ALICE Doesn't Like Sheep....

Ever since Alice came to live in the Bluff Country (in 2001), she has been a loner.  She did have one  friend, "Stephanie" ~ a ewe that came with her, when I bought Alice.  But I sold Stephanie a few years later ~ when she started fighting with Alice ~ any ewe that fights with Alice gets sold.  End of story.

Ever since Stephanie left, Alice has been a complete loner.  I often feel sad for her, staying off by herself.   So, in 2007, I decided to keep Alice's ewe lamb: "Bluff Country Destiny", so that Alice would always have a friend/companion.

Destiny was one of Triplets and as usual, Alice kept her babies as far away from me and the rest of the flock as she could.

Which, of course, made Destiny a bit of a "Wild Child"

Needless to say, Destiny grew up to be quite the Beauty!

With her dam's regal bearing and flawless confirmation

It is obvious to me that ear carriage (attitude???) is hereditary...

Alice is hardly ever seen off by herself anymore

She always has her "Destiny"

DREAM says...

"Kind of like how You have Me, Mom?"

That's right, Dreamer ~ kind of like how I have you.

Fall Fell...

Remember this?

photo taken on Oct 7, 2009

Same shot:  Photo taken on Oct 12, 9009

If you click to biggify the first photo, you can see that the pumpkin patch was a mass of giant, green leaves.  I didn't even know for sure if there were pumpkins IN there!

They were there, all right.  Now, all the leaves are gone.  Vanished while I slept.

               Remember this?   

I took this one this morning:

Do you remember when Kimberwood HUNTER came to live in the Bluff Country?

2007!  He'll be leaving for his new home, in Illinois, later this week...

Baby Dreamer!  2006:

DREAM says...

"Some things just keep getting better!"

"Thank you again, Katie, for Mom's Happy Lamp!  It sure does make a BIG difference at this time of year!!"

I do want to sincerly recommend "light therapy" for anyone affected by SAD or depression.  It's made a HUGE difference for me!

(knock on wood!)

Hard Freeze...

BRRRRrrrrrr!

It's COLD in the Bluff Country!

We got our first HARD frost the night before last and another last night.  My pumpkin patch has shriveled up to a tangled web of vines and the leaves have all but disappeared. 

This is my weekend to work and it's dark by the time I get home so I'll get photos tomorrow.  I may just turn the girls loose in the pumpkin patch...

CRUNCHY Grass....

My dogs woke me up early this morning.  For the first time in days, the SUN was shining!  I thought this would be a great chance to get some new photos of my ewes.

Godiva greated me in the early morning light.

When I stepped off my back entry, I noticed that the grass was crunchy!  We had a mild frost last night.  Very cool ~ crunchy grass and crunchy sheep!

Dream and Zest come out of the chicken paddock  ~  where they are now allowed at night (while the chickens are shut in the barn) to keep the grass trimmed.

We interrupt this blog post to announce that I just spilled a FULL,  20 oz. mug  of cappuccino all over my desk.  This is NOT good...

Back to our blog post (while my computer is still workiing)

"Way to go, Mom!"

Oh, shut up, Dream!

The girls lined up for morning roll call...

Destiny and Alice are obviously thrilled.

`

Smile pretty!

In spite of the morning frost, I still have some hold-out flowers blooming beautifully!

I know the blue ones are Larkspur but I don't even know what the pretty, bright red ones are!

Time for me to go let the chickens out of the coop.

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day!

DREAM says...

"You better not stay out with those chickens too long, Mom.  I hear you've got quite the sticky mess to clean up in your office!"

;-)

Thanks for the reminder, Dreamer!

A VERY Special Day with Three VERY Special Young Men...

We had SO much fun making ORANGE/CLOVE POMANDERS
First of all Josh (my  favorite  oldest Grandson)  Read the instructions for his brothers Matt (my  favorite Middle Grandson) and Nick (my  favorite  Youngest Grandson) .  The boys decided that they each wanted to make both Orange/clove pomanders and Apple/clove pomanders!

I had all of the ingrediants prepared.  Hint:  if you try this project, be aware: the "recipe" calls for Sandalwood oil, in leiu of orris root, for the preservative.  I don't know about orris root but the Sandalwood oil cost me $38.00 for a teeny-tiny bottle!  Oriss root is most likely cheaper...

Josh, demonstrates using a knitting needle to poke holes for the whole cloves

And then pushes the clove stems into each hole.  A somewhat sticky, fairly time-consuming, but sweet smelling and fun project!

We rolled the clove-studded apples and oranges in paper bags with spices and Sandalwood added to enhance the scent and make it long lasting.  The oil also helps to preserve the apples and oranges so that they don't spoil during the drying process.

For the next 3 to 6 weeks, I will continue to roll the fruit, in the bags, twice a day.  Then, the boys will come back to DECORATE their sweet smelling treasures...

In the meantime, my Basement smells WONDERFUL!!!

Every Little Bit Helps...

Dream is doing her part and hopes that you will too!

In late 2008, fellow blogger and fiber enthusiast (spinner extraordinair!), Eileen, of "Knot All That" fame, was diagnosed with stage four, metastatic breast cancer.  Eileen broke the news to her followers on her fiber blog, and then went on to create a new blog that chronicals her life ~ as it is now ~ battling the cancer that has turned her  world upside down.  You can follow Eileen's story at:  "RoseColoredCancer"

Eileen follows "A Shepherd's Voice" and is a big fan of Dream's.  (Dream says:  "Who ISN'T???") 

In Jan. 2009, I was contacted by Jane Carlstrom, feltmaker and seamstress, about colaborating on a fundraiser to help defray Eileen's medical costs.  Jane designed a patch, using the above photo of Dream as inspiration,  to sell at her Etsy Shop:  "Glorious Hats" ~  with 100% of the funds going to Eileen.  You can see the offering of the "DREAMS" patch and read the story behind it by clicking on this patch:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31626105

Dream is honored to be a part of this fund raiser to help Eileen! 

She hopes you'll help too...

ALICE

No time to post, this morning.  My Beautiful Princess (Pam) and her three handsome Princes (my Grandsons) are coming over to make Orange/clove pomanders with me!  They don't know that that is what we'll be doing.  They only know that we're going to do some kind of craft that will result in wonderful gifts to share. 

Speaking of sharing ~ I thought I'd share some photos of one of the many gifts in my life:

"HIGHLAND HOLLOW ALICE"

I love this remarkable Ewe.

She is my Friend

My teacher

My strength

my heart

and

my

inspiration

Happy October!!

I don't know why all my photos downloaded in a really small format and when I try to make them big enough to actually SEE they are blurry, but this is the best I can do for now.  I'll try to observe what's going on when I download new photos later on today.

In the meantime, it's cool and cloudy and rainy in the Bluff Country and I LOVE IT!!

The sheep don't seem overly thrilled, although they did all come running to see me when I went into their pasture. 

I retreated to the covered 'porch' area by their barn to avoid the wetness.  I love listening to the windchimes that are hanging by the ewes' barn.

My gilrls are always so happy to see me.  I rarely take animal crackers or treats out to them because, when I do, they are obnoxiously pushy and demanding  more focused on the treat than on quality bonding time with me.

My beautiful ladies have free acess to the big barn but pretty much only go in if it's really storming out or to get their minerals, sea kelp or rumen buffer.  Most of the time, they prefer to stay out in the open or under the roof of the 'porch'.  I think that my sheep might just be slightly spoiled...

DREAM says...

"I'm thinking that if we were all that 'spoiled' there wouldn't be a barn full of  feathery fowl  in the backyard!  I guess as long as we get the big barn with the porch, it's not all that bad.  Don't tell Mom I said that though..."