The beginnings of Fall

As Fall is my favorite time of year, I will probably be doing a few blog entries on the subject. :)



Fall, here in the Northwest, is typically ushered in with rain and this year is no different.




It also seems fitting that I would have the "mother of all colds" at this time. It didn't stop me from getting out and taking a few pics around the homestead and also on the road to pick up some Emergen-C and Nyquil.

Here is one of my favorites on the way back home from town. This vine is one of the first to change color (and also lose it leaves). I KNOW Fall is approaching when I see this:

Here's a close up.....
These were all taken between raindrops....:)

Here is a tree that I love to watch the stages it goes through at a neighboring farm....

And now for a few pics around home, the one at the top of the blog is of the vine maples on the hill heading down to the barn. They grow wild all over and I just don't have the heart to cut them down, even though they block my view of my barn/pastures in the summer. If only they weren't so beautiful in the Fall......

I have quite a few Japanese maples I've planted around my pond this last Spring/Summer and I'm anxious to see their changes. This one tree is the only one so far to be showing any signs...
It's not the prettiest, but hey, I got it for a good price! :)

Of course, I had to take some pics of the ducks since I was walking around the pond.....
and then this dragonfly came by apparently with a death wish and buzzed the ducks......
You'll be happy to know he managed to survive, even though he made many passes at the ducks before he headed for safer ground (or airspace as the case may be).


I keep hoping for a bit of an Indian Summer, I'd like to be able to go for a hike and take some Fall pics and not have to worry about my camera getting wet. Not looking good today for sure, it's thundering, lightening, and pouring down rain at this very moment. Maybe tomorrow.....

New Friends

It's always hard to be the new kid on the block, and sheep can really be bullies sometimes to the new kid. When I picked up Matisse and Valentine at OFF and Michelle's they had about 5 hours to bond and I guess that was enough.

This is Valentine (Stonehaven Valeria):

And this is Matisse (Shady Oaks Matisse)



When we got home I quarantined them in a separate area. Michelle thought it would be interesting to see if Valentine remember Bella and Rechel as they were her old flock members. I said what about Bevin, her daughter? Michelle felt that seeing as Valentine, Rechel and Bella had spent a lot more time together than the Valentine and Bevin did that she would remember them more.

I'm here to tell you the mother/daughter instinct is pretty darn strong. Bevin was out on the pasture with the rest of the flock and had given out a Baaaaaa! Valentine immediately answered with a frantic BAAAAA! Bevin came galloping in and they stood as close as they could with the wire fence between them.

That said, there is something to say about new friends too. I let them all out together today. On the way down to the lower pasture one of the Jacobs decided they just might butt the "new kid" and she lowered her head and advanced towards Matisse. Valentine decided no one would pick on her new friend and she put herself right between the Jacob and Matisse and gave the Jacob "a look". It was enough because the Jacob turned and headed down to the pasture.

Here's Matisse and Valentine joining a couple of Jacob ewes for dinner....all seems well..



Matisse and Valentine have spent most of the day within eyesight of each other if not right next to each other. It definitely brings a smile to my face.









Speaking of faces, on my way up to the house I snapped this little shot of Ellen enjoying some sheep minerals!

Off to the OFFF!

Shannon of Kenleigh Acres beat me to the posting of the title for this blog, but I'm staying with it....I guess great minds think alike???



Packed up the truck (which included Kylie), hooked up the trailer, caught and crated a Welsummer hen (soon to be Welsie) for Michelle, and hit the road for Canby, OR. about a 4 1/2 hour drive from my house.


Stopped at the McDonalds in Chehalis for Kylies usual "thanks for accompanying me on the road" treat.



OFFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival) was a lot larger than I though! I expected it to be about the size of the Black Sheep Gathering but I think it was 2-3 times larger, more Vendors for sure, livestock there may have been about the same I couldn't really tell.

I met up with my friend, Mary Tonkin, of Shadow Mountain Jacobs, and she took me to Kenleigh Acres booth, so I could find out where Shannon was camped. Shannon thoughtfully offered 1/2 of her tent for me to camp in as I had planned to just sleep in my truck. I moved the truck in by the tent, made Kylie and Welsie comfortable and headed off with Mary to peruse the fair.

We strolled and drooled among the booths not only because of the beautiful fleeces, yarns, roving, handcrafted products....but also because the BBQ lamb smell wafted throughout the fair. I never have been much of a lamb/mutton fan but it sure did smell good! I tried a great natural soda called Hot Lips, which came in a variety of berry flavors, Marionberry, Blackberry, Strawberry as well as Pear. It was delicious and perfect for the warm day.

We each bought some tickets for a drawing, and meandered around the corrals admiring all the wonderful animals that you can get fiber from. Seeing some of the "full sized" sheep made me really appreciate my little Shetlands and Jacobs.....I couldn't imagine handling them for feet trimming, vaccinating, etc. they were HUGE!

We went back to the drawing table and I had won a pillow! Good thing....I hated to do it, but I left my pillow at home and planned on using if for sleeping.

Shannon asked if I wanted to go have dinner at Burgerville with her and her sister. I said sure, and after Mary was dropped off we went to my first Burgerville. I thought it was just going to be your typical "burger joint". I was pleasantly surprised. They use locally grown products and everything was so fresh. I had a pepper bacon cheese (not just ANY cheese but Tillamook) burger and it had lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion. A batch of sweet potato fries and a Blackberry lemonade rounded it out. Everything was delicious. Shannon said their seasonal Walla Walla Sweet Onion rings were delicious and I'm going to have to make a point of going back and having those sometime.

On the way back to the campground Shannons Ford started doing some strange things....lights coming on and off and doors locking on their own.....I expected her to break out in a maniacal laugh.....bwahhahahah.....and tell me that her rigs name was Christine.....she said her car had "issues"......uh huh......:)

Kylie (she's not the only one):) absolutely loves one of Shannons whippets, Danica, and they romped together and leapt around even while still on leash. I couldn't stop laughing watching them. Isn't she a beauty?




Amazingly they all settled down for the night and I never heard a peep out of any of the dogs....wish I could say the same thing about the train that seemed to roll by about every 20 minutes, and you could sure tell there were A LOT of crossings in town by the way they blew the whistle.

It was that very night I decided that if I'm ever going to sleep on the ground again I am getting one of those enormous eggcrate mattresses....my little backpacking one was like it didn't even exist. Fortunately the fairgrounds shower was good and hot and I was able to pound some of the lumps out of my back muscles with it's heat.

Got a call from Michelle, of Boulderneigh, where did I want to meet for my latte? She had been so very kind to pick me up a latte on the way to the fairgrounds. After getting my latte we headed to the Shetland breeders area and got busy picking grasses, sheep poop, etc. out of fleeces of the sheep that were getting ready to show. It was almost like an Easter egg hunt...."hey! look what I found!" "A matching pair of sheep nuggets! You could make earrings!" Couldn't you see it? What a great "sheep ensemble!" for the show ring.

It didn't seem like there was enough time and then they were heading for the showring. Michelle and another friend of mine I bought three sheep from, Briana of Call of the Wool, helped show sheep for their friends. I think I might actually get up enough nerve to try showing sheep next year. Following are some pics of the Shetlands in the showring.....




And now some of my favorite pics of Michelle, of Boulderneigh....

What's this??? Been crouched down too long.......? :)
(she'll probably kill me for posting that one......)

And after it's all done, it's time to put the sheep back in their corrals.....whether they want to go or not......

Here's some pics of Briana, of Call of the Wool:


The judge was a real character! He was from New Zealand, could hardly find fault in anyone's sheep (I knew I should have shown something this year!), and just made me smile listening and watching him. He even continued to judge while eating a sheep sausage! :)

Shannon helped put on a herding demo with her lovely smooth coat Border Collie, Kate. There were a few Shelties and another BC as well. (Of course, Kate, was the best!):)

Here are some pics of a Blue Merle Sheltie....


and of the other Border Collie.....


Met up with Mary, her husband and twins, and Michelle and I went over to admire the whippets, Paisley and Danica, one last time while Shannon put Kate up. The Whippets loved Marys boys!
Michelle and I then loaded up my new girl, Matisse and her new girl Butter (fleece as soft as....)
and headed to Michelles home. Here's Matisse:


Took Butter out and loaded up Valentine, a very difficult decision for Michelle. She is limited in the numbers of sheep she can have (as I SHOULD be!) and has decided to concentrate on polled genetics. From there drove the long drive home arriving at 7pm and unloaded the girls and got them settled.... I will take some more pics of the new girls and do a follow up post but for now I will leave you with some final pics taken by my friend Mary (with some encouragement from me on some of them....as my camera wasn't working very well.):)
Here's me with a VERY large boy.....

Here's a ewe that had grandmas nightgown on....or curtains......:)
and a lovely young lass with her Shetlands.....
and this one requires....No Comment.......
The End. :)