Big D turns Five

I have been remiss about reporting on the milestones in our household. Duncan turned FIVE on October 7th. His dessert request was cupcakes with snails on them. I should clarify- frosting snails. I don't think Duncan ever put the real gastropods in his mouth, but Sam at one point stuck a big juicy slug in his and rolled it around for awhile before drooling it out.

The chickens are laying about a dozen eggs a day right now. We've been peddling eggs to friends and coworkers around town. I haven't gotten around to posting a sign at the end of the driveway proclaiming their availabilty as of yet. I can just see it now...people pull in to buy a dozen eggs and are molested by happy drooling Newfs... I've been busy making spinning batts for folks and Elle (above) says her wool should be next because it is just sooooo soft and such a pretty shaela color. She says she would make a nice shawl. I'm starting to get Holiday orders for Waldorf dolls too! Five in yesterday so I'd better get busy this weekend cutting out and sewing bodies. I was beginning to think it was going to be a slow period!

Ahhh!

Nala says there is nothing better than a good butt scratch on a wood post! That definately is a blissful look.

"Rosy Stripes"

After reading the Gary Paulsen book "Harris and Me", I wasn't sure at all that I wanted to have a rooster. Lila, however, is quite taken with the idea of having our hens hatch their own eggs so we thought we'd give him a try. I am glad we have him for benefits other than the obvious! Having a rooster crowing on occasion in the yard evokes a rather comforting and exciting feeling for me...an audible affirmation that we are doing "the right thing". I love to spend time just sitting and watching Rosy "managing" his girls; pushing one group of hens away from a food source to let the others get their share, calling them back if they stray to far, etc... He does get rather upset if you (ie. the kids) run through the flock of hens and disturb them so we have had to do some behaviour modification every once in awhile, but he in general is rather a gentleman.

Two things I didn't need

I found this small flax wheel on Craigslist and the price seemed right. My mother very kindly picked it up for me. It is quite adorable, but I'm not sure what is up with the flyer mechanism...will be taking it to spinning group this coming Saturday to have the experts take a peek and prognosticate. I was hopeful it would be suitable for spinning wool as well, but I'm just not sure...

This is Zanzibar. She is four months old and a very tiny wee lass. Her fleece is quite fine and musket in color. She is a bit shy and is dealing with the shetland flock sorting out issues right now. Her way of dealing with being chased by the bigger sheep is to lay down and play dead (this gave me a bit of a turn seeing her splayed out like that) but it seems to work. After a few minutes she nonchalantly gets up and nibbles on grass in the pasture like nothing happened and then slowly works her way back towards the flock only to be chased back again. She spent last evening with everyone else so I think things are slowly working themselves out. She's a tryer thats for sure! Now if I can just get her to come to me for pats then we are getting somewhere!

Today it is snowing....oh, not the big white fluffy stuff but the wet small flakes that turn to rain for a few minutes and then back to snow again. It won't stick, but it is sending a message!

Spent some time this weekend working on spinning batts for a client, insulating the chicken coop (with waste wool and bits and pieces of foamy-foam and insulation- which will go behind LP sheeting so the crazy chickens don't eat it), and Will worked on some of the timber frame posts for the barn. Mom brought up a small refrigerator my brother had in his garage that he wasn't using so we could store extra eggs and potatoes in there. We had one of the hams from the pig we bought...it was incredible. I may never be able to buy store bought pork again! The bacon was pretty awesome too.

Fruit Flies in My Wine...

The last day of summer. The eve of the autumnal equinox- Mabon. Seems like a fitting evening to have a class of le vin rouge. I am, however, being assaulted with the wee fruit flies that have invaded our home for the past few weeks. They know that all those ripe goodies from the garden and orchards are coming into homes where they have lain dormant for the better part of a year and so have strategized and lain seige upon anything vaguely fruit like. Including my wine (the fine box vintage that it is). It only takes one fly to get in there and turn the stuff from barely drinkable to pickle juice.

Speaking of pickles...we have a plethora of cucumbers (like everyone else I'm sure) and so today used about 12 of the bigger beasts to make sweet pickle relish. The kids like it on hot dogs so i figured what the heck. I found the recipe online and it is very similar to my grandmothers funnily enough! I now feel inspired to do something with the rest of the forty odd zepplins and am considering my grandmothers 9 day pickle recipe. I always loved those as a kid- they are so sugary sweet and sour you can make yourself sick on them pretty quick. I think it was the pearl onions that so fascinated me. I wonder if I can find pearl onions in Newberry??? Pretty exotic.

If August was all about vacation, then September has been all about work! Not the government job either, but more about that later. Will has leveled the barn site and poured the footings- today was spent splitting wood, stacking wood, throwing wood into the basement. It will be neck and neck- barn and fuel wood this fall. He spent part of the day sketching out and planning the sill and posts...the next steps. We harvested Dave and Sabras potatoes and onions...our friend (the one with the milk cow) Dorothy sent off a box of them to Colorado for them to enjoy. We have eaten a couple of meals of potatoes and some of the onions went into the relish. Will has harvested some of our potatoes as well, the garlic is in, some beans have been frozen, we've spoken already about the cukes, and are getting a few tomatoes. Kristie will be loaning us her dehydrator to try out drying the roma's. I'm enamored with the idea of sun-dried tomatoes on our traditional Friday night pizza all winter!

The BIG news is...we bought half a pig. Before you ask, though I know it has already formed as a question in your mind, it is a lateral half. Don't know if it was the right or left. BUT, we have mucho packages of ground pork, roasts, ribs and chops in the freezer right now. The ham and the side of bacon (13 pounds!!!) are being smoked right now. Pasture raised pork not more than twenty miles away. Our local librarian and her husband have grass fed beef too...we are looking into purchasing perhaps a quarter....

The chickens are laying eggs too! We get between 4-7 a day at this point. The adult auracanas aren't producing much- don't know if they are sneaking off somewhere or if they are in the midst of molting. It is hard to tell, because Rosy (the rooster) is particularly fond of them and their back feathers are always a mess from being trod on. I need GPS collars to track the bloody things. Next year we will either have to fence the chickens in, or the gardens out...they have taken to eating the hens and chicks ironically...and they don't so much eat the other plants and smash them down on the ground and walk on them with their dinosaur feet.

Lila and I went down to Gaylord Saturday morning to pick up a rabbit cage I ordered. The fella that makes them lives five hours away, but was at a rabbit show in Gaylord a mere 2.5 hours in one direction. so we left early, hit the holiday gas station for hot chocolate and Thai tea (from a machine- really!) and headed south. Having never been to a rabbit show before I was completely unprepared for the sheer biomass of rabbits that would be there. Breeds I have never ever heard of before. beautiful most of them....and we saw a tiny breed (the chihauhau of rabbits) with these HUGE eyes...they reminded us of fiver the prophetic rabbit from Watership Down...left us a bit uneasy! Of course, at this point Lila is BEGGING me for a rabbit OR a guinea pig. First thing we saw in the door was a cage of two guinea pigs (brothers) so we had to stop and poke our fingers in the cages. They were priced at $10.00 each or $15.00 for two, but clearly the mistress of the booth eyed a sucker with a child like appendage hanging on her showing all big eyes and saying "oh please Mummy- they can live in my room and i'll take care of them...", so the price dropped down to two for $10.00. I made a hasty retreat muttering something about the fact that I only came for a cage... Two hours later (and much wheedling from Lila about how she could have both a rabbit and a guinea pig in her room) Fred and George were riding in the cab on the way home with us. I did actually get the cage too. It is a three stacker! We also had to buy a guinea pig cage. AND I ALMOST bought another english angora buck. Except he was $75.00, four months old and had never been plucked. He had gotten loose in the fellas garage and smelled a bit oily too. Some mats on his face- but he was very sweet. I barely got out of there, and twenty miles north realized I hadn't actually gotten the legs to the cage so I had every reason in the world to turn around and get those legs except I thought I wouldnt' be able to resist the bunny, and get home to my boys even later. I'm hoping the cage legs will come in the mail.

Turns out the boys didn't miss us much- Aunt Alis had sent a volcano kit in the mail and they put that together and had fun with baking soda and vinegar. They gave us a demo when we got home.

So it was a bit of a tiring though eventful weekend! Groomed some bunnies, worked on some fiber batts and we made some jam too. Work again tomorrow...yuck. We received our temporary lay off notices in the event that the State budget isn't in place for October first...it doesn't look good at this point. October first is also a pay day- except the folks who would be doleing out the checks via electrons might not be working so you can't even get paid for the two weeks you worked prior to the layoff! It is a real paycheck this time too- no furlough days for the first time in three months. Always an adventure. We can always eat eggs and pig until the politicians get it figured out!

Ten week old Clover, kicking back after grooming.

Home again...people pictures

The bloody blogger isn't cooperating so you get all the pictures first...

Sam, Duncan and Lila in the Strawberry Bank Dory at Odiorne Point Science Center

Duncan and Sam looking for tidepool creatures.

Torturing Aunt Alis

The traditional photo op at the Ottawa River in Mattawa, Ontario. The province of Quebec is in the background.

HA! Got one with Will in it this year!

Family tidepooling- looks rough eh?

Yes, we made it home in one piece, sanity (what there was) mostly intact. It was a long hot ride and the air conditioner had decided that it needed more freon to live...we were unable to satisfy its thirst for the vile substance and suffered for it accordingly!

All was well upon arrival, with the exception of losing Miss Marples- evidently she got out somehow and has not returned...going on week two. She was an interesting cat and not overly friendly (with the exception of Will whom she worshipped), but she will be missed nonetheless. Hopefully she will turn up.

All the woolies were pleased to see us, and as predicted, the baby english angora kits were twice the size they were when we left! They were put into a bigger cage outside, and this morning the Blue-eyed white buck went to his new home. My friend Jane (a fellow spinner) and her husband Mike picked him out and named him "Edgar" (after Edgar Winter). Another spinner in the Sault will be buying one of the BEW does- leaving us with another BEW doe and a lovely vienna marked buck (that Duncan wants to keep of course). I think I have another customer for the buck too. That would leave us with six English angora bunnies to take care of- and they are a handful!!

Tomorrow is another State furlough day- this will be spent making shortbread for the next days wedding...we are so excited. It is especially nice because it is also our wedding anniversary...what a great gift - Will in a kilt!! The bride is a daughter of our friends Doug and Ruthette. Lila is way out of control with this...she has tried on SEVERAL dresses and combination of accessories in anticipation. She made her card as soon as we returned! This is the first wedding the kids have been invited too so it is a big deal to them! Plus they have known Rachel all their lives so they are so happy for her. I think Will also will be going to purchase our first installment of 8X8 timbers for the barn....yahoo!!!

We are coming home soon...

Two more days of fun before two more days of long driving....my lower back is already giving me sympathy pangs! Laundry and packing the next two days and some last minute stuff. Still haven't seen Half Blood Prince...hope to sneak it in this evening after dinner out on the seacoast. The kids are spending the night at Aunt Bonnies house this evening and going shopping in Portsmouth tomorrow...they were going to go today but President Obama is in town and it will be crazy... Sam is somewhat hesitant but was bribed- there could be a midnight phone call in the works.

Tomorrow it is Chicken Tika for dinner! My favorite meal prepared by my favorite man. The evening will be wrapped up by a "bag party"...this translates into more to pack! :) Aunt Mary, Miki, Aunt Alice, Aunt Bonnie and Grammy Jo will all be there.

Will's brother Danny and his sons little Danny and Ian suprised Will for his birthday and they were all here until yesterday- we haven't seen them for four years so that was really a nice surprise.

Yesterday we went to the Odiorne Seacoast Science museum. They have a really cool touch tank for tidepool creatures so the kids get to hold sea urchins, hermit crabs and starfish. The best display was a tank with skate cases, or mermaids purse. They had them backlit so you could see the developing skates in them wiggling around...really cool! I would like to find a pair of dangling earrings shaped like skate cases in sterling...seems like they should exist out there somewhere! We also made it to the beach to find some real tide pools. The tide was coming in pretty quickly though which was fun to experience...we've always been there at low tide before.

I've been perusing the sheep blogs...missing the woolies. When we get home the timbers and wood will be ordered for the barn!!! Yeah!! The chickens will be released from their outside pen and allowed to roam freely for the first time...we'll see how the gardens fare...the veggie garden is already fenced in. I'll have to build more nest boxes when we get back too- the young girls should start laying in September. Then we will have to figure out what to do with all those eggsess...

We have arrived!

Okay, we actually arrived Sunday evening. After coming through the Vertmont-Quebec border crossing we decided to stop at the "welcome to VT rest area" for a free cuppa Green Mtn. Roasters Coffee and to have a bit of lunch via the cooler. Whilst perusing the brochures we came across one for the Bread and Puppet Theatre company in Glover VT. We realized that we were only a few miles away and decided to stop to visit the museum there and hopefully pick up a few goodies for friends. It was incredible!!! SO many puppets and arranged very interestingly...18 foot high face masks down to tiny little finger puppets all lovingly handmade. Bread and Puppet has been around since the 60's and Will has some very fond memories of festivals. The best thing was we actually arrived in time for a performance (in the inside theatre since it was pouring down rain...). Will managed to catch a fair bit of it, but the kids were not into the introduction (being political in nature and probably not entertaining for kids thought hilarious to us boring adults), so I left with the party poopers and went back into the museum. We bought some really cool posters and goodies for our lovely friend Ruthette who is SO into puppets and an awesome puppeteer in her own right.

I have lots of photos and a really fast connection, but did I bring the cable for the camera??? No...

Had an impromptu dinner last evening with all the sisters and our great neice Micki. LOTS of dogs. Glad (though sad too) that we left the dogs home...three more may have been a bit much.

Missing the sheep and the bunnies. We passed many farms along the way from Curtis east through Montreal and south through the White Mountains but I only saw two farms with sheep...I'll have to run over soon to Liz Conrads farm just a bit down the road to see her woolies and check out her fiber...she has mostly border leicesters (I can't say or read that without thinking of Ma in Babe and her proclomation- "I'm a border leicester ewe")...I miss my shetlands! :( Those tiny white bunnies will be unrecognizable when we return too. BUT- we are having spaghetti dinner at Aunt Bonnie Bon Bon Banana heads house tonight with Almost Uncle Patrick and the rest of the Clan, and planning a trip to the ocean. We definately have to get in a trip to the movies to see "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince " too! Liz also sells lamb so we will be having some kebobs in the near future...last year we made a rosemary, thyme, garlic and olive oil marinade that was awesome.

These guys are just too darn cute.

Over the weekend I groomed all six of the Buns that have hair long enough to tangle- the four adults and the two ten week old "babies". I was pretty shocked to pluck over an ounce apiece from Taffy and Jellybean. I was able to fill six plus bags of fuzz with more plucking to do later this week. We are now up to six different shades of English Angora fiber!

The list of things to do before heading east ebbs and flows...need an oil change, clean out the van, pack the clothes, give a presentation to sixty kids on "the language of color" (animal coloration) on Wednesday, go to a Piping Plover meeting at the UM Biological Station on Thursday, and assorted other work stuff, finish plucking bunnies, put out the salt block for the woolies, buy snacks for the road...hmmm. I 'm pretty sure the list was longer. Good thing I wrote it down.

All things wool...and some feathers too.

Lila wren and Miss Frizz- a bantam cochin frizzle...aren't they beautiful?

This was a weekend of accomplishments...Fallon the crazy shetland was finally FINALLY shorn. It took a bit to get her to trust going into the sheep shed and then WHAM! The gate was shut. She'll probably never go in there again even for treats. I truely wish that we had the camera in there because there were some funny photos to be had of Will wrestling sheep. She pinned him once, honest! I wish I had some idea what the heck to call her color. It is a dark silvery brown...is there a dark musket?? It is awesome whatever it is. So now everyone is shorn and has some nice short toes as well.

We moved the mother ewes and thier babes out of the maternity ward and in with the rest of the gang. Those four were getting pretty fat out back I'm embarrassed to say! They are so very sweet, and of course, the rest of the sheep had to have their say using their skulls- even the most mild mannered. sigh. I probably shouldn't worry, since they are so chubby, that they aren't getting enough hay yet. The interesting part was getting the cozy double shed out of the maternity ward and into the pasture. It was four by eight and fairly solid. We had to put it on its roof and put some small diameter long logs underneath it and roll it all the way there, constantly picking up the logs from the back and running them out to the front...it was kinda fun!

To top it all off, Pikachu the white llama needed her toes trimmed. This is a major chore because of course, she does not like such things done to herself and won't stand nice and calm like a horse to have her toes trimmed. And no, at this point we don't have a chute to restrain her...Mom?! Need your wood working skills now that we have all those 2x4's!! Anyway...the way this goes is you suggest to her you'd like to trim her feet- she lays down. ON her legs. Then the good husband (laying on his belly in the dirt (that isn't really dirt but dried llama and sheep beans))tries to pull her leg to the side- it moves about two inches. BUT- I can see them when I push aside all the long belly hair (while on my knees contorting upside down with my hair dragging in the aforementioned dirt). Yup, I can feel the toes and the nail. Now, I have to reach under her with the clippers get the long horny nail in them and really, really reaf on the bloody things, and then out pops a long nail bonking off your forehead (if you are lucky). Those are the front feet- the back feet are even worse.... It is done though and that felt great!

Duncan and his favorite white crested polish

Jellybean and Taffy the nine week old english angoras were moved to their own individual pens...they seemed a little sad or shocked to be away from Mom, but she immediately stretched out and I swear you could see her say "Whew"! I actually had to pluck fiber from them and it is SOOOOOOO beautiful...Taffy's is a dark brownish grey, and Jellybeans a bluish grey tipped with black. Incredible.

The three week old babies are popping in and out of the box like popcorn in a pan. All the whites do have blue eyes, but I think the black gets all the attention from the kids because it looks so different from the rest!

Sam's eyes are hazel and the bunnies blue despite the red-eye flash

The chickens are also awesome. We could all spend hours just sitting there watching them- I don't miss having TV at all. Sirius Black, our black australorp rooster, crowed for the first time when I let them out of the coop on Thursday. It was so inspired, but all the chickens ran back into the coop when he did it the first time...he has repeated it everymorning since then. The other rooster just looks at him like "whats up with that Dude??" He hasn't even tried. It's okay though because he is so handsome...

Another notable mention for today was the harvest of our Inchillium Red Garlic...just in the nick of time...I used the last clove at dinner. It is so beautiful. Two more varieties to harvest in the next couple of days- German Red and Musik.

As I'm sitting here I'm having some decaf green tea and spinning up some of the white shetland (Nala) and cream angora (Buffy) blend . It spins wonderfully. It takes about ten minutes to upload a photo using our dial up...now you know why I don't post too often! It should be another busy week ahead of us...two more soccer games for the season (YEAH!!), hay to help put in the barn (someone elses barn for now...), trim the chicken coop, go to the farm to get milk (Yup, no more store bought milk for us! AND when the chickens start laying we can TRADE eggs for milk!!), harvest the rest of the garlic, go the work (oh crap!), etc...Friday is an unpaid furlough day so it is a short week. A money short week too! Oh well. It has been nice having an extra day off anyway. The kids are in bed, Will is in the green chair reading Tolkein, and soon I will have to go shut the chicken coop door and put them to bed too.