Stealing from the Trees time

The past few weeks we've been stealing from the trees....

Note the serious lack of snow on the ground!

It has been a rather short sap season for us.  Few warm super sunny days and the nights have been too warm.  Just sort of grey....

It's always fun to get a drink of cold sweet sap out of the buckets.

The ride back and forth to the tapped trees is fun too.  Dad is a good rickshaw driver.

Everyone helps collect sap.  Even me, sometimes when I'm not taking pictures.  Will does most of the work though.

It's all about the ride...

Will has been busy these past couple of days boiling sap down, when it hasn't rained. We probably won't collect much more sap though the buckets are still on the trees...potentially another run at the end of the week (which means the weather will be getting worse).  Many people who have boiled down are saying the sugar content of the sap is higher which means a higher yield on the regular 40:1 ratio.  We shall see!

Temporary Visitor

Two weeks ago I had a phone call at work that someone was bringing in a Snowy Owl that wasn't doing well.  I had gone away from the office and when I got back there was a small box on my chair containing this wee Saw Whet Owl (hard to confuse with a Snowy).  He was quite emaciated and couldn't use his legs very well, which are both common side effects of West Nile Virus.  However, I thought it was worth a go to give him the benefit of the doubt and get some food into him.

He came home with me into a smallish kennel on top of the bunny cage in the bathroom.  Several people wondered if the bunny, a Jersey Wooly, felt intimidated by the owl but I reassured them that the rabbit was at least six times larger than the owl.  Neither of them seemed to care much about the other.  See, this owl is small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.

"Morpork", the saw whet owl, enjoys a close familial relationship with the Boreal Owl on the label of Bell's Best Brown Ale (Will's favorite beer), a Michigan crafted ale.

He seemingly enjoyed having his head stroked, and went into a trancelike state!

The first few times he was fed I had to open his beak and push little bits of raw beef partly into his throat, but after a few days he eagerly grabbed them. Still, after a week he was not able to stand up on his own legs so he remained propped up in a slipper. After the 10th day he decided to start grabbing at the meat with his feet and use his legs more often and took a few test flights in the house!

We finally felt that he would be able to be released at the end of last weeks...15 days after we started feeding him.  He made a brief appearance in the fouth and fifth grade classrooms at the Three Lakes Academy where we talked about owl biology (asymetrical skulls, zygodactic feet, silent flight feathers etc...) and the importance of maintaining dead/declining trees in the forest for cavity nesting birds.

We had a couple of Kestrel boxes and decided to put one up in the woods behind the house just in case he wanted or needed to come back.  It is also nice to think it could be used by other cavity nesters.

So about twenty feet up into the air on a sugar maple went the box, and Will gently placed Morpork inside.

He stayed in the box about 5 minutes before popping into the hole (click on the picture to biggify), and after a short tumble and recovery he flew off deeper into the cover of some cedar and hemlock.  I hope he is going to be able to hunt on his own and recover fully, but if not, it is a more dignified death for an owl to die in the woods and we did what we could to help him and he enriched our lives for the few days he was here. 

Breeding Bunnies

After what seemed to be along and painful decision about what bunnies to breed I finally did it.  For some reason, I needed to see visually what my options were so I did Punnet Squares (remember Genetics?) for my possible pairs and made a decision that way.  The lovely Dalilah (the black bunny below) was paired with the equally black Blackberry Jellybean. 

I haven't bred Jellybean before, though his brother Bigwig was paired with Dalilah last year and they had a litter of 8 lovely kits!  I found out that both Dalilah and Bigwig carry the vienna gene (though they aren't marked which is "supposed to be" unusual) through that breeding.  I guess we'll find out if Jellybean carries it as well!  Part of the reason I chose blackberry to sire this litter was to hopefully find out what some of the genes he carries.  Dalilah is aa Bb C_  Dd E_ Vv.  Jellybean is aa Bb C_D_E_V_.  It would be nice to find out if they both carry dilute or an extension.  I'm still kinda fuzzy on the vienna gene (Vv) and my understanding of it is that you don't have to have cc in order to exhibit the gene and get a blue eyed white bunny.  If anyone knows, please clue me in!

Blackberry, of course, was quite happy to be of service.

Mocha (aa bb Cc D_ E_ VV) was paired up with Bigwig (Aa Bb C_ D_ E_ Vv) for a line breeding and again to smoke out some very likely recessive d's and e's.  I'm primarily breeding for a heavy wool coat (I just took five ounces off of Mocha in one clipping) and temperament (Bigwig is a sweetie). I wanted some agouti babies too!  It was a most enthusiastic breeding.

Buffy (aa B_ Cc Dd ee Vv) will be paired with Butterbur (aa bb chl_ Dd ee VV).  I'm especially eager to see what this pair produces and maybe solve some mysteries with their genes as well.  I'm still not really sure if Butterbur is ch or chl!

Everyone is due May 4th or 5th.

  I haven't been able to post because I misplaced my download cord for the camera...lots of other things to report on including a visitor we had living with us for two weeks!  I need a faster download connection for that though....just a teaser.

Custom Made Needle and Stitch Gauge

Being that there are two new knitters in our household I thought perhaps we needed a few new toys to assist us in our knitting adventures.  My mother, over the past few years, has amassed us a collection of knitting needles from a really neat sale that a local senior citizens group has every year.  She always brings us some goodies that she bought for amazing prices.  Some of the needles don't have the needle size on them though, so voila!  A need for a needle gauge.  And, so I've been told, every good knitter worth her weight in exotic fiber should swatch her knitting I thought we might need a stitch gauge too. 

Yes, one can buy both of those things at a craft store but they are more functional than they are beautiful.  Why not have both?  There is a lovely lady on Etsy whose shop name is KaratStix and she makes beautiful pieces out of sustainably harvested wood.  I contacted her to make us custom pieces with our animals.  She did an AMAZING job!  She came to the blog for photo inspiration and she captured our woolies in appearance and spirit in her artwork.  Recognize anyone?  I can't recommend her work enough.

The sun is shining, the snow is melting!

The Chickens are happy to see the sun shining.  They dislike walking in the snow and getting their feet wet and cold so they are happy to see the snow disappearing!

I love all their different plumages.

The woolies were all happy to be out.  Except for the wimpy llamas. They stayed in the barn.  Look at all those ringlets on the goats!  Shearing time soon....

No! Not that!

Psst!  Liz!  We can hide when that man gets here!

Oh relax everyone.  The lady and the hay guy will shear the goats in April.  The shearer doesn't come until the end of May!

The best part of a new Vacuum

I hope the vacuum cleaner is as sturdy as the box is!

Old Fashioned Sponge Curlers

I found these curlers at the dollar store and couldn't resist.  I loved having curls when I was little.

We've had them in her hair several times since I bought them.

The Idea was rather fascinating for Duncan.

He said "are you really going to sleep in those???"

"Yup!  Mommy bought them for me!"

Wow!  Much curlier than I remember my hair becoming. (sleepy morning picture)

  But then I suppose she inherited some of Daddy's curls as well as his color....I just love that!

New books and a gift

It is hard to find a good middle of the road book for rabbits and goats and sheep.  Many of the "Insert Name Here Guide to Critters" do a good job giving you the basic facts about the critters we care about.  Many of them, however, don't give all the information I would like to have and find useful.  For instance, one of my rabbit books tells me that it is best to cull the animal with said medical issue...okay for meat rabbits maybe but what about animals we have a lot of emotional attachment, time or money invested in?  I was looking for books that give me some technical information- enough to make a decision about wether or not I need to get to the vets office or if I can do something about the issue myself.  Or how to spy a problem in the making.

The Completely Angora book was a find at a library book sale that a friend found.  It is incredible!  I think he paid 82 cents or something for it, and he still gave it to me after he found out it is worth a bunch more (true mark of a friend).  Unfortunately it is out of print.  Not too technical and very in depth. I can't imagine what else I might need to know about angora rabbits that isn't in there.

The Sheep and Goat medicine book is very good as well.  It has an appendix with common goat and sheep medicines (including off label) and their dosages.  It is written primarily for vet students (with a biology background I still needed to look up a few words) but it isn't too hard to follow.  It retails for $105.00 but I found it at http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ for $89.00.  I feel happy to have found both of these resources.

When I came home on Valentines Day, this surprise was waiting for me!  It is modeled after a really interesting display that we saw at the Portsmouth Children's Museum (they had a whole hands of textile section for kids).  Will says it is a mock up only and that the frame will be finished etc... I love it.  It looks even prettier in person and away from my messy counter... Since it isn't completely finished we may add a really big weaving shuttle that I bought in NH last year that is from a mill and a larger mill bobbin as well.  I'm thinking it might be nice to wind some other yarn on some of the naked bobbins too...yarn spun from our woolies might be nice.

February- the Longest Month of the Year

MIA from the blogosphere; Mother of Three, Professional series State worker (in a state budget crisis), self imposed shepherd/farmer and wife of model train obsessed Scotsman buries herself in wool to wait out the long cold month.

Ya….something like that.

February has been the month of extra activities. Will and I are taking Yoga classes on two separate nights of the week, Lila has after school music and knitting classes, the boys have boy scouts, work has been busy and we are re-organizing at work. Add on to that the fact that the furnace blower refused to blow, the vacuum cleaner was merely redistributing the dirt instead of picking it up, and the muffler and tailpipe on the truck decided they no longer wanted a conjugal relationship and you have a personal budget crisis is in the making. I’ve been overwhelmed with reality….

So. We have a new vacuum cleaner bought with a 30% off coupon at Kohl’s that will hopefully last for more than a year. We are rough on vacuum cleaners with three dogs, two cats and lots of sand to track in, not to mention stray bits of bunny fuzz from grooming sessions. The furnace blower was replaced, no brainer. The truck can wait a week- I’m downstate for three days next week in the work truck anyway and quite frankly, I don’t think the truck is any louder with the disconnect.

On a more pleasant notes…Lila and I are taking a Mother-Daughter knitting class and I can now officially say that I can knit! I tackled two dish cloths, a scarf for Duncan (which is already lost) and I’m working on a scarf/sampler. I’ve knitted thirteen different knit/purl combinations and it feels good. I’m going to start some of the YO and other mysterious initials the end of the week and I’m feeling brave enough to tackle a simple cable! Lila is working on a garter stitch scarf with stripes. She doesn’t feel comfortable with purling which is fine…now that I can do it I can teach her later! I’ve got half a pound left of pygora/Shetland to spin for a yarn CSA which will be wrapped up very soon…then I can spin myself some yarn and knit up a hat…just in time for spring!

Our local spinning group, the Eweper Spinners and Weavers will be sponsoring a fiber festival this summer- July 9th in Curtis. I’m very excited and will be a vendor- my first ever fiber festival. We are in the planning stages now and will be busy setting this baby up.

Our shearer is booked to come the last week of May…YAHOO!!! I’m so stoked to have him back again this year- he was awesome. Nary a nick on our animals and he was good company too. I’ll be washing wool like mad so I can get it down to Zeilenger’s for processing to get it back in time for the fiber festival and our CSA shares. I’ve been peaking under those sheep suits and LOVE what I’m seeing under there…all that VM free wool!

On the bunny front, I need to decide who will be paired up with whom. I’m going to breed three bunnies this year; Buffy, our VM marked tort, will have her last litter and then go into retirement. She will be paired up with the new handsome chocolate pearl buck I bought from Zodiac Ranch- Butterbur. I’m hoping for some more torts from this breeding. Dalilah (black English angora) and Mocha (Chocolate) will also be bred but I haven’t decided on the pairing yet. The bucks are Chocolate pearl, Black and Agouti in color.

Sheep will need to be caught to trim toes, worm, and change coats as necessary in the next couple of weeks. Amey, the skinny sheep, has been coming into the people part of the barn every other day or so for extra oats. As soon as I come into the barn she waits in front of the doors to be let in. Then after cleaning up her oats, she tries to scam bunny food from the three stack of angoras in the barn. They are not impressed and don’t share!

Winter Woolies

We have had a BRIEF warmup and now back to weather not above twenty again for the rest of the week.  We are being spared the snowstorm everyone is talking about in the midwest because we are far north of it.  Some of those southern Michigan folks do not deal well with extra snow!

This past weekend I spent a bit of time outside with the woolies.  Everyone was happy to be social on a semi-warm sunny day!

Twizzler says "hey boy, scratch my head or I'll eat your sleeve!"  Tea, behind, is certain the small black box I hold up in front of my face has food in it.  Liz and Amey are ready to run in case I drop it.

Tea quickly realizes she's getting nowhere with trying to mesmerize me so solicits head scratches from Lila.  I had no idea these ladies would be so much a pain in the rear  persistent.  I'm annoyed when they run off the sheep to have all the pats for themselves.  It's a good thing they are cute!

Even though the day is beautiful, the llamas prefer to stay in the barn.  Igraine is looking for stray bits on Sam's face (knowing that there are probably some there).  Igraine also decided Sunday night to pull my hair as I was switching frozen bunny bottles.  I dropped the wire bail that holds the bottle on (GRRRR!) and  since it was dusk-ish I couldn't find it and had to get another one from the garage.  Igraine is a bit of a pest.  Somewhat like the goats who also prefer to hang out in the barn.

The sheep, on the other hand, like to hang outdoors.  Elle and her daughter Gaia figured out they could get into the hay feeder because the other crosspiece on the end fell off.  They spend a lot of time there.

Liz thinks they are silly.  She is going to have to go into a size F sheep suit.  I can't wait to see all that fiber!

The whole sheepish gang.  Fallon, the wild one, stands slighty apart, unsuited to suits, on the right.  "Hey Nala, if you turn around we can play follow the leader!"

Nala- "Um, okay...where are we going?"

It amuses me that they use only this tiny well trod pathway unless spooked or otherwise excited.

"Geez guys!  Kick up your heels in the snow....live a little!"  Says the only boy in the barnyard.  Beltane is without the full assemblage of equipment however.

"Equipment?  What equipment?

Wee little Amey is the black sheep on the far left.  She is still too skinny even after worming and sneaking her grain.  She fits fine into a D coat width wise, though she will have to go to an E for length.   She is such a sweetie and I worry about her.

It was a good day to be a black dog soaking up sunshine.  Harbour Grace had a good day and she has been limping less on her bad knee.

CeCe always looks like she could use a hug.  She always gets them .

Waters, the lab mix, stayed inside.  He says his coat is too thin and he is too old to be outside for too long. 

Hedwig says she is too.  She'll lay on the fine literature, thank you very much, and stay warm.