About 40 lbs. lighter

No, I didn’t lose weight. That’s about how much the box I shipped off to Zeilingers this morning weighed. Here are a couple of teaser shots of some of the mohair:

part of "this year's pink"

pretty

They said they should have enough time to get it all run and back to me in early October.

It’s nice to be done with washing a dyeing for a bit. I still have lots of fleeces to go through- but I’m taking a few weeks off from that.

While I was out, I also stopped at the sheriff’s office and had myself fingerprinted. Its a requirement from the county school board for all substitute teachers. I took the workshop the board put on for substitutes- I now know how to dodge spitballs and avoid thumbtacks- all that’s left is to do an hour or so of classroom observation. I’ll do that next week. After that they can start calling me- eek. I’ll start with pre-K thru 2nd grade, then once I’m feeling brave I’ll move up to 3rd thru 5th. I wonder how many days of subbing it will take before I’m not a nervous wreck…

All the farms are still feeling the effects of heavy internal parasite loads this year. The very wet spring and summer made ideal conditions for parasites. Currently the 5 babies are back on meds for coccidia, and I dewormed everyone earlier this week. Baby Evan seems to be the most effected- he is also getting an iron supplement (Geritol Tonic). Other than that, though, they are all fine. I’ll just give you a couple of pictures, then I’ve got to get to knitting- (don’t tell Carol I was here- its her stuff I’m supposed to be doing…)

tangle of hooves

That’s Rosie and daughter Renesmee. I thought it was sweet how their legs are all together. Look at this picture of the two of them:

Momma and daughter

Doesn’t Renesmee look just like her?

Here’s what happens when I take cookies outside for them:

Cookies!

more cookies, please

Little Evan and Renesmee have really caught on to the cookie thing. Any time I go outside they come right up to me looking for some. Even if I don’t have cookies, they are content to let me pet them for a good long time- I even get pawed at if I stop too soon.

Evan says to have a great weekend!

Remember, I was never here…

Note to all daredevil little boys

Mommies don’t like to walk outside and see this:

yikes!

We don’t care how brave and clever you think you are.

And I can guarantee this- when Grandma sees this, she’s gonna have a cow!

whew

(you all notice Fluff there waiting to help if needed? He’s such a good goat.)

Thanks everyone, for all your support over my brother- it does help.

I’ve been a bit overdue on rabbit shearing lately, so I got 2 of them done Saturday. Look at Creme Brulee- he just keeps getting cuter:

Creme Brulee

He’s a really good-natured little guy during shearing, too. He was so good, he got to run around for quite awhile (under 3 sets of watchful eyes, my daughter’s, the youngest’s, and mine while I was shearing Godiva).

my chaos

See Fiyero helping me with Godiva? I have got the best goats…

While we’re mentioning my bunnies, I should give you a Puff update. Puff is my sweet Jersey Wooly- he’s on the left on my banner, snuggling with The Weebit. Puff is 9 1/2 years old now. He has always had excellent litter box habits, until recently. I don’t know if it was switching to wood floors, or having the kittens around or what, but he started just peeing wherever he was. And subsequently, he got sore hocks. His fantastic vet checked him out, we ruled out kidney stones or anything like that, and she put him on a foot bathing and bandaging regimen. Since he was on antibiotics for his feet, that would have taken care of a urinary tract infection if he had one. He continued to just pee wherever. Now, as old as he is, and as good as he’s been (he really is a fantastic little bunn) I would gladly clean up behind him as long as it takes. However, it was getting his bandages wet and that wouldn’t allow healing. So, my poor little bunny is now in diapers.

well, it works

It’s working, but you should have seen the look on his face when everyone at the vet’s office Monday was saying how cute it was…

Ok. Some goats. Hmmm.

Stuff for Marri

Pretty Rosie and her sweet twins

Justine

It would have been really wrong if I had sent someone in to turn on the air conditioner to see how high she would jump, wouldn’t it? (but it would have been sooooo funny)

Now it’s fourteen years

Eric and Jeff

I think that will always be my favorite picture of them. Last year I told you about AIDS taking my brother Eric, and his partner Jeff.

For some reason today is harder this year than last. I guess mourning someone is like that. It comes and goes- never forgotten, just sometimes harder.

In this past year some friends of his from high school have contacted Manda and me through Facebook, and we all got together in June when they were in town. Just this past month, another of his friends from jr. high has found us, and I’ve updated him on Eric’s life since. Friends everywhere are remembering him today, and I know somewhere Randall (he was his partner at the end) is remembering- so if you guys could help me send some peace Randall’s way…

Maybe I need him more today than I did this day last year. I’ve got some pretty big changes coming up, and I could use the comfort of having a big brother tell me it will all be okay. (cuz whenever he said that, somehow it was all okay). It seems like its been a lifetime- and it has. My daughter’s lifetime, my sons’ lifetimes, my nieces’ lifetimes, and almost my step-nephew’s lifetime- give or take a few months. Yet it could just be yesterday. My sister, parents, and I all tell stories to the kids, make sure we talk about him frequently, there are pictures up- we do everything we can. I know in some sense that he is here- watching over us (he probably kept that deer from coming through my windshield cuz he wasn’t ready to have his bratty little sister around being a pest yet ) and maybe even guiding us in ways we don’t know- and that’s good. But he’s not HERE and dammit, I want him HERE. I want my kids (and Manda’s) to know him, not know of him. I want to know him now- what he’d be working on, where he’d be living (still in Boston, I’m sure), I want to see him be an uncle to our kids, I want his advice and guidance, I want to be able to listen to him if he needs advice or guidance. I don’t want to be the oldest anymore, I want to be the middle kid again. Manda and I don’t want to be just “the girls” we want to be “Eric and the girls.”

Too many “I wants” to list them all. And every single day of every single year, someone else somewhere else feels all of these feelings. And that’s life. And it goes on. And I’m glad to feel everything that I feel- not because my brother is dead, but because I had my brother.

Like I asked you last year, be nice to your brothers and sisters today- and if you have to call them names, please do it with a smile in your voice. Thanks for letting me vent a bit. AIDS sucks.

Happy goaties!

A-the-Hay-God came today:

The hay is here! The hay is here!

That makes for some very happy goaties.

Hay party!

They’re not technically “on hay” yet, they’ve still got plenty of grass and leaves to eat, but they’re getting bored with that, so I had been giving them a flake or 2 a day (a bale of hay has about 20 “slices” of hay- like a loaf of bread- and they’re called flakes). I was running out, so it was time to stock up. To keep the little moochers out of the way while the hay was stacked in the basement, we just opened a whole bale for them. Just looked out the window- they’re still having a good time with it.

The kids started school Wed.

No, they're not quite awake

I miss them, but the quiet during the day is nice. You’d think I’d be getting more done. Actually, I am, but since alot of it is washing and dyeing fleeces, it doesn’t seem like it. I’m trying to get a box off to Zeilinger’s by the end of next week, so I’ll have rovings to sell. I’ve washed a gorgeous silver borderleicester fleece-

pretty

I’m dyeing the mohair to go with that, right now I have a white borderleicester-cross washing, and I’m pretty sure what colors of mohair I’ll use with that. I’m in a burgandy/pinks kinda mood- so I’m worried everything I’m sending off will be similar, but that’s just where I am now. I’ve got plenty of plain mohair/bl roving that I can handpaint if I need variety… So that’s keeping me busy.

I’ve kind of been wasting time cleaning, too. I really need to get over that.

The cats have enjoyed the kids being back at school- they can nap with abandon, not having to worry that they will be snatched up for mandatory cuddling…

it's so hard being a cat

He’s about 5+ months now- can you believe it? And Miss CJ is a year now- wow. From this:

so very tiny

to this:

Nope, nuthin in here...

Oh- back to fleeces- mainly, back to washing fleeces. Awhile back I read a review for Kookaburra Scour on Sock PrOn’s blog, it sounded great, so I decided to try it. It is great!! In my opinion, it totally rocks! Especially with my mohair. It takes 2 washes and 3 rinses with blue Dawn for me to feel like the mohair is maybe clean. With the Kookaburra it took just one wash, and one rinse- wow. I was going to dye some mohair that I had washed last year, but it felt really tacky, so I rewashed it with the Kookaburra, and it made an amazing difference. SockPrOn’s review has alot of detail in it, so I won’t repeat her, but I am so happy with the Kookaburra that I have become a distributor-so I will have it at shows I do, plus on my website (if I ever get around to updating it). If you wash any fleeces yourself, I highly recommend it.

Knitting. Not much to show. I’m deep in 2 test knits, and you know the story there- can’t show you a thing. I did make a scrunchie-

scrunchie

That’s the last of the Black Bunny Fibers thick and thin from one of the yarn club shipments. You know, the yarn that I’m desperately trying to get her to dye more of for me so I can knit this cardigan I have in mind for it. Yea, that yarn. Anyway, C won’t keep the scrunchie- she hates ponytails (nevermind that she’s really cute with them). However, she did agree to a scarf made with Berroco’s Plush yarn- very soft, not a thing natural about it (acrylic/nylon blah blah blah). It has the appropriate amount of black in it for her.

look- there's CJ again

Alright, I’m off to dye more mohair, and knit while its still quiet. I think I’ll leave you with a shot of little miss Renesmee, being impossibly cute, as always.

A-the-Hay-God grows goatnip!

Because Carol wanted it

Carol asked, regarding the naked goaties, “Goaties look so cute, all trim!  Any chance we can get a ‘tocks shot?” Well Carol, here ya go:

Goatie 'tocks, walking away

(that happens to be, who else? Baby Evan)

Mohair mohair everywhere

Ok, I know I’m behind here. Shearing was almost 2 weeks ago, and you haven’t seen anything from there. Let’s see- that Sunday and Monday I was down at Kid Hollow helping out. I had mentioned that Steve was in the hospital. He was released Sunday afternoon, and Pat went and got him (leaving me and the shearers to fend for ourselves. Somehow, we managed to get it done…). It was nice having him back. After finishing up both days, Steve cooked wonderful dinners and we got to sit around and chat for a bit. This year Jonathan-the-Wonder-Shearer brought his son Ben with him- not only are they excellent shearers, but excellent company as well.

On Tuesday morning they headed up to my place. (thank goodness, not as early as they had planned)

Really, he's shearing us today?

So while the guys set up shop in the goaties’ shed, I gathered feedbags as temporary fleece storage (I prefer laundry baskets, but they’re still holding last time’s fleeces…). So here we go with shearing:

Jewel all ready for her haircut

Making naked goaties

Evan halfway done

close-up of Evan, just cuz he's so cute

Renesmee- "Look what they're doing to me!"

These guys are fast- we were done within 2 hours (well, I’ll be dealing with the fleeces for quite awhile- my goaties just looooove getting bits of hay and such in their hair). We had lunch, coffee, and dessert- then the guys were off to their next farm. I always really enjoy Jonathan’s visits, and Ben was a pleasure to have around, too. Hopefully, even if he doesn’t decide to do the shearing full time, he’ll at least tag along on the Virginia circuit (he said he’d probably be back for the Feb. shearing).

I’m really planning on getting all of my fleeces (past and present) gone through before next shearing. To help use them, I got a bunch of borderleicester on Monday (more on that next time) and I’ve got some wonderful Shetland from my friend Heidi.

My daughter quit the Twilight series mid-way through the 3rd book. She said it was getting too gushy for her. That’s ok- even though the parts I was worried about in the 4th book weren’t graphic, I’m glad she’s not interested in that yet. “Shy” (there wasn’t a link) said in the comments that as a librarian she recommends “The Mortal Instruments” series for readers who want Twilight, so I’ll look into that- thanks for the recommendation! School starts this week, so after she’s had a bit to settle in, I’ll look for those.

About Steve- his surgery is scheduled for Sept. 2. Thank you all for keeping him in your thoughts- he’s gonna kick this thing, cuz we need him around for a good long time.

Now some nekkid goaties-

Evan "I had a haircut"

Renesmee- "Are the shearers gone, is it playtime now?"

Bits and pieces

There’s been knitting, spinning, kids, goaties, bunnies, skirting a fleece- business as usual. I had actually started this post last night, but a thunderstorm came up, and none of it saved.

This morning I’ll go take care of some dogs I’m dogsitting, then I will head down to Kid Hollow to help with shearing. Jonathan the Wonder Shearer has arrived. This is always fun work, even though its hard work. It will be slightly different this time- Steve is in the hospital right now. He has an infection that requires i.v. abx. Hopefully he’ll be released by Monday. It will be weird and sad not having him there. Even last year, while he was recovering from a double knee replacement, he was still down in the barn heckling us.

Ok, I’m not much of a morning girl, so I’m just gonna fall back on pictures. Check this out:

Finally!

She’s been reading non-stop since about Thursday. I was wondering when the reading bug would finally kick in with her. Now if I could just get her to take a shower every day… Anyway. She’s reading the Twilight series. I’m still debating with myself if she should read the 4th one. She took the 2nd one in stride (I blubbered most of the way through it. I asked her if she cried, since I had, and she said, “It was sad, but no offense Mom, you’re a wimp.” Hmm.)

Oh- got a comment regarding the Love My Goat wine the other day from The Jester’s Needle:

“Now, on to the important part of this comment: I live even closer to Bully Hill than your friend in Buffalo. If there’s a way I can get the Goat to you, I absolutely volunteer to do so. There’s Goat White, too…..” I may have a new best friend… Will you be at Rhinebeck?????

Ok, a few goaties now.

Jonesy

There’s Jonesy helping me pick through a fleece. Actually, he was no help whatsoever, since he wanted me to scratch him rather than work on the fleece.

Baby Enigma

That’s baby Enigma, Elphie’s baby who was born end of April. Its really hard to get pictures of her cuz she is constantly on the move. She gets called Puppy Goat alot- she loves getting scratches, and will maaaa at you if you stop.

Last, Stuff is showing off for Marri again…

Stuff

How do you title this?

Sorry I’ve been gone. Alot has been going on- and its taken some time and thought to get back here. The truck accident was one thing- I was pretty shaken from that- it could’ve ended much, much worse- and the kids were with me- so that was pretty heavy. Then there was dealing with all the insurance stuff, finding another truck (they did total it)- that was alot of time spent on-line searching- because I need 4-wheel drive for my hill, I need the 3rd row of seats since 2 of my kids are still in booster seats, and I need a decent amount of covered cargo space for when I vend. This past Friday night I went down to Richmond and picked up this:

you're not seeing double

That is exactly my truck- down to the year and color. Just minus the stickers, with newer tires and more miles. There is some body damage to the front, but I had it all checked out where I get my service done and its good. The kids will redecorate it soon, I’m sure.

That isn’t such a big thing, anymore. The weekend after that, I found out that my friend Steve has pancreatic cancer. You’ve heard me mention Pat & Steve many, many times. They are Kid Hollow Farm. All my goats came from them, when I’ve bred my does, its been at their farm. They are 2 of my most favorite people in the world. They’re one of my “safe places” when things are hard. They are the kindest, most caring people I know. This shouldn’t be happening to them. (I know it shouldn’t happen to anybody)

The world is still the same. It just feels like someone picked it up, and shifted it slightly to one side. Things look the same, things are still happening- relatives come to visit, chores need to be done, dinner needs to be cooked, knitting still happens- but things just feel slightly different. I can’t even begin to imagine how Pat & Steve feel.

So, please- send your thoughts, good energy, prayers- however you do it- their way. He will be undergoing a 12-hour surgery week after next. I really believe that good thoughts sent someone’s way can make a difference- somehow it makes the air around more positive- I just have to believe that.

Also, come October, Miss Mad for Knit will be doing the Boston Half-Marathon for cancer research. If you possibly can, please donate here. When I get my head together, I will be donating some handspun yarns for her raffle.

That’s where I’ve been- just haven’t been able to wrap my mind around blogging, or even reading blogs (now I’m almost scared to go to bloglines to see how much I need to catch up on).

I’ve been test-knitting again, so not much to show. I did finish a beret in the wonderful Black Bunny Fibers thick and thin.

beret

It’s not as slouchy as I’d hoped, but I forgot to change needle sizes, plus I was afraid I might run out of yarn. Here’s a close-up of the fabric:

close-up

I’ve got a cardigan in mind for this (sketched it right after the Harry Potter movie- which was super-excellent, btw). So I gotta talk to miss Carol about redoing this color…

Ok, gotta run my sister-in-law to the airport. We’ll take my daughter along, and hopefully the 3 of us will have time for a girlie-time cup of coffee before we drop her off- she’s headed back to Kansas. So, more in a day or 2. In the meantime, a couple of goatie shots:

Baby Evan, or Cousin It?

Stuff sends his love Marri

It’s summer

It has been incredibly mild. Until today.  I think this morning’s coffee time was the first hot morning. So what do you do when its gonna be like that? You be very glad that your parents have decided to live at an apartment that lets you bring your kids to their pool once or twice a week.

fun

alien invasion

Now you know, you can’t go swimming without the aliens joining in… my mom found these at Target, they live on her couch, and they have to come swimming with us every time. Yea, I don’t know, either…

My poor goaties are in full fleece right now.

Rosie and twins

The shearer will be here in about 2 weeks. I know they’ll be glad- the bigger guys like Fluff usually shear about 8 or so pounds of mohair. Also, when they’re in full fleece, they can’t feel the shock from the electric fence, so occasionally they walk right through. For the most part they wander through the rest of my woods (haven’t finished fencing all of it yet), or cross back into A-the-hay-god’s field. He’s very gracious about the whole thing and says he doesn’t mind. I still get a little nervous knowing there are bear and other problems around. After shearing, they are gonna be some surprised little goaties when they try the fence…

Let’s see- some stash enhancement made it’s way here- my sock club and yarn club shipments from Black Bunny Fibers came. Lovely, as always. First there is a new sock yarn.

color: The Sacred Mountain

This yarn feels fantastic! It’s 90/10 merino/nylon- so it’s got extra strenth from the touch of nylon, yet with the higher merino content than most merino/nylon blends, it’s super, super soft. Gotta get that on the needles soon. From the yarn club, these 2 beauties-

mauve mocha 1

mauve mocha 2

They’re both 98/2 wool/nylon. One is thick and thin, and one has the nylon making a barber-pole effect. I think they will both be hats- probably slouchy type berets like this one:

slouchy beret

You want another view- she’s looking kinda moody and grouchy, though. Wait, I think that’s the right look for these…

Miss Moody

Oh- gotta show you the rental monster car I got- look at this huge thing-

monster truck

It’s this huge Dodge Ram thing. The kids are thrilled. Me, I’m just waiting to hear from Allstate- please cross your fingers for me that they don’t total my truck.

Ok. Off to knit and try to shake the pool-glare headache. When I become rich and famous and build my in-ground pool, the lining will be a nice, soothing dark slate grey- it’ll look like a nice, mountain pool. Ahhhh…

Rosie says hi.

No, I'm not saying hi. I'm saying, Jonathan, please come shear me!

Freakin’ suicidal deer

We’re driving along, taking the kitten to the vet for his shots, when this silly deer had to choose me as his instrument of death.

The kids and I (and the kitten) are all fine. Deer and car- not.

Sigh

Silly thing bounded onto my windshield. I’m not quite sure how I managed to pull the car over. A very nice person stopped, and stayed with me until the police came- the officers who came were fabulous. We left the kids in the car, they directed traffic around, my father came and got us (once again, my hero- even without donuts!). All told, we were there about an hour. The tow truck driver was fantastic, too. The kids got to spend some time in the back of a cop car (if you have long legs, I highly suggest you don’t get arrested. Don’t do anything to get yourself arrested anyway, no matter how long your legs are. But still, no leg room) and E got to sit in the tow truck and watch him load my car from the side mirror. I love that kids can find the fun in anything.

So my dad brought us home. I spent maybe 15 minutes on the phone with Allstate filing the claim (I love Allstate, btw.). While talking to the adjuster, my guineas started squawking and heading across the driveway- I saw a flash of black and the adjuster heard “Holy shit, that was a bear!” Telling Carol about it afterwards, she commented on how I was wildlife central out here- and she made me promise not to go after the bear with my camera. I didn’t- figured I better not push my luck twice in one day.

Now the saga will be whether or not they total my Pilot. I really hope not- cuz you know that even though the give you whatever the “value” is for the car, no dealer is going to have that year truck on their lot at that price. Tomorrow they will tow it to wherever they do their figuring. Cross your fingers…

My knitting was in the car with me- it was this blanket, made from Blue Ridge Yarn’s Pima Paints.

Pima Paints Blankie

Unfortunately, it was just covered in pieces of glass, and lots of little glass splinters- so into the trash it went. I have another skein of that color here, so I spoke with the person who ordered the blanket, and she said she would be ok with a little sweater. So I’ll get started on that today.

I was so scattered yesterday, I just couldn’t focus. I just needed an evening of this-

Rosie and her babies

And some of this didn’t hurt, either-

Yum

Now you know, any wine that’s called “Love my Goat” is gonna go over well with me. It really is good- very mellow, not dry, but not syrupy, either. One of my friends is in Buffalo and she wants to go to the vineyard and bring home a case of this stuff- the vineyard, Bully Hill, is about an hour or so from where she is. I’m wondering if she’ll have room for 2 cases…

Besides being frazzled, I was at that weird place in knitting where I’d finished a large project and was at a loss as to what to do next. The blanket would have been perfect to work on- simple, didn’t require thought, and I could have worked through my mind being a wreck. Since that option was shot, I just gave up and spun. And even though I really wanted to throw something new on one of the wheels, I finished up the 2nd ply for a second skein of this-

Lavender Fields

Black Bunny Fibers merino top. I’ll ply that today, get it washed, and hopefully have both skeins listed by the end of the week. I’m planning on listing some stuff in Etsy today, so will post again when its done.

Here’s a shot of the clouds my daughter took last night during the sunset. I love turning her loose with the camera.

sunset clouds