Well It Wasn't An EPIC Fail...

...but if I have to keep explaining that it's two cute sheep, Biscuit and Muffin, eating a pumpkin and NOT a skull...  

By the way, that's Stella in the background wearing a bats in the belfry headpiece, courtesy of Auntie Reg ;-D.

It was another great Pumpkin Party.  This is really a highlight of the year for sure.  The amount of work it takes to put on a party of this size and cook at that good food and set up all the tables and chairs and bring in all the pumpkins and have carving tools and buckets for everyone to share and a big tobacco wagon to display them all and candles to light them...  We have awesome neighbors!

It's a little less scary in the daylight, or porch light.  And now that you know the bottom is a pumpkin and Not Teeth, it totally looks like Biscuit and Muffin...right?

Shirley won the calendar drawing :-D.  I don't think I have your address, so if you could drop me an email I'll get it sent out right away.  And I'm hoping to get the farm shop updated today so if anyone else would like a calendar...

She's Baaa-aack

After the sheep were shorn back in the spring, the Sheep Chicken had to stop sleeping on her ledge.  She couldn't get enough traction on the slick sheep backs to make her jumps.  About the time their wool started growing back to an acceptable length, the days got long and hot and the sheep stayed out grazing in the evenings, well past the time when she wanted to go to bed.  

She slept in the coop all long summer.  A week or so ago I noticed she was back on her platform perch.  I caught an occasional picture of her on various sheep's backs, jumping for her ledge, but hadn't had time to post them and then forgot. 

Two nights (or I should say late afternoons - chickens go to bed early!) ago short little Clover Belly followed a couple of the older sheep in hoping for an evening snack.  She didn't get one, but poked around the stalls for a bit looking for anything that might have dropped.

She was standing at the doorway between the inside and outside stalls (the right side of the picture) when the chicken hopped aboard.  She stood there for a couple seconds and then walked straight over to the ledge and the chicken jumped on up.  If you look closely you can see her next to the fan on the back wall. 

Sometimes I just "live in the moment" and watch what goes on without recording it.  Sunrises and sunsets are always better in real life and should sometimes just be enjoyed.  Bees working flowers...well, they are good either way.  A chicken and sheep so deliberately working together, especially one I've never seen helping the chicken?  I wish I'd turned on the video camera.

*     *     *   In other news  *     *     *

Hank and June are now best friends.  Other than taking a walk yesterday where she shouldn't have, June is doing really, really well.  I'm putting up some more fencing today to hopefully stop her from future exploration missions.  If the Adventure Chickens figure out they could ride her to town... :-o

Cecil Aguilar's been back and made something extra special for us.  I'm telling you, drystone work is like tattoos.  Once you start you can't stop.  I of course took lots of pictures including a very cool one with Eli, who is trying really hard to make the calendar next year.  I'd say things are looking good for him ;-).

Tonight is the big neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Party.  I had planned to try to do a special felted pumpkin to carve, but...I'm now spending my day putting up fence :-/.  At least I can think about my real pumpkin design while I work.  I'm guessing it will be a Biscuit and Muffin design.  Stay tuned!

I don't know how it could possibly be almost the end of October, but it is and next Saturday is National Hug a Sheep Day :-D.  We are once again hosting a farm party to celebrate and would love if everyone could come!  Needless to say if I can't find time to post blog pictures, I probably haven't had time to work on the teleporter either, but June is all about some cookies as are Biscuit and Muffin and Mrs. Pepperpot and everyone else.  It will be a fun afternoon :-D.\

*     *     *   One more thing   *     *     *

When I was looking for a link for the words "Sheep Chicken" above, I found the post about Baby Belly and Spud helping last year.  I'd forgotten that had been Baby Belly.  Clover Belly is Baby Belly's daughter.  While Muffin may have ditched me and Mrs. Pepperpot, Clover Belly stayed very close to her momma her whole life.  We lost Baby Belly last week. 

I am quite sure we don't have even an ounce of understanding about what goes on between animals, especially animals in a close family.  I was amazed that a sheep who I had thought had no previous experience with the chicken routine was helping out.  Now I'm extra amazed.  Remember Tilly stepping up after Iris died?  Something else to ponder while I'm stringing fence today.

SO, as I did with the long post about Tilly, let's see who made it to the end of this epistle.  Leave me a comment on the main blog saying which sheep you'd love to hug most and I'll have 20 draw for a winner at the end of the weekend.  There's a 2018 Farm Calendar in it for the winner :-).

Sheep Trick Or Treat

"Wheeee!"

Hank: "What's ever'body running for?"

Maisie:  "Stella and Auntie Reg are here!  It's Sheep Trick or Treats!!!" 

Note Maisie still swings her tail like a propeller when she runs and is still always out in front :-D.

"Treats please!"

"We got tricked!"

"But we also got treats!"

20 loves Tricks or Treats, too!

"You got any treats for us, Miss Stella?"

I decided Bullwinkle shouldn't have to dress up as himself, so he went as Rocky.  As we were making the costumes, Stella and I discussed the merits of hot glue versus the sticky felt and KNEW that hot glue was better, but decided to chance the sticky felt...and sure enough, there's a loose tab on Levi's Bullwinkle costume.  We're going to stick to hot glue ;-D.

Even the chickens got some treats.

Pumpkin With A P Party

There are three highlight of fall around here (besides just stupid summer being over ;-).  The first is the Kentucky Wool Festival the first full weekend of October.  The second is the neighborhood Pumpkin Party that falls on the Saturday about a week before Halloween.  This year was the 10th!

I wish everyone lived in a neighborhood like ours.  I can't help but think that the world would be a kinder place.  I realize part of this is due to living in a farming community, but I do know farmers in other places that might know who's driving that truck, but not how old their kids are or that their mother has been sick or that the chili supper starts at 6:00 so the pumpkin carving will be in full swing by 7:00 :-).

I took my camera so that I could take pictures of the over 100 people that gathered to say grace, eat awesome chili (and everything that goes with it) and carve pumpkins.  My design (that I'd worked on in my head, but not on paper...again) ended up taking so long that by the time I finished, pretty much everyone else was finished, too.  I think Auntie Reg got some pictures though.

I once again carved a design on the outside without cutting through and scraped the inside as much as I could so the light would shine through.  I'd planned on carving Bullwinkle, but it turned out looking more like Liddy.  That's okay.  She'll always be my special girl...and she's sort of shaped like a pumpkin anyway ;-).

Get it?

The third highlight of fall is the Punkin (without the extra P) Party to celebrate National Hug a Sheep Day.  This will be our 7th annual farm party!  I don't really remember now how Hug a Sheep Day got started, but the first year was fun so we've kept it going and it's been fun watching everyone join in, not just here, but around the world :-).  International Hug a Sheep Day!

The farm party here is this Saturday, the 29th, from 1:00 to 4:00.  Everyone is welcome to come out and enjoy the farm, the hopefully beautiful fall weather, the sheep (and cats and dogs and horses and chickens), and the great company.  We will also have some leftover pumpkins (with a P) if you'd like to carve a sheep pumpkin for yourself!

You may bring treats (vanilla wafers, saltines, corn chips, Cheerios) for the sheep if you'd like, but once again we will all need to do our very best to monitor how many treats everyone (especially the C.O.R.G.I.) is getting so no one ends up with a tummy ache or in a sugar coma.

We will have some of the most huggable sheep set up in front of the barn and you can meet and greet with most of your favorite sheep.  Most meaning Not Maisie.  Oh, I might be set her up in a Hannibal Lecter cage somewhere, but as always when visiting the farm, stay away from the sheep with the tail haha.  She hates cookies anyway ;-).

Bullwinkle and Levi have been practicing for Trick or Treat, but on an interesting note, Bullwinkle may not be in the hugging pen this year.  We'll have to see how he does.  We've had several groups of visitors lately and he is, I guess, shy.  

He won't eat treats from anyone but me and would rather go hide around the corner.  Levi, on the other hand, who I was sure was never going to tame down enough to approach strangers, has zero problem yelling "Tricks or Treats" and will be happy to mug you for cookies :-).

I'm hoping to actually join the group of spinners this year, so bring your wheel/spindle/current projects/show and tell...  Want to learn to spin or knit?  This is the perfect place to get started!  Have questions about keeping sheep?  Bring 'em!  Have questions about Livestock Guardian Dogs?  Bring 'em.  Border collies?  Bring 'em.  Corgis?  The answer is always food.  Remember - Don't Feed The Corgi ;-).

If you have any questions or need directions, shoot me an email.  If you have the address and your GPS wants to send you off the interstate via US 32, don't fall for it!  I'm serious.  

We hope to see you Saturday!

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P.S. This has turned into an epistle, so I'm going to post the next winner (and answer the question) of the calendar giveaway in the post I'm planning for tomorrow.  This give everyone an extra day to enter both drawings!   Today is Integration Day for the two boys and the weather is gorgeous so surely there will be some good pictures!