Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Winter Musings





Well, it's been awhile since I've had a chance to post a new blog. Been busy cleaning stalls, shoveling snow, cleaning stall, shoveling snow.... did I mention cleaning stalls! The snow the past month seems to be never ending. I'm ready for a thaw and snow melt. Looking forward to brown pastures again. Not so much the mud though, but I'll take that over the minus something temps.


Of course I've been feeding the wild birds. Been going through a 50 pound bag of sunflower seeds a week since the snow has covered any attainable food source.


My sheep seem to be handling the cold just fine as I expected they would. Funny thing about them is that they have not ventured past their paddock in three weeks. The snow is very deep as we got 16 inches last week and 6 inches yesterday with not much melting before this last dump of snow. This is Heathcliffe my ram. His horns are looking pretty good. I'm very pleased with him as he is very calm and gentle with the ewes.




I'm anxiously awaiting to see how many lambs I will have. I hoping at least 4. Maybe 6. And I really want a spotted one too. :)
I got a loom back in December. I found a used Cherry Norwood four harness loom. It came with a warping board, shuttles, spools and bobbin winder and a 10 and12 dent reed. But for the life of me can't figure out the warping thing. I have two weaving books, but I can't get it. I have a small scarf project I want to do. So I decided to take the basic weaving class again from the Yarn Barn in Lawrence. The refresher will be good for me anyway.

Had a scary thing happen yesterday. My old Quarter Horse mare (22), Cheyenne, got cast in a snow bank. When I went out to do chores I thought she was dead! I panicked!!! Odd thing was her best buddy and my main ride, Betsy Sue was nudging her to please get up. These two gals are always together. My old gelding was standing over her, protecting her I guess. Took about 10 minutes of halter tugging to get her to roll and then stand up. She is doing better today, but still appears slightly lame on her right back leg. Hope she pulls out it as I use her to ride with non-gaited horse friends and when ever I feel like poking along instead of the fly by the seat of my pants foxtrotter mare. Ha! This pic is of Cheyenne from 2008 winter. And I thought 2008 winter was hard, but it doesn't compare to 2009-2010 and this winter 2010-2011.





How are the rest of you all fairing with this crazy winter weather. What projects have you been doing?








1 comment:

  1. We have a lot of snow, too, but didn't get any more with this week's dump. I'm sure our temps are about the same as yours.
    Very cool about the loom. Did you try contacting the maker for instructions on warping it?
    I crocheted and then machine felted a saddle pad/blanket this winter and am now working on some knitted projects.
    I am not looking forward to the mud, either, but definately am ready for warmer temps.

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