EIGHT WEEKS....

It's been 8 LONG weeks since I last saw my Beautiful Baby Girl.
I took this picture of her as we drove to meet her recruiter who was responsible for getting her to Boot Camp at Great Lakes Illinois. I have missed her SO much! I have worried about her, endlessly. I have cried, I have laughed and I have prayed. LOTS of prayers!

On Thanksgiving Day, my oldest Daughter, Pam (my Princess) drove the 5 hours to spend the day with her baby sister.
Pam reports that Katie is fine ~ thin...but fine. And very, Very PROUD. Proud of herself, for what she has accomplished and proud to be in the Navy.
My girls spent the day together. Lots of hugs and smiles and love. I was so happy, just knowing that they were together!
This is Katie talking with me on Pam's cell phone.

This afternoon, I am picking up my son, Ben (Porkchop) and we are following Pam and her handsome husband, Karl and their three boys (my GRANDSONS!) to Great Lakes, Illinois, where my Beautiful Baby Girl will GRADUATE tomorrow morning!

I am so excited to SEE Katie and to be able to hold, hug and kiss her that it almost hurts ! We've gone 8 weeks and much longer without seeing each other before, but never without the ability to communicate. Boot Camp let us share letters but once a week letters are just not the same as hearing the voice of someone you love and are worried about! I know that my Baby Girl went through hell at Boot Camp....that's what Boot Camp is all about! It was difficult, as a Mom, to know that she was in such a stressful situation, and not be able to comfort or support her in any way! Needless to say: I am SO glad that it's over!!!

So, I'll be gone for a few days. I'm staying at Great Lakes and spending the weekend with my future Naval Intelligence Officer! Ben & Pam and her family are driving back, right after the ceremony tomorrow. Katie and I will spend a few days together ~ she has to report back to the base in the evenings. I will return home on Sunday night. I wish I could bring my Beautiful Baby Girl home with me but she has to report to her fist station, which will be school in Monterey, California! My BBG is going back to school (she graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2005 ~ or was it 06? ~ and has desperately wanted to continue her education. That dream is finally coming true! I am happy. And proud. And oh-so-VERY Blessed!

Making Hay While the Sun Shines....

Isn't that what Somebody called "it" when I was a little girl...?

Well, while my sheep were making hay - settling into their breeding groups, my goats took advantage of my lack of attention and explored the Hay Barn!

That's "McSteamy" up front ~ he's only coming out because he saw me coming and is thinking that I might have a treat for him. I don't THINK so....

He IS mighty cute though!

McDreamy and McSteamy are both wethered, so pretty little Meredith is safe.

Barn closed, all the animals fed and watered (FIVE groups to feed and water now!). I'm heading in to warm up. Which is kind of an oxymoron, considering the thermostat in my house is set on 50 degrees!!

DREAM says....

....."Can't chat right now ~
I've got a date with MOON in the new barn tonight...!"

Happy Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally when I put my breeding groups together. When I woke up this morning, Alice was standing by the fence, looking longingly over at the rams. I decided that today was the day. Crescent Moon and Alice wasted no time 'getting acquainted'. Zest was also more than happy to make Moon's acquaintance. Let's just say that there will definitely be lambs, late next April... ;-) He's going to be one tired ram tonight! Dream, Flash Flood and Zodiak are also in Moon's group ~ they were quite content to let Alice and Zest monopolize his attention.

Poor Hunter didn't have quite such good fortune. None of his girls were the LEAST bit interested in him! In spite of his persistent chasing, I'm quite sure that it will be a few days before he has much luck... I suspect that both Hunter and Moon are going to lose some weight ~ but for very different reasons!


As for me...I'm just so happy to still be here and planning for next year's lambs! I spent a wonderful day with my sheep, goats, dogs and cats. My Beautiful Baby Girl is "on Liberty" and spending the day with my Princess (who drove 5 hours to spend Thanksgiving day with her baby sister)! They called me this morning and will call again, tonight, to tuck me in. Life is SO good in the Bluff Country...

The 2008 "REAL SHEEP WEAR SHETLAND WOOL" CALENDAR is here!

I promised sheep pictures but didn't get outside with the camera today. Perhaps this will do....


They're here! The 2008 "REAL Sheep wear SHETLAND wool" Calendars are finally here! It took me forever to select the photos that I wanted to put into next year's calendar. I reused one....because so many people asked for it again!

The calendars are printed in full color, on Kodak paper and each month is a photograph, suitable for framing. They are available for sale for $27.00 (includes shipping).

I will set up an active link to my web site, where there will be thumbnails of each month's page, just as soon as I can get around to getting all the pictures uploaded!

DREAM says..... ...."Not even CLOSE!!! You OWE me, Mom..."

(sigh)

A First for Bellamica...

* as always, click on any photo to see a large, detailed image *


We had our first, VERY light sprinkling of snow, this morning. Bella and I ran out to get pictures. If you look closely, you can see the sprinkles of white on her ears. It's almost frightening, how much I love this puppy... We can't wait 'till we get LOTS of snow!

ZODIAK says.... "Dream's pouting! WE got snowed on too, ya know!"

I'm sorry, Dreamer! Sheep pictures tomorrow ~ I promise!

Almost Finished.....

The new barn is almost done! They still need to install the overhead door on the far end and I'll need a TON of fill to level the surface, but it's looking good. This is the view from the house...
And this is the view from the hill....
The road....See what I mean about needing a ton of fill?

Behind the barn ~ where the overhead door will be. This is where we I'll unload the hay.

This is the West side of the barn. The part that faces what is now the ewe pasture. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I thought I was getting the light filtering panels (that let light in) put in the ROOF of the barn. Apparently, I was mistaken and the plans call for "eave lights" (which I would think would be UNDER the eaves ~ not half way down the side of the barn!) to let the light in. At first I was VERY upset and thought the two-toned (Oreo cookie effect) looked stupid. But I do like how much light it lets into the barn and I'm thinking Maybe it's not too bad.... What do you think? I'm still "discussing" the issue with the contractor. They've offered to "make it right". Now I just need to decide if it needs to be fixed or not! Would it look better with that side ALL brown? You can't see that side from the road. Barely even from the house....

ALICE says... "I think it looks FINE, Mom ~ of course, I LOVE cookies..."

It's not ALL Sunshine and Roses...

By nature, I am a very positive person. I tend to see the best in things and believe that life will be good. Of course, that is when I'm not in the midst of a clinical depression episode. Which, fortunately, medication can help prevent. (knock on wood!) I am blessed to have a remarkable life, here in the Bluff Country. I love my home and I have the most awesome collection of beautiful, loving animals that anyone could ask for. I frequently post about the joy that this brings to me.

Today, I thought it might be worthwhile to briefly mention the 'flip' side. For I do believe that there is always a flip side. Sometimes, if we're very lucky, it doesn't come up very often. But it's there and the odds are it will turn up eventually. It doesn't have to be something catastrophic ~ sometimes just little things gone awry can make one wish that she'd stayed in bed that morning. Other times, it's little, nagging aches and pains that can get us down. Life in the Bluff Country is not immune to any of these things...

My 'tennis elbow' recently flared up to the point that I could not use my left arm for anything. It's a fortunate thing that I am right handed. However, the pain was significant enough that I was unable to type (not to mention many normal daily chores ~ like putting on socks or pulling up my pants!). Hence, the long spell with no posts. I finally admitted defeat and went to the Doctor. He gave me some wonderful pain pills and sent me to a Physical Therapist. Between the pain meds, the compression wrap, the wrist splint and the "Iontophoretic Patch", I'm feeling much better. I still have a couple of weeks of therapy but I'm well on the road to recovery.

When I AM recovered, I may just have to KILL me some sheep! Rams that is. The other day, when I got home from work and was feeding the flock, I left the gate open to the area where the workers are finishing up my new barn. The rams are penned on the far side of that pasture. I figured that the ewes would stay in their own paddock, since I was bringing them hay. Wrong. They had to go explore the new barn. Which prompted two of my rams (Idol and Moon) to go right through their fence and commence chasing my not-yet-to-be-bred-ewes all about the pasture. I chased those SOB's for an hour before I caught both of the boys and drug them back to their own pasture. To say I was angry and wanted to kill the rams (totally managing to ignore that it was MY fault for leaving the gate open and the GIRLS who went too close for the boys to be able to ignore....) is putting it mildly. Not what I needed with an arm that was already throbbing. We made it through that episode. I kept everyone running until I caught the boys ~ no chance for anyone to stand long enough to be mounted! And the boys were too busy trying to avoid me catching them to really make any amorous moves. Thank God!

Yesterday, I came home from work to find the rams in with the construction workers! Who were not too thrilled with the company. Apparently 3 strands of electric fence wire is not enough to contain 4 rambunctious ram lambs. Thankfully, I have two more fences and gates separating the boys from the ewes! So, before I could even change clothes (or unpack my groceries ~ including a frozen pizza! ~ I had to fix the fence. A couple of hours later and four more strands of wire and the boys are now staying where they belong! NOW I'm remembering when it was nice to have a man around! It's OK....I did just fine and felt pretty good about myself when I finally finished up with the fence, got the animals fed and watered and came into the house to change clothes and relax. THEN I remembered my frozen pizza. Still sitting in the car...

BELLA says: "I still love you Mom!"

MEREDITH says: "Silly Sheep!"

DREAM says... ..."Don't worry, Mom told me that she still feels like the luckiest woman alive and wouldn't trade our life for Anything!

How could I NOT post this?????

My dear friend, Stephen Rouse posted this picture to the Spotted Shetland Group this morning. I don't know where he found it but I about died laughing!

I'm Still Here!

Life is still "Majikal" in the Bluff Country, in spite of some minor health issues.
I'll post tonight or tomorrow and fill you in ~ I promise!

I Believe...

I etched this in the corner of the new barn that faces my house. Many years ago, I was blessed to share my life with a beautiful Arabian mare that I called "Majik". I spelled it that way on purpose. She was my light and my love. While I had Majik my motto was: "Believe in Majik". And I did. I truly believed that things would always work out. No matter how bad they may seem, things would get better and life would be good.

Long story short, I had to sell Majik when I got a divorce from my alcoholic husband. It broke my heart. Once I got back on my feet I searched for Majik. I was never able to get her back. For many years I believed that the magic was gone in my life. This time last year, I believed that the same thing was going to happen with my beloved Shetland sheep.

Not any more. I DO believe in Majik! Do you?

Life is Good....

HE'S HERE!
"SHELTERING PINES CRESCENT MOON" arrived, after dark, last night. I knew that he felt wonderful ~ very soft fleece. But couldn't really see him, until I got home from work today. He is AWESOME!!! I am REALLY stoked about my 2007/2008 breeding groups! To be announced SOON.

The new barn is progressing nicely. Windows and trim are going in now! I think the crew will stop for a few days and wait for the guy to come pour the concrete. I'm having 3 foot high concrete walls all around the barn! That ought to keep the rams in and keep them from "redecorating"... ;-)

I let the goats out with the ewes yesterday! Everyone got along fine. The goats pretty much stuck together. Once in a while, one of the ewes (usually Rosie!) would chase them, but for the most part, peace reigned. I think they all just appreciated the fresh pasture. Mc Steamy even learned a few tricks from DREAM...

...."I had NOTHING to do with that! It's not like I volunteered to share my pumpkin...!