From Fluffy to Naked

I met a very inspiring woman at the sheep conference in Monticello UT in the fall. She was raising her sheep without any outside help-she did the sheering and all of the vet work. Of course I thought, if she can do all of that so can I (we). I was all fired up to do all of our vet work and tackle the sheering in the spring despite never even having seen a sheep sheered. I figured all I needed to do was watch the sheering demonstration on the last day of the conference and I'd be good to go. Unfortunately the sheering kept being pushed back and I needed to leave, so I missed that sheering. Thankfully there is U-Tube and I found several sheep sheering videos. It looked easy enough. Last weekend we had another opportunity to see some sheep sheering at the National Western Stock Show. The photo above was taken during the sheering competition. Our sheep will be glad to know that I no longer think it looks easy AND I found a relatively local sheerer. Top photo is Gilligan and Sister Theckla. Our sheep will not be sheered until later in the spring. Also, while we are doing a lot of the vet care, when needed, we were so thankful to have Gerelyn help us when Luthien had the cyst. That was a bit gross.

The Ram

For Christmas Eli gave me a boost to get a ram so that we can have some lambs in the spring. After some scrambling, Tina and Bob kindly agreed to make the trek to Pueblo where Chuck met us with Gilligan, a four horn who was looking for some love.
We got Gilligan back to Ewetopia just as the sun was going down and he quickly got acquainted with the ewes. He took an immediate liking to Sister Theckla, our sheep who looks and acts a bit like a prissy nun. She was not very happy with the situation and kept running away, which got Luthien in a protective mood and some butting got underway. She accidently butted her best friend Angel who got a little huffy and was ready to go head to head with Luthien. Then they remembered that the new guy was bugging their usual victim so they both took off after Gilligan. Eventually everyone ended up in the night time enclosure, so Jim went in and shut the gate for the night.

Road Trip to Utah for the Sheep Convention

I'm in a motel in Monticello Utah after a nice 7.5 hour drive. It was a beautiful trip with brilliant colors the whole way. After crossing into Utah I pulled off to the side of the road and took a few pictures. I continued driving and took an off ramp so that I could stop and take a few more pictures. When I got to the top of the off ramp I saw a sign for Moab-45 miles and assumed that was where to turn. It took me through a canyon along the Colorado River. Sometimes it was right next to the road, sometimes down a VERY STEEP cliff. The road was narrow and I was glad there was still some light so that I could see the beauty and the need to be cautious and stick to the posted speed limit. As I got into Moab after the long winding road, I saw a sign for I-70, so that may have been a quicker route. The route I took was spectacular though!
I started listening to Ines of My Soul as I left Lyons and listened to it the whole way. I still have two and a half discs until it is done-that should take me well into Colorado. It is a long one!

Dinner with the sheep, chickens and friends

It was feeling like fall but the weather was nice for a fairly short notice potluck dinner at the Farmette. As the kids finished eating they left plates on the ground. Lucy (the dog) was polite and left them alone but the chickens dove in, eating tomato cream soup, bread, cake and even a slice of turkey. Lucy did get a piece of bread, but the chickens ended up taking that too. In this photo, she's trying to figure out which chicken took her bread.

As always, the food was delicious and visiting with the fellow farmetters was a treat.

Sheep Log-Luthien's Health

On Friday, September 26, with the help of Dr. G, we drained a very big cyst on Luthien's face. She had to be isolated from the other sheep because it was possibly a serious and contagious issue. Stephanie and I continued to treat her with penicillin (3ml) shots and flushed and drained the pocket. The sheep were VERY stressed out to be separated and were not eating well. While we technically should have waited for the results of the culture to come back, the healing seems to be going very well, and as of this morning, nothing had grown in the culture so we made the executive decision to put the sheep back together on pasture.
Top Photo:Sister Theckla, Jayda, Luthien and Angel.
Bottom Photo Baby Jayda and Angel

Sneak Peak Senior Portrait!

Here are a couple shots from a senior photo shoot I did over the weekend. The weather couldn't have been nicer and if it wasn't peak color for fall I can't wait to see what lies ahead. After shooting in the park we headed to Boulder for some urban shots.
We started out in studio and if that was all I had done I would have been satisfied, but in my opinion, the outdoor shots we got blow the studio ones away.
I am just in the process of editing and while my goal is to present 25-30, it is going to be very hard to narrow it down.

New lens and Photoshop breakghrough

I guess we've been busy doing something but I'm not quite sure what.
Maddy is still doing volleyball almost every night after school, and Hannah is doing cross country three nights a week.

Will has soccer on Tuesdays and most Saturdays.
Eli is working hard and worrying about the economy, along with the rest of the United States and much of the world.
I have been busy getting everyone where they need to be, doing work for the PTO and the Lyons Arts and Humanities Council, and for fun I drag my kids to the park to play with my camera and then try new tricks in Photoshop.