I know it's been a while. A busy while. Class trips, knitting, working more hours because one of the bosses is away, knitting, taking care of my off-spring and chores, knitting, laundry, dodging black flies, knitting, picking rocks from my garden, laundry, dodging black flies... Is it just me or an I repeating myself?On a positive note, it will be a fantastic year for blueberries. Two years ago, my husband bush hogged approximately 15 acres of fields. Last year, the fields were in recovery. Looks like we have achieved our goal. Pays to be patient if I am going to do things as earth-friendly and organic as possible.
This is for Lene. I know how she enjoys gore.This past Tuesday I finally got the gumption to start shearing my sheep. I've been putting it off because memories of last year's shearing were entirely too fresh. Needless to say, this year didn't start off any better. After languishing in the barn for a few days (read: hiding from black flies), my woolly buddies were quite eager to get back out into the pasture. The moment I unlocked the gate, they started shoving past me and only at the very last I managed to swing my leg up to stop their progress which earned me a karate chop by an annoyed Dawn. I grabbed her fleece and hung on for all I was worth. How I got the gate locked again, I haven't a clue. Once she realized I wasn't giving in, she just lay there, faking indifference while I snipped away her precious fleece. She wasn't so easy going when it came time for me to flip her up on her rear end to deal with the belly and later clip her hind quarters. Good grief! For all the kicking and carrying on, I thought I was up again a wrestler four times my size!! But...
...I WON!!! I present you: one nekkid sheep. (three more to go, but never mind that now. I am still enjoying my victory)I use the old fashioned shears so she suffered the odd nick around the legs, but overall, I believe wholeheartedly that I was the one worse for wear. Every single muscle in my body ached for a very looooong three days. And not so much as a thank you from the sheep for removing that hot, woolly coat!
If you'll excuse me, I shall go contemplate shearing another sheep...First, I think I will knit some to inspire myself.
5 comments:
LOL... Such a sweet-looking, silly girl. Though it's the sweet-faced ones that cause the most trouble. And I bet you that Dawn would be thanking you if you decided to shear her in the middle of July!
=:8
The nekkid sheep looks very comfy. Nice job, that. Thanks much for the gruesome pic! What's a tale of a great battle and equally great victory without bloody wounds to compare with other survivors? ;)
My daughter is doing a school project of "sheep to socks".
Can you tell us the process of shearing a sheep with the old fashioned shears?
We have a pair of them here, and she can use those in her display.
Thanks!
boobearns@ss.eastlink.ca
Thanks for the info, I'll go to the library tomorrow to see if I can find any books.
Would be good if you could get your daughter somewhere to take a few lessons, she might decide not to like it - or you could be in bigger trouble and she loves it and starts to bug you more :) That's what happened to us. I always wanted a horse or pony, and never had one. Along comes our daughter who becomes horse crazy, and now we have the two of them. And they are actually cheaper to keep than we expected, hay, food, get their hooves done every 6 weeks or so, and needles once a year. Humm, how far are you from Shelburne??
Me again :)
We have our horse and pony at home, in our back yard. Not a really big area for them, but big enough.
Between the two of them they eat just about a bale of hay a day. Depending on where and when you buy it hay ranges from $1 - $5/bale. On top of that they get "sweet feed" every day, a bag of that is about $20, and lasts ... humm... 3 bags lasted well over a month for us; I think.
If you're ever headed this way, let me know, and I'll give you directions to our house.
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