

Overall it was a quiet day, no fights, and all was good. I did over hear Tim on the phone though, in response to an ad on Craiglist "I'm calling about your free mobile home..."       We need that like a hole in the head.

Also, he has decided now to take the new boer bucks he got to the livestock auction because he needs money. What. ever.

I'm going to go visit my friend Irene today who is my idol. She has a flock of Tunis (not my favorite sheep) and she has the perfect management system for them. She's so organized and she's my mentor! Oh, I got the ducks from her, so I'll be bringing her a frozen duck.

Have a great day everyone!


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## BrownSheep (Sep 5, 2012)

Have I mentioned how much I love your Jacob sheep. They look to much like a goat for my padre to agree to get...I don't see the resemblance. And he won't get goats because a) we have a hard enough time containing sheep and b) they look to much like dogs to eat....according to him. Although I agree on the dog part they do remind me of dogs.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 6, 2012)

Thanks Brownsheep! I just love them, too. A lot of people mistake them for goats because of their horns. They almost have attitudes like goats do, too. Almost, lol.

So yesterday I went to go visit my friend Irene. We told our farm stories to each other and laughed and laughed! Only we can get each others antics. Our other non-farming friends just wouldn't get it, lol. We discussed sheep poop A LOT! lol Even thought she took the class on Famacha for reading the color of your sheep's eyelid color for worms, she still worms her sheep now every time she sees poops that are not pellets. She ignores the eyelid system anymore. She lost a lamb due to worms this summer, so she is extra careful about worming them. 

I also got a look at all the yarn she had made. WOW! She's got spools and spools of white yarn from her tunis. And lots of sheepskin rugs. When I finally set up my Etsy store, we're going to add some of her stuff as well. And we're also going to have a dye-day!   That will be sooo much fun turning those plain jane white skeins into something really pretty. I'll bring over some of the wool I have and we'll dye it too. I'm really looking forward to that. We both agreed to go around and pick our pokeberry  berries, because we saw an article on what pretty dye it makes. Not sure how color fast it is, but we'll give it a shot.

Then last evening we decided to go ahead and try and shear our alpaca. Wowza. That was almost a disaster! She wiggled and screamed and moaned and whaled and KICKED and SPIT. Shearing her was like shearing a wild cougar. We managed to get the majority of her fleece off, except for her legs and head, and let me tell you it is BEAUTIFUL! I can't believe how beautiful it is, and I can't wait to spin it! Not to mention it has much less vegetable matter than I thought it would. So now Jules looks like a badly groomed overgrown poodle, and she's ready for her new owner. 

Last night we had a chick hatch in the incubator. Tim had tried to get a broody hen to stop setting, so he took her eggs and put them in the incubator about a week ago. We didn't think much would come of it, but last night, sure enough PEEP PEEP PEEP! I heard the sound and there was little "Clinton"  peeping away. So we set up a brooder box for him, or her, with a lamp and all, and this morning he is all fluffed out and looking happy as can be. Hopefully he will have some brother or sisters to come.

We moved the  goats down the hill to the lanes in between the horse paddocks now, where there is a lot of grass and weeds and so forth they can browse. It's back to being really hot, though, so the animals are laying low during the day. Tim also moved some horses around yesterday. We brought the two yearling colts from up the street back here, and moved Charlotte with her colt and filly up the street. Charlotte adopted Clara, the filly away from her own mother and has been nursing both of them. Marietta, Clara's birth mother, has left the farm for good. That's all I'm saying on that subject.

Okay, off to feed the chickens and see what wonders are to be had on the farm today!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 6, 2012)

Hope you have a wonderful day!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 7, 2012)

Last night one of the pheasants got out of their run when I opened the door to feed them. I felt a swoosh over my head, and then there were only 5 in there. I looked around for him, and thought he had taken off for good, but then he showed up outside the chicken house on the gutter way up high.  So we left him t here, and debated letting the rest of them out today. I have to admit, Tim and I hate seeing animals cooped up. So this morning I didn't see him, but then there he was lingering around not too far from his buddies. So we may just let them all out today.

Clinton, the chick,  had a sibling hatch sometime over night. So I'm relieved he has somebody to play with.  Meanwhile in the barn, the mother hen and her remaining chick are doing okay in the brooder. I went to check on them last night and found this:






Cute!

Yesterday I spent a great deal of time chasing a sheep around that gotten a bucket stuck over her neck   Every time I got close to her she would run off. Finally when Tim got home, he roped her and we got it off. I hate when that happens. Then I chased a nanny goat around that did not want to stay confined in the lane where we put them. :/ So now they are in a paddock where hopefully they will stay put. Of course they have 3 acres of pasture, but they just want to hang out right by the gate waiting for corn :/

Oh, so the Shetland sheep are SO GONE! I am done with them. Besides being loose for a month, yesterday when I was feeding them all corn, one of them came barreling over to Lottie, my bottle baby Jacob, and rammed up into her, forcing Lottie against the fence and upside down with her horn stuck through the fence.   If I wasn't standing there to  help her, she would have been in big trouble! So I am fed up with them and they will either got to a different pasture, or be sold.

Did I mention that when I was at my friend Irene's, I was talking about my "pet" sheep flock, and she corrected me, saying I should call it my "heritage" sheep, lol. Yes! Exactly!

So this morning we will be taking Jules, the alpaca, to her new home, and picking up a pony. 

Bye bye Jules! I hope she loves being around other alpacas.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 8, 2012)

We went and dropped off Jules the alpaca yesterday to her new home. The husband was there to get her, and when we took her out of the trailer, the  guy hugged her around the neck and petted her. She hardly ever let me touch her! It was so sweet. He put her in a stall and petted and hugged her some more.  He gave her some tasty alpaca feed and she gobbled it up. They were going to slowly introduce her to the other alpacas, so I'm anxious to see how that goes. I'll stay in touch and maybe even go visit at some point to see her with the other alpacas. I'm so happy for her, but I'll miss her.





_Here I am hosing off Jules' belly. She loved that! She always came running when I had the hose on._

We brought home the exchange pony. He loaded right up into the horse trailer, which is a good sign. When Annie got home from school, she rode him and he did really well! She even jumped him. So it looks like we got a good sellable pony out of the deal. 

We opened the door to the pheasant run yesterday, and a couple of them came out. They stayed close by, and they went back on their own last night! That's great news. I posted a picture of a couple of the strange chickens that we got last week on Backyard Chickens to i.d. them.  Turns out the 2 in question are Black Breasted Red Old English Game hens, or Modern Hens. And I believe one is a cock. Very interesting! They have super long green legs and long pointy beaks. I had no clue what they were. I've also posted a few more pics on BYC to see what they are. A very unusual group of chickens.


*Ruth*
I have to get you guys up to speed on Ruth, the elderly lady who owns the farm. No, we don't own the  farm sadly, but we live here and take care of it. And help her. When Tim first moved here, he leased the stables and this side of the house from her. It is a 1700s farmhouse that is divided now into two houses. Anyways, about 2 years ago Ruth was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. She has no children and her nephews live far away. Tim ended up taking care of her and taking her to the dr.s all the time for chemo and radiation. She was in bad shape, but eventually the cancer went into remission and she has come back. She drives herself to the senior center everyday, and is able to carry on a pretty normal life considering her age and what she went though. In the meantime, Tim's horse business was struggling and he was having a hard time coming up  with the rent money for her. So now it's just a trade. We live here for free, and she can stay as long as we can take care of her. It works for both of us.

But, Ruth is starting to suffer from mild dementia. The chemo had that effect on her brain, and she just can't come back from that. It's very frustrating on a daily basis because she forgets everything you just discussed with her 5 minutes after the discussion. And she comes back over and tells you again. Then again. Then again... I help her with her checkbook now, because she can't seem to keep track of it anymore. Tim is easily frustrated by her, he has no patience for her dementia. That makes the situation even more frustrating.

So in June of this year, she went to go look at the possibility of trading her old 1989 Cadillac for another used Cadillac. She came home, much t our surprise, with a brand new $50,000 Cadillac that she didn't realize she had bought. And didn't have the money to pay for. After much arbitration on her behalf between the cadillac dealership and her nephews, Tim, and her attorney, they wouldn't take it back. So long story, but she ended up getting a reverse mortgage to pay for it, and to pay for some other things needed around the farm.

So that's a little background on Ruth, if I mention her you will know.

Yesterday, Ruth took her dog Christy to the groomers. Tim and I looked at each other and said "Didn't she just take him to the groomer?" She claimed it had been 6 months since he had gone. Tim called the groomer and they said Christy had been there in February, March, April, June, July and last time was August 15. A couple weeks ago! She has no recollection.  That's the kind of thing that happens with her when we aren't paying attention. So we really need to keep an eye on her to make sure she isn't messing up.

I have to go back out now and check on everyone. This morning when I went out, it was very quiet and I felt like something was amiss, but didn't see anything wrong. So I'll go check everyone again. Have a nice Saturday!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 8, 2012)

My mother had dementia, she lived with us for sometime & It was ( for sure) a challenge. Happy  Saturday to you as well.


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## Pearce Pastures (Sep 8, 2012)

How frustrating that must be (for you all and her).  And as much as I like the looks, that sure doesn't make me want to buy a Cadillac ever.  

On another note though, HOW CUTE ARE YOU in your dress and apron hosing an Alpaca.  I love that picture!!  So want to take in into our school's art teacher and have it as a model for the painting unit!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 8, 2012)

LOL Pearce! Thank you, that's funny. 

Sorry about your mom, too GoatCrazyLady. That must have been tough.


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## elevan (Sep 8, 2012)

I think that it's a blessing that you've been put into a situation that allows you to live in such a peaceful place in exchange for caring for someone who has no one else to do so.  Dementia is such a tough thing to deal with as it steals the mental spirit of those that it affects.  Bless you for caring for Ruth.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm up early this morning, before sunrise, and it's a bit brisk outside. It's still too dark to let my chickens out.

I'm sitting here reflecting what it is to be a mother. Chick #4 in the incubator didn't make it. I saw it pipping yesterday and I chose not to intervene. Last night it was still. I decided to let Mother Nature take over and decide whether or not this chick would come out. I got up this morning and no chick.  A year ago I would have been in a panic trying to help it.  But now I realize you can only do so much.

I'm struggling with my sheep. I worry so much about them. With the cooler air, and winter coming, I worry about who to keep where. I'm worried about Beastie, my Jacob lamb ram. He is following in the footsteps of Snowcap, his brother. His front pasterns are so bad and he was having such trouble on the hillside that we brought him and Lottie down to the barn. I still haven't gotten the test results back form the liver biopsy, so I am eagerly awaiting them. I even ordered some herbal "Tendon repair" from a whacky Llama Doc I stumbled upon on the internet. To me it is worth it to try anything to save poor Beastie. I just don't know what else to do for him.

We had a big storm on Saturday, I watched out the window as my sheep struggled through it, trying to find a dry spot, being blown around through the high winds.  I have to keep reminding myself that they are farm animals, and that somehow is different than my pets. The storm went through quickly, and they were out grazing again 5 minutes later.

I'm struggling with being a mother to Annie, Tim's 14 year old daughter, too. I don't know where I fit in in the whole parenting scheme of things. She's a good kid, not into any trouble at all, everybody loves her. But she's a mess. And if I were her real mother I would be correcting bad behavior all the time (I say  "you're grounded! all the time in my head, lol). But I feel like I shouldn't interfere with the way Tim is raising her, and her mother as well. All I can do is try to lead a good example for her. It's not worth getting into an argument with Tim over.

The littlest things she does bother me, and I shouldn't let them. Like what? You ask. Like yesterday she dumped out an old pair of riding boots that were in the back of the laundry room, tons of mouse droppings came out onto the floor. She left them there. We asked her to sweep them up. Later I went back into the house and she had swept them into a corner. The dustpan was right next to the broom, yet she was too lazy to use it. I ended up sweeping them up again and noticed she had swept a bunch behind the bench. "You're grounded!" I said in my mind, lol. Yet what actually happened was we brought her to a football game and then stopped to get her a mocha latte at McDonald's on the way home.  Way to reward bad behavior, honey. My alpaca wool was dumped on the floor when she went to get something out of the storage bench, a whole bottle of shampoo spilled on the floor after she took a shower and left there. Her father won't even notice. *sigh*

I just don't see how I fit into that picture. I'll make her lunch this morning and send her off to school, and that's all I can do.

It's almost been a year since I lost my mom. She was a great, great mother. It's funny that my sister and I never had kids. We are great, great mothers to our animals. She has ferrets, about 8 of them, and her entire life is consumed with caring for them. She has a ferret rescue operation, too, and tends to rescue ferrets as well. We are both good animal mothers. And we both miss our mom, and dad. I enjoy reading other people's blogs on here that have kids and how they deal with their issues. I wish I could figure out this whole parenting thing. 

The sun is up, I let my animals out. I fed the dogs, the cat, and poor Beastie. Now it's time to make Annie's lunch. Oh, I just noticed the hot air balloon went over the house! It went over yesterday, too, and all my sheep on the hillside stood looking up at it.  An amazing sight. 








Later gators!


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## autumnprairie (Sep 10, 2012)

you are better than me I would have told her she is grounded, the lack of respect is appalling I wouldn't take it I would be having a conversation with Tim about it. I do understand why you don't though. 
I love the pictures especially the last one to me it would be next weeks POW.
I am always here to listen if ya need an ear.
 on losing the chick


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks Autumn,

It's so great to be able to post to this forum knowing others are listening.  It's a great stress reliever.

Guess who just missed the bus, and guess what's going to happen now? Tim is probably going to bully me into taking her because he is "too busy."


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## elevan (Sep 10, 2012)

She is, of course, testing her boundaries with you.  I would talk to Tim.  At the very least _he_ should talk to his daughter about house rules and respecting adults requests and things.  That's just my opinion for what it's worth.

I love the pics.  You really should submit for POW.    The entries each week has been dying back, we need to see more fun farm pics.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks Elevan! I was going to post that pic last night for the POW but got distracted...next week!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 10, 2012)

What a situation. UGH  you are definitely  between a rock and a hard place. My heart goes out to you sweetie.


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## Symphony (Sep 10, 2012)

Your Sheep will do just fine in winter.  That pasture you have them in has lots of wind protection and shelter options.  Sheep are pretty darn hardy for the most part.  You'll do fine.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 14, 2012)

TGIF! But as you know in the farming world, that means nothing, lol.

Not much new here, same thing, different day.  The pheasants have been doing great outside and have been coming back to their roost at night for the most part. Some of them have stayed on the barn roof, and could fall prey to an owl. I swear they have grown double in size since we let them out. Funny how that happens.

The 20 CL chickens have been out roaming around as well. They are so pretty, I love the white Langshan. Oh, and I am up to 5 chicks from the incubator. One a day! There is nothing cuter than baby chicks, well, except a baby lamb or a baby goat. So my chicks are: Clinton, Buttercup, Cottonball,  Peanut, and Texas Pete. 

The pony that we got in trade for the alpaca is already out on trial. He is a pretty good pony, and hopefully Tim can make some money off of him. He picked up 3 more free horses on CL this week, but dropped 2 of them off on the way home at his friend's to take to the horse auction. The third was a skinny thoroughbred that he traded for yet anther horse that he sent off to auction. 

The sheep are all doing okay except for Beastie. I'm really worried about him. His legs are not that great. I got the herbal tendon repair this week and have been giving it to him.  There are a few ewes in heat and he has been following them around to the best of his ability, but can't mount them. Poor Beastie.

Nothing going on this weekend, that I know of anyways. In a couple weeks there is the Shenandoah Fiber Festival close by, and I am debating selling some of my wool in the fleece sale. I would have to sort through it all and figure out which ones might be best. I am unmotivated lol.

Other than the regular farm stuff, I've had a lot of graphic design work this week. So I've been busy with that. And that's the report, Happy Friday!


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## KinderKorner (Sep 14, 2012)

I've been reading your journal. I wanted to say I'm sorry for your situation. 

I also wanted to ask how in the world you were making money on horses?

There is no money in them. Maybe your area is different, but down here horses can't be given away for free.

Horse auctions around here are where everyone takes their unwanted horses, and there is a very low payout, then they load them up and take them  for slaughter. Because because of all the horse slaughter houses closing in the states, our auctions have mostly closed down. Now the horses have to be trailered to Mexico, so it usually just isn't worth the hassle. Because of this all these unwanted horses are getting turned loose in parks. I went camping back in july and was hugely surprised to be awoken by the sound of a "wild" horse outside my tent.  I knew that was a problem in the US but I had never witnessed one in my area. 

I just sold 2 of my 3 horses and got less for them that I orignally purchased them for, not counting the thousands in professional training I spent, years of care and feed, and all my time. But they had to go because like everyone else in the south hay is scarce and expensive. They were eating their worth in food every couple months. 

I would never imagine getting any money out of selling horses, or even breaking even. But thats just my experience, and it may just be my surrounding states.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 14, 2012)

HI Kinder,

Well, I'll see if I can explain what goes on around here! lol

First of all, let me just begin by saying that as much as TIM aggravates me, he is a VERY good horse person. He has worked with horses his whole life, and he knows everything there is to know about them. Secondly, we live in an area that is its own little horse world bubble. Middleburg, VA, is Hunt Country of America. The people who live her are very affluent, wealthy, and eccentric. The third thing we have going for us is we haven't had too much of a drought problem, so hay prices haven't been too much of a problem.

That all being said, the horse market IS in the toilet, as you say. And that is why Tim has branched out into sheep and goats. The bottom market price that a horse brings now is about equal to a boer goat.

Tim makes money various ways with horses. First of all he knows everybody around here, and really keeps his finger on the pulse of who is looking for what. Almost everybody around here has horses and rides. So if he picks up a horse that somebody wants to unload for free, he can quickly assess it. And he has an advantage whereas he can even load an untrained horse into a horse trailer. Not many people can do that. He either keeps it and works with it and usually finds a home for it based on its capabilities, or if its a bad horse, he sends it on his way to the auction. That usually means ultimately it will be shipped off to Mexico to be slaughtered. You are correct about there being no slaughterhouses left in the U.S. Tim is a proponent of bringing back horse slaughter to the U.S. because there will always be unwanted horses, and to ship them on overcrowded trucks to Mexico to be slaughtered in a bad way is just not good. BUt anyways, I'm not going to argue the point with anybody on here about the validity of horse slaughter in this country, so please don't even bring it up.

So, the auction horses bring bottom market price, a couple hundred bucks. I think its 35 cents a pound. Enough for him to buy hay and or corn for that week for the horses and other animals we do have. Then he also makes money by, as I said, working with a horse and finding a suitable match for it in our little bubble marketplace. We're not talking thousands of dollars, or hundreds of thousands, we're talking hundreds. Enough to keep him going. He used to keep all the horses he would pick up, but now they have changed legislature in our county making horses companion animals vs. livestock. So that means we are in the hands of the county animal law enforcement officials. So for example, last year, he had picked up a starving horse from someone who could no longer keep it, and we had it here in our paddock along the road. He had planned on doing something with it, but somebody saw it and called the animal control and they came out. They took an inventory of all of our animals, documented them, MADE us take the horse to the vet for an exam, made us get dog licenses for all of our dogs, rabies certificates, etc. IT was a major hassle. Therefore it's not worth it for him anymore to keep a rescue type horse, and off it goes to the slaughter house.

OKay, we also stand a breeding stallion. He's a pretty big deal in the horse world, I'm not going to mention his name. He's a fabulous Oldenburg stallion. He is very popular around here, and the wealthy people who can still afford to "make" their own horse use him to breed to. That is the where the majority of the income comes from the horses. We also have some brood mares, and we breed them to our stud. So we have several babies around, 1, 2, 3 year olds and they are also popular for buyers in this market. They don't sell like hotcakes, but when one does, it can be pretty good.

We also board 2 horses, and get income from that.

So I hope that enlightens you a bit on how we make money from horses. I think it's an unusual situation due to our location and Tim's expertise, plus the breeding stallion.

Thanks for asking!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 15, 2012)

I think we are going to the Frederick  County fair! I saw that Sheepgirl said she was going to have her lambs there, so I got the idea to go up and check out the livestock exhibits. That's always fun. So hopefully Tim and I will be going in a while, and we'll get to see Lady Gaga and Kate Perry in person! And maybe even Sheepgirl! I hope I hope we get to see them.

It's a beautiful day and I really felt like taking a road trip and getting away form the farm for a few hours, so this will be great!

I'll report back if I meet the infamous Lady Gaga and Kate Perry. 

Oh, we sold 3 of the new hens to a hispanic lady that came by the farm last night. She wanted some laying hens. Tim speaks spanish, so word gets around in the spanish community around here that we hablo espanol and we have chickens!


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## autumnprairie (Sep 15, 2012)

that you get to meet them. Have fun today and have a good weekend


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 15, 2012)

I MET SHEEPGIRL!!!!  

ANd Lady Gaga and Kate Perry. OMG they were SO adorable. All three of them.  Her babydolls were just that, BABYDOLLS. I just wanted to pick them up and cuddle them and squeeze them.  It was so funny because I walked into the tent where they were and asked this cute girl what their names were. She started to say Lady Gaga...and... and I squealed "Kate Perry!" She looked at me funny and I said "I'm looking for Sheepgirl" and she looked at me REALLY funny...lol...and said "That's me.." I squealed "I'm Bridgemoof from Backyard Herds Forum". lol It was really funny.

It was a beautiful day for the fair. We got to see all of the livestock. I saw lots of really cute Romney sheep I wanted. I also saw a sheep that looked like a giant babydoll, but Sheepgirl thought he or she was a Corriedale. Now I want THOSE too!

Lots of cool chickens and cute ducks.  They had some Sebastopol geese and they were just beautiful.

Now we have a lead on a very cute Jacob ram up in Pennsylvania, since it doesn't look like Beastie will be the big stud I thought he'd be.   We found him through Craigslist, not the fair. We'll see what happens with that!

Time to feed the critters! Again. lol


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## autumnprairie (Sep 15, 2012)

it is so much fun to met the people that you talk to for months online. I am glad that you got to meet her


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## SheepGirl (Sep 16, 2012)

lol it was so nice to meet you!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 16, 2012)

Well our great weekend went sour tonight.  

Today we went to a local community fair in Bluemont that was just great. Lots of very good artisans, artists, alpacas , food  And there were a group of spinners there that were from the Blue Ridge Spinners and Weavers Guild. I knew there was  group somewhere around here, but I hadn't quite located them yet. So I talked with them for a long time and they were so nice and welcoming. I found out when their meetings were and they get together right around the corner form me once a month. I was ecstatic! I'm going to join for sure. It will be great! Especially because I realized this weekend that I have only made one friend down here since I moved here.  I'm not a horse person, and I am surrounded by them. But I just can't wrm up to them. But the sheep people are a whole different thing, and now I've FOUND them! I need some more friends around here!

So after a nice weekend of fairs and critters and food and all things woolie, we came home this afternoon and vegged. We were going to finish things up early tonight and have a nice evening. Then things went awry.

I was becoming increasingly concerned over Beastie, he has lost his appetite now and just seems depressed. Now we're not sure if its that Tendon Repair herbal thing or something else. Being locked up in the barnyard? Not being able to roam out in the pasture? Eating more grain than usual, since we've been putting the herbal supplement on it? I took his temperature and it was 103.5. Slightly elevated. We gave him some Banamine. He's just laying out in the barnyard. He pooped okay, but looked like he wasn't peeing all that well. So I don't knwo what else to do for him.

Then as we were wrapping up, I looked down into one of the pastures and saw one of our 2 year old colts, Thunder Bob, laying down. I didn't think much of it, but Tim looked down there after I mentioned it, and thought something wasn't right. Thunder Bob was getting up and down and pawing at the ground. He is an appaloosa, and we just lost an appaloosa 4 year old this past spring from colic. So Tim wanted to bring him up. He's not halter trained yet, so it is a little bit harder moving them around. I had to her my sheep out of the pond area so we could get through there with the horses. That's when I noticed my Tunis who had been limping (nothing unusual for them) but she was really struggling, and her knee looked all out of whack and red! I thought maybe she had broken her leg or something it looked so bad. But she hobbled along, and then I realized she had been kneeling so much since her feet hurt, that her knee was probably sore form that. So tomorrow we will have to treat her feet again. It's a constant battle with those Tunis ewes. 

So we brought Thunder Bob up and put him in a stall, and Tim gave him a shot of something. Oh, but when he went to put him in the stall there was a chicken in the doorway and Tim closed the stall door on the chicken's leg! Agh  So then the CHICKEN was limping around and had blood on his leg. Another animal down 

So anyways, we are now struggling with multiple animal problems. I am praying that Thunder Bob doesn't have the same thing happen to him that happened to Omelet. Omelet suffered an agonizing end and we couldn't do anything about it. His intestines got wrapped around and it took him about 24 hours til Tim had to just put him down. He stayed with him all that time and kept him moving, but he just couldn't do anything. We had the vet out to help numerous times and he couldn't do really do anything either. He gave him some kind of activated charcoal and some other drugs, but besides doing a very expensive surgery that is only abut 50% successful, there was nothing we could do. So keep your fingers crossed for Thunder Bob. He hasn't pooped since we brought him up which isn't a good sign.

And keep your fingers crossed for Beastie. And the chicken.  And the Tunis.  

Now we are just waiting for Tim's daughter to call us to pick her up from a horse show she was riding in today. She was supposed to be with her mom this week, but her mom called Tim and asked if we could get her because it was going to be so late. Yeah, thanks.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Sep 16, 2012)

Just wanted to say I really enjoy reading your journal. Defiantly one of my favorites.

Sorry about all the misfortune. I'm hoping for the best, for all of them.


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## BrownSheep (Sep 16, 2012)




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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 16, 2012)

So sorry to hear about all your misfortune. Hope things start turning around for you 

What lines are the PA Jacob ram you're looking at from? All my foundation ewes came from PA, mostly from Hickory Hill, and there are a lot of great breeders there.


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## autumnprairie (Sep 16, 2012)

hope is ok soon


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 17, 2012)

Thanks everyone and thanks Straw Hat Kikos for your compliments on my journal as well! I try to read a lot of journal son here, there are a lot of good ones.

So good news this morning. Thunder Bob pooped last night and is feeling better!  Beastie is still laying down in the barnyard but he is aware and moving his head around. The chicken is limping but is getting around. Annie, Tim's daughter, came home from the show with grand champion ribbons! I haven't checked the Tunis yet, but saw her laying down in the pasture. We'll deal with her this morning.

So, on the Jacob ram front, it's from a farm in New Tripoli, PA, near Allentown. Not sure of the name, but they got the sire and dam from Painted Rock Farm in West Virginia. So he's from that line. But the bad news is they wrote to us last night and said they "Couldn't catch him." Oy. I guess their sheep are out in a 16 acre pasture and he hasn't been handled hardly at all, so I'm not sure if we want that wild beast here, lol. I googled Hickory Hill in PA, Roving Jacobs, and came up with a whole bunch of farms. What town are they in?

So I hope today goes better, especially for Beastie.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 17, 2012)

O' WOWZA! Lots going on. Prayers being sent your way. Hope all goes better today.


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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 17, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Thanks everyone and thanks Straw Hat Kikos for your compliments on my journal as well! I try to read a lot of journal son here, there are a lot of good ones.
> 
> So good news this morning. Thunder Bob pooped last night and is feeling better!  Beastie is still laying down in the barnyard but he is aware and moving his head around. The chicken is limping but is getting around. Annie, Tim's daughter, came home from the show with grand champion ribbons! I haven't checked the Tunis yet, but saw her laying down in the pasture. We'll deal with her this morning.
> 
> ...


Ugh, wild unhandled Jacobs are no fun. I would pass on him for sure. I'm not sure Hickory Hill is breeding anymore, I got my HH ewes from a lady outside of Hershey who was switching to Icelandics instead. 

The Unzickers in Sellersville PA usually have nice sheep if you're looking in PA. I wish I had a ram for you, I'm going to VA for some goats and would drop one off but I just had one boy this year and castrated him because he had SUED.  Good luck with your Beastie boy!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 17, 2012)

Roving Jacobs said:
			
		

> The Unzickers in Sellersville PA usually have nice sheep if you're looking in PA. I wish I had a ram for you, I'm going to VA for some goats and would drop one off but I just had one boy this year and castrated him because he had SUED.  Good luck with your Beastie boy!


I think the Unzicker line is already in my line...one of my sheep that I got in Maryland has a pedigree and there was an Unzicker sheep in it. I wonder if that matters if it's really far back in the lineage?

What is SUED?????


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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 17, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Roving Jacobs said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I wouldn't be worried about just having the same flock name showing up at all. If it was your sheeps' mom or dad then I probably wouldn't take it but otherwise I wouldn't worry.

SUED is split upper eyelid deformity/defect. The genes behind the 4 horns can sometimes cause the upper eyelid to be split. If it's real bad it can cause eye damage or the eyelashes irritate the eyes. My lamb's eyelids aren't too bad, maybe a grade 2, but I didn't want him passing it along so he had a date with the burdizzo.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Sep 17, 2012)

That's interesting. I didn't know that.  Is there a picture that we can see what it looks like? I checked Google images but was unable to find one.


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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 17, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> That's interesting. I didn't know that.  Is there a picture that we can see what it looks like? I checked Google images but was unable to find one.


Here's a picture of a pretty severe case (not mine fortunately)






Patchwork Farms Jacobs has a good blog post about SUED too if you want to look it up and learn more.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Sep 17, 2012)

So is it's eye just like that? It looks like a triangle, I guess. Is they guy lifting it as if he were doing a FAMACHA test?


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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 17, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> So is it's eye just like that? It looks like a triangle, I guess. Is they guy lifting it as if he were doing a FAMACHA test?


In this case the eye is just like that normally, the guy isn't pulling the eyelid at all. In less severe cases you have to pull the eyelid tight to see the notch or look for a break in the eyelashes.

I hope you don't mind me posting so much in your thread bridgemoof!   A lot of people new to Jacobs don't know that having 4 horns has genetic risks involved that you have to watch out for. It's believed they've bred out SUED in the UK but its still fairly prevalent here in the US.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 17, 2012)

Oh no I don't mind at all! I asked 

Beastie had a terrible time with his horns because they were so huge compared to his head! The 5th horn is actually a scur I think between the 2 horns on one side. Anyways, he didn't have the eyelid problem, but his scalp was always cracking open where the horns were growing. I had to spray it with the flystrike spray all the time so the flies wouldn't get in there.

Another thing I've been reading up on is the Tay-Sach gene in Jacobs. What can you tell me about that? And how do you get your sheep tested for that gene?


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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 17, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Oh no I don't mind at all! I asked
> 
> Beastie had a terrible time with his horns because they were so huge compared to his head! The 5th horn is actually a scur I think between the 2 horns on one side. Anyways, he didn't have the eyelid problem, but his scalp was always cracking open where the horns were growing. I had to spray it with the flystrike spray all the time so the flies wouldn't get in there.
> 
> Another thing I've been reading up on is the Tay-Sach gene in Jacobs. What can you tell me about that? And how do you get your sheep tested for that gene?


Tay-Sachs in Jacob sheep is related to a mutation in an area called G444R. The one study they did showed about 14% of sheep tested were carriers and they traced it back to one ram called Turner's 183K who was from one of the original batch of UK imports. Most of the carriers seem to come from Lasseau and Fieldwood lines. It's fairly rare to have sheep affected by it because both parents need to carry it and it kills lambs before they can be bred. In 2009-2010 a researcher from NYU named Dr. Edwin Kolodny sent out free testing supplies to any shepherd who wanted them but people stopped sending them back in so he stopped his study. I'm not sure if anyone else is doing testing any more as I've not seen anyone advertise it but if you were curious you could probably contact Dr. Kolodny or Fred Horak from the Jacob Sheep Conservancy site and ask. I think they just need a tube of blood or a cheek swab because it's a DNA test. 

Jacob-link has talked about the disease extensively in the past if you want to dig through the archives for more info.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 18, 2012)

I CAN'T DO THIS! I went to bed crying last night and woke up crying this morning about Beastie. 

Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a farmer. I get too emotionally attached to my animals. Beastie didn't eat anything again yesterday and I just have to face up to the fact that he is going to die. I just can't find anyway to make him better. I HATE this! 

Why is keeping a sheep so much more difficult than a dog or a cat? I just don't get it. 

Tim said yesterday that I am always rooting for the underdog. He said "You want a strong, healthy animal." I just replied that I was just trying to work with what we had that he bought on CRAIGSLIST, which are usually cull sheep anyways, or at the very best, inferior animals. 

Going forward, I just don't know how to deal with raising sheep where I don't get so emotional. If I could have just a flock of fiber sheep that are bred from healthy registered sheep without genetic defects, that might work. I just DON'T EXPECT THEM TO DIE!

The sun is almost up, well it's not, it's going to rain all day today so it's cloudy. I'm going out to the barn now to check on Beastie. We had him locked in a stall with food and water. Maybe he ate something.


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## purplequeenvt (Sep 18, 2012)

I'm sorry about Beastie. Raising livestock can be hard, especially for emotional individual like you and me. Don't be ashamed to cry. I'm going to have to put my 16 year old llama down in the next couple days and I am a major wreck....I can't stop crying. 

Here is another picture of a split eyelid that show the actual split a little better. This is from one of my lambs this year (polled crossbred with no Jacob or multi-horned breeds in her).


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## BrownSheep (Sep 18, 2012)

There's two quotes I generally subscribe to when it comes to animals. 1) where there is livestock there is dead stock. 2) sheep are born looking for a way to die. 

Maybe I am a little desensitized being raised with knowledge it's gonna happen now or it's gonna happen later but that doesn't stop me fom being sad when it does happen.when or if it happens just remember you did everything within your power to help him.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 18, 2012)

PurpleQueen, I am so sorry about your llama. Sixteen years is a long time to raise any animal, you had a good run and I'm sure she was loved and well cared for by you. 

Brownsheep, thanks for sharing your philosophy on farm animals. That made me laugh a little  I needed that 

When I went to check on Beastie this morning, I gave him some hay and he ate a little! So I also offered him some alfalfa and some grape leaves. He nibbled a little of each. I was afraid last night that he had gotten to the point where he couldn't swallow or chew, but that's not the case I guess. I'm going to take him off that tendon repair herbal remedy because I am guessing it is suppressing his appetite and/or making him feel sick.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 18, 2012)

Poor baby  So sorry!


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## Roving Jacobs (Sep 18, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> PurpleQueen, I am so sorry about your llama. Sixteen years is a long time to raise any animal, you had a good run and I'm sure she was loved and well cared for by you.
> 
> Brownsheep, thanks for sharing your philosophy on farm animals. That made me laugh a little  I needed that
> 
> When I went to check on Beastie this morning, I gave him some hay and he ate a little! So I also offered him some alfalfa and some grape leaves. He nibbled a little of each. I was afraid last night that he had gotten to the point where he couldn't swallow or chew, but that's not the case I guess. I'm going to take him off that tendon repair herbal remedy because I am guessing it is suppressing his appetite and/or making him feel sick.


Starting with good stock really does make a huge difference. I have had very few problems my ladies couldn't bounce back from with a little TLC and I really don't stress about them at all. That said I have an 11-12 year old ewe who is going to need to be put down soon and I'm still sad about it. It's totally ok to feel loss and mourn your animals. You just need to remember that you still have other creatures that are depending on you so you can't let it drag you down. It really does get easier in time.

Sometimes a good dose of probiotics helps them get hungry if they're feeling a little off. My critters get some probios any time they get meds.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 19, 2012)

Yesterday was a mad, mad day. I can't even go into detail to all of the things that happened, this post would be toooo long, so I'll just recap.

Beastie was about the same, barely nibbling, standing staring now a lot.....rain rain rain...huge storms!. Tim decides during the downpour that NOW is the time to go build a shelter for my sheep, even though I've been bugging him for weeks.  In our raingear, out in the woods, his idea of a shelter is completely different from mine. I just wanted to string a tarp over the corner of the fence so they had a place to go under. He wants to build a lean-to in the woods with old tree branches, cut a hole in the fence for the sheep to get through, rewire all the way around it. So he has the chain saw and is cutting branches and has me dragging them through the briars, over the slippery rocks, pouring rain and I can't even see anything. Then he decides this is probably not a good idea. So we walk around looking for a different plan. We finally decide to put the electro-web fence back up on the hill so they can at least go under the pines trees. So I got that done and we moved the sheep. Good thing because the storms were bad and they at least had some shelter. So the sheep re dry, I, of course, am soaking wet.  

Go inside, try to work on my brochure that I have been working on for 4 days with a client that is driving me nuts with changes. Knock knock on the door. Some guys are here and want to check out our goats. They are livestock dealers. Tim wasn't here, they wanted to go walk around but I wouldn't let them. I told them the entire farm was booby trapped with electric wire because of the goats. So Tim gets home and they go look at the goats. Tim decided to sell them Little Ricky, the young boer goat. So they get Ricky in the trailer, and Tim offers them a rooster, too. The rooster gets loose and they are all running around the yard trying to catch him. Ink, our dog is under their horse trailer trying to bite the goat's ankles.  Finally the guys get everything together and leave.

Tim tells me we have to make a run to go get some pigeons for his friend Dan who wants them to train his bird dog. So we go to the pigeon place, same girl we got the pheasants from. We come home with 12 pigeons and a hermaphrodite silver pheasant, lol. Don't ask

So we're trying to get all the new guys into cages, it's almost dark, still raining. Lottie, my bottle baby is standing out in the rain in a corner soaking wet. The other sheep are mean to her and won't let her into the barn. Patches the cormo lamb is crying. Meeee Meee Meee meeee meeee, Tim is yelling at me to get me to help him. "Where's the medicated chicken food?"  Meee Meee meeee Patches cries. "It's in the feed room!" Meee meee meeee. "Help me find it! I can't find it" Tim screams. I go to the feed room, there it is plain as day.

So I gave Patches a dose of probios, pick up Lottie and put her in with Beastie for the night. Can't find the pheasants. We go in for the night and I look at the weather. Flood warnings in our area.  I told Tim he better go check the creek because the goats are down there! So he begrudgingly decides to go check on them in the dark.  He complains to me again that it would take a lot more water for the creek to fill up. I am thinking about somewhere here on BYH where somebody lost their goat in the creek (Marlow maybe?) So he comes back a while later and said "the creek was pretty high. I moved the goats up the hill. And all the electric fence is washed away" HA!  

We managed to eat a nice pork roast for dinner with broccoli, carrots and a baked sweet potato. Ate my ice cream and went to bed. Whew! What a day. And I managed to get my graphics work done. Still have stuff to do today, plus I am going to my Garden CLub meeting up at my old house, so that will be an hour and a half trip. I'm still President until October. 

The sun is shining, I will have a nice day today seeing my old friends.  Tim is now on a mission to acquire some Finn sheep. He wants them because they are prolific breeders. More sheep. More lambs. More arguments, lol.


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## Symphony (Sep 19, 2012)




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## marlowmanor (Sep 19, 2012)

WOW! That's  crazy day. BTW, nope I'm not the one who lost a goat in a creek. No creeks even near us. I can totally relate to the situation with the bag of feed. I swear that is a male trait. You don't even want to know how many times I have told DH, or even one of my boys exactly where something is and they won't be able to find it. I've even had my oldest son literally staring right at what he was trying to find and not be able to find it!  It's a guy thing I swear! No offense to the guys who can actually find things on their own.  We got a day full of rain here yesterday too and it's looking like the same may be going on today.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 19, 2012)

Oofta.... I need a calgon (((take me away))) bath just reading about your day.  

Have a wonderful time at your meeting today!


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## jodief100 (Sep 19, 2012)

because you need one.  I lost my Mollie in the creek.  I still miss her. 

As far as buying off Craigslist, you can find good animals that way, you might get garbage that way.  Buying quality up front is less than trouble in the long run.  Don't write off Craigslist but do keep in mind, if the animal is "cheap"  there is probably a reason.  

My aunt always said "lambs come in the world looking for a place to lay down and die.  Goats get more creative about it"


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 20, 2012)

{{{{{{Jodie}}}}} for {{{{{{Molly}}}}}}}

I was so sad when I heard about your little goat Molly. I told Tim about it, and I think your story helped save the lives of some of our goats, who might also have been washed down the creek. 


I'm so busy with work work, that I will catch you all up later on what is going on. Later Gators!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 21, 2012)

OKay TGIF again? That was fast!

The garden club meeting was great, as always. Two of our members demonstrated how to make 5-minute flower arrangements, and they made some really pretty ones. It was a lovely day and we all sat outside. Considering the flooding rain the day before, it was surprising how nice it was out. I drove by my house for the first time since the renters were in there, and it looked great. The girl had big mums out in the planters and mums planted in the ground all over, and a cornstalk by the door. It looked warm and inviting and lived in. My feelings were bittersweet. Hard to believe I gave up that beautiful house for Tim, but actually I gave it up for the sheep 

Then when I got home it was back to school night for parents at Annie's school. That's always fun and interesting to meet her teachers.

Yesterday I worked my butt off, and all my clients want something from me at the same time. That's good, but hard because I am only ONE person!

Last night was very interesting, we went to the county extension office for a Sheep Producer's Association meeting. I joined up earlier this year but hadn't been to a meeting yet. Tim came with me, but I think I would have had more fun without him! It was mostly women. The topic was....sheep. lol. It was just a general discussion about sheep, and it was fun fun fun! I felt like I was in a room of a bunch of Backyard Herd Forumers.  No one had a clue what might be wrong with my lambs with the weak pasterns. No one ever had a similar experience. It was so funny though when I introduced myself and told everybody what kind of sheep I had. That took about 10 minutes, haha. Of course I told them that we got everything through Craigslist and there were quite a few eye rolls. Overall it was fun and next time I will go back without Tim.

Yesterday I moved my little chicks outside to the parrot cage. The parrot cage is huge, it's form when we had our Blue and Gold macaw Rio. He died earlier this year from gout.  It was so sad, I cried and cried. We had taken him to the same vet, incidentally, as the one who butchered our Bengal Tiger cat. Needless to say we will not be going back to them after our bad experiences. So anyways, I moved the chicks out there and put the heat lamp on them. I was a little worried abut hem because it got pretty cold last night, but they were fine this morning peeping around and eating their food. When I went out there though, another hen, an mature Americauna, had something grossly wrong with her. I saw blood coming out of her rear.  After closer inspection, but not too close, it looked like she had prolapsed. And it looked like maybe an egg was stuck to her as well. Her guts were sticking out and she was walking around like nothing. The other chickens were starting to peck at her, so I thought I had better at least put her in a stall til Tim got home. So I did, but then when I went back there a little while later, she was out walking around again like nothing was going on. By the time Tim got home, she was dead. It was pretty horiffic.

Beastie is hanging in there. He has been eating more, and yesterday I left his stall door open and he went down and joined the other sheep to graze. He can still walk around, despite his weak ankles. So I started him back on the tendon repair herbs, but a smaller dose.

Today it's work, work again, and I think Tim might be going to get some Finn sheep. Amazingly, he did NOT find them through Craigslist. And they are registered! Surprise.

Tomorrow we are going to a wedding, that will be great! Have a great Friday everyone!


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## SheepGirl (Sep 24, 2012)

Congrats on your new ram!

Hope you had a good weekend


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 25, 2012)

Wow I'm so behind on my journaling, and reading everybody else's! I've been so swamped with work, all my clients have stuff they want right now.

Saturday was the wedding day, and early that morning I was out feeding the sheep and noticed Po looked off. Well, she wouldn't come and eat and by golly it looked like she was going into labor! I new that couldn't be right, because I calculated that she would be hopefully due in November. So I got Tm and we brought her up to the bran. I was really concerned by this point because she had no milk, and we were supposed to be leaving for the day. I didn't  know what to do, so we just put her in a stall with some warm water with molasses and lots o hay and hoped for the best. I called my friend Irene to ask if she could stop by in the afternoon to check on her.

We went off to the wedding hoping for the best and hoping Mother Nature would do her thing. The wedding was nice, but I just couldn't help but worry about Po the whole time. So I didn't enjoy it that much. Irene texted me about 5 and said they went to go check on Po and she had just been finishing up labor, and her little premature baby was dead next to her.  They picked up the baby and took it away, and Po just baaaed baaaed "What are you doing with my baby?" Well, that totally ruined any fun I would have at the wedding. :-(

So when we got home we checked on Po and she was till baaing but didn't seem to be in labor or anything. She had just a tiny bit of placenta hanging out of her. Sorry if you read all of this in my other thread...

Anyways, to get to the end of this discussion, we finally had to pull the placenta from Po last night (with consult from our vet). It came out just fine and she seemed relieved, but today there is more coming out and she seems very bothered by it and is laying down a lot. She is on antibiotics, so hopefully there won't be any lingering infection.

Yesterday we decided to bring the Pekin ducks down to the pond to live. I'm sick of them making a mess of the water troughs. So Tim and I grabbed them up and brought them down there and Tim flung them into the pond, much to my dismay. They swam around for a second, got out, made a mess of the sheep water trough down there, and then made their way back to the barn after I had cleaned all the troughs up there.   Those ducks are going to be dinner, I'm afraid. 

So, Tim informed me today that somebody on Craiglist, some non-profit organization, was getting rid of a bunch of goats. Six boer and 2 pygmies or something for $650. He is on his way right now to go pick them up, then he will keep the ones he wants and bring the rest to the livestock auction. Let me tell you why this makes me mad. 

1. I signed over a $200 something check I had today to him so he could pay for his health insurance. I was having a weak moment  of feeling sorry for him, and we also need to buy corn for the animals. So next thing I know, he's off buying goats with it!!! 

2. He ran off without feeding any of his horses or goats, and by the time he gets home it will be too dark.

3. I asked him to help put the gate back up on the sheep pen before he left, he had taken it down to get the tractor through. He SCREAMED at me that he was in a hurry and he didn't have time to screw around. He helped me put it back up while we screamed at each other, and he said that I woke up in a bad mood.

4. Po won't get her shot of antibiotic tonight because it will be too late when he gets home.

5. I said "What about Annie?" (his daughter takes the bus to another farm after school and rides) He screamed at me "YOU PICK HER UP>" I said no, YOU PICK HER UP. So who knows when they'll get home.

And I should be working instead of blogging because that was the point of me staying here and not picking her up. Ok enough for now. lol


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 26, 2012)

So I woke up in the middle of the night thinking "Is Finneas 360 with the flock?" Oh man, I hope he didn't get out when they had the gate down. I remembered hearing a far off baaing and wasn't sure who it was. I thought I was hearing things and it seemed like everybody was accounted for, but I forgot about Finneas because he's new! If he got out down the lane, he is down by the creek by himself. It's dark right now but as sooon as the sun comes up, I'll head out and make sure he is there.


Also, Tim got home pretty late last night with Annie, close to 9. She went right to bed, I went to bed too before he even came in the house. He was out in the barn I guess unloading his goats.     It's 6 a.m., so soon the sun will come up. I'll report back on the barnyard situation.

Today I am going to the spinners guild meeting. I am soooo excited! I will just have to finish a few jobs this morning before I head out.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 26, 2012)

Okay, everybody is accounted for, whew! Finneas 360 is with the others and doing fine. I must have been just having a dream that he was loose. I hate waking up in the middle of the night with farm worries and there isn't anything you can do about it.

The new goats are a nice looking bunch! They are very healthy looking and some of the boers are BIG. There are 2 or 3 little guys, too, that look only a few months old. They are pretty cute.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Sep 26, 2012)

I don't know where you get your energy from. Wow! ;-)


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 26, 2012)

Energy is born out of necessity, Goat Lady!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 27, 2012)

I went to the spinners guild yesterday and joined up. Those ladies are so creative and talented! They actually MAKE stuff out of their yarn they spin. I spin my yarn and just look at it "ohh isn't that pretty" lol. I'm not very good at knitting, or maybe I should say I don't have much patience for it. It takes too much concentration to remember where you are in a pattern, and I am too easily distracted with animal issues. I can make a scarf and a hat, and one fingerless glove (two would be too many!). But their items inspired me to get going on something, anything.  I think I'l make some  hat tassles out of the smaller skeins of handspun. They would be cool.

So, after I got home I got caught up some more on some work, and I'm able to breath a little easier now. Most of the big stuff is out of the way, and I think I've made enough extra money this month to buy that drum carder I've been wanting.  

Tim brought the boer goats up to meet the new goats and to breed Mikey to the girls. So much for quarantine!  Well they all got along great and he sent them all back down to the creek together. The boer population is growing down there! He kept back 3 mixed whethers that he is going to take to the livestock auction and hopefully get his money back.

Also, yesterday we got a visit from the "Huntsman" who is in charge of the hounds of the Middleburg Hunt. Yes they still do fox hunting around here. This area is famous for that. I'm not much into horses, but to see the hunt take off on their horses, and the Huntmaster dressed in his red jacket blowing his horn is really something to see. There are about 50 hound dogs that chase after the scent of the fox.  So this Hunstman was just so cute, he was a young guy with an Irish or Welsh accent. Adorable. I was in love  He came by to see if we had a buck goat to breed to his alpine goats. He milks his alpines and gives the milk to his hound puppies, so cool! So we will send either Mikey or Riccardo over to do his job to keep those girls a-milkin'!






_I took this picture last fall with my phone. This is the Hunt taking off on a foggy morning. Sometimes you can hear the hounds nearby on our neighbors farm on a crisp, cool morning in the fall._

Then last evening we sheared one of our sheep! Harriet was one of the ewes that we got after our shearer came in the spring. Her wool was pretty long, and we couldn't tell if she was pregnant or what. She looked fat. Tim sheared her and did a great job, except he has the signature poodle cut that the alpaca got, lol. Her wool was very nice, and pretty free of vegetable matter, until we dragged it through the dirt and hay, lol. We have to do a better job at  managing the wool after it comes off. So she looks not pregnant, not fat, but not skinny, either. She looks just right. And now hopefully Dipsy can do his thing a little easier. I have no doubt all of our ewes will be pregnant, he's a good lover. I love the Dipster.

We also cleaned Patches butt, she had so much poop from her scouring problem. We cut a bunch off and then I dragged her to the wash stall and tried to clean the rest. She was a mess. We did the best we could, but she still has clumps that are like glue.

Po got her shot again and is doing okay. I was happy that my sheep got some attention last night, and all is well in sheep world. Beastie is still hanging in there, his ankles are very weak, but he is managing to get around and is eating okay.

So this morning it's more work, then play outside.

Have a great day everyone!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 27, 2012)

We now have a pot bellied pig.


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## Alice Acres (Sep 27, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> We now have a pot bellied pig.


We had one for years - we loved, loved our Bailey Ann!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 27, 2012)

What do I do with him Alice? I don't know anything about pot bellied pigs. Can he be with other animals? Is he okay with the goats and chickens? I guess we'll just feed him corn, everybody else around here eats corn. Maybe he'll eat the corn cobs! That would be great, since we have about a gazillion of them laying around. 

Annie told me her friend had a pot bellied pig and it ripped into her goat's neck and killed it.  Should I be worried about that, or is this a 14-year old's "Tall Tale."


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## Southern by choice (Sep 27, 2012)

Just had to say  I love the picture of the hunt! My mom and sister went last year(maybe the year before) and it was in your neck of the woods. It was my mom's first time and she loved it. Beautiful picture!

I don't know a thing about pb pigs but we just sold our Toulouse Geese breeding pair and a week later we went to visit them at their new farm. They had 2 pb pigs- the female seemed okay but the male(he was not intact) was biting and scratching her up real bad, he was obviously younger than she was. She was big, belly dragging the ground. The man had only had them for a week and he told us the male had to go-he would not leave that poor girl alone. I couldn't believe the teeth on that lil thing.

Sorry about Po's baby!


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## BrownSheep (Sep 27, 2012)

Pigs can be agressive and kill other animals quite easily but it truely depends on the animal.


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 28, 2012)

So I spoke with the previous pig owner this morning. His name is Taco  He is about 7 years old and castrated. He lived with a Great Dane and 2 Jack Russell terriers.  He's been with goats, chickens, horses.  He used to come and go out the doggie door. Sounds like he was a pretty spoiled piggy! He's really cute and right now he is cleaning up all the bits of corn in the chicken yard. 

Tim's plan is to let him eat all the pigweed on the farm. We'll see how that goes 

Oh, exciting, we are going to go look at a FREE gazebo Tim saw on Craigslist this morning.  If we can figure out how to transport it, it will make a GREAT sheep house!


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## Southern by choice (Sep 28, 2012)

pics of the piggy?


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 28, 2012)

I'll go take some and post back later!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 28, 2012)

Here he is: TACO 

Well, he already escaped out of the fence, busted right through it and then scared the pants off of LaLa and Patches and the rest of the sheep. I was looking at LaLa in the barnyard and she had a super stink eye and look of fright out of her. I thought she had spied the pig through the gate. She was stomping around and had Patches next to her baaing. When I went back there to look at the pig, I saw he had escaped and was in with the sheep and goats. He was just minding his own business snorkeling up pieces of corn he found on the ground, but the sheep did NOT LIKE IT ONE BIT, lol.

I got him back to the chicken area without too much trouble, and he's back in a stall until we figure out where to put him. And one of the whether goats jumped over the stall door and got out, too. Oy. I got him back in too. And he was the littlest of the three, yest he went over that door by golly.


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## Southern by choice (Sep 28, 2012)

thanks for the picture- saw it in Pic of the week contest.

I can't imagine how you deal with all these animals in/out in/out. I'd be pulling my hair out, a total nervous wreck, and probably have a panic attack. I'm crazy about bio-security and disease.  I'm ordering disposable boots for visitors, they can't come past our parking area, and we treat when their cars leave. 

love your journal bridge!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Sep 28, 2012)

I've been trying to get Southern to allow me to have a pig on the land but she says no. Can you believe that?


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 29, 2012)

Have I got a pig for you StrawHat!


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## Southern by choice (Sep 29, 2012)

Bridgemoof- don't start a fight now   and you should know Straw doesn't want me to get this sweet little registered Nigerian Dwarf that I want (actually a present for my daughter).

piggy pics are always fun though!

hope your weekend goes well for you! How is your stand/cart coming along?


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## Pearce Pastures (Sep 29, 2012)

Cute!


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## Bridgemoof (Sep 29, 2012)

Lol Southern...I won't let you guys get into a fight.

My cart is going a big fat no where,  . I don't know what the unmotivation is all about! I can barely get eggs out in my egg box to sell.

Some regular egg customers just stopped for eggs, and Tim had to climb up into the loft of the barn to find some eggs. I swear we have some egg eaters around here! I know the hens are laying eggs, I go back later to get them and they are gone! 

This weekend is the Shenandoah Fiber Festival and I AM GOING. Not sure if today or tomorrow.

Beastie is getting a bit worse. He can't walk very well anymore. This morning I carried him from the barn down to the grass so he can be with the other sheep and graze. Let me tell you that was like carrying a 50# sack of potatoes, and I'm not that strong! But I want him to be happy and be with the other sheep while he is still with us  Soon I will have to make the hard decision of what to do with him.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 1, 2012)

It was a good weekend overall, but as usual it ended on a sour note. 

Friday night we ran over to the high school to watch Annie and the other 8th graders perform with the high school bend before the game. Annie plays the trumpet, and she's really getting good at it! I am amazed at her band teacher. Not only can she teach all those kids to play different instruments, she get get them to play together and make a song, lol. 

Saturday I wen to the local church thrift store and scored on some good winter/fall clothes for me and the family unit.  We worked outside most of the day, and I got caught up on laundry and so forth. Then we went out to eat. 

Sunday we fed everybody early and loaded up the truck/ First we went to the Shenandoah Fiber Festival. What fun! I love those wool festivals! I bought some dyed locks to spin into some core yarn that were really cool. They had an Angora goat competition, and were those guys cute! I would love to get one for their wool. But question is, would I keep it with the goats? or the sheep? 

Then we went to Western Maryland to pick up some cheap turkeys. They were pretty much full grown and I think we have identified them as Bronze Breasted turkeys. We got 3. We loaded them in the back of the truck and it started to rain. So it was raining the whole next leg of our trip. Our next stop was to get the two new Finn ewes  They are registered, too, woah. The couple raises Finns and Angora rabbits. Oh man were those rabbits cute! I bought some angora fur from the lady and can't wait to spin it. The sheep are very pretty. One ewe is white, the other is chocolate with a white blaze on her face. They really are adorable and will be perfect with Finneas 360.

We headed home with out truck loaded with turkeys and sheep, and didn't get home until dark. When we pulled into the barnyard and prepared to unload, Inkabod, our Catahoula leopard dog, was very excited. Ink is kind of our LGD, but is not always so effective at it. Sometimes you don't even know what team is he on! Well, we walked around the corner into the chicken area and my turkey hen was kind of laying down in there were a bunch of feathers all around. She was still alive, but not fairing very well. Now who is to say what happened to her. On first glance, it looked like Ink ran around the corner and in his excitement went CHOMP on her. But, it could have been another predator that Ink chased away right before we walked around the corner. In any event, it was most unfortunate, and I put her in a cage until I could get a closer look at her.

We checked on Beastie and he was basically in the same spot as when we left that morning. He is pretty much immobile, and I think he will be put down today.  It breaks my heart to no end. I just love that guy so much. Tim tried to make a sling for him so he could stand upright for a while. But he just hung there limp, with his head hanging down and it didn't look comfortable at all, so I cut him down. He seems perky mentally, it's just his poor little body can't function.

We unloaded the turkeys and the new sheep and put them in a stall next to Beastie. Beastie even talked to them a little. Then I went to check on the turkey again. She was laying on her side, but still alive. I picked her up and held her in my arms. I couldn't see any puncture wounds or anything, but she was having a few spasms so I suspected she had some internal injuries. She ended up dying right there in my arms, her little head tucking back into her breast.  At least she didn't die on the cold wet ground.

We decided to count all the chickens so we would know if they started disappearing one by one. We counted 54. Then we came in and went to bed, exhausted from our big day.

Today Tim is taking the 3 whether goats to the livestock auction, then I guess coming home to deal with Beastie.  I'll just be catching up on more work and sending out some invoices.

So that's the recap, here's to a new week! Hopefully we won't lose anybody this week.


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## Queen Mum (Oct 1, 2012)

I am so sorry you had such a difficult end to such a good day.  Sorry for your loss.


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## SheepGirl (Oct 1, 2012)

Those finn ewes are going to be poppin out TONS of babies for you!  How exciting!

Sorry about the turkey  At least you made her comfortable before she died 

And Beastie  Sooo sorry. I know how much you love him  What has happened to him is just so weird. I hope you can eventually find out what's wrong with him!


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## Southern by choice (Oct 1, 2012)

Have you thought of taking Beastie  to your state lab to find out exactly what was going on with him? Loss is so hard as it is, and after everything you've been through with him it might make it a little easier if you can get an answer.  

Just looked up Finnsheep- all the pictures show a momma with quads! Quads!!! Next thing we know were going to see:
"Bridgemoofs Journal" say- "HELP what do I do will all these sheep!"


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 1, 2012)

LOL I know, you ain't kidding~! We'll be spittin' out lambs like there is no tomorrow with those Finns! And the sheep are not cheap. Everybody we spoke with was selling them for $300 and up to $800 a piece.

As for Beastie, you remember I took Snowcap's liver to get biopsied, same thing happened to him. They couldn't find anything abnormal, as far as minerals, vitamins or parasites. But a thought did occur to me, that since they are at least part Jacob's they could be carrying the Tay-Sachs gene. There's one other ewe from that batch, Fluffy, and she was unaffected. But she could be a carrier, too, and then I will be having the same problem all over again. I haven't found anybody that will test for that.  I am not sure if they are still using Jacob's for Tay-Sachs research or not. We tried to contact the Doctor who was originally doing the research, but he never responded.

I wish there was a way I could make Beastie a scooter so he can get around using his back legs. I know I'm being preposterous, but I just wish I could save him!!!! 

I forgot to add to my journal that I've had three little buttercup chicks born in the past couple of days from the incubator. They all have feathered legs! Their daddy must be Butterscotch, the Buff Cochin rooster, because he has feathered legs. They are sooo cute!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Oct 1, 2012)

How sad.  poor baby. So sorry!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 2, 2012)

I woke up about 5 a.m. this morning worrying about the goats at the creek, yet again. It was pouring down rain and pitch dark. Tim actually woke up, too, and asked me what was wrong. I told him I was worried about the goats. There's some little guys down there, too! Amazingly, he got up about 5:30, put on his rain gear and brought all the goats up, whew! I can't even imagine what would happen if those little goats went near the creek.

When it was light enough, I went out to the barn to check on everybody. When I refer to the "barn", I don't mean barn. It's actually one of the run in horse sheds that has two stalls, one is divided up into two pens for lambing, the other has the new turkeys in it, and the rest is open and provides shelter. Most of the sheep and pregnant ogats were in there. Beastie has one pen to himself so he doesn't get stepped on. Phinneas 360 and 2 of the Shetland ewes are in another. Phinneas has been acting sick the past couple of days and is scouring, so last night we took  his temperature. 105!  We dosed him up with LA200, Bantamine and Probios. Hopefully he will be feeling a bit better today. Tim also decided to give the new Finn sheep some LA200 too, in case they caught something when they got here.

Then when it got a bit lighter, I looked down in the other pasture to make sure the outside sheep were okay. Beatrix Potter was laying in the mud on her back and couldn't get up! oMG!!!! I ran down there yelling for Tim, but he was already ahead of me. He rolled her over and she had a hard time standing and getting her footing. But finally she did, and was shaking her head because I know she probably had tons of water in her ears. And THAT is why we need a shelter out there! POOR sheep! Who knows how long she was stuck in the pouring down rain. Poor poor Beatrix  Of course her wool is a mess, all the sheep's wool is a mess. It's hard to think of running a fiber business with messy, muddy wool. Next year...sheep blankets! Although I am not sure I like the idea of them having to wear them in 100 weather.

It's only 7:40 and the day is not looking good 

Yesterday Tim took the whether goats to the livestock auction and got a pretty good price for them. He also sold the pony that we traded for the alpaca. It was a good day for him. To me, it just felt like my whole day was eaten up taking care of the sick, injured, wounded, the ones that can't fend for themselves, the meak, the ones that need special attention. It seems like I have no time, I get up early, go feed, then come in and do a bit of work on my computer. Then it's already time for a nap. When I get up it's work a little more, clean up the kitchen or whatever, and then it's time to feed again and then it's time to go to bed! Where do the hours go? Too many animals, not enough time.

Well I haven't even fed anybody this morning because it's raining so miserably. I discovered my mud boots have a hole in them.   I can't feed the chickens because the creek goats are back there. I hate rain, the farm becomes a muddy cesspool!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 2, 2012)

Well big news. I'm getting a new Jacob ram! We are going up to Unzicker's on Monday to pick him up. His name is Uriah and he is soo cute! He was born in March, and he will make such a good mate for Lily, Lottie, Fluffy and Star.

Here is a picture that was taken this morning. 






He's so nice and healthy looking, his horns and markings are ideal. Plus he's registered (well, at least the flock is), so I'll be able to start my foundation flock of Jacob's.

So Beastie is still hanging in there. I just can't let him go. He is like a sultan now, he has other sheep surrounding him in his stall and he is perched on a dog bed with fresh alfalfa and corn in front of him. He's getting a little stinky because he can't stand to pee, but I don't care! He's still huggable and loveable, and I'll let him go when I'm good and ready.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 2, 2012)

New Jacob ram??  I love Jacobs!!

Please keep in mind what is best for him. I know it may be hard but if he is suffering it is most humane to let him pass, and not to keep him alive and suffering.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 2, 2012)

I hear you Strawhat. If I thought he was in pain I would let him go, but he doesn't seem to be really suffering. He just can't get up. I know that's a kind of suffering, but it's not a painful suffering. You know what I mean? He seems so alert and is eating and talking...it just seems terrible to kill him because he can't walk. I dunno....

I put my 14 year old husky Baleine down about a year ago because she couldn't get up anymore. But she seemed really miserable and I felt it was her time. She had lived a long, happy life and I didn't feel bad to do it. But Beastie is so young....it's just so sad.


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## ragdollcatlady (Oct 2, 2012)

I hear you on the heartbreak you know is coming....it is so hard!  

Please keep in mind that urine can literally burn away the skin if it is in constant contact....


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 2, 2012)

Very cute!!! He looks like his horns are actually like the fake headband things my kids put on and play with (like bunny ear, elephant ear, etc.)   Yeah, I know nada about sheep.  

So sorry about your Beastie.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 2, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> I hear you Strawhat. If I thought he was in pain I would let him go, but he doesn't seem to be really suffering. He just can't get up. I know that's a kind of suffering, but it's not a painful suffering. You know what I mean? He seems so alert and is eating and talking...it just seems terrible to kill him because he can't walk. I dunno....
> 
> I put my 14 year old husky Baleine down about a year ago because she couldn't get up anymore. But she seemed really miserable and I felt it was her time. She had lived a long, happy life and I didn't feel bad to do it. But Beastie is so young....it's just so sad.


I know exactly what you mean. And I know it's hard. You're doing a good job thru it all.


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## jodief100 (Oct 2, 2012)

Sorry about Beastie.  We had to put a doe down last year and it was tough.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 2, 2012)

Ugh it's been another interesting day!

Besides the rain and mud which is absolutely awful, and the sheep getting stuck in it on her back...we had a few other things happen.

We worked on building a shelter behind the barn to make extra lambing pens for all those Finn and Jacob babies  It's really sturdy, it's going to be great! Plus it gives the sheep an extra place to get out of the rain. The only thing that's still missing is a roof...so it's pretty worthless right now, but it's well on it's way. All the support beams are in place. Tim got all the wood for free from various places. He's a great scavenger! We are putting the shelter in the back of the barn and backfilling it with dirt because it's kind of washing away back there. There are many rat holes in the stalls and the dirt is just washing out the back. So Tim made a retaining wall from FREE telephone poles he picked up. He filled it with dirt with the tractor. Much better!

So we were standing out in the rain and mud working on this shelter and broody hen came along with her new chick. The chick is several weeks old now. We had broody and the chick in the back brooder for a while, then they finally came out yesterday. Well, this is just such a horrific story, it is one of the worst..... Well, maybe not the WORST.  Broody started squawking and we realized the chick had gone into one of the holes in the back of the barn. We thought it just went up there for a second, but it didn't come out and broody was having a fit! I ran around to the front of the stable and went inside. NO chick! I went into the stall where the pig was and the rat holes were covered up with a bunch of hay. No chick! I begrudgingly stuck my hand down the rat hole, but NO CHICK. Inkabod our dog came running out of the first stall, but no chick! I listened against the wall to see if I could hear a peep peep peep. Not a sound. OMG the chick just silently disappeared into the rat hole never to be seen again  Broody waited around for a while, then went about her merry way, probably to go find some more eggs to sit on because that's what she likes to do best. Isn't that sad?

Good news is, though, that 4 more chicks were born in the incubator in the house.  So now I have about 7 of those cute little buttercups with the feathered feet, all piled up on each other sleeping.

We are having goat for dinner tonight. Finally eating the goat that Tim hit with the truck. I tasted it, and it's GOOD! I'm not sure how much I can eat since I know it was our goat, but nonetheless, good! I don't see why Americans don't eat more goat.

One more thing, I decided tomorrow is the day for Beastie to go. I have listened to what all of you have to say, and as hard as it is to let go, I guess it isn't fair to let him linger on like this.


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## marlowmanor (Oct 2, 2012)

I know it is going to be hard for you to let Beastie go but it is for the best. I'd be tempted to send him for a necropsy as Southern suggested. Maybe they could give you an answer as why this happened to him.


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## SheepGirl (Oct 2, 2012)

Congrats on your new ram! 

Again, sorry about Beastie  You did the best you could for him.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 2, 2012)

> We are having goat for dinner tonight. Finally eating the goat that Tim hit with the truck. I tasted it, and it's GOOD! I'm not sure how much I can eat since I know it was our goat, but nonetheless, good! I don't see why Americans don't eat more goat.


haha That's funny. About how much. Actually, while Americans do not eat much goat compared to other countries around the world, we import more goat than any country in the world. We are unable to meet the demand for goat. Luckily meat goats are the largest growing area of livestock right now.

I really am sorry about Beastie. I know it is tough and nothing changes that but in the end we must always look at the animals and it's quality of life. Just love him till the end and he'll know it. He knows you've done everything you could do for him. Trust me.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 5, 2012)

For Beastie

A more fearsome beast there never was,
With a warmth that emanated from within
You touched my heart like no other
And stood so brave til the very end.

I hear the pheasants softly calling your name
_"Beastie, Beastie, Beastie."_
Now always surrounded by lush, green pasture
You will remain a part of my heart for eternity.


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 5, 2012)




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## bonbean01 (Oct 5, 2012)

I'm so sorry...and a lovely poem for him


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## Roving Jacobs (Oct 5, 2012)

I'm so sorry for your loss. You are such a good shepherd for working so hard to make him better and giving him peace at the end


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## ragdollcatlady (Oct 5, 2012)

I am so sorry for your loss......I totally fall apart when letting go of my dearest friends..... 

He was beautiful by the way.


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## Southern by choice (Oct 6, 2012)

so sorry about Beastie   life/death on a farm is so hard to deal with sometimes- as many "up" moments that happen there are always going to be the "down" ones too. The day it doesn't bother us or make us sad with a death is the day we shouldn't have animals. You took great care of your boy, Bridge, and did all you could. Making the decision to put him down was because you cared for him, it was an un-selfish act. You loved him enough to do the right thing. Be comforted in that.


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## marlowmanor (Oct 6, 2012)

So sorry about Beastie.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 6, 2012)

I know I'm late but I am so sorry Beastie. It's a tough thing to do and swallow but in the end I think you did what is best for him.


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## SheepGirl (Oct 6, 2012)




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## Bridgemoof (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks everyone for your hugs and so forth for Beastie. It hit me really hard, but I'm feeling a bit better now.

So much has transpired too since I last wrote, I'm not even sure if I can remember everything!

I do know that this past weekend we went to get 2 Finn sheep and ended up with 4. Three of them are triplets and white, the other is brown. They are too closely related to our Finneas ram, so we can't put them together. Tim will have to create a new grazing area for them.

We also took a long road trip up to PA on Monday to get Uriah, our new Jacob ram. We stopped at the New Holland livestock auction first, and wow. It was huge, and there were seas of goats and sheep, and horses and pigs...It was pretty sad that all those animals were giving their lives for human consumption pretty much. There were a few dead animals, too in the aisles that didn't make the trip. It was not a pretty sight!

We made it home with Uriah, a 4-hour trip! He did pretty well in the truck. Tim has rigged up a transport area in the back of the pick up that is enclosed so the sheep don't get pounded by the elements. It's better on gas than if we bring the horse trailer. It's also a smaller space so they don't get knocked around. We put him in a stall when we got home, and the next morning we let him out to be introduced to our other Jacobs. He mounted Lily almost right away!  So hopefully she will be due the beginning of March.He hasn't shown any signs of getting on Star, Lottie or Fluffy yet. I'm a little worried because they were with Finneas for a while. Hopefully he didn't get them pregnant, but I don't think Lottie or Fluffy have had their first heat yet. 

That's it for now. Time to go feed the sheep!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 12, 2012)

So, last week I discovered needle felting. Fun!!!!! I finally have been able to release some of my creative energy. 

Annie and I bought a kit to make needle felted animals at the MD Sheep and Wool Festival. So we finally got around to trying to make the critters and it was really fun and really easy! She made a pig, and did a really good job. I made a sheep and it was hard to get it to stand, plus I'm not sure if it doesn't look like a Great Pyrenese dog, lol. But for our first attempts they were pretty good.

So then I decided to make a ferret, because my sister has a Ferret Rescue group and she's big time into them. She has a Ferret show coming up the first weekend in November and hopefully I can make some more ferrets for her to sell for her rescue group.






_The Pig and Recumbant Sheep_





_The Ferret_

Today if I have time I am going to try and make a white ferret. 

Then also, I made it to the Spinners Guild group and started working on some funky cool art yarn using locks. It's looking very cool.






This morning it is quite brisk! Time to go let the chickens out. TGIF!!!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Oct 12, 2012)

Love them. Nice work!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

I've been so busy trying to keep up with everyone else's journal, I haven't had time to sit down and write in my own! 

The weekend was not too eventful. Tim did go and pick up two little dwarf goats of some kind that a woman was getting rid of on CL. He will take them to the livestock auction in a couple weeks, in time for the muslim holiday coming up 

Then on Friday he picked up a truckload of corn, which we usually get about once a week now. This particular batch was really lousy. It had a lot of spoiled pieces in it, which is okay for some animals, but not the horses who eat the majority of it. He didn't want to complain to the guy, because he gets SUCH a bargain on corn, sometimes the batches ain't that great. So he put an ad on CL to see if anybody wanted it for their pigs or chickens or what not. BUt no offers. So he called the lady who we got the pheasants from and asked her if she could use it. She has tons of poultry. She said she could, so he delivered it to her and she gave him a couple of turkeys. Thanksgiving dinner has arrived.  I'm glad we got some turkeys to eat, I won't befriend them. I just LOVE my white tom turkey we've had. I love when he fluffs up his feathers and says "Look how big I am!" He lets me pet him and play with his gobbler. He's so cute and fun to watch, I couldn't eat him.

I also put the 5 baby chicks outside in the outside brooder with 3 older chicks. There is a red heat lamp, so I'm hoping they stayed warm enough last night  A local guy came with his daughter last week and bought 6 of the little buggers. We've turned off the incubator for now, enough chicks!

I thought Uriah, our new Jacob ram was acting a little sick, and he had runny poops, so I brought him up for us to keep an eye on. I took his temp and it was 105! Aw poor baby. Either his rumen is acting up from being introduced to corn, or he picked up some bug here, which I wouldn't be surprised. So we have him on PenG for 5 days, Bantamine, which already brought his fever down, and Pepto and Probios. We are keeping him in a stall, so I decided to put Lottie with him to keep him company. Well, that didn't work out so great. She was Maaa Maaa Maaaing ALL day. So I switched her out with Fluffy, which wasn't any better. She was BAa Baaa Baaaing all evening :/ Those Jacob girls are such Prima Donnas, I swear! They want their way of the highway, lol. So, we'll keep an eye on Uriah, and if he isn't feeling better I'll go run a fecal to the vet.

Yesterday it seemed like it might rain, and today's forecast was 30% chance, so I went ahead and sowed a big bag of rye seed down in one of the sheep's pastures. I hope it takes off, because I put a bunch down in the back pasture behind the barn a week ago an nada yet. 

Ruth (our resident senior) has been suffering from hip pain for over a week now. She claims she didn't "do anything" to it, no fall, no exercise, etc. It's really hurting her, she says it feels muscular, but we don't know what caused it. I took her to get an x-ray on Friday, and they said everything was normal. But it's not getting any better. 

On the creative front, I've made 3 felted ferrets for my sister's ferret show.  They turned out really good, and I hope she will sell some for her ferret rescue.

That's it for now, can't believe it's Monday already! Have a great week everyone!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Oct 15, 2012)

I hope your Ram is feeling better soon.  Hope you have a wonderful day. I always look forward to your journal.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks GoatCrazylady! You're my biggest fan


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## Southern by choice (Oct 15, 2012)

I beg to differ Bridge


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

Oh REALLy Southern? hahaha!!


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## Alice Acres (Oct 15, 2012)

Hope all the sickies feel better soon....and pictures of those felted ferrets? One of my dog friends just made some felted OES and they are so cute!


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 15, 2012)

Yeah, let's see these ferretts.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 15, 2012)

Hey!! I love reading your journal too!! Defiantly one of the best. Always well thought out ans big post about all kinds of stuff.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

Okay  here are the ferrets:






And this pic you can see the white one better, which is my fave so far:





I would put real plastic eyes on them, but my sister wants to keep them "ferret proof" so that ferrets can actually play with them. I love doing this, it's so fun, and I have a ton of wool I can use. All I needed to pick up this weekend was some pipe cleaners.

My sister just called and she had to put another one of her ferrets down. Cotton had a big tumor and her lungs were filling up with fluid. That's the 4th one in 3 weeks that she had to put down! These ferrets are very fragile and always have health problems. Bon spends thousands of dollars on them, she spends so much of her time caring for them, but it is her life, and she loves them to death.


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## Alice Acres (Oct 15, 2012)

Oh my, those are so cute! They look like real little ferrets


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## Queen Mum (Oct 15, 2012)

OH MY GOSH, those ferrets are A D O R A B L E! I love them.    I want one of the ferrets.  My son loves ferrets.  Can you do goats?    I think those are just about the cutest things I have ever seen.  AND the sheep has the best expression I have ever seen.  Sort of,  "When you are good you are good, but when you are great, you are ME!"


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

hahah I'm so glad you guys like them, because after looking at them for a while, I'm thinking "..hmmm I can do better. They don't look that good." But I guess they do. I needed that encouragement to keep going!

Queen Mum, I'm sure I can make a goat. I'll give it a shot, right after that Jacob sheep  That's funny about the sheep,     She does look a little aloof, ha ha.


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## Queen Mum (Oct 15, 2012)

I love them.  Are they hard to make?


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

No they are surprisingly easy and REALLY FUN!. Especially because you get to stab the little critters with a special needle a bunch of times and let me tell you, it takes out major frustrations! lol

I bought a kit at the Sheep and Wool Festival which had all the components and really good instructions. The kit was for a goat, pig and a sheep. The ferret I made up myself after doing a couple of the other guys. She has a website, it is http://www.blacksheepdesigns.com/ and you can order the kit.


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## Queen Mum (Oct 15, 2012)

You use a felting needle right?  I have a bunch of those.  I use them to put hair on dolls.  Thanks for the website.  I love it.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 15, 2012)

Yep a felting needle. I'd love to see one of your dolls! That sounds like fun, too.  What kind of dolls????


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## ragdollcatlady (Oct 15, 2012)

I like the position of the white one the best. I think ferrets spend at least half their lives sitting up trying to get into some sort of trouble or other!


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## bonbean01 (Oct 15, 2012)

The ferrets are cute, as are all of them...but...I totally love the sheepie the best 

Hope your ram is on the mend quickly...I know you worry and you're a good sheep mommy


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 15, 2012)

VERY CUTE!!!


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## SheepGirl (Oct 15, 2012)

I love your needle felting animals!! So cute!


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## Queen Mum (Oct 15, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Yep a felting needle. I'd love to see one of your dolls! That sounds like fun, too.  What kind of dolls????


I make all sorts of dolls, but my favorites are dolls for little kids to hug on.  I also make a Noah's ark thing which is a big wooden pull boat with all sorts of little "animals" in pairs made out of calico.  It is a really cute thing.   Mr and Mrs. Noah need hair of course and the little sheep and critters, of course, need fur and hair and such.

Here is the pattern I use.







And this is my favorite doll pattern.  I felt in the hair so it looks like real baby hair.


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## bonbean01 (Oct 15, 2012)

Too sweet Queen Mum 

Wish I was talented enough to do this kind of thing...I seem to be all thumbs


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## Queen Mum (Oct 15, 2012)

But the ferrets, those are just too cute for words.  

And they look so real.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 16, 2012)

Oh those dolls are sooo sweet Queen Mum!!!! Looks like kids would love them. VERY huggable! The Noah's Ark thing would be perfect for felting. Tim wants me to make a nativity scene for Christmas, but I just don't know if I would be able to make all those pieces! I think I would get bored of it before I finished.


FARM UPDATE
Uriah seems to be feeling better, so we will let him back out into the herd today. And Fluffy, too, she has been pouting the whole time. I hate when sheep look at you and say "Why do I have to stay in here mommy? Why can't I go out and play?" I'm such a sucker for sheepies.

Yesterday we got part of the driveway regraveled. The rest should come today. It looks really good. Ruth is happy, she loves to see things getting done around here, and now that she has her reverse mortgage money, she has plenty to spend on sprucing things up. Her hip is still hurting her and she has been walking with a walker. Tim is going to take her to her regular oncologist for a checkup this week, so if there's anything cancerous going on, it should show up in her blood work.

Today the big new shed construction starts. Tim and Lencho will get going on building the new structure behind the back stable. We'll have a place to park the tractor and all kinds of junk. It will be great to get all that stuff out of sight.

It rained a good deal yesterday, so I'm hoping my rye grass seed will take off.  Things are looking pretty barren around here. I'm realizing that winter is closing in and the sheep won't have much to eat. They seem to prefer eating dirt over the hay we out out for them.  Sillies! It froze pretty hard the other night and everything that was living is now dead. All the tomatoes I never picked, the flowers I never sold, everything else that is hidden amongst my garden of weeds is a goner. I did manage to pick my birdhouse gourds the next morning, though. I got 12 big ones that I put up in the garden shed to dry out for next year. I no doubt will be scheming up some creative use for those. But they have to dry out first.

Tim went to the livestock auction to check things out yesterday. He found out that with the upcoming muslim holiday, they prefer to eat lamb over goat. So now he is going to hang on to those two little goats he got for a while and fatten them up. They are in a stall right now, and they look divilish! We'll see what happens when they are allowed out. I smell trouble coming.

BUGS AND HOW
Fleas. Did I mention FLEAS? omg my dogs are infested. Frontline, flea baths, flea spray, nothing seems to work. They told me at Southern States that the fleas in this area have become resistant to Frontline. Well, that's for darned sure! And in turn I've been getting flea bites, and the dogs have been keeping us awake all night because of their scratch, scratch, scratching. Ugh. We had a hard freeze the other night and I was hoping all the fleas would just croak, but no, they jumped on the dogs to survive and thrive. I have flea bombed our bedroom so far, but I think there are still fleas and a ton of dead stink bugs. Anybody who knows stink bugs will know what I am talking about. We had a gazillion of them all pop up this year, just about 2 weeks ago. They were all over the side of the house by the hundreds. The turkeys and chickens had fun eating them, but not enough of them! I've also seen a lot of yucky black spiders coming into the house, which always throws me into an arachnophobic fit! ACK I HATE spiders!

It's 6:10 a.m., pitch dark. I hate not being able to go out and start feeding early in the morning. Gosh it gets light so late now. Daylight savings should help a little with that. 

And that's the report for now, Later Gators!


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## Southern by choice (Oct 16, 2012)

Morning Bridge!

The felt ferrets look real! My mutt would love one!
Always love to read the going ons of your farm!
Frontline stopped working in our area a long time ago. We switched to advantix, but it is really better for the ticks. If the fleas are real bad get some comfortis from your vet, a 2-3 month supply for each dog, it is determined by weight and it is one pill a month. It must be taken with food. Or just get 1 pill and see how it goes. Comfortis is great. We had aa problem this year and I had to go that route, I am very experienced with pest control on animals and haven't had a flea issue in over 35 years, til this past spring/summer! It was insane! You usually see flea issues in the fall. Comfortis is not cheap but well worth it and you are already treating the house so that's good. If your dogs take a monthly HW pill/treatment you don't  want to give these close together. 2 weeks offset is better. The comfortis will start killing the fleas a few hours after you give it. Fleas bite then die and so it interrupts the breeding cycle.  If you don't give it with a good meal then the pill will not last the 30 days, it will kind of just pass through the system. 

Hope this helps. Btw I have family not far from you, Middleburg is beautiful.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks so much for the info Southern! It makes me so aggravated when you pay that much money for something like Frontline and it doesn't work. So I will definitely check out the Comfortis!


Here are the finished ferrets...moving on to something new now: Felted Pumpkins!!


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## SheepGirl (Oct 16, 2012)

I know what you mean about the fleas  Our dogs & cats have had fleas since mid-August, when we put our fence up. My uncle brought his dog (because my cousin begged him to go) who was infested with fleas. Luckily the outdoor cats don't have fleas (knock on wood). We just put the 3rd treatment of Frontline on our dogs/cats and they are still biting and scratching themselves. Plus we've given our dogs baths with the more expensive flea shampoo thinking it would work better...NOT.

We need something that will work because the animals can't even sleep without being bothered by the fleas  That's good info, though, SBC. I will tell my mom!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 18, 2012)

Oh boy, busy day yesterday.

First off, I went to my last Garden Club meeting as President. We had our October elections and I am now a past president. I served my two-year term and I am done. It really is a relief because I just can't devote the time to it that I used to be able to, plus I don't even live up there anymore, so....but it was great to see all my lovely garden club lady friends as usual. One funny thing though, my sobriety was jeopardized when one of the hostesses served spiked punch and I didn't know, lol. I heard her responding to someone in regards to what she made the punch out of, "Oh there's a cup and a half of amaretto in it!" Agh   It was really good. And this was in the middle of the day, at a GARDEN CLUB meeting, at a CHURCH!@ lol Oh well.

So when I got home, Tim was right behind me with the truck with two cheap CL goats. Oh man, he got these boar does for $25 each and they are FATTIES! He will be shipping them right off to auction on Monday and will get a pretty penny for them. He put them into a hot wired area, and a short time later there they were with the other pregnant nanny goats butting heads  Right through or over the hot fence they went.

Two tom turkeys got in a fight to the death almost yesterday too. Tim ended up putting one of them in lock up. I let him out later because I thought he was attacking one of the new turkeys that had gotten out. After putting the new turkey back, i let the aggressive one out thinking all would be okay. When I told Tim, he started screaming at me yet again that I shouldn't have dne that because he wasn't attacking the new guy, he as attacking one of his buddies. Oh whatever. Tim didn't need to scream at me about it.

We also had been fighting earlier that day about Uriah. He's still lagging a little and we got into a fight about whether or not to lock him up. I didn't think we should if Tim wasn't going to give him anymore penicillin. Again, whatever. It's ridiculous how everything turns into a screaming yelling argument over the littlest things. why can't we just get along in harmony and do what's best for the animal? 

It's 6:15 a.m. and we have to leave in a few minutes to take a horse to be ridden in the hunt this morning.  A friend of Tim's is trying her out to se if she will work out as a hunting horse. This will be her second time, she did okay the first time.

It's Tim's birthday. I got him a Kindle Fire so he can check his Craigslist every minute of the day no matter where he is. He'll love it.

Tonight is the monthly Sheep Producers Association meeting and it's pot luck, they will have lots of lamb dishes.  I think I'm going despite the fact that Tim doesn't want to go and it's his birthday. He said he doesn't care, and I'm sure he will be happy staying home playing with his new Kindle Fire.

Oh, I have washed a lot of wool and ordered my Strauch drum carder finally. I'm really into this felting thing and am ready to roll. Oh, and I also bought two domain name and will eventually make a website to go with them. I just couldn't resist buying these two names because they are great: www.fibersheep.com and www.fiberfarm.com   Aren't they great names?

Okay, have to go deliver a horse!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 18, 2012)

Oops I just realized I had my domain names wrong. I now own www.fiberflock.com and www.fibersheep.com


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## SheepGirl (Oct 18, 2012)

on your web sites!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 19, 2012)

Today was a busy farming day! This is how it went: Herd these guys here ---------> Herd those guys there <------------Move these guys in here --------++++>>>>>>>Chase after these guys over here %^%%$$#$#

First thing this morning we brought all the sheep up to the barnyard so we could snag one. I wanted the Tunis up because she has been limping badly again, plus she looks like she could be pregnant. I really have no way of knowing with this haphazard flockkeeping . Tunis are off season breeders for sure, so she probably is. I can't imagine that she is just that fat, since she spends most of her time out there on her knees for gosh sakes! I'm thinking this spring...get rid of the tunis for sure, except they have pretty good lambs. So anyways, we herded everybody up, then back down. Had one escapee, Brownie, who took off for the corn bin. So spent the next hour trying to get him back.

Then we went down to the creek and herded all the boer goats up to the barn. Did I mention that naturally when we move animals around, there is undoubtedly SCREAMING and YELLING involved, and not at the animals.  But, the goats were pretty good and they come up from the creek without too much trouble. So then we ran them all through our homemade chute and wormed them all. Tim also worked on Mikey's hoof  because he has a bad hoof rot thing going on, with an open abscess between his hooves. Yuckers.  So we have this concoction that works pretty good for hoof problems, we use DMSO (which is a viscous solution that when mixed with another vehicle is better absorbed into the skin) with LA200 and paint it on the hoof. It usually knocks out any problems in a day.

Here are some of the goats in our "chute." The gate at the end is our old headboard from our bed. Everything gets a second life here baby! lol We used some old lipstick of mine to mark the goats when we wormed them.






So then we kept the 3 littlest guys back because Tim wants to "experiment" with fattening them up. They are only a couple of months old and cute little buggers. We herded the rest of the goats back down to the stream.

Break time to get some work done inside. So I go back out to see if Tim is ready to worm the jacob flock, which has been locked up in the barnyard for a couple days and I am not even sure why anymore...I just want the to go back down the hill but Tim keeps insisting WAIT WAIT. So I go out there and he is on the tractor ready to rig up something. He asks me to help him load the old metal roofs that came off the old corn shed that is being rebuilt onto the tractor. So we chain up this big roof and off we go into the sheep pasture. Lencho our main man hole digger extraordinaire is out there putting posts in the ground. They are finally building me a shelter for my big flock! YAY! After about an hour or 2, we have a "manger" looking thing out there and I am happy as can be.

Nap time. Short nap. Client phone call interruptus.

Get up, go back out and see if Tim is ready to worm the jacob's yet. He is in the sheep shed building new lambing pens! He did a great job at making two lambing jugs, and room for another. He is really good at making something out of nothing. He can pick up a few pieces of scrap wood, an old gate and before you know it we have a chicken coop, or nesting boxes, or a manger, or lambing jugs!




_The new lambing jugs_

So he gets me to herd the jacobs over to our chute area, which does not go as well as the goats. They are bad sheep, lol. But I finally get them all into the chute and they get wormed and I am just overjoyed that they finally can go back down the hill and graze. But Nooooo, that would be too easy. He wants my new rye grass to be left undisturbed so we ned to move the sheep to yet another area. Which means I have to move hay, minerals, water trough, etc. *sigh*

Now I'm getting even more exhausted just blogging about my day. I'll finish tomorrow. Because the day is only half over. #26 boer goat ended up in a stall with the pig, the baby goats jumped into the stall with the new billies, a rooster and hens got relocated. My mind and body is too fatigued to go on, lol

Lator gators!


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## bonbean01 (Oct 19, 2012)

Oh Bridge...you really need to get some rest...whew...just read your post and I'm whopped too


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## BrownSheep (Oct 19, 2012)

There's a lot of screaming when we move sheep. Just between my sister and I. She thinks I'm wrong and I KNOW she is.


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## Southern by choice (Oct 20, 2012)

I read your journal everyday so I know you love your sheep, but what is your favorite thing about the farm?


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 20, 2012)

That is a loaded question Southern lol. Why do you ask, do I complain too much?    I love everything about the farm, I just get aggravated at the onslaught of CL animals Tim has gotten. I love all the animals, and want to make sure they get the best care. We have limited space and pasture. We are way overburdened.

The scenery and countryside are beautiful here. I was out his morning and it was so pretty, the fall colors are splendid. I was standing in the barnyard looking at the sky and trees and here comes the hot air balloon right over our barn and house!

But of course, my FAVORITE thing is the sheepies! I love their wool, I love making things with it, I love the way it feels and smells. I love to spin it, felt it, etc. I love being able to use the things we make here on the farm. I love the chickens and that I can sell their eggs. Or I can paint them, or cook them  I love my garden, and that I can grow pretty flowers and sell them. I grow gourds that I'll be able to paint and then sell. The farm is a great outlet for my creativity, although it seems I spend more time taking care of the animals than being able to be creative.

But I know I complain about Tim a lot. Every time he brings in a new animal, everybody has to get shifted around and stressed out, which makes me stressed out. As in yesterday. It was cool being able to get all that stuff done, but it was totally stressful on everybody and me. I am the type that would like to develop a plan and stick to a budget. Everything is blown out the window when it comes to Tim and his CL buying habits. "I'm going to go pick up some goats" he says, and comes home with 8 more goats, 3 turkeys and an alpaca. "Where are we going to put them? What are we going to feed them?" I ask? "I don't know, we'll figure it out." He replies.  

Okay today is a new day. I am going to the farm center to load up on minerals, chicken food, and more rye grass seed.  Later gators!


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## Southern by choice (Oct 20, 2012)

Oh no, no, no! I certainly didn't mean anything negative in my question!   I love your journal and your candidness! Please forgive me if it came off any other way. Sometimes in writing we don't always get the essence of the statement.

I know the area you live in and it's beautiful!! Especially in the fall. I love your creativity.  The passion you have for caring for all that has been entrusted to you is obvious. I share some of your frustrations too! I am always amazed at how much you do. Caring for an elderly lady, being a step mom, your artistry, farmer , a business woman....WOW!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 20, 2012)

Oh thanks so much Southern, I appreciate that with all of my heart. 

There never really is a dull moment on the farm. I am fortunate to be able to do all of those things you mentioned. I'm fortunate that I have good clients that pay their bills on time. I'm fortunate I get to even work at home. I'm fortunate to live on a beautiful farm. I'm fortunate to be able to work on creative things when I have time. I'm fortunate that I get to be around and care for all of these beautiful animals.

I'm fortunate that TIM HAS DONE ALL THE DISHES the past week because our dishwasher is broken and he doesn't feel like installing a new one!  :bun


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 20, 2012)

> I'm fortunate that TIM HAS DONE ALL THE DISHES the past week because our dishwasher is broken and he doesn't feel like installing a new one!




Know what I call those days where you spend the whole day working on the farm? I call them Farm Day. lol While it may be stressful and not pleasant when you have to do that it does always look and feel much better when it's done and I know I am always happy I did it and it all got done.


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## BrownSheep (Oct 20, 2012)

Bridgemoof you are one of the few people here who know what animals is number one! Now if only we could get thos silly goat people to join us  .


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 20, 2012)

You betcha Brownsheep!!!!!  :bun


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 20, 2012)

Ya'll are looking to start a fight!!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 20, 2012)

Yep and I'm pretty sure Bon would take our side...and maybe Remuda, oh and SheepGirl of course!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 20, 2012)

Ah but we have many many more than that.
Lets see.

20kids
Hank
RTG
Marlow
Southern
Rolls
Pearce
Renegade
SkyW
Catahoula
that's*satyrical
CBL
ect


hahah Matter of fact Bridge I think we should put up a fun friendly poll. Which do you fancy better? Goats or sheep?  lol


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## Southern by choice (Oct 20, 2012)

Oh bridge- did SHK just speak for me????? He might want to read my post under his poll!


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## bonbean01 (Oct 20, 2012)

Yup...I have to chime in here!!!!  We originally thought we wanted goats since we were not into wool and shearing...did our research...went to visit nearby and farther out farms of goats and sheep...we both decided on sheep...then, found out about hair sheep...checked out different sheep breeders near us and it was love at first sight 

Now I will not go into the whys and why nots here...don't want to start any fights...but sheep were for us one hundred per cent!!!!

I will admit that baby goats are adorable and when we help our neighbour with kidding problems and a poorly triplet...bottle feeding the wee thing, I do really think they are awesome too.  

But...a newborn lamb...our adult sheep...yeah, we totally made the right decision for us.  By the way, our neighbour with the goats spent some time with us and our sheep and lambs...called him when a ewe was in labour thinking his daughter would like to see that...he and his wife and daughter came over to watch and that was that for them.  Petting our sheep did them in...so friendly, so sweet...each with its very own personality and call...they are now selling their goats and their sheep herd is up to 5.  We took their ewes and our ram bred them, so babies for them this winter too.  

It really is a personal thing...I love them both, but love sheep more


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 20, 2012)

Oh Bon, you are being sooo diplomatic! Why don't you just come out and say it, YOU VOTE SHEEP!!!!!!! 

We may be outnumbered on this site, but I still love my sheep! The goats are cute, too, but I just love my sheepies! 

Okay, now I have to go find that poll!


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## Roving Jacobs (Oct 20, 2012)

When I just had my Jacobs everyone kept telling me how much better goats were and how I should hurry up and get goats. Now I have goats and I still like my sheep more! They're such awesome little woolies


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## bonbean01 (Oct 20, 2012)

Bridge...I already voted for SHEEP on his poll...then went back to vote again, but it wouldn't take it...but I did try.  I totally love my sheep and wouldn't trade a one of them for ten goats, truth be told


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## Queen Mum (Oct 20, 2012)

I love my goats, but I did live at a place that had ONE black bellied hair sheep  (Rambo).  I loved that boy.  If I had grass I would have both sheep and goats.  However, I would have hair sheep.  They are soooooooo beautiful!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 22, 2012)

Well, I FINALLY got my Etsy store up!  It took me all day to take pictures, write descriptions and upload stuff. I have the felted ferrets on there, and 50% proceeds will go to my sis's ferret group. We will also be taking them to the ferret show. I also put up a couple felted pumpkins I made, and some yarn and other stuff. Now, God forbid somebody should BUY something! That means I'll have to find time to package it and take it to the post office. omg lol. Not enough hours in the day.

Ok, so here it is!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BridgetsFarmCart


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 22, 2012)

Very cool, Bridge!! Congrats and I hope you do well with it.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 22, 2012)

Thanks StrawHat! Now that I have the hang of listing items, I can put more stuff up. Hopefully more yarn and roving and fleeces. I washed a lot of wool over the past weekend! And my fancy drum carder is on order.  I really want to make the dream of having a fiber business a reality, but time is a real factor....we'll see how it goes.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 22, 2012)

> I really want to make the dream of having a fiber business a reality


I think you're doing a great job. You do alot with it and now you have them up for sale too!! Keep it up!!


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## Queen Mum (Oct 22, 2012)

Wow,  way cool!


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## CTChick (Oct 23, 2012)

Just spent almost an hour reading your entire journal ... wow. That's all I can say - wow.  I thought I was busy!  I have four kids (ages 8-19 all active in sports) a shop I have owned for the past 5 years (www.talismanct.com) plus my farmettee and I am a writer ... I've owned a total of four businesses, have great kids - but you know what's hard?  Marriage.  Relationships.  MEN are difficult, at least in my experience (and this is my second marriage).  Tim seems a lot like my husband, just angry all the time - so I'd like to ask what sort of person was your late husband, you mention him early on, that he died of cancer - was your marriage happy?  Did you get along?  Because I am very easy going person and being married to someone who is always yelling and angry ... not good.  And of course, he never acted like this when we were dating but everything changed after we got married.  

I apologize in advance if my question brings up sad memories for you - please ignore this if it does.  I'm trying to understand (for myself) how kind gentle generous people (both women AND men, it works both ways) end up with selfish meanies.  

Your journal is great, thank you for sharing!
Laura (aka CTChick)


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 23, 2012)

Laura, I am so pleased you have read my journal and that you are genuinely interested in hearing about my husband, I am happy to talk about him. Yes it brings tears to my eyes to talk about him, but it always makes me happy to share my fond memories of US. 

It took me 36 years to find the right person to marry. I had been in many long term relationships that went sour and never had the desire to marry any of my previous BFs. When I met Barrett, that VERY day, I knew he was the one for me. Yes, I believe in love at first sight. Yes I believe now in a soul mate. We had something very special that not many people have. Before I met Barrett, I was never able to express my feelings very well. If I was unhappy about something, I clammed up. With Barrett it was different. He was soo easy to talk to. So understanding, he would just listen, never got angry, and never judgmental. He never raised his voice. We never had a fight. Never had an argument. Everybody loved him and respected him but feared and revered him. He was the best. We were perfect for each other and everyone around us could see it.

I could psychoanalyze myself on here for why I was always attracted to the "bad guys." But truth is I really don't know. Barrett was kind of a bad guy when I met him. He had a very bad drinking problem, but I had faith in him and with my support, he overcame that. Maybe I was partly attracted to him because he had a problem and I could see past that to the person he really was, I felt I could help him. He had been through a bad marriage with a woman who was not supportive in the least (though I can't fault her really, they had two kids and he was a mess when i met him.) Barrett got ill from drinking a year after we met and just stopped one day because of it. He never drank again. One day I said, "Honey, when are we going to get married?" He replied "You pick a date and we'll get married." I said "tomorrow." So we did. We went to the courthouse the next day but they wouldn't let us get married for 24 hours after filing the paperwork, so we had to wait a couple of days, but we did. I didn't even tell anyone, we just did. Everybody was mad at me because I didn't tell them, lol.

I was sooo happy being married to him. We had the best life together. It was the happiest time of my life. Then only 8 years after we got married he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He died within two months. He died while I was holding him in my arms. It was the saddest thing ever. It was a rough time for me, I had lost my dad 6 months before, I loved my dad so much. And lost my dog. I loved my dog, too. I know grief all too well. 

So a couple years later I met Tim, and as I said earlier in my journal I will NEVER marry him! He was nice and fun and exciting when I first met him, but about a year later he screamed at his daughter one day. I couldn't believe how he had flown off the handle. Now he does it daily, lol. If he would have asked me to marry him within that first year, i probably would have said yes. I loved being married and being a wife. But now I realize I loved being a wife to Barrett and that kind of happiness would never be found with Tim just because I was married to him. He's way too irresponsible, and I am way too responsible. I wouldn't let him drag me down. I can continue to live here and enjoy the benefits of the farm, but I will always watch out for my own interests.

Okay, that's enough about THAT! Thanks for writing Laura. I'll check out your store, too!


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## CTChick (Oct 25, 2012)

Thank you for that - your story honestly brought tears to my eyes.  I love to hear about happy marriages, I have seen so vey few of them in my life (sadly).  Can I ask one more question, then we'll keep it strictly barnyard?  How old was your husband when he quit drinking, and how old when he died?  My own husband sounds so much the same - had been drinking since he was 15 and very heavily up until a year ago (drugs too, I found out after we were married).  We separated in 2011 (it was a bad year, restaining order and all that) and he was diagnosed with cysts on his liver and cirrhosis.  He begged me to take him back so he could spend as much time as he had left being a good father and husband, hasn't had a drink in a year ... but I know he is ill.  He works hard but gets tired easily and doesn't look right.  And the doctors really can't do much, if they biopsy him to check the cirrhosis they can spread cancer - if he HAS cancer, they can't do anything because of the cirrhosis.  He is forty, by the way, terrified of dying but won't go back to the doctors.  After the way he has treated me and the kids, I just say nothing - I am very, very quiet.   

For the record, I am a naturopath - don't drink, do drugs or even "legal" drugs.  Had a work permit at 10, left home at 14, went to four different high schools in three time zones (CA, OK, and CT) graduated 12th in my class.  Worked three jobs after high school, including modeling in NYC ... smart girl who married not one but two alcoholics.  First was a "dumb drunk" second was a mean one.  LOVE my children, who are so good ... but my choices in the men I married just stunk.  Now I am waiting for ... I'm not sure what.  I was happy single, and a happy single mom (between the two marriages).  I owned a condo when I met husband #1; and a house when I met husband #2.  I am nearly bankrupted now (something both husbands promised to do to me - make sure I had nothing, not because I did anything wrong, they both agreed I didn't ... but because I didn't want to stay married).  Before my first divorce, I took care of my grandparents (who half raised me) had Hospice in my home - lost my grandparents AND my parents within a year's time.  Even with the kids, I just felt so alone - and I got tired of being married but being a single mom.  So I told my first husband I didn't want anything but primary physical custody of the kids, and got divorced.   

One of my favorite things to do, my "therapy" is to pull a chair into the chicken coop and just watch the chickens.  My goats make me laugh, but I love to watch the chickens - all shapes and sizes and ages, but they all GET ALONG.  I just love that!  My friends come over, call me Dr. Doolittle but they love my "Peaceable Kingdom" because they all - dogs, rabbits, goats, chickens - get along.  And they listen, like the kids do - they go back into their pens when I ask, even my buck goat Luigi is a doll.  

But because of the uncertainty of my husband's health, I have to watch what I invest in, in terms of animals etc.  If or when he gets very sick, I need to be able to take care of it all - physically AND financially.

Thanks for listening, I had a feeling you would understand ...

Laura AKA "CTChick"


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 25, 2012)

Laura,

My heart goes out to you in a BIG way. I have so much to say to you, but I'm going to take most of the liver talk to a PM, that way we won't bore our regular readers! 

Just one thing though, Barrett developed liver cancer 8 years after he quit drinking. He was 56. I was not aware that he had been diagnosed with cirrhosis 8 years before. People always say our liver can regenerate and heal itself. Not TRUE! If there is cirrhosis there is permanent scarring, and that tissue can never heal itself, and can lead to cancer.

I'll write more to you in a bit. I have to take Annie to school early this morning, so it may be after that.


Back to barnyard talk!

SHEEP
Dipsy my ram who was wobbly the other night is doing so much better it is a miracle. Whether or not it was meningeal worm is hard to say at this point. But we have been treating him for it, and after a couple heavy doses of Safeguard he is almost back to normal. We brought him and all the girls up yesterday and put them through the worming chute. While in there, Dipsy got to hump CowMalley, our biggest suffolk sheep. He had her right where he wanted her, and she is so big, the chute was an ideal vehicle to get her into a position that he could actually get on top of her.  After we treated all of them, Tim made a nice little "hospital pen" for Dipsy, OMalley and Po to stay in for the next few days so we can continue to treat him easily.

PIG
I finally let the pig out to roam around again. He was so sad and pitiful locked in that stall all the time and I said screw it, I'm going to let him out. The sheep were down the hill away from the barn for the most part, so I figured they wouldn't freak out too quickly. Well, I let Taco out and he actually stayed pretty much away from the sheep. He was a very good boy. But pigs, like goats, can get through most fences. But he stayed pretty much in the back, then in the evening when I was feeding the chickens, he came back up to the gate and told me he was ready to go to bed back in his stall! What a good piggy! I will let him back out today so he can play again. Hopefully this will all work out and he can live here happily ever after.


POULTRY
The white pekin ducks are gone  Some old guy stopped by our place the other day looking for a rooster for his hens. I told him "Have we got roosters for you!" We sold him one for $15, one that was just about ready to be put into rooster purgatory. whew. Lucky for that roo! We asked him he wanted our 2 remaining pekin ducks and he took those guys too. Speaking of duck, we ate another one that we had in the freezer the other night. It was just as awful as the first one. We brined it for 24 hours, and made sure to not overcook it, but it was still tough as could be. So now the only thing we have left is 4 Indian Runner ducks who aren't nearly as bad as the pekin when it comes to the water troughs. One of the ducks though is locked up, because the others were picking at it so bad it's neck was raw and he had nop feathers left. Tim put scarlet oil on his neck and it is healing. I don't know what's going ot become of that though.

ANNIE
I have to take Annie to school early this morning, she is doing miserable in school. She has 2 Fs, and she had another F up until a day or so ago. She finally turned in her late homework in that class and it brought her grade up to a B. It amazes me the chances they give these kids to succeed, yet she still blows it. They can turn in their homework late and still get a good grade. They can retake any test that they did poorly in. Annie took a math test and got an F on it. She finally retook it, and the teacher told us she did worse the second time.   The school has a great system in place now for keeping track of what's going on with her grades and assignments, yet she somehow continues to mess up even though it seems like we are keeping after her.

Anyways, I have to make her lunch now and then I'll write more later about RUTH.


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 25, 2012)

I love your store.  That is so cool!!  How did you learn to do all of that?


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks Pearce! I guess I just learn by doing...!! I want to figure out though how to take better pictures for my products. Some of them aren't that great. It's hard to get that perfect backdrop. 

I washed more wool today, and carded more wool. My stash is piling up!


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## bonbean01 (Oct 25, 2012)

Your store looks great and I wish you super great success!!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 26, 2012)

Well, this a.m. I was walking by one of the horse's water troughs and there was my English Game hen ROO! Floating in the water, I thought he was dead for sure. We usually keep a big log in the troughs so chickens can get out if they fall in. Tim had switched the water trough yesterday and forgot to put the stick back in.

I was horrified as I pulled the chicken out, he seemed dead. But then I saw him move his head back slightly, he was alive!!!!! omg I didn't know what to do. I was crying (of course) and ran to Tim telling him I found him in the water. We decided to put him under a heat lamp to see if that helped, but we did not have high hopes. He was limp and wet and cold, and was barely breathing. I thought water must have gotten into his lungs for sure. He was having some spasms which I thought was him dying.

He was hanging in there, so I put some Poultry RX stuff on his beak and around his head. He seemed to perk up a little when I did and moved his head a little. But his breathing was still sporadic and raspy sounding.

Well, I'm happy to report the last time I looked in the stall where he was under the lamp, he was walking around!!!!!  A miracle. He seems to be okay. He was pecking around eating, too. Oh I am so happy, he is so beautiful!


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## bonbean01 (Oct 26, 2012)

Happy for you and ROO


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 26, 2012)

Oh so glad he made it.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 26, 2012)

The infamous "dead" chicken several hours later! 






He's doing great!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 27, 2012)

TIME MANAGEMENT
Did you ever play one of those time management games on Yahoo? I used to play Farm Frenzy all the time before I actually lived on a farm. I just loved it, used to play it for hours! You would have to start by watering the grass, then the chickens would come along and eat the grass. Then they would lay an egg and you would have to go pick it up...etc. Well, now I am doing all of that in REAL life! I can't even believe it. I am constantly queuing up the next thing that has to be done in my head when I'm out in the barnyard. It's just like I'm playing the game..Feed the chickens...have to go fill the water troughs...pick up the eggs....put down hay...feed the sheep....go put minerals out....wash the eggs....put them out in my box for sale....on and on and on. The game never ends! lol  

SENSES
I also have been thinking a lot lately how much you keenly use all of your senses when you are a farmer. Sight...I am constantly looking around to make sure nothing is out of order, nothing is out of whack or that everybody looks okay. Then sound...I always notice if somebody is baaing out of the ordinary, or clucking, or if there is an ABSENCE of a sound I should be hearing. Then smell, does this corn smell okay, does this hay smell okay? Touch...I love to pet the chickens or hold them, they are so smooth and silky. The sheep are so soft and wooly. Touch the water in the water trough and make sure it feels not too cold or not too hot. Then there is the sixth sense. I use that a lot! Something doesn't feel right, I better check on so and so...

I'm happy that I saved two critters this week using my senses. I didn't lose any! That's always a good week.

VISITING
Today I am going to my sister Bon's. She's having some coworkers over and I'm bringing my felting stuff and the ferrets so we can play around. They want me to show them how to make the ferrets and other fun stuff. Bon lives in Baltimore, so it is a good hour and a half drive. It will be fun!

RUTH
Ruth's hip is still bothering her. She hasn't been to the Senior Center in 2 weeks  After taking her to numerous Doctors, she was diagnosed with bursitis by the Orthopedic Specialist. He gave her a cortisone shot and it hasn't done much yet, but can take up to 10 days to kick in. We were worried her cancer was coming back, she had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. But all the special blood tests came back a-okay! But in the meantime she is bored to tears and wants me to come over and sit down and "chat" with her.  Well, there never seems to be a good time to do that, since I am so busy with everything here. I am going to go over this morning and chat with her for a little while and maybe and sit and have breakfast with her. 

I suspect she wants to talk about the whole Power of Attorney thing. Tim had gotten the idea in his head that I should be Ruth's POA. I said NO, absolutely not. Because I know what will happen. He will try to pressure me into doing things that aren't right, plain and simple. And I don't feel like being in the middle of it, with him trying to manipulate the whole situation with Ruth's money. Then he decided that he would just do it. But then i got to thinking that that definitely won't be in Ruth's best interest at all! He is already talking about trying to get Ruth to change her will to give us the farm when she dies. She's got nephews, they don't live nearby at all and we are the ones watching out for her, but she has her will already written that they are her heirs.  No doubt they will sell the farm when she dies and we will be out, but oh well. I don't expect Ruth to bypass her blood relatives for us. I don't think she should. 

So there will be an ongoing battle over who gets to handle her affairs, and what happens to her estate when she dies.

Okay, that's it for now. Happy farming! Batten down the hatches for Hurricane Sandy all you east coasters!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 28, 2012)

THE FARM PROPERTY

I had a chat with Ruth yesterday. I sat down and had breakfast with her. Get this..she asked ME if I want to take over the farm! She said she would sell it to me for a song, or let me take over the remaining mortgage, which I could afford, especially if I sell my house in Maryland. Well, I couldn't believe it! She only wants to be able to stay here until she dies, and she wants Annie to have a home until she gets old enough to go out on her own. She didn't ask TIM, she asked ME if I wanted to take it over  omg, I could be the owner of our farm! I asked her about her nephews, and she said don't worry about them, she would deal with them.  It's just a crazy notion that I never would have dreamed up on my own, that I could own the farm. Wow. Plus, if we had Ruth's side of the house, that would add another 1,000 SF of living space for us! And closets, which we dearly need. Ruth basically has an apartment set up and lives in one room of her house. She has everything she needs in there. 

STRAY RAM


Never a dull moment around here. A farm down the road called us yesterday to ask if we had a ram missing! Nope not us. A ram showed up at their barn sniffing about their ewes. They don't even have a ram and I'm sure all her ewes are in heat, so he was having a good time, although I don't think he got into their pasture. Well, of course Tim jumped on that opportunity right away and said we would come and "take him off their hands and find the owner." I know exactly what he was thinking, if we couldn't locate the owner he would have a nice big ram to take to the livestock auction!  Well, we went to go get the guy and he was a huge healthy, at least 200 pounds, what we thought was a Katahdin. We loaded him in the truck and brought him home and put hi in the stall with the pig. Taco has had quite a few visitors lately in his stall, lol. So Tim figured out which direction the pig had reportedly came form and made a phone call to some other lady he knew who had a farm with sheep. She wasn't missing a ram, but she said somebody had just stopped by inquiring if they had seem a Dorper ram. That was our guy. So Tim called THAT farm and sure enough, they were missing him. They came and picked him up and Tim lost his opportunity to capitalize on somebody else's loss. 

BON's

So I went up to Bon's and we had a really nice time. I brought my felted ferrets and everybody loved them. We had a nice dinner and I showed them how to make a felted pumpkin. Even the guys were trying stabbing that felting needle into the pumpkin, and they liked it! But after that, the guys had to go outside and do something manly to make up for the felting experience.  They decided to get up on a ladder and caulk around Bon's windows so she wouldn't get rain in during the hurricane. lol. We had a great dinner, then played with her real ferrets, and then I headed home.


NEW ARRIVAL

I got home around 9 last night. I walk into the house and there is our "chicken-carrying box". It's dark inside of it so I can't see what's in there. I'm very curious as to why this would be in the house, and then I heard a rustling noise from within. Tim wouldn't have brought chickens in. Hmmmm. There are leaves and debris scattered about on the floor around the cage. Now what? I thought to myself. Tim came in with a big grin on his face. "Look what we got today honey!" He opened the door of the cage......


Tea Cup Piggies! OMG Two black cute little guys that were only about a foot long. SQUEALLLL!!!!!!! They are not very friendly, or at least not very accustomed to people yet, so they are too scared to hold. The lady he got them from said they will get friendly quickly though if we give them treats by hand. Wow I can't wait to play with these little guys and make them so they will sit on my lap. Tim wants to work with them and then sell them. He got them for practically nothing on CL, and has big plans to sell them for a bunch of money. Whatever, lol. I will enjoy having them around for a while and playing with them.

HURRICANE PREPARATIONS

Today is our last day before the hurricane hits to get ready. Lots to do. I am so worried about the sheep and the shelters we made, and worried if they will be able to stand up to high winds.  We will have to bring horses up too because undoubtedly the creek will flood so much down in the lower paddocks. We don't have room in the barn, so we will have to consolidate animals (eg. put the goats with the pig, etc.) and make do the best we can.  I want to make sure we have plenty of water troughs filled up, and the bathtub filled up and have to get a propane tank for the grill...lots to do. 

Okay later gators!


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 28, 2012)

So exciting about the farm prospect!  That property is beautiful. 

Got piggy pics?


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## jodief100 (Oct 28, 2012)

hope you come through the storm OK.  Those of us father inland are keeping y'all in our thoughts.


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## bonbean01 (Oct 28, 2012)

X 2 !!!!!  It was one thing preparing for hurricanes when we were on the east Florida coast, but it was just us and one little dog then.  Having livestock is another thing!!!!!  Hope the storm is gentle with you and yours and everyone in its path


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## Alice Acres (Oct 28, 2012)

Whole bunches of busyness going one. I hope your farm deal works out for you. 
Need pictures of those pigs for sure...and STAY SAFE!!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 28, 2012)

Thanks for all your well wishes everyone! Well, we've taken care of business this morning and moved all the animals around to safer places. We filled all the water troughs we could find and picked up all the loose debris. Everybody has hay under shelter. Now we have to go shopping to get some last minute items before the storm hits. I am hoping we don't get hit too bad.       

Here are some piggy pictures for your enjoyment! I watched one of them poop in the cat litter box this morning. They are potty trained!


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## bonbean01 (Oct 28, 2012)

Too cute!!!!! 

And trained to use kitty litter?  Excellent!


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## Alice Acres (Oct 28, 2012)

I love it, they are really cute.

How big will they get? How are they different than pot bellied pigs? (Just a different breed?)


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 28, 2012)

I'm not quite sure, but I think they "might" be considered miniature pot bellied pigs. Tim saw their parents and they were close the size of my miniature schnauzer in the pic, maybe a little smaller. These little girls are about 8 weeks old. They are sooo cute! But scaredies. When Tim went to pick one up so I could hold it, it squealed bloody murder! lol It was sooo loud, ha ha.


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## Alice Acres (Oct 28, 2012)

OMG, yes when we did anything except pick our PB Bailey Ann up she was good... but pick her up and she screamed like we were killing her!!


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## SheepGirl (Oct 28, 2012)

Awesome news about Ruth & the farm!! I hope you can get it so you can 'own' it and then make all the farm decisions -- I bet you'd enjoy that!! 

But OMG I know what you mean about the squealing. We have seven 3-4 week old pigs at the farm I work at and we move them from the farrowing crate to a stall every Sunday night and they SQUEAL like no other, so what my boss does (and now what we do) is hold them by their back legs so their heads face the ground and it works like a charm to get them to be quiet!


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 28, 2012)

I'm glad some of you guys can relate to the pig squeals, lol, it's about the loudest most wretched shriek I've ever heard! 

I will have to try picking them up by the back legs Sheepgirl, that should be very amusing!


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## Queen Mum (Oct 28, 2012)

question:   Why do you want to hold them?  Pigs aren't the most "cuddly" animals.  They do love scritches and scratchies.   They are pigs for treats.  But lap sitters?  I've never known a pig who was a lap pig.


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## Bridgemoof (Oct 28, 2012)

Queen Mum, well I never held a piggy before, and I must admit it wasn't the most cuddly thing! I wouldn't mind them sitting on my lap to get their ears scratched. But you're right, they're not soft and cuddly, like shEEP!


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## Queen Mum (Oct 28, 2012)

I love piggies.  I used to raise them.  But they are odd animals.  Very endearing.  However, I never found them to be cuddly. They kind of look like they should be cuddly.  They are too, hyper and rubbery.  The do love a good scratch and scritch and they are full of silliness and life and mischeif.  Sort of like a dog without the fluffy thrown in.


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## CTChick (Oct 28, 2012)

The pigs are adorable!  Funny though, with all the pets and animals I've kept pigs have never tempted me ... we are also battened down up here in Connecticut, spent the day working and preparing for storm Sandy (aka "Frankenstorm").  I am more worried about the Louisiana sinkhole - now THAT has all the makings of a nightmare!  

Everyone stay safe!  And I'll send lots of positive energy that you get to buy the farm!
Laura


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 2, 2012)

Well I have decided there are just not enough hours in a day! I've been working on so many projects that I haven't taken the time to write in my journal. Plus my space bar on my keyboard is just not working very well, due to the fact that the bengal tiger cat knocked my whole  laptop off the kitchen table, so typing is a pain. And I have to get caught up on everybody else's blogs!

HURRICANE
We weathered the hurricane with moderate damage. We lost power for only a little more than a day. But the creek rose so much it wiped out two of our horse paddocks, and half the fencing along the stream. Everybody is crowded uphill until we repair fencing, and it is a muddy mess around here. There is still water just streaming down the hillside from underground springs. There is a new "beach" down at the stream from all the sand that washed up. That's kind of cool, but the goat's browsing area is gone for now. So things are more out of whack than usual, and everybody is getting cranky about the mud. This morning I am going to divide the grassy hillside into two areas with my electroweb fencing so I can put my Jacobs over there to share the grass with the Finn sheep. I decided to let my Jacobs go ahead and demolish what's left of my garden, too. I just have to take out a few plants that may be noxious, then let them have at it.
_
In case you missed this picture in the Sandy's Coming... thread, here's our creek and lower paddock. The creek usually runs behind this horse shed, which is to the right in the picture. See that little piece of fencing left behind the shed? The creek is usually BEHIND that! Oy._






DRUM CARDER
I went ahead and got my Strauch drum carder this week. All I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      It is fantastic and I am eating, sleeping and dreaming fluffy wool batts. I've been so busy just washing, dyeing, carding, I should have a lot of cool batts to put up for sale on my Etsy shop. It works really great, I am so impressed with it. And it's really, really FUN!!!!

FERRET SHOW
Tomorrow is Bon's ferret show and I need to spend some time today getting some things together for that. I'll be taking the felting supplies with so we can have a "Felted ferret" workshop. I hope we c an sell some of the guys I already made.  

PIGGIES
The piggies are so funny. They are just oinking scurrying little imps. They have been coming into the kitchen though and pooping under the kitchen table, so that's not so good. They were just using the litter box, but now they've expanded their facilities, so they are on lock down in the mud room. The cat is not too keen either on sharing the litter box with them, so I will have to get another litter box for him. Tim is expecting ME to train them somehow so he can sell them for big bucks, but let me tell you I know NOTHING about training pet pigs, do YOU? lol So inthemeantime I am just juggling more animals to take care of, and to clean up after 

So that's it for now, hope everyone has a great Friday and a great weekend!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Nov 2, 2012)

Thanks for the update Bridge!! You sure sound busy and have fun at the show!!

Pigs in the house? haha I like pigs but I'd be dead before they came in the house. Even the little 'pet' ones. lol

Hope you have a great Fri too. So happy it's finally Fri. :bun


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## Alice Acres (Nov 2, 2012)

Looks like you got just enough storm damage to make a lot more work 

But the drum and your ferret event sound like lots of fun! Good luck with those potty training in process piggies


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 3, 2012)

FERRET SHOW 
Well back from the ferret show and it was a success! We sold 3 out of the 5 ferrets I made, plus I made a custom one for somebody there, so we made $100 just on the wooly ferrets! Yay! That's good news and the one I made today is the best one yet, so I will crank out a few new ones to replace the ones I sold on my etsy store. I also sold a wool batt that I had with me that I made with my drum carder.  I've got to get a few wool batts on my etsy store too.





_Annie (right) and I at the ferret show with my wooly ferrets and felted pumpkins._

SHEEP
Other than that, I got the Jacobs moved yesterday but two of the girls already jumped the electro fence.  Not sure how that happened, but I believe they are already bred so if they are with Finneas 360 that's okay. He has show no interest in them nor any of the other Finns he is with. I guess he's just a sneaky breeder and hopefully they're all bred, but if so, I've missed all the action. Uriah, in the meantime, has been headbutting Lottie, and she's head butting him right back! I don't know if she's coming into heat for the first time or what is going on. But they don't seem to be hurting each other. But he's got those huge horns!  Sheep Behavior 101. 

Harriet, our Harlequin ewe, had a really bad eye problem yesterday so we brought her up to the barn. We have her on Doxycycline and some eye cream. Her eye was all weepy and closed up and her eyeball looked cloudy, yuckers. But today it's already looking a lot better!


PIGS
Well, the little piggies have been making quite the mess in the house. I guess they've decided the cat litter box is no good anymore, so they've been peeing and pooping under the kitchen table  I put down another litter box under there and put their pine pellet things in it, but now they're peeing next to it.   What a PIG STY I live in! But the good news is somebody came to look at the pigs today and hopefully  we will sell them  I don't really want to put them inthe barn because any hope for training them to be nice pets will go out the window. They are supposed to be PETS, not livestock, and I'm afraid if we put them out there they'll just get less house broken  and we'll ahve less chance of getting rid of them. So I'll give it a few more days.


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## Southern by choice (Nov 3, 2012)

Your wooly ferrets are great. 

So, I'm not ashamed to admit I don't know what a drum carder is, please educate me. Picture too please. 

Glad you had a good day!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 4, 2012)

Oh kay Southern,  let me eduficate you! This is something you will need to know when you get your sheep 

A drum carder takes raw, clean wool and turns it into fluffy wool "batts" that are about an inch thick and 7" wide x 16" long. You can use these batts to make felt or to start spinning yarn. It basically prepares the wool so you can use it for these things. Natural wool is kind of clumpy and sheep have "locks" that need to be pulled apart to be able to spin. You can use hand carders, which look just like dog slicker brushes but are bigger, or you can use a drum carder. You are basically "brushing" the wool so it is nice and neat and smooth. 

So you feed it into the drum which has little pins and needles on it, and it smooths out the fibers.

Here is a picture of the drum carder I got:
http://www.strauchfiber.com/index.php

And here is an example of a batt of wool that had different colors blended together.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/104048636/wool-batt-orange-shetland-merino-baby?ref=&sref=


Ohhhh so pretty! So now I can take all of my different kinds of wool and different colors and put them through the drum carder and make these pretty batts for spinners.

Cool, isn't it?


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## Southern by choice (Nov 4, 2012)

Very cool! Now what about spinning????


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 4, 2012)

Haha, well spinning is tricky. You have to try it to figure it out. It took me a while to get it down, now I can actually make yarn!  It's a very time consuming process. I just barely have the time tosit down and spin a whole skein of yarn. It takes me months! A few minutes at a time...ha ha.

Here's the wheel I have, which is portable and folds up so you can carry it with you:
http://www.woolery.com/store/pc/Kromski-Sonata-c133.htm

My advice is to see if there is a spinners guild in your area, or if there is any kind of fiber festival you can see it happening first hand. It's hard to explain how it works, you have to see it in action.

Now wool, and what kind of sheep to get, that's a WHOLE nother story!


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## Pearce Pastures (Nov 4, 2012)

That is so exciting!!  It is just so cool that you have that kind of talent.  SO I am sure I missed this, but how do you and Bon know each other?


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## Southern by choice (Nov 4, 2012)

This is so cool!  one of my sons is going to a woodwrights school, he is very gifted. One of the classes offered has the  Swift/Skeinwinder as the project! The school uses only hand tools no electric anything.  I wonder if he could make a wheel too! I know it would end up costing way more than what's listed on the site :/  but it would be a great project! Seeing as how we don't have any sheep he could take as long as needed!   I will take your advice and start looking around! I know NOTHING about sheep, but I can shear them.


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 4, 2012)

Hey Pearce, Bon is my SISTER   We are best friends and we talk to each other EVERY day! We realized yesterday was the one year anniversary of my mom's passing  We were glad we were together.

Southern, ohhh a skein winder sounds like a fun project for woodworking! I can't imagine how difficult a spinning wheel would be, but hey they made them from scratch in the olden days, that's for sure!  I'm sure it could be done and would be a challenging project


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 10, 2012)

Well, busy wooly week.  And daylight savings time really screwed me up and I have less time in the morning now to blog before the sun comes up and I have to go let the chickens out!

WOOL and SOCIAL AFFAIRS
I've been working on a wool felted Santa, he is an antique Victorian Santa and he looks great. I can't wait to post a picture when he's done. I'll put him up for sale on my etsy store. Which speaking of etsy, I sold a felted ferret this week from my etsy store!   I've also made some new batts with my drum carder and put them up for sale. Fun!  

Thursday I went to my spinner's group. That's always fun. I worked on spinning some dark brown Harlequin wool I had that I carded with glitzy mylar strands. It looks really pretty when spun. On Wednesday I went to a luncheon up in my old neck of the woods with my Catholic Church lady friends. It was a thank you luncheon for everybody who helped with their Christmas Mart last year.  Let me tell you how much fun I have helping make things for the Christmas Mart. First of all, I'm not Catholic, I don't even go to church, but I LOVE these ladies! They are so sweet and fun and nice. Every year I go to the church and help them make and decorate real wreaths. When you walk in, they have everything set up like Santa's Workshop. I kid you not, for a creative person like myself, it is the FUNNEST thing ever! It's like walking into a Micheal's store and getting to use whatever you want to decorate a wreath. They have everything set up on long tables. Berries and pine cones, and big bows, and bobbles and balls...ohhh it's so cool. Some of the ladies make the wreath forms with fresh greens, then they hand me the wreath and say "go to town."! We also make fresh floral arrangements with fresh greens. Then the last day, whatever is left over, we do a "make and take." Plus they feed you tons. we always have a big breakfast and a big lunch every day. We decorate and  eat and sing Christmas Carols all week. It's absolutely my favorite thing to do all year. So that will be the first week of December that we will be making our goodies this year. I can't wait! 

PIGS
Well, the piggies are doing pretty well.Of course I am getting attached to them.They are so entertaining to watch. Funny little things! They have gotten better about using their litter box. I've been keeping them locked up in the mud room where their box is more, especially after they eat, and now they are using it regularly. They haven't gone under the kitchen table for several days now. 

The outside pig, Taco, however, has been very bad. Since I've been letting him out of his stall more during the day, he has been getting into more trouble! There was a big blue tarp laying on the ground, and he completely tore it to shreds! The last night when I went to go lock up the chickens I noticed the tack room door was left open. Well, I had the alpaca fleece in there wrapped in a sheet, and he had ripped the sheet up and dragged my wool all over the place!  BAD piggy!

FENCE
Well, it's light out already so I have to cut this short, but today Tim and Annie are going to mend fences, literally! Still much to do to repair the fences after the hurricane.

So have a great weekend everyone!


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## Alice Acres (Nov 10, 2012)

Your un-church church ladies sound like fun!

I need to head out to work this morning soon...but wanted to say I enjoyed reading that...and sorry your naughty pig got in your fiber...Naughty Pig!!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 12, 2012)

Happy Monday!

The weather was really nice here this weekend. I think it warmed up into the 60s. We got the fence done across the stream on Saturday morning, so we were able to put the 2 horses back down there. Yay! It's really hard nailing in those hard horse fence boards, just sayin. 


Most of the weekend I worked on wool stuff, and regular work stuff. I picked through some cormo wool and washed a bunch of it. I also worked on my Santas, and finished the second one. Tim made some bases from out of the cherry tree that fell down during the hurricane. They worked perfect! The Santas look SO GREAT, if I do say so myself. I'll be posting them on my etsy store today 

BEHOLD, the SANTAS! 






This morning I have to finish up some work, then it's back to Santa making..Or I am thinking I may do an angel next with real chicken feathers for wings. Coolio!

That's it for now, fellow herd members!


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## GoatCrazyLady (Nov 12, 2012)

Nice work. Really love love love


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## Southern by choice (Nov 12, 2012)

That's amazing bridge! How long does one Santa take?


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 12, 2012)

Thanks you guys! 

Tim and I were just discussing that...I'm not sure how many hours since I work on it in bits and pieces when I can. I started the second Santa on Saturday and finished it last night. I could do one in a day if I devoted time to it I think. But hours...maybe 4?


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 14, 2012)

Brief rundown...

Here is what is going on at my house:






_Yes, that's the cat sleeping with his paws wrapped around the pig!_


Sold a Santa on etsy!    

Ok, so my brother was the buyer! But hey, his money is good!  I also painted 2 civil war xmas ornaments and sold them, too! 

Also, Tim and Annie are away at a horse show in southern VA. I am alone here to feed and take care of our 100+ animals! Aghhhhhhhh!!!!! Tim will be back tomorrow at some point.

Going to bed early! Night chickadees!


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## SheepGirl (Nov 14, 2012)

LOVE the picture!  and that kitty looks sooo velvety


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Nov 14, 2012)

That is too funny.

I'm glad you're website is working and you're selling stuff. That rocks.


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## Pearce Pastures (Nov 14, 2012)

Very cute pic.


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## bonbean01 (Nov 14, 2012)

Now that piggy and kitty photo has to be submitted on POW!!!!  That is too cute 

Your art is awesome and I'm glad it's selling!!!!


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## marlowmanor (Nov 15, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Brief rundown...
> 
> Here is what is going on at my house:
> 
> ...


Kitty brought home the bacon for you!  

Glad to hear you are selling some stuff.  Your Santa was pretty cool looking. If I didn't have kids taht are still destructive I'd have pretty things like that setting around the house. But with kids that are rough on things and no room for setting things up I can't get things like that just to set out as decoration. Guess I have to wait till we have a bigger house, and the kids are older to be able to have pretty things like that Santa to decorate with.


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 15, 2012)

I can imagine Marlow! It's bad enough that I have pigs and dogs and cats running around the house, but kids, too, yikes. I can't imagine putting up a Christmas tree this year, oh the horror.  I'm sure I will do it, though, even though I'll be asking for trouble!


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## marlowmanor (Nov 15, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> I can imagine Marlow! It's bad enough that I have pigs and dogs and cats running around the house, but kids, too, yikes. I can't imagine putting up a Christmas tree this year, oh the horror.  I'm sure I will do it, though, even though I'll be asking for trouble!


My tree last year was decorated halfway. The top half! Didn't want kids pulling off ornaments all the time. They still managed to pull off some ornaments! Don't know how I'm doing the tree this year. I already know to put my more expensive/breakable ornaments at the top where they can't get pulled off. Nothing like finding ornaments around the house randomly!


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## CocoNUT (Nov 15, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Hey Pearce, Bon is my SISTER   We are best friends and we talk to each other EVERY day! We realized yesterday was the one year anniversary of my mom's passing  We were glad we were together.


Hey Guys...just thought I'd pipe in here...there IS a lesson on how to build your own spinning wheel...on Ravelry.com (big forum...kind of like this). Google "DODEC Spinning Wheel"...you'll see it. You can also read the forum dedicated to it and everyone's variations. Essentially it costs about $10 to make, lists the materials and tools required...etc.   It's not an Ashford, Lendrum, Majacraft, or Louet...but it works! 

Bridgemoof - that's soo cool that you spin too! I hardly have enough time for spinning..but when I do...i LOVE it! Most of the spinners are down towards C'ville...not really any up by me. Bummer. LOVE the journal BTW!

Your Cheetah (cat) looks EXACTLY like our Egyptian Mau...I'm wondering if he really IS a Mau?! lol


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## CocoNUT (Nov 15, 2012)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> Kitty brought home the bacon for you!
> 
> Glad to hear you are selling some stuff.  Your Santa was pretty cool looking. If I didn't have kids taht are still destructive I'd have pretty things like that setting around the house. But with kids that are rough on things and no room for setting things up I can't get things like that just to set out as decoration. Guess I have to wait till we have a bigger house, and the kids are older to be able to have pretty things like that Santa to decorate with.


Quick idea - when my DD was younger, I used to decorate our Christmas tree with large, silk flowers instead of ornaments! I'd get those fake poinsettias, red hydrangeas and white roses - buy in them in their little groups, separate them - then string the lights and stick the flowers in the tree. I'd find those silk flowers all over the house...but she never had to pull on the tree...and it did look really "classy" as everyone would comment. DD is almost 9 now and I'll still find those silk flowers around the house from her previous years "stash."  Now we have the home made ornaments, family ornaments, AND silk flowers on the tree.


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## verkagj (Nov 15, 2012)

Way cool picture but you know what they say about sleeping with pigs!!! Kitty will get a bad reputation


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## ragdollcatlady (Nov 15, 2012)

Not to hijack the thread...but about kids, cats and critters undressing the tree....I use unbreakable giant jingle bells instead of glass balls and plastic candy canes or ornaments...kids and critters are always welcome to redecorate. Daycare kids loved my house because they weren't allowed to touch anyone elses tree, but Trina's tree was way more fun anyway! They spent all day redecorating and were so serious about getting it "just right"....2 and 3 year olds know exactly where every item goes! And the cats........I got the biggest kick out of one kitten that would lay across the branch about a foot off the ground to spy on everyone......Some day the kids will be gone and the critters will be too old to climb the tree...then I will have a "pretty" tree, but I guarantee it won't bring the same amount of smiles as the hodge podge trees we have had for years.


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 15, 2012)

Oh interesting Coconut! I've heard of the Mau, but we were told it was a Bengal. I think they are both exotic type breeds that are similar.  
Also, I don't have much time to spin myself! It took me forevvvvveeeerrr to spin those 2 skeins of yarn that I have for sale on my etsy site.

No, verkagj! What DO they say about sleeping with pigs?


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 15, 2012)

That's really cute ragdollcatlady! I bet the kids had a blast decorating the tree. Perhaps I should let my pigs and cat decorate mine?


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## Southern by choice (Nov 15, 2012)

Hi Bridge, 

 stopping in to say hi and.... I got a few contacts the other day for spinners! Woohoo! 

I am so glad you are doing well with your store! Hope you made it ok through your morning feed time... alone. 100+ animals. UGH!
Sometimes it is nice to do it alone and just enjoy them as you go along. BUT sometimes it s**ks!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 15, 2012)

HI Southern! Thanks for thinking of me! That's great news about the spinning contacts! You will have to try it out yourself to see what it's like. It's really cool.

Feeding went a-okay. The Jacob sheep ended up hopping the electric wire and they are now in the pond area, but that's okay. They did NOT want to be with those goats, lol. They were whining about it all night last night, too. 

What was really stressing me out this morning was that I had a PIA client that had sent me changes at midnight last night to a job that was supposed to go to the printer yesterday! So I knew when I got up this morning I would have to feed the 100+ animals AND get his job done first thing.  Ughers. Turns out the PIA kept making changes ALL day today, and even tonight he was calling me at the grocery store, after I sent the job to the printer already!  

But I did have a reprieve on feeding this afternoon, because Tim came home from the show for a few hours.  He did a few things outside and then fed everybody then hit the road again. I dealt with PIA client. And the really good news is....I am almost finished with another Santa! I worked on it in between my job, and he is SO GREAT! He is "Woodland Santa" and I have to make a little Christmas tree that he will be dragging and he'll be holding a hatchet, lol.    I know, sounds kind of morbid for Christmas but he's really cute! And I made a teeny itsy bitsy little squirrel to sit at his feet, or on his shoulder, not sure. But the squirrel turned out great and is only about an inch tall.

I also got my scale that I had ordered today  NO SHEEPGIRL, not a scale that I can weigh sheep.  It is a little postal scale and I got it to weigh my wool and small shipping packages. But I suppose I could weigh a teacup piggy on it, it goes up to 35lbs. I think. So now I can weigh my packages here at home and print out shipping labels and get the mail person to pick it up and NEVER have to leave the house  Plus, a bonus...the box it came in is perfect for shipping my Santa to my brother! Cool beans.

Okay, one more feeding tonight, the sugar gliders.  Then it's make coffee for the morning, eat my ice cream and go to bed. I love my little routines. When everything else around me is so unpredictable (Tim, cough cough) it is nice to have a routine. Tomorrow morning it's solo feeding again! But at least PIA is out of the way, so I can take my time in the morning.

Night!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 17, 2012)

Aghhhh my aching bones and muscles! I can't take much more if this feeding by myself business. Tim is still at the show and I don't even know when he's coming back. Maybe today, maybe not until tomorrow. Lencho helped me feed yesterday afternoon so that was good. He is not coming today or tomorrow though so I will have to feed on my own this morning. It's very hard pushing a wheelbarrow of corn all the way down the hill and back up again. My body is definitely feeling it! But it's so peaceful here, that's for sure. No yelling and screaming.  All the animals are doing okay.

The only concern I have is Lily, my prima donna Jacob ewe, and Uriah have been seriously having it out.  They have been ramming each other with their horns. Yesterday I watched Uriah back up at least 50 feet and charge into Lily. I may have to move her out of there. She let him mount her when I first brought him home, and I don't think she's gone into heat again. But I don't know what is going on with those two and I'm afraid somebody is going to get hurt. 

Ok, time to get my muscles moving again!


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## Southern by choice (Nov 17, 2012)

Sounds like you need a Gator and a trailer hitch w/trailer for feed.
A wheelbarrow... UP and down a hill...     It'd be a "fend for yourselves" day at the farm. 

I'm going to be in the same boat today.   DH and one of my teen sons went deep see fishing..left at 1 am, Straw and my other teen son are helping their Aunt move. So the morning will be a little rough... mostly cuz I hate cold. Not so bad when it's warm.

Enjoy your quiet. I need some here too!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 17, 2012)

Aw Southern, I wish you luck and warmth!

WE have a riding mower with a wagon, the wheels are perma flat or the battery is dead, or both. There is some reason it is just sitting in the barnyard and we are not using it! So not only did I push the wheelbarrow down filled with corn, I loaded up a bale of hay on top of it, too. But it didn't tip over! Woohoo!

I made it through morning FREEZINg feeding, lol. You know how in the middle of summer you imagine to yourself what winter is going to be like?  And then all of a sudden you are out there and the water troughs are frozen, you are slipping over frosty ground and you realize OMG its winter!  Right now!  When did that happen? 

Canadians, disregard this post. Southerners are wimpy. It was only a balmy 32F this morning and listen to the whining. And right now I am  sitting in the warm house drinking a hot cup of coffee while I whine.


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## Southern by choice (Nov 17, 2012)

I am soooo blessed! Get this... Straw got up early I suppose went and took care of all his goats and my buck and all 4 LGD's! Then at some point my teenage daughter slid on by me and went out took care of both chicken buildings, 2 "for sale" pens and all of our dairy goats! All I have to do is take care of 2 house dogs and 40ish baby chicks in the house! Soon to be moved to the nursery bldg! So I'm doing laundry and dishes and drinking coffee! Yes... Life is good! and I'm warm too! 

I really need more land. I have a lead on some sheep! Don't tell straw though, I'll never hear the end of it!

I really hate when people forget to drain the hoses, they were all frozen this morning.    Yes, the winter thing is a pain, and we're still in fall! Yes, I am a wimpy southerner! 

Well, I guess I better go make the beds!


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## marlowmanor (Nov 17, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Aw Southern, I wish you luck and warmth!
> 
> WE have a riding mower with a wagon, the wheels are perma flat or the battery is dead, or both. There is some reason it is just sitting in the barnyard and we are not using it! So not only did I push the wheelbarrow down filled with corn, I loaded up a bale of hay on top of it, too. But it didn't tip over! Woohoo!
> 
> ...


Well you did better than I with the wheelbarrow, a hill, and hay. I tried that. and had the wheelbarrow tip over about 3/4 of the way to my destination! It's in my journal, I shared the fiasco a couple days ago! Luckily I didn't have a wheelbarrow full of feed though. Just a couple cinder blocks and the goat feed for the night. Lost a little of the feed, but the goats cleaned up what I didn't get back to put in their feeder. Worst part, I didn't need to fill the hay barrel like I thought I did, since it was half full because some of the hay was stuck in the lid.


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## BrownSheep (Nov 17, 2012)

As long as there is less than a foot of snow on the ground I am happy. Which, as of now, there is no snow so the world is a great and wonderful place....now if only I could stop the wind.


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 18, 2012)

Aw Southern, I'm so glad you got help! I'm on day 5 of solo feeding and I'm worn out! Tim actually sent Lencho over to help me this morning, but I didn't know it and he showed up just as I was walking up the hill with the empty wheel barrow.   But I did get him to hay the stalls and bring hay down the hill for the sheep, though, so that was a help! Now I'm inside warming my frozen tootsies and I will remain here for a while! Yay! One more feeding to go, Tim and Annie will be home tonight but not until after dark.

Marlow, it's a good thing those concrete blocks didn't fall on your foot!  

I'm going to work on my felting today because yesterday I practically had no time to. Last night after I finished feeding, though, I started making a mini felted ferret as a Christmas ornament. It will be cute! I will post pictures today of my angel tree topper and my Woodland Santa, although he's not quite finished, and my mini ferret ornament. 

Okay, off to do laundry!


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## Pearce Pastures (Nov 18, 2012)

Your felting is so cool.  I want a felted goat for my desk.  I tried to find a stuff one once but no luck.  So animal feeding, felting, laundry---make sure to take a nap somewhere in there


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 18, 2012)

It's just about nap time right now! I'm pooped. 

OH! Forgot to tell you guys, and if this was a sheep you would have heard about it by now, but one of our goats, the only Alpine goat we have left, is about ready to have a baby! She's a really pretty goat, too with brown, white and black markings on her. Come to think of it now, though, I'm not sure who the daddy is! Maybe Mikey, our Boer buck. Anyways, I will keep you posted.

Here's how the Christmas action figure lineup is looking:





Woodland Santa. Still is missing his hatchet.


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## jodief100 (Nov 18, 2012)

Those are so nice!  You are very talented.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Nov 19, 2012)

That's awesome!! How long does it take you to make them?


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 20, 2012)

Thanks you guys! I've really enjoyed making them. Each one is a little work of art, and as the faces start to develop, it's very interesting. It still amazes me that I can make something like that all out of wool. It takes me a couple of days to complete one. That's just working on it here and there. But that doesn't count picking the wool, washing the wool, dyeing the wool, carding the wool, lol. But I love doing that, too. I love wool, I love sheep!    My sister keeps bugging me to make more ferrets, and I want to make more Santa's, so I made a ferret Santa. lol I might end up giving it to her for Christmas. 

Annie and Tim got back from the show on Sunday night. They had a great time while I was slaving away here at home. But I would rather have been here than a boring horse show, that's for sure. And as you can imagine, the peace and solitude I was enjoying being here on my own is out the window. 

All the animals are doing pretty good.  Taco, the outside pot bellied pig, had a big belly ache the other day and was constipated. So I locked him up because he had been out just laying in the corn bin eating corn for a few days.  So I gave him some fish oil capsules and some pig food. He seems to be feeling better now. He's gotten so huge since we got him, due to the free ranging corn. I need to slim him down a bit because I don't think it's healthy for him. I'm not sure what fate he will have, but I don't want Tim to give him to Lencho to eat. He was Tim's friend's pet pig, and I don't think it's right to take somebody's pet and eat him.  The mini pigs are still running around the house, and are still FOR SALE! lol They are really cute, but they have to go. Of course Tim's plan for selling them quickly for big bucks is not exactly working out as planned. 

THANKSGIVING
...is in 2 days. I have no idea how many people are going to be here. At least 7. We've done no shopping. I don't have a table big enough for everyone. Tim and Annie want to make about 6 pies.  Am I stressing? No. I simply am not giving a hoot. I have beautiful stuff for serving and setting the table in my horse van storage unit. But it's too packed to get into to get anything out. All thanks to Tim. A long story I don't want to go into right now. I'm just thinking about the family that is renting my house, and using my beautiful big dining room table for their family dinner. I hope they have a lovely holiday. That house is great for entertaining and it is so pretty during the holidays.  Ours will be chaotic.

Okay, peeps, have a great day!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 20, 2012)

I just looked at my e-mails and I sold an ornament on etsy!  To someone I don't even know!


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## Alice Acres (Nov 20, 2012)

Those felted items are just amazing!!


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## marlowmanor (Nov 20, 2012)

Just looked at your Etsy store. Those hand painted ornaments are nice. I may have to show them to DH. Don't know that he'll want to order one but I'm tempted myself. Maybe you'll get an order from us soon!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Nov 20, 2012)

I LOVE your felted products!!!!!!   
Where did you learn to do it? I would love to learn! From the look of your products I doubt mine would look THAT good, but I would like to try it. I have piles (about 400lbs) of wool every year and have always wondered about what could be done with it besides taking it to the wool depo!


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## CocoNUT (Nov 20, 2012)

Congratulations Bridge! Your santas are REALLY nice BTW!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 21, 2012)

Hey thanks you guys! I got a felting animal kit at the MD Sheep and Wool Festival. They had instruction in there on how to make a sheep, a goat and a pig. It got me started and then I was hooked! 

Here is a link to the kit I bought: http://www.blacksheepdesigns.com/needlekits.html  It had all the supplies you need and good instructions.

Marlow, don't order an ornament yet because I am getting ready to paint a whole other batch of them!

Coconut, I used angora rabbit on my Angel. I blended it with my Tunis on my carder. It's so soft and pretty. I bought some from a lady who we got our Finn sheep from. She had a whole bunch of pretty bunnies. I wouldn't mind getting some!


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## marlowmanor (Nov 21, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Hey thanks you guys! I got a felting animal kit at the MD Sheep and Wool Festival. They had instruction in there on how to make a sheep, a goat and a pig. It got me started and then I was hooked!
> 
> Here is a link to the kit I bought: http://www.blacksheepdesigns.com/needlekits.html  It had all the supplies you need and good instructions.
> 
> ...


Won't be ordering yet. Have to convince DH about them first, that can take a bit. I have to show them to him and get his approval on them. They look like they'd make a good gift too. Could you do a special order as far as what is painted on them? Or maybe even do names on them? Just thinking of some ideas that may get DH more interested in them.


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 21, 2012)

Oh sure! You just let me know Marlow.


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## marlowmanor (Nov 21, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Oh sure! You just let me know Marlow.


I've been thinking about getting individual ornaments with the kids names on them. Not sure if this style would work for DH or not though. I'll have to show him. I may be able to let you know something by the weekend.


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## CocoNUT (Nov 21, 2012)

@ Bridge - you just let me know when you would like a couple angoras and I can hook you up! I'm not overrun with them...but I'm sure I could find some extra-fluffy/adorable ones! I've got 4 kits right now that are ready to go...the runt is my daughters...but the other three are available....  

@ marlow - my mom used to buy us personalized Christmas ornaments every year - she still buys us at least one ornament every year! She gets them at craft fairs or a Christmas store. They'd have our name and the year on them. Most of the time mom would try and find ornaments that went along with our interests at the time...if she could find them. Now I have a box full of all of my childhood ornaments (& the ones we'd make in school with our photos and popsicle sticks) and when I get them out to put on the tree...I'm reminded of all those childhood Christmases. It's also fun to go through them with my daughter.


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## marlowmanor (Nov 21, 2012)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> @ Bridge - you just let me know when you would like a couple angoras and I can hook you up! I'm not overrun with them...but I'm sure I could find some extra-fluffy/adorable ones! I've got 4 kits right now that are ready to go...the runt is my daughters...but the other three are available....
> 
> @ marlow - my mom used to buy us personalized Christmas ornaments every year - she still buys us at least one ornament every year! She gets them at craft fairs or a Christmas store. They'd have our name and the year on them. Most of the time mom would try and find ornaments that went along with our interests at the time...if she could find them. Now I have a box full of all of my childhood ornaments (& the ones we'd make in school with our photos and popsicle sticks) and when I get them out to put on the tree...I'm reminded of all those childhood Christmases. It's also fun to go through them with my daughter.


I've got things they made in daycare already for the tree. I keep the things that have hand prints, footprints or photos on them and laminated them and put ribbons on them to hang on the tree. I got a personalized family ornament this year that I love. I figured since we are done having kids (for a while at least) I could get a family ornament finally. I still remember all the homemade ornaments we had on our tree when I was growing up and we each had a personalized bell with out names on them as well. I want to start something for my kids to remember for years to come. Now I just have to find ornaments with their names that are inexpensive. I'm liking the ones Bridgemoof has done more and more when I think of having the boys names on them. They are simple, but look like they would last for years and I wouldn't have to worry about them being dropped and broken like a ceramic ornament. Just have to show them to DH and get his approval.


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 24, 2012)

Hi everybody!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our turkeys turned out good, whew!

I'm just checking in to say hi, not much new to report. Everybody is doing well at the moment. I've been working on felty projects and loading up my etsy store.

Have a good weekend everyone!


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## elevan (Nov 24, 2012)




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## Bridgemoof (Nov 27, 2012)

Hellllooo farmers!!!

WOOL
I've really been in creative mode lately, so I haven't had much time to write. I've been working on my wool stuff and am very happy to do it. I sold an angel tree topper that I had listed on my etsy store to someone in Hawaii!  So my angel will be flying off to Hawaii today.   I made a little sachet with rosemary, lavender and cedar shavings to ship with the angel. I'm hoping it will repel moths. I have no idea how these things will hold up in storage when they are not out on display for Christmas. And I have an order for another angel, so I've been working on that. I hope it turns out as good as the first.   Still have to paint some more ornaments, then I have to make another Santa for the farmer's market in December. So much fun stuff to do!

HOOVES
Several goats and sheep have been having hoof troubles, so we've been trying to combat that. Here's our method which works pretty good. We clean and trim the hoof, especially any icky parts. Then we have a concoction we make of DMSO and LA200 which we paint right on the hoof and in between the toes. If the problem is minor it knocks it right out. If it's major, like in the case of Mikey, our boer buck, it take repeated applications. I hate seeing limping critters. Our dog, Inkabod, also has been limping, so I've been giving him Novox.

HORSE
Tim sold a horse! A good one! One of our stallion's 3-year olds. He sent two out on trial and one came back because it didn't pass the vet exam. They thought it might have a small fracture in it's hoof. But he sold the other one, and now he can pay off some debt. Yay! Of course he says with the money left over he is going to buy more goats. Ugh.

TURKEY
Then we have a turkey hen who is sick badly. Her face is all swollen and now she seems to be having trouble seeing. I have her in lock up now and will start treating her with an antibiotic. I noticed the other day the other female turkeys were picking on her, so not sure if she got beat up or if she is sick and that's why they are picking on her. Not sure what the problem is but I hope she gets better!

PIGS
The pet piggies are still here *sigh* But they are cute as the dickens! I really like them. They've gotten better about using the litter box. Yesterday, the funniest thing happened. The cat got into the litter box to pee, and one of the pigs jumped in with him and started peeing next to him. Then the other piggy wanted to pee too, but couldn't fit, so she just squatted and peed next to the cat litter box. Funny! I was really laughing at them all peeing together.

It's raining out today, yuck. I wish it was snow! That's all I have to report. Have a great day everyone!

Bridge


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## Southern by choice (Nov 27, 2012)

Hi Bridge,

 Your Turkey may have Swollen Head syndrome or SHS. If you see other respiratory issue it could also be MS or MG. These are yhe most common to turkeys. Turkeys are highly susceptible to disease. It is recommended to keep chickens and Turkeys separate because turkeys are so prone to illness.

Here is a great link on poultry diseases. If you scroll all the way to the bottom there is a 3 page chart that is great for identifying illness by symptoms. Unfortunately there are many that show the same symptoms and without a PCR test or blood sample they are indistinguishable. Many of these will produce the animal being a carrier for life.

www.edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

Have a great day!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 27, 2012)

Thanks Southern, that page has a lot of good info on it. I am still not sure, however, about my turkey. It seems like Swollen Head, but it says "SHS does not presently occur in the United States, but is present in most countries of the world." So??? I don't know.

Could be MG, if so hopefully the antibiotics will help.

Don't think it's MS, the clinical signs just don't match.

I wonder if we decide to do away with her if she would be okay to eat. Hmmm.



Hey!!! I just sold my Woodland Santa on etsy!


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## Southern by choice (Nov 27, 2012)

Yeah, more than likely it is MG, it is estimated that 70-90 % of all NON-Commercial poultry flocks have MG.
I saw a slideshow at a poultry disease class that showed SHS, sorry didn't know it wasn't here.  

I am very familiar with MG/MS/LT. We Tylan dip hatching eggs to irradicate MG/MS. Now we do all strict bio-security protocal, and have a closed breeding flock. You can eat the Turkey but you would want to do it sooner rather han later. MG will effect the organs over time, and the carcass would be condemned. 

So glad about your success with your etsy store!


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## Pearce Pastures (Nov 27, 2012)

So cool about your store!


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## CocoNUT (Nov 27, 2012)

CONGRATULATIONS Bridge on selling your Woodland Santa! I love him - that is so awesome! Now you'll have to get to felting like a madwoman to keep up with your "demand"...and your customers! Just think of all the fun you'll have now...felting and dyeing and creating and thinking....!!!!  Ooooh...you could try Christmas Piggies for all those piggie people out there (inspired by your piggies). Ooh this is so exciting!


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## Bridgemoof (Nov 27, 2012)

Thanks a bunch you guys! I am sooooo CHUFFED, as Royd Wood would say  If I can sell a good amount of my wool products, it will totally justify keeping my sheepies alive! That's my goal 

I've got so many ideas for projects to use all of my wool. So I've sold 2 Santas and 2 Angels so far. I started a new Santa today, and am finishing up Angel #2. And I've been constantly interrupted with real work from my regular clients. How dare they jeopardize the creative process!   

I know this is the holiday season, and after Christmas sales will come to a halt. But that's okay. I can keep making stuff for the next holiday..Easter? Cute little bunnies and chicks?


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## CocoNUT (Nov 27, 2012)

Absolutely! You can use the 'down time' to build up your inventory! Besides...you have all that wool you need to do SOMETHING with! Why not get it to help perpetuate your addiction...ooops...I meant hobby! I've got acorns if you need any to do any acorn people!


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## BrownSheep (Nov 27, 2012)

Valentines day, saint Patricks day, easter, mayday, 4th of July, ......bwahahahah holidays


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 1, 2012)

Hello fellow BYHerders!

WOOL OPeRATIONS
It's been a busy, busy week that just flew by. In fact, I totally missed my spinners guild meetings, I was so wrapped up in my woolies that I forgot about them! And regular work stuff, too.  So I made another angel for my sister's friend who already paid her for it. And that's done. And then I made a cool Santa on wooden skis. ( https://www.etsy.com/listing/116733186/needle-felted-wool-santa-claus-on-wooden) omg I put it on my Facebook page, then etsy and within an hour it was sold! I think my Santa's are popular items and I'm going to keep cranking them out for next year. I am invited to Ruth's senior center on Monday to show my wool things and how it's done. She's so excited and can't wait for me to show her friends what we've been up to on the farm. So after that, I will have to go right to the post office and ship the Santa and Angel. It's a very cool feeling to be creating something that people want, and at the same time using my own sheep's wool to create something  I have to say I like the needle felting better than spinning. It's much more creative. Handspun yarn is cool, but it's just yarn, and many people can do it. The Santa's are one of a kind artistic expressions. 

So of course Tim is trying to burst my bubble with this whole needle felting stuff. He's been supportive and has helped me make things like the bases and skis, but at the same time he has to start chiming in about how I should be doing things. He's already trying to profiteer the whole operation. He's already suggested that maybe there is a MACHINE that can help me make the Santa's faster, make more of them, charge more for them, "...if you can sell 500 Santa's a year times X amount of dollars.... you can make a living at it." Yes, I want to make money from my wool projects, but I'm not looking to make a living out of it, and it's a HOBBY for me right now. A hobby that I can make a little extra bucks.  He wants to turn me into a Santa making machine to the point where I won't enjoy doing it anymore.

Like when he got me the spinning wheel for Christmas. Another hobby that he wanted to turn into a money making operation. At one point he even suggested that we hire a Guatemalan lady for $10 hour to spin wool into yarn. So what, she can sit and spin while I do your laundry or go clean up pig poop? Gee thanks. 

Anyways, I'm going to just keep doing what I am doing and have fun doing it. 

CRITTERS
I'm happy to report the swollen head turkey is improving. We've been giving her some kind of antibiotics and her swelling is going down. She's still in quarantine away from the others.

We moved the Shetland and Finn sheep up to the barn last night to worm them and check them all out. The electric fence wasn't working out there for some reason, so we have to adjust that before somebody gets hurt. It is on a solar charger and it is in a shady place so maybe it's not getting enough sun. 

The Alpine goat is getting close to kidding. She's bagging up pretty good. I still can't find those "ligaments" everybody talks about that supposedly disappear when she's ready to go. I'll just keep an eye on her. I'm pretty good at identifying subtle signs.

We picked up the Kiko goat last night "Biden." We didn't name him, the people we got him from named him. He is a chunky boy! He's really stout around the chest area, though his legs look a little short. He's big though! I'll try and take pics today.

PARADE
Today is the big Middleburg Parade! This is by far the BEST parade I've ever seen in my life!  They start off with the fox hunter's and the hounds running down the middle of the street. Then every rescue dog group is in the parade. You should see the Great Pyrenese rescued dogs! There are about a hundred white fluffy dogs with red Santa hats on. It's fantastic! Then all kinds of other animals. And a big, beautiful carriage pulled by Clydesdale horse from a local farm. It really is a spectacular sight and last year I cried it was so cool. We have to go pick up some ponies and ship them to the parade, so it's going to be another busy day!

Oh it's light out and I have to go let the chickens out!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 1, 2012)

One of my younger ones asked me to pull up BYH so they could see the lady that makes the pretty stuff with her sheep wool! Then they wanted me to find the felting video! 

Some people just don't get how important the creativity outlet is. $$$$ is what it seems like many non-creative people think about.
   Some of my "outside" family (meaning longer distance family) have to same attitudes about my farm, or they think its "cute" how we have a "little farm". Oh yeah, well when the food prices skyrocket and food becomes scarce maybe my "cute, not so profitable farm" just might be feeding them. It's not their fault... they're city folk! 

glad your turkey is doing better!

can't wait to see pics of the buck!

The parade sounds so wonderful... I know I'd come home with more pyrs and then my DH and kids would want to  me! Think I could get away with...OH I thought they were sheep....   pyrs, they just make me happy! 

Hope you have a great day Bridge!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 1, 2012)

Congrats Bridge on selling your Santas and Angels...love your page and all your felt work!!!!  And I do not know why men in particular start seeing dollar signs in their eyes when something creative pays for itself and with luck, makes some profit.  This is how I burned out on matting and framing photos and also hand binding poetry books...now I never want to do either ever again...what was creative turned into something else...so...stand by your guns on this, so to speak 

And Southern...yeah...I hear you...our little "cute" farm that a few of our relatives see as just hobby may one day feed them too...should things ever turn badly, you know where the city folks will come to get fed and live...and they may not think it so primitively "cute" to  see those jars of canning either.

Have fun at your parade!!!!  Santa I can resist...but all those critters?  Could be dangerous


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 1, 2012)

I hear you guys about the farming! get this. My sister just went for two very expensive visits to a holistic vet for one of her ferrets. He told her to feed the ferret raw, organic meat. So she went to Wegman's grocery store and spent huge bucks (over a hundred bucks) on 2 organic chickens and 2 organic rabbits which she will take home and put the whole thing into her food processor. Yet she complains about us slaughtering any of our animals on the farm to eat! I don't get it.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 1, 2012)

yup...some people have more money than brains 

If you raise it and eat it...you are horrid...if you buy it in a store, somehow that meat was never alive?


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 1, 2012)

Here is a good pic my sis took while she was here for Thanksgiving. Me and some of the menagerie!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 1, 2012)

That is a cute picture!


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 1, 2012)

Awesome picture.  Looks like a happy place.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 1, 2012)

Love the photo...and yes...does look like a happy place


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 4, 2012)

HI everyone!

Let me just say you guys have been so busy posting...it's been hard to keep up with everyone! I subscribe to many of your journals, and my inbox has been just full of messages...I love it! 

*Christmas Activities*
Well, the parade was really fun. I just love that parade. There were 78 Great Pyrenese dogs, numerous Samoyed rescue, Greyhound rescue, Corgi rescue, the Humane Society dogs, the Service Dogs group, the Charros (the mexican guys on their fancy dancing horses-LOVE) more ponies and horses, Santa in the sled pulled by the Shires. So cool! We picked up a big horse named Samson who is a Clydesdale. Beautiful big sweetie! He walked in the a parade and was a good boy, too.  Nothing like a Christmas parade to put you in the mood for the holidays!

Yesterday I brought my wool Santas to Ruth's senior center for show and tell. They really got a kick out of it and it was fun to show them how I did it. They were pretty amazed!

Today is Santa's Workshop at the church to make wreaths    My favorite time of year! I can't wait to see my lady friends and help make beautiful wreaths. It's an hour and a half drive so I'm going to get going early, just after I feed the chickens. I don't want to miss BREAKFAST! lol I finished painting 8 ornaments the other day, so I will bring 5 to the church and put 3 up on my etsy store for sale.

Saturday is the Farmer's market with the Loudoun County Sheep Producer's Association and I want to make a strong showing with my felted items, but I only have one Santa left to bring! So somehow this week I am going to try and finish at least one more.

But despite all of the Christmas activity, I don't feel much in the Christmas mood at home.  I dread the thought of getting a tree...the cat, the pigs...I know there will be screaming and fighting involved. All my Christmas ornaments are in the truck and it will be impossible to get them without making a huge mess. I just can tell you right now it will NOT be fun.  I have a bad attitude about the whole thing, I know, but I just know what's going to happen.  Christmas is cancelled. Bah.

*Goats*
Kiko Joe has not been let out of the stall yet. I can't wait to see him next to the other goats. He really is big!  Tim took Riccardo to the auction yesterday. Riccardo was one of our mixed Boer bucks and he had been over at the Hunt kennels on loan breeding their alpine goats. So we picked him up after the parade and I got to see the cute irish huntsman  So sadly, since we have no room for 3 bucks, Riccardo had to go. I just hope he got a home instead of the freezer, he was a good guy and was very friendly and healthy.

So on the way to the auction yesterday, Tim brought along another doe that we weren't sure was pregnant. We thought she was pregnant when we got her. 5 months came and went and nothing, although she has huge bulges coming out of her sides and looks pregnant. And we SWEAR she wasn't with Mikey all that time, but I guess she was, or with Riccardo, because the vet did an ultrasound and says she is almost full term. We thought maybe she had some weird tumors, lol.  So between her and the alpine, we should be having baby goats any day now! 

Alright, that's it. I'll report on the Christmas mart later this week!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 4, 2012)

Yay for baby goaties any day now!!! 

Hope you get into the Christmas spirit soon...hope I do too...kind of different when this joyous time of year gets shadowed by missing family...all so far away.  Have to at least try to push myself into it here and get shopping done since all parcels will be mailed  

Can you get a much smaller tree and put it up on a table and avoid the piggies at least destroying it?  Hope you start feeling Christmasy


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## Four Winds Ranch (Dec 4, 2012)

That is sooo exciting, the baby goats!!!!!!    I am jealous!!! I have at least 3 months to wait yet before I have any kind of babies!!!!!
Poor Riccardo!   But, it was for the best.
I missed the Christmas Parade here, and attended a Benifit Dinner & Auction put on for a little neighbor girl, she is only 11 years old and has been diagnosed with bone cancer! Cancer is a scary thing for anyone, I can only imagine for a girl that is supposed to have her whole life ahead of her!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 7, 2012)

I hear you on the Christmassy mess Bridge! DH and DD want all the trimmings but I'm the one who always has to pull everything out, decorate, then clean everything up and put it all away! At least we put up our freshly-designed  2012 Christmas stockings! Still don't know about a tree...DD suggested putting it in our dinning area and "kitty-gating" it off from the rest of the house so Snuggles can't eat or upset it. we'll see. A guy in my office (smart-head...like me) has called me SCROOGE because of my lack of decorations this year! 

Good luck with your sales tomorrow! 

Oh...and I'm waiting for your "sheep announcement" that you promised over on Southern's thread!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 7, 2012)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> Good luck with your sales tomorrow!
> 
> Oh...and I'm waiting for your "sheep announcement" that you promised over on Southern's thread!


X2.....   We are sitting here with no life waiting....


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## CocoNUT (Dec 7, 2012)

Now hold on a sec there Southern...I happen to have a life...of course my life is currently filled with KLEENEX and congestion and watery eyes! You know...curled up on the couch with my fleecey pants and fleecey blankets...trying to feel better! Trying not to sneeze my lungs out! 

Maybe I should drive on down there and cuddle up with D on your couch while we wait for the great revalation?!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 7, 2012)

OKAY Coconut! lol I am trying to eat, put price tags on things, upload photos and keep up with Southern's Jacob thread.  I'm so excited for you Southern you will fall in LOVE with the sheep!


So here is my week in pictures:

Ornaments. The top row went to the church, the bottom row is on etsy.






Christmas Mart wreaths and arrangements!









Pigs in the backyard getting into trouble. They have been rooting up the sod!





A bald eagle lands in our treeline and surveys all the tasty morsels on our farm!





The chicken ornaments I made today. The picture stinks, they are really cute in person!





Tim and I have to drill holes in the cedar base for the Santa and little girl. Then I will post a pic of that! And then I'll be ready for the farmer's market, too. Everything is packed up and ready to go. I just have to take a shower tonight!!!!

SO THE BIG NEWS!!!!

omg you won't believe this....the lady that we originally got our first Jacob's from...

oh wait, stay tuned....I just finished my Santa piece...brb with pics


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## CocoNUT (Dec 7, 2012)

aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

You're KILLING me over here! Go to the market STINKY! I want NEWS!!!!!


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## SheepGirl (Dec 7, 2012)

of course you would leave us hanging


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## Southern by choice (Dec 7, 2012)

bridge you are terrible!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 7, 2012)

X 2 !!!!!  Post your news already!!!!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 7, 2012)

ok...we'll all have to remember this when we've got great news....you know...really draw it out...drive her batty! 

this whole 'pausing for dramatic affect' thing bothers me! I'm SOOOOO impatient! 

You know she's probably frittering about her home....taking photos and smiling at the thought of us...waiting by our monitors....busying ourselves with other tasks....one eye on the thread feed....just waiting.....


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## bonbean01 (Dec 7, 2012)

I believe you're right


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 7, 2012)

OK I'm back, so sorry you guys,   My internet disconnected while I was trying to upload the pic!

Okay, so the lady called me and asked if I would be interested in some Jacob sheep. A guy she sold some too several years ago was moving and was getting rid of his flock. So, I said maybe. Well I never heard anything back from her about it.

So the guy called today and said he has 3 Jacobs FREE for the taking and I could come and get them. Thinking they were rams, but nope, 2 EWES and a WHETHER! With FOUR horns. Then he says, "If you know anyone who might be interested in some Lincolns, I have to get rid of them too. *FAINT* I said I'LL TAKE THOSE TOO! He has 3. We're going to pick them all upon Sunday. 3 FREE Jacobs which may even be registered, and 3 FREE Lincoln Longwools. OMG!

Amazing, isn't it???



Ok, a picture of my latest Santa creation.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 7, 2012)

woo hoo!!!!!  How awesome is that???? 

  :bun


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## CocoNUT (Dec 7, 2012)

that is SOOOO awesome! hmmm....might need to make a trip over there next week...bring the extra BIG car..."just in case" i could manage to stuff something in it!   Seriously....Congratulations!

Your santa is gorgeous! 

Looks like your Christmas is coming a little early this year...if THIS doesn't get you into the "holiday spirit"...I don't know what could! heck...i'll come over and help you decorate!


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## SheepGirl (Dec 7, 2012)

Wanna send me a Lincoln ewe? I could use her wool to pay the shearing bill in Spring lol


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 7, 2012)

Thanks you guys, I know it's totally amazing! And Coconut, you KNOW your baby needs some friends 

I would stick around and gloat, but my internet keeps disconnecting and I am tired. Forgot the shower, I'll have to get up early and shower before I go. Wish me luck tomorrow!

NIGHT!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 7, 2012)

Sheepgirl, you know I really DON'T have room for 6 more sheep. Make me an offer


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## Southern by choice (Dec 7, 2012)

well Jacobs are in the air!!! 

Love the newest Santa!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 7, 2012)

Oh Bridge - 

You know...if you need "temporary" shelter for one or two of these guys....*ahem*...you just let me know and I'll see if I can *ahem* sacrifice some space for them!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 8, 2012)

So back from the show and I can finally take a breathe!   I can sit on my bum and do nothing tonight. Whew. Although I feel like felting, lol.

So, I did not sell the new Santa, but I sold my original Santa (the one with the walking stick) to my shepherd friend Irene.  I also sold 2 of the 3 chicken ornaments, and my reindeer! Yay! That was pretty good. Everybody had beautiful wool products, roving, yarn, knitted socks and hats, gorgeous blankets, and pelts. Sales weren't great, but okay. Nobody really produces their own stuff, though. They all send out their wool to get made into stuff and I don't see how they make any money at it! But our booth looked fantastic, and the day was beautiful and warm, good thing because it was outside! And here I find out Coconut was a nut and was driving around looking for us and never found us. Boo! That would have been so cool to meet her!

So it's weird that in my Sheep Producer's group, none of the ladies do anything with their own wool. Like they don't spin or knit or anything. Then in my spinner's group barely anybody has sheep, but they are all very creative and do a lot with fiber! I am trying to do it all! 

So tomorrow morning we are going to go get the new sheep!  I can't wait to see them. And I already have a buyer lined up to come and cut some locks off my Lincolns to make Santa beards, ha ha!

Hopefully I can post pics tomorrow.

Nothing new to report on the pregnant goats, either


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## bonbean01 (Dec 8, 2012)

Good sales...new sheep...woo hoo!!!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 8, 2012)

Bridge - it wasn't JUST me...I had the EVIL child with me too! she was the one who wanted to go! (She didn't want to go to the parade though.) We stopped and asked some poor lady about any "events" going on in town...she didn't know...drove around following the parade people in their personal cars. We drove all over Old Town Leesburg...you know...where all the "beautiful and trendy" people are! Didn't even think to drive into the other part of town to look for you all! 

Glad to hear you were able to sell some stuff. It's amazing how many people in the "fiber" industry don't do their own crafts! They don't process their own wool, craft with it, etc. They don't have the time. I think it's pretty cool if you have a hand in the whole process. Like I actually LIKE washing fleeces...thinking about what I'm going to do with the wool. I need more bobbins and more time! I can only fantasize about what I wanna do with Snuggles' fleece as I pet and stroke her, checking out the crimp, noticing how little lanolin she produces...what the actual color of it is...

It would've been fun to meet up, but I guess it'll have to happen another time. Thankfully it was a beautiful day...

Now remember...if you need *ahem* TEMPORARY housing for any of the newbies...just let me know...


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## Southern by choice (Dec 9, 2012)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> We drove all over Old Town Leesburg...you know...where all the "beautiful and trendy" people are!


    My Dsister lives there on her beautiful plush farm!!! Well just outside of Leesburg!

I figure if I actually go to visit her, ever, I will have to stop in and see you Bridge and all your pretty animals and crafts. Then I'll skip on over to Coconut's place and see darlin Gus and that spoiled little woolie housepet!

BTW- When will you put up pics of your new Jacobs??? Oh yeah and lil lambies, put me on the wait list!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 9, 2012)

Wow your sis lives in Leesburg? You MUST come visit! We are going to pick up the sheep at 10 a.m. Should be back at 11. It's pouring rain


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## Southern by choice (Dec 9, 2012)

Still waiting for pics Bridge.....


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 9, 2012)

I have secured the sheep! They are freaks lol. I will go and take pics right now..it's very ugly outside though! The pics won't be pretty!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 9, 2012)




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## Bridgemoof (Dec 9, 2012)

ok sorry to leave you hanging once again, I really didn't mean to do that! 

SO, when we got there I couldn't believe how freaking cute they were even though they are a mess. The Jacob ewes (and I still don't know which one is a whether) are adorable. I'm sure they are related to my original Jacob Lily and Aidin, because they came from the same lady. Supposedly they are registered, but the guy said he didn't have any papers. I'm trying to track down something from the original breeder. She said one of the Jacob ewes has the best lambs, twins and triplets. 

We literally had to drag them down the hill from their barn to the road where our horse trailer was parked. It was too rainy and muddy to try and drive up into the pasture (which was about one acre.) And I mean DRAG them. They all played dead. Dead. Dead as can be on the ground... wouldn't budge. The last one we had to roll onto a tarp and drag the sheep in the tarp down the hill. OMG it was terrible. BUt they are all situated now in a stall with lots of fresh hay and water. 

AND, the Lincolns aren't Lincolns. They are part Romney, which is great! I wanted a Romney. I just didn't know I would be getting a GORILLA 







I mean look at that poor sheep! She is one big giant felted ball all around her neck and head. Well, they all are. Their hooves are a mess and look like they've never been trimmed. They will need some cleaning up for sure! That wool is going to be cat bedding for a friend of mine who takes care of stray cats. It is so felted and matted, ugh. But under all that nasty wool are some cute sheep and I can't wait to introduce them to Uriah! Not sure what I am going to do with the Romney crosses. I suppose if they don't have horns I will put them with Dipsy, my Cormo ram, and his girls. I would imagine I will get some sweet chunky lambs from that combo!

Ok, so while I was out there I took a picture of Kiko Joe for StrawHat  Here he is, and he's a sweet guy.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 9, 2012)

That's cool you got some more Jacobs. haha I saw the one and thought it may be Romney. I guess I was a little right. haha

btw Kiko Joe is a handsome guy. Nice and thick.


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## Alice Acres (Dec 9, 2012)

Now those sheep look like a project - but they will be awesome with some TLC!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 9, 2012)

Yep I was waitin' by and then a bunch of people came home...they were moving sheep for someone...... and then the next thing I know I missed the dang pictures! 

Oh my oh my ...the wool is crazy long. When was the last time they were sheared? Very cool!  That one, it really does look like a gorilla face.  :/  Now the Jacobs on the other hand   I wish I could see the one all the way in the back.

Kiko buck is niiiice!

Congrats on your new girls and guy!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 9, 2012)

Congrats on your new sheep! 

Oh...and when I saw the gorilla sheep, couldn't stop laughing and got hubby to come take a look...he said holy sh)*^*&%%!!!!  You'll have to post pics again when they are all cleaned up.

That Kiko is a nice looking sheep!!!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 9, 2012)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> Congrats on your new sheep!
> 
> Oh...and when I saw the gorilla sheep, couldn't stop laughing and got hubby to come take a look...he said holy sh)*^*&%%!!!!  You'll have to post pics again when they are all cleaned up.
> 
> That Kiko is a nice looking sheep!!!


haha That's funny!!

btw sheep? lol


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 9, 2012)

Yes the Great Ape's name is Marge 

I can take a better picture when the rain stops maybe. The one in the back is another mix of Romney and Jacob I guess. This guy was pretty darned clueless about his sheep. The breeder lady was the one who told me he had Romney's, not Lincoln.   Kind of a bummer because I envisioned these beautiful locks for Santa's beards. Instead I got a felted gorilla  Oh well, what could I expect for FREE? We'll get them shaped up in no time and ready for next year's fleece. It actually makes me feel proud of the way my current flock looks! Not so bad!

I think they will be pretty friendly once they warm up to me. They actually let me scratch their heads tonight without running away which is a very good sign! :bun

Oh yeah the wool, they probably were never shorn by this guy and he's had them about 3 years. Well, maybe 2 year's worth of wool at least. And wow, my jeans are now waterproof! I was out in the rain and I was pushing these sheep down the hill and their lanolin is ALL over my jeans.  I am sure the jeans are waterproof now. Yep. And my hands were yellowy orange from all that lanolin! You would think that my hands would be velvety smooth, but nope, they're still farmer's hands!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 9, 2012)

oopsies...Kiko goat...gots sheeps and lambs on my mind


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 9, 2012)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> oopsies...Kiko goat...gots sheeps and lambs on my mind


lol Everyone around here keeps calling sheep goats and goats sheep and rams bucks and bucks rams and does ewes and ewes does. I keep getting after them too.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 9, 2012)

Oh, now I have to update my profile to say 36 sheep and a gorilla!!!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 9, 2012)

and Straw is not kidding! no pun intended.  With so much talking about sheep and ewes and lambs and rams, we are all messed up around here! 

DD just surprised me and brought my "D" baby in...gotta go


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## CocoNUT (Dec 10, 2012)

Oh Bridge - 

when I saw "Marge" in the photo I about peed myself (laughing -  )! That poor girl! She looks like a big ol' cotton ball. I'm surprised she didn't have issues in our heat/humidity out here with all that wool...phew! Some cats are going to be LUCKY when they get all that bedding. Are you going to shear them now or wait for spring? 

They'll probably LOVE you after a good shearing and some hoof trimming! I can't wait to watch them morph into the sheep they are under all of that wool!

Lanolin? Man! some people get all the luck! I can rub and pet on Snuggles all night...NO lanolin! I want smooth hands too!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 10, 2012)

OKAY we couldn't wait, here is Marge, Before and AFTER!!!! A completely different sheep and so beautiful! Her wool is going to be the softest prettiest wool I have! That fleece weighed about 20 pounds, no lie.

Tim did an excellent job. There was so much grease the clippers were getting so gunked up. But somehow he managed to get it all off. And she was such a sweetheart. She just laid there and said THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!   YAY MARGE!

Before





After


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 10, 2012)

Wow big difference!! She looks much better.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 10, 2012)

Oh I'll bet Marge is your best friend now! That's a TOTALLY different sheep! She's probably also thinking "I can SEE! I can SEE!"

I love the jacobs int he first photo...like a cotton ball with twig legs! I'll bet the other guys (newbies) are all jealous now!


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## marlowmanor (Dec 10, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> OKAY we couldn't wait, here is Marge, Before and AFTER!!!! A completely different sheep and so beautiful! Her wool is going to be the softest prettiest wool I have! That fleece weighed about 20 pounds, no lie.
> 
> Tim did an excellent job. There was so much grease the clippers were getting so gunked up. But somehow he managed to get it all off. And she was such a sweetheart. She just laid there and said THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!   YAY MARGE!
> 
> ...


WOW!  What a difference a haircut makes!  I bet she is way more comfortable now!


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## purplequeenvt (Dec 10, 2012)

Marge looks like she is a purebred Romney.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 10, 2012)

Isn't the transformation amazing? I just can't get over it myself. She's supposedly 3/4 Romney, not sure what she's mixed with. I can tell you, though, her wool was just the softest under all that gunk. We also sheared one of the Jacobs, and she is just gorgeous!

Can you tell how old Marge might be from the pics?  Her body condition looks pretty good, although her hips are sunken in, not sure why. I can't really feel her spine, so that's good. She doesn't look bony. But I get the feeling she is older. We will look at her teeth tomorrow, but I'm still not sure how to tell from how many teeth they have.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 10, 2012)

Wow!!!  I can't believe that's the same sheep 

Hope you don't mind if I go back to Marge's first photos when I need a laugh...truly did look a gorilla sheep...gorileep 

Bet you are thinking about all kinds of crafts while you pet that wool


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## BrownSheep (Dec 10, 2012)

Besides the hips I would actually say she's pretty chunky looking at her brisket. You can check teeth for an age.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 10, 2012)

Now sssshhhh everybody. We won't refer to Marge as a "you know what" anymore. She has dignity you know! And we won't laugh at her before pictures.  

Now I can't wait to put Marge with Dipsy! Those will be some nice, fatty and friendly lambykins!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 10, 2012)

OOOOOOOH! You could use her before/after shots in a 'weight loss' add! you know...something comical/tongue in cheek! OR...make posters for your barn...with something witty like "when animals enter our farm they may look like this...." on the door leading INTO the barn....
then, on the wall heading OUT of the barn, you can have her after shot with something along the lines of "but after our patented process of love and care, they will live looking like...."

what do you think?


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## purplequeenvt (Dec 10, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Isn't the transformation amazing? I just can't get over it myself. She's supposedly 3/4 Romney, not sure what she's mixed with. I can tell you, though, her wool was just the softest under all that gunk. We also sheared one of the Jacobs, and she is just gorgeous!
> 
> Can you tell how old Marge might be from the pics?  Her body condition looks pretty good, although her hips are sunken in, not sure why. I can't really feel her spine, so that's good. She doesn't look bony. But I get the feeling she is older. We will look at her teeth tomorrow, but I'm still not sure how to tell from how many teeth they have.


She looks like she could be 4 or 5, but it is hard to tell over the internet. Romneys tend to get that run down, old lady look pretty quickly.


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## SheepGirl (Dec 10, 2012)

She's looking good! Those Jacobs are nice, too  And her sunken-ness is just an empty rumen. When my ewes were on a dry lot they would get like that in between feedings. But she looks part southdown, too.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 10, 2012)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> OOOOOOOH! You could use her before/after shots in a 'weight loss' add! you know...something comical/tongue in cheek! OR...make posters for your barn...with something witty like "when animals enter our farm they may look like this...." on the door leading INTO the barn....
> then, on the wall heading OUT of the barn, you can have her after shot with something along the lines of "but after our patented process of love and care, they will live looking like...."
> 
> what do you think?


I love that idea coconut!!! You are a hoot! Love it.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 10, 2012)

ok so I wrote that before I went back and read where I left off a few pages ago!

 can't believe it is the same goat. Is the wool usable because of the condition? Can't wait to see the sheared Jacobs.  Will they get cold from being sheared now, going into winter?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 10, 2012)

> can't believe it is the same *goat*


uuuhhh???


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## SheepGirl (Dec 10, 2012)

Southern by choice said:
			
		

> Will they get cold from being sheared now, going into winter?


It looks like they left a good amount of wool cover on Marge. She shouldn't be cold. Especially since she's well conditioned


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## bonbean01 (Dec 10, 2012)

YES!!!!!  I am not the only person here to boo boo on the sheep/goat...goat/sheep...it happens so easily!!!!  I am not alone!!!!! :bun


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 11, 2012)

Goat pffftttt 

Amazingly the blades on the Sunbeam horse clippers we are using does leave wool on them, so she should be fine. The temps have been pretty warm here, too. Sheep never seem to be cold!  But I think about what that poor thing must have felt like this past summer with 100 degree temps. Poor Marge!

I can scavenge through the wool and find some good stuff. I can't wait to get my hands on it! A lot of it will be tossed to make cat beds. It is a soft light gray and is soooo pretty! The Jacob's wool was in much better shape. Jacob's have a lot less lanolin than other sheep. I will have a lot of wool processing to do after this!

OTHER NEWS
I'm slightly stressing because I have a publication project due today and want to get it done asap.  I also have a few other small jobs that came in and need to get them done, too. The thing is tomorrow is 2 Holiday parties, one for my Spinner's Guild and after that my Garden Club Holiday tea. I may be able to go to them, but for the first one everyone has to bring a pot luck dish and a handmade item, ugh, then the Garden Club thing everyone has to bring 2 dozen homemade cookies  I can't possible get all that stuff done, so I may not be able to go to either party. Bummer! Between work and trying to get these sheep in shape, I just have no time to bake.

I'm going to go get busy right now!


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## Alice Acres (Dec 11, 2012)

Marge's shearing is wonderful! She has to feel SO much better.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 12, 2012)

Well, sold my Santa with the little girl to a lady in my Sheep Producer's Association!   She was at the market with me on Saturday and fell in love with it. She wants it as a centerpiece for her Christmas table. 

So, as far as going to the parties today, I decided I can pick one, and I'll be lucky if I make it to that. So, it was "old friends and bake cookies? Or new friends and make a felted gift...." The cookies got as far as setting the bag of chocolate chips out on the counter. The felting got as far as a Christmas tree with an elf that is 75% done. If I finish that I can go to the Spinners holiday party, which is local. That is if some work emergency doesn't come up, and I have time to actually take a shower! The party starts at 10 a.m..

Wish me God Speed!  :bun


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 12, 2012)

Well I give up. It wasn't meant for me to go anywhere today. It's 9:30, the elf is still only 75% done. I went out and fed and saw that the Jacob sheep that we sheared was shivering.....awwww!!!! I mentioned it to Tim and he had noticed the same thing. We felt bad for her. Forget what I said about sheep not being cold. I think she is. So he took a horse blanket and folded it down and told me to glue it with gorilla glue.  I decided to try and sew it instead. Well, the thread broke on the sewing machine and I spent a half hour trying to thread the needle and gave up. 

So in the meantime Tim is yelling at me to try use the gorilla glue. I didn't want the blanket sticking to the poor sheep! But I tried it, it's not going to work I don't think. So he also had the idea to take gorilla tape and tape the seams over where it was glued. Except he didn't know where the gorilla tape was, which means a half hour of looking for it.

So I go out there to look for the tape, and I'm going to give up and try putting a sweater on her. Then Tim came out and said he thought a down vest like he was wearing would work. Great idea! I had one. So I got the vest, and it was pretty, a light blue suede type thing. We get it on her and it looks lovely, but Tim is screaming that it's too small. So I go get another one, a dark blue, which isn't as pretty, but we got it on her and I know it is helping to keep her warm. So now my Jacob is wearing a down vest, zipper on the top, and it's such a good idea I may go to the thrift store and see if I can buy a bunch more. Marge seems fine, she ended up with more wool on her than the Jacob.

So, it's now almost 10, and I have resigned myself to the fact that being a farmer=no friends, and no social life.  But my sheep is warm by golly!


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## jodief100 (Dec 12, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> So, it's now almost 10, and I have resigned myself to the fact that being a farmer=no friends, and no social life.  But my sheep is warm by golly!


You have us! I am glad you figured out the vest with your sheep.  I wound up putting the dogs coats on the goats one year.  The babies were cold and the coats I made for the Italian Greyhound rescue fit just fine!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 12, 2012)

I know I have you guys and that's why I'm here  

I'll go take a picture of my sheep since I'm not going anywhere


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 12, 2012)

Here is the cold sheep!


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## marlowmanor (Dec 12, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Here is the cold sheep!
> 
> http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/5910_img_9654.jpg


She looks so stylish!  So ya'll had the temperature drop too. We went from 60 degree days to 40 degree days in a day. Yesterday the high was in the mid 60s, this morning I went out to get some groceries and it was 42 degrees with wind making it feel colder. BRRRR!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 12, 2012)

Yep temps dropped alright. It is only supposed to be in the 40s today and 27 tonight. Brrrrr for the sheepie! I think if we shear the others we will just crutch them out. I don't want to have to come up with coats for all of them! They can last a few more months I think.


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## BrownSheep (Dec 12, 2012)

I don't think we've gotten above 40 degrees in wuite a while.


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## purplequeenvt (Dec 12, 2012)

They really will be ok if you shear them now.  They will shiver a bit or maybe even a lot, but give them plenty of hay and a place to get out of the wind and they will be fine. We shear our ewes when it is much colder than it is right now.

The ewe looks cute in that vest!


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## autumnprairie (Dec 12, 2012)

The things we do for our animals. I : love it


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## Alice Acres (Dec 12, 2012)

She is most stunning in her vest!!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 12, 2012)

Sorry you missed it all...life on a farm with critters, eh?

The vest is pretty cute


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 14, 2012)

The sheep in the vest is funny? Does she really need it? Just wondering.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 14, 2012)

StrawHat you're back   You were missed  

NEW PROJECT
So I have to take a little break from what I am doing because it's a bit frustrating. I have a new project I'm working on: Sheep blankets!

So I decided that 1) I want to keep my newly sheared sheep warm (and yes I think they do need it StrawHat because they are shivering) and 2) I want to try and keep their wool clean, which is something I've been wanting to do.

So instead of buying sheep blankets, I am trying to sew some. The only reason it is cheaper than just buying some is I happen to have a whole bolt of Waverly decorator fabric.  Yes, Ruth had given it to me a while back because her nephews were going to pitch it. Now don't think I've gone all Martha Stewart on you! Yeah, it's flowery. Yeah, it's outdated. Yeah, it's pretty loud like flowered 1970s curtains.  My sheep will look MARVELOUS! And hopefully when Ruth comes over later she won't get mad. She might laugh. OR she might not remember at all that it was hers. 

But my sewing machine is testing my patience at the moment, and the thread keeps breaking. Not sure if it needs to be oiled or what. I have a heavy duty brand new needle in it, and brand new thread. I have no patience when it comes to things like this. If I can't do it fast then forget it!

But I hope to at least get one or two done today so I can take a picture for you guys. And you thought the down vest was funny!  Just wait.

XMAS PRESENTS
So I bought something kind of big for Tim for Xmas. I got him a pneumatic nail gun and a 4 lb. compressor. He actually has symptoms of carpal tunnel in his wrist and hand from nailing things all the time. Every night I have to rub his hand and wrist! So I am hoping this will help alleviate that pain. And he and Lencho have been working on the new garage/shed they are building. This nail gun should really come in handy for that! Not to mention fence boards, etc. 

In other news, Tim sold the buggy we had that I was going to use for my produce cart. It's okay, we discussed it and since I never got it going and we didn't have a place to store it over the winter we were afraid it would get ruined anyways. So now I'm thinking maybe he found another type of wagon that he is getting me for Xmas? Maybe.  The problem with the buggy is it didn't have a canopy so I wouldn't have put anything good out there to sell, like yarn, or felted items.

FARMER'S MARKET
Tomorrow is the last holiday craft farmer's market and  I am debating bringing some things up there to sell. I finished the elf, he just needs a base if Tim can get to it today. And I have 3 more felted chicken ornaments. I have one ferret left. But that's about it. I may drop off the stuff and go Christmas shopping at the outlet mall.

So, that's the report for now! Later!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 14, 2012)

hi bridge,
usually that is a tension issue. Check the tension and see if that helps. (for the thread)

please don't put flowers on the boys!


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## autumnprairie (Dec 14, 2012)

I can't wait for pictures of the sheep sporting their new outfits


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## Alice Acres (Dec 14, 2012)

RE: sheep coats 

When I was in 4-H, we made covers for our show sheep to keep them clean. Like you, I had leftover floral material (initially way back, it was leftover flour sack material my mom had saved!), and my sheep were just stunning....


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 14, 2012)

Ohhh those flour sacks were so cute!

OK so my sheep blanket project was a total FAIL. After my frustrations with the machine, and I did experiment with the tension, I couldn't even hardly get it sewn. This is a relatively new Singer machine, a cheap one though. I'm not sure if it is cut out to do heavy fabric. There is a knob for the tension that says AUTO, +1 +2 +3 and -1 -2 -3. I would assume +3 is for the thickest fabric? Well, nothing really worked.

So I basically had it stitched, and brought it out to try it on Marge to see if it would at least fit before I finished the lining. I put it on her, it fit over her head like it was supposed to! It was about the right length, but was a little long on the sides. It looked JUST LIKE she was wearing a flowered TABLECLOTH  Pretty hideous.  Well, I definitely have to put some elastic band to hold it around her legs, because it started sliding off to the side and I was chasing her trying to get it off of her and it got dragged through the mud and she broke the stitching around the neck and there it sat in the dirt as she trampled over it.  By this time it was 50 out and I was having a hot flash and so was the sheep!  

And that's the way it went. So I folded it up, put it in a plastic bag and it will sit there until I decide to give it a go again.


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## autumnprairie (Dec 14, 2012)




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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 14, 2012)

Oh, it probably isn't that bad.  Got a pic?   Hey if you have the talent to even sort of make something like that, it can't be a failed attempt.  I wish I had the gift you have.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 14, 2012)

really   thanks


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## Southern by choice (Dec 15, 2012)

Mornin Bridge,
 been up for a while now and was going back and forth with DH over looking at this goat today. It'll be over 200 miles round trip, and so much other stuff...then it led to us talking about the sheepies coming tomorrow..... which led to going on etsy then to your journal to show DH what you do. He is impressed and kept saying..."I just want to touch them, what do they feel like, how does she make them, and a bunch of other questions.
 He is pretty sure/set we should at least go look at the buck, I think he really wants this guy. This is all extremely unusual for him. I decided I'm not going but my DD and Straw will go to assess. Sending all my checklist stuff with Straw. ...and yeah, I'll owe em big  I may just make him a dea.. we can co-own the buck  
Anyway the whole point of this was to tell you now my DH is getting a better picture of the purpose of the sheep!  ...and a wheel, and  the spinning classes! Pretty cool eh?
I can't wait to see a pic of the sheep blankies! you had me crackin up...and I mean really laughing out loud!
Lambies tomorrow!!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 15, 2012)

I can't wait until tomorrow Southern! I hope everything goes well and the sheep feel good when they get there. 

I made it to the farmer's market this morning and you and DD and DH should see that! Our County Sheep Producer's Association puts on a really great Wool Shop. The sheep producers sell all kinds of stuff.  Some of them have these beautiful throws and blankets made from their wool. Others sell beautiful pelts. One lady had wool wreaths that she had made. They were I guess styrofoam that was wrapped in yarn, then had the curly cotswold locks on them. I bought one! Then there were hand knit headbands and hats. Lots of people have their wool made into socks. Just all kinds of things and everybody sold a little bit of everything today.

The Jacobs also have horns, so they can be made into buttons or knife handles, etc. There are many possibilities with sheep! Plus they are sooo cute and soft  Not to mention the meat aspect of it.

I sold 4 ornaments, the chickens mostly! So it was a fun day and I'm excited about this coming year for this association.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 15, 2012)

This is completely off the sheep topic, but the weirdest thing happened to me today and it is giving me the heebie jeebies! 

I was at the outlet stores buying Xmas presents. I went up to the checkout counter and grabbed some cash out of my purse without even looking. The cashier said it was $63.00 even. I looked at my money in my hand and I was holding exactly $63.00!

But wait. It gets weirder. 

So we went out to dinner and we got the bill. SIXTY THREE DOLLARS AND SIXTY THREE CENTS! $63.63 $63.63

So of course, you know what I did. Ran right to the 7-11 which was next door and bought 2 Pick 4 lottery tickets. I NEVER buy lottery tickets, but this was just too weird to ignore.

So tonight I will find out if 6363 will be my lucky number     

:bun


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## bonbean01 (Dec 15, 2012)

Bridge...too funny 

Really hope you win the lottery...I never buy the tickets either, so no shock that I don't win :/


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 15, 2012)

LOL That is weird/funny/ strange/nearly creepy lol

Well GL to ya!!

Boy that would be so weird if you actually won.!!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 15, 2012)

I know, it is so creepy! We were driving home and I said if we see 63 one more time...  like that movie Final Destination.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 16, 2012)

I did NOT win the lottery, in case you were wondering!  

I found one of our pheasants dead this morning. It was halfway through the electricoweb fence. The fence was bent over. I wonder if it was being dragged through by a predator, or if it was just electrified.  Funny how the chickens come and go through that fence all the time, and the pheasants usually do too. Bummer


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## bonbean01 (Dec 16, 2012)

Sorry about your pheasant 

Was hoping you'd win the lottery with your creepy number thing...ah well.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 16, 2012)

Hey Bridge - maybe you should wait 63 days before playing the lotter with your numbers! 
That's weird...but who knows what the significance is. 
Sorry about your phesant as well.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 16, 2012)

I agree. Wait 63 more days. lol

Sorry though.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 16, 2012)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> Hey Bridge - maybe you should wait 63 days before playing the lotter with your numbers!
> That's weird...but who knows what the significance is.
> Sorry about your phesant as well.


Or play it on the 63rd day of the new year   That is really a strange thing---I don't gamble but I think that would have sent me to buy a ticket too!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 17, 2012)

I've given up on the 63 63 thing.  IT was weird, but the moment has passed!

SHEEP SHEARING

I talked my sheep shearer into coming out today, yay! She is always so busy it's impossible to get her here. But I nailed her down yesterday in person at the Southern States where she works. So she's coming out this morning to sheer the 4 we didn't. Our clippers are just too hard to deal with. It will be so worth it to have her do them. And there will be NO YELLING because it will be me and her and Tim will not be involved!  

While she is here we will inspect the teeth on these old ladies and try to get a sense of how old they are. I was thinking about worming them too, but honestly I don't think they have worms.  They'll get them here, though, no doubt, so might as well wait until a couple of months then worm them. We can work on their hooves, too. It will be so fun! Last night I put them all in a stall. That was tough because they are a little crazy!  Marge wouldn't go. She just would. not. go. But since we sheared her already we kept her out. I'm sure she's not happy being out there by herself. But oh well. As I was trying to close the stall door, one of the woolie fluff ball Jacob's jumped out like she was on a flipping trampoline! She came between me and the bucket I was holding, rolled out onto the ground upside down. I'm lucky I didn't get hurt! Tim came and helped and we got them all back in except Marge. Even though it's raining, there is an overhang in the barn so we can shear them right there. I'm not overly concerned about their wool, it's so wrecked already.

I can't wait to get the new Jacob sheep together with Uriah and Lily and the gang.   I'll move Marge and the other two Romney beasties out with Dipsy. Then I'll bring Uriah and girls up to the barn to meet the new Jacobs. I'm hoping that Uriah and the woosy whether Boron will get along okay. That way Uriah will have a friend if and when I need to separate him from the girls.

FELTING
I'm going to try and make a felted Jacob sheep today. I was thinking about it this morning when I woke up. It would be sooo cute! I made 2 felted wool OWL ornaments yesterday. Hoot. Annie made a tiger. Raaar. Felting is SO MUCH FUN!


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## Alice Acres (Dec 17, 2012)

Good luck with your shearing. I think it's a good idea, especially as these sheep are new to you. Actually seeing what you have under that wool is really important. Plus you will be starting fresh with wool growth that you can protect and use. 
Can't wait for the pictures


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 17, 2012)

You are right Alice, it's good to know what you have under all that wool! We took them all down and they look great. We checked all of their teeth and while they are older, maybe 7,8 years range, none of them are gummers! Yay! Their eyelids were medium pink so we didn't worm them. Their body conditions looked good. I'm going to keep them up in the barn just for a couple of days until some of their wool grows back. It's pretty warm out for this time of year so they should be fine.

It's amazing that getting 4 sheep sheared is cheaper than getting my schnauzer groomed!

The sheep on the left could be a Romney/Jacob cross. Her wool is a nice charcoal gray. Marge's was a light warm gray.











This is what happens when you start collecting sheep like they are baseball cards! (Beware Southern, don't become a fiber addict like me!)
I'm going to start having to make life size Santa's to use up all of this wool! (not a bad idea)





I have 6 of these after this week's shearings:


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 17, 2012)

Lot of fiber there. lol


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## Southern by choice (Dec 17, 2012)

Wow! That is great, now what is the first step from this point. I'll start...

1. take fleece out of bag
2.

our 2 little ones are soo adorable! but they will not be collected, so to speak...No G.A.S. or S.A.S. here! 

I would have loved to see a picture of them actually being sheared...little disappointed Bridge, but I'll get over it. 

So what kind of felting needles do I need? My DD and I should come up and take a day long crash course with Bridge!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 17, 2012)

That is so fun!


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## SheepGirl (Dec 17, 2012)

My neighbor had so much wool, too! They were all Montadale fleeces packed in a cattle feeder in the barn. Don't know what he did with it when he moved or if it's still there, but I would guess at least 100 lbs worth of wool. There's a natural colored fleece in there, too. One thing I know for sure is that it gets stinky & dusty when it sits outside for years


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## Alice Acres (Dec 17, 2012)

The sheep look really nice. And cracked me up that they were cheaper to shave than your schnauzer!! 

And yes, that wool needs to get out of those plastic bags, ASAP!
It can go in paper or fabric. The big commercial shearer bags my husband uses are made of burlap. It has to be able to breathe, or as it cools it gets sweaty, then musty and growing mold.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 17, 2012)

Oh yeah Alice, I forgot about the plastic. Last time I put them in feed bags. Big mistake. All that grain dust from the corn got all though the wool.

OK so Southern, here are the steps
1. Skirt the wool. Remove all poopies and belly wool, big pieces of hay, second cuts.
2. Put the wool IN the bag. Like Alice said, paper or fabric is best. I had bought some paper lawn and leaf bags at one point, but don't know where they are now. At the Wool Festivals, you have to submit the fleeces in clear plastic bags so buyers can see what they look like.  Some places sell these bags and they're around $6.00 each. Pfffrt.
3. Let the wool sit for months and months and let stink bugs invade the bags.
4. Take the wool out on a nice day. I put my wool on the back porch on a wrought iron patio table. It has holes in it so debris (vegetable matter) and second cuts can fall through. I start picking through the wool and picking out VM.


Should I keep going or....maybe I should put this in the fiber section of the site so everybody can get instructions. I've played with a lot of wool and know what works and what doesn't.

As for the felting needles, get whatever you can find at a craft store. They are sometimes hard to find.  I don't know the differences in the sizes yet enough to be able to use one for one thing and another for something else. They are pretty much the same, thinner and thicker, but minorly.

Wait until you see my little felted Jacob sheep. So cute!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 17, 2012)

Bridge that would be great to put that in the fiber section!

For me I really wasn't kidding...maybe we should you the term "lambing" (ha ha, corny i know!).... take wool off sheep and then??? so teaching someone from that perspective might be more than what you are willing to do but it sure would be valued and appreciated!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 17, 2012)

Now wait a sec...maybe this is the spinner in me talking...but don't you wash your wool before you felt with it? (If you want white wool I guess...)

All those WONDERFUL bags of wooly goodnesss will keep you busy for a little while... 

I still have a bag or two left over from a 'score' this autumn (that needs to be washed).


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 17, 2012)

Don't worry Coconut, I wash it for sure. I didn't get to that step yet! I ran out of energy by step 4, lol. That's a whole nother process in itself, so that's why I may as well write it all out and put it in the fiber section.

Okay, here's my little wooly Jacob. Bon or Coconut said the sheep looked like cotton balls with legs, so that's what I was thinking when I made this.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 17, 2012)

that is AWESOME! I LOVE the horns too! How'd you manage to get those 'right'?! I love that you did the spots too! It looks so nice and wooly! 

I was going to tell you that I loved the photos of your freshly shorn sheepies. The romney cross has a BEAUTIFUL color - that grey...but my favorite is the super=spotted little sheepie in the background...i think it has only two horns? I LOVE it's spots! 

OOOOH....i wonder if you could do 'commisioned' works of people's livestock. You know..."my wife really loves her potbelly pig...could you make her a felted wool likeness...here's the photo...."


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## Alice Acres (Dec 17, 2012)

Seriously, you are amazing with these felted animals!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 17, 2012)

That is so cute!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 17, 2012)

Thanks you guys!

I just don't want to have to do commission work. It will crush my creativity! I tried one likeness of someone's pet, my cleaning lady's doggie who she just had to put down. She was a rottweiler and I tried to get my dog to look like her, but it was hard. I mean it looks good, and it looks like a Rottie, it just doesn't look exactly like hers. There is a lady on etsy that does these AMAZING miniature felted dogs on commission to match your dog. They are sooo cute! She charges $250 for them and I think she has a waiting list! I don't think I could do that. The pressure 

Just check out his lady's stuff. It's so amazing! I hope I'm that good some day!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GourmetFelted


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 17, 2012)

Wow that is some good work. That's crazy. lol And I bet you could do that no prob. Just a bit more time and you'll get there.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 17, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Wow that is some good work. That's crazy. lol And I bet you could do that no prob. Just a bit more time and you'll get there.


x2   

I get the creativity being somewhat crushed out by always having $ as the end all! I use to do a lot of faux finishes and decorated nurseries by hand painting detailed work on the walls, could match any theme. Then everyone said...you have to do this as a business you can make so much $ blah blah blah.  I just enjoyed it as an outlet and loved to bless others! Same with home organizing... I love it and will help those who don't have the skill but the thought of going and getting certified as a PO...no way. Thats just not fun!

I love the jacob, the santa with the little girl is my fav. though!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 17, 2012)

That's awesome Bridge!!!!  Your art is amazing


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## SheepGirl (Dec 17, 2012)

I love that little Jacob sheep! Soo cute!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 18, 2012)

Here is another fantastic felting artist, she makes goats! All of them are marionettes. Brilliant! But she wet felts too, that's why they look so tight.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TwoSadDonkeys

I  them. So much great inspiration on etsy!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 18, 2012)

Okay Southern just for you I made a page for fiber preparation. I also put a link to it in the fiber section.
http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=5910


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## Southern by choice (Dec 18, 2012)

LOL I was reading the page which led me to the link. Then I googled some stuff...Have to keep DD away from BYH and Your journal... expensive hobby...    carders, wheels...    what have I gotten into?
thanks for the page, it's great!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 18, 2012)

Yep a wheel can be a bit pricey Southern! You can look for a used one. And you don't need a drum carder, just hand carders. I got mine for about $15.00 on ebay, but turns out they are actually cotton carders. The pins are shorter than wool carders, but they work!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 19, 2012)

I haven't really blog ranted in a while, so....

First of all, I love it when I am in creative mode. I wake up in the morning with all these ideas in my head! I love it! I'm going to be making some seriously big things with my wool.  I want to make some giant Santas that are about 3 or 4 feet tall. And then I had the idea this morning of making some furniture! Yes needle felted furniture. Like a footstool, lol. I've got so much wool I CAN DO IT! Ha!

SHEEP
Yesterday I put Marge and the other 2 Romney type sheep out with Dipsy and the gang. The one that looks more like a Jacob I wanted to keep with the Jacobs, but Tim had to argue about it with me and I didn't want to argue so I put her out too. Dipsy got busy on her right away! She must have been in heat, because she was actually nibbling on HIS ear. They were so cute and cuddly. BUt what an odd match that will be, part Cormo, part Jacob, part Romney. Ugh. Well I haven't met a lamb that I didn't think was adorable yet, so who knows!  While Dipsy and Sissy (that's her name for now) were busy, my two whethers, Stubby and Brownie were getting all excited and worked up. Those two guys are so cute. Stubby was mounting Brownie and humping on him, lol. They were standing next to the Dipster and I thought it was so funny.

So I have the two real Jacob ewes and the Jacob whether ready to meet the other Jacobs. I'm so worried, though, because Uriah, the little brat, has been head butting everybody, and has really been ramming my ewe Lily, and she's been ramming him right back. Lily is the matriarch of that bunch, and those two have really been going at it. I don't know what is going to happen when I bring them up and put them with the new Jacobs.  The new ones are so mild and meek and shy. My old ones are bossy and have major ATTITUDE!   

CHRISTMAS RANTS
Well, there's no tree here yet. Annie asked if we were getting a tree. I said "No. The cat will knock it over, the pigs will try to eat it, and all the ornaments and lights are in the truck and I'm not going in to look for them." Well, both Annie and Tim poo pooed me on this and I told them to go ahead and get a tree if they wanted one. Well of course those two couldn't get it together to actually make plans to go get a tree, so I guess we won't be having one. Annie especially is way too lazy to try and decorate it, so whatever.

So Tim's mom wants us to go to NY after Christmas to visit.  We did it last year and we just drove up one day, spent the day in NYC the next, and came home the following day. We had a blast. But we didn't have 37 sheep, 15 goats, pigs, etc. We had 2 sheep, no goats. We had someone come and stay here and feed all the horses and let the chickens out, etc. That cost us plenty. But THIS year, no way. Tim's brother said he will come down the day before and will stay here and we can show him what to do. omg there is NO way. We have 2 goats ready to give birth any day (and after I saw that thread about the girl losing 3 kids that were just born in the cold rain...) and I just don't trust anybody else to watch after them to make sure they kid okay. Tim's brother is not a farmer! I don't even trust him to feed the dogs! PLus Ruth being here without us. I just can't. Can not. I told Tim he and Annie can go without me and that I would stay home and care for everyone. But NO. It wouldn't be "fun" without me. I will be worried sick the whole time. What would you guys do?

RANT OVER
On a better note, my cleaning lady Anita came yesterday and I gave her the felted rotty that matched her girl she had to put down. We both bawled our eyes out. She loved it. I also made a dog bed for the dog, and Annie made a mini present and a mini heart to go with her, which isn't shown in this pic.






On Christmas day, we will be going to my sister's for brunch and bringing all our presents. We're going to pick up Annie from her mom's and we are taking Ruth, too. It will be fun! Annie's mom and her husband just moved to a new house in WV. They are on a lake, so Tim is buying them all a used canoe for Christmas. MINI RANT: You are buying your ex-wife a canoe? WTH?: RANT OVER

Today I am going to deliver my Santa and child to the lady who bought it. She has a farm with Romney sheep!  She also has a vineyard, and she does weddings there. It will be so much fun to see, I can't wait!

Whew, this was a long blog. Later!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 19, 2012)

I'm with you Bridge...you can't let just anyone come take care of your animals.  
I also look at the liability issues. I know not all farms and farm animals are the same, so for everyone it may be different. Here, our animals are very guardy! No one can go in anyplace the LGD's are... our chickens do not like strangers and will flog, the turkey too.
The geese are guard geese and will bite someone they don't know. The goats...little ones not too much of an issue but the big ones? I don't know what they'd do. I know I wouldn't want someone injured by my animals. Some people think..."oh , cute lil' fuzzy animals, how hard could it be?'" Some people are not "gate" smart...can you imagine escaped sheep, or goats, dogs, pigs, horses.

Too much to risk! 

Glad you stuck to your guns with the tree stuff!

I wouldn't be too upset about the canoe, it's like a family gift. Benefits Annie. Be glad you don't have to deal with bitter angry aggressive hateful exes! That is far worse, I see it all the time and always wonder why can't they just be civil? Better to be seperated/divorced and be somewhat friends than enemies, especially where there is a child involved. JMO


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 19, 2012)

pppftt I with you too!! NO WAY am I leaving my animals (and I have WAY less) for anyone else to care for. Especially if they don't know them, don't know animals, and are not capable.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 19, 2012)

Bridge...I'm with you...I also could not leave my critters and especially when babies are due!!!!

That Rott felting is totally awesome!!!  Just got hubby to come to my computer to see the photo and he is also super impressed...you should have a tag sewn on them with your "felting name"... you are so creative 

No tree?  Could you put a little tree up on a high table?  One of those little fakey prelit ones, and put your felt critters on it for decorations...or...forget the tree...falalalalalalalalalala

Just went back to look at your felt creations....totally awesome!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 19, 2012)

I love how you guys are dragging your hubbies over to the computer to show them my stuff,  That makes me feel good!

Ugh, I'm losing the battle with the NY trip. I stated my case and said I don't want any argument over it. Argument ensued. He said he would find somebody who knew about goats and sheep and chickens to come over and watch over the critters. I'm not convinced that there would be a suitable person out there to take care of my babies. At least Tim agreed his brother might not be the best man for the job. Duh.

I think the pigs are being moved outside tomorrow. We had a nice couple come and look at them the other day and they were VERY interested, they were going to get them for Xmas for their kids. Then they called the next day and were concerned about how big they would get (as is everybody), especially since the parents aren't here on the premises to see. The pigs are just UGH, they get into all kinds of trouble. I LOVE them and want to make sure they go to a good home. We can't put them in our little fenced in backyard area because they are tearing up all the sod. So we have to make a fenced off area somewhere out there by the barn and make some kind of shelter for them. That's on Tim's TO DO list. His list is long. Of course he dug his own grave with those piggies...

We brought the Jacobs up to meet the new Jacobs. A LOT of running around, head butting, and Uriah was after one of the females bad. She wouldn't stand still for him, and they were running around in circles forever. I am not sure what the deal was there, whether she was in heat, I just don't know. Well I sure hope they end up getting along by tomorrow morning, because I have to go in there to let the chickens out and feed everybody. 

My farm visit today was so nice. What a beautiful place.  They have about 25 acres, 20 Romney sheep and 2 llamas. They had grass.  They also have a vineyard, and they do weddings there in their big red barn. So nice!

We need a sleepy emoticon, don't we? Tired.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 19, 2012)

Yup...we do need a sleepy emoticon for sure!

Sorry you are being pressured to do the NY trip and leave your babies...Hubby is as bad as me and neither of us could leave them close to lambing...makes it easier when you're both on the same page.  I understand completely about wanting to be there.

Hope you find good homes for your piggies 

I believe you really need a hug sweet Bridge


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## CocoNUT (Dec 19, 2012)

hey Bridge - 

NICE felted Rottie! I understand about the not wanting to be stiffled by other's ideas...
3-4 foot santas?! WOW...that should be really cool! 

I agree with you on the NY trip. I don't know if Jim understands how delicate the kidding process CAN be. Besides...a LOT can happen in 3 days. We dont' really go anywhere  - even when it was just the chickens! (But i'm not a fan of people coming in and out of my house.) It'd be amazing to find someone who could take care of all our animals! Maybe you need to get some LGDs (if you don't have them already) like Southerns! And some guard geese! Then there'd be NO HOPE for having a stranger critter sit for you. 

We don't have a tree up either. I told both the DD and DH that I was protesting having to do EVERYTHING by myself. The outdoor lights, the indoor lights, the tree, everything. By myself - put it all up, take it all down. Nevermind Snuggles...who will be going OUTSIDE for good starting this weekend. I've almost got her pen completely ready (was on DH's TO DO list....). DD said she'd help me put UP the tree, but not put it away after - so I told her 'no deal' on that. I'll probably break down once Snuggles is outside and drag out the smaller fake tree. 

Good luck!


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## SheepGirl (Dec 19, 2012)

I would offer to farm sit for you, but I'm over an hour away 

But I love all your felted animals! You're gonna make me get a long wool ewe so I have some nice wool to work with and get into the fiber arts!  In fact, I've already contacted a coopworth breeder about reserving a ewe lamb


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 20, 2012)

Ha! That's great Sheepgirl. One of the ladies in my Sheep Producer's Association has Coopworth. She had bags of silky curly white locks she was selling. I was jealous. She also made white wreaths wrapped with curly Coopsworth locks and a red bow. I bought one! They were so pretty. You have to find out what ever happened to all of those Montedale fleeces, Sheepgirl! 

I wish you could farm sit Sheepgirl. Next time you can come and stay here. This time Tim's brother will be staying here, so it wouldn't be appropriate to have somebody else stay here with him.  I would trust YOU over anybody else in the world, I think!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 20, 2012)

How do you like this needle felted little Jacob's sheep lamb I made?







JUST KIDDING!!!!!!! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!   

That's Lottie, my bottle baby lamb from last year. I was looking at old pictures and I found this. HOW CUTE IS SHE? Southern??? Don't YOU want a little Jacob lambie, too????   Lottie was sooo cute and SOOO little!


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## SheepGirl (Dec 20, 2012)

I was gonna say that looks real! 

I kinda wanna sneak into my neighbor's barn to see if the fleeces are still there. Buttt I don't wanna get caught and start off on the wrong foot with the new neighbor  But I'm not one to trespass anyways. I'm too much of a goodie-two-shoes. haha. And I'm flattered, lol. Next time you go outta town, lemme know so I can watch all your adorable sheepies!  ...and your goats, chickens, pigs, and all of your other critters


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 20, 2012)

LOL I was about to say it looks REAL!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 20, 2012)

Ohhh she's so cute she just looked like a little dolly! Now my baby is all grown up, almost, and has already been with Uriah, I think!

So I pulled that Jacob/Romney Jacob-looking ewe back up with the Jacobs. She just didn't look like she belonged!  Poor thing though, first she was with Dipsy, who was gentle on her, now she is with Uriah, who is running around with his tongue hanging out like a crazed maniac! I don't know which one she will lamb to. It will be a surprise! Also, her spine is way crooked.  She's got a curvature going on. Plus she looks nekked. Poor girl.

The good news is the Jacob flock has calmed down somewhat and they are hanging out with each other and not trying to butt heads. Whew!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 20, 2012)

Bridge...you got me...I also was going to say that looks so real


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 20, 2012)

You TOTALLY got me!!  I was just about to write back and say that was the most amazing thing I have seen yet!  You stinker   She is so precious.  Those beautiful, big eyes.


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## Alice Acres (Dec 20, 2012)

Had me too - I was thinking Wow, you really are getting as good as that lady whose post you shared who gets the BIG $$$ for her craft.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 20, 2012)

Got you guys good!    

Oh, I crack myself up!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 20, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Got you guys good!
> 
> Oh, I crack myself up!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 22, 2012)

Bridge...you BRAT! 

yep..you got me and my daughters. Gosh, how tiny...so if we ever diiiiddddd breed our ewe is that how big the lambies are? So cute, and a jacobs! 

Must say, we love our sheepies!

DH picked up some felting stuff for us.... my DD made an alpaca... ????.... she's never done this before and it came out real good! We don't have a lot of different colors of wool so... then last night she made a Burnese Mtn Dog with a red bow. Pictures are not coming out, if you get too close or zoom in the picture is dark... camera is broken :/

Everyone has been playing around with it though, I will try a Great Pyrenees at some point! 

So bridge how much are you selling your ewe lambs for? May just have to take a drive to VA and pick one up after lambing...I'll skip my sis's place..she'll never know!    Oh, and I am serious.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 22, 2012)

Woo hoo Southern! Felting is totally contagious and addictive.  I hope Santa brings you a new camera for Xmas so we can see pics!

I don't know how much I will be selling the lambs for, but I will give you a really good price because I know they will be loved!  To the general public I will be selling the lambs for more than auction/market price because I wouldn't want them to get butchered 

We sold a piggy! But just one. We are delivering it on Christmas day. That means one piggy will stay here without its buddy.  I'm happy but I'm sad.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 23, 2012)

Yesterday we went on a little road trip to Misty Mountain Farm in Amissville VA. That's where we got out Finn sheep and the lady has a fiber business. I got my drum carder through her. Her daughter dyes and sells yarn through retail outlets. So Tim needed to get something to go with my Christmas present that he went and picked up on Friday. Well, it's fiber related but not sure what. My guess is a loom of some kind. While this is very exciting, it is also nerve racking because I have no place for a loom, and no time to learn how to weave, too! Well we'll just see. It could be something totally different. While we were there, I also picked out some felting needles, another bobbin for my wheel, and some acid dyes. 

So I would like Southern and Pearce to come and clean my house please.  Pearce can scrub it down and Southern can organize it! I have my wonderful cleaning lady, but 4 hours after she leaves the place is a disaster again. omg the pigs! They are not outside yet, since we are getting rid of one on Christmas, I don't want the other one outside freezing by itself.  It's only about 24 right now, brrrr! So Tim came home with some LLBean presents in nice big shopping bags. He left them sitting in the mud room. The pigs completely shredded them up.  So I cleaned that up. Then yesterday I had put a bucket of eggs on the bench out there. The bench used to be a safe place. But now the pigs are just big enough they can reach what is up there. Well, a whole bucket of eggs dumped on the floor, broken all over. So I had to mop up that awful sticky mess.  Then when we got home from our trip, they had ripped a hole in the bottom of the pine pellet bag, and there were a 1000 pine pellets all over.  So now the dog food and pig food bags are on the front porch and I had to go out in the freezing cold this morning to get everyone's food. Brrrr! PIGS! 

Today is pointsetta day. Every year on Christmas eve, Tim goes to this local nursery, some friends of his, and buys all their leftover pointsettas for $1.00 each.  There are usually about 100 of them.  Then he goes around and delivers a bunch. The rest we bring home and give out in the next week. We will have to haul 100 pointsettas from the greenhouse to our horse trailer. Then when we get home, bring them all in the house so they don't freeze. Since Tim and Annie didn't get it together to get a Christmas tree, Tim thought we could make a pointsetta tree. So this morning I will have to clean up the living room, put all my wool away somewhere, and make room for about 75 pointsettas.  Of course they will have to be up off the floor because of the bad pigs and bad cat. 

I better get busy!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2012)

I can't wait to see what you get for your fiber fun! When DH was at the shop for the felting needles he said he looked at carders...  and then spinning wheels...  ! What was cool though is he said we will have to look around for some 2nd hand. He likes all this fiber stuff...   you never know with him. 

I love Tim's idea for the poinsettia tree! Bridge, with your creativity I know it will be beautiful! No tree here either. 

Can't say anything about the pigs 'cause you know I hate pigs.    (See, I want to say, "well what do you expect? They are disgusting pigs", but you are my friend and so I don't want to offend you, so I'll keep that to myself!  )  

OK Bridge... I'm all up for organizing... it makes me so happy...like dorky, giddy happy! We can go up to Tysons Corner and go to the Container Store! We will get plenty of Elfa (I love Elfa) and then we will go through the store and get everything we need. The Container store is the happiest place on earth. It is an organizers dream. The people that come out of the store are always smiling, they are so happy. Doesn't matter they just dropped a couple grand...they are so happy. The place even has T-shirts! Sounds dumb but I'm not kidding...once you go, it's all over. It is highly addictive. It really is an OCDers dream come true!   
:bun :bun :bun :bun :bun :bun
Ok , I'll stop there...I'm taking over your journal!  

My family saw me ask you about your lambs.... I'm getting the looks!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 23, 2012)

Southern, first of all, I DIDN'T BRING HOME THE PIGS!!!  Tim did. And if I held my breath for him to clean up after the pigs, I would be dead.  

The pigs are going outside today whether I like it or not. I have the living room kind of cleared out for the poinsettia tree. Kind of. There's hardly any room to walk in there already. When we bring in the flowers, oh man. But I am trying to make an effort to make it look good, instead of the mess that would ensue if Tim were in charge of the operation, which he already is trying to do, and we've already fought about it this morning. 

So Southern, container store sounds good! Thousands does not.  But if you come to my place to organize, you will want to stay a week! I can tell you right now you will be appalled at the state of our barn and house. So, be prepared! In exchange, I will let you felt your little heart out, roll around in tons of wool, play with the spinning wheel, play with the drum carder, and maybe even play with a loom! And of course, pet sheep! :bun It's so cool your DH is into the whole fiber thing! 

On Christmas day, when we go to Bon's, we have to bring all of our presents, eggs for brunch, Ruth, a pig, and a canoe! 

So, I think I am going on the trip to NY. We are going to move these sheep here----> and these pregnant goats into a stall here----> and the pigs over here-----> and give everybody hay and hope for the best. There is just no taking NO for an answer with Tim.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2012)

Your last line is hilarious! Tim WILL NOT LIKE ME!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 23, 2012)

Yeah, I am right there with you on the pigs.  I don't like the smell, the looks, and really not even the taste   My son had asked about them a few times until we when to the fair this year and he visited the pig barn (an open air building with tons of fans so it could not have been better ventilated) and the smell was intense.  He couldn't get out of there fast enough   I have seen cute little piglets, which do make me give that "awww" that all babies do but never had the urge to go out and get one.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 23, 2012)

OK The pigs are out in the barn! The Jacob sheep are all getting along! I've cleaned up the house (somewhat  ) The poinsettias are here and the poinsettia tree is up! 

I am actually not embarrassed to show you this pic. It looks great!







After dinner it is wrap presents. Tomorrow is deliver poinsettias to everyone.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 23, 2012)

That is pretty! What a neat idea.  I never buy those and you have like...1...2...3...4....what 30?  Nice kitty too.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 23, 2012)




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## Bridgemoof (Dec 24, 2012)

Oh Pearce, we have about 100 of them! There are about 20 or so that make the tree, and another 75 or so in the mud room. We didn't deliver any yesterday because we had them in the back of the truck, and we wanted to get them home and inside asap as it was pretty cold out. Today we do some deliveries in my car. But the weather forecast is ICE PELLETS this morning. What the heck? I can just see going out for my morning feeding with stingy ice pellets coming down on my head. Ouchers. I certainly hope the weather isn't icy and bad today, as everybody will be out on the roads doing last minute shopping for Christmas. 

So last night I only got 2 presents wrapped. I was wrapping a present, and all of a sudden I look down and there was a felting needle and a teddy bear in my hand! How the heck did THAT happen?  So back to the presents, one more and d'oh! there it was again! Wool and a needle in my hand!   I told you it's addictive Southern  So enough of that, I went to bed early.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 24, 2012)

how did that felting needle just "get there"?

"Tree" came out so pretty!

Be safe Bridge! Sounds like it could be nasty this morning.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 24, 2012)

Well it's kind of like this Southern, yesterday Tim was pitching hay over the fence with the pitchfork, while I stood by gazing at my sheepies. He said "Honey, stand back, or you are going to end up with three holes in your head. And they'll be marked A, D and D."   

Nothing on the weather front yet!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 24, 2012)

Bridge.. I can always count on you to give me my morning laugh! 

Thanks!


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## jodief100 (Dec 24, 2012)

I love the tree and such a pretty kitty.  I understand about the "it just appeared in my hand"  thing too.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

Funny stuff!


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## Alice Acres (Dec 24, 2012)

That is a lot ....a LOT...of poinsettias. Did I miss it - why do you have 100 of them?
I would never have the space to do that display, but I like it!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 24, 2012)

Ok Bridge - your house is SPOTLESS! Seriously! I don't know if there is a cat-fur free area of my house for a single photo! Nevermind the bunnies! (love the poinsettia tree BTW!)

I don't know about where YOU are...but it's SNOWING to beat the band here! We've got about 3 INCHES! DD decided she wanted Wendy's for lunch...so out we went...made it over the mountain...but came back the back way (valley) so no mountains again. It's GORGEOUS! I'm getting my WHITE Christmas! Yay! 

oh yeah...Snuggles is in the barn...in her own little run too. Poor thing. 

Been spinning like a mad woman...I've got two bobbins done..now I'm off to ply them! WOOOO HOOOOO! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVERYONE!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 24, 2012)

Ha ha Alice, you need to backtrack a few posts. Basically, Tim buys what the nursery can't sell for $1.00 a piece every year. Then he hands them all out to friends and neighbors. Besides the tree, we're down to about 20! Yay!

COco...Thanks for the compliments on the clean house. I assure you though, it's JUST THAT ONE SPOT, lol, and it's already messed up! I had just cleaned it up and mopped the floor, that's why I was able to even take a picture. 

And YES it's been snowing ALL afternoon!  It's definitely going to be a WHITE Christmas! 

Oh, but things have gotten really bad on our road. There are cars stuck all over the place. We live on a sharp curve, and the road goes down and over a little bridge over our creek.  There are people stranded and stuck all over in front of our house. Tim helped some girl get out of a ditch, and she's sitting in our driveway now waiting for her husband and dad to get her home. Another lady wrecked her car. And yet another lady, who we told not to go down the hill, insisted and crashed into the other lady's car. OMG. Tim is going to get the tractor now, it's already dark and still snowing, and he is going to haul somebody out of the ditch down by the bridge. I put up an orange cone at the top by our driveway, and opened the gates so people could get through. But, they still wanna try to go down that hill. 

The chickens were all confused by the snow believe it or not and couldn't find their way home. I had to help the littlest ones back to the coop.

But in spite of all the trouble, I HAVE THIS FOR CHRISTMAS!






Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S. Snuggles seriously needs a sheep friend! I've got one or two for ya


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## Alice Acres (Dec 24, 2012)

Great snow picture!

And thanks for the "rest of the story".....


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## bonbean01 (Dec 24, 2012)

Love the photo

You may end up with a whole bunch of people staying at your house tonight that are stuck and or stranded...happened often when I lived in Canada.

Merry Christmas to you and yours


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## CocoNUT (Dec 24, 2012)

Beautiful! 
People are being kinda foolish around here too Bridge! There's a van of the shoulder in the ditch up the road from our house. Had to be going too fast cause we didn't eat it when we'd driven that way earlier. There were trucks stuck in ditches, people parked IN the middle of the road who'd decided they weren't goign to try and go DOWN the mountain..but were too selfish to MOVE OUT OF THE WAY for people who were...so other people were having to drive aroudn them, into ONCOMING traffic! WVDOT finally got the trucks out...didnt' do much good though. 

I'm sooo excited we're going to have a white Christmas too. DH's stuck in VA though. Rte 7 was shut down at the bottom of the mountain down by Berryville...so he had to backtrack. Now he's going to try adn get home over rte 9...but he hasn't been on the new bypass...which comes STRAIGHT down the mountain! Hopefully he'll figure it out though...without running out of gas! 

I'll take a friend for Snuggles! I'm supposed to be getting a little yearling Icelandic ewe to keep her company in the next few weeks...but three is always such a better number than two isn't it?! Just tell me it's a jacob and I'll be over with bells on!  (I've still got those angora bunnies....you know..they use litterboxes and don't smell as much as pigs do!)

I'll have to get some photos of our snow-scene too. 
BEAUTIFUL! 
Merry Christmas!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 24, 2012)

Thanks Alice!

Oh, I forgot one thing. The two pregnant does, an alpine and the boer are so bursting, I think they are ready! I luckily got them both together in a stall. So somebody had posted the ligament link today and I was reading up on that. One of the things to tell if they are ready is if they do something weird that they've never done before. Well, the boer was sniffing the air a whole bunch with her lip curled up! I thought that was weird. They both are laying down, but could hardly even lay down because their udders are bursting. I think I will go and check on them later, but doesn't everybody say goats usually deliver in the day?  This boer goat is so huge, she has HUGE bulges in her sides, I swear it's gonna be quads.

I hope they don't deliver tomorrow while we are away  But at least they are in a stall now.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 24, 2012)

I've heard goats deliver in the middle of the night! You might wanna check on them in the morning before you leave....


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## Southern by choice (Dec 24, 2012)

oh bridge I love that picture...snow and sheep!

Just showed it to my Dh... he's not buying it... you got him (like all of us) on the "felted" jacob lamb that WAS REAL!

 So he said, "NOPE.... she's pulling our leg, those are all felted sheep and she is sprinkling confectioners sugar  over them..I'm not falling for it!"   

That should be next POW!

Maybe the goats will kid tonight, the weather will be toooo bad and you don't have to go anywhere!

MERRY CHRISTMAS BRIDGE!


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## Alice Acres (Dec 24, 2012)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> I've heard goats deliver in the middle of the night! You might wanna check on them in the morning before you leave....


And low pressures (like during storms) bring on labor in all mammals too.....so maybe???


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 24, 2012)

Cool. White Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to you Bridge!!


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## SheepGirl (Dec 24, 2012)

Merry Christmas, Bridget!

Isn't it nice to have a white Christmas for once?


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 24, 2012)

Did anybody else notice StrawHat lighting up the message board like a Christmas tree with his posts????  

Southern your Dh makes me laugh!  I assure you, those sheepies are the real deal.

ok off to finishing my wrapping...so close! Then have to check on the goats before bed.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 24, 2012)

hah I did that to all (hopefully) of the BYH members that I really like. lol


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Did anybody else notice StrawHat lighting up the message board like a Christmas tree with his posts????
> 
> Southern your Dh makes me laugh!  I assure you, those sheepies are the real deal.
> 
> ok off to finishing my wrapping...so close! Then have to check on the goats before bed.


Yup!!


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## elevan (Dec 24, 2012)




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## Southern by choice (Dec 26, 2012)

Bridge... did your goatie kid yet?


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 26, 2012)

Yep! Twin baby Alpines arrived some time during the night!  They are adorable and everybody is doing great. I'm so glad they were in a stall. Whew!

I'm going to go back out and take pics in a minute.  They are sooo cute!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 26, 2012)

Ok all...I don't know about Middleburg - but it's snowing to beat the band AGAIN this morning out my way. Got at least another inch...possibly more! It was sleeting about an hour or so ago...turned to HUGE flakes! They're talking snow until about 3 PM, then changing over to rain. 

White Christmas ROCKS! 

Congratulations on the twins Bridge! Can't wait to see photos!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 26, 2012)

Yep Coco, same thing here! Frozen ice pellets this morning, then turned over to huge flakes! Everything is covered already. 

We had a nice day yesterday. Delivered the canoe okay! Delivered the pig okay! Had a great lunch at Bon's. Santa brought me a loom! 

Here are baby goats, they are both girls! And I have a feeling there will be a few more coming today from the boer! I think there's 3 or 4 in her....


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## elevan (Dec 26, 2012)




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## CocoNUT (Dec 26, 2012)

Oh Bridge, they're BEAUTIFUL! I'm so jealous! 

And a loom?! WOW! You must've been a REALLY good girl this year!   I can't wait for all the woven goodies you'll create now! 

Still snowing like mad out here...figures...I gotta get to the DR. I don't think the antibiotics fixed my ear infection OR my bronchitis! Still can't hear out of my left hear and STILL coughing! This is why you don't want to be allergic to penicillin! 

I think I'll have to come up with some URGENT business out your way....


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## bonbean01 (Dec 26, 2012)

How cute Bridge!!!! 

And to Coco...sorry you are still not well...saying a prayer for your speedy recovery


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## CocoNUT (Dec 26, 2012)

Thanks bon! Now we'll have to see how the roads are! 
Bridge - my husband got stuck at the top of the hill by our house waiting for a tow truck to pull out the minivan that got stuck in the ditch back on Tuesday! I hope people are having better luck on your road today!


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 26, 2012)

Very nice.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 26, 2012)

Oh man, 2 more goats were born, but not from the boer we thought! A different boer. Tim found them outside in the freezing rain.snow. Nice. Way to keep an eye on your goats there pal! So we brought them up with their mommy and have them under a heat lamp. I think they are warming up, drying off and they both have nursed. 

So we ended up bringing the rest of the goats up to the barn, trying to figure out where to put everybody.


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## jodief100 (Dec 26, 2012)

Oh my!  Goats will be goats.  I hope all the babies are good.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 26, 2012)

Oh wow! That's crazy! I'm sure the babies will be fine though. It's sleeting and snowing here still. It keeps switching back and forth. It was bad enough in Winchester that my Dr's office closed at 1PM! 

We want more photos Bridge! You can NEVER share too many baby photos!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 26, 2012)

Oh wow what a day! So far it's 4 baby goats, but the day isn't over! There are 4 more goats that could give birth within the next few hours or days... Yet the NY trip is still on! 

Today was the worst day with the sleet and ice and snow. Yuck! Moving goats around in the muddy slush, haying stalls, checking babies...I didn't get anything done today that I was supposed to get done in preparation for our trip.

But the kids and moms are doing well. 

Other than that...I am just. going. to. lose. it.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 26, 2012)

hmmmm......maybe you should have that meltdown PRIOR to the NY trip! I'm surprised you're still going...with all the babies and the crazy weather. Well at least you can read up on your loom to distract yourself from all of the kidding craziness!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 26, 2012)

Congrats on the babies!!!!

And I'm with Coco...go ahead and lose it...take that needed melt down...bottling it all up will not do you any good, and I hear it can make you get a big butt


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 26, 2012)

I could NOT leave with all that happening. Sorry Bridge.

I agree. Break down.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 26, 2012)

Beautiful babies.


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## PendergrassRanch (Dec 26, 2012)

Babies!

You have so many to come! Wow! I'm jealous


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## jodief100 (Dec 27, 2012)

It is not fair that a SHEEPLE got baby goats for Christmas and I didn't.  Gonna go pout now.  

Go ahead, loose your top, blow off steam and do whatever you want.  They can go to NY without you just fine.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 27, 2012)

Sheeple.... Yes I'd much rather be having lambs!

Ok so GUESS WHAT??? I'm not going to  NY!!!  Tim finally realized the error of his ways and the ridiculousness of the situation! So I am staying home birthing kids while they go. Of course I would much rather be shopping on 5th Avenue than birthing goats, but I am SO RELIEVED that I at least will be here!   He could have saved me a lot of sleepless nights worrying about the whole situation if he would have agreed in the first place.  This is all part of his "play it by ear, we'll figure it out" strategy. I didn't hardly sleep a wink last night.  

So there are 4 more goats to go...one just popped her mucous plug! The one I am most worried about is the really, really fat one, I think she's gonna have quads!  She's about 3 times as wide on her sides than the others. I'm going to post in the goat birthing section so you guys can help me if I need it!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

:bun


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

I'm so happy for you and for your goats!!!  

You would never have enjoyed that trip for worry about what was happening at home


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 27, 2012)

I know!!!  

Here's boer #2. We put a heated blanket in the corner because they were the ones that were out in the freezing rain. They seem to like it


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 27, 2012)

That's great you get to stay now. 

Congrats on all the baby goats.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 27, 2012)

Glad you are staying despite the grief you are getting for it. 

Maybe you will end up falling in love with the goats too! Then you can be "well rounded" 

Congrats on the kids!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

well rounded... 

I'm sticking with sheep...we have limited space here...but perhaps I am well rounded assisting with difficult birthings and bottle feedings of baby goats with our neighbour?  And now sorely tempted to get a LGD pup?  Oh...I must behave...


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 27, 2012)

I am well rounded! Sooo well rounded, with all these critters! But I'm a SHEEPLE for sure! 

I've been posting my progress with the goats in the goat forum. I feel so out of place there!   But thank God I have my BYHerders to come to for support! Everybody is so helpful and supportive, and I know I have answers if I need them.  

Tim and Annie have been gone all afternoon to pick up his brother. I just put ham and scalloped potatoes in the oven for dinner for when they get home.  Now I guess I need to go check on the goats again. I'm kind of concerned about #10. She expelled a mucous plug this morning, and she looked like she started labor. But then nothing. Every time I go out there I think she looks like she might be starting labor, but then nothing. She just lays down and acts like nothing is going on. 

I'll keep posting the progress in the goat section.


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## SheepGirl (Dec 27, 2012)

Hope all goes well 

And YUM scalloped potatoes...you are making my tummy growl lol


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

That sounds like a yummy supper 

You can count on us for support...you are a very special person


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## CocoNUT (Dec 27, 2012)

Scalloped potatoes? I should've read THIS post prior to me leaving work tonight! I could've swung on by and "helped out" with the kidding! Man...wonderful memories of my mom making scalloped potatoes...don't think I've had that in YEARS! 

Hope all is going well....


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

I want some!  Not the ham, just the potatoes (I don't like ham much but scalloped potatoes and I have a great relationship).


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 27, 2012)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> I want some!  Not the ham, just the potatoes (I don't like ham much but scalloped potatoes and I have a great relationship).


But you like bacon though, right?


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

Bacon is another story!  A story called, "What happened to my hips?"


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 27, 2012)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> Bacon is another story!  A story called, "What happened to my hips?"


haha

Everyone loves bacon


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 28, 2012)

Nothing new to report on the goat front! No goats kidded overnight. We moved some goats around this morning.  Now the two boer nannys with their kids are together, with poor #10 who hasn't kidded yet! The kids are romping around playing together, cute!

So the family unit is leaving around 9:30.  Instead of feeding his horses before he leaves, what is Tim  doing? He's OFF PICKING UP MORE GOATS! The neighbor has some PIA goats he wants to get rid of. So Tim is going to go get them, doesn't know where he's going to put them, but I guess I'll have to deal with the new goats when he leaves 

I have to run to the farm store before they leave with my car. Nervous breakdown coming....I can see it now!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 28, 2012)

sorry bridge...no breakdowns allowed, you have way too much responsibility to be that selfish! 
So glad the kidding is going well! 

I am wondering if Tim needs to be on some ADD meds!


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## jodief100 (Dec 28, 2012)

Southern by choice said:
			
		

> I am wondering if Tim needs to be on some ADD meds!


I think he needs a swift kick in the rear end.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 28, 2012)

Bridge - if you need help going to the store or whatever let me know! (It's supposed to snow again tomorrow...1-3" of WET snow is what they're calling for out by me.) I don't have a pickup, but you'd be amazed what you can fit in a forrester! Hollar if you need a ride or help with anything!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 28, 2012)

Coco thanks so much!  I made it to the store okay and got hopefully everything we will need. So far my helper, Tim's brother, is still in his jammies and flip flops drinking coffee, telling me how he's going to help me. I've already fed the chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, mama goats, pig, and half the horses! Ruth is yammering on about how her car need to be cleaned off, and she needs stuff from the store. 

What I'm really worried about is getting some work jobs done. I have a new magazine that I have to complete by Wednesday, and I haven't started it yet! My regular amagazine is due on Wednesday, too, but I've made good progress on it. Hopefully when everybody leaves I can sit down and work. 

Later!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 28, 2012)

Well hollar if you need help with ANYTHING!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 28, 2012)

Thanks Coco! I will get it all done because I am an AMAZING Superwoman!   I'll just be a bit cranky for the next few days   Actually, now that the "family unit" is gone I feel better already!

The new goats are in the horse trailer. That is where they will live for the next 3 days.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 28, 2012)

Just keep that felting needle FAAAAR away from your computer! We wouldn't want any creative 'distractions' to pop up!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 28, 2012)

LOL Coco, I was good and did not touch my felting stuff today!  I am just about finished with my one publication, and this weekend can work on the other. Yay!

Today went pretty well. I got my helper moving around 11, when we went to go pick up Lencho. Lencho finished feeding the horses. Yay for Lencho!  Then I had Tim's brother working on a few "honey-do" projects. One was installing a heat lamp in one of the stalls, the other was building me a fence line feeding trough for my sheep! That's almost done   Then he helped me do the evening feeding, so that was good to have help.  We are done and in the house. Now I have to whip up something for dinner, and that will conclude my day! 

The ham and scalloped potatoes was DELISH by the way.  We ate it all!

I don't know what is going on with the other 3 goats. Nothing happening.  I guess I can go and check their ligaments tomorrow. I'm not very experienced at that, though, so not sure how effective that diagnosis will be!  I would love it if I wake up tomorrow and there were a bunch of new baby goats nursing already. There's another weather system moving in with snow, so maybe that will set them off.


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## jodief100 (Dec 28, 2012)

I had ham and scalloped potatoes on the menu for tomorrow.  Then two teenage boys ate then entire 7lb ham that I had planned on lasting 2 meals.  So it will be scalloped potatoes with bacon.  

Good luck with your projects!  So nice to have "help" (the kind that is gettign started when you are finishing).  Sounds familiar.  I get frustrated with that sometimes.  Hubby doesn't quite understand when I ask for help it is because I need it NOW. he is wonderful, but sometimes we have conflicting opinions on priorities.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 28, 2012)

So I ALMOST drove through Middleburg on my way home tonight! I was trying a new "backroads" way home that a friend from work told me about. You can never have TOO many alternate routes! Such a beautiful area. I WAS thinking of your scalloped potatoes too...good thing i don't have your number! My poor hubby and daughter would've thought I'd gotten lost on my way home....they were STARVING when I walked in the door at 8PM! 

Still no snow/rain yet...but I'm waiting...


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## bonbean01 (Dec 28, 2012)

So cool that you live close together...I would love that


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## CocoNUT (Dec 28, 2012)

Oh Bon...I've been thinking of finding SOME excuse to get to Mississippi to get some of your home made bread and wild stories! I've yet to catch up with Bridge...she's so busy!


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 29, 2012)

Coco was SO close to my house and didn't realize it. About 5 minutes away! Now she has my number so she can stop by next time.

Oh boy, everything is good on the farm. All the animals are being well cared for,  better than when Tim is here  and it's so peaceful! I'm totally NOT having a nervous breakdown. I actually enjoy taking care of everyone when it's a peaceful and relaxed environment. My helper got it in gear today and was ready to go this morning. So we were finished feeding in no time. I was actually able to get some work done on my new pub today.   The baby goats are cute as a button. 

I smell like a herd of goats, though. The dogs smell like a herd of goats. I've never been so muddy and icky in all my life. The house is muddy. The dogs are REALLY muddy. It did snow but it was warm enough that it just created more mud! Tim's brother almost got washed down the creek. We were going to cross it like usual to feed the horses on the other side. He said he would go because it looked like it would go over the top of my tall boots. So he got a few feet and the current was so strong and he stepped in a hole and almost got washed away! We lost a whole bucket of corn down the creek, bucket and all  He was not happy, as he basically fell in the icy cold water which quickly rose inside his boots and gloves. Oops. So I had to drive around to the neighbors and walk down there from the other side while he took a hot shower. 

But now I am alone!  He went out to their other brother's for dinner. This is the brother whom I've never met. He and Tim don't get along. And he lives right down the street  Oh well, I'm happy to be here in the peace and quiet and not have to cater to anyone. 

Gee, maybe I should take a shower?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 29, 2012)

Bridge - Do you see that goats are well.......better? hah

When your sheep lamb how many do they have? You seems surprised that the goats all had twins.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 29, 2012)

Well, it's like this Straw...

The first sheep I had that lambed had twins. One was a bottle baby because the mom rejected one. The other twin ended up dying at about 4 months. :/
The second sheep I had had twins, one was still born. :/
The third ewe that lambed was a total surprise and a single. :/
The fourth ewe we had to pull the lamb because it was stuck and a single :/
The fifth ewe aborted at about 3 months :/

Not a great success rate. Hoping for a better success rate this coming year!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 29, 2012)

Yeah that's not very good. Hope they do better this year.


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## CocoNUT (Dec 29, 2012)

of COURSE they'll do better this year 
Our snow didn't melt around here...still too cool. The wind is CRAZY right now though....sounds like the house is going to blow over at times. Well...seems like Tim's brother got HIS bath....you should get yours...light some candles...play some nice music...enjoy the SERENITY!  Maybe whileyou're in the tub you can get some of your wet felting projects taken care of?  Multi-tasking!

I want you to know...because of you...I made scalloped potatoes! Now it's time for the taste test....


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## Southern by choice (Dec 29, 2012)

Bridge, that had to be a sad season for you. Did you all ever have any necropsies done?
I'm sure glad the kidding has gone so well.

Hoping for a good lambing season.!!!

That is scary about the creek.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 29, 2012)

oh no wind! I hate wind! I don't think it's here yet. 

Ewes #1, 2, and 3 weren't bred here, so no telling what kind of care they were given before. Ewe #4 produced Mac, my handsome, healthy Tunis Cormo ram, so that's pretty good. I think ewe #5 was rammed by the Alpine goat that just had her babies  That's my theory, anyways. No necropsy was done on her baby. The only necropsy we had done was on Snowcap. which didn't show anything out of the ordinary, and didn't help my Beastie Boy either.  

I'm hoping for a healthy, productive season from all my ewes!  And those Finn sheep should be spitting out lambs like a PEZ dispenser! 

Coco! I took a nice hot shower, ahhhh. My serenity was briefly interrupted by a stinkbug who tried to share the shower with me and stunk up the whole shower.  I was able to wash him away and regain my moment. Then I luxuriously smoothed foot lotion on my feet, only to be interrupted once again by a stink bug! 

Now I have a candle lit, am eating my leftovers from last night... my homemade Alfredo sauce with pasta, peas and ham.  And I'm thoroughly enjoying the fellowship of my BYHerders.  

I'm not even going to check on the goats before bed because my spidey sense tells me #26 and #29 are not quite there yet!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 29, 2012)

Spidey sense!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 29, 2012)

I wish I had spidey sense...would save me lots of freezing rainy trips out there to check on my ladies in waiting.

Hope your lambing season goes super well Bridge!!!  We've had only single lambs up until last January when we got our first set of twins...hoping for more twins this year...all girls


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 1, 2013)

Well it's time for an update! I can finally sit down and take a breather and update my blog. Happy New Year everyone!

GOATS
Well, the baby goats and their mommas are doing okay, except for the one baby goat who has the eye thing going on. We are bringing it over to the vet this afternoon so he can assess the situation. Don't know if it's the turned eyelid thing or not, but I have complete confidence that our vet will be able to take care of it.   We let them all out of their stalls yesterday and the babies were so cute jumping around. #26 and #29 have not kidded yet, and to be honest I'm not even sure if #29 is pregnant at this point. She doesn't look like she is bagging up. #26 is the wide girth one and when she blows, well, whew! 

Remember the goats that were in the trailer? Well yesterday we brought the three of them down to the field with Kiko Joe and the others.  There are 2 pygmy alpine type does and a boer whether who is so cute and chunky! Well, Kiko Joe has really been watching out for those little ones. I'm sooo proud of Joe! When the rest of the goats ran off and left the newbs to go far off to the hay bale, Kiko Joe came back and made sure the little ones went with, too. How cool is that? They seem like they are getting along fine and I'm so glad Joe is watching out for them.

SHEEP
Yesterday a lady came over that had a single ewe she was looking to rehome. It is an 8-year old Jacob/Merino cross and it lived with a guard llama. But the llama passed away unexpectedly so the sheep was alone and at risk from a coyote attack.  The lady was worried sick about her sheep. She got my name from the sheep producer's association as to someone who could possibly take her sheep.  So she came over with her husband to see if this would make a suitable "forever" home for her ewe. I just told her that she could look over my sheep and farm and if it suited her fine, I would take the sheep, if it didn't, well, I would understand. So when they were here I was pointing out the shaggy wool thing and told her I was investigating the problem. She suggested it could be lice or keds, and told me how to look for them. We took Shoshi, the brown Finn sheep who was the worst looking sheep, and we parted her wool and discovered she had some kind of infestation. So Tim brought home some pesticide thing that you apply on their skin. I did all the Finns and Lala and Patches, my cormo. I didn't see any keds on Lala or Patches, but I applied it to all the sheep just in case. Cormo's have very fine fleeces, and if they rub up against wire fences and stuff, they tend to snag their wool. Well, I just hope we can lick the problem, and I suspect Soshi was the one who brought it to our farm. She's looked bad since we got her.

In the meantime, out in the back pasture, Harriet the harlequin looks a little "off."   According to my observations, she's due to lamb the end of January. She doesn't look very big, or even like she's pregnant at this point.  But she didn't come to the feed trough this morning, then she was laying behind a tree away from the others. Ruh roh. I am worried to death that she might abort her lamb like Po did back in September. In that case, I believe I will have a real epidemic on my hands and could lose all the lambs. I think there is some kind of vaccine I could give the ewes in case of such an epidemic, but not sure. So I will be checking on her constantly throughout the day.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Tim finally made a fenceline feeding trough for my big sheep that I got to try out this morning for the first time! His brother had started one but didn't finish the job. I also realized it was too high for most of the sheep. So last night Tim built me a really long fenceline feeder that worked great! I'm very happy about that. Especially since I want to feed more grain to the ewes who are pregnant now. 

The next thing on the infrastructure agenda is building a shelter down by the pond for the Jacob sheep. I need to get them out of the barnyard before lambing starts. But the poor sheep we sheared are still cold! I want them to have some kind of shelter.

CREATIVE
I am still overwhelmed by the loom. It is very hard to understand the whole concept, never having seen it done. So my New year's resolution for this year will be to weave a table runner. ONE thing, that's all! If I can get that accomplished, I will be doing alright! Also been working on a felted cupid prototype. It's taking me too long so I don't suspect I will be making many of them. Just trying to think of things I can make for the next holiday to sell on my etsy store.


Well, that's the report for now! I'm going to go check on Harriet and see what she's up to.


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jan 1, 2013)

Good luck with baby with the eye problem!!!!
Lol, all your talk about does kidding, and pregnant ewes, mades me wish for lambing time at my house, which dosen't start untill the end of March! I love all the babies, but am not looking forward to the sleepless nights!
So, did the lady with the Jacob/Merino ewe decide you had a good enough forever home for the ewe?!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 1, 2013)

No I think the lice thing was a deal breaker.  She said other than that, she probably would send her here.  She liked the farm, although she agreed it was way too small for all our animals! But she said her gal would have lots of friends here. That's an understatement.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 2, 2013)

I AM WEAVING!!!!! It took me 2 whole days to figure out how to get the blasted yarn onto the loom. But I just wove 1 inch of my table runner!   
Talk to you in a month, it will take me that long!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 2, 2013)

That is really cool!  Let's see it!!


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## SheepGirl (Jan 2, 2013)




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## bonbean01 (Jan 2, 2013)

Way to go Bridge...won't be long and you'll be an expert in that too   And yes...we need progress photos!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 3, 2013)

So this is the loom. I knew nothing about weaving a few days ago. Now I am doing it! It's not perfect, but I will get there. So first you have to load a bunch of yarn through the holes in the center thing, that's called the heddle. That was a very difficult process that I have nowhere perfected yet! The long yarns are called the "warp." Then when you weave across those long yarns it's called the "weft."

I used the Christmas wrapping paper to roll the tied ends of the yarn around the beam to keep them tight and neat.










As you can see my tension is pretty screwed up. But I'll get better!

Today is my spinner's guild meeting and they will be talking about drum carders and hand carding. That will be so fun to see what kind of things they will be putting through the drum carder! I can't wait to weave some of my hand spun yarn with my loom! Oh so much fun! 

I'm having my own little fiber  fest!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 3, 2013)

I'm SO proud of you! I knew you'd figure out that loom! Maybe we can swap...I'll spin your wool...and you can weave it! I like the red/white pattern you have going too. 
Hopefully everything will go well with your ewe...any updates? 
I was engrossed in a cleaning fit of craziness yesterday...so didn't get out much. I did spin another 120 yards of icelandic wool though! VERY nice stuff. Now I just have to dye it, beat it, dry it and crochet with it! YAY!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 3, 2013)

Morning Coco!

Harriet is doing okay. I think I figured out she has MORNING sickness!  She won't come and eat in the morning, but in the afternoon she will. So? Must be that!

You are a spinning maniac Coco!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 3, 2013)

spinning is something to help with the insomnia! good way to let the mind wander....
how's that weaving coming along? you could probably make matching napkins for your table runner! 
Oh...forgot to tell you...DD LOVES felting! apparently she's a 'master' at it! I'm proud that she hasn't managed to stab herself...


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## Southern by choice (Jan 3, 2013)

Loving your loom! This will be fun to watch the progression!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 3, 2013)

That is the neatest thing!  I am jealous a bit  Can't wait to see more.


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## jodief100 (Jan 3, 2013)

Now you need to join the Weaver's Guild!     It looks nice.  I want a loom.......


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 3, 2013)

Thanks guys! I got only a couple inches done today. It's looking really cool. I'm going to go work on it now.

I AM part of the weaver's guild already Jodi! The league I belong to is the Blue Ridge Spinners AND Weaver's Guild, so now I can participate in the weaver's group activities, too!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 4, 2013)

I'm well on my way with the weaving. I think I'm about half way done, but not sure because both ends are rolled up and I can't tell. I got a lot done today in between work and feedings. It's going much smoother now and quicker. I went back and read one of my books and now everything makes sense! It didn't make one bit of sense trying to read it before I weaved anything. But now I know what I did wrong and my next project will be most beautious!  I'm already dreaming about what I can spin and weave.....eeeee! My back is killing me from intensely crouching over the loom, but it's been really fun!

FEEDINGS
Speaking of feedings, I'm SO tired of feeding! Now with the momma goats still up in the barn with the baby goats, they have been on a special diet.  Which means going out there every morning and every afternoon and mixing up their special concoction. We don't feed anyone anything out of any feed bags. Everything is based on ear corn that we buy by the ton. Then it's mixed with particular minerals, soy, molasses, etc. depending on who gets what. And since I get up first and go out there first I have added on the responsibility of feeding them, too, because I would feel bad if they had to wait until Tim got our there.  Plus I've been feeding the sheep ore grain since allegedly they are pregnant. Anyways, enough whining.

JACOB WHETHER FOR SALE
So my biggest news is I have made the decision to take our newest Jacob whether to the auction on Monday. He's not doing very well here. For one, Uriah is constantly trying to hump him :/ He is still cold after being sheared. He hasn't embraced the corn feeding. He is scouring. He's not a looker. He's got no personality. Honestly, I think that Uriah may have rammed him. He was scouring a dark almost reddish poo. We gave him probios and pepto and that helped for a bit but the the scours came back, lighter though.  Then the other day when I took his temp it was only 99. That's when I tried putting a sweater on him that didn't work so well. Today I took his temp and it was only 94.!!! He should be dead! I went and took somebody else's temp to make sure the thermometer was working and it was. I looked up low body temp in sheep and the only thing I could find was Hypothermia, which doesn't seem likely since he is in a barn and it's not subzero temps outside. It's barely freezing. So the other thing I found was internal bleeding could cause low body temp. I thought that may be it. I tried putting another sweater on him today, put him by a heat lamp and got his temp back up to 99. Then later the sweater got all tangle up on him and as I was trying to get it off of him Uriah  was trying to ram me and him. So I put Uriah in a stall and the little brat jumped over the stall wall which is narrow and about 4' tall! So I just made the decision to get rid of the whether before I get too attached to him, plus I need to focus my attention on the producing sheep. So we'll get rid of him before something really bad happens. Have I adequately convinced myself that this is the right thing to do yet? I hope so!

OKay, I'll try to take a pic of my weaving progress tomorrow! Almost time for bed. Night!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 4, 2013)

about the wether. Sorry bridge. Uriah needs a spanking!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 5, 2013)

Uriah got spankings, it didn't work, lol. Now he gets the STICK! Tim told me to get a stick and bop him on the nose. I did. He boinged away. Now when I go in there I just carry the STICK and he stays away from me. But it's hard to hold the stick and a bucket of feed and try and open gates and stuff.  And if I go in there without the stick, by golly, there is you know who trying to bop me with his horns. I still love him  He's so darned cute!!!!

I wish I had a camera with me yesterday out in the barnyard. The little piggy has been running around now. I've bee letting her out of her stall. The Jacob sheep were afraid of her at first and were bopping her with their horns, BOP, SQUeaL, BOP, Squeal...but now they are used to her. But she can get under any fence or gate. Well yesterday there were two horses in the corral next to where the Jacobs are. The piggy went in there with them. The horses, Woody and Spot, were both laying down basking in the sun. Little piggy went right up to Woody's nose and was snorkeling around. Woody just looked at her. It was so cute, teeny piggy to big horsey, nose to nose. I was over at Ruth's helping her with her checkbook, and I called her over to look out the window. Ruth enjoys watching all the animals so much. She invariably leaves me notes because she's always got her eye on the barnyard. For example, "Bridget-your crippled sheep is stuck in the corn bin." We don't have a crippled sheep, she must mean the goat Uni.  So I go investigate, nope. It's not Uni, it's the big pig Taco and he's not stuck! He's pulled over the whole trailer with corn in it and is eating it.  And Ruth gets so mad when we park the horse trailer in front of the barn because it blocks her view! 

Today is weaving, feeding, cleaning, weaving, feeding, cleaning and bed!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 5, 2013)

I wonder what happened to GotaCrazyLady? She used to comment on my journal every day. I haven't seen her in a long time.   Hope you are doing well GoatCrazyLady!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 5, 2013)

Congrats on your weaving  And sorry things aren't working out with your wether 

I know the frustration you're talking about...in my case it was our ram Watson...stick didn't do the trick with his butting anymore, so I've got the feed, gates and a bbgun for keeping him off me...just hearing the bbs shake in there worked for awhile.  Gets to be a real annoying juggling act at feeding time...so...no more ram out there anymore...he is resting quietly right now in my freezer...picked up the meat yesterday, and had a roast for supper and it is no different than a young lamb...hmmm...this is good since our freezer if full and no mutton taste or toughness.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 5, 2013)

Yeah Bon, well I'll be darned if I'm gonna eat Uriah! He is one of the few sheep that we actually bought from a legitimate source  and he's registered, adorable and will make great babies! He is the future of my Jacob Sheep Association Foundation Flock  So I'll just continue to whack him with a stick if I have to 

So, looks like I have Lily, Starr, and Fluffy due in March to Uriah. Then Lottie, Flake, Sissy and Ruthy due in May. That's SEVEN Jacob ewes I have that are going to have cute little Uriah babies. 

Today didn't go as planned, as usual when it comes to living with TIM. Forget cleaning and weaving.  We ended up bringing all of our big sheep up to the barnyard so we could do a few hooves. They sat there all day waiting, while the Jacob sheep were crammed in the sheep shed waiting for the other sheep to get out of the way. Then we had to go pick up Phinneas 360. We lent him out to breed some Finns of the lady who has our alpaca Jules. He was there for almost a month, and she doesn't think her ewes got bred either. Phinneas is either very sneaky, or a total dud. In that case our Finn's will NOT be spitting lambs out like a PEZ dispenser. But when we brought him back in tonight, the girls were happy to see him and he was hopping on a couple. 

So then we ran all the big sheep through the chute, trimmed some hooves, and put the lice pesticide treatment on them, just in case. We checked the ewes for signs of pregnancy, and the only one who looks remotely pregnant is Harriet, the ewe who has been acting strange. I took her temp and it was normal. So now everybody is back in their respective places. 

Do you believe #26 goat STILL hasn't had her babies? I don't know what is going on with her. 

OK, now on to weaving as previously scheduled....


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## CocoNUT (Jan 5, 2013)

Oh man! Hopefully you're off weaving now....

I got woken early by little people...got all the 'chores' done....then woke up daddy in time for the fun stuff! Now we've all been crafting our various 'hobbies' this evening. It's been kinda fun. Hubby is moving his model stuff into OUR craft room...not too happy about it...but I was finally able to convey that I WILL NOT have boxes laying about my craft room....and his "junkie" organizational methods aren't allowed! I showed him how things WILL be done (DD also jumped on the boat and gave him a bunch of poop for trying to take over our room) and he finally understood WHY i've been so hesitant. So HOPEFULLY he'll conform to our rules...or all his stuff will find its way into the basement! 

We need photos of your weaving! (I'm off to retrieve my yarn off the stovetop....)


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 5, 2013)

You set him straight there Coco! Don't let the evil manslob take over your craft room. Nope.

The weaving is going great, but if I send a picture you won't see anything different than the last pic. That's because it's wound up on both ends. So you only see the foot or so I'm working on. You'll have to wait until I'm done to see the whole thing! I'm definitely improving though. And I am closer to the finish than the start, if that makes any sense!

Tired now, though.  Lots of running around today.

Talk to you in the a.m.!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 5, 2013)

Can't wait Bridge...so many of you are so amazing with your ability to do these things!!!  

Coco...if you get your man in line with the craft room...give step by step instructions...my daughter is not doing well with her hubby in that department


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## CocoNUT (Jan 5, 2013)

Oh I'm sure you ladies have seen "the face" before...of a man who is a little upset at being left out. I told him it's taken me nearly two years to get this room mostly done. I've done the flooring in the room myself, set everything up, organized it, and it's CLEAN! I mean EVEN the DD has respected the organizational set up (miraculous) of the room. He hadn't even asked to be included and he had already dumped (LITERALLY) 4 dusty moving  boxes in the MIDDLE of the floor! OH NO NO NO! So after he huffed and puffed for a while, I finally WALKED HIM THROUGH the process...designated the most out of the way area for his model car boxes - even gave him two tupperware for his paints, etc. So he's been satiated...for now. But don't get me wrong...ONE misstep...and his items will find themselves on the shelves in the basement! 

And Bon...it's not so much 'talent' as it it an inability (or refusal) to think you "can't" do something! I see some neat craft and I say..."how could I do that?" and then I try! It's only when stuff starts to get SUPER TECHNICAL that I lose interest...because it's not fun anymore. Felting is fun...cause it's already a mess! It's SUPPOSED to be messy looking! From there you can make it more clean looking...or even more crazy. Hey Bon...maybe we could tempt you to visit a fiber festival near you...then pick up some wool-based hobby...then you could add woolies to your sheepie collection! (Are you allergic to lanolin?)


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## Southern by choice (Jan 5, 2013)

Coconut- Please start your journal...now....next post should start with ...I live in WV and I am super funny, I have an awesome LGD...etc!
I'll be watching for it...forget the list...it's boring anyway.   plus I'm selfish... and I want to say hi and then there is no journal. 


Bridge- I can't wait to see the finished project!  I really hope your ram is not a dud!
The lady I got my Jacobs from... her rams are separated from each other too! They will fight and fight and she never turns her back on them..ever!  My lil guy hopefully won't be a jerk... he is getting cut a bit late so who knows.  

How many days over is #26? Hopefully they are not going to be stillborn. 

Going to bed... back hurts, I'm tired. I'll check you in the morning.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 6, 2013)

Morning BYHerders!

I have no clue when #26 was bred. I was trying to keep track of matings between the sheep and diligently writing everything down in my calendar. I left the goats up to Tim  I wasn't putting in my calendar when the bucks arrived, new goats, etc. So we have no clue. The thought of her babies being stillborn did cross my mind as well Southern. But as of last weekend, we saw babies kicking around in there.  All I know is we are in BIG trouble, because lambing season is upon us and all the goats and their babies are taking up all the stalls and there is no place to put them. I could clearly see this happening way back when when Tim was buying all these animals. He could not. He is still in "we'll figure it out" mode. That just burns me up 

How soon would you put baby goats out in a field with horse fencing and a strand of hot wire about 6" high off the ground that runs between the bottom rail and the ground? 

Southern, I'm hoping your guy is okay. I'm pretty sure it's those male hormones that kick in around breeding season that make them head butting maniacs. None of my whethers do this. So you should be good. If our Finn ram is a dud, the lady we got him from will replace him, but we will have lost a whole breeding season I would think. But I have marked on my calendar that he was mounting the shetlands in September, they are older than the rest. The other Finns are ewe lambs just born this past year, so they may have been too young to breed when he came here. Now that he's been gone almost a month and came back, maybe we will see more activity. 

As lambing season approaches, wish me the best of luck in providing a safe place for all the ewe to have their lambs.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 6, 2013)

Bridge...I wish you not only a safe place for your lambings....but also for a wonderful lambing season...I know you are as nuts as I am about these adorable, beautiful lambie pies 

I wouldn't eat Uriah either if he isn't trying to kill you or bash apart your shed/barn walls.  Tried lots of things with our ram for half a year...then gave up.  Plus we are going to build up our flock of ewes again and would need another ram this year.

Perhaps Tim will have to make building something for the goats and new kids a top priority and move them out of your lambing jugs quickly.  You can't let anything spoil your lambing season 


ps to Coco...don't laugh...but yes, I am allergic to lanolin :/


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## Southern by choice (Jan 6, 2013)

I really get the shelter thing! We have enough shelters for everyone but  they all needed to be bigger and a little more "solid". I  want to make sure I have extra places for kidding. We have 2 kikos and 1 ND due within days of each other. I'm sure, like you, we will be doing "musical shelters " with the goats! 

Do you still have the other pig?

What did you end up using on the sheep?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 6, 2013)

Oh I still have Taco, the big pig, and Blossom...who is now running around he farm trying to find playmates! She's just so adorable, but is having a hard time making friends. The sheep in the back are still terrified and run away form her. She thinks it's fun to chase them. The Jacobs ram her with her horns. Inkabod, our dog, tried to attack her yesterday. 

But today...today? I think she found a buddy:






Spot was nuzzling her rear end and she was mesmerized, she loved it! He kept gently putting his mouth on her. Then he put her whole leg in his mouth and lifted her up a little. It was so funny, I wasn't sure if she was safe or not, but I just couldn't intercede, it was so cute! Then Tim came in and told me she was chasing Spot and Woody, the other horse around the coral trying to get their tails.  They actually were all having fun! But if one accidentally steps on her, that won't be so good.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 6, 2013)

Oh on the sheep we used that Ultra Boss stuff that Remuda recommended. I am praying it works.  Otherwise, Tim said when people ask how the wool business is going I can reply "Lousy." Get it?


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## greenbean (Jan 6, 2013)

That would have been great to get on video!  She's adorable!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 6, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Oh on the sheep we used that Ultra Boss stuff that Remuda recommended. I am praying it works.  Otherwise, Tim said when people ask how the wool business is going I can reply "Lousy." Get it?


 Good one!!!

oh, where was my mind??? duh you still have the piggy...I saw the pic earlier under POW.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 6, 2013)

That picture is so funny!  They look like quite the pair!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

I am on the HOMESTRETCH with my weaving you guys! I am about 10 inches from the END! I have work to do today and I hope it doesn't prevent me from finishing my table runner! I'm so excited, I can't wait to do another project. I'm not sure what my next one will be, but I will use some handspun and it will be SMALLER, whatever it is.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 7, 2013)

more PHOTOS!!!!  Lots of photos! 
Oh...and don't forget the matching napkins to go with your new table runner!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

Ahhhhh! The homestretch is going a little slower than I expected. When I unrolled it so only the yarns that were tied to the end rod, it got a little wanky. So I had to retie each end to keep it untangled. I am trying to get 10.5" of the red weave on the end to match the other side, but not sure if I can make it.  Well, I've learned a lot form my experience. 

Anyways, here's the picture...so close.....see all the cloth wrapped around the front rod? I can't wait to unravel it and see the whole thing stretched out! 






Oh, and you can FORGET the matching napkins coco! Pfffttt!

:bun


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## greenbean (Jan 7, 2013)

That is so cool!  I love the color/pattern.  How did you learn to do that?  I'm sorry if I missed that post!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks Greenbean, I learned from a combination of reading books (not much help) and youtube videos (more help) and then just doing it and figuring out things as I went along. Some mistakes I made actually turned into some very cool design details.


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## greenbean (Jan 7, 2013)

You're welcome!   That's awesome, is it hard to do?  Where did you get the.... thing.... I don't know what it's called lol, the wood thing that the yarn is on?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

lol it's a loom, Greenbean, and Tim found it on Craigslist for me for Christmas! So I started on New Year's day I think, this is my first project, a table runner. Right now I am finished the weaving part and am tying little knots in all the ends.... It's been hard to learn, but once you understand the whole concept, the weaving part goes pretty easy. It's fun!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 7, 2013)

I'm SERIOUSLY Impressed!  I somehow overlooked the fact that you were doing that with YARN!  I thought it was fabric (thicker)! Good gravy...you've gotten a LOT accomplished! Are you cross-eyed at all? I'd be! That is SOOO cool Bridge!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

Coco you're a cocoNUT! lol Yes it's yarn, and very skinny yarn at that! The off white is wool and the red was cotton.

I'm done!!!       I wouldn't dare put it on my table, though. Nothing is sacred around here! The bengal tiger cat will see those fringes and down it will come with everything on it. Or the family unit will spill something all over it.  
















Today was pretty good. Finished the weaving. Got my work work done. Tim took the whether to the auction. He only brought in $89.00 

And I sold 2 batts of wool on etsy!  

:bun


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jan 7, 2013)

Good job!!!! Your table runner looks awesome!!!!!!!
I am impressed!  Awesome!
What do you have on your list to weave next?


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## greenbean (Jan 7, 2013)

That looks great!  

I just went and looked at your etsy shop, do you spin your own wool?  I used to back when I had Angora rabbits.  I found a trio for sale that I'm very tempted to get!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

THANKs FourWinds. Next? Something SMALL lol. Like a little clutch with some hand spun and roving.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 7, 2013)

That's gorgeous! Ild be happy to display it on my table for you!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks guys! Yes I spin, but not enough. Now Coco, she's a spinning fool! She has angora's too. The yarn for this project was purchased. No more of that in my future!  I want just about everything I make to made from my sheeps!


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## Ownedby3alpacas (Jan 7, 2013)

that looks really nice!


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## SheepGirl (Jan 7, 2013)

It looks great!!!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 8, 2013)

There you go! I'll come over and raid your wool stash....practice my spinning skills and spin it up for you....then you can weave it into wonderful items! Soon you'll be doing kilts and all kinds of neat things! Hmmm....maybe plant a field of flax and try our hands at processing that?! lol 

Hey greenbean...I have angoras - german hybrids - in case you REALLY NEED them!  (and who DOESN'T need one of these fluffy, lovely guys?)

Your table runner looks AWESOME BTW....


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## Southern by choice (Jan 8, 2013)

Bridge- that runner would go really well in my DR...I have the "Red" couch remember... The red and white runner on my table would be beautiful! I will take very good care of it, I promise! 

I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 8, 2013)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> There you go! I'll come over and raid your wool stash....practice my spinning skills and spin it up for you....then you can weave it into wonderful items! Soon you'll be doing kilts and all kinds of neat things! Hmmm....maybe plant a field of flax and try our hands at processing that?! lol
> 
> Hey greenbean...I have angoras - german hybrids - in case you REALLY NEED them!  (and who DOESN'T need one of these fluffy, lovely guys?)
> 
> Your table runner looks AWESOME BTW....


My sister raised German Hybrids for years! We sold them all a couple years ago because she was really sick and about to get married. And I don't need one....I'm very allergic!


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 8, 2013)

I must say Bridge, I am very impressed with your talent! You seem to pick up all the fiber arts so quickly and you are so good at them! 

I did some weaving years ago, but I don't know that I was very good at it. Maybe I should try again. We even have a nice floor loom that was given to us and no one here has ever used it.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 8, 2013)

Thanks Purple Queen! You should definitely get out the loom! I found that watching youtube videos was the most help. Watching somebody demonstrate something is so much more valuable then trying to read instructions out of a book. 

Southern, well, guess what? My sister just went to Pier One last night and bought a set of red and white dishes. How's that for timing? She will most likely end up with it. It's not good enough to give away to someone other than a family member!  Sorry!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 8, 2013)

That is beautiful!  Great job!  You work fast.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 8, 2013)

I thought I was family...


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## that's*satyrical (Jan 8, 2013)

It looks great!


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## greenbean (Jan 8, 2013)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> There you go! I'll come over and raid your wool stash....practice my spinning skills and spin it up for you....then you can weave it into wonderful items! Soon you'll be doing kilts and all kinds of neat things! Hmmm....maybe plant a field of flax and try our hands at processing that?! lol
> 
> Hey greenbean...I have angoras - german hybrids - in case you REALLY NEED them!  (and who DOESN'T need one of these fluffy, lovely guys?)
> 
> Your table runner looks AWESOME BTW....


If you're close to Lenoir, NC, I'll take you up on that!


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## jodief100 (Jan 8, 2013)

The runner looks wonderful.  You are amazing with the fiber arts.  I can crochet but never got the hang of knitting.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 8, 2013)

Ok Greenbean...you talking Angora rabbit? My SIL lives in Rock Hill....and there's a fiber festival i've been trying to talk Bridge into in C-vill in March! Hmmmm......(I'm in the Eastern Panhandle of WV - so if you ever come up THIS way....)

jodie - i crochet too. nothing too fancy. I'm JUST starting to figure out knitting...but it's making me cross-eyed! Bridge is AWESOME!


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## greenbean (Jan 8, 2013)

Yep!  I miss having Angoras.  They have a fiber festival!?  What's C-vill?  I'd love to go.  I'm never up in the WV area, but if I ever do go up that way I'll let you know.

As for the fiber festival, we should all go!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 8, 2013)

ok...I'm a dork. I got charlottesville(va) and Charlotte (NC) mixed up. The weekend of March 15th in Charlotte, NC is the fiber festival I was talking about.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 8, 2013)

Good job Bridge!!!!  I am in awe of your creative talent!!! 

And Coco...you are not a dork!!!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 8, 2013)

No but she is a NUT


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## bonbean01 (Jan 8, 2013)

Well yeah...NUT is in her name...but a very loveable NUT


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## greenbean (Jan 8, 2013)

Charlotte's just a little over an hour from me, do you know where in Charlotte?  I'll definitely be there!  Bridge, you should go too!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 9, 2013)

oh Charlotte would be a pretty long drive! And if I go to NC I would have to visit all the other BYHerders between here and there! It would be a week trip 

Thanks everyone for the compliments on my first project. I've now warped my loom and am rolling on project #2!!!! WAIT until you see this! So now that I know what I'm doing, my super creative genes can really kick in. 

I'm making some kind of purse or bag, or it might even end up being a kindle cover. Don't you think if I made kindle or smartphone covers that would be pretty popular? 

Today I have two friends coming to visit from the old neighborhood.   I've been here 2 years and many of my neighbor friends haven't even been here yet. It's hard to get people "off the mountain!" They will be here at 10, so I will scramble around this morning cleaning up a little.   Then after the farm tour, we are going out to lunch! It will be fun. But lately I have been packing so much into one day, I am physically exhausted. The morning feedings now are taking me over an hour, which is more than doubled what it was before the baby goats came along. I would let Tim feed them, but I know what will happen if I ask him to do it. They WON'T GET FED!   The last 2 nights, too, I have fed everybody on the whole farm again because he was too busy. Pushing that wheelbarrow through the mud, ugh. My body is aching badly. I have so much to do, so much work, and I want to weave too!!!! Too much to do, not enough hours in the day!

NOthing really new to report on the animals, except for Uriah is increasingly getting on my nerves. Yesterday he whopped me in the knee cap with his horns. omg that hurt. I can't afford to get injured! Now I am fearful for the girls he is with who are pregnant. I may try putting my two wethers with him in a small stall for a couple of days, then send them all off down the hill to the creek. Except Tim wants them all to leave the barnyard because he wants his momma goats in there. Not enough room to separate the rams from the ewes! I can't wait to seriously thin my herd this coming year. I just can't sleep trying to figure out where to put everyone.

Ok, off to start cleaning (and drinking my coffee and I have to catch up on some journals, too  ).


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## Southern by choice (Jan 9, 2013)

Have fun with your friends!


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## autumnprairie (Jan 9, 2013)

Sounds like you have an exciting day planned. I hope you have a great time.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 9, 2013)

Hope your afternoon of cavorting is AWESOME! You deserve the break! We WILL have to hear how the visit went! 

I hear you on the longer chores! All this snow melting has caused all kinds of nasty muddiness on our property as well. I had to move most of the chickens to another coop/run that's SLIGHTLY drier - what a chore that was! But they're happier now. My DH is like Tim...if I ask him to feed the critters...it MAY get done...depending on his mood. 

Oh...and let's see photos of your newest weaving creation. I think nook cases would be popular...as would ipad cases and maybe even laptop cases/bags! Just remember to keep us updated! 

Oh...I'm a Nutty Dork! But hey...that's what makes me ME! (I'm also a compulsive talker....) Besides integrity, the most important trait anyone can have is a healthy sense of humor. If you can't laugh at yourself then you're a stick in the mud! I grew up in a VERY uptight family...they still don't get my sense of humor...my nephew thinks I'm "not like any other adult he's ever met"...I guess I'm the 'black sheep' in the family! Hmmm....maybe more like that obnoxious goat that always gets into everything you DON'T want it to get into....makes all kinds of annoying noises....climbs on everything....but is SOOO adorable you can't hate it! 

*@ greenbean *- http://www.charlottefiberfestival.com/
that should hopefully provide you (or anyone else interested) with the information.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 9, 2013)

Maybe Peirce needs to come tennis ball Uriah's horns?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 9, 2013)

> most important trait anyone can have is a healthy sense of humor.


Abso-freaking-lutely 100% bang on!!

Where would this world be if people didn't laugh and make other laugh?


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## CocoNUT (Jan 9, 2013)

I suggested Bridge tennis ball and tape Uriah's horns too! Maybe I'll get her some really fancy duct tape...maybe Justin Bieber duct tape...and stop by on my way home one of these days and tape him up FOR her! 

How HUMILIATED would Uriah feel...having Justin Bieber duct tape all over his once majestic horns?! 
Ok...maybe not JB...what about Hello Kitty?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 9, 2013)

I vote HELLLLOOOO KITTTYYY! But it's not the sharpness of his horns, it's the way they are angled and the force now he uses to try and whack you. I am not sure if tennis balls would help. I would love if Pearce or Coco would come and tape him up. Or Royd could bring his rake...on second thought, nah. 

Today was great, after I got through my irritation with Tim for putting my babies on the bottom of the priority list.  I THINK they got fed, but it was about 10:45. 

So the ladies came and I showed them around the farm. I showed them all my woolly stuff. We sat and chatted for a while in my kitchen. It was so nice to see them! Then we went out for lunch to a really cool restaurant that used to be a mill. I had the BEST lunch! Chipotle sweet potato soup. Hello. A poached pear salad with balsamic, spinach, almonds, and figs. Double Hello. 

My weaving is going amazingly quickly! I've been putting tufts of roving in between the rows and it looks so cool! I think I could definitely finish it tomorrow. Rock on!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 9, 2013)

We are eating Beastie for dinner tonight


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## CocoNUT (Jan 9, 2013)

Oooh that sounds YUMMY! 
Dont' forget to shower us with the PHOTOS!  I know I have some zebr-striped duct tape around the house here. My DD could help with the HK tape!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 9, 2013)

Beastie was really good! Thank you Beastie. I love you my little buddy. 

So here is the "bag" so far...


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## CocoNUT (Jan 9, 2013)

Oh that's NICE! Is RED your favorite color?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 9, 2013)

Hmm, not really, well maybe one of them. I just happen to have red and pink yarns!  And I'm thinking VALENTINE'S on ETSY 

See how the pink is just roving stuffed in there and it looks puffy? Pretty cool.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 9, 2013)

That's so neat!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 9, 2013)

Oooooh...can you weave in patterns? Like hearts?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 10, 2013)

Morning! 

I'm an early bird this morning. HOT FLASHES. Keeping me up all night tossing and turning. Blankets on. Blankets off.  And Pick, my schnauzer, decided she wanted to sleep in bed with us last night, too. so on one side a hot smelly schnauzer, and the other side TIM.  I finally got up at 4:45 and decided since my etsy store is so depleted, I better get busy processing some more wool! So I am dyeing Marge's wool (the gorilla) with the periwinkle dye. I think I am going to make some "art batts," which are batts that are made up of different colors and stuff.

I also need to think about making some more felted goodies, because those sold pretty well on etsy. And I can get a lot more for the felted stuff than the wool batts and roving, which goes for pretty cheap. I still have alpaca out in my truck that I never washed. Maybe I should get some of that going today, too!

I didn't tell you guys something strange. After my husband died, I seriously dated this guy Nicholas for about a year. It was a tumultuous relationship. I really loved the guy, but he was so wishy washy about our relationship. I mean one day he wanted to marry me, the next he was online flirting with other woman. It was hard to cut it off, but I did because it was causing me so much grief. Anyways, I was so burned up at him after we broke up I didn't want to ever talk to him. He wrote to me shortly after and told me he had a brain tumor.   I'm 99% sure that explains why he was so unpredictable in our relationship. Anyways, I wasn't so sympathetic at the time he told me, and didn't really keep up on any kind of correspondence. From what I heard he went through chemo and I thought he had beaten it. Apparently not, because his roommate wrote to me the other day and told me he wasn't doing well and that he was under hospice care. The end of the road.  And all I could think of was, THANK GOD I am not with him! Isn't that awful? I couldn't have bared to go through that twice in a row. First my husband, then Nicholas? How cruel would that have been. I hope he goes peacefully and that his family and loved ones do not suffer with their grief.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 10, 2013)

That sucks about the ex. Things happen for a reason...and I hope his time is peaceful. 

I say more felted items! You could make felted alpacas with the alpaca fiber! Oh...and those aren't "hot flashes"....they're "POWER SURGES!"  I get those too...but sometimes I just get warm...like a fever. (Different that the power surges) Last night I was getting 'warm' and with the back all messed up...tossing was quite PAINFUL! Didn't get much sleep.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 10, 2013)

POwer Surges


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## CocoNUT (Jan 10, 2013)

Oh come on now! Of COURSE they're power surges! We are women...hear us ROAR!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 10, 2013)

I had to share this pic. My friend Lisa took this yesterday on their visit.  Me and bad boy-Uriah! Isn't he just too cute? Hello Kitty!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 10, 2013)

DUDE!! I love his horns!!!!!!!

Great picture


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 10, 2013)

Try one of those suckers in the knee cap Straw!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 10, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Try one of those suckers in the knee cap Straw!


haha I'll pass.

Those are some really big horns though. Biggest I've seen on a Jacob.


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jan 10, 2013)

Uriah is a beautiful boy!!!
I have to admit, I would be awefully intimidated with his awesome, but yet scarey horns!!! None of my sheep have horns, and even then I have had a few incidents where i have almost wet my pants, when you can sense something behind you, and you slowely turn around to find a ram or six, not 10ft. behind you!
Don't beat yourself up over things! Every thing happens for a reason!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 10, 2013)

Yeah, notice how there is a nice steel fence in between me and him?   I give him kisses through the gate.  All he has to do is rotate his head a few times and it's like he's swinging a mace     Yep, he's like a walking medieval weapon!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 10, 2013)

Oh c'mon Bridge - we could Hello Kitty him up something PRETTY! You wouldn't be able to miss him for MILES! We could figure out some spider web pattern or something....dangle some bells so you could hear him coming!  oooooh....I've got a PACKAGE of craft bells we could string up between his horns! 

You both look so 'pretty' in the picture BTW.


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## jodief100 (Jan 10, 2013)

He is a great looking ram.  

I want a hand bag.  A wonderful, wooven handbag.  In dark blue, or black.  Not too big or I carry too much junk.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 10, 2013)

He is so cute (and you too!  Great smile!)


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## elevan (Jan 10, 2013)

jodief100 said:
			
		

> He is a great looking ram.
> 
> I want a hand bag.  A wonderful, wooven handbag.  In dark blue, or black.  Not too big or I carry too much junk.


x2!  Only I like red


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## Southern by choice (Jan 11, 2013)

mornin'  Bridge!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 11, 2013)

Mornin Southern!


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## jodief100 (Jan 11, 2013)

I am 100% serious about the handbag.   If you are game, I will send you specifications and you can send a quote.  

I think Uriah needs Hello Kitty duct tape.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 11, 2013)

Jodie - I'm going out this weekend and picking up some Hello Kitty duct tape. Maybe I'll wait til next weekend when the DD is actually home with us (not with gma/pa) and we'll go over and hook Uriah up with the MOST AWESOME horn decorations POSSIBLE! My DD has a crafty eye for these kinds of things...ESPECIALLY using tape and stringing string up between things! 

Bridge - we NEED PHOTOS of your latest creation!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 11, 2013)

Oh thanks so much Jodi! I am struggling with the bag I am working on now.  Well, it's beautiful, the weaving part is done. Now I have to get out my sewing machine and actually make it into a bag. I am procrastinating because remember the last time I got out my sewing machine? (hint: sheep blankets)

So I'm taking a little break while I piece out things in my head of how I'm going to put it together without wrecking the weaving. So instead, I'm making up some batts for my etsy store. Need to restock!

As far as farm life goes, well let's just say I can't hardly tolerate living in Tim's world of CHAOS!


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## greenbean (Jan 11, 2013)

I'm sure your bag will turn out great!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 13, 2013)

Well the bag is not finished.  I haven't made much progress, but I have been weaving a strap for it. Slow going. I also have dyed a bunch of Marge's wool with pretty colors (blue for Jodi  ) and dyed some Cormo.  I've made a few more batts of pretty colors. I got some really good feedback from the lady who bought batts last week on my etsy store. That's great!

Yesterday Tim and I built a sheep shelter down by the creek for the Jacobs    WE constructed it with round fence posts and a metal roof that came off the old shed. Then we rewired all of the electrical wire on the new fencing that got rebuilt after the hurricane. He put a round hay bale down there and the sheep are ready to be shipped off! So today will involve worming everybody and moving everybody around. The Jacobs will move down the hill and the goat mommas and babies will move over to the area where the Jacobs were. Then the 3 stalls can be cleaned out and ready for lambing season!  The "we'll figure it out" is getting figured out. I am happy about that! 


Okay, off to get dressed and ready for feedings!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 13, 2013)

Loved the photo Bridge!  Great photo of you both...and yeah...those are quite the horns for sure!!!!  Hope Coco and daughter show up to do up his horns with you...will need a photo


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 14, 2013)

We shipped the Jacobs off down to the creek yesterday after worming them and putting the external parasite stuff on them. They went merrily on their way, I think they were really glad to be out of the muddy barnyard. I was a little worried that the new Jacobs would have trouble following along, but they went just fine. They landed on the new "beach". Amazing how much sand there is down there after that hurricane. It looks really cool. There is some grass coming up but not much. But they have fresh water from the creek and a big round bale of hay and a shelter, so they have it made! Fluffy and Uriah and Lottie were all stotting around when they got down there. I think they were happy. Uriah and Fluffy went right down to the creek and drank some water. The new girls seemed pretty happy too. So there is Uriah and 7 bred Jacob ewes  Lily is the first one due in March, then Fluffy and Star also in March. The others are due in May. Can't wait for those cute spotted Jacob babies 

When I go down there today to visit, I will take a picture. And on my way, I'll take a pic of Kiko Joe and the gang, for StrawHat 

Today Tim takes Ruth to her regular family her Dr. to get a letter of sanity written so we can get Power of Attorney. We have no idea how that is going to go. I am sure she will mess it up somehow and act all confused as to why she is there. In which case all deals are off and we will ever get the farm.  Well, fate will have its way one way or the other.  What's meant to be will be. She says she wants to change her will, but she will have to be mentally able to do it on her own. That is questionable at this point. But we'll see. I am neutral on it. It would be nice to be able to buy out the farm, but if not this one, something else will come along that might even be better!

Ok more fiber today. I finished the purse strap, but since I decided to make it short, I have to continue weaving the rest of the warp with something else. I am making a belt with my handspun yarn, and it is about 30" right now. I think I can finish it today! 

Pics later of "Jacob Beach."


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 14, 2013)

Best of luck with Ruth.  That is a tough situation.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 14, 2013)

> When I go down there today to visit, I will take a picture. And on my way, I'll take a pic of Kiko Joe and the gang, for StrawHat


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## CocoNUT (Jan 14, 2013)

Ok...I'm ALSO looking forward to the spotted jacob lambies! Bon...we didn't get out to Bridge's place this weekend...the EVIL ONE was at gma/gpas and we were playing "social" with my DHs coworker and his buds. Then we drove about 2 hours to pick up our latest addition...Baby! Photos will follow! Making arrangements to swing by and bug Bridge though!

Oh Bridge...don't forget about the photos!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 15, 2013)

Well today was a big Craigslist field trip! Tim had picked up a dozen guinea hens this past week, so we were going to bring them to the auction to drop off to his idol who was going to be there. But last night Coconut told me about a loom that was on CL for $10.00. This started a frenzy of CL trades and swaps...so we took off today in the truck with 12 guineas, 1 sick turkey, 1 Blue Laced Wyandotte Roo and 1 Indian Runner Duck.  First stop was the guy who was going to trade or sell us the sheep shearer's he had. He told Tim he wanted a rooster and to "bring anything else we wanted to trade..." Since we were going ot the auction, we brought all the stuff we wanted to get rid of. Well this guy ended up being a CL wheeler dealer, too, and lots of hair sheep, pigs, horses, chickens, pygmy goats. We ended up giving him the guineas, the roo and the duck for the clippers. Then he had one wool sheep there, a Corriedale x Leicester roan 9 month old ewe. He said "Do you want it?" ruh roh. Well, for the turkey and a few dollars, guess who came home with the sheep?  So after that, we had nothing left to drop off at the auction! He wiped us out, lol. We went and got the $10 tabletop loom and 2 cast iron skillets form the same guy. The loom is pretty basic and cool! So it was a wheelin dealing CL day. 

This morning when we went out into the barnyard, Tim noticed right away tracks in the mud, something was dragged fro the barnyard! Then we saw feathers. It was one of our turkeys! We are quite sure it was a fox. We found turkey parts down the hill. But that was one heavy turkey for a fox! And to think the baby goats were only a few feet from where the turkey sleeps!  Tonight we locked everybody up really well, because that fox may be back for more.  I told Tim we needed Royd the Grim Raker! He said "Huh?" Never mind. 

Here's a few pics for your enjoyment 

Mommas and babies. Still waiting on #26!!!! 






Here's Harriet, our Harlequin ewe. She's due in a couple weeks, maybe. I'll be starting my lambing thread soon. It will be hit or miss!





Beatrix Potter-our mini cheviot?





Here come the Finn sheep! Maaaa Maaaa Maaaa


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## bonbean01 (Jan 15, 2013)

Sorry about your turkey 

Sounds like you had a busy day...sheeps and a loom...


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 15, 2013)

Fun day.  So whatcha gonna make first on that new loom?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 15, 2013)

Well I don't know.  It's smaller, so maybe just use it for scarves and belts, and I can hang it on the wall when I'm not using it, I think!

Oh, here is the purse, without straps. I finished weaving the straps and a belt, but the strap is too short so I'm going to make another one tomorrow. The sewing is all done, and the lining is in. 

Oh and I figured out what was wrong with my sewing machine...I had the needle in backwards! D'oh!


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## greenbean (Jan 15, 2013)

Sorry about your turkey!!

Your purse looks great, can't wait to see it with straps.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 15, 2013)

> I told Tim we needed Royd the Grim Raker! He said "Huh?" Never mind.


hahahahaha

Where's Kiko Joe?


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## CocoNUT (Jan 15, 2013)

ok..so where' s the photo of this new sheep?! I want photos! 
Nice way to wheel and deal...you may not've gotten money...but you did get rid of all those guineas! I think you did ok! Now I'll have to come by and check out your $10 loom...AND your new sheepie! I didn't know you had finnsheep either! My new Baby looks a lot like your finnsheep! I gotta get baby's hooves trimmed tomorrow....
Nice bag you got going there! Maybe my needle has been in my sewing machine backwards all these yearS? Probably....I'm such a dork!

*Oh...and it sounds like you need *ahem* an LGD or two or three! You know...to help out with all those predators!


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## marlowmanor (Jan 15, 2013)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> ok..so where' s the photo of this new sheep?! I want photos!
> Nice way to wheel and deal...you may not've gotten money...but you did get rid of all those guineas! I think you did ok! Now I'll have to come by and check out your $10 loom...AND your new sheepie! I didn't know you had finnsheep either! My new Baby looks a lot like your finnsheep! I gotta get baby's hooves trimmed tomorrow....
> Nice bag you got going there! Maybe my needle has been in my sewing machine backwards all these yearS? Probably....I'm such a dork!
> 
> *Oh...and it sounds like you need *ahem* an LGD or two or three! You know...to help out with all those predators!


I don't think we've seen pictures of your new "baby" CocoNUT! 

Bridge owes us pictures of the Jacob beach and Kiko Joe (for Straw) too! 

Definitely sounds like a good day of deals. Bartering is so cool.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 16, 2013)

Here's a pic of Kiko Joe and the gang, just for you Straw!  See I did take a picture of them! 





I took a picture of Jacob beach, too, but it was almost dark and really dreary so the picture stinks. Maybe the sun will come out today! OH, I just looked at the weather and it's supposed to snow and rain today  Good thing Tim and I put another side on the shelter on the beach. 

The new sheep, incidentally, looks exactly like my sheep Koala. She's a Harlequin around the same age. Same size, same wool, same mottled face, it's hard to tell them apart!

Today is the Weaver's Guild meeting, I think I might go!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 16, 2013)

Oh and we have a LGD, he was on the couch sleeping during the turkey incident. He's RETIRED, or so he tells us :/


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 16, 2013)

I'm sitting here watching out the window at the creek rising on Jacob's Beach.  I'm going to have to open the gate and let them up. I hope their big round bale doesn't wash down the creek along with their new shelter . This weather has been awful! Now it's supposed to rain and maybe snow all day. The bottom paddock already has a lake in the middle of it. :/ But all the Jacob's were cozied up inside their shelter this morning when I went down to check on the creek!

Ugh this weather!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 16, 2013)

haha Nice picture 

Did you say LGD?


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## marlowmanor (Jan 16, 2013)

Sounds like it's time to get  new LGD then!  Get a young one and let the old one show it the ropes. Or get a couple young ones so they are a team and let the old LGD teach them the ropes.  Yes, I'm being an instigator!  And I don't even have a LGD of my own!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 16, 2013)

Bridge is right...this weather is NASTY! Nothing but mud and lakes and rivers/streams where there weren't before! 

I hope you go/went to your weavers guild meeting...learn new tricks! Nice photo BTW! 

I think you might need a new LGD! Get some fresh blood in there....


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 16, 2013)

Yeah this weather is making me crazy. I hate this rain.


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## marlowmanor (Jan 16, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Yeah this weather is making me crazy. I hate this rain.


me too. 3 days straight of rain sucks!  Sounds like we may be getting some snow mixed in starting tomorrow though. They aren't calling for much of any accumulation because the ground is too warm for it to stick to the ground and roads but it can accumulate on trees and vehicles. Better get your bread and milk while you can!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 16, 2013)

What even worse Marlow, is that I have spend two hours each morning taking care of all the animals in all this rain...


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## marlowmanor (Jan 16, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> What even worse Marlow, is that I have spend two hours each morning taking care of all the animals in all this rain...


You need my camouflage hunting jacket. Nice and thick and I swear you don't feel rain through it! I love the thing!  It's a perfect outdoor chore jacket. Heck, I wear it as my main jacket when it's cold. DH has one too. Got them at Walmart for $20 around Christmas time.

ETA: This is what DH and I have. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Men-s-CVC-Bomber-Real-Tree-AP-Gray/22032717
No, I do not care that it is technically a men's jacket! I'm not that girly, nor am I trying to impress anyone when I am out doing chores!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 16, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> What even worse Marlow, is that I have spend two hours each morning taking care of all the animals in all this rain...


Can you see it straw?................................. it's the world's smallest violin.. playing just for you!


Hey bridge!  

Love the pictures! Showed my family your Jacobs, and your felting! My mom couldn't believe your Santa's! She was looking at your etsy shop!  Can you keep pics up of stuff you already sold? Had to go looking through page after page on your journal to find the pics.


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## RemudaOne (Jan 16, 2013)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> Straw Hat Kikos said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have this coat too.  It is sooooo warm as well, I love it!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 16, 2013)

Yes MUD!!!!!!! AGH!! Everywhere! The sheep can hardly walk in it, either can I! The worst is when you take a step and your boot doesn't, and you end up stepping in the mud with your sock.  
I should check out the camo jacket. I guess they would be kind of waterproof? And the MUD sure wouldn't show very well! I brought the Jacobs up from the beach, because I want to be able to sleep tonight, and the thought of one of them washing down the creek would keep me awake ALL night! :/


Hey Southern, that's so sweet you were showing your family my store  Yes you can look at the sold stuff, it's all there! On the left hand side it says "10 sales" click on that and it will show you the sold stuff. 

Straw, we have a Catahoula Leopard Dog. He's the best! He usually sleeps on the front porch, and we know if he is barking there really is something out there. He's not a false alarm barker. :/ But I've been bringing him in lately because he's been so stiff, getting older and the cold affects his joints. He's got a dog bed and a heating pad, but he's pretty much a wuss at this point.


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## marlowmanor (Jan 16, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Yes MUD!!!!!!! AGH!! Everywhere! The sheep can hardly walk in it, either can I! The worst is when you take a step and your boot doesn't, and you end up stepping in the mud with your sock.
> I should check out the camo jacket. I guess they would be kind of waterproof? And the MUD sure wouldn't show very well! I brought the Jacobs up from the beach, because I want to be able to sleep tonight, and the thought of one of them washing down the creek would keep me awake ALL night! :/
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, that camo jacket is pretty waterproof. We are now under a winter storm watch. Calling for 1-3 inches of snow starting tomorrow evening and into Friday. It'll be nice to see a little snow and it's convenient that it happens when the schools are going to be on teacher workdays starting tomorrow afternoon. Kids get out of school early tomorrow and don't go back till Wednesday.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 17, 2013)

And what about when you take a step (in your boots) and you boot/foot keeps going and you're not ready?! I can't do the splits...not even under THOSE circumstances! If it weren't so cold, I'd just as soon do my chores in my bathing suit...cause I need a shower afterwards either way! (EW...what an image!)


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

I have been covered in mud head to toe the last couple of days!  I keep getting up in the morning thinking I should wash my muddy jeans and coat, then think NOT! I'm just going to get muddy all over again! 

We are supposed to get snow today...rain and then snow. I just sure hope it snows enough to cover all the mud!

First up at bat to lamb: Harriet our part Harlequin ewe....bred to the Dipster!







She's due in less than 2 weeks. Her udders are really bagging up now and I'm debating about when I should bring her in to a stall. I don't want her sitting there for 2 or more weeks. But then again I should be feeding her ore than the rest. Decisions!  While her udders are pretty big, she's not. I think she will have a single. Hope everything goes smoothly


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## CocoNUT (Jan 17, 2013)

I don't see all this mud you keep talking about! 
Cute girl...keep us updated for sure. 

How's your stream/creek doing? Has it overrun it's floodbanks already? Everything out here has...it's CRAZY flooing out by our place....


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

I think the creek has receded a bit, but more precipitation on the way, I don't want to take a chance on putting the sheep back down there. But I might have to...

But, I'm in PANIC mode right now! Not only is Harriet looking like she's going to lamb soon, but Clementine also is! I felt her udders this morning and she feels even bigger than Harriet!





She's a Suffolk/Dorper cross, that's why she is losing her wool in spots.  

So, the jacobs are up in front of the stalls...I can't get Harriett and Clementine up there until they get out of there. #26 and #29 goats are in one stall, still haven't had their babies. The other stall has the pigs in it  which I don't want to let out if there are lambs coming. The momma goats and the kids have the other shed. So there's NO ROOM at the inn! There is one stall that I have to clean out before lambing. And the jacobs are using it! 

HELP!!!!!!! 

Tim's off at the lumber yard and hasn't even fed the horses yet. I'm rally panicking.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 17, 2013)

Wish there was a way for me to really help.


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## RemudaOne (Jan 17, 2013)

There's really no other choice....... They're going to have to come in the house. 

Seriously though.... It will work out.  Don't panic.  Somehow, things just always work out


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

ok I put the Jacob sheep in a pen outside. I cleaned out the stall. Moved the two pregnant goats over with the other goats. I got the two pregnant ewes in the stall. Whew. Now we have Beatrix Potter up and are going to crotch her out so we can tell when she starts bagging up. In the meantime O'Malley is scouring really bad, bloody scours or she aborted. Not sure which but we are taking her to the auction on Monday. :-(

Progress.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

I was panicking Remuda,  but now the ewes are in the stall, so I feel a lot better. You're right, things somehow work out. And well, I didn't think about bringing them in the house, but that's always a possibility!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 17, 2013)

Kick the goats out and put the sheep in the stalls. The goats will be fine.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

Yep I gave the goats the boot Straw!  I don't know why I didn't think of putting them with the other goats sooner. Duh! There are 2 lambing stalls in there that they can kid in.

So we crotched out Beatrix and there's no sign of any udder development, so back out she went. O'Malley is in the old goat stall now awaiting whatever fate may befall her. Now I don't think she aborted, because I guesstimated she would be about 3 months, so there would have been some kind of fetus. I think she just had bloody scours. 

The Jacobs are back down at the creek. Happily they went! Now I'm completely pooped! 

Let lambing season commence!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 17, 2013)

> Let lambing season commence!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

Oh I have the BEST idea!!! I need to write it down so I don't forget. So I'm getting rid of all the poinsettias, and there are a bunch as you know. Hmmm what can I do with all those plastic pots? I can make FEEDING TROUGHS out of them!  I will connect them all side by side with clips or something. They will be individual feed compartments, plus the whole thing will be lightweight and easy to carry, plus each unit will have drainage holes! I just need some kind of base to secure it to so they don't tip but that will be easy enough to figure out.

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!    :bun


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 17, 2013)




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## bonbean01 (Jan 17, 2013)

Sounds good for temporary feeding...but if the containers are the black ones with ridges up and down...they don't last long outside in freezing temps, nor sun...for too long.

Excited for your lambies :bun


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

Don't burst my bubble Bon!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 17, 2013)

again


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## bonbean01 (Jan 17, 2013)

Sorry Bridge...just thought I'd mention that before you went to lots of trouble doing this.  Maybe you have super duper pots and this won't be a problem?


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## bonbean01 (Jan 17, 2013)

Speaking of bursting bubbles...this is cute:

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?v=4314682952962&set=vb.359324784129720&type=2&theater

hope it plays...might make up for me bursting your bubble?


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## marlowmanor (Jan 17, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> Speaking of bursting bubbles...this is cute:
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?v=4314682952962&set=vb.359324784129720&type=2&theater
> 
> hope it plays...might make up for me bursting your bubble?


 That was cute!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 17, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Jan 17, 2013)

Hah That was really cute Bon!


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## RemudaOne (Jan 17, 2013)

Get a 2x6 and screw them to it through the bottom of the pot. But if they have those drain holes on the sides of the bottom, I don't know hoe you'll keep the feed from draining out of them.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 17, 2013)

Man! I have ONE busy day at work and look at all the excitement I miss! Glad to hear everyone got mooooved around! I don't know about you but we aren't having ANY 'weather' out here. The whole ride home, I was waiting for it. Just cloudy up by town. 

Did you need help with anything anymore? Probably not...seems you got everything under control! I can't wait to see all the babies! You'll have to show us how you work that feeder thing out. Sounds like a good idea to me. Depending on how heavy duty those plastic pots are...it could work. I'm going to wait to see how that works out!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 17, 2013)

The baby video was so cute!

Lambing.... hmmm. Maybe you could get a barn cam and then we can all watch! I watched mamaboids last night. Oh yeah, I did, aren't I something...up all night multi-tasking...Downton Abbey and web cam at the same time! 

Not touchin the "pots" thing.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 18, 2013)

I am proceeding with the flowerpot plans! In the meantime, I'm trying to explain to Tim my idea and he is pound pound pounding something together. In a couple minutes he has a 6" long wooden feeding trough done...for the goats :/ But his was wayyy heavy to carry down the hill. Mine won't be 

Okay pregnant ewes settled. I started my lambing thread. Now we watch and wait! 

CREATIVE
Well, I finished weaving the new strap for my purse. And guess what. It's too short  Again. So I started a knitting project instead!  I do think I am a bit ADD. I did manage to get the poinsettias out of the living room yesterday and rearrange the furniture to accommodate the loom. It's crowded, but it works. I'm trying to knit a cowl with some crazy loopy handspun yarn I made. Don't know if I have enough, in which case I will have to spin some more. See why I'm ADD?

I am going to be sooo tired today. I got up at 4:30 a.m. Yesterday was just so busy getting everybody reorganized. I was wiped out last night and went to bed around 9.

It never did rain or snow yesterday which is good. I had moved the Jacobs back down to the creek because the creek looked like it had receded a lot. So hopefully they are all snug in their shelter.  The wind has picked up a bunch and I think it's going to feel a lot colder today. I hate wind but at least it should dry up some of the mud! 

RUTH
I think Ruth did not pass her competency test with flying colors because they want to send her to a neurologist for further testing.   Well forget that because she has already been diagnosed with mild dementia by a neurologist last year.  When she told us they asked her a bunch of questions, like about the door and a pencil, and then asked her the same questions again a couple of minutes later, Tim and I just rolled our eyes and said "FAIL."  I think any kind of deal to get the farm is dead in the water right now because despite her intended wishes, she is incapable of carrying out any plans to change her will on her own accord at this point. Oh well!

Later gators!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

Well, Coco is coming today!   She's bringing the evil one, too!   I can't wait to show her around. We will definitely take pics while she's here. 

Yesterday was a big grooming day on the farm!  I gave Pick my schnauzer a bath and a haircut, and she looks much better! 

We brought the whole flock of Finns Shetland and Lala and Patches up to the barn and crotched them all out, cleaned off all dry poopies and treated them again for the lice. They look much better, I only hope they feel much better soon. The lice thing is bad on a couple of them, not all, but I see my entire wool crop going down the tubes because of it.   Hopefully this treatment will be effective and my wool won't be ruined completely.  Oh and no signs of any impending pregnancies there. Finneas 360 didn't do a very good job of breeding back in September when he got here. :/ Unless they all pop out udders in the next couple of weeks, I think we will be waiting until May for the Finns to start popping out lambies.

So I'll report with pics later after the COCONUT visit!


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## greenbean (Jan 20, 2013)

Can't wait for pictures!!  

I have some questions, but I'll PM you about them.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 20, 2013)

Yay! I hope you guys have fun!  


Editted cause I can't flippin spell


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## goatboy1973 (Jan 20, 2013)

Beautiful property!!! Love the pond.


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## Symphony (Jan 20, 2013)

Southern by choice said:
			
		

> Yay! I hope you guys have fun!
> 
> 
> Editted cause I can't flippin spell


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## Symphony (Jan 20, 2013)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> bonbean01 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Omg that is adorable.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 20, 2013)

Hope you all had fun.  And that video was adorable.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 20, 2013)

Have fun and can't wait for pics 

Now I'm wondering if we should have looked at property in your area when searching for the perfect place...would have lived close enough for visits


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## CocoNUT (Jan 20, 2013)

Yay CocoNUT is visiting today! Ooops....that's me! 

My DD had a sleepover last night with one of her bestest friends ever! (You know girls) and her mom is SUPPOSED to pick her up....15 minutes ago!  Oh well...they are kindred spirits and their daughter is a sweetheart so I don't mind. I'm just about to PASS OUT from excitement at getting over to Bridge's farm though! I wanna leave already!  

I'm still offering to pick up some Hello Kitty duct tape for Uriah!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 20, 2013)

YAY! She just got picked up...now the EVIL ONE, KNOWING I want to get on the road, is now demanding breakfast! Are you KIDDING ME? She NEVER eats breakfast....EVIL....just EVIL! So...I'm going to nuke her some pancakes and off we're going! YAYAYAYAYAYY~!!!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

Woo hoo! I guess you should be here pretty soon then!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 20, 2013)

CocoNUT said:
			
		

> YAY! She just got picked up...now the EVIL ONE, KNOWING I want to get on the road, is now demanding breakfast! Are you KIDDING ME? She NEVER eats breakfast....EVIL....just EVIL! So...I'm going to nuke her some pancakes and off we're going! YAYAYAYAYAYY~!!!!!!


H*ll NO!  She had all morning to eat. You are way to trained.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 20, 2013)

Cool. Have fun!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

Okay, in case you didn't see the recap already, see CocoNut's journal for our picture blog!

Here are some other pics I took today. It was a beautiful day!

For Straw:

I present KIKO JOE






And his gang





Finn Mountain





Jacob Beach


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

Fluffy and Lottie at the Cabana on Jacob Beach


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## CocoNUT (Jan 20, 2013)

Wow...you got all 'fancy' with your photos! Man...I'm feeling pretty elementary now! Oh well...it was an absolute beautiful day...beautiful scenery...and the best company!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

Not fancy, just wanted to lump them all together to save time and space! My iPhoto does the work  But they came out pretty small so I will post some of the better ones individually...


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## Southern by choice (Jan 20, 2013)

Bridge...you show off...all snazzy on the photos and whatnot!  

I can't wait to come up!!!!  I just love that Coco! You all looked like you had a great time!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

Okay gosh, I'm going to have to become a Golden Herd Member after posting all these pics! I'm almost out of space 


I love these 2 pics...
"Let's go this way...No, this way..."


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 20, 2013)

Yes all fancy shmancy 

Lots of neat pictures. Kiko Joe is a big guy and those Fins look cool.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 20, 2013)

One more pic...then it's quits for me!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 20, 2013)

Do any of the animals drink out of the creek and use it at all?


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## CocoNUT (Jan 20, 2013)

I personally witnessed Lottie drinking from the creek! So I would say "yes!"


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 21, 2013)

Yep Straw, they HAVE to drink out of the creek! No other water source down there. So no water troughs to worry about filling! 

As soon as they got down there, Uriah and Fluffy ran to the creek to get a drink of water. The only worry I have is if they cross the creek in the summer when the water is so low. The other side is not fenced, so that's a problem! And I have had the sheep cross the creek.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 21, 2013)

That's cool they use it and I'd be SOOO happy to not have to fill waterers for them. :/

Yes that will be an issue. hehe Hopefully they stick to this side though.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 21, 2013)

Hi Bridge!

loved the pictures!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 22, 2013)

Morning!

Yesterday was a busy animal maintenance day. In the morning we brought Kiko Joe and all his goats up to the barnyard. Half of them are limping :/ so we treated all of their hooves and sent them packing.

Then we went to the livestock auction in Winchester. We didn't take the wether goats or our ewe O'Malley. She's still scouring btw. We dosed her again last night with Pepto and Probios. At the auction the young goat wethers brought the most money.  We should have brought ours to sell. It was a good day at the auction for goats.

I got my sheep blankets I ordered from Premiere yesterday. Now I have to decide who is going ot get them. The temps this week are going ot be seriously cold! It's only 17 right ow. Brrrr. The wind chill is going to be 1 today. It's not going to be above freezing all week. Hate it!

Then last night we brought all our big sheep up to the barn because we wanted to catch BonBon. She has not been eating the last couple of days. I took her temp and it was 105.6! So wwe gave her LA200 and Bute. I don't know what's going on with her but I hope she's going to be okay. 

Now I'm going to get really bundled up and go outside and check Bon and feed. 5 days to go til my two big ewes are supposed to lamb. I have no idea if they are ready or not.


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## promiseacres (Jan 22, 2013)

Morning! Stay warm its 5 degrees here with windshields down to minus 15.....yuck


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 22, 2013)

Well I'm happy to report Bon's temp went down to 102.6  and she's eating! 

It was really cold out there! All the water troughs are frozen, except for the horses auto waterers, which are heated. It's going to be a challenging week on the farm! Brrrr!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 22, 2013)

Brrrrr...stay warm...being chilled for too long really lowers the immunity and there are so many flu virus heebeegeebies out there!

Glad BonBon is doing better 

5 days to lambs?  woo hoo


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## CocoNUT (Jan 22, 2013)

You know what lambies mean right? Aunti Coco has to come out and lamb-y-sit! I'm sure the EVIL ONE would love to as well! 
note to self: remember to put animal crate IN car before going to Bridge's next time....OOOPS...was that in my OUTSIDE VOICE?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 22, 2013)

Auntie Coco is going to come help for sure! Next week Tim goes to NY to stay with his mom who is getting knee surgery, and I'm flying solo again! So Auntie Coco can come and help me feed everyone 

And if you bring a crate, I'll be happy to throw in a few GOATS! 

Speaking of goat, we are having goat for dinner.  or  ?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 22, 2013)

> Speaking of goat, we are having goat for dinner.  or  ?


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## CocoNUT (Jan 22, 2013)

oooooh...you'll have to tell us how it is! I haven't had goat yet....wondering if I'd like it. 
I'll help...on days I'm not at work...with feeding the critters! Ok...maybe only a day or two!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 22, 2013)

Oh we had goat once here. Same goat. It was REALLY good! Or should I say we had ROAD KILL. It's the goat that Tim ran over with is truck  Last time he roasted it in the oven. This time it's the crock pot.  

And it's 5 days to lambing, plus or minus about 17 days...


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## bonbean01 (Jan 22, 2013)

Plus or minus 17 days????  eeeeooowwwwaaayyy... hope it's 5 days


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 22, 2013)

Road kill hahah

+/- 17 days.....


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 22, 2013)

I bet it is really "tender" right?


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## RemudaOne (Jan 22, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Oh we had goat once here. Same goat. It was REALLY good! Or should I say we had ROAD KILL. It's the goat that Tim ran over with is truck  Last time he roasted it in the oven. This time it's the crock pot.
> 
> And it's 5 days to lambing, plus or minus about 17 days...


 , OMGeeeee, you are such a nut ........ Road kill, ROFL!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 23, 2013)

The goat was okay. I like the flavor, but something about the color and texture..eh, not so great!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jan 23, 2013)

Good luck with the lambing!! Hope everything goes smothly for you!!!!  
I have to say, goat, is one animal I have never eaten before!!! :/


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## CocoNUT (Jan 23, 2013)

Maybe you just need to close your eyes? If the flavor is good...that's a GOOD thing!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 23, 2013)

Another exhausting day on the farm, trying to "thaw" things out! All the horses have auto heated waterers, but the sheep and goats and chickens don't. It didn't get above freezing today, so a lot of time was spent going around crushing ice, thawing hoses, using blow torches on spickets, trying to set up heated water troughs..

While everything around us was freezing up, I had a COMPLETE MELTDOWN!!! I lost it. I cried.  Tim came home with a load of corn and said we needed to move the Jacobs up from the creek because the edges were freezing up and he was afraid if they stepped on the ice they would be in trouble. He was right. But, once again, there is NO PLACE TO PUT THEM! Two pregnant sheep in one stall, pigs in another, O'Malley the sick sheep in another, and Bon Bon the other sick sheep roaming the corridor in front of the barn. So, once again we had to move everyone around. We put O'Malley back with the ig sheep. Put BonBOn on the "catwalk" behind the barn (remember that area Coco?). The jacobs are now roaming the corridor and have the one stall to go in if they get cold. So that means in the morning, while I'm trying to thaw out water faucets and buckets, I have to deal with BUTTHead Uriah trying to ram me.

I so Hate TIM right now. I told him "WHY COULDN'T YOU THINK OF THIS 6 MONTHS ago WHEN YOU GOT ALL THESE ANIMALS?"

That is all.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 23, 2013)

Sorry Bridge


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## bonbean01 (Jan 23, 2013)

Oh Bridge...just read your post and had a teary meltdown with you 

Why or why can't you be my neighbour just down the road????  I would be by your side and help in an instant...would put your Jacobs in the empty ram pen that has a decent shelter for them...would makeshift the half empty square bale shed side as a sick bay easily...oh man...feel so badly for you honey...

Not sure how I can help...these freaking cyber hugs are just not good enough...but it is all I have


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 23, 2013)

Awww Bon thanks for the cyber hugs. They are good.

I lost a nice chicken today, too. I found her laying in the barnyard on her side. She was still alive but barely. I thought maybe the cold got to her, she was one of the purebred chickens we got with that batch of 20. I never did identify what kind of hen she was, but she was really pretty. Anyways, I brought her IN THE HOUSE to get her warm. Maybe she was cold intolerant? Not sure. So I had her in a cage with some water which I tried to get her to drink, but she just flopped. She died shortly after. Tim thinks she may have gotten some of the rat poison that he's been putting out. He's been pretty careful about putting it way down in the rat holes, but you never know. Anyways, it was a bummer. 

So we had a discussion a bit ago about how we are going to switch everybody around again maybe tomorrow. Move the goats here ---> Move the sheep up here--->Build a shelter here---> Put these guys here--->

I'm too tired.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 23, 2013)

Ah Bridge    I really do know what it is like to be overwhelmed and worrying about the animals. I have had those moments, sometimes that is what it takes for deaf ears to hear though.... and my moments are NOT QUIET!  I pray you are HEARD! All the stress and worry takes so much of the enjoyment out of it.  Days like you had today do end, and there will be tomorrow. Hope tomorrow is a better one for you. And I am so sorry about your chicken, it just is the straw that broke the camels back today! With your tender heart I really feel your sadness and frustration.


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## promiseacres (Jan 23, 2013)

hope you get a warm up....know it would would make things easier around here too....


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## bonbean01 (Jan 23, 2013)

and you lost a chicken??? 

You just gotta know tomorrow has to be a better day than today was


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## RemudaOne (Jan 23, 2013)

Crikey!  Cold and ice make already hard work that much more difficult and frustrating. I too wish that I could lend you a hand and just be there for moral support. As Bon said, the good thing about days like today is that tomorrow WILL be better. Take care girl and keep your chin up.  Make sure you get a good nights sleep tonight (I take a couple of Tylenol before bed when I HAVE to sleep soundly) because everything is easier to handle if you're not battling exhaustion.


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## Symphony (Jan 24, 2013)

Rest you wacky lady.  The Farm will be there when you get rested.  Don't brake down on us, we'll have to send that Goofball Coco over to take care of you with the EVIL ONE.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks you guys. It's a new day. I got a good night's sleep, although I woke up at 5. :/

It's only 18. It snowed about 2"! Nice pretty powdery snow, too. I dread going out this morning feeding because of "Our Favorite Martian"-Uriah. Hard to hold a stick when you have a bucket of grain and are trying to open and close gates.  :/

If I could say it was a new day and things are going to be better today, well, that would be good. But EVERY day just about is the like the day I had yesterday. :/ I'm tired of having to come up with a new plan every day. And I have work to do on a pub that is due tomorrow. I have to work I have to work I HAVE to WORK!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 24, 2013)

Bridge why do you and I always get up at the same time? I was up at 4:30 :/


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 24, 2013)

Early bird gets the worm Southern! 

You are probably like me in that you like that "quiet" time in the morning before chaos ensues.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 24, 2013)

You guys wake up that early cause you're CRAZY! That's the ONLY reason ANYONE would wake up THAT blessed early!   Although I didn't sleep for anything last night...so I got to see the snow falling in increments. Nevermind rising early to come into work...oh what fun! 

Ok so Bridge...no more meltdowns! You want me to come out and take Uriah DOWN?!  I'll take that boy DOWN...grab him by his big old horns and MAKE HIM say my name!!!!   I mean REALLY...his horns are MADE for grappling with him! At least put a cowbell on him so you can hear him coming! Stinker boy! I'll get the duck tape too...have you TOLD him you'll sick me on him if he doesn't behave?! 

Sorry about your hen....that sucks. Found one of my male mallards dead...looked like he was sleeping. Bummer. Today will be a better day! I mean it did snow and it's pretty out. STILL COLD though...I"m hoping I don't have to run up and down the danged hill 20 times again today with the water. Told DH to fix the danged faucet thingie before he leaves for work today.  He's gonna be upset, schools are on a 2-hour delay...any change to his routine makes him stress! 

And to just make you smile... :bun ....cause a dancing cow is cute! Get your work done...and we'll see ya later!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 24, 2013)

Hope you have a better day Bridge.  And I say go ahead with a meltdown if you need to---get it out and maybe Tim will rethink his purchases too.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 24, 2013)

> You guys wake up that early cause you're CRAZY! That's the ONLY reason ANYONE would wake up THAT blessed early!


I agree Coco. That's crazy haha


Bridge - I'm sorry.


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## Symphony (Jan 24, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> > You guys wake up that early cause you're CRAZY! That's the ONLY reason ANYONE would wake up THAT blessed early!
> 
> 
> I agree Coco. That's crazy haha
> ...


We'll send a letter to EVIL ONE to wake up mom at 4 am, lol.  She can stand over her and scare the @$^%@ out of her.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 24, 2013)

Symphony said:
			
		

> Straw Hat Kikos said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 ha yeah


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## CocoNUT (Jan 24, 2013)

Oh Symphony...she'd LOVE to...except the EVIL ONE doesn't even wait for me to fall asleep to sneak into bed with us! She sleeps across our heads...butt in MY face, farting away! Or...with her FEET (STINKLY) in my face, flailing her danged legs everywhere! Or, like this morning...I had a foot in my chest, drool on my pillow (HER, not me), arm across my forehead...and she kept SHOVING ME out of bed! I hardly get any sleep at all...and BTW, I wake up at 330AM M, T, Th,F's...so I can get to work! YUCK! That danged child is causing me lack of sleep...

Oh...and did I mention my DH's tendency to start laughing LOUDLY in his sleep, spewing out punchlines to jokes only HE gets to hear?! Or he'll  and laugh....or sing. It's amazing I ever get any sleep at all! (That's why I'm always so "punchy"....)


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## greenbean (Jan 24, 2013)

I hope today's better Bridge!


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## bonbean01 (Jan 24, 2013)

Yup...I also hope today turns out to be a good day for you 

Last night doesn't seem to have been a good sleep for lots of us on here...at 3 am I was getting mad that I still could not sleep...then up too early for no reason...and I do not do well with little sleep...makes me a crabby pants


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## RemudaOne (Jan 24, 2013)

*...makes me a crabby pants *

Well, as long as they are fleece lined crabby pants


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## jodief100 (Jan 24, 2013)

My husband has a fit when I buy animals withotu thinking about where I am going to put them.  We had a serious issue with birds last year.  He makes me deal with them so I am learning.   It is not like I plan on it.  I always "think"  I will have housing done when they are big enough to need it but it doesn't always work that way.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 24, 2013)

RemudaOne said:
			
		

> *...makes me a crabby pants *
> 
> Well, as long as they are fleece lined crabby pants


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## bonbean01 (Jan 24, 2013)

Why yes...as a matter of fact, they are fleece lined crabby pants 

I only have one pair of lined jeans...so...will wash them in the evening, put the dryer on high before going to bed...put the dryer back on in the morning to warm them, then get dressed right out the dryer...I need another pair of these...with the wicked cold wind out there right now and temps dropping, was glad to have these fleece lined crabby pants on


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 24, 2013)

Bon I was thinking about your fleece lined crabby pants when I was outside. I have my long undies on, but my legs were still a little cold.

Everybody was moved around again today. Was that today? Yes, I think it was. I don't even know who is where anymore. I do know the momma goats and the baby goats are in the big pasture out back, and my big sheep are all crammed into a small paddock and shed. The pregnant sheep are with them. The pregnant goats are in a horse stall. The Jacobs are still roaming the corridor. Uriah  has been such a brat I refuse to even go back there. I've been making Tim do it. Tim says "Uriah is NOT dangerous. You aren't hitting him hard enough. He's NOT going to hurt you. You are bigger than him. You're not even hitting him." I hit the brat like 20 times and he's still coming after me. I am his lunch.  I really wish Uriah would get Tim one time in a very sensitive spot.  But then again, Tim would probably kill him 
Tim had Mikey, our boer buck, tied up working on his hooves and Uriah was pummeling poor Mikey.  Tim thought it was FUNNY. 

WE have this one Finn sheep, Soshy, who is such a runt. She is one of the big dollar registered Finns and it is an embarrassment. I believe she is the perpetrator of the lice problem, and I think it's made her anemic. The other day when we treated them, we sheared her half way, we also gave her a Vit B shot. She still has wool, but shorter.  She has been pretty chilly with this cold snap. I ended up putting a blue suede vest on her with elastic bands I safety pinned around her legs.  She looks so pathetic, in fact I think the other sheep have been picking on her and laughing at her.  Anyways, she has been cold and found a space UNDER the house to sleep. It's just a crawl space, and usually the dogs hang out there. Well, she has parked herself there and only comes out at feeding time. She is so lightweight even I could pick her up. I put a halter on her today and took her into the barnyard for a "walk"  and to get some extra corn. I wanted to see if she was sick or just found a snuggly spot. I gave her leftover green beans we had last night, too.  She's like a little mangy dog, but she's ok.

Well at least I got my work done today. Whew! And I took an hour nap. And I made brownies. And I made meatloaf. Thanks for all the hugs and support you guys!


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## ragdollcatlady (Jan 24, 2013)

Busy day! I guess most of your days are busy.

I would get really frustrated having to move everyone everyday too. It is one thing if your doing it for fun, like when I take my Andy or the goat girls for a walk to the back, but having to do it... and all the time.....No thanks!

I really feel for you. 

I always want to read your journal first....I don't usually post but I enjoy it quite a bit.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 24, 2013)

You've had a busy day!  Glad you got a nap in there 

And now you've done it...I am craving brownies


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## marlowmanor (Jan 24, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> You've had a busy day!  Glad you got a nap in there
> 
> And now you've done it...I am craving brownies


I bought some brownie mixes today to make with the kids! I'll probably make some tomorrow or sometime this weekend.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 24, 2013)

My dad use to be the same way with Henry. Today Henry knocked him down and was still going after him. My dads a pretty big guy, six foot plus. I guess he won't be laughing at me any more.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 24, 2013)

Marlow...you're killing me...craving brownies real bad right now and you are making more tomorrow????


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

I woke p at 3 a.m. (THANKS BON!) No, actually Tim got up to go check on #26. He thought *maybe* she would give birth since it was a full moon. NOT> So I was laying in bed laughing at you guys. And I was imagining you guys probably think my posts look like this:

Blah blah blahblahblahblah blahblahblah blah blah  blah blah   blah   blah   blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah    blah   blah  TIM    blah   blah   blah   blah    blah   blah   blah   blah   blah   blah   blah BLAH BLAH  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah   blah  blah   blah   blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah    blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah TIM  TIM  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  URIAH    blah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah 





blah  blah  blah  blah  blah    TIM  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah   blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah   blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blah  blah  blah  blah blah  blah  blah  TIM  blah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blahblah  blah  blah

I don't really need to write out all the details, you get the picture, right?
 
:bun


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## greenbean (Jan 25, 2013)

I love the picture!


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## Symphony (Jan 25, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Bon I was thinking about your fleece lined crabby pants when I was outside. I have my long undies on, but my legs were still a little cold.
> 
> Everybody was moved around again today. Was that today? Yes, I think it was. I don't even know who is where anymore. I do know the momma goats and the baby goats are in the big pasture out back, and my big sheep are all crammed into a small paddock and shed. The pregnant sheep are with them. The pregnant goats are in a horse stall. The Jacobs are still roaming the corridor. Uriah  has been such a brat I refuse to even go back there. I've been making Tim do it. Tim says "Uriah is NOT dangerous. You aren't hitting him hard enough. He's NOT going to hurt you. You are bigger than him. You're not even hitting him." I hit the brat like 20 times and he's still coming after me. I am his lunch.  I really wish Uriah would get Tim one time in a very sensitive spot.  But then again, Tim would probably kill him
> Tim had Mikey, our boer buck, tied up working on his hooves and Uriah was pummeling poor Mikey.  Tim thought it was FUNNY.
> ...


I wear sweatpants on the outside of my jeans when its really cold and that works great.  I also use a Coverall Carhart for ground work if I don't plan on riding a horse, which is most the time in the winter.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Sweatpants on top of jeans is a great idea! I have a Carhart jacket but I find it to be too cumbersome and stiff. I only wear it when I go to the farm store  My regular barn coat is TOO disgusting!


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## Southern by choice (Jan 25, 2013)

The picture is too funny!!! 

I slept in! 

Have a better day Bridge!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Good for you Southern! You needed it!


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## CocoNUT (Jan 25, 2013)

Oh Bridge! Uriah doesn't look like that! Just grab him by those upper horns and take him DOWN! 
And I'm upset with Tim for letting Uriah beat up Mike. Mike is my boyfriend...such a sweetie!  He's my snookieukums!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 25, 2013)

Did you photoshop that or find it!!??  That is hilarious!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Oh that was some photoshop work Pearce 

Well, Coco, last night in the middle of the night when I woke up at 3 a.m. THAT is the vision I had of Uriah! 

I grabbed him by the horns this morning and put him on the catwalk. He's going to be MAD when I let him out!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 25, 2013)

Bridge that is great!! You're so funny. And how the whole post is bla bla bla bla etc haha


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

#26 is gonna BLOW!!! I saw a huge chunk of mucous coming out of her! We moved her to a lambing jug. She is set. But now she's just laying there again like nothing is going on and I'm wondering if I was seeing things! But I could SWEAR she had a big string of mucous coming out. She is such a pain, even if she did blow her mucous plug, it will still probably be another month before she kids.  I stripped her teat, too. Her udder is GIGANTIC!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 25, 2013)




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## Shelly May (Jan 25, 2013)

, keep us posted


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## greenbean (Jan 25, 2013)




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## bonbean01 (Jan 25, 2013)

Bridge...that is just too darn funny....love the blah blah post and that photo... 

And yes...sweatpants over jeans is much warmer than long johns under jeans...stay warm while you wait for 26!  Good luck with babies today!!!! 

...had to go look at that photo again...


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## jodief100 (Jan 25, 2013)

I came very close to spraying water all over my keyboard at that picture.

Waiting for goat babies........


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Jan 25, 2013)

My two cents..  She has to do what she has to do.  She wanted a 4 star hotel room and she got it....


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

She got a 4-star hotel alright! I've been checking. Nothing yet. But I think I saw something kicking around in there.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 25, 2013)

I think you need to change your avatar to that photo of Uriah! 
#26 is gonna have quads I think! start taking her for lOOOOOONG walks in teh park!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 25, 2013)

No bridge! Keep your avatar.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Her tail is up. In the meantime, Harriett and Clementine's bags are getting tight. Freezing temperatures, snowing, full moon..yep. They're all gonna blow at once at the worst possible time! Looks like I might be getting up a few times tonight. :/

In other news, Uriah gored the big pig :/ and he is bleeding. SO if he can do it to the pig, he can do it to me!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 25, 2013)

Will the pig be okay?

And would you like me to bring you some golf balls and tape?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

I think the pig is okay. He had some blood on the side of him and a gash on his leg. He looked sad. But he has so much fat, I don't think I will hurt him. I was thinking "hmm bacon."

Golf balls and duct tape. Yep, I think we need it now. Hello Kitty.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 25, 2013)

That was one of the things I always worried about with Jacobs. At least with my devil the horns are curved.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 25, 2013)

Poor Taco! You want me to bring the tape and  cow bells?!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Yep.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 25, 2013)

Poor little piggie...just be careful the next time those horns don't stick YOU!!!!

So...anything new with 26?  Hope she goes soon and you don't have to be spending your night in cold weather!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Nothing new to report Bon, looks like a long night of bundling up and going outside numerous times. Maybe I should set up and air mattress in the shed?  Except for there's NO ROOM! Story of my life, lol. I just came in from outside, and there are NO brownies left!   Blah blah blah blah  blah blah


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## CocoNUT (Jan 25, 2013)

Ok...I believe I will pick up some Hello Kitty duct tape and a couple jingle bells...and if you can handle it...we can come over and 'decorate Uriah' on Sunday! I think some tennis balls would be smart too. Hmmm...i can check goodwill and see if they have any cheap ones. Top those tips off so he can't gore anyone anymore.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 25, 2013)

Sounds like a plan! Definitely need the tennis balls.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 26, 2013)

Mornin Bridge...

I would try a shock collar on Uriah! Seriously... works great for training/correction on dogs...why not a sheep?

If the roads clear up this am I'll be taking in the sheepies for their surgeries. 
The breeder of my babies has both adult rams in their own pens... separated. 

When I read your post the other morning... the one with the  blah blah blah tim blah etc.  I thought to myself no.... that's what Tim hears. Bridge do what you know to do cause he doesn't hear you anyway. Then it just builds more frustration.  

Chilly morning... brrr


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 26, 2013)

Good luck with your babies Southern! I should try a shock collar :/ I would love to separate out Uriah from the girls and put him with my two wethers. But I will have to put them in a very small stall to start so Uriah doesn't kill them. Then I can put them...hmmmm...somewhere?  Somewhere, I don't know where. 

Nothing new on #26. She totally PUNKED me yesterday! The other 2 ewes are in lambing jugs as well. Tim and I took turns getting up last night and nada.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 26, 2013)

You know Bridge...I think #26 is just fat! She eats too well or something! 
Uriah will be tamed...either by shock collar...or hello kitty duct tape and jingle bells. Hey...I'll  come wrestle with him...and let you tag team me! The Evil One got quite excited at the mention of coming out to your place! When I told her we had to 'pretty up' Uriah, she said "I'll bring my lip gloss!"


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## Southern by choice (Jan 27, 2013)

Good Morning Bridge-  How is #26?

Hope your weekend is going a bit better. I get a bit overwhelmed here too.  It seemed like there was a season where we were just always playing catch-up and moving everyone around, or needing more fencing or shelters or constantly running out of feed and making a mad dash for something etc.  There have been so many times I've thought is this worth all this stress?  I do have lots of help, the physical part is mostly handled by all the older ones and straw, but it's the management that is the stressful part. Oh well I guess I should lament on my journal... not yours. 

Stay warm.... good weather is on its way!


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 27, 2013)

Hi Southern!

Yes it gets overwhelming. I want to take about 5 days off!   I'm not happy at all with the current situation with where everybody is. The goats had their babies first, so they get all the good spots. The sheep are overcrowded and crammed into a small area. Anyways, it's just tough.

But yes, warmer weather is on the way and I'm looking forward to the...MUD again  Oh well, you can't win I guess in the winter time. Spring can't be here soon enough!

#26 is just holding steady. I think I must have seen her peeing the other day and thought it was mucous. But she's huge, in a small lambing jug and not getting any exercise. I worry about her. Do you know now it's been 2 months since Tim took her to the vet to get an ultrasound and he said she was in her final stages? So much for that diagnoses! I would think though if her babies were not alive, she would have delivered them by now.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 29, 2013)




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## bonbean01 (Jan 29, 2013)

hmmm...wonder if 26 is in labour right now?


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 29, 2013)

No     LOL  #26 is such an anomaly!!!! 

But I'm following the other two pregnant ewes around watching for them to go...today would be an excellent day! It's 70!!!! Tomorrow it's rain and thunderstorms. I'm not quite sure if they are there yet.  Well at least everybody is outside getting some fresh air.


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## Shelly May (Jan 29, 2013)

Animals love to go into labor in the stormy weather, It keeps the predators from hearing those loud painful labor screams


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 29, 2013)

That's funny Shelly May, but probably true! That and the changes in the pressure systems seem to throw them into labor. Plus they love to see us struggling during a downpour!


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## Shelly May (Jan 29, 2013)

I can picture you soak and wet, and jumping out of your skin everytime thunder strikes and trying to watch your every step, so you don't fall on your Butt


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 29, 2013)

Been there! This past summer during that 100 heat wave, no power or water for 5 days, severe thunderstorm...ewe decides that would be the time to deliver!  Thus was born "Mac, the cormo tunis ram." He had to be pulled, too!


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## Shelly May (Jan 30, 2013)




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## Remuda1 (Jan 30, 2013)

Shelly May said:
			
		

>


X2


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 30, 2013)

Holy cows, no babies, but RAIN, TONS of it! We just had to move everybody up to the barn. The pigs are in the chicken coop stall, the Jacobs are in another stall, the Finns and Shetlands are in another stall, some of the goats are in another stall, the big sheep and pregnant #26 are in the other shed, and every stall up front is occupied by horses. By dark, the creek was way overflowing and I pray we don't lose fencing down there again. The horses and the donkey and my Jacob wether on the other side of the creek? Well, we just can't get to them and I am also praying they can find the highest ground. We were SO wet even with wearing a rain poncho my jeans were soaked all the way up to my thighs! Ugh! I guess I'll get soaked again when I go out to check on #26. 

Let's take wages whether or not #26 is going to kid tonight! Yep, she just would. :/

In other good news, I went to my spinner and weaver's guild meeting today. I won the raffle prize of a $50 gift certificate to Solitude Wool! They are a local business that sells all wool yarn. They were having a trunk show there, so I came home with some really nice Montedale hand dyed yarn and a giant spool of weaving yarn!  

OKay, well I will report if anything else happens tonight!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 30, 2013)

YAY on the prize!   Winning stuff is so fun.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 30, 2013)

Winning stuff IS fun! 

I just went out to check on the girls. I don't know. I don't even want to say anything, it might jinks me. But I'm going back out in a half hour. Suspicious activity from 2 out of 3.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 30, 2013)

Yup...I say two will go tonight!  Did your barometric pressure take a big plunge down?  Ours did during the storm last night...and I bet you get babies tonight!  Timing, huh?


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## Remuda1 (Jan 30, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Jan 31, 2013)

Nothing during the night, but now the wind has come in and the rain is gone. We were up with so much trauma with the critters on the other side of the creek! I'll tell you about it after I go check on the girls again...


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## CocoNUT (Jan 31, 2013)

LOTS of rain! The Evil One woke me up this morning trying to tell me that the wind was trying to open our windows! Poor thing...I don't know if she slept at all last night. I slept like a baby though! 
I hope everyone's ok....I'll have to check when I get home this afternoon. Looked outside this AM, nothing seemed out of place so I'm guessing everything is fine.


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 31, 2013)

1) OK, for one, I am not going to say "I think so and so is in labor" until I actually see a baby sticking it's nose out!   Nothing yet....

2) All our new fencing is WIPED OUT AGAIN!  Tim did a major rescue operation across the creek.

Last night after my report of bringing everybody up, well the barn was full of our guys and we went to bed. I checked on the preggies about 10:30. Then Tim got up about midnight to check. He came back in and said nobody was having babies but he was going to go check on the guys on the other side of the creek because the creek was up REALLY high. Of course it was still pouring hard at this point. I think I fell back to sleep. About an hour later he came back in, soaking wet and said he had to do a major rescue across the creek.! He had driven around to the neighbors and walked down to the other side of the paddock. Almost the entire paddock was filled with water! The shed had 2 feet in it.  The horses were standing in water, and my Jacob wether Aidin was standing on top of  a mound of dirt with water up to his belly!!!!  He went into the water and grabbed Aidin by the horns and basically swam with him to the highest part and tied him to the fence. The horses were running around like crazy in the water all freaked out. The donkey was stranded and Tim grabbed him around the head and floated him back to the fence line. Then he went up in the neighbor's hayloft and brought down two bales of hay to lure the horses over. They came over and everybody started eating hay. There was about 12' of dry ground along the fence but it went the whole way down the fence line, so they had a place to stay that was not flooded.

So after about an hour, Tim decided he would get in the car and go back over and just stay there until the worst was over. But when he went over, it had stopped raining and the creek was already starting to recede. So this morning when I went out, I took a look down by the creek and saw the horses and the sheep and the donkey running around outside the paddock. So I figured the gate was down. So we went back down there and all the new fencing on both sides of the creek are wiped out. Jacob's beach is a wash but their shelter is still standing. The fence along there though is down. And the big round bales on  both sides of the creek that we just put out are gone. 

So we brought the solar charger down and put up electric tape so the horses can't get out again. Trying to use these floodplain paddocks is insane. But we have to use them because we have so many darned animals. 

So that's the saga. Now I have to go back out and feed, because we haven't even done that yet. I can get the Finn sheep back on Finn Mountain and that will free up that stall. But the Jacob's won't be able to go anywhere for a while.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 31, 2013)

You make me very grateful that I live in a desert.


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## jodief100 (Jan 31, 2013)

We have floodplain paddocks but I make sure that the shelters are up out of it and nothing is fenced in exclusivly in the flood plain.  It makes for some long thin paddocks sometimes but it works.  

I know you have "other issues".  I hope you can figure something out.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 31, 2013)

Ok...I HAVE to get down there and take some more photos of Jacob beach! Thats' just insane....I'm kinda glad I don't have a real stream on our lot...however, we probably had a stream from all the rain at the back end of our pasture. I know the front yard was "squishy" late last night when we got home from work. What makes me nervous is getting those high winds after all that water...cause then all the big trees start blowing over! Hopefully that won't happen to ANYONE! Could you possibly split Finn mountain with some electric tape and put the jacobs there for a little bit? Keep just Uriah in the stall? let the ladies roam....

Well...again...if you need anything...just hollar! I'm not that far away...I'm still picking up that Hello Kitty duct tape...the Evil One really wants to "decorate" Uriah!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 2, 2013)

Well we had our first lamb of the season today!   I went to my fiber mill field trip and when I came home Harriett had given birth to her single lambie. Yay! I think she was born right before we checked on here though because she was still a little wet. But she was nursing away! They are both doing GREAT! See my lambing thread for pics!

In SAD farm news, Uni died of complications of old age. This morning I found him cast behind a hay bale. It looked like he was having a seizure and I couldn't get him up. His legs were weak and he couldn't stand, but after I held him for a while he was able to walk. But when I returned from my trip today, Tim said Uni wasn't doing so great and he had trouble getting up all day. Tim put him in a stall, but he must have rubbed his horn against the wall trying to get up and it ruptured. Tim just decided to put him out of his misery and we said goodbye to ol' Uni.

RIP Uni, we'll miss you in the barnyard in the morning. 







My field trip with the Sheep Producer's Association to the fiber mill was really fun.  It was a lot smaller operation than I envisioned, basically a mom and pop shop. I asked a lot of questions and the owners were quite hospitable. It was great to see the machinery in operation and see what final products they could produce. They make a really nice rug yarn, and I'm thinking about sending my Jacob sheep fleeces to them to make into that. I volunteered to produce a newsletter for our Association, so I have to get busy compiling stuff for that.

Other than that, it's been really freezing here and just been thawing out water troughs.  I'm pretty tired but all else is a-ok!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 2, 2013)

Poor Uni...sorry Bridge 

Already commented on your first cutie lambie on your lambing thread...but again...congratulations!!!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 2, 2013)

Sorry about Uni.


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## Remuda1 (Feb 2, 2013)

Sorry to hear about Uni


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## CocoNUT (Feb 2, 2013)

Awwww Uni!!!     
I'm so sorry bridge! 
I have to look up your lambing thread...but now I'm bummed about Uni....he was a sweetie. 
Has ANYTHING happened with #26 yet?


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## Southern by choice (Feb 2, 2013)

It sure seems to go that way often bridge. Sorry


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Sorry Bridge.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 3, 2013)

NOTHING with #26!  

What is that about a "doe code?"


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## bonbean01 (Feb 3, 2013)

Bridge...26 is just messing with you...letting you know that goats are not your thing...sell the goats and get more sheep!!!! You are short on space for them all...how many goats do you have?  Once they kid and wean them...bye, bye


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 3, 2013)

Now bon...


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 3, 2013)

Here! Here! Bon! I'm all for that, but Tim wants the opposite :/  Sorry Straw! 

Actually Tim does want to sell goats, that's why he has them! But yeah, I guess we have to wait until we wean them, then he can take them to auction.  I will not cry. Sheep to the auction=


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 3, 2013)

Fine with me as long as I have first dibs on Kiko Joe.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 4, 2013)

Updated baby pics. My little Groundhog Day lamb came out of the lambing jug for the first time today. She and momma were so happy to get out! She weighs 15 pounds! Pretty hefty and oh so cute.






Look at that tail! Too bad we have to dock it. Hopefully I can leave a little white tip on.  She even has little white socks. Awww!!!





It's crowded at the hay bale! I let all the big sheep out with the momma and baby goats. Critters running all over down there! Of course the goats paid NO attention to the hay bale until the sheep came down there. Then they were all over it and butting the sheep away. 





And just for STRAW, I threw in a pic of some baby goats.  A month old already, they are getting big and chunky!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 4, 2013)

Love the photos of your little lamb! SOOO cute! We SOOO have to get out there and love up on it! Any idea of if it's a girl or boy yet? The tail really is cool. 
Those goat kids have gotten SO big too!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 4, 2013)

She's a girl!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 4, 2013)

Oh awesome! You know...if you HAVE to find her a new home.....
And her tail is really cool too!


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## greenbean (Feb 4, 2013)

I love its little tail 

Everyone's so cute


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 4, 2013)

Weren't interested till someone else had it. Just like a goat. lol

And that is a big lamb. Already 15 pounds!!

And the goats look great. Those babies are getting really big!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 4, 2013)

Yep, the kids are getting huge and "meaty"   We took the staples out of the 2 kid's eyes today that had the inverted eyelid problem. One of the kid's one eye still looks a little funky. I'm not sure how the vision will be. But in about 3 months they will probably be shipped off to auction anyways. That's why I can't name them! Nope, not getting attached to those little buggers.

Also Tim decided it was a good time to trim #26's hooves. Oh my. She did not like it ONE BIT and I don't blame her because he had her leg up and it had to be terribly uncomfortable for her. Her udder is literally the size of a BASKETBALL, and that's not an exaggeration. I can't believe she has hung on as long as she has. So now we figure she must have been bred to Riccardo, not Mikey. But Riccardo was a big beefy good guy, too. 

The little lambie was let out today with her mommy and she did great. She came out of her little stall and looked around and there were sheep all around her. She immediately got separated form her mommy, and only looked a little concerned. But her mommy is a great mommy and she hooked up with her little baby right away. I let all the sheep out of the barnyard area down to the back with the goats. Everybody was frolicking around so much!  The Shetland sheep were just tearing around the pasture with Mac the ram lamb. They were sooo cute! Also, the newest sheep, which I've named Gingersnap, was stotting around, too. They had a great day, and they all came back up to the barnyard later in the day. That was a relief, as I didn't have to try and separate the goats from the sheep. Everybody just went back to their "feeding stations." Clementine is back in her lambing stall, and should be ready to go soon. 

So now I'm working on my newsletter I am doing for the Sheep Producer's Association. So later gators!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 4, 2013)

Cute, cute, cute!!!!!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 5, 2013)

Hey Bridge - have you THREATENED #26 with freezer camp if she doesn't get with the program already?! 

Hope all is well with you!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 5, 2013)

I bet she goes real soon. If her udder is that big.


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## Shelly May (Feb 5, 2013)

Love the lamb, and #26 is going to have 3 thats why she is waiting, letting them get big and strong to be able to handle this world they are soon destined to join.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 5, 2013)

Oh Tim is SO ready to send her to freezer camp, but if she has trips or quads he might reconsider! I really hope that after all this wait, she has quads. That would be soooo fun! GUESS WHO will have a bottle baby??  Not ME!    Coconut will!

   

Funny, I just read somewhere today that when a doe is close to delivering, you should check her in the morning, lunchtime and before you go to bed. You shouldn't check her in the middle of the night because it could throw her into labor 3 or 4 hours early. Well, pfffffft. Not true! We've been getting up every night in the middle of the night to check her and the pregnant ewes for a month now! I know you guys will be so anxious to see what happens when she finally delivers. I'm pretty curious by now, too.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 5, 2013)




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## CocoNUT (Feb 5, 2013)

heck, I'll take TWO bottle babies! Can't have JUST ONE! It'd get lonely and then imprint on my cats!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 5, 2013)

Well you wanted some goat meat! Little did you know it would be on the hoof with a bottle in it's mouth, heck maybe even a baby bonnet!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 5, 2013)

Well we just won't mention that to DH! I was telling him about our conversation and his ONE stipulation is "as long as it isn't on the hoof"....but a CUTE, little kid would make his heart melt! A bonnet would only add to the fun!


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 5, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Funny, I just read somewhere today that when a doe is close to delivering, you should check her in the morning, lunchtime and before you go to bed. You shouldn't check her in the middle of the night because it could throw her into labor 3 or 4 hours early. Well, pfffffft. Not true! We've been getting up every night in the middle of the night to check her and the pregnant ewes for a month now! I know you guys will be so anxious to see what happens when she finally delivers. I'm pretty curious by now, too.


I don't think that could be true either! I only get up in the middle of the night if someone looked really, really close before I went to bed. I would be dead if I checked every single night!

I can't wait to see what #26 has!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 5, 2013)

This is nuts! She should be a day closer anyway!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 6, 2013)

We did not get up and check anybody last night, for the first time in FOREVER! What do yo think the chances are? We shall see.


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## promiseacres (Feb 6, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Feb 6, 2013)

Nope. Nothing. :/


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 6, 2013)

Course


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 6, 2013)

Look at the ridiculousness that is #26!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 6, 2013)

Holy crap! She better go soon.


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## goodolboy (Feb 6, 2013)

LOOK OUT, SHE'S GOING TO BLOW!!!!!!


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 6, 2013)

That poor thing! She'd better kid soon....before she explodes!


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## Ownedby3alpacas (Feb 6, 2013)

she's huge!


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## Shelly May (Feb 6, 2013)

I told you TRIPLETS, TRIPLETS, TRIPLETS


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 6, 2013)

At least! haha


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 6, 2013)

LOL I want Quads after waiting this long! 

And I said she was gonna blow a month ago, look at her now! Holy cow, it's like an A-Bomb waiting to go off. I'm convinced her kids have decided to live out their lives in her womb. 

I keep singing to myself that old song "Basketball Jones... I got a basketball jones, I got a basketball jones ooh baby, ohhhh ohhhh".  Do any of you remember that song?


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## Symphony (Feb 6, 2013)

She's got a kid in her utter!!


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## promiseacres (Feb 6, 2013)

wow sure looks like a litter!


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## ragdollcatlady (Feb 6, 2013)

I'm guessing.....a dozen at least!


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 6, 2013)

"Hey babe, I found that spare tire you were looking for..."


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## CocoNUT (Feb 6, 2013)

WOW Bridge   she's even BIGGER than when we were there! Talk about saddle bags! 
Do you think she'd be embarassed if she knew half the country was looking at her wide butt, HUGE udder, and "lady parts?" May that would help move things along! Good Gravy!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 6, 2013)

I know, poor thing! You guys crack me up....spare tire...kid in her udder....


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## bonbean01 (Feb 6, 2013)

Just looked at her photo...kazombie!!!!! 

Looks like lots of babies in there...she is driving you nuts...but can you imagine what this is like for her????  highcromba!!!!!!!


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## autumnprairie (Feb 7, 2013)




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## ragdollcatlady (Feb 7, 2013)

I imagine we'll feel the explosion here in California....If it sets off the richter scales, we'll be the only ones to know it isn't an earthquake...Just #26 finally kidding!


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## greenbean (Feb 7, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Feb 7, 2013)




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## Shelly May (Feb 7, 2013)

and


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## ragdollcatlady (Feb 7, 2013)

Hey, maybe that'll mean it'll be raining baby goats!...Yeah!!!! Then we'll all get little #26s!!!!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 7, 2013)

Maybe she has "26" in there?


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## Shelly May (Feb 7, 2013)

You meant 26lbs right??????, I would not wish that on anyone, cleaning all those bottles


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## Remuda1 (Feb 7, 2013)

Gosh!! How does their skin even stretch that far, lol!!! Hope she  goes soon for you


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 7, 2013)

Well, she didn't blow today, believe it or not! The basketball is further inflated.


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## DonnaBelle (Feb 7, 2013)

Maybe I missed it, but do you have an exact due date for #26??

This is very exciting!!

Can't wait for pictures of this event.

Sending good kidding vibes to you and yours.

DonnaBelle


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 7, 2013)

Thanks Donna Belle! We are not sure when she was bred, that's why we've been checking in her every night for a month!  She looked like she was gonna go about a month ago, too.

I just was out there checking on her before bedtime. Hmmm....I dunno.  I'm going back out with my cell phone and my camera. I don't want to miss the big event!


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## Remuda1 (Feb 7, 2013)

Oh! Don't leave us hanging . I hope it's "go time!"


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 7, 2013)

Nope. Another false alarm. I went back out there and she was just laying down. I brought her some hay and she got up and started eating it. So the forecast has changed for tonight! Sorry folks.


But don't worry, when she blows you guys will be the first to know about it!


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## autumnprairie (Feb 7, 2013)




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## bonbean01 (Feb 7, 2013)

I think Straw is right...#26 has 26 kids in there...that's teach ya to not give her a real name 

Good luck!!!!  Not feeling the greatest, but had to check on her...and I am not a goatie person...how is that for critter dedication? 

Hope she goes soon...wow...she has to be so uncomfortable...and hoping all 26 kids are healthy and mama will be fine


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## CocoNUT (Feb 8, 2013)

Since you're always up so early...and I saw you commenting around here this AM...what's the status on #26? Any action yet?


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 8, 2013)

Nope nothing overnight 

We got some snow here, looks like a couple of inches! I will go be checking in a few minutes.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 8, 2013)

WHAT?!?!?  Are you kidding me? Ok...gotta check outside....
nope...nothing here...you must be special!
*edited to add that I was checking for snow at my place....*


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## Symphony (Feb 8, 2013)

Go pink Quads!!


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## promiseacres (Feb 8, 2013)

Miss #26 we're waiting!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 8, 2013)

Nope, she's still not ready! I'll tell you this though, there is gonna be at least 26lbs. of kids in there!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 8, 2013)

Nuts!!!  Was just going to shut this down and then saw on recent posts...Bridge...and thought...yes...26 is in labour...oh well...has to be soon or she will explode!!!!

It really has to be very soon...I don't think she can get much bigger?


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 8, 2013)

Just went out to feed and there is one kid so far! I see a couple more kicking around on her sides. Grabbing my camera but wanted to report!


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## greenbean (Feb 8, 2013)




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## promiseacres (Feb 8, 2013)

yea


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## HankTheTank (Feb 8, 2013)




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## autumnprairie (Feb 8, 2013)




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## Southern by choice (Feb 8, 2013)

DD said she felt the earth quake a bit....


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## BrownSheep (Feb 8, 2013)

I just forced my roommates to look at 26 so they will know how excited I am....they didn't get it.
I cant wait!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 8, 2013)

Oh man, only 2, and I think that's it so far, and they're not that big. She has a huge water balloon placenta looking thing hanging out of her now. I don't know about goats, can they pass placenta between kids? Or maybe it was a kid that didn't quite form. Maybe there still is another lurking in there?

Going back out...


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## bonbean01 (Feb 8, 2013)

there have to be more in there...hope it all goes well!!!!


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## Ownedby3alpacas (Feb 8, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> there have to be more in there...hope it all goes well!!!!


X2


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 8, 2013)

Well I do believe she is done at only 2. :/ What a huge disappointment! But not really, because we have enough goats. I just was sure she would have more, I know you guys did too. But she passed a huge placenta, the size of a horses! I suspect she may have had a third that never got out of the starting gate.

So, that's it. The saga that was #26 is over.  One is a boy, I think the other is a girl. One has very light coloring and the other is almost black. Cute!

In the meantime, on the sheep front...things are escalating with the ewes. Little udders and bellies are popping up everywhere. The strangest thing is Cinnamon, one of our flighty Shetlands, has been coming up to me all lovey dovey, and Tim said she was with HIM, too! Which is highly unusual.  Her belly is getting pretty big now. But it's hard to tell what's going on down under because she has a lot of wool. The Suffolk ewe Clementine gets bigger everyday. Her udder is pretty huge now too. The Tunis is fat as a cow and is starting to get udders now. Star, one of the Jacobs, is getting an udder. Only a couple of the Finn sheep look like they are getting bellies. But soon, lambs will be popping out!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 8, 2013)

LAMBS!!! even better than kids!


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 8, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Well I do believe she is done at only 2. :/ What a huge disappointment! But not really, because we have enough goats. I just was sure she would have more, I know you guys did too. But she passed a huge placenta, the size of a horses! I suspect she may have had a third that never got out of the starting gate.
> 
> So, that's it. The saga that was #26 is over.  One is a boy, I think the other is a girl. One has very light coloring and the other is almost black. Cute!
> 
> In the meantime, on the sheep front...things are escalating with the ewes. Little udders and bellies are popping up everywhere. *The strangest thing is Cinnamon, one of our flighty Shetlands, has been coming up to me all lovey dovey, and Tim said she was with HIM, too! Which is highly unusual.*  Her belly is getting pretty big now. But it's hard to tell what's going on down under because she has a lot of wool. The Suffolk ewe Clementine gets bigger everyday. Her udder is pretty huge now too. The Tunis is fat as a cow and is starting to get udders now. Star, one of the Jacobs, is getting an udder. Only a couple of the Finn sheep look like they are getting bellies. But soon, lambs will be popping out!


It's the hormones .....my 3 adult Shetlands are pretty shy until about a month before lambing and then suddenly they won't leave you alone. When one of them was in labor last year, she came over, lay down next to me and put her head in my lap. And that was the most flighty one of all!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 8, 2013)

Only two! Well alot of times when you swear they are having like five they only have a couple. Bad goats!


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## marlowmanor (Feb 9, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Only two! Well alot of times when you swear they are having like five they only have a couple. Bad goats!


Yep, remember 20kids and Nova? She was huge and only had one.

Now Bridge, where are the pictures of the kids?  You already admitted to taking the camera out to the barn.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 9, 2013)

Oh I'll have to get some better pics today. The ones I got last night were pretty "slimy" looking!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 9, 2013)

Not Nova. It was Daisy.


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## marlowmanor (Feb 9, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Not Nova. It was Daisy.


ok...so I named the wrong goat.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 9, 2013)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> Straw Hat Kikos said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well I had to make sure we all know that because Nova had more. 20kids is going to give her to me. Right 20??


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## elevan (Feb 9, 2013)

pics?


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## CrazyFlocksters (Feb 9, 2013)

If 26 only had two, well my sheep JandM lambing thread, are probably only going to have singles, Congrads and we need Picture now, you have been driving us nuts long enough


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 9, 2013)

Ok, well this isn't so great, but it was from last night. Didn't take any pics today. Sorry!






Had a GREAT busy day with CocoNUt, the evil one and my old neighbor Lisa. We skirted 3 or 4 fleeces and had a great time! A couple of the Jacob fleeces were just yummy, the blue fleece from BLUE was so beautiful! I have her head wool in the washer right now.  I can't wait to spin it! It's a luscious steel blueish gray color. So pretty!

Then we all went and put sheep blankets on the 3 new Jacobs, after removing Uriah the brat from the premises. Well that was a struggle getting the blankets over the Jacob's horns, let me tell you. But we managed to do it. But since it was so hard getting them over the horns we had to put medium size blankets on them. A bit too big and they are hanging pretty loosely. After Lisa left, Tim saw the blankest and "suggested" we take them off because they would get all tangled up in them. So Coco and I went back in and wrestled the blankets back off of them. :/

Then Coco and evil helped me feed all the sheep and some of the goats. They got to joyously watch me get mobbed by the sheep and I fell in the mud and was trampled by the sheep. :/ Not a pretty sight. But luckily there were no injuries, just muddy poopy jeans and sweatshirt. 

So we got everybody fed, then went back in and Coco bought some goat meat from Tim (Uni *cough*cough) which we are having for dinner, btw.

So overall it was a great day and I really enjoyed the company of the girls and appreciated the help VERY MUCH!  

_Lisa and Coco salivating over the Jacob fleece._


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 9, 2013)

Oh cool! Sorry about you falling. That always sucks.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 9, 2013)

Hopefully the sheep didn't trample you! Love the fleece... glad you had a nice day with friends!
How is your ewe? I will check that thread for updates.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 9, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Oh cool! Sorry about you falling. That always sucks.


Straw...she didn't "fall"...those sheep saw her coming and worked together and tripped, then nearly stomped her down! Bridge told us to be careful cause they might do that...the next thing you know..she was gone! Whoosh...just like that...and all I saw was a couple limbs poking out from between the hoard of sheep! She finally managed to get back to her feet...half of her covered in mud! 

And the jackets...that was funny! Well...interesting at least. At least Uriah was being decent! 

Those fleeces were WONDERFUL! LOTS of lanolin too...I still smell like lanolin! Soooo soft. 

Again...another fun day at Bridge's farm! One of these days I'll have to bring the spinning wheel with me! Oh...the goat kids are sooo cute...and momma's real watchful. The lamby was SOOO adorable!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 9, 2013)

> Straw...she didn't "fall"...those sheep saw her coming and worked together and tripped, then nearly stomped her down! Bridge told us to be careful cause they might do that...the next thing you know..she was gone! Whoosh...just like that...and all I saw was a couple limbs poking out from between the hoard of sheep! She finally managed to get back to her feet...half of her covered in mud!


   Sorry Bridge! Not funny but it is. Limbs poking out? lol

Hope you're all right though. Not hurt in any way. Bad sheep!!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 10, 2013)

LOL Straw, nope not hurt luckily. Thankfully mud makes for an easy landing and sheep are nice and soft fluffy layers to fall against. 

Lisa got charged by Flake, the Jacob ewe, when we were trying to get her blanket on. Flake is named that for a reason :/ She was holding her horns and Flake just went charging into her, making Lisa back up right into the corner of the stall and plop down on the ground. But she didn't let go of those horns by golly! 

I forgot to recount the part about Evil spotting the pheasant that was walking on one leg. So we all got to observe Mr. Tim bandaging up the pheasant's leg and making it all better. I guess the pheasant got stepped on by a horse, he/she was in a stall earlier. Duct tape works wonders on lame poultry 

:bun


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 11, 2013)

POOR URIAH
Those horns are a real curse for him sometimes. I got up last night around midnight to check on Clementine and noticed Tim did not leave the gate open for the Jacob sheep to come up into the barnyard like he said he did.  I knew it was going to rain, so I let them in. Uriah did not come up and I didn't call him because I didn't want that battle in the middle of the night! So while I was out there it started to rain of course, and I didn't even have a hat on.

Anyways, nothing doing with Clementine so I went back to bed.

I just went out to open the chicken house, and the three Jacob ewes were up in the barnyard under the eaves, but no Uriah! No Lottie! I heard Lottie crying, then I heard Uriah crying but didn't see him. Then I saw him behind the feed grinder. Okay, he's ok. Oh wait...I looked closer, oh no! He had his horns stuck in something. So I ran down there and his horns were completely enmeshed in a hay netting from a round bale that were buried in a pile of dirt. He couldn't move at all, about 100 strings wrapped around his horns! Poor guy! He had spent the whole night out in the rain immobilized. Well, I quickly ran and got some scissors and cut him out of the mess. He was completely humbled and all he wanted was some hugs after that! And Lottie was standing next to him the whole time keeping him company. Awww! Another disaster. :/

It's a wonder I can't sleep worrying about my sheep. :/

FIBER
Annie went off to school this morning wearing the scarf I made for her! I used handspun yarn that I made and weaved it on my loom. It looks really pretty, is soft and it looked great on her.  I'm glad she liked it, it took me all week to make it.  Also, I've been spinning alpaca from our alpaca Jules that we don't have anymore. Makes me want more alpacas again because it is so soft! It's a nice black and I mixed it with a turquoise and red wool from Marge. Very pretty!

This morning I have to catch up on some real work, then I'm going to do some more fiber stuff. Yay! 

Happy Monday!


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## Shelly May (Feb 11, 2013)

That sounds so beautiful, where are the pictures, so we can all be jealous?


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 11, 2013)

Poor Uriah.   Bet he was embarrassed.  

Just getting caught up...CONGRATS on #26!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

Much going on around here. #26's babies are wimpy at best. Who would believe with that weight she was carrying that she would have scrawny kids. But they are the weakest ones we've had. Very skinny, and with all that milk to drink! Sheesh! Maybe it was because she was most likely bred to Riccardo and not Mikey. I guess Mikey throws better kids.

Thinks are really heating up here between Tim and I. We are so short on space and with many lambs on the way and more kids too we are at each others throats. We are competing for space among ourselves between the goats and sheep.  Tim of course has been yelling and screaming at me, saying how the sheep are "pets" and don't bring in any money and the goats do. Well, only one sheep has lambed this year so far, there are many more to come. I tried to make a CL ad that he could post to unload some of the sheep I don't want. He screamed at me that he doesn't want to get involved with selling any of "my" sheep. Of course he's the one who bought them all, with the exception of the Jacobs and that one newest sheep Gingersnap. I want to unload some of the big ones since we don't have enough pasture or room for them. I guess I'll just have to post the ad myself but then I'll get grief about that, too.

Now he wants to take Finn mountain away and give it to the momma and baby goats. Which would mean I would have all 38 sheep up in the barnyard with one shed to share and no grass.    The Jacobs are now living in the "junkyard."

So, get this. Somebody locally is selling a milking goat. He is trying to convince me how much I would like milking a goat. And how we will need the milk when we have all of these lambs. And how he wants to grow the business. And he wants me to pay for it, too, because he doesn't have the money. 

I need to figure out a way to get the flock out of here.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 13, 2013)

GOOD GRAVY Bridge!      

Well...Finn mountain is too 'exposed' for the baby goats! Tell Tim that...they'd be too close to the road and that fencing in the front yard wouldn't keep them in well enough! C'mon girl...we can figure something out. I thought you already HAD a milking goat? That alpine right? That's so frustrating...I'm sorry hon. Sounds like he needs to figure out what he wants to do...maybe even go somewhere with more land. Grazing land I mean. But the sheep really don't take up that much room...and having them on pasture is a LOT cheapper than feed/hay! I guess he didn't think how loooong the kids can take before they're market ready. You know...he could always try selling them as "bottle kids"....that's always an option. But taking in more critters is only going to add to the problems! I think he's just frustrated that the money isn't rolling in as fast as he thought it would. 

If you wanted to rehome some of the larger sheep, put out the add and do it yourself. He shouldn't complain if you're taking 'action' to resolve the dilemma-especially YOUR critters. Besides...how are you supposed to let your sheep earn money via their fiber if you never have time to do anything WITH the fiber?! I say figure out which sheep you really want to hold onto - I know someone who could be convinced to take a certain black and white lamby...or a shetland or icleandic off your hands! 

Keep your head up...having lots of critters is fun and stressing at the same time! All my rabbits drive me nuts half the time...


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

I would love for you to take them, the lambie and her mommy AND Stubby and Brownie. He is so threatening to take them to auction. But I would have to get at least auction prices for them, or I will never hear the end of it! For some reason he is dead set on taking them to the auction, and that's the best way to make money.  I'm going to put an ad on CL and see what happens. Or Coco you can forget that Majicraft spinning wheel and just buy my sheep instead


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 13, 2013)

Sorry Bridge


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## bonbean01 (Feb 13, 2013)

Sorry for the troubles Bridge   For right now...take that nap while you can...I don't believe you slept last night and it's hard to make decisions when you are sleep deprived and stressed


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

Oh you're right Bon, but I just posted the ad on CL. Prices are on the high side, that way hopefully somebody won't buy them to eat 
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/grd/3614599012.html

Tim is out there right now building a more secure fence for the goats on Finn Mountain.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 13, 2013)

Your sheep are lovely and just when you think you can finally have a nap, your phone is going to be ringing non stop.  Sounds like you really need more land and pasture for sure.  Of course, I'd say sell the goats and keep your sheep 

Hit the bed Bridge...you need it!


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## ragdollcatlady (Feb 13, 2013)

Sorry for your frustration!  

If you sell anybody that should be good for everyone else right?...It means a few more dollars and one less mouth to feed, and a little more space for everyone else too. Sorry he is taking your Finn mountain! I claim that as NO FAIR! I love goats, but if the sheep are great there, I vote to leave them alone.

My DH doesn't ever seem very happy when I tell him I sold somebody even though it means one less mouth to feed and a little bit of money in my pocket.....I wouldn't sell anybody if I didn't have to so I always think he should be glad....but I pay for all my animals and their stuff so IDK.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

Well I would be happy to get rid of some of the bigger sheep. Some of the less desirable wool. I would like to operate the sheep business as just a fiber business, but even the conditions here are crappy for the wool. I will be putting blankets on some of them after I shear them in a month or so. But less sheep means better quality of life and pasture for the ones I keep. Now I have to figure out a way to reseed the pasture where all my sheep will be without them tromping on it. 

So I didn't get much of a nap, between the guys banging around out there on the new fence :/ and then the fox hunting hounds were in the woods right behind Finn Mountain! So the dogs were barking and making a raucous.  No sleep. And the phone is NOT ringing off the hook btw!  I'll be lucky if I can move those sheep through CL. 

So in the meantime, in the back pasture Dipsy is loving up Pepper, the Shetland. That was supposed to be ol' Finneas' job. I guess he didn't get the job done between September through January  Sad Finneas.  But the kicker is there is only a little plastic fence between where Uriah is and where Dipsy is. omg if Uriah gets through that fence and gets in a fight with the Dipster, oh brother. It won't be good.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

So what do you guys think about this? Do you think I could make a temporary house in one of these barns?
http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...il-Rd_Smithsburg_MD_21783_M56008-55366#SendFc

I could move there with my sheep.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2013)

If Finneas is a yearling he may just not be into his prim yet. This years main ram only bred one ewe last year out of the 13 he had. This year he manned up and got down to buisness


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## CocoNUT (Feb 13, 2013)

My money is on the Dipster! He's such a sweetie....I'd REALLY have to take Uriah down!!!  Threaten him with a visit from me if he "considers" even looking at the Dipster wrong!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 13, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> So what do you guys think about this? Do you think I could make a temporary house in one of these barns?
> http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...il-Rd_Smithsburg_MD_21783_M56008-55366#SendFc
> 
> I could move there with my sheep.


OOooh...slap a trailer on it and you'd be good to go! Seriously...I'm sure you could find a FREE trailer on CL! Just tow and go....


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

Yeah!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

Hey Coco, this is actually my dream house. First, it's in my old neighborhood. Second, it's a cool looking house even though it needs to be gutted.  Fourth, it has 5 nice level acres that my sheep can live on. And the best of all, it's right across the street from the cemetery where my husband is buried!!!

http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...n-Rock-Rd_Sabillasville_MD_21780_M53242-05054


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## Southern by choice (Feb 13, 2013)

Go for it...you are the one with the financial resources and the creativity and the sense. No reason to stay in a stress filled, volatile situation.  I can picture you there with it all painted real pretty and your sheep all around...peaceful!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 13, 2013)

X 2!!!  And imagine no one screaming at you


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## Shelly May (Feb 13, 2013)

X3


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2013)

Looks pretty charming!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 13, 2013)

I agree with Southern and Bon! Seriously....if you can do it...I say GO for it! Seriously! You know I'll still visit you and help you coat up the sheep and then strip them down...and wrestle them and oogle the lambies! (And go through your fleeces and drool over the lanolin....) And it's not like you have to COMMUTE for work! I only get to stop by on the weekends anyways....AND...Lisa would be closer too! 

I'd buy some of your sheep....instead of the majacraft....but I don't even have the money to TOUCH a majacraff...let alone BUY one! Especially since DH just told me his car needs more MAJOR work! (It has over 250K miles on it though...)....

Seriously...GO FOR IT!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 13, 2013)

Yeah Bridge... The gang and I could come up and help you! Seriously!  Not the whole gang..just the useful ones 

I think you would have the support of a lot of people!


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## Shelly May (Feb 13, 2013)

Herdstead in VA, moving bridgemoof and having a good ol time


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## CocoNUT (Feb 13, 2013)

OOOOH....and then you'd have all that space for tents so Southern and all them could come up for the MD Sheep and Wool Festival in MAY! WOOO HOOOO!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 13, 2013)

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I feel so STUCK here. Tim has me so trapped. Well, it's doable. But for that property I would have to sell my house that's being rented. Which is also doable.  Just the whole idea of getting out of here with my sheep and having a place I could bring them to is ber overwhelming.  

I just found out today my sis has some breast cancer  But it's just a tinge and hopefully they can get rid of it with a lumpectomy and some radiation. But what an ordeal! So I may be going up to her house tomorrow to see the breast specialists with her.   I'm pretty confident that they can lick those kind of things pretty well these days.

So, c'mon Clementine! Lamb already!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 13, 2013)

> I feel so STUCK here. Tim has me so trapped.


You are yhe only one with the power to change your circumstances, and NO Tim does not have you trapped, it may feel that way but you are not trapped.   




> I just found out today my sis has some breast cancer  But it's just a tinge and hopefully they can get rid of it with a lumpectomy and some radiation. But what an ordeal! So I may be going up to her house tomorrow to see the breast specialists with her.   I'm pretty confident that they can lick those kind of things pretty well these days.


you are right Bridge, catching it early is so important and early treatments save lives! Glad you are going with her.  



> So, c'mon Clementine! Lamb already!


I agrre clementine...hurry up already


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## CocoNUT (Feb 13, 2013)

I agree with Southern! We'll support you.


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## autumnprairie (Feb 14, 2013)

I liked the MLS on the second property but that huge barn is awesome. I hope you get some relief from Tim soon. Stress is not good for the body


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 14, 2013)

Right now we're in the truck with 6 Alpine goats and their babies in the horse trailer on our way home!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 14, 2013)

on the way *IN* or *OUT*?????


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## autumnprairie (Feb 14, 2013)

That sounds like fun can't wait to see pictures


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## greenbean (Feb 14, 2013)

Are these new?  I can't remember if you already had Alpines!  Pictures!?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 14, 2013)

Alpines now???


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## bonbean01 (Feb 14, 2013)

Did I read this right?  MORE goats????  When there is a space problem already?  Hope I read that wrong


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 14, 2013)

Yes we are home with 6 new goats. 4 Alpine, 1 Alpine x LaMancha and 1 Alpine x Nubian. Four babies, just born within the past couple of days, 2 are pregnant and are going to kid within a few days. The babies are ADORABLE! This is Tim's latest scheme to have me milking goats, which I refuse. We already have one Alpine, she was the first to kid at Christmas.

So now, we have to do a BIG shuffle again and move EVERYBODY around. We had planned on putting the Boer mommas and babies on Finn mountain. So Finns will move to the back, Momma goats to Finn Mountain, Dipsy, Mac and Finneas will move to the junkyard. The Jacobs will move back to the Beach. The new goats will go into a stall I guess. 

I'll try and get pics later. First shuffle, then a nap.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 14, 2013)




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## CocoNUT (Feb 14, 2013)

Good Lord and Butter! I hope you seriously put your foot/feet down with the milking thing! If he wants the milking goats...then HE should have the fun of milking them! Nevermind you have to sanitize everything...mastitis...all the FUN stuff! I like variety and everything...but still. Milking goats mean you're not going anywhere while they're milking! (day/night) everything! phew! (That's why i haven't bred mine...yet). I'll bet they ARE cute though! 
So what's happening to all the smaller sheep? The finns and shetlands?


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 14, 2013)

Jeez o' flip. What a nightmare moving everybody around. We pretty much got everybody where they are supposed to be except for the NEW goats are in the upper sheep shed! YEP! All my ewes are in the back pasture except for some of the Jacob ewes and Uriah are down at the creek with no hay, Dipsy is unhappy in the catwalk, and Finneas and Mac are locked in a teeny stall together because they weren't quite getting along. The boer goats and babies are on Finn Mountain. I swear if Tim thinks he tricked me, he is DEAD wrong if he thinks he's leaving those new goat where they are. Let me just tell you, the guy we got them from wanted to get rid of them because they were JUMPERS, jumping over his 4 foot fence with barbed wire. Now they are in the lot with a 3 foot fence along the ROaD! He put them there and LEFT! Well, I'm not babysitting them. And I AM NOT MILKING THEM! The babies are CUTE as a button though!

CUTE as a BUTTON!
Lookie

























Poor Dipsy :/


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 14, 2013)

Gosh, what a baad afternoon/evening.  Spent hours trying to get everybody back to their new places after they escaped. Put the new goats back into a stall after herding them out of the sheep zone. The Boer momma goats and all their babies climbed onto the stone wall on Finn Mountain and got out and were all over the barnyard and in the front yard. Dipsy hopped the fence on the catwalk and got back in with ALL the ewes, including the coveted Finn sheep which may or may not be pregnant. Lily the Jacob was in the horse pasture. Brownie and Gingersnap were on the wrong side of the plastic fence. We were delivering hay in the pitch dark down on Jacob Beach trying to avoid electric wire.


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## greenbean (Feb 14, 2013)

I'm sorry you had a bad afternoon/evening.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 14, 2013)

I am beginning to wonder if Tim is an animal hoarder! 

Seriously if my DH did anything like this... it would be GOOD-BYE Baby! Have a nice life! 

Bridge doesn't he understand "parasite"load and things like quarantine.  I would be terrified of all the "stuff" that could be coming into my farm. I think I'd be in a straight jacket by now!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 15, 2013)

Bridge...never start being the milkmaid!!!!  Milking twice a day...everyday...really cuts into every single day!  And when would you have any time to do your wool/felt art????


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## Shelly May (Feb 15, 2013)

Bridge doesn't he understand "parasite"load and things like quarantine.  I would be terrified of all the "stuff" that could be coming into my farm. I think I'd be in a straight jacket by now!  X2 

You are smiling in the picture and he see's this and thinks its all OK..................................


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 15, 2013)

Wow, I don't know what to say.   We love ya Bridge and that kind of scares me.    I hope you really do think about getting a place for yourself---you are such a good person, with such a kind heart, and it blows my mind that someone would yell at you like that.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 15, 2013)

Thanks everyone for moral support. I'm so torn because I love this farm, but I can't stand him most of the time and the way he wants to do things. Having to re-adapt every day is tiring. Him yelling at me is so uncalled for.  Oh, Shelly May, I was smiling in the picture because I took it of myself while holding that baby goat  Tim was no where around.  I DO think the baby goats are adorable. I want the best for them. Tim just wants to be an animal "flipper." He already has an ad on CL for some of the Alpine goats. When animals get here, I can't help but to fall in love with them and get attached to them. I want the best possible care for all of them. He just wants to move them in and move them out and make a profit.

Tim's quote to me today was "An entrepreneur chews off more than he can swallow, hoping he can learn to chew quickly." I said in your case "you bit off more than you can chew and now you're gagging."

I've always been able to get what I want on my own. Don't fear you guys, I am not a weak person. If I really need to get out of here I will. It will be hard, but I will. It'll just take some time and thought and planning on my part. He won't let me go easily, it will be a struggle. But I will have support of friends if I need it. Right now my money is tied up in my house with a two year rental lease on it, only a year and a half to go. I may have to wait until the lease is up. But that will give me time to plan my departure. Until then, I refuse to leave the sheep behind because they will be shipped off to auction before you know it.

And don't worry, I am not milking. I am not milking. I've made it very clear "I AM NOT MILKING."


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## CocoNUT (Feb 15, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Tim's quote to me today was "An entrepreneur chews off more than he can swallow, hoping he can learn to chew quickly." I said in your case "you bit off more than you can chew and now you're gagging.""


That's AWESOME! 
Those babies are SO cute! But still...I'd be going NUTS! Stand firm on the not milking thing! Besides...it's easier to SELL the milk if you already have established buyers...then just trying to sell it on CL. (I learned that from the girl I bought Jimmy from...she had two fridges FULL of goat milk to sell!)

Keep your chin up and keep chugging on....you'll get where you want to be!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 16, 2013)

We had two more baby goats from the Alpine's yesterday. Cute little gray mottled things out of a smaller brownish Alpine/Nubian cross doe.

At one point yesterday, I went back to where the Alpines were and there was Tim and Lencho with the goat up on the milking stand milking away with big smiles on their faces.   I quickly turned around and ignored them.  Tim found a case of old Mason jars in the shed and washed them all. He had two quarts of milk. I ignored him. He ran the milk through the cheesecloth, exclaiming how we can make cheese, etc. Then he was looking up goat's milk soap. I ignored all of this. 

But secretly, this morning, I looked on the internet to see how to make goat's milk lotion. 

But he will NOT lure me into his trap! Nope! We'll see how long he milks these goats. I doubt if he'll even have time today. :/

:bun


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## autumnprairie (Feb 16, 2013)

Good for you, keep ignoring anything to do with milking. He might listen one day.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 16, 2013)

Well, while Tim is out milking the goat in the dark  let me tell you about my very interesting day...

I don't know if you guys recall that my ex-BF had brain cancer and it looked like he was going to die. Well, sadly, he did, in January. Very sad for his family and his 16-year-old son. There is a memorial service next week, but I don't think I'll go. So, this guys was a huge collector of mid-century modern stuff. He shopped regularly at estate sales and thrift stores scouring the marketplace for mid-century modern stuff. I used to love going out to these sales with him, since I loved all things vintage, and still do. I really gained an appreciation for the modern era and all the pottery, ceramics, dishes, designers like Russel Wright, Scandinavian modern jewelry designers like David Anderson, etc.  His condo was PACKED with this kind of stuff, and he sold a lot on ebay. 

Anwyays, I've been kind of keeping my eye out for an estate sale, because since he really didn't have any family locally, except for his son, I figured they would probably sell it. WELL, this morning I thought I would check, and Lo and BEHOLD, the estate sale was this weekend! They had tons of pictures of his stuff, all of it, for sale! I was kicking myself because the sale started yesterday, but I still had time. I got right in my car and drove like a bat our of H-E-double toothpicks-L-L to his place. I wanted some of the stuff, but one necklace in particular that I was so fond of that I always wanted but he wouldn't give it up. 

Here's the sale, if you scroll down you can see all the goodies:
http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/390306.aspx

When I got there I was just shaking because I was in his  apartment, and all his stuff was for sale. It was the weirdest thing. Even stuff I had bought for him....for sale.  Besides the art, all his clothes and personal items. It was quite sad really, but there was a certain fascination about the whole experience I can't quite explain. There was jewelry there, but not the necklace I wanted. But it hadn't been put up for sale at all, so somebody in the family got it. But I did get one really cool necklace, a Finnish Bronze Pentti Sarpaneva pendant. I had worn it before and loved it then. I also got 6 vintage tablecloths and one pottery dish. I'm so glad I went and they tell me all the proceeds go to his son, so I'm glad I contributed a little.

So do you guys think I'm weird that I got such a thrill out of that??


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## marlowmanor (Feb 16, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Well, while Tim is out milking the goat in the dark  let me tell you about my very interesting day...
> 
> I don't know if you guys recall that my ex-BF had brain cancer and it looked like he was going to die. Well, sadly, he did, in January. Very sad for his family and his 16-year-old son. There is a memorial service next week, but I don't think I'll go. So, this guys was a huge collector of mid-century modern stuff. He shopped regularly at estate sales and thrift stores scouring the marketplace for mid-century modern stuff. I used to love going out to these sales with him, since I loved all things vintage, and still do. I really gained an appreciation for the modern era and all the pottery, ceramics, dishes, designers like Russel Wright, Scandinavian modern jewelry designers like David Anderson, etc.  His condo was PACKED with this kind of stuff, and he sold a lot on ebay.
> 
> ...


You are not weird as long as you share pictures of the jewelry you got!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 16, 2013)

Here is a link to one on ebay. 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-PEN...826?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7cc47c4a

This kind of jewelry is an acquired taste. It takes some growing on you, and it makes a very bold statement.

THIS is the necklace he had that I was after...it's quite large, and REALLY makes a bold statement!

http://grasilver.com/David_Andersen_Jewellery_Silver


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## marlowmanor (Feb 16, 2013)

Very interesting. I like the silver one. The one like what you got is nice I'm just not a gold fan. I prefer silver or white gold over yellow gold and bronze look.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 16, 2013)

Yeah I like the silver the best, too. The one I got is bronze, but I like that better than gold.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 16, 2013)

Nope...you are not weird...I can imagine that was all very strange for you 

Glad it is not YOU out there in the dark milking goats!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 17, 2013)

Just had two more baby Alpine's born! Cuties. Their momma is being a little mean/uncertain about them so we tied her up until she gets used to it. They are BIRTHDAY goats! It's my birthday! Yay! I am wishing for lambs though 

Today I am meeting my sis Bon and a couple of other friends at a nice restaurant for brunch. Then Bon and I are going shopping.  IT will be a nice day!  Maybe there will be lambs when I get home, but I'd rather be here when they are born.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday Bridge!!!!  Enjoy your lunch out and hope some lambies arrive when you get back for a super great birthday!!!


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy birthday Bridge! You have the same birthday as me! I hope you have lots of cute healthy birthday babies. Have a fantastic day.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 17, 2013)

:bun :bun  *HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BRIDGE....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!*


Your special... I don't sing just for any one!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 17, 2013)

And Happy Birthday to you Roving!  Gosh we really have a lot in common!   Jacobs, Cormos and Birthdays! Wow! 

Thanks you guys! 

:bun


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## Remuda1 (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday to you both  I hope you both have a fabulous day today!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday Bridge!!

And Happy Birthday Roving!!


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## greenbean (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday Bridge and Roving!

I hope yall both have a great day!

And Bridge, I want pictures!


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## Ownedby3alpacas (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday Bridge! And Happy Birthday Roving!


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## autumnprairie (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday, have a great day


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## marlowmanor (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday Bridge and RovingJacobs!  :bun

My birthday is in a month.


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## SheepGirl (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy Birthday!!


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## promiseacres (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy birthday! Hope its a great one!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 17, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the warm birthday wishes! I had a wonderful day with Bon and some other friends. We had a delicious lunch and then went shopping afterwards. Bon and I splurged and got some cool outfits. I got a long teal sweater vest, and a wool plaid coat! Very retroish. So we had a fun day!

So this story is for Straw in case he is interested:
When I got home there was a car parked and a couple of middle-eastern guys were waving and smiling. I knew this couldn't be good, lol. So I asked them if they bought something and the smiling said "Yes, we bought 2 goats." I said, "oh baby ones?" "NO older." "Oh, to eat?" "Yes" "OH," I replied, "well I don't want to know which ones. I'll go in the house now."  They were actually really nice and they had their teenage son with them and he came up and shook my hand and they were all just smiling away.

After they left, I asked Tim and he said yes, they bought two of the wether goats and they slaughtered them there Halal style (they were Palestinians) and they didn't waste any part of the goat, they took everything and were going to use every bit.. OKay.  I was OKAY with this, unbelievably. Well, you know how I feel about the goats anyways...they don't have names  I was OKAY with it! I thought wow, the goats were going to auction anyways and this was far less scary for them then having to go to auction and then god knows where from there.  So I've changed my position on slaughtering animals at the farm. Plus, Tim got $2.20 a pound for them, which is probably more than what he would get at auction. So it's all good.

I just don't want to be here when they do it. 

Tomorrow night Tim, Ruth and I are going out for dinner and I can wear my new outfit and necklace.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 17, 2013)

Yep..it all works out! Good for you all, nice price for on the hoof!
Weird though...halal usually requires intact males. But we won't say anything.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 17, 2013)

My bad, it wasn't Halal. You're right Southern.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 17, 2013)

Ok Ok OK...I'm sorry I'm so late to the party! 
All these minutes...spent picking through wool...and you NEVER told me your bday was today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Bridge! Happy Birthday Roving too! Evil's bday is on Wednesday and mine is next week! Feb is an AWESOME month for b-days! I'm glad you're having such a good day! Maybe these palestinian guys will become 'regulars' huh? That'd be nice. 
Ok...off to catch up...I haven't been online for the past few days....
and....
Happy BIRTHDAY TOOOO YOUUUUUU! Happy BIRTHDAY TOOOOOO YOUUUUUUUUU. HAAAAAAAPEEEEEEE Birthhhhhhhhhhhhhdaaaaaaaaaaaaaay dear BRIDGE.....HAAAAAPY Birthdaaaaaaaaaay toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!
All the monkeys in the zoo send their very best to you...happy birthday to you!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 17, 2013)

Bridge - That whole story cracked me up. The smiling and you saying you're going in now. lol

Slaughtering isn't bad and and doing at the farm like that is best. They aren't stressed out either. 

btw $2.20????????? OMG I wish I could get that for "meat" goats. I'd be so scared to take them to auction because nobody pays money!! You got a wonderful price...


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 18, 2013)

Oh major bummer! We lost triplet boers that were born some time during the night. Yesterday Tim thought this doe looked like she was bagging up a whole bunch so we brought her and the whole Kiko Joe bunch up to the barn. We put them all on the catwalk because there was no place else really to put them, but at least we could keep an eye on her and put her in s stall today. Well, I went out at 6 a.m to check on everybody, but didn't look on the catwalk because it's too hard to get to in the dark. I went back this morning around 7:45 and took a look. There were 3 babies on the ground not moving! I quickly ran and got Tim and we grabbed the babies to put them under a heat lamp. One was moving! The other two were dead already.  We tried to get the one warmed up but it didn't make it. Clearly they just froze when they hit the ground. It was really cold last night and they were small to begin with because they were trips. Oh so sad! We lost all three! That would have been our first set of triplets, too.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 18, 2013)

That really stinks,  We had that happend about 2 weeks ago, we had them in the barn locked up and new they were close, but I just don't have many does kid at night and sure enough two does kidded, with 5 kids. We had a heck of a job in the morning getting them going. We did end up loosing one of them and tube fed 3 of them for a couple of days.  Very sorry you lost yours.  We decided we had to be a little more attentive and should have put them in kidding stalls with the warming barrels on them.  But we really rarely have them kid at night.  That was 16 does kidding for us this year so far and none of the others kidded at night. Last year I kidded out 23 does, and I honestly don't remember any of them kidding in the middle of the night.  Sorry for your frustrations.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 18, 2013)

That really stinks bridge. So sorry!  Maybe Tim will get it... too many and not enough adequate space. hopefully he will connect the dots!  
I know you take all this to heart Bridge.


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## Shelly May (Feb 18, 2013)

X2, and Sorry for your loss


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## CocoNUT (Feb 18, 2013)

Well that's a bummer! Maybe you could convince Tim of the lost money those three kids could've brought...and hopefully get the goat numbers down a litte! Say....no milking?!  Although...I DO think you should take photos of him milking the goats....just for your 'personal files'...you know....


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## Remuda1 (Feb 18, 2013)

Blegh, what a crappy way to start the day.  Sorry for the loss, Bridge.  Those kind of losses feel like a punch in the gut to me.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 18, 2013)

Sorry Bridge 

I am having a hard time figuring out what a cat walk is for your goats?  I'm guessing they are not modelling the latest goat fashions 

You really do need more space for so many animals!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 18, 2013)

Haha Bon, it's hard to explain, and no they are not modeling. It's kind of a holding area, but it is a small elevated fenced-in walkway behind the barn and it does have a roof over it. Many an animal has spent the night there comfortably. Except for Dipsy, he got out of the catwalk somehow! I'll take a picture so you can see. I think I should do a 360 video for you guys to see all of these areas I'm talking about!

Was sad today after our loss. It was a kick in the teeth. I am just kicking myself for not checking them. And Tim is kicking himself for not putting her in a lambing jug. He had the foresight to bring them up from the field, but then didn't go the extra step to put her in a stall. I guess we didn't think they were that close. There is another one that's going to have babies soon, she's in a lambing jug tonight! But she'll probably be like #26 and drag on for a month. Tim milked the colostrum out of the mommy who lost her babies so we can have it on hand in the freezer.

Speaking of dragging on, Clementine has still not had her lambs! She's not grunting or moaning anymore. I am still concerned about that day and hope she doesn't have a dead lamb inside of her.  The fat Tunis is going to go soon, and Star the weird looking Jacob, and I think one of the Finn sheep. Don't know about Lily, my other Jacob ewe. She's supposed to be due March 4th, but she hasn't bagged up at all.   I just know now I am very paranoid about them lambing when I'm not around. So I keep checking all of them every couple of hours.

Well I have to get ready for my big dinner out with Tim and Ruth. Tim got me the sweetest little lamb sculpture from a local artist for my birthday. Very nice!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 18, 2013)

Oooh..i think I know what their catwalk is...I think it's this looong, narrow fenced in area between two of their barns. the two barns sit at different elevations (think terraced)...so the catwalk is on the top terrace...Or it could be the terrace behind the second barn. They've got a lot of neat fenced areas!


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## alsea1 (Feb 18, 2013)

That is too bad to find the little fellers like that. 
Apparently goat babies are not as tough as sheep babies. Now I am worried. I decided to leave my goats out in the pasture tonight. Now am wondering if I'm messing up.
Guess I will go back out there and put em in. Supposed to get down in the thirties.
I don't think a person ever has enough stall space. 
Hopefully you have better luck with the rest.
L


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## bonbean01 (Feb 18, 2013)

Okay...I think I understand the catwalk...but is was nice to think of you knitting all kinds of animal clothes and having them strut their stuff on the catwalk


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## bonbean01 (Feb 18, 2013)

Gasp...just noticed I have a chance to make the big number happen on your journal...


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## bonbean01 (Feb 18, 2013)

YES!!!!!  Congratulations on hitting 1000 posts!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 18, 2013)

I think you're right Alsea, the newborn goats can't withstand the cold as well as lambs. I know it was about 23 when I got up this morning, pretty darned cold! I think as long as it isn't bitter freezing cold they should be okay. I guess it depends on how strong they are when they come out. I have a feeling our little goats were pretty weak, and combined with being wet on the frozen ground, they were goners. 

Bon, the thought has occurred to me to shear the sheep, clean the wool, spin the yarn and knit them wool sweaters!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 18, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> YES!!!!!  Congratulations on hitting 1000 posts!!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 18, 2013)

Sorry Bridge.   That is so hard.   Hope you have a better week.


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 18, 2013)

I'm sorry you lost the babies!


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## greenbean (Feb 18, 2013)

I'm sorry you lost the babies Bridge


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Feb 19, 2013)

That really stinks!  I'm so sorry you lost them.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 19, 2013)

DANG_NAB_IT! I missed it! 1000 posts! 
Did I describe your catwalk properly Bridge? I'll help with the sweater making...although I'm only good for the washing, carding and spinning....the knitting of sweaters is beyond my skills at this point!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 19, 2013)

#29 (#26's sidekick) had a healthy big baby this morning. Just a single. But it's huge! Almost as big as our month old goats. I'm glad it's very healthy and happy and vociferous and hungry!

Also in the queue...the smaller black Alpine looks like she's getting close. Two more boers still have to kid. Looks like they are pretty close, too.

It's kind of raining/snowing and Clementine came up to the barn.   I am SO ready for some more lambs! :bun


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 19, 2013)

Yeah Coco, that's about right. Tim had to do some fortifications to the catwalk this morning though, because the baby boers were climbing out between the slats and ending up down with the sheep. Then they couldn't get back up, so he had to nail more boards on.   All the momma boers and their babies are back there right now, out of the rain. They don't really like Finn Mountain at all. :/


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## CocoNUT (Feb 19, 2013)

That's cause Finn mountain is for the FINNS! lol I would think the sheep were better to have on the parts bordering the road...since they stay INSIDE the fencing better than goats will! 

I want more lambies! YOu need to start sweet talking your babies to lamb already Bridge! Give um extra scratchies for me....


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 19, 2013)

I just gave all the sheep extra lovins and smoochies. I went around checking sheep behinds too.  The Tunis has some mucous, Cinnamon the shetland has some mucous...and the Finn sheep is all rosy back there with her tail up. Clementine is not straying too far from the barn. Do you think I'll finally have some lambs today?????? I sure hope so. 

In the meantime, Tim is off getting another FREE teacup pig.  A non-neutered male.  So I guess there will be little teacup baby oinkers around here in ....I don't know how many months? I have to go read up on the gestation period of piggies.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 19, 2013)

Hope you get lambies today!!!!  You deserve some cute baby lambs to snuggle


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## CocoNUT (Feb 19, 2013)

Her? What about ME Bon? Don't I deserve some cute baby lambs to cuddle at Bridge's place?!


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## greenbean (Feb 19, 2013)

I hope you have some cute little lambies soon!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 19, 2013)

Yes Coco...you and your daughter deserve baby lambies to cuddle too...what was I thinking to leave you out?????  I must be getting senile


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 19, 2013)

NO lambs today, just the one boer baby who is doing great.  He is a he! We have 19 baby goats right now! Whew! 

Lottie and Uriah went for a hike in the woods (and not our woods)! They have been getting under the electric wire down at Jacob beach. The wire was a temporary fix to keep the horses in until the guys finish that board fence that got washed away. Anyways, Tim went down there to feed and called me and said Lottie and Uriah were gone. So I trekked up into the woods behind Finn Mountain and found them way off in the woods. I had to drag that dumb ^&@#& Uriah by his horns through the slippery wet woods to get him home without him ramming me. So they are spending the night on Finn Mountain, which is vacant by the way, sine the momma and baby goats don't like it. all they do is hang out on the wall by the gate. They've never gone in the shelter up there. We bring them down there every morning, then bring them back up to the barn every night. What a pain!

We also have a new teeny tiny teacup pig in the house.  He's white with little black spots. Pretty friendly, very small. I can't wait for him to meet Blossom but I don't think Taco the big pig should be there for the intros. I'm not sure how he would react. So now we need to figure out a way to get this pig out of the house ASAP!  Tim got him for free on CL, what else is new..


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## alsea1 (Feb 19, 2013)

You guys have quite the animal count. How in the world do you stay on top of it all?


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 20, 2013)

We barely do, Alsea!

Clementine lambed! See my lambing thread for the full report!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 20, 2013)

you have to be soooo happy. I think you really needed a lambie "fix"!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 20, 2013)

I am SO happy about my lambs! Was so touch and go with the one, I can't believe we managed to tube feed it and it perked right up! Tube feeding wasn't nearly as scary as we thought it was going to be. Two girls around 7 pounds each, so sweet! I certainly did need that lambing fix! 

The baby goats are all running around and are as cute as can be, but the lambs just exemplify sweetness.  And the way the mommy just coos and nuzzles them is something else.  I am beat tired though because I was up most of the night. I went back to sleep about 6 a.m. for an hour. Tonight I have to drive to Bon's and stay the night so we can go see her breast specialists at 8 a.m.  I just hope that nobody else lambs tonight while I'm not here. 

Turns out the teacup pig we got is neutered!   So we can't even breed them, not that we need more animals, but that's why Tim got it.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 20, 2013)

Yay for lambies...now I have to go rush to your lambing thread!!!!


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## CocoNUT (Feb 20, 2013)

Oh boy...sounds like fun. Hopefully no on will lamb while you're gone. A neutered pig huh? So what is Tim going to do with the new piggie now? He could always try to sell it.


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 23, 2013)

Why do our animals always lamb/kid at night? Aren't goats supposed to wait until daytime?????? Madeline, a boer first freshener just had triplets. One was stillborn, the other two are doing okay! She was in a stall but that didn't work out as there was too much room and the kids were spread out all over. So we moved her to a very small jug, and they are all doing okay. 

We have yet to hang on to a set of triplets. 

We now have 21 kids, and 3 lambs! That's a lot of baby goats. Have a lot of lambing to do to catch up!

Clemetine's two ewe lambs are still pretty scrawny. They are so sweet though. We gave them a shot of VitaB today to help them along a little. They need to beef up a little, skinny little things with long legs. Lacey, on the other hand, is one big baby already! She lost her tail today and I picked her up and I swear she weighed like 30 pounds, maybe more. 3 weeks old and a chunky monkey!

OKay going back to bed, will head outside again in a couple of hours.


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## Royd Wood (Feb 23, 2013)

I'm just in from the barn making a pot of tea (bloody Brits)
9 piglets here tonight and so pleased your two seem to be ok - yeh triplets we are going through the same crap with the sheep on that one


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## bonbean01 (Feb 23, 2013)

Congrats on the babies Bridge...long nights, eh?  Our neighbour with goats has never had triplets all live...always loses one either born dead, or dies within 24 hours no matter how they try.

And Royd...I'm a coffee drinker except when it is super cold...then hot sweet tea is the best...congrats on your piggies 

Now off to Bridge's lambing thread to hunt for new photos!


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## goodolboy (Feb 23, 2013)

on the two   that the third didn't make it.

We're at 17 lambs(I think) 0 kids, but we should be caught up to you in an hour or so


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 23, 2013)

goodolboy said:
			
		

> We're at 17 lambs(I think) 0 kids, but we should be caught up to you in an hour or so


I know! I've been watching the "storm" brewing! 

No new pics Bon, just waiting for new lambies 

So today is the Chili Party in the old neighborhood! Guess what we're bringing...goat chili! Do you think anyone will try it? I used Donna Belle's secret ingredient, a can of pumpkin. I think it made the texture really smooth and creamy. It will be delish! We're also bringing two goat cheese logs. Tim actually has been milking that goat, but I think she exhausted her extra supply. He's not milking her anymore. But with one gallon of goat's milk, he made 2.6 pounds of goat cheese that turned out perfectly! I was very impressed considering it was his first time. Annie got to form the "logs" and rolled one in a rosemary garlic mixture, the other is sea salt and crushed green peppercorns. 

We're also going to look at this farm that is for sale right down the road from my old house. It's 51 acres, has an old farmhouse, a pole barn and a bank barn.  I should be looking at it on my own, but I mentioned it to Tim and he is all over it.  I told him I didn't like him this morning and I hurt his feelings. Oh well. So I apologized later so I could get through the day without trauma.  Oh the drama. 

The dog, our retired LGD Inkabod, ate the dead baby goat. I took it out of the sheep shed where Tim laid it and put in the worming chute. Well, Ink got in there this morning and snatched it right up. Of course that was ALL MY FAULT and Tim was mad at me about it. Every day there is an argument about something. Never mind the fact that he put THREE dead baby goats there the other day.  Ink is now back in his retired position on the couch with a full belly. :/


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## bonbean01 (Feb 23, 2013)

Bridge....I would LOVE to try your goat chili and the cheese logs!!!! 

As for the drama, which down the line after too many years of that becomes trauma for you...I did the same thing in my first marriage...did anything to keep the peace to save my sanity and make it easier on the kids...and believe me...he will learn that and count on it.  Don't mean to be a bummer...but been there, done that...and it only gets worse.  Perhaps a home labotomy (spelling?) would help things...I know it crossed my mind back then on more than one occasion 

Enjoy your chili day...wish I could come and try your stuff


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## goodolboy (Feb 23, 2013)

Look out, you'll be "Big Time" before you know it.  Oh, and broke.


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## greenbean (Feb 23, 2013)

I would also love to try your goat chili!  It sounds good.  You should send me some  

Sorry you lost the kid, but congrats on the others!  Can't wait to see more pictures


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## CocoNUT (Feb 23, 2013)

Well...I guess if Ink was eating the dead kid...he won't need as much dog food! Just tell Tim you're trying to save him money with "raw feeding" and if he doesn't like it...then to find somewhere else to put them! 
Sorry you lost the triplet...that sucks. 
Just remember the term "marital property"....that's all I'll say! 
MORE LAMBIES! We want lambies...I think you need to go outside and cooo cooo them with your mama voice! You know they love that! It might help them along.....


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 23, 2013)

I bet the chili is a hit!  I can't wait to try that recipe.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 24, 2013)

So Bridge...how was the get together?!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 24, 2013)

I was wondering too...hope Bridge didn't eat too much chili and is hanging out in the bathroom?  Maybe she is busy with new lambies!!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 24, 2013)

Hi everyone! 

The chili party was really fun. I loved seeing my old neighborhood friends. I miss them so much! I do wish we lived up there. We went and looked at that farm first, and it was really cool. There was a lot of junk and trash on the property, but cleaned up it had a lot of potential. It had pasture for horses and sheep, woods for the goats, a stream and a pond. IT also had a big bank barn and a pole barn and some stables and chicken coop type buildings. But the bad part was you had to drive through a run down seedy-looking mobile home park to get into the farm. And so everyone who lived there would see you coming and going, and know exactly when you weren't home. And as much tools and stuff we have laying around all the time, not to mention the animals, it just didn't seem safe. But it was fun to look at, of course we can't really go anywhere anytime soon anyways.

So after the chili party we came home and there were no surprises, good or bad. We only have one more goat that hasn't kidded yet, she is ready to go anytime. As for the sheep, well I really have to keep an eye on them, anyone of them could surprise us. I'm pretty worn down from getting up in the middle of the night every night.  

Today I just caught up on some work that is due tomorrow. And, Tim sold the new little piggy AND an alpine mommy and her babies.  Plus the people who bought the pig want to come back for baby and mommy goats, too.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 24, 2013)




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## greenbean (Feb 24, 2013)

That stinks that you have to drive through a mobile home park, it sounds like it'd be a really nice place otherwise!

Hopefully you only get good surprises from here on out!  And yayyy for selling things


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## autumnprairie (Feb 24, 2013)

Sounds like you have had a lot going on lately,


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## CocoNUT (Feb 25, 2013)

YAY on selling the new piggie and alpine (with babies)! 
I saw your lambing thread...CUTE babies!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 26, 2013)

What a yucky day! First, Bon sends us her nasty weather so everybody gets to come up to the barn again!  Everybody is crammed into every nook and cranny we have, hopefully will stay there and stay dry. Just PLEASE no lambs or kids tonight!  

This morning I had to take Ruth to her post cancer maintenance treatment for 3 hours, and the whole time my clients were sending me e-mails wanting stuff and I couldn't get anything to them. Ugh. Her regular buddy was sick so she couldn't take her. Of course sitting and listening to Ruth tell you the same things over and over and over again would make anybody's day a bad day. 

Tim and Annie are both sick...ugh.  I'm sure hoping I don't get sick since I have to take my sis to get her surgery on Monday. 

It just was a bad day, and of course rain and mud don't help anything. But we managed to band the little lambs tails and put ear tags on all the baby goats. Tim has sold all the alpine goat families except for the one which he wants to keep. They are a popular item! Of course you know selling this stuff only empowers him to go out and buy more.  Well, he's a livestock dealer, and I have to admit he makes a living at it. He is a full-time farmer, doesn't have any other kind of job, so there's something to be said for that. 

Now I want to move to Kentucky, and hang out at Shelly May's place. 

Nothing creative going on, no time. I have started knitting a headband with my hand spun, and I have 3 rows done.  

That's my quickie report.  :bun


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## bonbean01 (Feb 26, 2013)

Sorry your day wasn't great...and hope you don't get sick too!!!  I feel responsible now...our nasty weather hit you...hate to say it, but a very cold front coming in and we may get our first snow on Saturday with highs only in the 30s...guess that may show up at your place too


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## autumnprairie (Feb 26, 2013)

Cold front is here now, hope you don't get sick


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 27, 2013)

Oh Bon, you know I'm only kidding. I know you would send sunshine if you could.  Just looked at the forecast, looks like clear sailing for the next week. No snow in the forecast.  It's even 40 right now in the middle of the night, and looks like the rain has stopped! 

Now I have to go do a lamb/kid check


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## CocoNUT (Feb 27, 2013)

WELL...????  ANY new lambies yet? I gotta get out there sometime and see the new lambies!


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## Bridgemoof (Feb 27, 2013)

Nope, nothing new. If there was, you guys would be the first to know, don't worry! 

The sun is shining and it's very warm, it's all good today. We just sent the Jacob's back down to their beach, which didn't get hit by the rain too bad. The creek didn't rise too badly. 

There is a security breach on Finn Mountain with the baby goats going under the gate.  I looked out the window this morning and the 2 youngest goats were in the pond area jumping up and down on the big rock right next to the water..    Scared me to death and I went racing down there to close the pond gate. Whew! Our pond is really straight edged, there is no slope so if something got in, it wouldn't get out!

Tim and Annie are still sick, but I'm feeling fine so far, knock on wood! 

:bun


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## CocoNUT (Feb 27, 2013)

AWWWW MOM! But that rock is SOOOO awesome for jumping off of! 
Glad you're fighting the bug!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 27, 2013)

gosh bridge I'm down for a few days and all the changes that have gone on at your place...


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 1, 2013)

Oh so much going on!

GOATS 
So I think Tim sold all the Alpines except the one he wants to keep for milk. A nice family came last weekend and picked out the brown goat and her cute little babies. Well, they paid him but are going to pick them up this weekend. So, wouldn't you know it, brown goat gets SICK!  I thought maybe it was bloat, Tim wasn't sure. He gave her everything, LA200, BoSe, Nutridrench, Bantamine, some other drug. She had a fever and she was just standing there with her head hanging down. We thought she was going to die, but she's still hanging in there, in fact I think she is improving. I just hope she is better by tomorrow when the people come to pick her up 

Then another woman, an attorney with a small horse farm, bought the LaMancha Alpine and her baby. She doesn't know a thing about goats, but she wants them by golly, because she "wants to make goat cheese." I asked her how she was going to learn how to take care of them and she replied "I was going to read a book?"  I just told her I hope you have good fencing, and if anything seems wrong, call the vet! 

The baby goats have constantly been escaping Finn Mountain by going under the gate. I keep looking out the window and there's another one! So I go put on my shoes and trudge out there and get it and put it back. When I open the gate, another goat comes out. I do this over and over again! Tim says Lencho fixed the gate so they can't get out, but of course they found another gate. 

Remember the two baby goats that had the inverted eyelid problem? Well one of them just never healed correctly. After we took the staple out it started to get inflamed adn Tim had to put a shot of penicillin right into the swollen part while I was holding the poor little thing. It was awful. We thought it was getting better but yesterday the little goat''s eye was so swollen it looked like a golf ball, so we did it again. I don't know if that eye will ever heal and surely he probably can't see out of it. 

So today Tim was out all afternoon. He found someone who would take Taco, the PB pig.  I was trying to get some work done and keep an eye on everybody, too. At one point this afternoon I went out to check on everyone and one of the Boer goats was in the FRONT YARD trying to eat the apple tree! She had escaped Finn mountain by jumping over the new wire fence I guess. Well I just didn't want to deal with it so I closed the front gates and went inside to do more work. I was ignoring the fact that if I went back out there I would feel obligated to feed everyone since Tim wasn't here. 

A little while later, I am on the phone with the printer trying to resolve a critical problem, I look out the front window and I see ALL the boer goats and ALL their babies in the front yard! OMG! I blurted into the phone "Oh SH%#$$^& My goats are in the front yard!"  The printer on the other end says "Did you say GOATS?"     I told her yes, I had goats and they were in the front yard and I was afraid they would go under the gate into the road. So I quickly ran out there and got a bucket of corn and lured them to the back. Luckily they followed me like zombies. So now ALL the boers and their babies and ALL the Alpines and their babies are in the corridor outside that back barn.  Of course once everybody else saw the corn, everybody started MAAAIng and BAAAIng, Neighing and cockledoodle dooing, so I ended up feeding everybody up at the barn, the horses, the chickens, the sheep, the goats, the ponies....everybody except for the 7 horses down the hill and the Jacob sheep because I just can't carry that much at one time. 

So it's dark now and Tim isn't home yet.  What an afternoon dealing with goats!


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## CocoNUT (Mar 1, 2013)

Blasted goats! I tell ya...I think Tim disappeared on purpose!!! 
Just think LAMBIES...and it'll all be allright!


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## bonbean01 (Mar 1, 2013)

Oh Bridge...what a goat day you had   You need a nice time out for a vacation...how about at my house?


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 1, 2013)

I was just thinking "vacation" today Bon! Your house sounds good. 

It's funny but I'm actually looking forward to going and sitting at the hospital all day on Monday with Bon. I can knit, be on BYH, read a book, nap...ahhh!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Mar 1, 2013)

> Remember the two baby goats that had the inverted eyelid problem? Well one of them just never healed correctly. After we took the staple out it started to get inflamed adn Tim had to put a shot of penicillin right into the swollen part while I was holding the poor little thing. It was awful. We thought it was getting better but yesterday the little goat''s eye was so swollen it looked like a golf ball, so we did it again. I don't know if that eye will ever heal and surely he probably can't see out of it.


The Pen is a good idea but you have to do it twice a day for five days. You never do less than five days with penicillin.


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 6, 2013)

HI guys!

Well, I had my first snow baby born this morning in the snow! And he's my first Uriah baby.  He's perfect.  See my lambing thread for pics. 

We're getting hammered with snow. It's been coming down since the middle of the night and we have about 8 or 9" so far. It's heavy and wet, hoping the power doesn't go out!

Bon's surgeyy on Monday went well. She wouldn't let me stay overnight at her house because I have a cold.  Despite my attempts not to get sick, I did, the day before her surgery. But I was there for her at the hospital, made sure she got home okay, she had another friend there to stay with her. Then I had to drive home Monday night feeling sick as could be, but I made it. So she's feeling a bit better now, sore but nothing intolerable. Glad that's over with!

That's all for now...have to keep an eye on the other ewes. We brought the pregnant ones all up to the sheep shed so they would have shelter if they lambed. Of course Lily had to go and have hers out in the snow! Pffft. But I caught him in time and got them into the jug. 

:bun


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 6, 2013)

Congratulations on the baby!  On my over to look at pictures next.  I sure hope you don't lose power too....at least in the summer, you don't have to worry about freezing when the power goes out.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 6, 2013)

Congrats on the baby!!!!! 

Now nip that cold quickly...every wive's tale remedy...and get better soon!!! 

Glad your sister is doing okay...she has such a lovely name


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 6, 2013)




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## autumnprairie (Mar 6, 2013)

Yay on the baby


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 6, 2013)

I don't know about wive's remedies, but ALka Seltzer cold medicine works just fine!  

I think it stopped snowing, but it is cold and the wind is blowing like crazy which makes it seem colder. Everybody is hunkered down with shelter and hay, Tim and I spent a great deal of time out there this morning making sure everybody was comfy except for ourselves, we were soaking wet and cold and snowy. 

Star, another Jacob, is due tomorrow and she is looking pretty enflamed down there, so she may go at any time! I hope she holds off until tomorrow because when the sun goes down tonight its going to seem pretty darn right freezing out there!

I got to lay down and take a long nap, not much going on here today except taking care of critters.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 6, 2013)

Hope Star waits for warmer temps!!!!

As for old wive's tales, the lastest one I got was to cut an onion in half and put it on a dish on my nightstand close to my nose....ummm...I don't think so   Hate to think of what kind of dreams that would bring on...that is if you could even sleep with smelling that!


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## marlowmanor (Mar 6, 2013)

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> Hope Star waits for warmer temps!!!!
> 
> As for old wive's tales, the lastest one I got was to cut an onion in half and put it on a dish on my nightstand close to my nose....ummm...I don't think so   Hate to think of what kind of dreams that would bring on...that is if you could even sleep with smelling that!


The onion treatment is actually to put a cut onion in a dish on a dresser/nightstand. The onion soaks up the toxins/germs in the air.


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 6, 2013)

Oh Bon, that's just no good! Plus you're probably allergic to onions anyways.   I'll stick to my Alka Seltzer cold formula. 

Star is in a lambing jug for the night! I don't want any snow babies tonight.   Star is so flighty and weird and shy that I could imagine there being problems with her lambing outside and us trying to get her in a jug. So also a possibility is Cinnamon, the Shetland and the big fat Tunis. They are under cover, though. 

I'm just still sooo happy that I had my first Uriah baby today.


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## Shelly May (Mar 7, 2013)

Bridgemoof, didn't want you to think I didn't see this yesterday, but I did, and the lamb is adorable, It took me some time (you know I don't have much)
but finally found the real SNOW BABY, it was your title to the post that reminded me of this.

My friend built this in 2010, her self when we got a big snow that year, it was posted on the local news here... and yes the eye's are made out of real sheep poop , She is kinda a nutty friend, but talented.............

WILL THE REAL SNOW BABY COME FORWARD:


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 7, 2013)

OMG that is sooo adorable Shelly May!  I LOVE it! I love how the other sheep are checking it out. Too cute!


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## Shelly May (Mar 7, 2013)

Thought you might like that , and I was hoping Bon would see it too, but she hasn't been on here today, hope all is ok with her??? again congrads on the second one........


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## promiseacres (Mar 7, 2013)

Awesome snow sheep!


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## CocoNUT (Mar 7, 2013)

Awesome snow sheep! that's reall cool looking! 

Bridge....has Star delivered yet? Cinnamon? Ooooh....if Cinamon's baby is moorit colored...you could name it CinaBon!!!  Yum......


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 7, 2013)

Yes Star had a beautiful baby GIRL (I think)  She has a lot of fluffy wool, and a lot more white than Saturn. I was going to name her Sapphire, but I think I'll name her Cloud. She looks like a Cloud.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 7, 2013)

Congrats Bridge on the new lamb...and we need photos!!!

Shelly...I'm fine...had an awesome day babysitting Ruby Kate who is 10 months old and wasn't online...and those photos are adorable   They are all one colour except the white one and it brought back the Sesame Street song that my kids loved when they were little...One of these things is not like the other....LOL!


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## CocoNUT (Mar 7, 2013)

YAY Bridge! We need PHOTOS now! What about Cinnamon? Anything from her yet? I'm hoping for triplets...so you have a bottle baby that needs Aunty CocoNutty to bring it home and spoil it rotten!


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 7, 2013)

HI Bon, missed you today!

Nothing on Cinnamon yet, I don't have an estimated due date her, so all I can do is pay close attention for any "signs."

Cloud is definitely a girl!  That means out of my 5 lambs so far, 4 girls, 1 boy.  I'll get pics tomorrow of Cloud. She's so pretty! I didn't want the flash going off in her eyes in the lambing jug, so I'll wait til daylight when I can let her out. Lily is so upset about being in the lambing jug, she wants OUT! I let her out today and she went running around baaaaing looking for Star. Then she discovered Star  was in the jug next to her with a baby! It was so cute, they were doing that cooing mommy thing through the gate...Lily would look at Star's baby and coo, then look back into her own jug to make sure hers was still there. I can't wait to let them both out with their babies. It is going to be the sweetest thing!!!

Aunt Coconutty, maybe, just maybe there will be a baby in your future! Still more to come, you never know!


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## CocoNUT (Mar 8, 2013)

woooo hoooooo!!!!!! man...i need to get my health together and get on out there and visit all the babies!!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 11, 2013)

Oh what a bad, bad farm day. Been up since 2 am with my ewe Koala who was attempting to lamb. The lamb was turned around and we tried to pull it. It died.  Then Koala wasn't faring well so we had the vet come out. Torn uterus. We had to put her down.   Then our only bred mare this year had placenta hanging out of her today. She is about 9 or 10 months, so she of had SOMETHING in there! NOthing in the field. Nothing on the whole farm. No baby.   The mare is doing fine, but we can't figure out what happened to her baby. The equine vet is on his way out to examine her now. 

Some days. Farming is just. bad.


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## RainySunday (Mar 11, 2013)

Nothing to offer but .  What a sad, terrible day.  So sorry for your losses.


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 11, 2013)

The vet is here and says there is a small dead foal inside the mare. He can't reach it to pull it, so he has to induce labor. Pray that he can get it out, if not, it's not looking good for the mare. And we already had that baby sold! Awww. We have the best equine vet around, though, and I have confidence he can get it out. I'm just not gonna stay out there and watch. Seen enough bad things today.


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## promiseacres (Mar 11, 2013)

so very sorry about the foal and sheep


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## Mamaboid (Mar 11, 2013)

Good grief.  Some days it just seems like if it can it will go wrong.  So sorry for all your troubles and I sure hope the vet can save your mare.  Not much else to say but here is a


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 11, 2013)

Saying a prayer for you and your mare.  So sorry.


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## CocoNUT (Mar 11, 2013)

Oh Bridge! What a crappy day!    
I hope the equine vet can save the mare too. Sorry about Koala...and her lamb.


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## CochinBrahmaLover=) (Mar 11, 2013)

So sorry  Hope you mare pulls through just fine


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 11, 2013)

Thanks everyone! The vet did an extraordinary job at pulling the dead foal. The mare is doing okay! She's going to make it. 

I'm still so sad about Koala and her baby, but I was outside with the sheep and the little Jacob lambies were stotting around so cutely, it made me smile. Can't break down now because there are more ewes ready to lamb and we just have to buck up and move forward. That's farming, right?


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## CocoNUT (Mar 11, 2013)

Glad to hear the mare made it...again, sorry about Koala. That is farming...but it doesn't make it suck any less!


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 11, 2013)

Hugs and hopes that you have a better week.  So glad your mare made it but so sorry about the babies and your sheep.


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## ragdollcatlady (Mar 11, 2013)

Sorry about your sheep and her baby! Glad to hear that your mare is OK, sorry about her baby too. 

When I have a day like that I start counting my blessings....I am always blessed with so many good things. Once I get lost in counting the good things, I don't feel as bad even if I am sad about losing a favorite animal. This year I lost the one baby goat...but without even getting out of the goat blessings, I have 6 healthy babies and their mamas are all healthy, and making enough milk, taking care of the babies, and my boys are strong and stinky and ..... 

I hope tomorrow is more peaceful for you.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 11, 2013)

Oh Bridge...I am so, so sorry...that has to be so terribly hard...have said prayers for your comfort in such an awful experience 

Now I feel kind of bad for being so nutsy about Chickapee's lamb   I totally LOVE sheepies and babies are the frosting on it all...and so terribly sorry you lost not only the lamb but your sheepie too    Really wish I could give you REAL time hugs 

Glad the mare will pull through...what an awful day for you...yeah...not adequate, but more hugs for you


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 11, 2013)

Oh Bon! When I saw that Chickapee had lambed, it just made my day! The ONE bright spot was that, so don't feel bad for having good news to share. Thanks for the hugs Bon and everybody.

I have a new saying after today..ready?

BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD SHEOPLE.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 11, 2013)

Cute saying...love it 

Well...I am glad my news didn't make it worse for you...reading yours just made me break down in tears 

We have such a small flock...and only doing this for 6 years...so kinda new still...and so far have not had to deal with a death, but I know that is just a matter of time.

Bridge, you are such a good sheople...and again so sorry...here is a hug from a one sheople to another sheople


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 11, 2013)

Nice saying!


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## alsea1 (Mar 11, 2013)

Hey bridge
So sorry to hear about your sheep and the baby.
Good thing you have a good horse vet. 
with luck the rest will be okay


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## autumnprairie (Mar 12, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Mar 17, 2013)

HI everyone! 

Have had a busy week here, haven't had much time to post. As you can see I am writing in the middle of the night, I had to get up and feed my bottle baby! I picked up a newborn Tunis lamb from a friend of mine this week.  She just didn't have time for it, (like I do!) so I took it for her. She's actually a purebred Tunis, and my friend will register her for me. She's so sweet and pretty, perfect in every way and a delightful reddish color. She's in the house now, although I've been sending her out with the other sheep and lambs during the day to socialize. I've been feeding her goat's milk, and she seems to be thriving on it!

No new lambs since I last wrote. But all the lambies are so cute together and have been boinking around, especially the Jacob babies. Oh my, those little spotted babies are the cutest! This year I had a major scare though because there has been a fox lurking around right outside the fence from where the lambs are. It stole one of our roosters practically right in front of me, so it's very brazen. I've been locking up the ewes and their lambs at night, along with the pregnant ewes. They are all crammed together in our little sheep shed and are hating it. But just can't imagine losing a lamb to a fox. 

I am so ready for more lambs, though. Beatrix Potter and Leah, the Finn, were due on Wednesday and nothing yet.   Could be my calculations were off by one breeding, but they both look so ready, it doesn't seem like they would be off by a few weeks. So hopefully soon!

Tim sold a year old colt by our breeding Oldenburg stallion this week, so that was good. He had been moving horses around to get the colt up to the barn. So this morning he had our 2-year old, Thunder Bob, the appaloosa in a stall around back where some of the goats are. Thunder Bob was so excited that he tried to jump out of the stall door! He was halfway out, and stuck and was kicking around. It gave me a heart attack and I ran down the hill screaming for Tim to come up. He ran up and saved Thunder Bob. I'm sure his belly and underarms are pretty scraped up, but other than that he is fine. I tell ya, when a horse gets into trouble like that, it's the scariest thing because of their size.

Goat babies are getting big, but have several limpers and we are going to try something new, some Coppertox. We'll see how that goes because the limping goat thing has gotten bad. Tim's still milking the boer goat who lost her baby and the fridge is quickly filling up with goat's milk.  We are going ot be getting some ingredients to make some hard cheese, the soft goat cheese just doesn't have a shelflife. At least I have milk to feed to my bottle baby lambie!

Nothing creative going on here, haven't had much time.

ok, that's it for now, back to bed! :bun


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## jodief100 (Mar 17, 2013)

So sorry about your rough day.  I had one myself a few days ago.  That is farming and there is nothing we can do about it.  

Is your place real muddy? The boers seem to have a lot of hoof trouble in the mud.


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 17, 2013)

Yep it's muddy, and more rain and snow coming tonight and tomorrow  My Tunis sheep also do very poorly in the mud. They are meant to be in sandy areas I suppose. Both of them are from Africa, so different climate than what we have here.

Oh I now have 3 bottle babies in the house! My friend brought me another Tunis lamb, a ram lamb who is VERY vocal tonight! And we now have a baby Alpine/Nubian kid about 2 weeks old that we are trying to get to take a bottle. It's a bit of a struggle, but I think we'll get there.


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 23, 2013)

Hi everyone! 

I sure have a lot of updating to do. 

SHEEP
The 2 bottle babies have been out in the barn now for 3 days and 3 nights. No more mess in the house! I feed them their bottles every 4 hours, except for night. I get up to check the pregger sheeps around 2 am so I give them a bottle then. They are doing great and growing! It's been very chilly at night so I've been keeping them in a lambing jug with a heat lamp at night. 






Still waiting on ewes to deliver. Finn, Beatrix Potter, Fluffy, Cinnamon.... Last night Leah had milk, so maybe some Finn's today? Yeah I know, I've been saying that for a while now. 

We had the vet out the other day to listen to lungs, we have a case of Micoplasmal Pneumonia running around through the goats and sheep. He gave a few of them injections of Zactran, and then we ended up buying a 100 dose bottle and are administering it as we hear a cougher.

O'Malley, our oldest biggest Suffolk ewe had a fall in the rain and mud last week. I went out there and she was stuck on her side and couldn't get up. Tim and I had to tie a rope around her and pull her up, then push her up into the barn. She laid there for 5 days and didn't get up. She was eating and drinking but just couldn't stand on her own. Tim and I picked her up a few times and got her to walk around the barn a little, but her legs were very wobbly.  So Friday we decided it was time to put her down.   So that deed is done, her fleece was very nasty and Suffolk wool isn't the best. So Tim took her whole hide and put it in the washing machine and is going to make a saddle pad out of it.  

GOATS
The bottle baby goat kid who never took the bottle has been adopted by boer goat #28, the one who lost her twins when we tried to pull them. We were getting like 2 quarts of milk a day out of her, but now her milk production has gone way down and we are barely getting enough to feed our bottle lambs. It is the funniest thing though seeing this teeny tiny black nigerian alpine kid tagging along with the big boer goat.

Have had a lot of limpers due to wet, muddy conditions so now we are trying Koppertox to treat their hooves.

CL
Tim is buying a super sized big antique loom CocoNUT found on CL. It's a good deal, but we absolutely have NO room for it. It will be stored in the barn in pieces and maybe someday we'll have a place for it.  He's thinks he's gonna make a rug.  Last week Tim got a bunch of free soap making supplies from some lady who was moving. Lye, Stearic Acid, bottles of Alcohol, pots and pans, plus soaps and bath salts she had already made.

PIGS
We have two pot belly pigs in the horse trailer that we picked up last night.  This is the craziest thing. The pigs came with 7 16' long cattle panels and that's why Tim wanted the pigs.  All this for free. So his plan is to set up the cattle panels around our garden where he just dumped some fresh manure and let the pigs root around in it and prep the soil.  So today he has to build a shelter in the garden for them.

HORSES
Tim sold a yearling colt from our Stallion, so that was pretty decent money. Also we had 2 3-year old colts gelded this week. Thunder Bob, the Appaloosa colt has been so wild and actually tried to jump out of his stall one day last week. He got stuck with his front legs hanging out and his back legs still in the stall. It was scary, but he's okay. Hopefully he'll calm down now.

That's all I can think of for now, have to go feed!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Mar 23, 2013)

Sorry about O'Malley!!  
That really sucks that it is soooo wet around your farm! I dont have to worry about the down pours and mud for another month to month and a half.
Such cute bottle babies!!!  I raise Tunis too, I have about 50 ewes.  
Good luck with your up and coming babies!!!!!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 25, 2013)

Boy are you a busy woman.  Sorry about O'Malley.


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## promiseacres (Mar 25, 2013)

I have some off/on lamesness in my ewes too good to know I can use koppertox....sorry to hear about ur ewe   cute lambies!


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 25, 2013)

Well everything we've read says you can use Koppertox on sheep. But the one day I put it on my little lamb because she was limping and then I though, omg COPPER! I'm sure it absorbs into their skin. She is okay, but I'm not going to use it on lambs anymore for fear of copper toxicity.  May be too much for a little lambie. :/

The pigs are STILL in the horse trailer.  It is snowing like crazy, we got about 4" overnight and more is coming. 

I would think that this pressure system would make my pregger sheep go into labor, if it doesn't I don't know what will! 

We didn't get the loom yet. Tim's mom is sick and he may go to NY to see her. Things are not looking good for her.  Annie leaves for California for spring break vacation tomorrow. One of these days I'm going to leave these guys here to hold down the fort and go on a vacation and NEVER return!


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 26, 2013)

For those of you who didn't catch it, my Jacob ewe Fluffy had a single teeny ewe lamb last night.   She and mommy are doing great! Details and pics are in my lambing thread.

The rototillers got put into action finally today!









They are now working pigs! 

Tim built my a hay rack in the sheep shed from one of the cattle panels. It's great!





And here's a pic of my sheeps under one of their shelters.  It's sunny today but windy and brrrrrr!!!!!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 26, 2013)

Nice hay rack!  Looks like it would be easy to fill too.


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## CocoNUT (Mar 27, 2013)

Nice "rack" Bridge!!!


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks guys! I know I have a nice rack. Tim thinks I have a nice rack, too!    I bet all you gals wish you had a rack like mine!


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 27, 2013)




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## SheepGirl (Mar 27, 2013)




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## CocoNUT (Mar 27, 2013)

i wish i had a COUPLE-A racks like yours!


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 27, 2013)

Beatrix Potter just delivered a HUGE ram lamb! Bigger than my Tunis babies are already. I'm definitely going to weigh him.  We had to help her get him out, his elbows were locked. He seems healthy, but she isn't too enthused about him yet. We decided to leave them alone for a few minutes and she if she starts licking him. If not, we'll try rubbing some molasses on him.

I don't know if she has another one coming, she was pretty big and I thought she'd have twins, but looking at the size of him, now I'm not so sure if she even had room for more!


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## CocoNUT (Mar 27, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Mar 27, 2013)

I think she might have another one coming! She has a bubble hanging out of her...we'll see. Stay tuned!


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## ragdollcatlady (Mar 27, 2013)




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## Bridgemoof (Mar 27, 2013)

I guess no more. One was enough for her! Here's the big boy! 







And then here is Fluffy and her teeny tiny little baby. I'll post more in my lambing thread.


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 27, 2013)

That boy has some legs on him!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Mar 27, 2013)

Congrats!!!!  That is awesome!!!!   
He definatly looks like a strapping lad!! What was his weight!!!!????


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 27, 2013)

He weighed about 14 pounds. And I also weighed Fluffy's and she's only 7.   Beatrix finally got with the program and is catching on what it means to be a "mom." Whew!

My bottle babies weigh about 20 pounds already. Wow! They are growing fast.


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## Roving Jacobs (Mar 27, 2013)

Beatrix is so cute! And her baby is huge! 7 lbs is a pretty normal weight for a Jacob, they just look teeny if you're used to big meaty lambs.

I was thinking of you while I was shearing one of the cormos today. Just wait until you get that fleece! It's awesomely soft and there's so much of it. 5 lbs just of what was under the coat. I want to just take a nap in it (especially after shearing the giant fidgety moose).


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 28, 2013)

Oh Roving, we sheared ours last year and I know what you mean! It is scrumptious. It always reminds me of crabmeat for some silly reason. Did you have yours blanketed? Did it get matted at all under your sheep blanket? My Cormo seem to get hose crunchy tips on them, and I've had a devil of a time trying to wash it. I guess you're sending yours out, huh? I have yet to get any fleeces to the processor. Not enough hours in the day!

Oh as for Fluffy's baby, well I swear she's a lot smaller than my other Jacobs.  She's even smaller than my bottle baby Lottie from last year who was really small! I need to figure out a better way to weigh her. She's so cute, I just love her!   Oh and BTW, Saturn the ram lamb has 4 horns, but they're kind of funky. They are not evenly spaced, maybe fused. I'll try to get a better pic, if he would just hold still long enough.  And Cloud, the other one also has 4 horns. They seem smaller but more evenly spaced. They are just the cutest, too. I LOVE Jacobs!


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 28, 2013)

We use this...... http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=95&cat_id=9 and this......... http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=673&cat_id=9 to weigh our lambs.


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## Bridgemoof (Apr 1, 2013)

Two of my ewes delivered today!  See my lambing thread in the sheep section for more details. It's all good!


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## Bridgemoof (Apr 6, 2013)

Hello everyone!

Just checking in to give a little update on happenings around the farm. Looks like spring has finally sprung around here, with the last couple of days being half way warm. One of those days it actually got over 60, so hopefully the grass will start growing! The paddock where the sheep is either a dust bowl or a mud pit, with hardly a sign of grass anywhere. I tried planting some rye seed about a week ago, and the chickens were eating the seeds, and also eating the sprig of grass if it made it up.  Hard to even manage growing season when there are animals on every square inch of our property. Even pigs in the garden!

POULTRY
Our older lame Cuckoo Marans rooster General Tso died this week. I found him in the corner of the chicken coup all hunched up. Poor guy, probably got attacked by another roo. I loved him and he would hobble around and eat bits of corn he found on the ground. A lot of times Tim or I would pick him up and move him to a different spot if somebody was picking on him. He would always sleep on the floor of the coup under the nesting boxes because he couldn't get up on the roosts. We donated his body for the sake of the truce we have with the foxes across the road. We give them fresh meat every once in a while and they stop coming over and chasing the lambs around. :/

We are down to 2 pheasants sadly. The fox must have gotten the rest. So they are in lock up for now. They are both females, so we want to get another male. The really sad part is now they are laying eggs! If we had a male left we could be hatching out baby pheasants! Boo!

The 3 Indian runner ducks finally discovered the pond last month. It was so funny to see them jump in the first time. I swear after a year of them running around upright on the farm we didn't even imagine they could swim.  They have been sharing the pond with 2 wild Canadian Geese who have been hanging around for a few weeks. But yesterday one of the ducks came up lame, and couldn't hardly waddle. So we put them in lock up until he recovers. Hopefully recovers!

Our turkey hen has begun laying eggs in the tool shed of all places. But yay! Since we do have a Tom, we took the eggs and will put them in the incubator. Hopefully we can get some turkey poults to raise.

SHEEP
We seem to be past the hump of the mycroplasma pneumonia nearly all the sheep had last month. We administered Zactran to all the coughers and that stuff is amazing. It really does knock it out in a day. We have had many lambs, I think we're up to 14 now. Had our share of heartaches, like the one yesterday who had the prolapse and lost her lamb. She's still recovering, she is so swollen it looks awful. 

The bottle baby lambs are doing great. I'm so glad there were 2, and so glad I put them outside after a week old. They will have grown up with the other lambs so all is well.

Have a sheep shearer coming out in a couple of weeks.  It's a girl who advertised in our local paper that she would do it for free to gain experience. She has attended the MD shearing school twice and is ready to roll! She uses hand clippers though so she will only get a couple done. But we are both excited because it will be a great experience for her to do all different kinds of sheep.

Okay, it took me half the day to write just these few paragraphs. So many interruptions, and now it's feeding time already. Not enough hours in the day!


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## jodief100 (Apr 7, 2013)

So sorry to hear about your rooster.  

Good luck with poults and I am glad to hear your sheep are doing better.


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## Four Winds Ranch (Apr 7, 2013)

That is awesome that you found someone that is willing to shear for free!!!!!    I can only imagine how hard shearing would be with ONLY hand shearing!!! It is a big enough job with electric!!!!
So sorry about General Tso!  
Them nasty sneaky foxes are a pain in the a$#!!!  I have lost alot of birds and rabbits to the pest local fox population!!


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## Bridgemoof (Apr 10, 2013)

I am just sick at this moment. So many losses this week. The Finn who prolapsed and lost her lamb died two days later. Then the same day another Finn died for no apparent reason! I went out back and there she was, stiff as a board. Don't know if she bloated, or worms or what. Now to top it off, I just lost one of my Tunis bottle babies! omg I am sick. He was bloated two nights ago, so we drenched him with baking soda and mineral oil and gave him a shot of penicillin. Later that night he was better. I cut down on the amount I was giving them at one time with their bottles. Now tonight he was bloated again. So I mixed up some if the mixture and got Tim to drench him with it. He was squirming around and making a fuss, and Tim as getting impatient and held him wrong and it went into his lungs.   He died shortly after. I am so upset over this, but I don't want to place any blame on Tim because he will proceed to scream at me and tell me how he hates sheep now.  I know he was trying, and I know he feels bad, but his reaction will be to scream at me about it. I am just so upset about it.


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## Bridgemoof (Apr 10, 2013)

I have to retract my last statement. Tim cut Paddy open and said he was completely bloated, and it didn't appear that anything went in his lungs. He just was full of fluid and food in his belly. Maybe he had a blockage? I guess I feel a little better that he didn't drown. But I think drenching him and adding more fluid crashed him. Anyways, Tim's conscience is clear, but I still feel pretty bad about it.  I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 10, 2013)

Oh Bridge! I'm so sorry!


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## Pearce Pastures (Apr 10, 2013)

So sorry Bridge.


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## Ownedby3alpacas (Apr 10, 2013)




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## autumnprairie (Apr 12, 2013)

so sorry Bridge


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## ragdollcatlady (Apr 12, 2013)

Sorry bridge! That is so rough.


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## promiseacres (Apr 13, 2013)

so sorry about the sheep!


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## elevan (Apr 13, 2013)




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## jodief100 (Apr 13, 2013)

I am so sorry.  It is rough when you have so much at once to deal with.  I wish I could do or say more because my sympathies just don't seem like enough.


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## Bridgemoof (Apr 28, 2013)

Been a while since I posted. SO much going on.  Gosh I look at my last post and I had just lost Paddy the lamb. Sad, but what's even sadder is last week I lost Lottie, my one and only bottle baby from last year! She was my first lamb, I don't know if you remember but she was in the house for about 2 months. I loved her so much. It was all my fault, too, I let her roam around the farm because I wanted to take her up from the creek in case she was pregnant. She got into the grain and died from bloat.  This loss was particularly hard. Jacob Beach isn't the same without my little Lottie.






Also, Tim bought a flock of 27 Dorsets last week. He's sold 14 of them already. And he found another farm down the road to send the rest to.
Meet The Dorsets




The lambs are getting big and they are OH so cute!




I sold a Tunis and her 2 lambs, my other Tunis, and hopefully will be selling Clementine the Suffolk and her twin ewe lambs this week to a lady around the corner.





Oh, we also lost our big Alpine goat Heidi. She was sick and we actually got her to turn the corner. She was recovering, Tim decided to let her out and roam around to browse, and she ended up getting kicked by a horse. We found her with her neck broken. 

I've been working on a website to sell some animals. www.fiberflock.com

Nothing creative going on, except for getting my fleeces together to take to the Sheep and wool Festival NEXT WEEK! Coconut came over and helped a lot on shearing day, then took a bunch of fleeces home to skirt them. THANK YOU Coconut! All the sheep got sheared, and I am sending 14 fleeces to the festival to sell. Hope we can unload some of this wool, it's really piling up! It's all piled up in bags in my living room. 

That's all to report for now, even talking about Lottie makes me sad.


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## autumnprairie (Apr 28, 2013)

sorry for your losses, good luck at the festival next week


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## alsea1 (Apr 28, 2013)

Sounds like a rough go of it. 
Hopefully all will be good from now on


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## BrownSheep (Apr 28, 2013)

I've missed you and CoCo! 

I'm sorry to hear about Lottie. Same thing got my favorite ewe a while ago. 

Good luck at the show.   Hope it goes well


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## Bridgemoof (Apr 28, 2013)

Yeah, you would think that with spring everything would be looking good, but in April alone I can't tell you how many losses we had! I certainly hope the worst is over. I've been too depressed even to write about it. Ugh.

Brownsheep, I remember when your ewe died, while you were at school, right?

Here are some lambie pics to cheer me up, lol.


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## Four Winds Ranch (Apr 28, 2013)

So sorry you are having such a horrid time!!!


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## ragdollcatlady (Apr 28, 2013)

cute babies!


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 28, 2013)

The little moorit lamb in the last picture has the eye of a trouble maker!


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## SheepGirl (Apr 29, 2013)

I'm SO sorry to hear about Lottie. I know you adored her. 

But I love your new web site! Looks great


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## Pearce Pastures (Apr 29, 2013)

I am so sorry Bridgemoof.  I have a goat that I love like that and I hate to think that she will ever leave us.  We love our babies, all of them, but sometimes one comes along that is just special, that it couldn't be replaced.   

I love the looks of those beautiful little black and white lambs.  They look so sweet.


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## elevan (Apr 29, 2013)




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## autumnprairie (Apr 30, 2013)

Love the pics


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## promiseacres (Apr 30, 2013)

what cuties! so sorry for your losses!


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## Bridgemoof (May 5, 2013)

Hi everybody! 

Wow been so busy getting things ready for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.  Got all the sheep sheared in April, then Coconut helped get all the fleeces ready for the sale. She did a great job! I made nice tags for all the bags with the pictures of the sheep on them. SO Friday I went up and delivered all 14 fleeces, plus I entered one of my felted pieces in the Fine Art competition. I didn't realize there was a category for felting, so I kind of messed that up.  BUt anyways, it was so fun being at the Festival when all the vendors were setting up. There were hundreds of fleeces and I didn't think I had a chance to win anything, but I was at least hoping to sell a few.

So yesterday I went up again. Coconut has a job working for one of the vendors there all weekend and is having a ball. So, here's the exciting news. I won 4th place in the fine art competition and one fo my Jacob's fleeces won FIRST PLACE in his class!  OMG I was so excited I was jumping up and down and practically crying. Yeah, I was excited. lol. Plus many of the fleeces I had put in the sale were already sold!

The weather was perfect and the day was just great at the Festival. Going back today! I will pick up the fleeces that haven't sold, hopefully there will be NONE! I'm also going to pick up a shepherd's crook that I've been wanting. It will be so much fun!

Everything else on the farm is going okay. The Dorsets, all but 2, are gone. We had our shearer over on Friday night and she sheared 9 of them. Whew. I am SO DONE with fleeces for the year. SO much work!

Oh, we had 18 chicks born in the incubator this past week. And there are a bunch of turkey eggs that should start popping in the next few days. I guess the turkey didn't want us to take anymore of her eggs, because now she's sitting on them in the tool shed! 

Well, that's the report for now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!


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## ragdollcatlady (May 5, 2013)

Congrats on the wins! And the sales! And the new baby chicks! That is all very exciting!


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## promiseacres (May 5, 2013)

congrats


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## Four Winds Ranch (May 5, 2013)

Thats awesome!!!! Congrats. on the chicks and up and comimg turkey chicks too!!!!


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## SheepGirl (May 5, 2013)

Congrats on the fleeces!  Sometimes I get an itching for having a very small fiber flock (like 3 or 4 ewes and a ram), keeping them blanketed all year, showing them and their fleeces, etc. One day I'll make it happen as a side hobby lol.

And I was there yesterday, too  Too bad I didn't see you! I only had about an hour and a half there so all I did was run through the sheep barns lol and stop at the T shirt building (which BTW I saw a lady with a BYC shirt on!). I didn't even have a chance to run through the vendors or get to participate in the equipment/supplies auction  I wanted to go today but I woke up too late and I worked 2-10 haha.

I hope you had fun at the festival!!


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## CocoNUT (May 8, 2013)

NICE website Bridge!! VERY nice! 
That little moorit lamb is a sweetie pie. Well...she LET me pick her up and carry her around a few weeks ago. aaaaah.....put a capital "S" on me for SUCKER!!!


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## autumnprairie (May 9, 2013)

Congrats on your wins and selling your fleece.


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## Bridgemoof (May 9, 2013)

Thanks everyone!

I've been spinning yarn since I got home from the festival. It's so motivating to see all that pretty stuff.

After the 18 chicks, turkeys started hatching. Since yesterday we've had 5 turkeys born. 

I'll try and post some pics later.


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## Bridgemoof (May 9, 2013)

Turkey lurkys





Fancy art yarn




Babies in the front yard


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## stitchcounting (May 9, 2013)

Can you adopt me ? lol
What breed of sheep are those?


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## autumnprairie (May 9, 2013)

Love the pics and I thinks those are her Jacobs


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## Bridgemoof (May 10, 2013)

@ Stitch! The spotted sheep are my Jacobs.  I love them and am going to look at some more Jacobs today. I have to get a replacement ewe for my Lottie. 

We had a baby goat born last night and I THINK it might be our first Kiko Joe baby, but we're not 100% sure.  He's big and has longer ears, plus much longer hair than the other boer babies that were born. He's cute and chunky!


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## stitchcounting (May 14, 2013)

Whats a Kiko? another breed?

Which of your sheep would be best suitable for stuffing hexipuffs?
like which one isnt the softest butstill wool? lol


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## Bridgemoof (May 15, 2013)

Kiko is a breed of goat Stitch.
Like this:




Hexipuff, now I had to google that! The best wool I have for stuffing things is the Dorset. Supposedly it makes great batting for comforters. I think it would make good stuffing for a hexipuff!

Oh did I tell you guys I got two new sheep? One is my Jacob Fluffy's mom!  The other is a lamb that's part Jacob/part Icelandic I think. They said the Jacob is pregnant. But I'm not sure about that.


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## promiseacres (May 15, 2013)

:bun more jacobs!


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## Roving Jacobs (May 15, 2013)

Does she have any udder development? Its so hard to tell when they're in full wool but unless she's lambing super late I'm not seeing it. Usually unless they are first time moms they get pretty wide and develop udders early. She's very pretty though, I love those horns! Nice and wide and strong.


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## Bridgemoof (May 15, 2013)

Thanks Roving! I love her, but she's not very friendly. She looks just like her daughter Fluffy which I got last year. This is Fluffy with her little one, Friskie, who reminds me of your newest one Roving!





I did feel her udders when we picked her up and there was a little something there, but not much. It seems my Jacobs really have small udders and bag up fairly late in the game. I have another one due tomorrow! But with her wool I can't tell if she has an udder, either. 

So.... We watch and wait. At least the weather has turned warm so having lambs now is not so much of a worry!

I am still waiting to see how my lamb's horns turn out. All of them are 4-horned, but they're not the best. Saturn's horns are fused on one side for sure, and they're not evenly spaced. The other two ewe lambs have spindly little horns, so we'll have to see how they go. Maybe breeding Uriah to 2-horned ewes is not the best way to go.


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## stitchcounting (May 15, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Kiko is a breed of goat Stitch.
> Like this:
> [url]http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp128/bridgemoof/IMG_0389.jpg[/url]
> 
> ...


Hexipuffs are soo addicting but i doubt you will have any time to make a quilt with all your sheep and goats!


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## Four Winds Ranch (May 15, 2013)

Bridgemoof said:
			
		

> Turkey lurkys
> [url]http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp128/bridgemoof/IMG_0339.jpg[/url]
> 
> 
> ...


Lol, this is the best way to mow your lawn!!! Less work and the grass serves a purpose!!!


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## Bridgemoof (May 15, 2013)

Oh yeah FourWinds, I haven't had to mow the lawn anywhere this year yet! I love mowing on my riding mower though. It's one of my favorite farm chores. But my sheep do such a good job, too! They've also eaten the bottom of the lilac trees, the rose bush, and pulled my geraniums out of the pots. Oops!

Here's my latest yarn I spun. Shetland and Romney. Ohh so pretty!


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## stitchcounting (May 17, 2013)

That looks great bridge !! 
What wheel is that?


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## Bridgemoof (May 17, 2013)

Thanks Stitch!

It's my Kromski Sonata. I like it because I can fold it up and take it with me to my spinner's guild meetings.  

I took 12 bags of wool to the mill yesterday. I'm going ot be getting back some PRETTY things in about 4 months. 3-ply multi colored yarn, roving, rug yarn and picked locks. I'm really excited!


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## Four Winds Ranch (May 17, 2013)

I sooooo need to find a mill that I can do that with some of my wool!!! I have never yet experimented with the wool aspect of my sheep yet!


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## BrownSheep (Jun 21, 2013)

Hope all is going well!


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## ragdollcatlady (Jun 21, 2013)

> Hope all is going well!


Me too...haven't heard from Bridge in awhile. Hope the sheep and the family are all good.


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## Bridgemoof (Jun 22, 2013)

Oh hi guys! Thanks for thinking of me. 

I've been busy as usual, but even more so trying to get some woolie stuff done for the Art Studio Tour this weekend. My spinners and weavers guild is having a showing and sale as part of it. I made a felted hen and two cool Santas! I'm going to go over there this afternoon and then tomorrow go and spin all day there.

As for the animals, everybody is doing okay! My 13 turkeys that we hatched in the incubator are all getting big and so far no illnesses, whew!  Been having the usual goat sale/shuffle around here but the sheep are status quo. Had 5 baby goats born in the past couple of weeks.  My Shetland Pepper is due TODAY, but I could be wrong on the date. We'll just have to see what happens.

And also, BIGGEST news is we got an LGD, a Great Pyrennese named Peach. She's older and oh so mellow around all the animals. She's so great! Hopefully we won't have any more foxes getting our chickens.

Here's some pics from what's been going on:
Turkeys ON TOP of their turkey tunnel




Baby Kiko/boers



Harry Brown's babies



Harry Beige's baby






Working with Cormo wool, ahhhh







Dyed woolies




Felted soaps




LGD Peach




Close up of a Santa




Henny Penny





My corner at the show today, felted items and handspun yarn







Hope that gives you a little bit of an idea what I've been up to!


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## jodief100 (Jun 24, 2013)

WOW!  you make such beautiful things.   The babies are adorable.


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jun 24, 2013)

Beautiful babies!!!!!
I love the felted items!!!   I sooo need to start doing that!!


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