Purplequeenvt - New Journal

[Baymule]

I like your new ram, love those horns.

I know Hazel will be glad to romp and play again.

What are you going to make with this yarn? It sure is pretty.

 

[purplequeenvt]

July has been a struggle. I’m having some unexplained health issues (mainly exhaustion and pain) that have been hard to work around. I also got Covid (only the 2nd time I’ve had it) a couple weeks ago. I missed a couple days of work, but was otherwise ok. It’s been hot and sticky and I’m not dealing with the heat well which has made it hard to do anything outside.

In better news…..

I finished my 2024 sheep to shawl project early this year.











It’s much bigger than I was expecting, so much so that I had to drill extra holes in my blocking frame so it would fit.

My Best Boy turned 4







Hazel has recovered from her broken leg.



My lone surviving female duck decided to “repopulate” and hatched out 3 ducklings. Of course 2 are boys.



I finally introduced the rams to the new guy. It was extremely uneventful. They were locked up for about 18hrs before being released.



They are all currently living with the lambs. I spend a lot of time in that pen and let me tell you, having rams that you don’t need to watch your back around is the best.

 

[SageHill]

Summer is the worst time to get sick. Hope you're feeling better and better soon. The shawl is absolutely GORGEOUS! Just huge WOW .
Yay Hazel back to normal.

 

[purplequeenvt]

On to Oskar….some days I love him and some days he stresses me out. I’ve never 100% trusted him, but I’m pretty sure that’s a me problem more than him. I have some PTSD about LGDs. He also tends to be rude/spazzy around me. Lots of flailing and getting in my face. I’m sure he’s just trying to get attention, but getting clobbered by 120+lbs of Anatolian is not fun.

During the winter, he lives with the rams because the ewes have always been terrified of him and I worry about stressing pregnant ewes and I don’t trust him with new babies.

Let me just say, Oskar has never injured a sheep. He has chased sheep and pulled some wool (no wool pulling in a long time though), but he has never done any physical damage. His chasing these days is not usually started by him. The sheep run (because they’re stupid) and he runs after them because he thinks it’s a game. They stop running, he stops running.

During the summer, I try to keep him with the ewes as much as possible because they’re usually in a bigger area than the rams are and I’m trying to convince them that they don’t need to panic around him. I divided the field in half last year so that I can control what sections get grazed when and the ewes/Oskar were in the far section up by the road.

I recently let them in the section that comes up to the barn. The lambs/rams are in the other pasture that goes up the hill behind the barn and they have access to the paddock/barn.

Last Friday, Oskar suddenly started trying to climb the gate into the paddock with the lambs. I thought he was just being a brat and was mad because I hadn’t fed him yet. Saturday morning I looked out the window and there he was, in the wrong field, patrolling the hill. I was going to put him back with the ewes, but decided it was a good opportunity to see how he behaved with the lambs, especially since there’s a bunch of small spooky Shetlands that are perfect for testing out that chase response. I did have to run some hot wire in the barn to make sure he wasn’t able to climb the feeders.

There was a little bit of panic running/chasing at first, but Saturday night, he had the whole group held up in the top corner of the paddock all night. He alternated between napping in front of the group and patrolling.



Over the last few days, he has become a completely different dog. He’s still a giant goof ball and a pain in my butt (in a good way), but he is suddenly so much calmer. He’s no longer trying to knock me over for attention. I’m now wondering if he’s been stressed this whole and that’s what his rude behavior has been about. I suspect most of the predator pressure is coming from the woods behind the hill pasture. Nothing was coming in the field, but the woods come right up to the fence line and we frequently hear coyotes back there.

It’s taken a few days for the lambs to get used to him. Most of them are still jumpy around him, but they will come in the barn while he’s there. There was a mass protest for a couple days because they wanted their grain, but Oskar was “in the way.” Lots of screaming.



My BIL’s pigs are penned in one cover of my hill field where they have access to the pond. They staged a breakout today. He told me that he fixed the problem and they wouldn’t get out again. An hour later, they were back out. I don’t really care where they are as long as my sheep can’t eat the pig feed. Oskar thinks they’re super cool, the sheep aren’t too concerned about them.







I’m going to try to install Oskar’s jump gate so that he can get from the paddock into the front field with the ewes so he can get to both areas at will.

 

[purplequeenvt]

We had a “stranger danger” incident early Monday morning. My sister was still up at 0130 when a guy knocked on the front door (why she answered the door at that hour ). He told her that his car had “slipped off the road” and could she please help pull him out of the ditch. She thankfully told she couldn’t help him and locked the doors (something we never do). My BIL called me shortly after because the neighbor had called him to say that a guy had knocked on their door and asked to come in. They called the police and when they showed up, he took off on foot.

His car was not off the actual road, he’d come down my BIL’s driveway and then decided to turn around and had gotten the car stuck on the culvert between my BIL’s driveway and the neighbor’s driveway. Messed up the front end of the car.

Turns out the car was stolen and had stolen goods inside. We are pretty sure he was on drugs, but we don’t know if he was looking to rob us or was just lost when he got the car stuck. He left his ID in the car when he ran off.

I didn’t get back to bed until almost 0400 which made for a wonderful Monday at work. I was so tired Monday night that I actually fell asleep before midnight. I was rudely woken up at midnight when the sheriff’s office called me.

They actually were trying to reach my sister, but they only had my name/phone number associated with our address. They know who the guy is and where he lives and they were waiting on a warrant to arrest him. My sister is the only one that got a good look at him so they were asking if they could come out at some point to get a witness statement from her. She also could potentially be subpoenaed as a witness if he goes to trial.

Needless to say, the house and cars are now locked. My BIL purchased a camera for the end of his driveway. I’ve ordered a camera for my driveway and one for the front porch. There’s a couple other spots I want to put cameras in, but I need to figure out the best way to do that.

 

[Mini Horses]

You've sure had some excitement! Sorry about tired -- the heat can cause some, lack of sleep and stress. So try to improve those areas

As always, your handiwork is AWESOME!!

 

[Baymule]

Oskar is getting serious! He’s telling you that he is all grown up now……mostly.

The shawl is artwork. It is exquisite in its simplicity and beauty.

I’m sorry you are feeling bad. I hope you can find out what is making you so tired and causing pain.

 

[farmerjan]

Goes without saying....BUT..... I will say it.... WOW AND 1 ZILLION TIMES WOW.... on the shawl. You are beyond talented with working with wool. Totally awe inspiring. Is it as soft as it looks?
Will you take it to exhibit up in VT this year and go visit parents etc?

Thought I posted this last night...

 

[farmerjan]

Scary on the guy with the stolen car, knocking on the door and all that... hope they get him arrested and she can do the identity and all that and that he will be locked up. The world is getting worse and worse. Scary.....

 

[purplequeenvt]

Goes without saying....BUT..... I will say it.... WOW AND 1 ZILLION TIMES WOW.... on the shawl. You are beyond talented with working with wool. Totally awe inspiring. Is it as soft as it looks?
Will you take it to exhibit up in VT this year and go visit parents etc?

Thought I posted this last night...

Yes, I’ll take it to VT at the end of the month. It is pretty soft!