The Dog Days Of June

Ugh. 102 degrees today. This is the hottest I can ever remember being and I went to Texas one time! One time. That place was so hot I've never been back ;-).



I've got the barn opened up as much as possible. There's a good breeze - usually - through the aisleway, so I made a temporary stall at the end and picked up another fan.



Woolliam's still not happy. Everyone is hunkering down, trying to stay cool.



Marcel: "Sherman's hogging the fan!"



Sherman: "Yeah, it's great! You should get yourself one."



And poor Blossom. So hot. So miserable that all she wants is her momma. So she can lay on me. To feel cooler?

Some iPhone shots.









Nothing like a wool blanket in the middle of summer :-o.

Cramming!

The Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow!

Petunia's very excited to be hosting this year, but at the same time misses Miss Ewenice. We all do. I sure wish Miss Ewenice could have seen Blossom sleeping on that silly cot. She'd have just pursed her lips and shaken her head :-).

I'm still a bit undecided about what I'm spinning for the Tour this year. That surprises me as usually I've got everything lined out weeks ahead. It's like showing up for the final exam without having opened the book or signing up to ride in a bike race and not done any training.



I did set out my wheel oil this afternoon - always a good idea. I do know that once again every wheel will get some mileage.



As well as my Golding spindles.



The wash room at the Wool House has been hopping.



Keebler's on the table and that's Hairy McLairy overflowing the first basket and Ford and a Border Leicester fleece on the end.



Here's a closer look at Keebs. So pretty.



Ford.



Jester. Still so black at his advanced age. Definitely a sheep with great character.

Here's where it gets crazy. As I was loading pictures for this post I noticed it was getting really windy outside. Having just watched the evening news I knew we didn't have any rain for miles around. Straight line winds. Just what we needed :-/.

Several trees came down, one taking out a section of perimeter fence. The amount of dust blown into my hair and eyes will probably never wash clean. Jester's fleece was tossed in the wind, much of it landing in the landscaping mulch.

If it were anyone but Jester, I'd probably toss it out. It's a mess. Just shy of ruined. I guess first up for the Tour is picking it out and salvaging what I can. He's worth it.

As far as the rest...

Team My Favorite Sheep - I gotta spin some Ewenice.

Team Golding - I'll have that figured out by the start tomorrow.

Team Russian Underpants - more Elizabeth on the great wheel - amount to be decided by morning.

Team Footloose - some Border Leicester for a friend - amount to be decided by morning.

I am not joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. I am not joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. I am not joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. I am not joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. I am not joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. I am not joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted.

I'm probably joining Team Hopelessly Overcommitted.

Are you ready???

New Blooms

Before undertaking any major gardening project, you must first make sure you have a proper cat.



You know the kind. One who'll take a look at what you have planned...



...and give you some honest feedback.

Betsy, we're not done. Betsy? BET-sy. BETSY!

Sigh.

So I planted 42 (so far) lavender plants...by myself.

I've given up vegetable gardening. It's not that I really have anything against vegetables, but slicing up a tomato and putting some salt on it (fits the no more than three ingredient qualification ;-) is about as far as I go cooking.

Putting out and maintaining a vegetable garden is a lot of work. By the middle of the summer (or the first day of spring) I feel like shooting myself. And we don't eat what we're killing ourselves trying to grow. If you can't answer the question "Why do we have a garden?"...why DO you have a garden.



I'm good at flowers. I have flowers in planters, baskets, at the house, on the porch, in front of the wool house, a dye garden behind the wool house, around the green house, over top of the mail box and I even enjoy seeing geranium blooms in the winter in the house. I love flowers. We have a beautiful garden spot. It is now filled with flowers :-).



It took a herculean effort on Saint Tim's part to get the weed patch garden tilled up. Not only were the weeds tall, thick, numerous and well established, the ground was like concrete. After he got it tilled up, I raked the loose dirt into raised rows and planted 11 different varieties of lavender.



Between the rows and around the edges I laid out some weed stopping (hopefully) old moving/shipping boxes, soaked them down with water and Tim covered them with mulch. A lot of mulch.



He hauled mulch and hauled mulch and hauled mulch.



And it looks awesome!




Lavender is a no brainer "crop" for us here. It looks good, the bees will love it, I can dry it for wool sachets...

And besides, the farmer's market is full of poor suckers vegetable producers all summer long ;-).

Trouble

Um, Blizzard?



Blossom?



"We aren't doing anything. Nothing to see here."

Black Jack (21)

Finally, the day 20's been looking forward to - his first ride on his "pony" Black Jack.



The best place to ride on a hot afternoon is the cool(ish) woods. 20's Auntie Reg and Uncle John live near the beautiful Lower Howard's Creek Nature and Heritage Preserve. Perfect!



Wearing his safety helmet and paddock boots - off they go.



They rode out past the barn.



Along a very interesting stone wall.



Down the lane, past some more cool stone walls.



All the way out to the river overlook. Black Jack didn't want to get too close to the edge so you'll have to peek through the trees to see the Kentucky River.



And then back home.



Afterwards he and Black Jack shared a bowl of cool water and an icy Ale 8 (the famous local beverage - a mild ginger ale), some carrots and River Rat Beer Cheese (another famous local product).

There were SO MANY great name choices for the rocking sheep. I finally decided to let everyone vote and Black Jack (21) it is. Very clever, Lori.

From the list of comments at the original post, Random.org picked Far Side of Fifty as the random winner. Drop me an email with your mailing address and I'll get your prize right out!

Blobs

It is so. hot. All the sheep look like blobs, laying in front of the fans.



I look like a blog too, but as I'm the one operating the camera... ;-).



Sherman.



And his pillow.



Boudreaux, using his ear as a pillow. You can just barely see it in front of the blob.



Let's bust out the wide angle and include Graham Lamb.

"Stick it, lady!"



Our fearless Tour de Fleece leader. Nice decoration there, Petunia :-/.



"Stop throwing straw on our backs. You are getting us in troubles!"

Good girl, Lila!

She's maintained her interest in law enforcement.

A New Lamb Sitter In The Wool House

Made by my talented friend Marlaina.



Sitting on the couch, holding a little lamb. Ah the good old days ;-).



Cute material!



And her hair is some of Rebecca Boone's gray curls.

I think her weary expression is from the heat.

Taking Cot Shots

I tried to sneak around the back side to get a different view of the cot today.



"Hey, what are you doing over there?"

Taking some more pictures of you sleeping on the cot since you're so cute.



"Oh, okay. I'm kinda used to that now."



"So what's a sheep gotta do to get some air conditioning around here?"