Sneaking Up On Frogs

I am loving my little frog pond.  Do you see three frogs?  You have to sneak up on them.  They're a bit jumpy hahahaha ;-D.

The Other Frog Pond

For the last maybe 12 years now (?) I've had a small swimming pool in the orchard.  I may have mentioned before how much I hate summer?  Yeah... Well, the pool really helped...until the last two years.  

As the orchard grew and the trees got taller, the pool became more and more shaded.  Shaded to the point that the pool didn't heat up enough during the day to be comfortable enough to jump in at will.  Sure, you could 'woman up' and get in and then it did cool you down, but it wasn't always easy to talk myself into it.

At the end of the summer last year I decided the pool dream was officially over.  Even a solar cover didn't help enough to justify the work and expense of a pool that I only used for a couple super hot days here and there.  I'd turn it over to the frogs.

Fast forward to the brutally hot summer we are having this year.  In an effort to stay out of the papers...and prison...I decided I'd try one last pool.  If I switched the deeper pool for a shallower pool, there'd be less water to heat up each day.  Maybe that would work?

In the meantime, the old pool was now full of tadpoles.  It wasn't their fault that I'd changed my mind.  I toyed with scooping them out and taking them out to the farm ponds, but I love my yard frogs.  Maybe I could create a little habitat for them and they could safely stay?

All of our sheep (except Ewen McTeagle...who knows...) seem to prefer to drink from a galvanized tank, so I had an extra 50 gallon water Rubbermaid tank with shade cover stored at the barn. I hauled it down, added some sand and pond/pool water, some leaves and tree limbs and then scooped out and relocated as many tadpoles and water bugs as I could.

I have thoroughly enjoyed sitting out there watching them and listening to them as I go to sleep at night.  I cover them up during the heat of the day, because yes, a short tank will heat up much faster than a deep tank ;-).  

I forgot to uncover them last night, but remembered as I was listening to them calling.  I walked out in the bright moonlight to set the top aside and everyone got very quiet.  I hoped they'd eventually start back up, but..."crickets".  

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I think I’m hearing some new frogs tonight 😍. #frogpond

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Jul 11, 2019 at 8:29pm PDT

I'd recorded a short video just a few minutes earlier, so I played it back to them and soon all was back well and loud in frog land and I drifted off to sleep.

How About A Farm Pond And A Chicken?

When Kate Davies released her Carbeth sweater pattern a couple months ago, she posted it to her blog with pictures taken posed alongside a snowy loch...complete with a swan gliding past.  When Mason-Dixon Knitting posted the Bang Out A Carbeth Knitalong, they specifically commented on the swan as well.  It really was a stunning picture!

As Carbeth sweaters were banged out around the world and pictures started appearing on Instagram they soon became known as the Carbeth Swan Dance.  Well, I don't have a frozen loch...or a swan...but I do have a cool sheep (who also happened to provide the yarn for my Carbeth), a farm pond...and an Adventure Chicken.  Let's do it!

Baaxter walked out there pretty darn willingly considering it had been at least two years, maybe three, since he'd had a collar and leash on.  This is the Frog Pond, not the Ice Skating Pond.  It's the small pond/group of trees/native plants you see in front of the bigger pond at the back of the farm.

Tim took a bunch of pictures in various locations and positions and...

...like most pictures of me, the less of me showing, the better ;-).

These are my favorites, even though they don't really show much of the sweater.

"You're doing a good job, Baaxter.  And your sweater is very nice.  Cozy and comfy."

While the sweater was designed to be a stylish crop top, since mostly where I wear my sweaters is to work out in the barn in the winter, I decided to add a few extra inches to the body length.  

Can you believe this is that cute little brat who terrorized 20 and Auntie Reg (yikes!) four years ago?

I'm not sure if B. Willard is noticing the new hand knit sweater (being a Sheep of Impeccable Character, this would not be...out of character) or is just amazed that I was wearing something relatively clean for a change ;-).

"Yep, that's not a swan."

Nope, that's the Sheep Chicken.  She was ready to go to bed so she was easy to catch ;-).

I give the Carbeth two thumbs up.  I think it's going to be perfect warm winter barn sweater.  The Bang Out A Carbeth knitalong was great fun and the Iknitarod (the re-knit) continues to be my all time favorite winter event.  As always, I was in great company and that makes it all worth it.

Weed Or Feed?

A quick visit to The Frog Pond.  I've seen a few more Monarchs this year than the last couple of years, but still not like "the olden times".  We are working on adding more milk weed areas to the back of our farm and the neighboring farms for next year.  I'm super excited about that.  We all do too much mowing around here.

When we moved here in 2003, we "landscaped" around the small pond out back.  I added quite a few Kentucky native plants and left some of the other "weeds" to fill in between.  The single Joe Pye Weed I planted  (that this butterfly is feeding on) has spread around almost half of the pond.  

It's probably ten feet tall and I can see it from way up on the hill.  It's a favorite!

Thistles are a conundrum.  Such a pest, but so pretty and everything loves the flowers.  I let them stay, but try to keep them a bit under control.

Incoming!

This beautiful butterfly has a beautiful blue body.  Hopefully you can see it if you click to biggify.

A weed that feeds :-).

 

A little puzzle fun.  Enjoy!

The Only Thing Better Than A Walk With The Dogs (And A Cat :-)

Is if a sheep joins you :-D.

Tilly, Hank, Kate, Comby and I started back to the right side of the ponds yesterday.  As we shooshed through the snow along the creek I heard a "galump galump galump" and Liddy came racing past, bouncing through snow drifts, kicking up her heels, chasing the dogs.  

She hasn't come on a walk since she was a little lamb living in the house.  I guess she was tired of being cooped up at the barn with the old fogeys.  Note, they all could have come along on our walk, but the ambition levels up there when everything's snow covered and I'm bringing them breakfast in bed...not so grate akshully ;-).

They all played around the trees at the end of the arena for awhile and Liddy snuffled down through the snow and found a little grass to pick around on.  Comby and I brushed off a spot and sat down in the sun and we all just enjoyed hanging out on a nice afternoon.  We'll make it back to the ponds another day.

Here are some iPhone pics.  My battery died before I could get any video.  I momentarily regretted not having my big girl camera, but in the end was glad I didn't.  I could never have captured pictures that were as fun as being there in real life.  

As always...  "Spend the afternoon.  You can't take it with you."  Annie Dillard

I've had a couple questions about Hank and about livestock guardian dogs in general.  I have some beautiful Hank pics to share tomorrow and I'd be happy to try to answer any questions you might have.  I am Not An Expert by any means, but I can share our experiences and some good resources.  

If you have a question(s), leave them in the comments or drop me an email and I'll do my best!

Wanna Go For A Walk?

As everyone well knows, I love winter and especially love snow.  Just before time to start evening chores yesterday, Kate, Tilly, Hank, Comby and I decided to take a walk and go back to check for tracks at the ponds.  

We looked at tiny mouse and bird tracks, little rabbit tracks and then found an interesting set of tracks crossing the not so frozen Frog Pond.  The dogs probably know, but I'm not sure who made them. They were single file like a cat, maybe, but I don't think the ice would have supported a cat.  

When I climbed over the dam for the big pond and saw the heron tracks, I decided to go back for the camera.  My original intent was to document interesting tracks, but as so often happens, the story ended up being the walk itself.  Enjoy!  I know I did :-).

Tiny tracks along the creek.

I'm sure Hank knows who made these tracks.

What first caught my eye was the set of skid marks (upper right).  Our heron has been here all winter. Did you know that herons will catch small rodents out in the middle of fields?  I'm guessing mice are not their first choice since they are mostly seen in creeks and ponds around here, but now when I see one out in the fields, I watch a little closer.

More single foot tracks crossing a busy intersection.  Any thoughts?

"I don't really care about heron tracks.  I'm going to go check the muskrat dens."

I was taking pictures of Hank on the far side of the pond when he crossed over the ice to the peninsula :-o.  I guess hope he knows what he's doing.  Luckily the water is not deep there, but still... Be careful!

Weaslie's in most of these pictures.  You just can't see her under the weeds.  Kate is checking tracks by the tree on the left.  Tilly is in front of the tree on the right.

And Comby is everywhere.  I was trying to explain why it's so funny that Comby is always sleeping in the calendars when he's actually the hardest working only working cat on the farm.  I don't think they believed me.  We know better :-).

Taking the high road home.

I love looking back at the barn.

Hank loves to go for walks, but if we stay out too long, he heads back in without us.  I guess he's been away from his sheep as long as he wants.  Normally he'd be sitting up near the barn with them, but part of his flock (me, Comby, Kate and Tilly) is still out back, so he's sitting down by the creek, splitting the difference.

Headed up to punch the clock.

Headed back to the heated cat condo.  I give Comby credit though.  The only other set of cat tracks anywhere on the farm are the ones that might be crossing the pond.  Claire Bear and Eli haven't ventured out in days.  They don't know care what they are missing ;-).

A Special Find

I'd been stuck in front of the computer all day (the calendars are done though :-). It was one of those beautiful fall days that, at the end, if you haven't done something to really experience even a tiny bit of it, you just have to hang your head in shame.  I grabbed the dogs and headed back to the Frog Pond.  

The Frog Pond is a small pond near the back of our farm.  When me moved here and started cleaning everything up, the bulldozer guy said we should just fill it in.  I knew though that even in it's humble state, it was home to all sorts of tiny, important to me at least, wildlife.  I would never destroy that.

We ended up just doing some repair work to drainage and dam and I started collecting Kentucky native plants, shrubs and trees to fill gaps and add color around the edge and encouraged as many flowers as possible that support all the bees and butterflies that we hoped would stop by.  

While I haven't seen tons of Monarchs this year, I have seen more than "normal".  I walked back periodically to see if there was any sign of activity back there and was, as always, seeing nothing, worried that the majority of our milk weed had already died out for the year.  

Today (Sunday)?  Well, look!  :-D

YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Another Fine Memory

After the big rain turned to snow, the temperatures kept dropping.  As night fell, a thick fog rolled in...or maybe it rose up.  I don't know, but I do know it was beautiful.  

When I went out for a night check, the moon was completely full and super bright reflecting off the snow.  No flashlight needed.  I read in one of my sheep magazines that this was the yeaning, or lambing moon, but I can't find anything online to verify that. I like it though, so lambing moon it is ;-).

I stood for awhile watching the fog drift around and listening to the fence planks starting to pop as it got colder and colder, now single digits.  I wasn't cold.  I couldn't get over how I could see all the way to the back pond when normally I can't see past the arena gate.  "Come on Hank, let's go for a walk."  He was thrilled.

I did think about the dangers of running into coyotes back there so I didn't let Kate and Weaslie come with us.  Neither needed to be negotiating that deep snow anyway.  I barely got through, up over my knees.  It was so beautiful though that if it hadn't been so deep I'd have probably walked for hours.  

We made it all the way back to the big pond.  I looked to see if the muskrats had been out, but couldn't see anything.  I watched quietly hoping to spot an owl or a fox or heck, even a coyote, but we were alone in the quiet.  Well, not completely alone.  My friend Linda was out taking a midnight walk with her dog as well.  We were all in good company.

The next morning.

Yarn Along...The Hat

It's been awhile!

So I mentioned "the hat" the other day.  It all started out innocent enough.  I had been gifted some beautiful yarn, handspun from one of my all-time favorite sheep, Mia.  I searched and searched for an appropriately special enough pattern, found one I liked, knew I was probably going to have trouble making the proper gauge so did a swatch.

I'm a good swatcher.  Especially with handpun yarn (my favorite for knitting), it's always a really good idea to know where you stand before you start so you aren't surprised and disappointed by how your finished item fits.  Here's where yet again I become "an example for others"...

I was, indeed, unable to hit the required stitches per inch.  I don't have it in front of me, but say, for example, I was supposed to knit 6 stitches per inch and I could only get 5.  If I cast on the instructed number of stitches for a 22" hat (6 stitches/inch x 22 = 132) at 5 stitches per inch, the hat would end up being almost 26 1/2 inches around.  

This pattern was perfect though (I thought...yep ;-) as it was created/offered with different sizes.  The next smaller size, substituting my swatch math, would fit perfect.  I cast on, started knitting, pulled it off the needles a few inches in to try it on, fit perfect, I'm a genius!

So...the other part of useful swatching is your rows per inch.  I'm fully aware that you can go up or down a needle size to try and get closer to the stitches per inch gauge, but have never figured out how to change the rows per inch.  I mean, your rows are your rows, right?  Since I didn't think there was any way to affect that, I don't even measure for that.

Let's do the math.  Okay, so if I'm supposed to be getting 5 rows per inch and I'm only getting 4 (again, just examples) and the colorwork pattern is based on 60 rows, the hat should be (at 5 stitches per inch) 12 inches tall.  If I'm only getting 4 stitches over 60 rows...the hat then ends up 15 inches tall. 

Yeah...um...

The hat fits perfect around my head.  If I'd have realized the error of my thinking regarding the height, I could have modified the pattern to accommodate that.  It's a wonderfully cozy hat and the stranding of the colorwork makes it double thick and super warm especially with the bottom few inches folded up inside.  Quadruple thick over my ears?  Perfect for single digits. 

It's wrong though...and I know it. And I see that every time I put it on.  For the time being, the warm-ness trumps the wrong-ness, but as a graduate from Stella's Knitting School, it's headed for the frog pond.  Not the actual Frog Pond, but the rip it rip it "pond".  It won't really hurt (much) and Mia deserves better.

To end on a happier note, here's a cute iPhone shot from the Wool House yesterday.  I was working on threading the full size scarf and was happy to realize (for once, before it was too late ;-) that I could turn my little loom around so I could sit right up next to the fire.  It's all about the warm-ness this winter!

As far as what I'm reading these days, I just finished up listening to Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good by Jan Karon.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the entire sweet Mitford series.  Joining in with Ginny...