Yet Another...

...funny Maisie story.

The other day I walked out of the Wool House and saw Maisie and Clover Belly standing near the gate to the front field.  Clover Belly was closest to the gate and between me and Maisie and I guess Maisie didn't see me.

As I got a little closer I said in my special talking to Maisie voice, "Mayzee.  MAYzee!"  Maisie turned to Clover Belly with an incredulous look on her face and I feel confident she clearly thought Clover Belly had just said her name.

You gotta love her :-).

This Weather Is A Puzzle

And so is this picture :-).  

Enjoy!

Favorite Family

That's Biscuit in the background.  He's never been a snuggler, even when he was a tiny baby living in the kitchen.  He slept near me, but seldom snuggled up  with me.  He likes to sleep near them, but not with them.  Muffin, on the other hand, has always been a snuggler.  Even at almost a year old, her mom is still her favorite pillow.

Resting Up

New Favorite Pictures Of Biscuit

He'll always be my little baby :-).

And It's Back

We got several inches of snow again last night which reminded me that I'd forgotten to share some cute Tilly pictures I'd taken for the "camping" post during the Iknitarod.

I'd taken a whole series of pictures of Tilly digging a snow bed...

...but a corgi digging in deep (for a corgi ;-) snow...the pictures all look pretty much the same ;-).

And then, when she lays down...it's kind of hard to tell that she actually has ;-D.

But it's pretty hard to top a corgi with a snow ball on her nose ;-).

Vernal

To "celebrate" the spring equinox today, I'm not going to rehash the previous laundry lists of reasons why I hate spring.  I'm going to share a new one!  

I always end up with one crazed robin who spends much of the early spring "fighting" with his reflection in my car mirrors and windows.  I'll spare you the picture of what my car looks like with this going on.  

Happy Spring ;-).

This better not be one of the babies from The Great Robin Rescue last summer!

How About A Farm Pond And A Chicken?

When Kate Davies released her Carbeth sweater pattern a couple months ago, she posted it to her blog with pictures taken posed alongside a snowy loch...complete with a swan gliding past.  When Mason-Dixon Knitting posted the Bang Out A Carbeth Knitalong, they specifically commented on the swan as well.  It really was a stunning picture!

As Carbeth sweaters were banged out around the world and pictures started appearing on Instagram they soon became known as the Carbeth Swan Dance.  Well, I don't have a frozen loch...or a swan...but I do have a cool sheep (who also happened to provide the yarn for my Carbeth), a farm pond...and an Adventure Chicken.  Let's do it!

Baaxter walked out there pretty darn willingly considering it had been at least two years, maybe three, since he'd had a collar and leash on.  This is the Frog Pond, not the Ice Skating Pond.  It's the small pond/group of trees/native plants you see in front of the bigger pond at the back of the farm.

Tim took a bunch of pictures in various locations and positions and...

...like most pictures of me, the less of me showing, the better ;-).

These are my favorites, even though they don't really show much of the sweater.

"You're doing a good job, Baaxter.  And your sweater is very nice.  Cozy and comfy."

While the sweater was designed to be a stylish crop top, since mostly where I wear my sweaters is to work out in the barn in the winter, I decided to add a few extra inches to the body length.  

Can you believe this is that cute little brat who terrorized 20 and Auntie Reg (yikes!) four years ago?

I'm not sure if B. Willard is noticing the new hand knit sweater (being a Sheep of Impeccable Character, this would not be...out of character) or is just amazed that I was wearing something relatively clean for a change ;-).

"Yep, that's not a swan."

Nope, that's the Sheep Chicken.  She was ready to go to bed so she was easy to catch ;-).

I give the Carbeth two thumbs up.  I think it's going to be perfect warm winter barn sweater.  The Bang Out A Carbeth knitalong was great fun and the Iknitarod (the re-knit) continues to be my all time favorite winter event.  As always, I was in great company and that makes it all worth it.

Good Ole Hank

Hank doesn't care that June has been getting all the social media attention lately.  He's happier just doing his job. 

"You're a good dog, Hank.  You're doing a good job."

I started telling Hank that when he first got here and the sheep were hassling him and nobody loved him except Keebler and Graham.  I still tell him that and I know he knows exactly what I'm saying.

Those pictures would make nice St. Patrick's Day puzzles, don't you think?  Enjoy! :-)

The Final Miles

While 20 and Carbear are cleaning up the last of the sourdough pancakes I'm packing the sled for the last few miles into "Nome".  We should finish tomorrow!

I couldn't pick a favorite picture, so I'm posting all three.  My beloved Red Lantern, mushing along with me since the Keebler shawl five years ago (thanks, Alice! :-) is still going strong.  The first place musher reached Nome early this morning, but there are many Iditarod mushers and Iknitarod knitters still out on the trail.  

We'll keep the light on for you!

Camping Away From A Checkpoint

After a warm, sunny afternoon yesterday, we had our biggest snow of the season last night.  It was beautiful!  Huge, dropping flakes that piled up quickly.

It looks like June is running the Iknitarod Barn Checkpoint by herself, but Hank is just down the hill 😉. This only makes sense if you’ve been glued to the Iditarod Live Feed half the day 😆. The big mound is muck I’ve been scraping away from the gate and water tank for the last few weeks 😵. #iditarod #iknitarod2018 #crazyweather #livestockguardiandogs

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Mar 11, 2018 at 8:17pm PDT

I hung out in the barn and barn lot for, well, I don't even know how long.  It was late.  I'd been knitting in the Wool House with 20, Carbear, Kate and Tilly, trying to catch back up from my wrong turn during the afternoon.

Kate and Tilly are working the Wool House Checkpoint 😀. Made up my lost ground this evening. Whew! #iknitarod2018 #iditarod #crazybigsnowflakes

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Mar 11, 2018 at 8:21pm PDT

Sometimes mushers will come through a checkpoint and then continue on down the trail to camp for awhile away from the noise and crowds.  20 and Carbear thought that sounded like a great idea and found the perfect spot to set up camp under a favorite pine tree.

I think Carbear was a bit confused about the whole Carbeth/Iknitarod event to begin with, but he's enjoyed hanging out with 20, listening to tales of previous years and is quickly becoming a veteran musher.

"How's it going out here, 20?"

"It's good!  This snow is amazing!  Just a beautiful morning for sure and the company's good, too!"

"This tree is a perfect camping spot, even with the big globs of snow falling off it, onto us.  Wool's good that way."

Mushing on!

Keep Your Eyes On Your Own Race

Because if you pay too much attention to other (real) mushers, you may not catch that you've made a mistake and lost the trail and have to rip back eight. long. rows.

Back to mushing.  And I probably didn't learn any lessons ;-D.

Keeping An Eye On The [Sheep] Trail

Once again we woke to a decent snow cover this morning.  It lasted a couple hours, but as soon as the sun came out, poof!  

Andy

Spud, Murphy and Woody 

Chocula 

Daniel looks like he can smell spring coming :-).

Baaxter

The Long Suffering Border Collie

"Knitting is SO boring!"

Keeping An Eye On The Trail

We woke to snow this morning. Of course we did. Once the sheep are shorn, I no longer wish for snow.  Sigh...  Luckily it was still pretty warm and it didn't last long.  Barely long enough to get some Iknitarod team pictures.  

June looks like she's lost the trail ;-).

Iris made this trail from the house to the barn years ago and Tilly still uses it.  

The Tilly Trail.

Kate may not use Iris Lane very often, but she does keep an eye on the traffic.

The snow melted so fast you could watch it happening.

I have both sleeves re-knit and I've started the body.  I was hoping to reach the 4" mark this evening, but I'm running out of gas and my "paws" are a little sore, so I may "take an eight".

Hank and June are happy about the cooler weather.  The sheep...are actually doing okay.  This weather is not ideal, but the barn is closed up to block the wind and they have plenty to eat to help stay warm.  Glad we didn't do the oldies!