Last sheep aquisition trip of the year.....maybe. :)

Left Sat. morning for Eugene. Stopped at the usual McDonalds to get Kylie her plain cheeseburgers (gotta make hanging with me for the whole weekend worthwhile somehow!).

Met my sister, Cheryl and her husband, Ron at the residence where my Mom lives. Everyone there has Alzheimers or Dementia of some degree. My Mom hasn't know who we are for awhile now....I take that back I think she recognizes me but she doesn't know my name. We wheeled her around the courtyard and the warmth started to make her go to sleep so we took her back inside. We talked to her for awhile, I held her hand, and then she started to doze off again....could have been the stimulating conversation.....:) so we decided to go to lunch at McGraths fish house.

The young man we had as a waiter had a bit of difficulty that day. First he dropped our appetizer all over the floor, so we had to wait for the replacement. Then on the way with our lunches he dropped them too. Actually we heard a crash, and my sister said, "That isn't who I think it is?" I said I thought so from what I could see then he came over and said "You'll never guess what happened" wasn't too hard to figure out, especially with the cocktail sauce all over his apron. :) Needless to say buy the time we got out of the restaurant it was getting later than planned (we did get a free dessert out of it though!). Gave my sister a hug and headed to Shannons to spend the night.

Got to Shannons and we decided to take our dogs for a walk. Went to a great park by her and she brought her beautiful whippets. I fell in love with her new puppy, Danica (not that Paisley wasn't sweet too) :) Shannons son, Theron, was very friendly and wanted to help out a lot. He definitely has the love of animals that his Mom has!

I ended up going to bed early, as I was tired from the drive. Awake at 6am, Kylie and I got packed up. As I was in the bedroom (of the guest cottage) I heard this splashing noise. Went out to the main room to see Kylie dropping her ball in the water dish. I should have known better than to have a ball indoors.....she did the exact same thing at Lois' and made a mess of her kitchen!

The morning light playing over the hill surrounding Shannons farm was beautiful. I enjoyed the peacefulness of it all with the sheep softly baaing.

Next stop Camilles for turkey replacements. For those of you that haven't heard my two turkey boys were stolen. I know that no predator got them because they were both gone and there wasn't a single feather left behind. It made me angry and sad to think that they wound up on a platter or in some sandwiches. :( We walked around looking at my options and even though I liked two older boys she had a chose 3 youngsters. I hoping to get the security in place before they are old enough to look like a meal.

Last stop before heading home, Michelles. Michelles home resides in beautiful hill country with trees, orchards and vineyards all around. From her home you get a lovely view of the valley though they have some fir trees that block the mountain (Hood) part of the view.

I was greeted at the front door with a rousing rapid fire bark from her Aussie, Jackson. Michelle came out with a smile and Jackson decided I was ok. We let Kylie out of the truck and Jackson was an instant hit with her. They went tearing around the property having a good old time (I'm sure it felt good for her to stretch her legs).

I met her son, Brian, who had a winning smile and acted if we'd known each other (probably from stories he heard from his Mom. Probably thought I was one of those insane sheep women!) forever.

We looked at the ewes, then the wethers and Bevin. We took Inky to her stall, which I'm sure she was relieved to get out of the trailer with those crazy Jacobs! :) Then Brian took me to introduce me to his horse. It made me miss the sweet horse breath as his gelding checked me out.

We went to the house for the papers, and I was treated to a concert by Brian on his violin. He also plays the piano, quite the talented young man! We then took his remote control helicopter out to a pasture and I was given a show with that, amazing the toys they have nowadays! Wish I had something like that growing up.....never too late I guess!

Loaded up Bevin and Rechel, Brian gave hugs to Bevin and he didn't want me especially to take Bevin but also wanted Rechel to stay. Michelle tried to explain to him that there would be new lambs next year that could stay.....I don't think she was very convincing!

As I headed down the drive I was thinking about how nice this little weekend trip had been little did I know that I was heading for the day from HE double hockey sticks!!

To be continued..........

Sunset at Wrensong Farm

I rarely take the time to stop and appreciate our view, but the sunset definitely caught my eye this evening.

Sprites Great Adventure-Belgian Landscape Artist Extraordinaire

I probably should have known better than to name Kylie the registered name of Sprites Great Adventure....though everything IS an adventure to her (and besides it had to be a "G" name). Anyway I'm turning this one over to her.......


HI! My name is Kylie and I'd like to show you my latest work of art! Come over here with me....
There used to be this boring patch of grass. I tried improving on it by giving it different texture. Mom said it looked reminiscent of a bomb field. She has no appreciation, really! Anyway, I found these plants, randomly planted in some dirt and in my minds eye I could see them as a real statement in front of the house. See what you think......































It will really look lovely once the grass starts greening up again and the plants fill out a little........

I also had to do some pruning.....so it may take awhile for these plants to fill out.

NOW, take a look at the boring area I removed them from:
















Next, my challenge will be to find something that is just begging to be transplanted to this landscaping opportunity.....


Until next time, this is Kylie, Belgian Landscape Artist Extraordinaire saying "Au Revoir"!

Not all who wander are lost.....though sometimes they are...

I have a GPS. I know that I depend on it way to much and it is more than capable of making me drive more miles than necessary or even get lost. Feeling pretty confident, in spite of that, with my printed out Mapquest maps and my GPS I set out from Brook and Lois', heading to Enterprise.


The GPS and the printed directions appear to agree (at least at the beginning) and I head into the Wallowa Mountains. Not a whole lot of people on the road, more motorcyclists than cars. LOTS of Black Angus cattle standing alongside of and even in the road. This makes me extremely grateful that I am not driving at night.


It is a very beautiful drive, winding thru the trees and at one point I arrive at a turn. My GPS says turn Left on this road (which didn't seem right as it took me off the main road) and said to drive 3.8 miles then turn right on Coooover Dall Rd otherwise known as Coverdale). The GPS has a funny way of pronouncing some names and I laughed at the "Coooover Dall" pronunciation as I continued down the road . As I approached the "turn" I looked to the right only to see a basically straight up gravel road (actually more like a trail) road with a warning sign about getting on it. OK, I know I'm not going that way. I turn around and the GPS kicks in again "Recalculating......turn left on FS108" well, that isn't going to work either as their is not even a path into the woods at that location.

I decide that my best option is to get back on the main road and it is also at this point that I realize my Mapquest map even though it doesn't match my GPS at that location, it is also wrong. It is right about now that I think, geez, I wish I had remembered to put maps in my truck. I never used to go anywhere with out a 1/2 dozen maps in my vehicle. Live and learn.....I'm hoping I make it to Brianas before dark.....


I continue following the main road and the GPS starts making sense again. I start to enjoy the scenery once more. Saw a doe and her twin fawns, good sized and still had their spots. Another doe was eating alongside the road and didn't get the least bit concerned that I stopped to snap her picture. Amazing since there was a drooling Belgian Tervuren with her head hanging out the window looking at her like she was a walking meatloaf.

I arrive at Brianas just before dark. Her mother, Sharon, joined her in greeting me at their drive and after some jockeying around I got the trailer in a good spot for the night. We gave Duncan, Ilse and Flora some water and hay, and then I got to meet some of their Icelandic horses. Two of them had foals at their sides and talk about cute! I spotted a spotted donkey in one of their upper pastures and had to go meet him, as well as more of their horses. I then got to meet some of Brianas flock. This one little black iset ewe came running up to get a scritch, her name was Claire, I met Ellen, my gulmoget ewe lamb, also very friendly and then I also scritched a pretty little horned Moorit ewe named Aurora. Briana was surprised as Aurora didn't typically come up to strangers....



From there we went in their beautiful home, with lots of elegant cats romping and playing around the rooms. There were Siamese and Somalis as well as regular 'ol Domestic Short Hairs. It was a lot of fun to watch them racing around and wrestling. I met Brianas Dad, Rick, who had some exceptional photography displayed around the house. We chatted for awhile before I heading off to bed.



The room that I stayed in had a little canary in it. Understandably the bedroom door had to be kept shut as their was more than one cat that would like to spend a little "quality time" with that canary! I awoke to the sun streaming in the window and was feeling anxious to head home.



We sat and drank some tasty french pressed coffee and discussed many topics and as much as I hated to leave the great conversation I dragged Briana out to look at the sheep again. I wanted to get on the road before it got too hot for the sheep in the trailer.



Briana introduced me to all the available sheep and some of her favorites. It was a difficult decision, once again, but in the end it was the three that came up to me first that ended up going home with me.

Aurora

Ellen


Claire

Before I got on 82 for the head home I stopped to fill up with gas and pick up some junk food for Kylie and I. As expected, the attendant filling the truck said "you have sheep in that trailer?" now I used to be nice and just say yes, but that gets boring after awhile......so I responded "What! there's sheep in my trailer!! Someone must have stuck them in there when I wasn't looking!" He actually looked startled, so I continued "All I should have back there are some rare, miniature woolly cattle a guy sold me in Baker City". OK, now he caught on and allowed me a chuckle.

Loaded up with teriyaki beef jerky, cheese puffs, Sweet and Spicy Hawaiian chips, coke and water we hit the road. Made pretty good time, only stopping one other time in Yakima for gas and a potty stop for Kylie.

Pulled in my drive around 4:30Pm and backed the trailer down to the barn. I have to say there were some happy sheep getting out of that trailer. Normally I have to encourage whatever it is I am hauling to come out.....not this load of Shetlands, they scrambled out as fast as I got the door open. Whew! Home at last.....until the next sheep road trip in two weeks......

Shetland Sheep Lodestone

I have been accused of being a sheep magnet.....I think I found the lodestone...... Eastern Oregon!

I had paid deposits on a Shetland ram from Stonehaven in Halfway and a gulmoget ewe lamb from Call of the Wool in Enterprise. As I had no vacation time left I had to plan the trip for a weekend. Round trip it is close to 1,000 miles (989 to be exact). I decided to leave work a little early to try and get to Halfway before dark, but even with leaving at a little after 1 pm I didn't make it until after 9:30 pm, and that was with giving Kylie only two potty breaks and my truck two gas stops.

Brook and Lois greeted me in front of their house, their three Border Collies, Angus,Toby, and Finn greeted Kylie. I got to stay in their great guest room which is over the wool room. It is decorated with wool in mind....spinning wheel, loom, Navajo herder/weaver pictures, wool mattress cover. It is no wonder I fell asleep so quickly.....counting sheep.....:)

Kylie had to wake me up in the night to let me know "something" was going on and she didn't want to face it on her own. There was flashes of light outside the window, one right after another, lightning. We finally drifted back off to sleep and were awakened by the sun streaming in the window. Through the window we were greeted with a magnificent view of the mountains.

Kylie had a friend waiting down below the window calling up to her to come down. I think it was Angus, though I think Kylie was infatuated with Finn. It did remind me a bit of Romeo and Juliet....Kylie standing looking down from her window, wagging her tail.

At this point I have to apologize for not having taken pictures...it was such a whirlwind trip that I didn't even have time to remember I had a camera along!

Lois and I spent the morning meeting the sheep...rams, ewes and lambs. There were SO many beautiful sheep in SO many luscious colors, it was hard for me to make any kind of quick decision. I begged for help from Lois and between us I picked out a beautiful black ewe named Flora and Ilse a stylish Musket ewe. Fortunately for me I think, I only had a small trailer as I wanted to keep picking out more!

All the rams had good temperaments and were handsome. Lots of gorgeous colors there as well. I met Duncan, soon to move his address to Wrensong Farm, and I was hoping he wouldn't be too disappointed with less acreage, girls and male company!

I met Poppy, the llama out with the ewes. A very inquisitive, friendly girl. Loved being pet and definitely wanted to be the center of attention! She kept stepping between Lois and I so we'd have to look around or over her to talk to each other.

Brook and Lois had decided that they would like to take me to Mimis in Halfway for lunch. I got to ride in my first Hybrid car, their Prius. Super quiet car. Kylie got to go with because of the heat and I didn't trust her enough to leave her anywhere but inside my truck.

Mimis was wonderful, too many choices! I chose one of their specials, a Poblano chili stuffed with scrambled eggs, onion, chives and tomato. A huge helping of all kinds of fresh fruit came as a side with some delicious toast. There were homemade preserves to put on the toast too! Kylie was very well behaved (for a change) and just laid under the table in the shade. She was comfortable enough to lay on her back with her feet in the air.

Back to Stonehaven and Lois asked if I wanted a crash course in spinning and knitting. Even though my head was still "spinning" from all the sheep and information I had been given earlier I agreed.

We went back in the wool room and I asked Lois a bit more about skirting fleeces as she had one spread out on a skirting table. I also asked what roving was (yes I know, what a neophyte!) and was shown bags of wonderful fleece in sinuous roving.

Lois picked out some grey, took out a drop spindle and started to show me how to spin on it. She made it look SO easy, and I made it look SO hard! Lois said there is no such thing as bad yarn......so my lumpy attempt has nothing but character!! :)

Next up was knitting.....Lois said "We're making a washcloth, so it's usable even if it doesn't look perfect" Goooood thing! I couldn't have felt clumsier if I was trying to knit with my toes.....as a matter of fact it might have helped if I could have used my toes. It started to get a little easier, and hopefully I can remember how to pick back up on this when I get home.

I got to see Brooks shop where he makes beautiful handmade guitars. Go here to see them: www.brookmooreguitars.com It made me wish I had taken more guitar lessons in my teens!

It was getting late and I had to still drive to Enterprise to meet up and stay the night with Briana and her family.

Lois had Angus and Finn move the ewes into the barn so we could separate out Flora and Ilse. Flora still needed an ear tag so Lois brought the tag and tagging tool with us into the barn. Then all of a sudden the part of the tag with the number was gone! Brook looked high and low for that yellow tag in that yellow straw......finally it turned up....Lois found it outside. Meanwhile I'm hanging onto Flora that has just about had enough of my hanging onto her. She went to make a break and spins me around in a circle but didn't manage to break my grip. Love those little "sheep rodeos". :) Tagged and ready to go, Flora and Ilse are separated out.

Next comes Duncan. It's always funny how animals seem to know when you are scheming about something. The rams weren't too sure about cooperating. Finally deciding that they didn't have anything to be concerned about they went into the pen. Yup, no one had anything to be concerned about......except Duncan. Lois put a halter on him and we took him out of the pen. She handed me the lead rope and he walked right along like we were going to the park. Lois said he probably thought I was bringing him to some girls for breeding. True, I was bringing him to some girls but there was no time to think of breeding as there was an exciting trailer ride ahead!

To be continued..........

The landscape construction...er....destruction crew

Here they are, the finest landscape destruction crew around. Let me introduce you. There's Finn, a 11 year old Border Collie that you would think would be past his landscaping days.....


Sheba, the 6 year old Akbash, a Turkish guardian dog that thinks cars driving past the property are more of a threat than any 2 or 4 legged predator.


Harley, a rescued Australian Cattle Dog, that's other favorite pastime is shredding anything the UPS man drops off on "his" side of the gate.


And last, but definitely not least is Kylie, a 1 year old Belgian Tervuren who I had to fence my pond off to keep her from swimming in it 24/7.


I'm curious, can anyone out there tell the difference between the following trenches dug.....why one would be more comfortable than the other?


























Here is a work in progress, with two workers and a supervisor....






Sheba enjoyed the fruits of her labor....though it was only for a few minutes and then she wandered up by the house and thought this:
was more comfortable....why all the excavation work, if you're just going to lay on the asphalt anyway???


Kylie dedicated herself for a good 6 months into biting hard into the lawn and yanking, thus pulling out a lovely, round hunk of sod. What's this? dirt underneath? OH! that need some added dirt removal. Our lawn looked like a mine field....it's starting to recover. Hopefully she doesn't decide it needs some "touch up."





















Now if only I could teach them to pull weeds.......

Hoodoo the Emu like U Du........

Are you ready for this one? Introducing the latest additions at Wrensong! Now if I could just come up with some names for them.....any suggestions? There is a boy and a girl. :) And yes, I was given a emu "health class" to be able to tell one from the other. Let's just surmise it to say they don't enjoy exposing the area that shows what they are....








Another wild hair followed to fruition, I contacted a wonderful woman named Julie. Julie just happened to have a pen full of emu babies and welcomed me down to her farm to learn more about emus. (thank you to Julie for the emu chick pics)





















I met all of her adults, with names like Guy and Dollie, Uno, Lightning, Pinky, Jill and Baby. Some liked interaction with people, like get the backs of their necks stroked to where they were closing their eyes in gratitude. Others, I think would just as soon you remove yourself to another planet. Emus are not like any other bird/poultry as far as their care. Granted they ARE a Ratite but I thought they would be like a large chicken only with a bit more personality!



If any of you are thinking you might like to add a few emus to your family I definitely suggest studying up. They can be great pets given the right start (lots of handling and not being by adult birds) and getting the knowledge from a reputable emu breeder is worth more than any amount of money. I just happened to luck into one of the best!



Julie raises emu for their oil, and it's therapeutic value. She has arthritis and says it really makes a difference. She has decided to retire from raising them as it's getting to be to hard physically caring for them. I was very fortunate to get her last two babies she will be raising. I'm also fortunate that she thought I was worthy of having her last two babies as pets. She is very picky, wants her emus to have the best of care, and a forever home when it comes to pets. So many like other livestock wind up in auctions being purchased by people who don't know how to properly feed and care for emus.

I actually hired our fencing company that has installed all our post/pole and non-climb to install the "emu paddock" and coerced my sig. other Guerdon and one of his friends to build a shelter, which they did in the pouring down rain. THAT wasn't MY fault, I tried to talk him into doing it earlier but he waited until two days before I was picking them up. We still have to add some plywood to the lower section but at least they have a dry place to lay and it gives them shade when we do have our couple of days of summer. One of the things about emus, is they can get scared of unusual things, especially things that are taller than they are. Julie said some of her adults were really flustered about the equipment that was installing roofing on neighboring houses. Well, all that came to mind for me was the poultry, no, none of them are taller than the emu chicks.....hey! how 'bout that llama and donkey!

They didn't get TOO excited when Rena (the llama) decided to check them out, and actually seemed fairly calm about her looking at them after awhile.


Jasmine, the donkey, on the other hand isn't quite sure what to make of the emus (I'm sure the feeling is mutual) and she has kept her distance.
These baby emu are just the sweetest, they get all excited when they see you coming and enjoy having the backs of the necks, the chests and backs stroked. It does make it hard to not get blurry pictures though as they want to be as close to your as possible!
I'll finish this post with a couple final photos of the youngsters......