It's a Girl!!!

And she has a twin sister!

I'm so thrilled! It seemed as if we were destined to have nothing but ram lambs, forever! I kept turning them over, just to re-check. I'd forgotten what little girls looked like. And black fleeces too!! Can't wait to be able to spin the wool. The second lamb presented backwards and I was all alone but fortunately I had no problem delivering her. 

They're almost as big as the little boy, whose now a week and a half old. He's thrilled to bits to have some playmates and keeps bouncing around wanting them to join in.

Anyway, these are the last lambs for this ewe. She's getting old and this was a very tough pregnancy for her. It was obvious that the lambs were taking all of her resources  and there were times I thought she was going into pregnancy toxemia as her legs kept going out from under her and she would have great difficulty getting back on her feet. I kept giving her Ketogel in the hope that it would keep her on an even keel and I think it helped. She's been my best mother sheep. I do hope these two have inherited her maternal instinct. 

It's been a long two months of waking up every few hours and I'm so glad it's over!  Last night was the first full nights sleep. It was wonderful!

First Lamb of the Year

At last, We have the first lamb of 2016! This is also the first lamb for this little ewe, Maisie May. She was in labor when I went out to feed them this morning.

I was a bit worried when I saw the lamb presenting with just the head and only one front foot. You should see a nose and two little hooves. Kind of like they're diving into the world. I tried to find the other foot and couldn't. I think the leg was tucked way back. I sent Josh across the road to get the neighbor. She's had lots of experience in birthing farm animals and I'd promised to call on her if there were any complications. Anyway, just as Josh was over there knocking on her door, Maisie May really went to work and popped the lamb right out!

 She's being a good Mum but we are going out there every couple of hours to hold her still while the baby gets a good drink. Her udder is tucked up really high and he was having a difficult time finding the teat. Heck, I had a difficult time finding the teat! But he's doing ok and gaining strength steadily.

We bred the ewes to a Jacob ram so this little fellow is a Scottish Black face/Jacob cross. We did the same last year and I really like the fleeces of this cross. Not too soft but not as coarse as the pure SB.

I wish Ken could have been here. He'd just left to visit family in North Carolina.

Hoping the other ewe has her lambs during the day. She's looking very close but no sign of labor yet. We're praying for girls. Last year, all our lambs were boys, and now this one!

Hand Carved Ex Libris Stamps

If you like rats or foxes, here are a couple of ex libris stamps I carved this week.

You can find these and some other bookplate and library stamps over in the Ex Libris section at my Etsy Shop.

The Farfarer Forge

 Joshua's been slowly collecting the necessary equipment for the traditional blacksmith's forge he's been dreaming of. He found a wonderful reconditioned anvil, a Champion 400, hand-cranked blower and a post vise at one of the annual "Old Farm Days" festivals in 2014. All he needed was the forge itself. He was planning to make one out of an old brake drum but one day a neighbor called to see if he'd be interested in this old BBQ grill. He thought it would make a good forge.

College and engineering studies are really keeping Josh busy with hours upon hours of homework - calculus II, Statics, Mechanics and Materials, physics II, Yikes! - but he and Frank were able to spend a few weekends over the summer converting the grill. I built him the anvil stand and he and Ken set everything up in what used to be the horse's run in shed.

Josh named it The Farfarer Forge and here are some pictures of the first fire.

On the fence waiting

It's that time of year. The long slow wait for lambs to be born. We only have two pregnant ewes this year and one of them is going to be a first time mom so I'm keeping a very close eye on them in the hope that I'll be there to attend and assist if there are any complications.

In years past, I would set the alarm and be up and down all night checking on them That gets exhausting pretty quickly! Especially when you're really not sure of an exact due date. Night after night of getting up every couple of hours really wears you down. No more! Ken set up a light inside the sheep shelter and a mirror in the upstairs bedroom. I can now lay in bed and with the binoculars, see exactly what's going on. Of course it still means waking up every few hours but at least I don't have to don all the winter garb and trudge outside in blowing snow and freezing temperatures - just to see them contentedly chewing their cud.

Ahh, my kind of farming!

It's a New Year!

 Here it is, another New Year and I'm making yet another attempt to resurrect the old blog.

So far we've only had a dusting of snow this winter and that lasted a day. Actually, it feels a lot like England: dark and dreary.

Things have changed on the farm. My old horse, Shady passed away in November. She went peacefully. We got up one morning and there she was laying in the pasture amongst the fallen leaves. There was no indication of her having been in any distress. The leaves weren't disturbed as they would have been if she'd been thrashing around in pain. It was just as if someone had placed her down on her side and she'd gone to sleep. A neighbor came with his Back-ho (JCB) and buried her for us, right there where she liked to stand in the mornings as she waited for the sun to come up over the ridge. I've missed her a lot and still find myself looking for her through the window when I get up in the morning. I couldn't resist looking at the Farm classifieds on Craigs List and yes, you guessed it fell in love with another horse! Well, not a horse exactly but a pony.

He's SO cute!! He has a nice sweet nature and even though he's only about 11 hh he's still big enough for me to ride.  So far I've just been doing in-hand work with him and I did sit on him briefly. He hasn't been ridden for a few months so I didn't want to push my luck the first time on him. But he did fine. I'm looking forward to spring and some warmer weather to be able to really start working with him.

Fall weather

Those pesky passwords

It's been so long since I blogged, I completely forgot my password! And try as I might, I couldn't reset it with a new one. Google had me jumping through hoops with all kinds of questions to answer. Today, I thought I would make one last attempt before starting over with a brand new blog, and it worked! So, if anyone is still checking here, thank you for sticking with me!

All's well with us. It's been a busy summer. My Dad came over from England for a couple of months. It was so good to have him with us. I hope that I'll still be up to hopping on planes when I'm eight one! His health was much better this time. He was able to do a lot more outside. He and Ken worked on our two old tractors and got them running. Dad also set about sharpening every knife and saw we own! So now I have to be careful about grabbing things because everything is razor sharp!

Two whole feet!

Of snow! I think this is the most we've ever had in one storm. I didn't even go out in it because it was over the tops of my wellies. Ken dug out some old snowshoes and managed to get to the barn to feed the horses.

It came down quite fast!

Someone forgot to bring their boots in!

Ken ventured out to see how deep it was.

The ducks were miserable!

                                               

The view to the barn.

A couple of days later our wonderful neighbor plowed everyone out with his backhoe. It was about four days before the road crews could get to us. Josh was out of school for almost a week.

What we did last summer

People keep asking "when are you going to update your blog?" I'm sorry it's been so long , I really don't know where the time has gone. So here are a few pictures. Dad came over again early last summer and he and Ken worked on building a split rail fence with a lovely little picket gate at the end of the brick path. 

It's beginning to look like an English front garden. We can finally have flowers and the pesky critters can't get in to eat them all!

We adopted two Border Collies from the dog pound!  Kate and Pippa. I've always heard that BC s are neurotic, they need to run three miles every day... they're nuts! So I never really wanted one.  Well, all our other old dogs went to the happy hunting ground in the sky, one by one and we ended up dogless for three months! It was awful!  So we looked at the website of the local shelter and these pups were looking for a home. We originally planned to just get one. But you know how that goes. We ended up with the two of them!  

Yes, they're ... let's say, exuberant!( that's an understatement)  But they're SO easy to train! They're like little computers. And they beg to be programmed!  Last week I thought "it would be nice to have a dog that could turn the light on for me".  It took all of thirty minutes for Kate to figure it out! Now we say "light!" and she hops up and flicks the switch with her nose. As long as you're giving them things to do they're happy as Larry. When you need a break you say "In your house!" and they both dive into their crates and lay down and go to sleep.  No, they're not perfectly behaved  but they're very easy to redirect. They want nothing more than to please you. I think we'll always have collies from now on. 

But wait, there's more! About a month after adopting Kate and Pippa, we were adopted by Kojo!!!

He's a Great Pyrenees. 

Ken was brushing him and those cats just have to be in the middle of everything!

Building a brick path

Back in 2004 when we were here seeing our house for the first time, the previous owner mentioned how nice it would look to have a brick patio between those four trees at the bottom of the steps out front. I think it was something she'd planned to have installed at some point if they'd stayed here. I agreed, and ever since then it's something I've often visualized but never got around to working on. Well, one night last year a very old house just down the road burned to the ground. Thankfully, it was empty at the time! There was nothing left but ashes and a pile of old bricks from the collapsed fireplace and chimney. I asked the owner if I could have some of the bricks and he said "take them all!" So Ken and Josh and I made numerous trips to save as many as we could before the bulldozer came in and leveled the place for a new house to be built. These are pre - civil war, hand made bricks. They're rather soft so I don't know how long they will hold up out in the elements but I've decided to use some of them in this walkway. I'm still in the process of sweeping sand into the cracks here.

I had to build a couple of extra steps down to the path. These are just wooden boxes filled with rock and gravel. I could have made wooden steps like the others but that particular spot gets very icy in the winter. We had a little concrete paving stone there and Ken went flying one morning in December when he went out to work and didn't notice it was covered in ice! The rock filled steps offer much better footing as you let go of the hand-rail and step off that bottom stair.

I built in a couple of planters on each side of the bottom step and plan to put herbs in them. In fact I'd like the whole thing to be lined with fragrant herbs! There's also going to be a gate and fence. I'll take more pics as it develops. So far though I very happy with how it's turning out!

More Scottish Black Face Pictures

Taken just a few minutes ago. I love these sheep!

Scottish Black Face Lambs!

Yes! We have our first little lambs on the ground! Quite a surprise to wake up to. Twins, a boy and a girl. They were born on March 4th. I thought they were early but remembered that this ewe got out and went to visit the ram while he was still supposed to be in quarantine. Little hussy!

So first we have the boy. His name is Windy

  

And here is the little girl, Marchie with her Mum.

It was a sunny day but bitter cold ( Way below freezing) and the March wind was howling! Hence, their names :)

They're all doing great so far. Amazing how much weight they've gained already. I'll take more pictures tomorrow.

The other two ewes shouldn't be too far behind so I'm watching them very closely. One is as big as a bus! Can't wait to see how many lambs she has.

The Gelli Pad

Yesterday, while ordering stamp carving supplies I saw one of these:



Isn't it amazing? Life's just too short not to have one!

Thanks Dad!! ( He sent me some money for Christmas)

And here's their bog.

 http://gelliarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-to-gelli-arts-blog.html

It's full of ideas, techniques  and inspiration. I entered the give away for some MagicStamps. I don't usually win things but maybe luck will shine down.

Hand Carved Rubber Stamps on Etsy

Hand carved tea kettle rubber stamp

I finally bit the bullet and decided to open an Etsy shop, selling my hand carved rubber stamps. Here's the link if you care to take a look:  IkkiPokki Rubber Stamps

I'm torn over selling them mounted or unmounted. So any suggestions are most welcome. Something in me wants to mount each one and add  a little handle, but that, of course adds more time and cost. I uploaded a few of each so we'll see what customers prefer.

I love carving stamps. Inking one up for the first time is always exciting because you're never quite sure how it's going to look printed. This little tea kettle was one of those " Ooooh, I like that !" moments.