In The Midst Of Winter Mist

From the other morning. That now I've lost track of how many mornings ago it was. Maybe Saturday? Before the (latest) deluge?  I didn't capture the sunrise the way I wanted, but I like the shot regardless.  It looked like those trees were on fire it was so fierce.  The sun rose so fast that I didn't get many opportunities to play with settings.  Another day.

Hickory, waiting on his breakfast.

And, because it's all about Maisie, all the time (wink), a picture from before the (latest) deluge.  She's having a good day today...so far...after a bad night last night.  She just can't seem to put together two good days in a row.  Dr. Baron and Lou found her some goat milk last week so we are hopeful that will help.

We are still in the transition phase because her system is so sensitive that any slight change throws her way off.  Not to fear though.  She's fighting her way on through, doing the very best she can and other than the times her tummy hurts and makes her cry, I don't think she has a clue there's anything wrong with her.

A Good Maisie Day

Yesterday was a very bad Maisie day, but today she rallied. Again. The weather was fantastic and she spent, by choice, most of the day out on the back porch.  She took a nice nap on the porch swing and I think she really liked being rocked to sleep with the sun shining on her face.  I enjoyed being out there as well.  I feel like I've been on house arrest. 

Yep, that's the bossy Maisie face we like to see :-).

Very curious.

I've been digging up clumps of grass so she can pick around on it.  This is working even better than I'd hoped.

Some bees came around to check out the porch railing and Maisie thought they were interesting too.  I'm curious how these bees know to come around and look for winter honey.  Their life cycle is too short for the same bees to come winter after winter.  So do they leave a note for the upcoming bees? "Hey, buzz down the hill to the white porch.  That lady there drizzles honey out for us on warm days." 

Going Postal

Okay, everyone's (except today's orders) calendars went out today.  There ended up being so many (Wow!  Thanks!) that Saint Tim offered to mail them for me so I wouldn't be gone from home too long.  Maisie says "Thanks, dad!" :-)

Here's where things may have gone askew.  I tried to do all this using my iPad to handle the emails.  Seems simple enough...  Without going into way more boring detail than anyone wants, everyone's emails with the same subject line (at least this is what I think happened) got lumped together into a long sort of accessible folder.  If you are smart enough to do so.  You see where this is going.  Then, to make matters worse, I see this on my screen today.

All Inboxes?!?

Seriously???  There is more than one Inbox?!?  And why was it just now telling me about this?!?  I found unread emails in there from weeks ago.  Who knows what else is hiding somewhere that I've not been savvy enough to find.  Sigh.

SO...bottom line.  Everything's been mailed.  If you ordered a calendar (or emailed me about something else and haven't received a response) and you don't receive it in a reasonable amount of time, please let me know.

And again, THANK YOU!!!

In Case You Missed These

I haven't figured out blogging (the way I want) with the iPad and don't like go into the office to work on the computer and leave Maisie on her own too much because she just doesn't handle stress the way she needs to.  At 6 1/2 weeks, she's still more like a one week old lamb.  

I do realize though that when I don't post, everyone's stressed and I don't like that either :-/.  I try to keep the Twitter feed rolling when I'm not too stressed myself and here are a couple cute ones from the last couple of days.

She still sleeps best on my lap.  Which is sweet.  And how many 6 1/2 week old lambs can you even pick up and cuddle anymore?  Not many ;-).  I'm enjoying it while it lasts, because she is growing.  She's a little over 12 pounds now!

I'd hoped last night that Saint Tim would get home early enough to babysit while I did night barn chores since while she's feeling much better, she's still not 100% and I really didn't want a set back.  However, he was running late so I had to leave Maisie alone in the kitchen and dash to the barn.  I hate rushing though and worry I'm missing something out there and besides, I miss my big guys.  I wasn't gone that long, but still, as I climbed the porch steps that feeling of dread started washing over me.  And look what I found!

I don't think Maisie is just a warm body to sleep with.  I think it's more than that.  Remember how Betsy liked to hang out with Blossom when she was a baby?  I had nothing to worry about.  Betsy was On Duty.

Best. Cat. Ever.

This morning Maisie was feeling good and she'd had a good nap (see above) and it was warm and sunny so I bundled her up and told her it was time to visit the B A R N while I fed.  She tootled around for awhile and then with a little encouragement from me that being-outside-is-fun-let's-play-a-little she actually seemed to enjoy it.  And Hank was happy to see her :-).

Best. Dog. Ever.

Yes, her little bottom needs to be washed.  Since she's stopped scouring (the medicine for the tummy troubles caused its own set of problems...of course), that's on the agenda for this afternoon.

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU for all the calendar orders.  Blown away!  And it has been so nice to chat with some new (and old) friends.  So many kind, caring, funny, animal loving people.  Of course, nothing went out yesterday (the original plan...you know how that goes...).  Most will go out today.  The rest will go out tomorrow as we've had to print more calendars.  Humbling.

Tough Girls

Poor Maisie's had a rough weekend. She's been very sick and this morning things looked very bad. And then just like that, her fever broke and her tummy felt better and she was finally able to get to sleep and did so for much of the day and now she and Betsy are getting into all sorts of trouble in the kitchen and making me cautiously hopeful and comfortable enough to get to the computer.

"Well, what did you expect?"

One thing I hate to hear - and hear it over and over - is "sheep will just give up and die on you". I've never found that to be true. Renny would know ;-). 

Calendars

I had great intentions of pulling my etsy shop together for the Christmas season.  I have a few fleeces left, some roving, calendars, Christmas cards of course...and then Maisie came along and required so much care that I was afraid to add anything else to my day.  And she was an okay trade ;-).

Christmas cards will hold over for another year.  Calendars unfortunately won't.   I have a stack of farm calendars and Lamb Camp calendars.  I hate the thought of recycling them.  I have too much time (and heart) in making them. 

They are some of my favorite photographs of my favorite place.

And my favorite sheep.

And cutest lambs.

And beautiful colors.

And bestest dogs.

And a whole calendar of nothing but adorable lambies.

Sleeping.

Just being born.

Napping in the sun on the back porch :-).

You know... 

I realize most folks have already hung up their new calendars. However, if you haven't and would be interested in an Equinox Farm or Lamb Camp Calendar, I'm discounting them in hopes of finding them good homes.

The Equinox Farm calendars are now $12.50 and the Lamb Camp calendars $10.00.  Shipping for one calendar should run around $4.00 and two or more $5.00. Since I still don't have the etsy shop up, if you are interested, just drop me an email at thecrazysheeplady (at) gmail (dot) com.

How Things Work Around Here

So we get a really pretty snow fall.  I excitedly grab my camera and go set up a "photo shoot".

Not wanting to just replicate shots from last year, I set out their morning hay down by some pretty snow covered trees.

Hank brings them out of the barn where they've been laying around eating bon bons and getting completely covered in so much hay and straw that I can barely sell their wool to pay for said "photo shoot".  Don't get me started...

They see How Far they must walk to get their breakfast and head back to bed.

Buddy's hungry enough to stop and rethink.  

"We've got to walk all the way down there???"

Sigh.

And they begin their trek.

And it is So Far.

Up hill both ways...

However, sometimes, when the stars align just so and Graham gets properly distracted by sparkly snow in a nearby tree, Hank can get a little revenge.

And that's how things work around here ;-).

One part of my morning that does actually resemble real work is seeing the neighbor drive up to feed his cows. It's not like I'm stuck out in the middle of nowhere, but still, there's something nice about seeing someone else clocking in and out.