More Snow...

The cold and snow just won't let up! Above is "Sheltering Pines Diva". Isn't she beautiful? Diva's one of those rare sheep who's fleece seems to actually improve every year. As a lamb, she was quite primitive. Each year her fleece gets softer and has more crimp. Her lambs have gorgeous fleece!


In this picture, you can see Diva (left) with "Zodiak" (Dream's mom ~ black/iset) and Bluff Country Zaria. Zaria is a shaela and white, HST ewe. Her fleece is YUMMY!


This is a close up of Zaria's soft, crimpy, steely, blue-grey fleece. It is absolutely exquisite! Of course, the outer tips are sunbleached so don't show the true color. I'll have to get some pictures of the inner fleece, before shearing...


Bella loves getting out in the snow and "playing" with the sheep. Although, she keeps a safe distance from the ewes ~ Diva likes to CHASE her!!

The boys, on the other hand, seem to be inviting Bella over to play...


So, of course, she complies!



Bella and Moon seem to have struck up a friendship! Then again, Moon is the most obnoxiously playful of the three boys. He's always chasing the others around and leaping and jumping. He's quite the character.



Although Moon does like to chase the other boys around and I frequently hear horns clacking as they butt heads, I think it's all in fun. The boys really do seem to be good buddies.



This is a peaceful time in the Bluff Country.


Life is GOOD

DREAM says...


...."Yes, it is!"

BELLA in the Snow...

My beautiful Bellamica loves the snow! Here she is, showing off the beautiful bell that Katie got for her collar for Christmas, and barking at me!


She was absolutely WILD outside, running and playing in the snow. She'd attack me and then run in a big circle and come back and attack me again.





I wish I could have captured the picture but the delay on my digital camera wouldn't let me but even Moon got in on the shenanigans! He was running and jumping in his paddock, right along with Bella. It was hysterical.


Alas, I was unable to capture Moon's airs above ground. You'll have to take my word for it, it was quite the sight...


BELLA says....


..."That Moon sure is a nut! He was running and jumping like crazy. I think he liked my bell...."

Duty Calls....

*As always, click on any photo to enlarge it*


While I was sleeping (I slept about 20 hours a day for the past three days!) we got some more snow. And now, the temperatures are plummeting. They weren't all that warm to begin with but the forecast now calls for below Zero temps for the next week. That, of course, makes me worry about the animals. So I set out this morning to put fresh straw down in the barns so that everyone would have a warm bed to retire to. (Knowing just how nice that is, from personal experience!)


The sheep really don't seem to mind the cold at all. I think they were hoping the sled full of straw was hay....They'll have to wait until this afternoon for that!

Guess who's taken over the ram barn???


The goats were shut in the back 1/3 of the barn but have removed the cattle panel that I put up to keep them there and now have free run of the half of the barn that the rams can't get into.


They love to look out the windows! Funny....sheep don't remove cattle panels like that!

The goats are really the ones that I am most concerned about with the bitter cold temps. I've heard that they are "fragile". Since this is my first winter with Angora Goats, I want to be sure and provide them with adequate shelter. They sure are adorable!

Here, McSteamy offers to help me distribute the fresh bedding...


Meredith is getting more beautiful by the day! How I love these goofy goats!!!

DREAM says...


..."You better go take a nap, Mom. I think you're getting delirious!"

Don't Worry....

Mom's still sick but she's resting well and taking good care of us.

SSSSHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh.......

"Mom's sick"

It's gonna be a bright, bright, Bright, Sun-shiny Day...

*As always, click on any image to enlarge it*

I woke up to a beautiful, bright, sunny day in the Bluff Country so Bella and I decided to spend some time with the Girls...

Bella, of course, knew that we'd get much nicer pictures if the girls were all gathered together. So, she set about gathering them.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!



The Girls were very cooperative and headed over by the new barn...



Diva, Serendipity and Dilemma




Daisy even led Gemini and Sera on an adventure...


DREAM says...


..."What a wonderful day! We got LOTS of Cookies!!!"

Just another day in Paradise...

Not much excitement going on in the Bluff Country. Which is just fine with me. ;-) I took a few pictures yesterday. I do so enjoy having a day off work!


This is "Bluff Country Godiva". She's the 2007 daughter of Bluff Country Flash Flood and Bluff Country Apocalypse. Godiva is sold but still lives here. I LIKE THAT! I didn't really want to sell her but couldn't justify keeping another solid colored ewe, so this way I get to "have my cake and eat it too"! Godiva will probably stay here for at least another year. That's just fine with me. She is a sweet, gentle, little ewe lamb and a delight to have around. This fall "we" (Godiva's owner and I ) will select which ram to breed her too.

Speaking of rams...

These are the three boys that still reside in the Bluff Country. I sold all of my mature rams to bring new blood into my HST breeding program. "Kimberwood Hunter" (fawn & white, HST, on the left) was bred to six of my ewes for 2008 lambs and "Sheltering Pines Crescent Moon" (moorit/smirslet, in the center of the photo) was bred to five. There should be some very nice, VERY colorful lambs in the Bluff Country come April....

The third ram lamb in the photo (black/bleset) is lucky to be alive! He is "Bluff Country American Idol". Idol was the last of the 2007 lambs to be born. He's almost a month younger that all of my other boys. He is out of Bluff Country Dusty Rose (Rosie) and sired by Bluff Country Apocalypse. As much as I was always VERY pleased with Idol's conformation (he is most excellent!), I do not have the need for another black, spot carrying ram. Even if he does look just like "Skittles"! I offered Idol for sale in 2007 but no one purchased him. I didn't want to keep an 'extra' ram over the winter and he WAS a major pain in the butt, during breeding season ~ having escaped (twice!) from the bachelor ram paddock, into the maiden ewe lambs' group, which I did NOT want bred ~ so I decided that he would be butchered.

The day that I went to load this guy up for the trip to "Mike, the meat man", was a very good day for Idol. When I took my gloves off, to put the halter on him, so that I could lead him to my Jeep, I realized what incredibly SOFT fleece he has! I never was happy with the idea of butchering such a nice quality ram and when I felt that fleece, there was no way that I could follow through with my plans. So, Idol went back in with the other boys after breeding season. Oblivious to the fact that he almost died. I hope to find him a good breeding home this year. If he's still here, this fall, I'll show him at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival's Shetland Sheep show and figure he'll have a great chance of winning the yearling ram class. THAT should sell him!
;-)

The goats continue to thrive in my backyard.
They never cease to make me smile with their adorable antics and personalities...

Bella is not sure if she likes them or needs to control them!


Speaking of Bella...she's growing up to be quite the beauty!

She has totally and completely stolen my heart. Which is a good thing because she's going through that obnoxious, "teenager stage" and is often more of a pain than a help. I sure do love her though!

DREAM says...
...."Just another day in Paradise... (don't worry, I know that Mom loves me BEST!)"

Let's CELEBRATE....

I just noticed that my "hit counter" is at 49,801 visits to my blog! Wow. I am humbled. And thrilled. And very grateful. It makes me happy that so many people have cared enough to stop in and see what my critters and I are up to from time to time.

At the normal rate of 'visits per day', I'm thinking we'll probably go over 50,000 (that's FIFTY-THOUSAND hits) in the next few days.

Want to have a CONTEST???? I'm thinking maybe the 50 thousandth visitor could win a 2008 "Real Sheep Wear Shetland Wool" Calendar.


There's going to have to be some TRUST involved: let's say, starting at visitor number 49,975, everyone starts leaving a comment telling what number visitor they were? There's a window on the right side-bar, right below my profile, that shows how many visits there have been. Just leave a comment, saying what number you were (from 49,975 on) and the 50 thousandth person will win the calendar! Sound like fun?


Let's GO FOR IT! Play honest and be fair. Don't worry ~ the stat counter does NOT count when I visit the blog. To keep one person from just logging on and off a kazillion times, let's say that no one can leave more than 2 comments in a row. In other words, if you were visitor number 49,989 and 49,990, you could not also be number 49,991. If you are, I will adjust the stats so that the next commenter is actually given number 991. Make sense?


Good Luck to you ALL and Thank You for making "A Shepherds Voice" such a rewarding endeavor!

I was doing the Dishes.....

The other day, I was at the kitchen sink, doing the dishes when I heard a scraping sound outside the window. The next thing I knew...

I was standing face-to-whisker with Lily!


There's no 'sill' under that window ~ Lily is literally hanging by her claws! (real good for the Screen)!


This is Lily's usual method of letting me know that she wants to come in the house.


Very subtle.

After 12 days with my Beautiful Baby Girl back home, it was time to say good-bye once again. I must confess, I went through several days of profound sadness. It's so hard letting her go so far away and not knowing when I'll see her again! But, I know that she's chosen a good path and I'm very proud of her (as I am of all three of my kids). I'll be here, when she wants to come visit "the farm" and at least now, we can stay in touch through phone calls and e-mail. I do know that she checks my blog frequently, to see what I've been up to...

DREAM says....


..."We miss you, Katie! Mom says you're going to make the world a safer place. Thank you!!!"