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!