Uh oh!

A fiber optic cable was cut in the Eastern Upper Peninsula by a bridge that collapsed; apparently the victim of all the recent rain over the weekend, which has left three counties without 911 service and mostly without telephone service as well.
Will was called in to sub at the school so I did chores and them went off to work. Around two o'clock one of the administrative staff at work said "I saw a post on facebook that your animals are out"! I couldn't call anyone to check so drove the half hour home hoping I wouldn't find animals in the road. I pulled in the driveway and all seemed peaceful, but I did see animal tracks dancing up the driveway and the critters seemed a bit agitated.
Will came home soon thereafter and said someone had stopped at the school to let him know and it happened to be at lunch time so he was able to come home and put them away after finding them next door at the Heatherington's.
I believe the quote was "My wife is good at many things, but closing gates isn't one of them".

I might need one of these signs by mypoolsigns! Thanks Will for bailing me out again......

Here is a link to purchase this lovely sign... http://www.mypoolsigns.com" target="_blank"> MyPoolSigns.com

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We lost our "Bright Eyes"

Our pretty little Bright Eyes, better known as "Chunk", decided today was the day to sleep on.

Chunk came to us as a mature ewe and had celebrated her eleventh birthday this year. She had no back grinding teeth left and getting nourishment to her has been a challenge the past couple of years even supplementing her with other goodies besides hay. We thought we would put her down before winter set in, but she beat us to it.

She will be missed greatly. Frolick on dear one...you will be with me always.

 

 

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An unplanned and delightful visit!

Last evening after running around all afternoon from one school to the next for parent teacher conferences, we landed at The Erickson Center for the Arts to see Bill Harley, a two time Grammy Winner in Children's music and storytelling, perform. He had been at the school earlier in the day for a concert with the kids and then a family concert was arranged in the evening performing different material.

As we came in the door, Linda (our lovely librarian) told me that Bill wanted to talk to a biologist about a project he has an interest in pursuing. Just before the concert started he asked if there were any biologists in the room so I raised my hand. After the amazingly funny performance (during which both Sam and Duncan laughed like the nuts they are) we picked up a couple of CD's out of the plethora available and had them signed. Bill conveyed his interest in having a chat and we arranged for a visit at our place this morning.

Will and I had a GREAT visit and it was a relaxing philosophical discussion and it was even work related for me! He is a kind and funny man. If you haven't heard any of his stuff, look him up. You will be delighted.

I looked and looked on YouTube for "the best" clip to show you, and I ended up with this TED talks clip. It is 12 minutes long, but it is well worth the listen. It captured perfectly the gist, if not the topic, of our conversation and it is magically powerful.

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Oh and I did get to include one silly story up there above the TED talk. :) 

Muckle Mull

Muckle Mull was the ram lamb born this year that was rather large and his mum Zanzibar needed a wee bit of help getting his huge head out. He was a cute cute lamb, but we were rather disappointed by his rather blah feeling fleece and thought he was going to be chops and kabobs. It seemed odd given his great genetics.

A couple of months later his fleece started getting crimpy and butter soft, so I decided he'd remain here as a fiber wether because he has such a nice fleece and it is a beautiful grey with a blue cast (Emsket).

Unfortunately I left banding WAY too late and his testicles were too big to fit through the bander. I also did this with Rum, the super friendly black ram and had to have him surgically altered (banding would cost about $.04 versus surgery at $120....I won't forget again!). SO....we decided Mull with stay here as a breeding ram for at least this season and will have four ladies to woo for a month.

Deja, Gaia, Elle, and Daisy will be his breeding group.

Fleece upper shoulder

Lower back

Mid side (last rib)

Daisy is in the back ground admiring Mull (or looking for a pat!)

"Why are you doing this to me...."

There has been a lot of wooing going on through the fence the past few weeks and the girls will be put in with him soon for mid April to Early May lambs.

 

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Bwah ha ha!

The annual vegetable marrow carving has been accomplished.

The pumpkin seeds are soaking in a saturated sodium chloride solution and will be drained,

and tossed with tamari and Cajun seasoning from Uncle Dan.

And accompanied with a glass of fine $3.00 wine.

Heaven.

 

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Spinner's End Farm takes to the airwaves!

I met Sara from "Yarns at Yinhoo" through our alpaca kickstarter project.  We have many things in common and she is a sweet soul.  When she started her podcasts earlier this year she asked if I would be interested in talking about the farm in one. I said sure! 

 She supported our project, and I feel wonderful helping to support hers.

So, in Episode 12- Life on the Farm, you can hear me yammering on about the UP, life on the farm, and how we ended up in this big sweet mess to begin with.  If you like the podcast, please leave some feedback for Sara either on Itunes or her website.

Thanks everyone of you (all twelve of you) for being a part of our lives!  

We appreciate you here on the farm.

 

Amongst Other Things....

October seems to have flown by.  This month is a time for getting ready for winter.  

However, I don't feel quite there yet and this was the wake up call this morning....

NO!!!!!

(It didn't stick)

We spent Sunday turning apples into cider at Doug and Ruthette's house, and they had this, erm, "interesting" pumpkin there.  Doug grew it in his garden.

Kinda cute eh?

(turn it over!)

Eeek!

The Kittens continue to grow and wreak havoc upon the house.  

I am dead serious about the havoc wreaking.

The boys are getting neutered in two weeks!

My sweater, the first "big" knitting project I've attempted, is starting to look like the beginnings of a sweater;or if I give up, a shrug.  I have to knit an additional seven inches of the body before beginning a cabled medallion pattern on the back, then add a garter stitch border along the edges and knit the sleeves in the round.  This sweater is all being knit as one piece and so far it has been fairly simple.  

We'll see how the cabling goes.

Dear sweet Uist went to be a breeding ram in southern Michigan.  I had a hard time parting with him, but he will be loved where he is and pass along his lovely genetics.  I would have kept him as a wether for sure.

Duncan, the baby of the family, celebrated his ninth birthday on the seventh.

I'm not sure where all those nine years went!  

(he's only a little bit neater eight years later!)

Cider time!

One of my favorite fall activities is cider making. For the past several years, when apples are abundant, we get together with Dougette and sometimes an assortment of other friends, and press cider.

This year we had four varieties of apples and two varieties of pears that my Mother brought up from her tree and my cousin Darlene's tree. They are an incredible addition to apples in cider.

There isn't much to it after gathering up the apples. You toss a well blended mix into the hopper and grind away and then press the resulting pulp, collect the cider and filter through muslin cloth (a friend jokingly asked if this was Yooper pasteurization).

We ended up pressing thirteen and a half gallons of the nectar! Eight are in our freezer and a half gallon is waiting to be enjoyed with supper (pasties and Brussel sprouts and broccoli). The weather was crisp but the sun peeked out from time to time for which we were grateful. It was a day well spent.

 

 

 

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Suri Yarn

This is the last of the yarn I needed to spin for the Kickstarter alpaca project! Heather was very patient with me as I worked up the fiber and began spinning at a crazy time of year.

The black skein is from Mattie's cria fleece and the dark brown from Iona's. It is pure Suri and was tricky to prep at first before I got the hang of it, and you need to spin it as you would silk or fine mohair; from the fold. It is quite lovely to work with and the yarn just glows.

This week is National Spinning and Weaving week so I've challenged myself to get a pound of dark brown Shetland blended with Suri done this week for Virginia who is one of our CSA shareholders.

This is what it looks like now...

It is so soft!

 

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Long John Silver

 

Today Long John Silver went to his new forever home with Denise and Jeff.

They are kind and loving people so he will be in good hands....and he will be missed here.

Thank you Denise and Jeff!

It was good to meet you in person and we will be keeping up with your blog and will see LJS grow up!

 

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