30 minutes well spent

It is very cold here today (again) and so the chickens got oatmeal for breakfast. I decided while they were eating that I would go and spend some time with the sheep.

The 4 girls' who have been bred were enjoying their morning hay in the sunshine. Cammie has grown such a long fleece that even going up 2 sizes in coat she is still growing out of this one. Her coat underneath looks amazing though and I can't wait to see what they are all like after they are sheared this year.

Amelia is by far my biggest looking ewe. She might very well lamb first, hopefully around the start of March.

I liked this shot of Sabrina, Cammie and Amelia all eating.

The boys are getting along well with each other and rarely butt heads these days.

Sunny has grown up to be a complete sweetheart.

And Dreamer too, although he can be a bit of a clown at times.

Daisy Mae finally fits into the smallest sheep coat I own (a size c). She is still putting on weight and growing well and I am interested to see her progression over the summer. I think it might take her until she is 2 to reach her full size and really judge her.

Jaqui is becoming very friendly and has an amazingly soft fleece. She has discovered the wonder of animal crackers and now seeks out attention.

Her and Daisy Mae get on very well. They are actually only a day apart in age even though this is hard to tell by the size difference.

I liked this picture of Jewel, Daisy Mae and Jacqui.

Of course the whole time I was being watched :)

I have been busy ordering my lambing supplies. I made sure I have milk replacer on hand, although I hope to not need it, and some other essentials that I was getting low on. I'm going to spend the rest of the day relaxing. A good book and warm fire sound like heaven.

Rest well Annabelle

It was a sad morning. When I went out to the coop today I found Annabelle had passed away sometime in the night. She/he had been a little funny yesterday stuck in a corner, but was eating and drinking ok.

Annabelle has never been well. She arrived as a tiny chick who would only stand on one leg.

We tried making a boot for her but her foot was always horribly twisted.

She/he had good days in the summer and would come over to us, sit in our hands and allow us to move her to be with the other chickens.

Despite her bad leg and often strange behavior, the other chickens never picked on her. We never found out if she was a rooster, although we did hear her crow a few times.

This winter was hard on her and she spent more days inside in the shavings, not doing well with the cold and the snow. Her good leg started to curl too. I guess today was God doing what we couldn't. RIP Annabelle and enjoy running around heaven on your 2 good legs. I bet you look beautiful. It feels silly crying about a chicken that you know is in a better place, but we miss her anyway.

Sheepy post

The girls are all doing very well. Hopefully in a few months or even weeks lambs will be on the ground.

Sabrina is getting to be an old hand at this being my oldest sheep in the flock. She's just happy that she gets animal crackers every other night when I sit with the girls as Daisy Mae eats.

Amelia is becoming a lot like her mom Hermione and comes over for attention now instead of trying to run away.

The single girls are doing well too. Daisy Mae has put on another 2lbs, and although she still looks smaller than Jacqui she is continuing to grow nicely. Any ideas on how to put extra weight on her though would be good.

Dreamer just wanted to make sure I paid attention to him to, he's such an attention seeker and loves it all.

I go back to college this week. But I need to spend some time coming up soon pulling hay out of everyone's fleeces and trimming hooves. Almost time to contact the sheep shearer :)

Pictures from England

There were a a few pictures that we downloaded of my mums that were not taken in the States that I thought I would share. These are from a walk at Wittenham Clumps in Oxfordshire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenham_Clumps, a walk I took many times when I lived in England. I love the view from the clumps as well.

From there she walked down to Dorchester-on Thames and around the Abbey. I like the stone work.

You can see all the paintings on the wall, apparently even more impressive in real life, and some great stained glass.

Then the walk back along the Thames river and up the clumps.

All of this with her 2 (soon to be 3) toy poodles Ashley, and Rowan (the doggles are to help her eyes) no doubt, although this is them at the park a few days later in the snow.

Wish I could have been there. I feel quite nostalgic for England and miss it sometimes. Might need to try some fish and chips tomorrow for dinner.

Parents visit part 2

So one of the places my parents wanted to visit was the barn where I board my horse Muppet. We managed to make two trips out there for a lesson and just a visit. Both of my parents were impressed with how lovely Muppet is, they hadn't seen him for 2 years and he has grown up very nicely.

Here he is posing for the camera with us.

This is the barn owners 2 dogs Cat and Pie.

And one of the barn workers (Steve's) new malamute puppy Malachi.

This is Muppet and I in our lesson.

Another thing we had to do was make the most of the snow and go sledding. It ended up just being Ian, my mum and myself. Ian did have fun though.

That's all for today. Tomorrow I'll hopefully put up some of the final pictures my mum took when she was here. I hope everyone is enjoying them :)

Parents visit part 1

A belated happy new year to everyone.

My parents flew back to England yesterday after spending a lovely week here in Massachusetts with us. We celebrated Christmas (again), and New Year, and generally had a great time. Here are some of the pictures my mum took when she was here.

The sheep in the snow.

A few of our breakfast guests that ate while we enjoyed their variety and color.

All of us after a walk on New Years day.

More pictures in the next part. Hopefully up tomorrow.