Yes, I know....

I've been neglecting the blog lately.  It's just that my card reader hasn't worked for weeks and I can't upload photos to my hard drive.  I ordered a replacement 9-in-1 card reader card almost TWO weeks ago. It was supposed to be here in 3-4 days - but now I found out it won't even get shipped out until Oct. 3rd.  Grrrrrr!
I've already replaced that card reader once before, I'm not happy about doing it again.

Things have been really busy here with the census work, the Sticks & Stones Art event this past weekend, and trying to keep up with the garden - there are TOMATOES everywhere.  We had frost warnings last night, so I picked all the green peppers and tomatoes and brought in the flowering plants that I will winter over. 

I love the Brandywine tomatoes because they are so big, my mom says they're like boxing gloves, and they keep producing right up to the frost.  It will take weeks for all the little green tomoatoes to ripen indoors, so we'll have plenty for BLT's and salads well into November.

I canned tomato juice and spaghetti sauce this year. My food processor broke, so I couldn't make my annual batch of  zucchini relish.  I'm still picking raspberries every day -- gotta love those ever-bearing plants!  I just freeze them so I can make my jam closer to Christmas time.

This morning I subbed for  pre-school, then ran over to the local auction and got a tray-type sheep feeder. This one doesn't have a hay rack. I didn't go high enough to get the one with a hay rack. Darn!

I've created a sales blog, www.riveroakssales.blogspot.com  If you get a chance and need some sheep with friendly personalities and wonderful fleece, be sure to check it out.  I'm especially hoping to find homes for Opal and Lavender, both are beautiful BFL cross ewe lambs.

Woo-hoo!

I got called back to work on the U.S. Census again! It will be so nice to make some decent money this fall. Last spring was pretty hectic trying to work full time on the census while lambing and dealing with physical problems, but this fall should be a piece of cake. This assignment is only supposed to last about 8 weeks, so the weather shouldn't be an issue.

The first thing I'm going to do is send in my 2009 fleeces for processing. That will clear out a big section of my wool room. And now I'm thinking I can afford to book a flight out to the Black Sheep Gathering for June 2010. I'm hoping to make it a family trip after seeing the beautiful photos of the Oregon coastline on Tammy's blog. A trip out to Oregon and then down to San Francisco would be a great way to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.

Other good news is that I got another one of those wooden sheep feeders from the auction. Actually a friend bought it for me for only $10 this time! I'll bet that person doesn't bring any more to sell at that price. Anyway, now Stan only has to make me two more. :-)

1954 Sheep Movie

Someone posted this link on the Sheep Producer's Forum today. It's to a classic 1954 sheep video on you-tube. I thought those of you raising sheep might be interested in checking out the way Suffolks, Southdowns, and Hamps looked 55 years ago. Now I don't feel so bad about the plump ones in my flock. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRxRoLs8hdg

Auction Sheep Feeder/Fleece shots

The card reader went out on my computer so I can't download my photos easily until I replace it.I had my photos put on a CD the other day so now I can share them. I'll start off with a foggy morning shot of the Shetland geese welcoming the day. I swear one of these days, with a good wind, they will be able to take off! Notice the 2' fence that contains them for now. :-)
And here's the new sheep feeder I got at the local auction almost 2 weeks ago. It was brand new and only cost me $24.50 (with the sales tax). I want Stan to make me three more!It can easily feed 8 sheep at once and it really saves on wasted hay. Also, it lessens the amount of hay on the sheep's backs. But the downside is their neck wool gets dirtier than when feeding in the buckets on the ground.

And here's a better photo of Devlyn our natural colored BFL ram lamb who is for sale.
I was checking fleeces on my two Shetland ram lambs the other morning and was delighted to find that the one I thought was black, out of River Oaks Leonie and Kimberwood Harrison, is actually shaela. Sorry these photos are so blurry, but at least you can see the color change.
And my button scurred Ag grey ram lamb, Sebastian (out of Bramble Cordelia and Kimberwood Harrison) is a very beautiful blue grey color under his dark tips. I hope he stays that color as an adult. Some Ag greys do stay grey (rather than lighten to almost white) and that's what I've been striving for in my flock. I plan to use Sebastian on 2-3 ewes this fall. Sheepy Hollow Rachel, now owned by Sabrina, is an Ag grey with lovely grey fleece in adulthood.
Side fleece above, and rump shot below.And this is his twin sister, Camille's fleece. She's an Ag grey gulmoget.
I love it! And I love her - everyone who comes over wants to take her home.She's very petite and so soft and so friendly. I can never get a good shot of her because she's always right next to me. This photo doesn't do her justice.I have to work tonight, it will be a long one, but I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day tomorrow!

Sheep for Sale- more photos added

Okay, I'm going to bite the bullet and make some downsizing decisions here!
The following sheep are for sale:
River Oaks Hannah, dark Moorit, F2 Holly, 3 years old. Nice little tail, good back end as shown with her daughter below. Single coated, crimpy fleece, carries spots and modified genes. $250
Twin ewe lambs, out of River Oaks Hattie (Hannah's twin sister) and Kimberwood Harrison (polled black gulmoget). These girls are petite, they should carry polled genetics, heavy Holly and Roban Dillon lines, not registered yet, buyer can choose names, I've been calling them Freya and Freida.One twin (Freya) is a solid sided black gulmoget (sale pending) and Freida, pictured above as a lamb in May, is black ($200). They may carry modified genes. Single coated, fine, crimpy fleece on both.River Oaks Bo, F3 Minder, moorit yearling ram out of Windswept Boggart and River Oaks Cora. Nice wide horns, great tail and nice fleece. Carries modified and spotting genetics. The photo above is from March, and the one below was taken in May, his horns have grown quite a bit since then. Priced at $200 or BO.
Twin yearling Shetland Mule ewes, white $125 each.
Two year old Shetland Mule, white, $125.
Registered Bluefaced Leicester ram lamb, natural colored, very fine fleece, excellent conformation. $200 pictured below as a lamb in May.To good home, River Oaks Hattie. Hattie has a bad ankle, not hereditary. She's the black twin sister of Hannah, F2 Holly, three years old.

We also have crossbred lambs for sale, some 3/4 BFL's and one 3/4 Shetland ewe lamb. Priced at $75 - 100 each. Ewe lambs and intact ram lambs available.

Some Cool things to share

This post is a compilation of links you might be interested in, but I had to include these beautiful poppies that my friend Sue grew in composted sheep manure that she and her husband got from us this spring. At three years old, the compost is really nice, like a lightweight potting soil. They put one of those boxed flower seed carpets on it and viola! I'm going to try that myself next year.
The first ever worldwide Felt United Day is October 3rd, 2009. You can check out the new website and think about you might want to do in your area: http://www.feltunited.com/
I'm thinking about doing something with the local school kids. It should be fun.

There is a nice pair of Livestock Guardian dogs available near me. I can't buy them myself, but maybe some one out there is in need of a good pair of guard dogs?

Third, a friend of mine has this beautiful Schacht Matchless spinning wheel for sale. It's a single treadle wheel with scotch tension, double drive, or bobbin lead options. I had set it up for double drive in these photos. It's in great condition, spins like a dream, very quiet and smooth. It comes with three extra bobbins (for a total of four bobbins) and a lazy kate, $450. Email Deb (woolyewe @ youbetnet dot com) if you're interested.
Fourth, Lisa has been dyeing up some beautiful skeins of her BFL yarn recently and it reminded me of these cool socks by Tein Chui. I made some a few years ago and they were lots of fun.

Hummingbird Rescue

A picture's worth a thousand words! In the background you can see the Shetland geese and my little garden. In my hand is the hummingbird I found exhausted on the floor of my barn the other day.
It's so cool to hold a hummingbird in your hand! They are so tiny. My son took photos of this one next to a ruler, but they were too blurry to share.

This isn't the first time I've rescued a hummingbird. I've found them in our garage in the same condition. The poor things fly into buildings through the open doors and then can't find their way out. It doesn't take long for them to use up all their energy trying to exit through a closed window.
When I find them I mix up some corn syrup and water to administer with an eye dropper. No eye dropper on hand these days, so I used an old plastic straw. This one didn't really drink much, but in about an hour, she was able to fly away.

Here she is almost ready to take off. I knew she was starting to feel better when her feet starting gripping my hand again and her eyes stayed open longer. But she spent another 10-15 minutes recuperating after this photo was taken. Then I put her onto the plant and turned to grab the camera for one last photo. When I looked back she was gone. I hope she's doing okay.