Stand By Me

This might be my favorite horse picture to date.  At least the top five.  I wish Frankie didn't have his grazing muzzle on, but with all that green grass, it would be a death sentence if he didn't.  It sure is pretty, but it's not doing anyone any favors here...except a photographer.

Both this picture and yesterday's are new puzzles :-).  Enjoy!

Sigh...

sigh

Dictionary result for sigh

/sī/

me

1. 1.

   emit a long, deep, audible breath expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, or a similar feeling.

   
   

   
   

   • 
     

     
     
   • 
     

     
     

everyone else

1. 1.

   a long, deep, audible exhalation expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, or a similar feeling.

   
   

   
   
2. 
   

I think spring is here.

Sigh...

Springtime

It is pretty...

Biscuit and Muffin

And a new puzzle.  Enjoy!

Vernal

To "celebrate" the spring equinox today, I'm not going to rehash the previous laundry lists of reasons why I hate spring.  I'm going to share a new one!  

I always end up with one crazed robin who spends much of the early spring "fighting" with his reflection in my car mirrors and windows.  I'll spare you the picture of what my car looks like with this going on.  

Happy Spring ;-).

This better not be one of the babies from The Great Robin Rescue last summer!

My New Favorite Picture

No preview this time and I made it a little harder, just for fun ;-).  Remember, you can change the number of pieces and a few other things if you follow the icons at the bottom of the puzzle screen. 

Enjoy!

Don't worry, I'll post the complete picture later :-).

Bright

I normally don't like pictures I take in the middle of the day with the sunlight directly overhead, but after the storms of yesterday, everything seemed almost fake bright.

Enjoy!

Springtime

"Hey, where's everybody going?"

After a couple weeks of really nice weather, we had two really cold nights.  22 degrees cold!  We closed up the barn doors and fed a bunch of extra hay and everyone seems to have gotten through okay.  The low tonight is 43.  Much better for sheared sheeps.  Still, even though it was cold, about half the flock was so excited about the green grass that they didn't stick around for breakfast this morning.

Baaxter just realized he'd been left behind.  That was him eating with Rebecca Boone in the first picture.  He's a good eater :-).

Hank realized he'd been left behind, too!

Another big group, but still not everyone, races along to catch up as well.

Happy sheep.

"Wait Up!!!"

Held In The Light

It rained much of yesterday. Dark, broody clouds, big rain drops pounding the roof.  A dogs sleeping in the wool house sort of day.  As evening approached, it tried several times to clear off.  I kept looking for a rainbow as it poured in bright sunlight, but never found one.  It's probably that you can't see the rainbow if you are standing in the pot of gold.

Springtime Sheep

Mia and Lila



Renny



Emily and Casper Belly



Who is this?





The Punkin's Patch Board of Directors.



Tim was trimming some trees along the far fence. Hank come over to see what was going on and the sheep all beat it to the barn.



Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Is that something good to eat?

I love this picture. The colors, the sharpness of the sheep, the looks on their faces...

The redbuds have been just gorgeous this year. I can't believe they are still blooming, although the end is near. What a beautiful spring we are having.

Gift Wrapped

Our Redbuds are so beautiful this year. Well, they are so beautiful every year, but maybe a touch more this year. They've had plenty of rain and plenty of warm sunshine.



The trees nearest the Wool House end up collecting bits of stray wool that blows off the porch as I'm skirting fleeces. Looks like a fancy gift topper, wrapped around these colorful blooms.





Look how this one is grabbing the flower with her front legs. And yes, she's a she. Worker bees are females. As in any bee you see out working is a female ;-). The yellow on her back legs is pollen.



I took these while I was skirting some fleeces parked in the shade of this tree. The same tree Iris and Miss Ewenice were sitting under a couple days ago. It's a favorite with everyone - two, four, or six legged.

The tree was full of bees of all sorts, shapes and sizes. Sometimes one would accidentally fly into me, but I never got stung. Bees out working have better things to do than sting you, so don't be afraid to get a closer look.

Took a short video, forgot to turn the sound on, was a little bummed, found a pretty song to play in the background and ended up liking it better than if I'd tried to record all the buzzing.



A pretty gift, wrapped.

Enjoy!

The Midsummer Meltdown

On the first day of spring.

I thought about transcribing the whole meltdown phone call, but I'd have had to have done it right then to get the full "crazy" and now that the blazing sun has gone down and the air has cooled (some) and I'm not sweating (much) and sobbing (uncontrollably) it's (a little) harder to muster.

And besides, Saint Tim hates the Saint Tim moniker and he'd be getting some sort of major award(s) just for coming home tonight if the events of the afternoon ever got out. Part was witnessed by a nice guy at Auto Zone...but we aren't going into it ;-).



Excessive grass clippings and an obsessive lawn (hate to admit this one too, but it's what they call me) nazi. Straight to the padded cell. And no, this is not the first time I've mowed this spring.



I don't know what this weed is called in proper company, but it's its own chapter in crazy. I spent hours (in the blazing hot sun...sweating...in case you'd forgotten) pulling this from several flower beds. Unsuccessfully.



The difference between a good yard sheep and a bad yard sheep? Lila would have had every weed (and plant) eaten in every garden and raised bed.

Seriously Ewenice. Go ahead. If you eat everything, I can turn it all back into grass. I don't love strawberries that much and I've not cooked a stalk of rhubarb in my life.



But the afternoon cooled down. I took a deep breath and watched the sheep grazing for awhile. Got some wool work done THAT I'D HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO DO IF I WASN'T SITTING ON THE MOWER! Let it go...



And sat down in the yard with Miss Ewenice, Iris and Weaslie, who was huddled next to me, because if there is one thing a Corgi understands (and fears ;-) it's a midsummer meltdown...on the first day of spring.

Sunday Stills - Sort Of

Some random shots, trying unsuccessfully to keep up. Spring...



Lila, the good baby, sniffing flowers...without eating them.



Why would anyone want to eat pretty flowers? Who would do something like that?



Speaking of pretty flowers, the dogwoods are stunning this spring.



Sunday Stills this week is rust. An interesting challenge and one I was looking forward to...and just didn't get it done. I took some pictures of the rusting garage roof. Thought the white spirea flowers against the bright blue sky filled with spirea clouds added an interesting element. That was as far as I got. Sorry Ed :-/.



Have had several complaints emails regarding lack of Renny news. Nothing new to report...and Renny and I like it that way :-). In the back, Renny is the black sheep on the right. B. Willard's on the left.



A happy boring life filled with green grass, sheep friends and a couple days where it didn't actually pour rain. Like it is again today.

If you'd like to check out the more responsible Sunday Stillers...

Sunday Stills - Four Points

Read this - it's a pretty cool challenge. Find an interesting or not so interesting place and stand and take pics of the 4 points of the compass. North, South, East and West. The point of this challenge is that we have a tendency to only look in one direction when taking pics. For instance photographing a sunset you rarely look behind you to see the setting sun light up a barn or hillside or beside you to notice the shadows created by the trees or other objects… Have fun... :-)



Anyone who knows me even a little knows I have no sense of direction. If I'm looking at a map, then north is "up". Right? I looked up to see this nest in progress this morning. Now there's a clever use for all the dirty wool ;-).



So, if north is up, than south must be down. I used to hate dandelions in the yard...but now they're growing on me...hee hee. Saint Tim actually likes them because he knows that spring is truly here. I can kinda see that.



Right, um, that's east? One of my favorite bird houses.



And left/west. Still not in full bloom, but getting pretty close. The 85 degrees predicted for today ought to fix that. Ugh.



The newest member of Hopewell, Ziggy :-).

A Little Off The Top...

...and the sides and the back and the butt and belly and the neck and the face and the legs and even the ears.



Miss Aria



And her hair.

At 28 or 29 years old, Aria's grown an incredible winter coat the last couple of years. And while it does eventually shed out, it doesn't do so fast enough to suit either of us. Out come the clippers.

The first clip of the year takes pretty much all morning. Even running the big clippers, that's a lot of hair. Sweaty, dirty hair. It's a good thing Don and Bill are going to offer blade sharpening in between sheep shearing demos at the festival this spring.



The first order of business after a big haircut?



A big roll.



It's got to feel good to get all that prickly hair off your back.





I could have gotten all those high and tight spots if she'd have lain down like a sheep. She's a good girl, but not that good ;-).



After a big hair cut and a big roll, a big shake is in order. I'm pretty sure if you shake hard enough that one of your legs comes off the ground, that a good one.



Horses make a funny sound as they finish shaking. Hard to describe and I wasn't quick enough with the video camera. It's a happy sound.



And then you get a big snack. Even though when the phone rang, you darted out the barn door into the yard for a pre-big snack, snack.

I love when the trees are just starting to leaf out. So pretty.

And so are you Miss Aria.