Looking Back ~ and Moving Forward....

I'm still kickin'!
;-)
The past couple of months have been rough. I've been to some pretty dark places. With the love and support of family and friends (thank you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!), I think I've finally turned the corner and am ready to look toward the future with something other than sheer terror. In fact, I'm actually looking forward with anticipation!
Before I look too far ahead though, I want to pay tribute to 2006. Can you believe I'm saying that????? I MUST be feeling better...

2006 was the year that my dream of multiple HST lambs came true. I was blessed with Dream and Wish, Trinity, Crescendo, Finale and Kokomo! To say that I was thrilled with the markings and quality of this year's lambs would be a HUGE understatement. And of course, Dream has come to hold a VERY special place in my heart.

Saying goodbye to my sheep is always hard, but I made some wonderful new friends with people that bought sheep from me this year. Friends I hope will always be part of my life.

Speaking of new friends: How about those KITTENS????
My wonderful Daisy and her sister Lily never fail to make me smile....if not outright LAUGH. They are a HOOT! I think doctors and psychologists should seriously consider prescribing kittens to people suffering from depression...

In addition to my animals and friends bringing me great joy in 2006, my children have been, as usual, incredible. I never cease to be amazed by how loving and kind (and PATIENT!) my oldest daughter is. Watching my son mature into a strong, wise, young man is VERY heartwarming, and Katie ~ my Beautiful Baby Girl ~ and my trip to Italy is more that I ever even dreamed of! Watching the three of them stand together as they bid good-bye to their father (my ex-husband, who passed away, earlier this month) I couldn't have possibly been more proud of anything.

2006 wasn't all that bad. In fact it has some downright magical moments. I am truly blessed with the most wonderful children and the world's greatest friends, as well as a heartwarming menagerie of four-footed soul mates. So, I say goodbye to 2006. I'm looking forward to 2007. I know that there are still some very difficult issues to work through ~ but I know that I can do it. With a little help from my family and friends....
GOOD-BYE 2006!


Dream says....

..."Did you MISS me???"

Dark Places...

I'm sorry for not keeping this blog up to date. Truth be told, I don't know what to write. I spend much of my time trying not to think. Or feel. When I am depressed, I tend to withdraw. I hide. I'm hiding now. I'll be OK. I'll come through this. But I may not be willing to share. There's too much to say. I don't know how to start. Or where it will end. Or even how I WANT it to end.

Thanks for caring.

nancy & Dream

Good-Bye Bluff Country...

Good-bye Paco. You are still the most magnificent Shetland ram I have ever seen.

THE BOYS GOTTA GO....

I came home from work yesterday, to find my two adult rams had broken out of their breeding paddocks and were trying to kill each other in the 'no-man's-land' between the breeding groups. Fortunately, they didn't get INTO each other's breeding groups but were more interested in beating the crap out of each other than in stealing each other's girls. I was SO angry, I went right up to the battling boys, grabbed them by the horns and drug them back to their rightful paddocks. I then hurled a bucket of water on Bravo, to keep him from trying to go back through the fence to get at Paco and watched it freeze into a giant ice cube. (didn't even feel bad about it!) I spent the next hour fixing fences. It is VERY cold in Minnesota right now! Bravo had ripped a couple of wires off the electric on his paddock and it looks like Paco went through the gate of his. I was able to repair both, in a relatively short time but have decided that I do not want to keep rams if I'm going to be living alone. I don't like fencing!

So...FOR SALE:
"Windswept Bravo" NASSA # S19481
Bravo is a two-year old, black & white, HST (yuglet, sokket) ram with superb conformation and a dense, intermediate fleece. He sired some gorgeous lambs for me in 2006 and is bred to 4 of my girls for 2007 lambs. I kept Bravo's black/krunet ram lamb, "Bluff Country Black Diamond" ~ champion ram lamb and reserve champion ram at the 2006 Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival and have placed him with two ewe lambs for breeding this fall. Diamond will also be for sale, as I've decided to only keep ewes. Bravo is friendly but respectful (to people ~ he hates Paco!). He is halter trained and very easy to handle. His price is $600.00

ALSO FOR SALE: "BLUFF COUNTRY APOCALYPSE" (PACO) NASSA # S16941
Paco is a coming 3 year old, moorit & white, HST (smirslet/sokket> ram with outstanding conformation, gorgeous fleece and awesome horns. He has sired many exquisite lambs for me and has been breed to four of my girls for 2007 lambs. Paco was the first place yearling ram and Grand Champion Shetland Ram at the 2005 Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. He is a very majestic, stunning animal and makes incredible babies...With people, Paco is a lover. He comes running for scratches and wags his tail when petted. He halters beautifully and is a gem to handle. Not real fond of Bravo though.... Paco's price is $600.00

LAST BUT NOT LEAST (for today, anyway!)
"BLUFF COUNTRY BLACK DIAMOND" NASSA # S22436 Diamond is a breathtakingly beautiful, black/krunet, son of Bravo and Flash Flood. He'll throw HST spotting genetics as well as his awesome conformation and dense, soft fleece. Diamond is in with Dream and Rosie for 2007 lambs. I can't wait to see his babies! He is a delightful ram lamb. Friendly but not obnoxious. Tends to stand back and watch me work with the other sheep. He is excellent on halter and handles easily. Diamond's price is $400.00

I hope to move all three of these boys quickly. I am looking forward to just having one group of sheep to care for. MY GIRLS!!! It remains to be seen if I will even be able to keep them, but for now, I'm still hoping!

Dream says....

..."Where ever Mom goes, I go....!"

DECEMBER 2007 Calendar page

It has come to my attention that I have (once again!) forgotten to post the current month's picture from the 2007 REAL SHEEP WEAR SHETLAND WOOL CALENDAR. My original intent was to post the photo for each month on the first of each month. I think I maybe got TWO actually posted on the first of the month????

December features "Bluff Country Flash Flood". Flash is the daughter of Bluff Country Skittles (black/krunet) and Lost Lake Farm Phoebe (white). Although Flash looks like a white sheep, she is, technically, a black sheep. Flash has a black spot (about the size of a fist) on the back of her neck. It goes all the way to the skin. Since spots are always white, Flash is actually a black sheep with a big, white spot! I must say that all of Flash's lambs have been black (with small white spots). It sure seemed strange, registering her as a BLACK sheep though...

I WILL post again tomorrow. I've got some news and a story to tell...

Dream says....

..."I've been taking real good care of Mom! Tomorrow I get to tell you about the trouble the boys got in and who's for sale!!!!!"

WARNING!.........

ATTENTION !!

ALIENS ARE COMING TO ABDUCT ALL THE GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY PEOPLE.

YOU WILL BE SAFE,
I'M JUST EMAILING TO SAY GOODBYE.


*****************************

I wasn't planning on posting today. (Don's home)
But my daughter e-mailed me this and I was laughing so hard that I just HAD to share.

Dream says....

...."Ill be going with Mom (of course!), so keep an eye on Diamond and Rosie for me while we're gone!"

Gushing....

Have you ever seen the T.V. show: "Touched By an Angel?" That's how I feel about today. I feel like my life was "touched by an angel". Two of them, actually.
That's Corrine, in the back of her truck with Rocky, Nestle and Cowboy. Doesn't she look like an angel? Corrine and her sister, Marie, came to pick up Rocky ~ who is destined to be Corrine's flock sire. Technically, Marie came along to meet Dream. How cool is that???

These sisters are two of the nicest people I've ever met. I am so lucky to find such incredible new homes for the sheep I sell! Corrine & Marie and I chatted like old friends. I can't believe how I opened up to them. By the end of the day, it was official....I am now, officially, one of their sisters! ;-) I love these girls !

Poor Cowboy was so distraught when he heard that Corrine had decided to take Nestle, as well as Rocky, that he ran away! My new sisters and I were visiting in the house when my doorbell rang. It was some man, stopping to tell me that there was a black sheep trotting down the road! We grabbed the animal crackers and a halter and jumped into my Jeep. Cowboy was circling the pasture, trying to figure out how to get back IN. He came trotting right up to Corrine as soon as she called him.

As I drove back up the driveway in my Jeep, Marie and Corrine walked the wayward Rhinestone Cowboy back home...Somehow, he ended up in the back of their truck! ;-)









What a wonderful day. We sat out in the pasture with the girls for hours (?). Long enough for my face to get sunburned anyway!











After a wonderful afternoon (topped off by fresh from the oven, still warm, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream, it was time for my two new sisters to head for home. They wanted to get back before dark and had about a 4 hour drive ahead of them.

I just have to say: I have met THE nicest, most caring, compassionate, kindest, most empathetic, wonderfully fantastic friends through my Shetland sheep. Many thanks to ALL of you! I am truly blessed...

P.S. After Corrine and Marie left, I put my breeding groups together. ALL BY MYSELF!! Everything went very smoothly, but I am feeling very guilty. Dream hasn't been WEANED yet!!! She's never been kept away from her mother before. She keeps calling and calling for Zodiak. I am a BAD shepherd...

Dream says...
......"I'm not too happy with Mom, right now. That Diamond is OK as long as he stays over THERE and leaves me and Rosie alone!"
**********
I'm completey exhausted, but SMILING now. I think I'll put my weary body and sunburned face to bed early tonight. Feeling HAPPY.... (except for poor Dream!)

Oh Christmas Tree...

I managed to drag myself out of wallowing in self pity long enough to decorate my Christmas tree yesterday. I know ~ it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But I love Christmas decorations. I've got a ton of them. I spent the entire day, yesterday, putting out Christmas decorations. The kittens were a big help...

Truth be told, I'm not handling things very well. I'm withdrawing. My mind goes from total denial (nothing is going to change in my life) to total fatalism (I'll never be happy again). Intellectually, I do realize that the truth will lie somewhere in between. In the meantime, my daily thought processes are too chaotic to even attempt to share. I am proud of myself for reaching out for help when I was really feeling low. Thanks to my friends who have called me or have been there when I called them. I hope I can get back on my feet and be there for others again, one day soon...I'm suspect I've got a bit more wallowing to do first, though....

WARNING...Drought ahead.....

I just want to give those of you who read this blog, regularly, a 'heads up'. I'm probably not going to post for a few days. I'm just not feeling like posting. The truth is, I don't feel like doing much of anything. I'm tired. And sad. And scared. And, I suppose, I am struggling with depression. This is something I've battled in the past and I do take medication for it. I will stick with my medication and see my doctor if I need more help. I think it's perfectly understandable that I be feeling depressed right now. I'll get through it.

But in the meantime, I'm tired. All I want to do is sleep. And knit ;-) I have a ton of paperwork I've got to fill out, regarding finances, for the divorce and I need to get my bills paid. But I can't find the notebook that I keep all of my on-line passwords in. That's how I pay all my bills. And I can't do it without the passwords. I don't know if Don took it ~ or if I HID it, so he couldn't take it... ;-( Gonna need that bracelet pretty soon.... (inside joke)
Dream says....

...."Don't worry folks, Rosie and I will keep an eye on Mom. She'll be back to her feisty, witty self, before you know it!"

A Little Light....

This...
Was waiting for me (in a box, in the garage), when I got home tonight. Is it not THE cutest light you have ever seen???? I am SO happy to have it. A HUGE thank you to Cyndee Wolfe, of Lancien Farm in Marysville, Ohio, who sent this lamp to me for no particular reason ~ other than she remembered that I liked it. Cyndee sells these lamps on her web site and I saw it last spring and wanted one. I was going to buy one and Cyndee was going to buy one of my Calendars. We were going to exchange them at the Shetland AGM, in Indiana, last summer. As luck would have it, I didn't make it to the AGM. And I forgot all about Cyndee's beautiful lamps. But Cyndee ordered a couple of calendars from me and sent a note, with her check, saying that she was sending a surprise also. What kind of a wonderful person does that?

The wheel on the spinning wheel actually turns and there's real wool in the little basket! I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!

Thank you Cyndee! You've brightened my day and I'll never forget it...

Nancy

P.S. As soon as Cyndee sends me the URL to her web site, I will post it on here so you can check out her site.....
:-)

HEALTHY Kittens...

It's about time!


I finally took the kittens to the vet. Lily was coming around, pretty well, from her cold but Daisy was really miserable and was starting to lose her appetite. So $108.00 later, they've both been treated and are on medication and are SO MUCH FUN! They run and play and purr....I'd forgotten what it was like to have HEALTHY kittens in the house. That was, definitely, one hundred dollars well spent!


Both girls were treated for an 'upper respiratory infection' and are now on twice daily amoxicillin. I'm getting pretty handy with that little pipette...


I feel guilty for having taken so long to take them to the vet. I thought they'd shake the bug on their own. But when Daisy didn't seem to be getting better and started losing her appetite, it was time to go.



Both girls also had EAR MITES. A disgusting bunch of critters that look like tiny wood ticks, crawling around in their ears ~ the vet was kind enough to let me view them, under a microscope. No wonder Daisy lost her appetite!!! Both girls were treated for the mites (and wormed) and I brought home treatment for Mimi as well...
So much for "free cats"!!! (and they STILL need vaccinations and spaying!) Don't worry ~ they're worth every cent.

Dream says.....

..."Take Time to Smell the Leaves (isn't that supposed to be 'the Roses??) Don't forget about ME, Mom! I'm waiting for you!"

As I finished writing this post, my doorbell rang. It was a sheriff's deputy, here to serve me divorce papers. I guess Don's in a hurry.

I'm going to go out and sit with my sheep for a little while. Then I want to get the barn cleaned and make room for more hay. I'll take a shower and try to meet with an attorney this afternoon.

PUMPKINS!

They may be an *ACQUIRED* taste!
As you can see, Rosie and Dream don't seem all that impressed. But they'll learn.












Flash's enthusiasm is typical of how all my adult ewes love pumpkins.
It won't be long 'till Rosie and Dream are just as enthusiastic.


Although, Rosie doesn't seem too interested at first...







Until DIVA volunteers to demonstrate "proper pumpkin eating etiquette"!
























Dream prefers her pumpkin "hand fed". ;-)



Because I read that pumpkins are a natural de-wormer, I feed them to the boys too. Diamond didn't waste any time checking them out...he LOVES them!


"Bluff Country Black Diamond" will be for sale, at the end of December. I will breed him to Dream and Rosie for 2007 lambs. If I don't sell Diamond this year, I'll sell him next year, as a yearling. He is the black/krunet son of Bravo (black & white, HST) and Flash Flood (black with 'big white spot' ~ awesome fleece!) His price will be $500.00. Diamond was the first place ram lamb and Reserve Champion Ram at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in August, 2006.
Dream says....

...."That Diamond is looking MIGHTY good! ...Chomp, chomp, chomp..."

BUSY, Busy, busy....

I'm copying a children's book that my Beautiful Baby Girl wrote. She has finally agreed to send it off to a publisher! She's quite talented.

Then I'll be out putting up temporary electric fences this afternoon. That will probably take up most of the day. I'll have my camera with me, so hopefully, there will be some new SHEEP pictures tomorrow..

I'd like to run into town and pick up some kitten formula (thank you for the suggestion, Kate!)

I got this link off Tina's blog...kind of cute:

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

Dream says...."Hurry up and come outside, Mom! It's a BEAUTIFUL day!!!"

Flushing...

Flushing is the fine art of increasing a ewe's level of nutrition, prior to breeding, in hopes of increasing the number of eggs she'll release for fertilization. To my girls it means HAY and PUMPKINS! Pumpkins are supposed to be a natural 'de-wormer' ~ and my girls LOVE them.

Some breeders use grain, to flush their ewes. I never feed grain. Since I'm not using any 'high powered' feed to flush, I do give my ewe lambs the extra nourishment too. I figure they can use it as the grass loses it's quality late in the fall. So Rosie & Dream are being 'flushed' with the rest of the girls. Not so much in hopes of them having twins as just to make sure they get plenty of nutrition as they continue to grow. Since I will have Rosie and Dream in with a ram lamb, "Bluff Country Black Diamond" (first place ram lamb at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival MSSBA Show, 2006), I will supplement them with a little bit of lamb creep feed each day that the breeding groups are together.

I figure it won't hurt Diamond either. And I want to build them up for their pregnancies. Can you believe that I'm going to breed Rosie and Dream???? I can't wait to see their babies!
As for the kittens....Lily is feeling better. Now, Daisy's sick. My poor babies!

I bought her special vitamins and canned food today. I'll sure be happy when my kittens aren't sick anymore. They both sleep with me and they wake me up all night long, with their sneezing!
Tomorrow, I'm working on the fencing. Have to put up some temporary electric fences to keep the boys in their respective breeding groups. I put my breeding groups together the weekend before Thanksgiving. That way our lambs start arriving in Mid-to-late April ~ just in time for the fresh grass!

Dream says.....
...."I'm not sure what's going on but Mom's sure busy and we're getting all sorts of good stuff to eat!"

It's NOVEMBER...time for Christmas Shopping!(shameless marketing)

There's still time to get your 2007 "REAL sheep wear SHETLAND wool" Calendar for your self or for someone you love. The November page features: "Bluff Country Majik", one of the very first ewe lambs born in the Bluff Country. Isn't she beautiful?!

The price for a calendar is $25 (which includes shipping). Two or more calendars are $23 each (inc. shipping). I will sign and personalize for no extra charge ;-)
Please e-mail me for instructions on how to purchase your calendar.

Chicken Soup...

I find petting a kitten very much like Chicken Soup for the soul. It soothes and calms me. And when she purrs, my heart smiles...


But my poor little "Lily" is not feeling well. She's got a bad cold. I called the vet ~ was going to take her in for shots and worming ~ but they said they won't treat her while she's sick. She has to tough it out. So I made her chicken soup. Real chicken soup ~ with real chicken and carrots and celery and wide, egg noodles. I figure, she's sneezing and all stuffed up. Even her poor little eyes are mattery. Chicken soup helps me when I have a cold. So, I made her chicken soup. She loves it! I give it to her (and Daisy) twice a day. It really does seem to make her feel better! She doesn't sneeze for several hours after she eats it and will play with Daisy and me.

Look who's finally decided to join the fun...

Don't worry, Mimi is current on her shots, so should be safe from the kittens' cold. Now if only the humans could learn to get along as well as the animals...

Actually, Don and I are talking. Amazingly enough, we're having calm, rational discussions regarding our options. We haven't made any firm decisions but will continue to discuss things, over the weekend, and have some sort of a plan (for what ever we decide) in the next few days. I'm feeling OK.

Dream says...

..."That's all just fine and dandy but Rosie and I are feeling a little NEGLECTED. I don't believe you even came out to see me today! sniff, sniff."

I'm sorry, Dreamer ~ I get off work, early, tomorrow and will be picking up hay for you and all your friends. I promise you lots of hugs tomorrow...