Night Lights

We let Elizabeth (old) and Mia (silly and borderline skinny) out to eat some grain in the evenings. I love being in the barn at night even when I'm really tired, like tonight.



Elizabeth is a serious eater. She means business. Mia eats for a little while and then "Look, there's a chicken!" and gets distracted and walks away. The only animal (or person) on the farm who'll walk away from a plate of food.

That's Keebs outside the gate in the top shot looking pitiful and painfully thin himself. Or at least trying to ;-).

Pure Gold

Renny, Marcel, Mia, Lila, Blizzard and Hank.

The Three Amigos

I've had several questions about how the other horses are handling their loss of Aria.



They waited with her that evening until we got home. Once we got over to her, they all, side by side, walked down the hill towards the creek. Gato stopped and turned back to look at me. He might have just been wondering if I was going to bring out some cookies, but in my heart I think he knew something was wrong and was concerned. I was obviously upset. He's that kind of horse.

Aria was the queen of the field. If you wanted to catch all the horses, all you had to do was catch Aria. Those boys would follow her to the ends of the earth. They weren't always nice to her, but each was sure he couldn't live without her. She preferred to be with them as well...not that she didn't enjoy a day off here and there ;-).

Now there is no one to fight over, no one to boss around. I keep finding them gathered around the automatic waterer. In this heat, my first thought is always "something's wrong with the water" and I run out to check. They are just standing there sloshing the water around. I think they don't have anything better to do anymore. And they are inseparable.



We got a little rain yesterday late afternoon. Even though there are plenty of folks out there way hotter and a whole lot dryer, I still breathed a big sigh of relief and sat down on the porch (with the ever present, loveable Betsy on my lap :-) to watch.



I grabbed the camera in hopes of getting some cool shots of water droplets bouncing on the railing, but it didn't rain quite long enough.



But I enjoyed every drop.

The Stairway To Heaven

Or broken elevator falling to hell.

We haven't had any wind, pouring rain...lately. We're, um, pretty sure this came down with the weight of a cat on it.



This is was Eli's route to his office. Pretty much Eli's only route to his office.



While it doesn't really look that challenging, if your tree climbing skills are 'not so grate akshully'...



"No comment."

What was that, Eli?

"No comment."

Huh?

"I said NO COMMENT!"

Hee hee hee

I really shouldn't laugh. This is a traumatic development in Eli's life. No more access to his "office"...unless Saint Tim builds him a new stairway. Let's vote on it! Go to the poll in the upper right and voice your opinion :-).



Here's someone who's always happy to voice her opinion. Presenting Betsy. The name comes from an old children's book, Understood Betsy.

This might be the best cat ever. We couldn't have gone out and spent a million dollars on a nicer cat. And she's a three year old (they think by looking at her teeth) throw away kitty rescued from the local shelter. Always look there first! There are treasures to be found.

Now don't forget to vote. Help Eli get a new stairway...or learn to climb a tree like a real cat.

hee hee hee hee hee

Now That Is Some Good Help

Thank you for all the kind words, thoughts, prayers and hugs. Aria was a nice mare. One of the good ones. I'd seen her out grazing just a couple hours before. We went to dinner, came home and she was gone. While I'd liked to have said goodbye, I'm relieved it was fast and it didn't appear that she'd suffered. She knew how I felt about her. She was buried on the farm.

Moving on from sad to creepy, it looks like I have some good help in the wool house. This small house spider has caught a moth for me. Luckily it's just a common 'fly to the light while you're burning the midnight oil trying to finish up the Tour de Fleece' moth and not a wool moth, but I figure it's good training nonetheless ;-). She and her sisters can stay.



I tend to leave spiders alone anyway. Every now and then I make a mad sweep through the house if company's coming, but for the most part, if something's not bothering me, I leave it be. Beside, with such a rich history of spinning and weaving, I figure I can use all the help and inspiration I can get.

I looked to see if there was a good link telling the story of Spider Woman (not the comic book version ;-) and found too many to list. I encourage you to look them up. I did find one interesting tidbit to share. In case you have trouble remembering which way to turn your spindle...

Spider Man, Spider Woman and Weaving (Wikipedia)

Near Tó Ałnáosdlį́į́, Crossing of the Waters, lived Spider Man and Spider Woman. They knew how to weave the fibers of cotton and hemp and other plants. First Woman asked Spider Man and Spider Woman to teach people how to weave the fibers of plants so they would not have to depend on animal skins for clothing.[6] Cotton seeds were planted, and the cotton was gathered. Spider Man taught the people to shape a little wheel, 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and put a slender stick through it to spin the cotton. First Woman said, "You must spin towards your person, not away, as you wish to have the beautiful goods come to you. If you spin away from you, the goods will depart from you."

Aria Swift Ella

1982 or 83 - July 24, 2011

The 2011 Tour de Fleece

Wearing yellow. I successfully completed all my challenges :-).



I concentrated my Tour this year on learning new things. Not sure why I need the Tour to do that, but at least for almost a month I got some stuff done.



Bluebell - Team Footloose.



Emerin - Team Jacob Junkies - Navajo plied.



Miss Ewenice - Team Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival - learn to use the Turkish Spindle.



B. Willard - Team Hopelessly Over Committed - 1100 yards long draw for bulky, soft yarn to knit a B. Warm wearing B. Willard barn sweater.



Elizabeth - Team Russian Underpants - learn to use the Great Wheel.



Grandma - Team My Favorite Sheep - Karakul.

Same time, same place next year!