The Official 7th Annual ALICE WATCH....

Ah, it's that time again. Time to count the days until my beautiful, Alice (Highland Hollow Alice, from John & Jane Eager) presents me with her magnificent lambs.

The "Alice Watch" started 7 years ago when I was worried and insecure about this Goddess of All Sheep this lovely Shetland ewe, who grows SO large and seems SO uncomfortable in the final days of her pregnancies that I made frequent phone calls to fellow shepherds and veterinarians alike!

Although everyone reassured me that Alice would be fine and she, herself, seemed unperturbed, I continued my frantic watchfulness each year. My local vet actually came to expect my phone calls, every April. One year I actually timed and recorded Alice's contractions for THREE DAYS!!! Alice, for her part, I must admit, always delivered big, healthy babies (and MANY of them!) without any need for assistance on my part...

So what?
The watch continues...

On November 22, 2007, Alice made the acquaintance of Sheltering Pines Crescent Moon. These are going to be some SPECTACULAR LAMBS!!! I no longer have the computer software with which I recorded breeding dates and predicted lambing dates, so I don't have a true 'due date' for Alice. I'm just figuring Mid-April. (getting kind of lackadaisical in my old age, aren't I????) If anyone has a due date calculator and wants to give me a more precise forecast, I'm all for narrowing down the window of time in which I need to be hysterically concerned and fraught with fear and uncertainty. I mean, when I can truly expect the blessed event....

Shearing is this weekend. Then you ALL can see how immense this stately ewe gets. Please join me in sending good wishes and prayers for another problem free delivery for my beautiful Alice and her 2008 lambs.

We'll keep you posted!

DREAM says....

...."Hey! What am I? Lambchops??? I'm cookin' up some pretty special babies TOO, ya know!"

Absolutely, Dreamer! I'm going to be keeping a close watch on you (and all the rest of your friends) as well....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLAMICA!!!

Although I wasn't aware of it at the time, one year ago today, my beautiful "Bellamica" was born. Her name means 'beautiful friend', in Italian, and it couldn't be more appropriate!

I'll share a few glimpses of our first year together...

WRONG......................!

I saw this link on somebody else's blog so thought I see what it had to say about my birthday. It is so wrong on SO many levels...

Your Birth date: February 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech. (HA! I run from anything difficult or high tech.) In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek. (Who ARE you talking about????) It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with. (It is difficult for me to find people willing to spend time with ME!) Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots! (The only 'evil robots' that I have are four legged and fuzzy!) Your strength: Your unfailing logic (Those of you who KNOW me can stop laughing now before you pee your pants!) Your weakness: Loving machines more than people (Now, if this had said "loving animals more than people" we MIGHT have something to talk about...) Your power color: Tan (If I wanted to look powerful, I'd wear black or red, and some make-up, and do my hair, and wear nice clothes, and lose some weight, and get taller and ~ oh, never mind ~ it AIN'T gonna happen! My favorite color is green.) Your power symbol: Pi (I know it has something to do with the circumference of a circle???) Your power month: July (It's WAY too hot! I can barely function in July...)

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Go ahead and try it. Yours can't possibly be farther off than mine is...

DREAM says....

MY Birth date: April 29

You have the mind of an artist, even if you haven't developed the talent yet. Expressive and aware, you enjoy finding new ways to share your feelings. You often feel like you don't fit in - especially in traditional environments. You have big dreams. The problem is putting those dreams into action. Your strength: Your vivid imagination Your weakness: Fear of failure Your power color: Coral Your power symbol: Oval Your power month: November

..."It WORKS for me!"

We have PICTURES.....

*As always, click on any image to enlarge *


Apparently, the problem was with my computer. I read the help files on Blogger and it suggested that I clean my stash ~ or cache ~ or empty my trash ~ something like that! Anyway, I did it and now that little icon is there that lets me upload photos again.

I took quite a few pictures while I was unable to post and am going to update my Breeding Stock For Sale blog with pictures of the rams.

I'll update "American Idol, for sale..."

As well as feature the two rams who are the sires of all of my 2008 lambs that will be arriving soon.

KIMBERWOOD HUNTER
is a fawn/mioget?, HST, coming yearling with exquisitely soft, fine fleece and excellent conformation.


SHELTERING PINES CRESCENT MOON
A stunning, yearling, moorit & white, HST with SOFT fleece, perfect conformation and a tiny tail!



I'm going to try to update the Breeding Stock for Sale page with pictures of the ewes that were bred to each ram so that you can see the parents of the soon to be arriving lambs! It'll take me a few days to get to it, but I try to get it done within the next week....

DREAM says...

"Mom spent LOTS of time sitting out with us girls and giving scratches and BELLY RUBS!! Tomorrow, the shearer is coming to give us all a haircut and pedicure!"

WEIRD.....

I was going to put a new post up but blogger isn't offering me the option to add any photos.
I don't know HOW to post without pictures!

I'm speechless....


DREAM says...


..."Yeah, well I'm INVISIBLE!!!!!"

my day off...

It's snowing. I'm not particularly happy about that, but I did know it was coming. The one nice thing I have to say about it is that when I let the dogs out this morning I stood out on the back step (it's plenty warm out ~ I don't expect this snow to last) and looked over the pasture with the ewes & goats. There was almost complete silence. It was so quiet I could literally hear the snow fall! It was the most gentle sound you can imagine. Almost a "shush...". I could also hear a crow, cawing in the distance and SONG BIRDS (!!) singing! That is such a welcome sound to hear. It makes me want to open my windows and let the world back in.

The ewes were lying, peacefully, under a light coating of snow; the goats peaked out of the calf hut and Bella was busy hunting for mice under the two inches of freshly fallen white-stuff. VERY lovely morning.

Since it doesn't look like I'll be spending a lot of time outdoors today, I thought I'd share this "Shepherd Conditioning Workout" with you. It will help prepare you for the months ahead. Fine-hone your sheep catching skills (gotta catch em to shear em) and give you the practice you're going to need to keep all those frisky lambs safely tucked into their paddocks...

DREAM says....

....."Good LUCK with that..."

Ewes and Goats together....

I'm shuffling animals a bit to get ready for lambing. I want to keep several paddocks clean and fresh for the new moms and their babies. And it was also time to get the goats OUT of the back yard... ;-)

The move seems to be going quite well. The goats stick together and for the most part the sheep don't bother them. McDreamy, McSteamy and Meredith have chosen to claim the calf hut as their home, rather than sleep in the big barn (or outside, in the pasture) with the sheep. This works well, but I'm thinking of putting the calf-hut into a paddock for the RAMS so that the girls can use both barns during lambing and while the lambs are growing. It's going to be crowded out there!!

The ewes seem to be more curious about the goats than anything. I haven't seen any fighting over food. I do put out numerous piles of hay so that each animal has several to chose from and nobody has to share.

Alice's beautiful "Destiny" is quite curious about the goats and seems interested in befriending them.

Destiny and McSteamy actually "played" together!

McDreamy wasn't that impressed by the friendly yearling!

DREAM says...

..."Oh YIPPEE! Goats in my pasture...."

I'm so PROUD that I don't even know what to title this post...

This is DREAM's son! Bluff Country Dream Weaver. He'll be one year old next month.

This is Weaver as a baby.

I can't imagine having the opportunity to buy a ram like this when I was first starting out with Shetlands! To say that I am proud of the direction that my breeding program is moving would be a HUGE understatement!!

Dream Weaver is the flock sire at Shula Hougum's Ridgeway Farm, in MA. Shula also purchased these beautiful ewes to breed with Dream's handsome boy.

Above is Bluff Country Gypsy

And this beauty is Bluff Country Crown Jewel.

I can't wait to see the babies that Shula gets this year!!
Thank you for sending me the photos, Shula!

DREAM says...

...."You think You're proud, Mom??? That's MY boy!!!"

You did good, Dreamer!

WARNING...

As the temperatures rise and the snow melts, be careful where you walk. I was feeding the sheep this morning and as I approached the gate to the ram's pen, carrying an armful of hay, I had to walk through a large puddle just in front of the gate. Before I knew what had happened, I was lying flat on my back in about three inches of ice-cold water! It was actually kind of an interesting, almost 'out of body' experience, lying there. I remember thinking that I felt very tired and the water was cold and heavy and that if I just laid there, I would sink down into it and sleep. Then, the pain in my head said GET UP RIGHT NOW!!! Very strange. Makes me wonder if that's what drowning victims feel. Anyway, I was in no danger of drowning but it did occur to me that I could have laid there for days before anyone would think that something was wrong. Gotta be careful where I walk....

Now I have a fierce headache and a lump the size of my fist on the back of my head. I did manage to finish feeding and watering the animals. I put on a dry sweatshirt because I couldn't stand the ice water running down my back but didn't bother with my pants. Just wanted to finish up and get in the house. I have to get ready for work now. Don't think I'll be brushing my hair.....

Please be careful when walking on wet, icey, watery areas!

DREAM says...

..."I'm always careful on slippery surfaces, Mom. And I would have missed you and come to rescue you!!"

No News....

Nothin' much happening in the Bluff Country. Which is just fine with me!

I like the quiet time before sharing and then again before lambing. I treasure every minute of peace and tranquility.

It's snowing again so most of the animals are staying in their barns. I put the goats in with the rams for a while yesterday but am not ready to leave them together when I'm not home.

I put in a schedule change request at work. I've decided to go back onto the every-other-weekend rotation. I've been working every weekend and having Monday and Fridays off. The theory was that I would never work more than three days in a row. The reality is: I don't like never having more than one day in a row off! So, it's back to every other weekend, with Fridays off and I can't WAIT until my first three day weekend!!!

MC DREAMY says...

..."Mom says I'm gonna need a HAIRCUT soon!"