Cat-ouflage

Sadly these are not actually fall leaves, but greenhouse grape leaves decimated by an unbelievable scourge of Japanese beetles this year.  Good camouflage for Comby though on a rainy morning :-). 

Is It Fall Yet?

Even Eli is ready for fire pit weather.

Poor Biscuit

These stories are only funny if no one gets hurt.  No one got hurt, so here's a funny story on poor Biscuit.

"This is NOT a funny story!"

Even though we are back down in the 80s, I've left the hot weather annex (barn aisle) open.  Several of the sheep really enjoy hanging out in there and it's not really that inconvenient, especially now that the breakfast club has their own private paddock.  The water hose is the only hiccup.  

I normally let it lay in front of the feeder troughs along the wall.  With all the sheep and bedding in the aisle now, it keeps getting buried and dragging it out from the back of the barn to the front of the barn can be a mess.  The other day I hung it through the cross gate.  I would just have to grab it from there and pull it through.

Sometimes the hose is hooked to the hydrant so I can fill water tanks.  Sometimes it's loose so I can fill buckets straight from the hydrant.  Wednesday afternoon it was loose.  So picture the hydrant halfway down the aisle.  12' past that is the cross gate...with the hose hanging through the left side.  

Enter Biscuit.

In the course of snarfling around looking for hay scraps by the door to the hay stall, just past the gate, he somehow gets his head under/over/through the hanging hose.  He turns around and it wraps around his chest.  This startles him and he tries to run away...dragging the hose.  

If it had been hooked to the hydrant he would have eventually run to the end of it and been free.  It was loose.  As Biscuit starts running, he's dragging about 25' of hose on both sides of his body.  Now he's really scared.  

He heads to the inside stall and real panic ensues.  Everyone tries to run into the outside stall to get away from him.

"SNAKE!!!"

Biscuit tries to follow them, in a complete panic.

"A PYTHON IS EATING BISCUIT!!!"

It's a real stampede at this point and I am in there trying not to get trampled, but to somehow get hold of at least the hose.  Biscuit finally sees me and comes running.  I get him stopped and remove the "snake" and all is well.

Except Poor Biscuit...who had his feeling hurt.

Playing With Light

A couple new puzzles :-).  

Enjoy!

A Kaala Puzzle

Enjoy!

Would He?

While at first glance this appears to be a story about a sheep eating watermelon, I think the better story is actually the chickens.  I took a not super ripe watermelon out to the barn thinking everyone could share it.  

The sheep were all asleep so I quietly set it down for the chickens.  Woody popped up immediately, came racing out and started gobbling it all up.  Would he share it?  No, he Woody not.  The chickens were incredulous.

Note Gladys circling and circling while the others watch on in horror.  

"I just can't believe this!"

"Come on, Woody.  Just a little bit?"  

"No."

"The nerve!"

Here comes Andy.

Would Woody share?

"I guess I'll just eat this piece of wilted lettuce."

And Gladys is back...

One last attempt.

"Please?"  

"No."

I think I'd be a bit afraid to go to sleep tonight, Woody.

And I think I'll go get the girls their very own watermelon tomorrow.

Old Friends

I wanted to add Ewen McTeagle and Woolliam to the "easy breezy" paddock.  Allie was doing really well in there, even getting out to graze some, so I knew if I could talk the boys into moving they'd be happy.  

Well, they weren't.  The two grumpy old men who have always slept in the back of the inside stall were absolutely Not Happy that they were now being forced to sleep in the front of the outside stall.  I had to lock them in there the first night.

The next morning (yesterday), when they only had to walk a few steps to the breakfast bar and could just step out the door to graze, they started to come around ;-).  This is what I found when I headed back out after dinner.

Woolliam and Ewen would normally already be tucked deep into the barn, missing out on a nice evening outdoors.  Allie, too, but she'd be more to the front...and yelling at everyone to come in with her.  They all have to be happier outside on a nice evening.  I know I was happy to see them out there :-).

Steamy Sunday

The Tell Tale Signs

When I walked back up to the barn after lunch I saw the chicken feeder knocked apart and empty.  This is a classic sheep move.  Sheep love chicken feed.  So do Corgis, but they don't have to bust the feeder open to get to the food.  It was sheep.  

Great.  I left a gate open somewhere.  None of my flowers were chewed down to the ground, so everyone stayed in the barn.  Wonder what got torn up.  What kind of mess(es) am I going to have to clean up...  I know what I'm in for :-/.  

Well, this is a surprise.  Nothing.  Wait a minute...  Do you see the sheep?

Now do you?

Let's walk around to the other side (as I need to shut a gate on the way around ;-).

Biscuit!  That's actually pretty clever if I say so myself!

"Yeah, I know ;-)."

That's Rocky (one of the new "rams") laying down.  Jared (the other one) came in to see what was going on...and can't believe it.  "How'd that punk get over there right in front of our fan?!?"

I let him sleep there until he got up and then I ushered him back to the correct side of the gate.  Later I found this.

Must have been a good day to be Biscuit :-).

Hot Dog

This also made a fun puzzle.  Lots of easy lines to follow and plenty of Hank :-).  Enjoy!

The New Girl

This is Kaala.  She's a natural colored Clun Forest ewe who belongs to my friend Benita aka fiberpusher of Dyed in the Wool fame.  She was part of a flock in Indianapolis that was being dispersed and needed a new home.  

She's a funny little sheep with a big personality.  Since I'm not familiar with the farm she came from, she's in quarantine for awhile.  I wish it weren't so hot, but we're doing the best we can.  Lila stepped in got tricked into babysitting her and she's settling in just fine.

Tomorrow?!?

For those of us apparently not keeping score at home...

...the Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow.  Yes...tomorrow :-o.

Buddy is going to be our Team My Favorite Sheep cheerleader this year, because who's better at yelling than Buddy?  So, if you need some encouragement, he's your sheep.  If you need a kick in the butt, he's your sheep.  If he wants a cookie...

“Hey! I’ve got a chicken on my back!” #buddy #bestsheepever #cotswoldsheep #oldsheep #adventurechicken #sheepchicken #chickensheep #petuniahasthenightoff

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Jun 19, 2018 at 6:19pm PDT

As always, the Tour de Fleece spinning challenge runs in conjunction with the Tour de France bike race.  The full "rules/guidelines" are listed here on Ravelry and if you'd like to officially join the Punkin's Patch team, here is our official group on Ravelry.  You sure don't have to join officially (the primary goal of the Tour is just to encourage you to do some spinning, learn something new...), but we do have prizes :-).

All levels of experience are welcome.  Give it a try!  Our "team" is kind and helpful and very inspirational.  And no worries if you think you are already too far behind.  I'm right there with you ;-).

"BAAAAAA!!!"

This Weather...

"...is for the birds!"

Heck, even the birds are hot!

Last night was just miserable.  We got a big storm late afternoon today and it cooled off a little. If we can hold on until Saturday, it looks like we're going to get a break for a couple days.  Whew!

Just Like Fireflies

Actually, not really very much like fireflies...but they did appear to glow in the setting sun.  I didn't get a great picture of all of them floating around, but I do like this picture of Petunia and Renny grazing together with Buddy looking on.   Might be a fun puzzle :-).