A Post Before a Short Hiatus

Well, since my mother is going to be borrowing my camera for a couple of weeks, I thought I would blog while I still had the option of posting pictures. She and Dad are actually going away for about a week and since she hasn't gone digital yet, I offered her mine. And, since she needs a few days to practice, she is getting my camera a few days before they go (for those of you worrying that I just told the entire internet that my parents were going on vacation, keep in mind that I didn't give exact dates, my brother and his wife still live with them and I am over there daily as I do chores around the farm - so, no, the place will be nowhere near deserted!)

So, depending on weather conditions, this may be the last picture of fall color that you get from here. If it gets terribly windy or rainy, all will be gone by the time I get my camera back.

We have had rain quite often since those 22 days of drought in September. And last night, the first frost here on this side of the road (my dad's pumpkins got it a couple of weeks ago - he must be in a lower lying area than we are). Just a few minutes ago, as I was setting up a dye pot, I looked out of the window and noticed snow flurries. Tonight they are predicting hard frost. I hope we get some warmer weather toward the end of the month, as Larry and Nicholas are headed to Lambeau Field for a Packer game and the 8th grade is going on a three day trip to Upham Woods - a 4-H camp near the Wisconsin Dells. The cabins, I'm told, are heated, but they do go canoeing on the Wisconsin River and they spend the majority of their time there outside.

In fibery news, I have been doing a little bit of spinning and am still working on the lace scarf shown in an earlier post.

In sheepy news, the first group of lambs was taken to market a couple of weeks ago. Tiny bits of hay are starting to be fed. The sheep are slowly being sorted into "sub" breeding groups. They will be divided further in the next month, as we plan to lamb later next spring, so no groups will be put together until mid-November. And the boys better be organized, as I am hoping to limit breeding season and, therefore, lambing season, to about six or seven weeks this year. (They actually get most of the girls bred in the first three weeks they are together - in fact, some of our groups will only be together for about 3 weeks, but taking into consideration first breeding date through last - it will encompass about 6 weeks).

This is one of the lambs I think I will keep. She is a purebred Coopworth. Long bodied and very pretty. Very feminine. But you can see how brown the pasture got during the drought. Fortunately, most of the sheep have been moved to greener pastures.

Soon we will be feeding hay to all. While I don't like the heat and humidity of summer, I do like the fact that feeding the sheep requires only green pasture and there is no ice on the water troughs (as there was this morning!) Here's to Indian Summer and a long, mild fall!