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.