Once Again, The Calendar Post...Finally

The "finally" parts seems to be a trend with the calendars...every year.  This year I thought I was really on top of the game.  Postage had gone up yet again, so I steeled myself to try and send as many First Class as I could this year and ordered two cases of plain padded mailers.  I took some test calendars to the post office earlier this week...

Several years ago Tim had an "old" printer that did a really nice job printing the photo cards and calendars.  It was obsolete though and they stopped servicing it so he had to get a new machine.  I, of course, liked the old machine better.  I thought the quality of the photos last year wasn't as good with the new "improved" machine.

This year Tim experimented with some different styles of paper.  There are probably as many different papers as there are different breeds of sheep.  Different types, weights, finishes, coatings...  This year's calendars are printed using a matte finish, clay coated paper.  Don't ask me to explain a clay coated paper; I just know (now) that it's heavier.  The calendars look very nice though and that's the important part :-).

The 2018 Farm and Lamb Camp calendars!

This might be my all time favorite Buddy picture.  There's so much"Buddy" here - is messy wool, his big mouth yelling at me, his ear fuzz curls (my favorite part of Buddy) with one ear forward and one ear back.  The quintessential Buddy portrait!

"Well, at least I'm not asleep this year."

Lots of Hank this year.

And Biscuit.

And Muffin, Mrs. Pepperpot, B. Willard, Hickory and T-Bone and  Maisie (of course ;-).

The lambs in the Lamb Camp calendars are as sweet as ever.  

Make your teeth hurt sweet ;-).

Leaping lambs.

Sleeping lambs.

And even a Christmas lamb.

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We'll do it basically like we do every year.  Equinox Farm calendars are still $12.50 each and the Lamb Camp calendars are $10.00. Shipping (to the US) will run anywhere from $4.50 to $7.20 depending on weight and distance.  Shipping overseas is usually not as expensive as I fear.  I'm happy to get a quote for you. Likewise for Canada.

If you'd like to order one (or more), just send me an email with what you'd like and your shipping address. I'll send everything out with an invoice and a return envelope and you can just drop a check in the mail upon receipt.  Checks are preferred, but we can also handle credit cards if that's easiest.

There are also Lamb Camp note cards, Christmas cards, drop spindle kits, Biscuit and Muffin ornaments, Maisie Orneries, Mug Shot mugs, My Favorite Sheep canvas totes, a little wool...in the Farm Shop if you are interested.   And there are also have two cases of padded mailers in case anyone needs to ship a bunch of lightweight items ;-).

As always, we truly thank you for your support. Your purchases help pay for hay, grain, bedding, shearing, vet bills...and even cookies ;-).

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One person who won't need to purchase a calendar is Karen B.  She won the calendar from 20's giveaway earlier this week :-).  Drop me an email with your address and I'll get that shipped right out.  Depending on where you live, I might even get to use one of the plain mailers ;-D.

Nailed It!

In case you aren't following on Instagram, Twitter or, sigh, Facebook, I finally caught a perfect video of the sheep working together to help the Sheep Chicken get to her perch last night!

Got it! Irrefutable evidence of the sheep deliberately working together, moving around to help the Sheep Chicken get to her nighttime perch. She starts on Daniel. Spud comes over and picks her up. He doesn’t get close enough so Petunia moves him over while Clover Belly watches or maybe is directing traffic and then she moves around to the far side. Wool is wellness...and also kindness 😊. I’m going to include this for Wovember because if we are sharing all the great attributes of sheep and wool, it would be hard to find better sheep representatives🐑🐑🐓🐑🐑. #wovember2017 #wovemberinstachallenge #wearwoolforwovember #wearwooleveryday #woolprovidestraction

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 6, 2017 at 3:14pm PST

:-D

The Black Sheep Of The Serta Family

Well, this post started out as "Hey, we needed a new mattress and because of all of 20's great friendship and hard work here and Serta's sponsorship of the National Sheepdog Finals, we bought a Serta!" and I took some pictures of 20 checking out the new mattress...

Then I thought, you know I should probably re-tell 20's story for anyone who's joined in since 2011 and doesn't know who he is and how he got here.  I looked back and found the original post and...HOLY COW...look how young 20 looks!

20 looks like a little(ish ;-) lamb!

This is the earliest picture we have of 20.  Well, lots of 20s.  Our 20 is the 20 on the left.  He had just been won by Debbie Bailey and one of her fabulous dogs, Huck, at the 2010 National Sheepdog Finals.  Serta, being a major sponsor of the finals, had awarded these big(ish ;-) sheep to the top finishers.  

Debbie gifted 20 to me for my birthday the following year and, as they say, the rest is history.  I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite 20 posts, but I couldn't narrow it down to just a few.  If you follow his "label" from the list on the right (here is a link as well), you can read back through the years.  He sure has been busy!

So why is 20 the "black sheep of the Serta family"?  Well, in looking up links for this post I was reminded that the Serta Counting Sheep are actually trying to discourage folks from buying Serta mattresses.  And even though Serta did call for a one day truce on National Hug a Sheep Day, I was concerned that 20 might not want to be publicly acknowledged for actually helping sell a mattress.

"I had to babysit Baaxter Black.  I'm not scared of a giant national corporation!"

Those posts with Baby B and 20 are definitely among my favorites.  I also love the posts where he is helping me with my weaving or fixing (multiple) knitting mistakes.  The interview from the Iknitarod Trail was fun, too, as are some of the fun trips we've taken over the years. 

What is your/are your favorite 20 stories?  Leave a comment on the main blog and I'll have 20 draw for a 2018 calendar later this week.  The mailing envelopes got here yesterday, so we are about ready to start offering them for sale.  I just need to get some postage information.  Maybe 20 can help with that today.

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For the record, other than having the honor of living and working with 20 and buying a Serta mattress last week, I have no ties to Serta and am not being paid for any sort of endorsement.  I do however want to express my appreciation for their support of the National Sheepdog Finals!  And, yes, the mattress is very comfortable :-).

2017 Hug A Sheep Day Party - Wrap Up

Amy took so many great pictures.  Here are some more favorites.

Looking at this picture you'd think Biscuit was Mrs. Pepperpot's baby and Muffin was the adopted kid.  While both Pepperpot and Biscuit enjoyed eating cookies, Muffin LOVED Hug a Sheep Day.  

I've had a couple questions about the dog biscuits.  Even though Chocula and Murphy would probably eat dog biscuits, those were for Hank, June, Kate and Weaslie ;-).

And while it wasn't actually quite this dark and ominous, it was that cold.

But the Wool House was toasty and there was a heated contest with the Lego Sheep Shearing game including some people (not pictured here) later in the day who may or may not have cheated a bit ;-).

Back in the barn.  Neither Biscuit or Pepperpot volunteered for a second or third tour of duty, but Muffin happily marched back in.  Little kids?  That might have cookies?  No problem!

Two sweet little girls...and Woody, trying to steal their cookies!

Woody!

It looks like Woody and Murphy know they are being upstaged by Miss Personality ;-).

Tilly and Kate:  "Is it over?"

Nope, a couple more fun friends braved the cold.

Poor grumpy Spud didn't want to have his picture taken.  That beautiful yarn is his.  He could have shown a little more enthusiasm :-o.  Kids...

All in all it turned out to be a very nice day to hug some sheep.  Feed some sheep some cookies.  Get mugged by sheep for cookies.  Or just watch sheep out in the field.  A huge thank you to everyone who came out and a super huge thank you to Amy for taking so many fun pictures for everyone who had to hug/feed/get mugged vicariously :-).

Remember - every day is a great day to hug a sheep!

Once Upon A Time...

...there was a beautiful, but not spoiled, well, okay, maybe a little spoiled, princess.  And a really cute, but not naughty, well, okay, he was pretty naughty, frog.  And they were going to dress up for Halloween, well, okay, they were forced to dress up for Halloween.  And then their mom was going to take lots of cute pictures of them, well, okay, try to take lots of cute pictures.  And then the princess would kiss the frog and he would turn into a handsome prince and they'd get lots of treats and everybody would live happily ever after. 

In reality, this was the last sort of orderly picture I was able to take.

Where's Biscuit?  He ran back inside to climb up on the ATV to steal some horse treats.

And then, when we were finally able to get him out of the barn we lost Mrs. Pepperpot and Biscuit used that distraction to run up on the porch and eat flowers and from there the situation deteriorated to the point we regrouped out behind the barn.  Kids jacked up on "candy"...

And yes, we realize the pumpkin was from a completely different fairy tale, but everyone should have to get to dress up for Halloween at least once ;-).  I honestly thought she'd never tolerate a full costume with head piece, but she never even batted an eye.

So the princess got tricked into kissing the frog...

...and he turned into a handsome prince.

"That bratty thing turned into a prince?!?"

Work with us here, Pepperpot.

And everyone got to eat lots of treats.

And Auntie Reg got the best and cutest picture ever!

And everybody lived happily ever after :-D.

"This was the dumbest story I've ever heard."

Spooky Doesn't Even Begin To Cover It!

I was sitting out in the field with the sheep a couple weeks ago and "the little darlin'" wandered over to bite and punch me say hi.  It looked like she had some dirt stuck to her knee, but when I tried to pick it off it wouldn't come.  I looked closer and..."WHAT THE BLEEP IS THAT?!?"

Normally sitting out in the field is a pleasant, relaxing way to end the day.  The sheep are grazing, birds are settling in for the night, Hank (June wasn't here yet) sitting on the hill nearby...and Maisie has two horns growing from her knee.

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Of course she does.

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I'm going to place the accompanying picture down screen a bit so in case you don't want to see it... ;-)
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This is a keratoacanthoma and apparently nothing to worry about...
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Except it's Maisie...
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And it sure looks like two horns...
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Two devil horns?!?
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BOO!!!

2017 Hug A Sheep Party - Part Two

Biscuit was happy to duck out of the gate and come into the barn with everyone. Muffin and Mrs. Pepperpot weren't so sure and held back.  Kate escorted us down the aisle and then we went back to get Muffin and Mrs. P.

"I should be bringing the sheep in, but that stupid bottle lamb would only do what I told him if...well he never does what I tell him (grumble grumble)"

"Ha ha he won't even do what his mom tells him to do and is over there stealing hay when he could be eating cookies like me.  Surely she's got something better than apples?"

"Hey, that's not a cookie.  We are supposed to get treats, not tricks!"

"It's an apple, Woody.  Try it.  You'll like it!"

He did...and he did ;-).

With Kate's help, Mrs. Pepperpot and Muffin came on in, too.  Mrs. P was a little overwhelmed by having so many strangers around and asked to be excused, but I told her she should give it a chance.  Muffin took a minute to figure things out and then look out, we have a new Hug a Sheep star!

Hug a Sheep or Mug a Person...either way works ;-).

"I'll mug anybody!"

And with his big sister at his side, Biscuit was happy to mug everyone, too ;-).  We are looking at how black Muffin's fleece is under the sunbleached outer layer.

And how soft and silky Biscuit's lamb fleece is going to be next spring :-).

Trying for a family portrait.

And by the end, even Mrs. Pepperpot was all in on the mugging and now even looks a bit cranky that Chocula has monopolized their latest "victim" ;-).