In Defense of Bella And Way too Funny...

I had actually planned a longer post for yesterday. But a neighbor showed up with a load of hay just as I started my post. Can't post when there's hay to be had!!

So, where was I? Oh yes, Bella had an "accident". I was mad. However, I also realize that she is a ten month old pup and that she was left home alone (well, not really alone ~ Sadie was there, as were the cats!) for a very long time. I'm gone for 10 hours when I work.

The animals and I are trying to adjust to my new work schedule now that I'm on second shift. I used to feed the dogs first thing in the morning and around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

Now, I leave for work at 1:00 pm. So, I've been feeding around 8 o'clock in the morning and then again at noon. I'm rethinking that plan. I'm going to try feeding them at 8 am and when I get home from work (around 11 pm) and see if that works better. I'm thinking two meals, within a few hours of each other, and then being left alone for 10 hours is probably not the best plan for a puppy...


On a brighter note ~ I bring you (courtesy of my Princess):

6 TRUTHS OF LIFE



1. You cannot touch all your teeth with your tongue.

2. All idiots, after reading the first 'truth', will try it.

3. The first truth is a lie.

4. You are smiling now because you're an idiot.

5. You will soon forward this to another idiot.

6. There is still a stupid smile on your face.

I don't care if you lick windows, take the special bus,
or occasionally pee on yourself...

You hang in there sunshine, you're freakin' special...

DREAM says...

..."I don't get it."

Trust me Dreamer, it's amusing!

SADIE sez.....

Mom's mighty mad at Bella. Aparently, Bella couldn't wait till Mom got home from work last night, so she went potty (pee & poop!) in the house.

Boy! was Mom mad. Now, she said that Bella and I will have to stay outside until she gets home tonight....

Stupid Bella.

SSSHHHHhhhhhhhhhh.......

Don't tell anybody but it's Mom's Birthday!

Keep this between us...

I won't tell a soul!

I know Nothing!

DREAM says...

..."Happy Birthday Mom! You'll have to wait until April for my present but here's a Hint..."

And the Winner is....

CHICKENS! Either I'm boring my faithful readers with my constant onslaught of sheep & goat pictures or you really are just curious about my fluffy fowl.

I can't say that I blame you ~ I find the chickens endlessly entertaining and a joy to watch. I started out, last summer, with 3 hens and a rooster. The rooster is "Bruce Springstein" and his girls are "Madonna" and "Ann Margaret". I lost one of my lovely girls (my best egg layer, of course!), "Janice Joplin", about a month ago.

I'm not sure if a cat got her or one of my rams. I found Janice, barley alive, between the front legs of "Crescent Moon", my big, moorit & white, HST ram, one morning. There were some feathers scattered about but no outward signs of injury. I wrapped Janice in a towel and brought her into the house. She passed within an hour. I was very sad. I still miss Janice ~ she was a very feisty hen ~ always pecking at me when I'd go to pet her.

I had always assumed that my lovely, little Madonna would be the first to go. She's got a bad foot and walks with a noticeable limp and is not the best flyer. In fact, she's always on the floor when I go out to feed and comes right up to me so that I can pick her up and put her back on the roost where her food and nest box are.

She's such a fluffy little cutie! And she gives me the cutest, little brown eggs...

I've been reminding Bruce that he really needs to protect his girls!

He's a beautiful boy and can be heard crowing frequently, throughout the day.

I've decided that three chickens is a good number. I may even let one of the hens sit on a batch of eggs, later this Spring. Now if I can only keep them safe from the cats AND the rams....

DREAM says...

..."I don't have any problems with the rams. And I was kind of wondering, Mom ~ how do you spin those chickens Fiber??? They seem kind of worthless to me! "

Now, Dreamer...I haven't seen YOU lay any eggs yet! Each of my creatures brings it's own special gift into my life. Not to worry, you'll always be one of my very favorites!

Staying Warm...and READERS CHOICE...

*As always, click on any image to enlarge for detail*

What do I do on these Bitter cold, February days?

I spend time with my ANIMALS, of course! I must admit, the boys didn't venture out of their barn until Bella and Sadie and I went out to feed everyone.

The girls, naturally, pushed and shoved to get in close for petting (and cookies!)

Sadie thinks we should maybe hurry up and get inside ~ her feet are cold!!

The chickens are not about to venture outside into the bitter cold...

Madona is even sitting on an EGG for me!

Unfortunately, even her fluffy body can't keep the egg from freezing.

And then there are my goats. No way these beautiful creatures are setting foot out of their barn! I did manage to get some gorgeous, door-way photos though. ;-)

That brings to mind my idea for a READER's CHOICE day. YOU can decide which Bluff Country Creature will be the star of my next post. I got some beautiful, new photos of the sheep, the goats and the chickens. What would you like my next post to feature? Cast your vote in the comments and I'll feature which ever animals get the most votes.

DREAM says...

..."Of course, we all know that I am the favorite ~ but I don't mind sharing the spotlight, once in a while!"

In the beginning...

Tomorrow (Feb. 19) will be the 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my blog! So much has happened since the first day that I sat down and decided to share my life with unknown others. I was hesitant at first. Now, I am so glad that I DID IT! It's been a roller-coaster ride ~ this past two years. I'm very grateful for the many friends that I've made through my sheep and my blog. I feel like you've become my "extended family". I hope we share many more anniversaries. In the future, I may occasionally do a "Two years ago today" or "One year ago today" post to relive some of the more significant events that have been acknowledged on this blog. Today, I thought it might be fun to go back over the very first few posts that I made. I hope you enjoy this 'stroll down memory lane...'

In the beginning...
Sunday, February 19, 2006

I've been wanting to create a blog for quite some time. I'm finally going to take the plunge but am a bit timid about doing so. Therefore, I will keep this little piece of the Internet to myself, until (or IF) I decide that it might be of interest to others. For now, I shall play around with the settings and options and try to learn about this "blogging business". Computers are not my forte ;-) So, I'll play with colors and fonts and backgrounds and what ever else there is to explore until I, hopefully, create something worth sharing...(that is, if I don't self destruct in the process!)
Posted by Nancy K. at 6:49 AM

Organizing my thoughts...

Now THAT's a scary concept! Organizing my thoughts. Ha! But I'll try:

SHEEP. Shetland sheep, to be exact. That's what really drove me to want to have a blog. I raise Shetland sheep. And I love them more than I ever dreamed someone could love "livestock". So I want this blog to be about Shetland sheep. I'm thinking maybe I'll start out with an "introduction" of my flock. Maybe post photos and a brief description of each of my woolly friends. I have lots of pretty pictures ;-) Here's one of my favorites:

That's PACO. Full name: "Bluff Country Apocalypse". Isn't he beautiful?

I think this photo looks like an oil painting. I would LOVE to have an oil painting done from it! Anyway, Paco will be two years old in April of this year. To say that I'm proud of him would be an understatement. I selected the ram and ewe, who's genetics would be combined to produce this handsome ram, and Paco is exactly what I was hoping to achieve. Now, of course, I'm hoping to get lots of little Pacos in the coming years...

I'm getting ahead of myself here! I don't think I'm really quite ready to start introducing my flock. I'm supposed to be organizing my thoughts! OK, I want to talk about sheep. But, I also know I will talk about knitting, as that is my other addiction of choice. So, how should I do this? Should I set up two separate areas of my blog in which to discuss these two issues? Or should I just let things spill out as they may? I suppose I could try to have some 'sheep related' and some 'knitting related' discussion in each post. Nah... I don't want to HAVE to do anything a specific way. Maybe, I should put this 'out there' (for a select few!) and get some feedback as to how to set up this blog...


NAME THAT BLOG CONTEST!

It has been brought to my attention that "A Shepherd's Voice" sounds like a church bulletin. In the interest of open-mindedness, I am willing to hold a name that blog contest and entertain suggestions for a new (better, more appropriate, more memorable?) name for this blog. If you would like to make a suggestion for a new name, just enter it in the comments section after any post. I'll pick a winner (of an as-yet-to-be-determined wonderful prize) next Saturday *which just happens to be my birthday!* February 25th.

Now, my dear friend, Kim has pointed out that if I change the name of my blog, I'll have to change the ADDRESS too. That's OK. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it ;-) I'm sure someone will have the wisdom to tell me how I can do that and still stay in touch with all my loyal readers.....

oh that's right; I don't HAVE any loyal readers. Yet

Blog on!

DREAM says...

..."I didn't say anything way back then. Mom says I wasn't even BORN yet!! Can you imagine that??? This blog without ME!?"

All in a Day's Work...

I've been SPINNING! ALL day long. And THIS:

is all that I have accomplished! That's not even a half of a bobbin.

In my defense, I will say that it's pretty Fine. Even Bella thinks so! I actually had some problems with spinning it because my right hand and arm kept going all numb and tingly on me. :-( I had to stop, every few minutes, and shake it out. Not sure what that's all about but I hope it's not an ongoing problem! I'm spinning Alice's fleece up for a * Very Special Project* and have LOTS of roving left to do...

I only worked on Alice today, but this photo shows some of my other spinning projects. On the far left is part of a bobbin of black, singles in a bulky size. That's what was left on the bobbin after I plied some for the bag that I'm working on.


The white (it's actually light Musket) is another bobbin of Alice that I've been working on. Unfortunately, the yarn broke and I can't ~ for the LIFE of me ~ find the end. Yes, I tried spinning it backward and using masking tape. No luck. So, I started another bobbin. ;-)

The multi-colored yarn is a bobbin of fingering weight, singles that I'm making using locks of fleece that I rooed from my girls, last Spring. It's my first attempt at spinning from the lock ~ and "in the grease" ~ and I Hate it!! But I do think that the yarn will be very pretty....

DREAM says...

..."Wasn't I just the cutest, little thing you EVER did see? Mom keeps telling me that the grass will come back but I don't know. The weather forecast is for a MAJOR winter storm tomorrow and Mom's supposed to WORK! I think she should stay home!"

Going to the Bank...

I'm heading for the bank to make a deposit to my savings account.


I have it set up so that if I ever don't have the funds in my checking account to cover a check, the bank automatically transfers it from my savings account. Unfortunately, my savings account was down to ZERO. Fortunately, I save quarters. The jar is one I marked when my Step son lived with Don and I. I was teaching him the different coins so marked a jar for each coin and Richie would practice putting coins in the right jar. I have a jar for nickels, one for dimes, and this one for quarters. They add up FAST. I'm betting there's over $100.00 in there...

DREAM says...

..."Life is GOOD in the Bluff Country!"

I wasn't going to post about any more SNOW...

But how do you ignore THIS?

This is the swing that Katie likes to sit on and read, while she sips a glass of wine, when she's home to visit. I miss my BBG!

I decided this morning, that I would NOT post about snow. I was going to refer people to Yellow Jacket Ridge, in Colorado if they'd like to see some beautiful photographs of snowy scenery.

I was also going to suggest you visit Tammy's blog to see the WONDERFUL, CLAY, SHEEP FIGURINES that she's making and will soon be offering for sale.


I'm on her waiting list!

We got another snowfall today. 6 to 8 inches. I stayed home from work! The roads just aren't safe to drive. Which is nice (I actually get to watch "Survivor" and "Grey's" (update ~ Grey's isn't on!). Of course, it WON'T be so nice when I get a smaller paycheck! I'm already worrying about coming up with the cash for vet checks and yearly shots & flea/tick control for all the dogs and cats. Ok, so I'll POST...

As you can see, BELLA enjoyed the snow! I walked the fence line and fixed several areas that were damaged by the heavy snow or DEER.

The poor deer are really struggling with all this snow and are demolishing the bottom half of my Pine Trees! I'm thinking of fencing the trees into the girls' paddock this Spring.

"MOON" is wondering why the girls get fed in their nice, big, warm, dry barn and the BOYS have to eat OUTSIDE....

It sucks to be a ram in the Bluff Country!

BELLA says...

..."Happy Valentine's Day!"

(Dream's in her nice, big, warm, dry barn ~ eating!)
;-)

Second Shift...

I'm enjoying working second shift. Actually, I'm still in training. I'm working from 4 pm to 10:30 pm. I LOVE it!

I love being home with my animals during the day!. I get so much more work done around the house and actually have time to spend with my critters, before dark.

Yes, it took a bit of adjustment, getting used to sleeping past 5 am. And I was MIGHTY tired the first few nights. But from day one, I loved being home during the day.

Next week my regular schedule will begin and I'll be working from 2 pm 'till 10 pm. I wish I could go in later, but customer service is only open until 10, so that's the best I can get. I think it will work OK. I'm going to work every weekend and have Monday and Fridays off. I get paid extra for weekends and need every penny I can make now that I'm trying to keep this place going on my own...

DREAM says...


..."Mom's gotta go ~ she's running LATE!"

;-)