Lavender from my garden.
I can’t believe September (and half of October) has come and gone without a blog post. How time flies! Since my last post a lot has been going on around here.
Typically I’m not an advocate of firearms…they’re too loud, too powerful, too dangerous. It’s nothing political, it’s just that I never had the need to use them and in my quest to live a peaceful, quiet life firearms just don’t fit in. But I also believe they do serve a purpose especially when shepherds need to protect their flocks from lions and tigers and bears! That said, I recently gave in and took a safety course and learned how to handle and shoot firearms.
Showing clay pigeons. Shooting instructor is our friend, Harvey.
Bulls eye!
A huge part of the course, obviously, was safety. Then we learned to shoot a 20 gauge shotgun while shooting at clay pigeons (I hit one out of three) and a 22 bolt action rifle while shooting at a circle target (I hit two dead center and three within the black rings). So I strongly suggest that any critters thinking of messing with my sheep…shouldn’t!
Then in between shooting, a family wedding (my dear son), and other high priority stuff around the farm I’ve been shearing, shearing, and shearing every chance I get. With 35 head of sheep and goats sometimes I think it’s time to get a shearer to do the job. It just seems like I always have someone to shear, not to mention that I shear with the sheep/goats on a stand so it takes longer than an experienced shearer. But on the other hand when I’m doing the actual shearing I really like being up close and personal with each sheep/goat. I don’t know, I go back and forth about getting help with it. I have two ram lambs left then done til spring. So I’ll rethink the whole “hire a shearer” next year.
Shearing ewe lambs...done!
Cisco...our Angora buck.
Cisco is a good buddy! He's ready to do what he's intended to do! Soon Cisco, soon...just hang in there.
Yesterday we brought home the last two Romney sheep that we purchased in the spring. They are bred and due to lamb in late January. The countdown is on! Now we have the BFLs, Lincolns, and Romneys as well as the Angora goats. I really like the range of longwools that we have now along with the goats. And I love all the fleeces…especially after “I” shear them 
.
New Romney ewes.
Natural colored Romney is ready to be sheared.
And we finally took Puff, the last in-tact female feral barn cat, to the clinic for her spay day…ok, probably not like a spa day, but still. I actually felt really bad for her because all she’s ever known is a quiet life in the barns. At the humane society she was exposed to a noisy lobby at the spay/neuter clinic filled with people, dogs, and cats. She did really well, though, and when I picked her up she was coming out of the anesthesia and acting a bit loopy and adrenaline-charged. I brought her home and put her back in the kennel crate so she can recover. In about a week we’ll let her out to rejoin the motley crew of mousers.
Puff, back in her crate for some R and R.
But her kitty girls living in the large crate below her are going to have an different future. You may remember the blog post entitled “Farm Mascot” about Snow Flower, the blind kitty. Well her sister, Ling Ling, is in the crate with her. They are both scheduled to be spayed in a week. When we bring them home that day, they will start their life in the house. We had decided to eventually bring Snow Flower in the house because being blind she would never survive outside with the barn cats and she can’t live in the crate in the barn forever. So she’ll live comfortably (and probably a bit too pampered) in the house. I know it’s a big commitment taking on a blind cat, but the alternative isn’t an option. She has grown to be quite the character so she’ll be very happy in the house. And because she’s been with her sister since the beginning, we decided to bring Ling Ling in the house too. She will be a nice companion. So very soon things will change in the house.
Snow Flower. Blossoming into a wonderful kitty.
Ling Ling. Getting friendlier every day.
Sister kitties.
