Getting aquainted

I picked up 3 new sheep this weekend ( I told you this was an addiction) from Gail Former. Gail has so many wonderful sheep to choose from and she is a great source of information. I enjoyed my time visiting with her and I am very lucky Gail only lives about 1 1/2 hrs from me. I am very excited to bring some moorit into the flock. 1 yearling ewe and 2 ewe lambs. I think they are beautiful and one of our cows seems to like them too! She keeps sticking her head through the hole to say hi. Our barn was originally built for our horses and the hole is an automatic waterer that can be shared between the 2 stalls. I missed the shot of the cow licking one of the girls as she smelled the intruder. Below is a better shot of the girls, one is a katmoget and the other 2 are light moorit. I am already dreaming of spring lambs.

Verse of the Week

Early mornings have become one of my favorite times of the day. Before I feed the animals, I take Lucy out to walk the pasture and let her spend time with the sheep. When I open the gate to the pasture, the sheep form this single file line and follow me and Lucy. Once they branch out and start grazing, Lucy makes her way to each one to say hello. She still wants to lick their faces and bite on their ears which is a no no. The lambs are in love with Lucy. They sleep beside her pen in the barn and tolerate her puppiness very well. Isn't it funny how these little things give us the most pleasure in life? Here is the verse of the week...hope you enjoy it.

John 10: 7-10

"I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture."

Country life + Technology does not = Love

Well after only 2 weeks my Internet is back up. Living in the middle of nowhere....well, there is no place I would rather live....but....our options for Internet service is limited to Direcway/HughesNet and they STINK!!!!!

That being said...it has been an incredibly busy few weeks. We took my daughter to college last weekend . I actually handled it better than I thought I would. I woke up early to go feed the animals since I knew we would be home late that evening. I had a good cry with my sheep and Lucy. I started thinking of all the mothers in this world who are facing horrible things with their children and how lucky I am that my kids are safe, healthy and my daughter has this incredible opportunity before her. I have prayed and I have prayed for her safety, for the right roommate, safety, her to make good friends, safety, well, you get the picture. I have to let it go and trust God. He always works things out the way they should be even if it is not how I think it should be. Well I wont dwell on that anymore. As Forrest would say.....that's all I have to say about that.

Lucy is growing so fast. My son still begs to take her in the house to stay. Right now I am wishing she was already grown and ready to patrol. I went out to feed this evening and I noticed movement on the far end of the fence row...I couldn't tell if it was a coyote or a dog. Probably a dog but a stray for sure. I put everyone up for the night but I can't quit thinking about it. It ran into the corn when it saw me. I made everyone as safe as I can for the night. I sure hope it is enough.

Alllllmost there!!!

This is a picture of my trumpet vine that I have been babying for a year and a half. It has finally reached the top of the post so it can start growing horizontally now. We built this deck last spring after 10 years of having to jump 3 feet to the ground from the kitchen door. The deck that was here when we moved in was rotten and unsafe so we tore it down. I'm still not sure which was more dangerous...the 3 foot drop or the rotten deck?

This vine grows wild and I probably could have dug one up somewhere but this one has variegated leaves and I really liked that. It is also a fast grower and that was the main reason I wanted it. The sun comes in my kitchen window and door in the afternoons and makes the kitchen so HOT. I know..why not just get blinds or curtains? I am somewhat anti-binds and curtains. I live in the middle of nowhere and I want to be able to see outside all the time. I just have a weird thing about blinds..maybe it is the cleaning of the blinds I don't like?
Unfortunately, this is how far we still have to go. I have been told, however, that the vine will grow much faster horizontally than vertically. We'll see I guess.

Lucy the Great Pyrenees

Meet Lucy, the newest addition to our farm family. She is the sweetest little thing...well not so little for a puppy but little compared to how big she will get. We got her from Brenda Lelli of Beechtree Farm in Michigan. I almost didn't get her because I could not get away to go pick her up. Fortunately for me, Brenda had sold one of the puppies to a couple from Indiana who only live 1 hour from me. They agreed to bring her with them and I met them only 10 minutes from my house today. It was so nice of them to do that for me and they were the nicest people. Below, Rex was curious but minded his manners..

Lucy was the name my children came up with...not bad...but not descriptive of a guardian/protector/watch dog/coyote deterrent. I hope the coyotes don't hear us call her LUCY!! Ellie Ann left the rest of the flock to follow us when we took our walk around the perimeter of the pasture this evening..I think she likes her.

Thank you God for puppies....Here is the verse for THIS week...hope you enjoy it.

Acts 20:28

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the Church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Verse of the (last) week

I neglected to post a verse last week..I guess my excuse is the fair kept me running back and forth so much I did not have time. So I guess I could post a verse twice this week to make up for it. I have the perfect one in mind for the picture I hope to have by tomorrow evening. No telling yet! This picture is just one of those random things that I enjoy looking at. For some reason, these things of the past make my house feel homey to me. I really think sometimes that I was born about a century too late. I like antiques but not just any antiques. The ones I like aren't really even worth anything. They are usually beat up and need repair. They are things that were useful like my grandma's butter churn, old quilts....I even have the cotton scales that my grandma and grandpa used not only to weigh the cotton but they used it to weigh my dad when he was born!! Here is the verse of the (last) week. Enjoy!

Verse of the week:
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11

Goat Tote

This is a picture of a GOAT TOTE a friend let me borrow to use during the fair. It is very handy for 4-5 sheep but that is about all that will fit. Then there is no room in the bed of your truck for hay, straw and other necessities. We have been trying to decide what kind of trailer to buy to transport the sheep and although the goat tote is handy I think I want something a little bigger. I was grateful to have the tote on Friday when my daughter and I headed up to Juliann's house to pick up my 2 new sheep. We spent the first half of the day dorm room shopping. We didn't get to Juliann's place until around 6:30. I enjoyed visiting with her and looking at all her beautiful sheep and I also picked up some of her roving while I was there. I wish I would have had more time but we had a 4 hour drive home so we made it quick and got home around 11:30.

The two new girls are settling in nicely. I have been trying to rig up more fans this morning...it is HOT!! I am up to 10 sheep now with a few more to get next weekend. I am already excitedly trying to figure out breeding groups! I just love these little sheep!