Arrangements

Thanks to everyone for the condolence messages.  It's a difficult time for us that's for sure.
And it's been a very busy few days with a million details to complete. I suppose it's good to have something to concentrate on at times like these, but I sure am having a hard time remembering things. 
Thanks to some very special friends for keeping me organized and on track. I'm looking forward to being able to get back into my routine and spending more time with my woolie friends.
Tonight I am felting an urn (vessel) for Stan's ashes. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!  If it doesn't turn out, I'll be contacting Paul and Denise Morris for a vessel.  They will be playing a few tunes in the service, as will my brother Larry, and my sister Terry. 
Here is a link to the details about the services on Friday and Saturday --
http://www.aifuneralhome.com/site/2011/10/17/stan-mark-utecht

Stan

I lost my rock yesterday.  Stan has been there for me for over 36 years and now he's gone. It went way too fast. He always only wanted the best for me and he made it possible for me to do the things that make me happy in life. I only wish I could have/would have done more for him.

Fall days/Ram for Sale

What gorgeous weather we’re having! The temps are supposed to be in the upper 70’s (and maybe even 80) all this week.

I am very thankful for all the good things bestowed upon us - the sunny days and the beautiful fall landscapes.  Heck I’m even grateful for the bad things, there’s no one who escapes the bad things in life and we are no different than anyone else in that regard. But it is really hard facing some days. The good news today is that Stan's long term disability claim has been approved!  It took almost 7 weeks for his short term disability claim to be approved so this is an improvement.  Granted, disability pay is only 60% of his usual pay, but at least it's something and we are grateful for it.

We had a very good turn out for the Open Studio on Felt United Day.  In fact, it was such a busy day I didn't even get any photos taken.  Thankfully the grant coordinator, Judy B., took lots of photos so I'm counting on her to share them with me so I can share them with you.  Suffice it to say that I have lots of felted rocks and flowers for the collaborative piece.  But we forgot to make the LEAVES, I can't believe we forgot the leaves!

I am offering Sommarang Hansel for sale after December 1st.  I plan to use him on 3 mature ewes in November.  I really want to see what he produces with my F2 Holly ewe, River Oaks Hattie. She always gives me the best lambs, but last year she lusted after the BFL ram and produced mule ram lambs.

Hansel on the right

This photo shows the beautiful tips on his back.

This photo shows the color under the light tips.

Hansel’s a smooth polled grey gulmoget, At/Aa BB/Bb, he’s not Ag.  His fleece is very fine, but I must confess that I never actually sent in the micron sample I took from him this spring.  His lamb fleece is very fine and a beautiful blue grey. I’m hand-combing it when I get time (it’s not going very fast).
You would think he was mioget or fawn if not for the back on his face and legs. He has produced black lambs when bred to moorit ewes, so we know he’s not Bb/Bb.
He sired 6 lambs for me this past spring, all were gulmoget (3 of the dams were gulmoget too).

He’s a very unique genetic package, email (becky at riveroakssheep dot com) or call me at 320 679 4117 for more details and pricing.