First Place!

Woo-hoo! My felted wool painting won first place in the "Other Art Forms" category at the regional art show this past weekend. What a surprise that was! There was some pretty stiff competition in that category too. I really need to do more of these, I've had such a positive response to the ones I've displayed in area shows. I'd love to do a large landscape piece of our pond in the snow.
Above is the photo of Lana and Bo that I promised in my last post. They are such a cute pair.
Below is a shot of Kimberwood Harrison (polled black gulmoget) and River Oaks Hannah. Harrison is such a nice ram, very nice temperament. Absolutely no trouble at all.

Sunday I hosted my dad's 80th birthday party. Unfortunately, the guest of honor was over two hours late. It was snowing pretty good that day and we really got worried about him - he's never, ever late. I called the sheriff's offices of Pine, Kanabec and Burnett counties asking about accidents. We even had the Burnett county sheriff check on his house to make sure he wasn't there unable to answer the phone. The things that go through your mind in a situation like that. It wasn't too long after the sheriff's office called back, saying his van was gone and there were tire tracks in the snow, that our doorbell rang and there he was! Thank goodness he just misunderstood the start time of the party. :-))

I'm knitting an earflap hat designed by Kirsten Kapur. She calls it the Thorpe hat, you can find the free directions here. It went very fast on bulky handspun yarn (from Sheepy Hollow Rachel) and US size 9 needles. I managed to get the hat knitted within 24 hours. I just need to add the crochet trim and the braids now. I think I will full it in the washer. I made it in the largest size which is a little too large for me, so fulling it will make it smaller and warmer.

My next project is to make a queen size comforter with my 3.5 pound Shetland wool batt and two flat sheets. It's for our oldest son's Christmas present. There's nothing like sleeping under a nice thick wool comforter!

Had to share this link - cute Sheep ad

Ron Parker sent this to the Sheep-L list, I thought you might enjoy it too.
http://www.tele2.se/

It's a link to some ads that feature a black sheep. I see shades of BFL in the main character - if only he would hold his ears upright. The video at the bottom of the page is cute and very short. The one on the side of the page took a little long for my computer to download, and it was more of a commercial, so I didn't watch the whole thing.

Here on the home front, McIntire and his two half brothers are gone to their new home. Bo and Lana are together in a breeding pen. I need to take a photo of them. They look so cute together, but they are both quite young to be breeding. Oh well, if she doesn't take, it's no big deal. If she does take, I'm sure she'll do just fine.

This afternoon I heard what I thought was the garage service door blowing closed, over and over. Then I remembered why I don't put my Shetland rams near my fiberglass calf huts. I forgot about that when I hastily put Bo and Lana in with two fiberglass huts. Even though Bo has small horns, he's discovered how to use them. :-)

Okay, back to work cleaning this house for my dad's 80th birthday party!

Breeding Groups Finalized

Well, I can finally say it, my breeding plans are pretty much set in stone now.
On Saturday I sent my two BFL rams off to other farms. Our white BFL ram, Dougal, was in with our two BFL ewes for three weeks. He is now at home in Terri Drimel's flock. Our natural colored BFL ram, Granite, was pulled from his group of five ewes and is being leased to Kimberwood in trade for the services of Kimberwood Harrison.

I put Kimberwood Harrison in with 6 ewes this weekend. I got home with Harrison after dark and had to move the BFL ewes out of the breeding pen and back into the pole building before I could let Harrison out. Of course I didn't want him to be all alone the first night, so I was glad that our unregistered Shetland ewe, Mabeline and her yearling Shetland Mule daughter followed me out into the dark and then had the good sense to respond to the alfalfa hay I used to lure them into the breeding pen.
Harrison was reticent to leave the dog kennel at first, so I just left him in there with the door open. It wasn't long before he got the scent of EWES and jumped into action. Much to poor Mabeline's dismay.Sunday morning I added Bramble Cordelia (F1 Minder fawn katmoget), River Oaks Hannah (F2 Holly, moorit), and her twin sister River Oaks Hattie (black smirslet), Hattie's 2008 ewe lamb, Leonie (moorit/fawn).

Yes, I decided to breed my two Shetland ewe lambs after all. Using them will increase my chances for a moorit gulmoget lamb next year. I've decided to put River Oaks Lana (black gulmoget 2008 Harrison daughter) in with River Oaks Bo (moorit krunet F3 Minder with aberrant horns). Sorry no recent photos of Bo...this one is from August.We are not exposing the Shetland Mule ewe lambs or the BFL ewe lambs this year.
River Oaks McIntire will be leaving for his new home in a day or two. I think he is one of our best ram lambs ever born here. So I'm glad he'll be close by in case I want to buy one of his ram lambs someday. I'd like to get some better photos of him before he goes.Hopefully, McIntire will be taking his other two half brothers along with him for company. :-))
They were destined for slaughter due to their tight horns. I was tempted to wether the mioget one with the wooly poll and cheeks. But it looks like someone else may do it instead.
That will leave Bo as the only Shetland ram left here. And I think he will be okay with my polled boys since his horns are so small. He's got great fleece and a nice little tail. I'll probably use him as a clean up ram after Harrison leaves. Then Granite will be the clean up ram for the BFLs and the yearling Shetland Mules.

There, that sounds like a plan! Let's hope the girls agree with it. :-)

Eggs! Beautiful Eggs

Recently I've noticed blog posts about the beautiful eggs that chickens have been laying in flocks all over the country. My own five month old pullets started laying a month ago and it's always a joy to find those first eggs, with their strong, colorful shells. The early eggs are especially dark, they range from small to extra large double yolk eggs as shown below. Those poor pullets!


I've been blowing out the smaller ones for egg decorating someday when I get around to it again. There are so many ways to turn eggs into art, but for some reason, wax resist egg decorating was the one that took my breath away nine years ago. I totally immersed myself in it, learning as much as I could via the Internet, books, workshops and mentoring with Luba Perchyschyn. The duck egg below is from one of her design books...As the years went by, I saw some of my brilliant dyes fade away, as this acid etched brown egg did, it's now a lilac color... but the brown layers of the colored shell are still there. So that's why I want to focus more on acid etching, it's more durable and add texture as well.


The one below is an etched and dyed brown pullet egg which hasn't faded in the least.


Sorry I don't have a photo of just an acid etched (not dyed) brown chicken egg. I've had people tell me those eggs remind them of lace - imagine that, the two mediums blend together as they are filtered through my senses!

This one is a duck egg that was dyed and then etched back to white. It was my first attempt at etching and it's very simple. I love working on duck eggs especially, they are SO smooth!


And this one is a turkey egg shell... they can be bumpy, but the bumps come off with a vinegar wipe.I also love working on goose egg shells. They are so large...this one was a failed attempt that I resurrected with permanent maker and bleach. We were doing a figure show that spring so I put nudes on eggs. LOL.


I've done a few rhea, one ostrich and several emu eggshells too. The one below was a very special emu egg, I lucked out getting one with such a smooth surface and it had an extra light layer of shell over the typical dark green color.

Blog Tag

Well, I guess my blog was tagged by Garrett and Carol.
So at the risk of boring you all to death, here are my answers to a set of questions with a list of 8 things.

My 8 favorite foods:
1. Lamb Stew
2. Barbecued Ribs
3. Warm Brownies and Ice Cream
4. Lasagna
5. Steak (beef or lamb) with sauteed mushrooms and onions
6. Steamed broccoli/asparagus/cauliflower with butter
7. Baked potatoes w/sour cream
8. Is wine a food?

8 Things I Did Today
1. Laundry
2. Bought myself a guitar! And tried to remember some cords and finger picking.
3. Talked on the phone with a prospective Shetland ram lamb buyer - yay!
4. Had lunch in town with old friends from church :-))
5. Fed the sheep and chickens - twice.
6. Wrote out bills.
7. Made plans for tomorrow's breeding ram exchange. My two adult BFL rams are leaving and I will be bringing back a polled black gulmoget ram to use on my Shetland ewes. The girls will be ever so happy.
8. Started my Christmas shopping - just one gift so far-- unless you count the guitar which is to me, from me. :-)

8 Favorite Stores:
1. FleetFarm
2. Target
3. Coborn's
4. Dick Blick
5. The Ukrainian Gift Shop
6. Mother of All - Fiber Shop
7. Barnes & Noble
8. Menards

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Buzzano's Bar & Grill
2. The Grand Grill - in Hinckley
3. Q Mandarin Chinese Restaurant
4. Olive Garden
5. Rock Creek Cafe
6. The Purple Hawk
7. Pizza Hut
8. Red Lobster

8 Things I look Forward To:
1. Lambing
2. Morning
3. Lunch
4. Tax Refunds
5. Payday
6. Painting group
7. Fresh fleeces in the spring
8. Time to felt, paint, garden, knit, etc., etc.

8 Things I Like To Do With Family:
1. Talk on the phone
2. Holiday meals
3. Get hay and walk around on our 40 acres
4. Hoof trimming -- husband is the only one who will help me with that.
5. Share daily news
6. Make plans
7. Go places
8. Take photos

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. A LOT more money
2. Good homes for all my really nice lambs - of course some belong in the freezer
3. To put fencing and a well on our 40 acres so we can pasture beef over there.
4. Travel to the UK and Shetland Islands
5. That our youngest boy gets through college without me having to take out another big loan.
6.That we are able to navigate through these dire economic times and see real estates prices get better again so we can move onto our 40 acres.
7. Maybe some grandchildren some day - not TOO soon, but someday.
8. Good health to enjoy my animals and art for years to come.

8 People I’m Tagging : I think most of the blogging people I know have already been tagged, but here's one more to add to the list, Terri D.

My, oh my, Pumpkin Pie!

I made homemade pumpkin pie yesterday. Yummm! It's my favorite.

I bought some pumpkins for decorating in front of the house in October (my seeds didn't sprout this year in the garden). I put them with squash and corn stalks from the garden for a fall display. When the cold temps and snow came around this past week, I figured it was time to move into holiday decorating mode and bring in the pumpkins before they froze solid.

I planned to feed them to the sheep before breeding. The sheep just love them! Well, the older girls love them, the ewe lambs need to learn that pumpkin is a special treat. :-)

BUT, we all love pumpkin pie in this house. And since I paid for those pumpkins, I figured we were entitled to claim one for ourselves.

SO, yesterday I cut one up and cooked it...the chickens got the insides, they love it too.
And scooped it out...And mashed it up...
And made two pumpkin pies...
You can see it's only one and half pies now. This is definitely not good for my weight reduction goals!

Here's my favorite pie crust recipe, I got it over 30 years ago and it works well every time:

X-tra Good Pie Crust

1. Mix together in a small bowl with a fork: 1 1/2 Cups flour, 3/4 tsp salt.
   
2. Cut in 1/2 Cup shortening (or lard) and 1 Tbsp. butter.
   
3. Sprinkle over this 4 or 5 Tbsp milk.
   
4. Mix into a ball with fork.
   
5. Divide in half.
   
6. Roll out, and place in pan, crimp edges. This is enough for a two crust pie, you can freeze half for later use if desired.
   

And here's my Homemade Pumpkin pie recipe. I don't care for nutmeg, so I skip it and go a little heavy on the cinnamon. I always double this recipe and make two pies:

1. Prepare a 9" pie shell
2. Combine in a large bowl and beat well: 3 slightly beaten eggs, 1 Cup sugar (1/2 white, 1/2 brown), 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/3 to 1/2 tsp Allspice.
3. Add 1 1/2 to 2 Cups mashed pumpkin, 1 Cup Milk (or evaporated milk). Beat well.
4. Pour into pie shell and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees and bake another 45-60 minutes. Pie is done when knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!

Glass Spinning Wheel

Well, I've finished the first three days at my new job. I have three days off before I start in on four days in a row next week.
I've never done food service work before, except a few volunteer shifts at church funerals. It's actually kind of fun and I'm learning some new tricks about presentation. I've always been a bit shy about having people over for dinner, or bringing my salad to the salad luncheon and getting most of it back. LOL. So this could be a good learning experience for me.

I've enjoyed seeing lots of friends and acquaintances as they come into the store to shop. It's so much nicer than working in a town 25 miles away!

I thought the spinners and art lovers among you might enjoy this video of a truly lovely piece of art. The link was shared with me through the feltmakers list. If you're not on dial-up, I hope you enjoy this.

http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/videos/view/216-Andy-Paiko