Where to begin?

Since lambing season began in May it has been nonstop crazy busy.  

Here are some of the (non lamb) highlights:

Sam turned 10!

Seven visiting kids, hotdogs over the campfire, cheese doodles and watermelon.

Oh yes, Deja had her twins during the middle of the cookout so I missed that.

 

  Got back just in time to light the candles though!

 That very same day, at the same time as the party, Lila had a girl scout end of season gathering at Chamberlin's Ole Forest Inn which was a bit on the swanky side.  She refused to wear a dress.

I rather like her fashion sense...the cotton glovelets have a smidge of lace at the bottom and the white imprint of a skull on the back.  She was the coolest chick there.  

The food was ALL desserts!

Since then, the lambs have kept growing.  Sam received a camera for his birthday and has been practicing taking lots of pictures.  He loves the lambs (they are even bigger now!).

 Sam patting Uist.

 THIS is what has taken up the vast majority of our time. 

Setting fence corners (Will's tenon and mortised cedar posts) and gates...

(isn't that awesome grass?)

and stretching fence.

(I will have another post on this later).

This is a new face!  Her name is Snickers and she has been living at our house for less than two weeks.  She came to us full of kittens!  She is a tiny wee kitty and is a sweetheart.

 Snickers had five kittens under Will's dresser nine days ago.

I moved them into a box in my closet after heaping all the clothes out onto the floor....

and she moved them underneath the bathroom sink, because, you know, that is a more comfortable spot.

Two calico's, one orange tiger, one black/brown tiger, and one black kitten with white paws.

Their eyes are just opening now and I will get more photos of them up soon.

The kids want to keep all five....

Lila came back from Authorquest an amazingly confident writer with new ideas and processes for writing.

What a wonderful opportunity!

This is a photo of Lila with Johnathan Rand and I'd love to know the story about the guy behind the tree...

 The sheep were shorn last Friday....

 ...and now all this needs to be skirted and washed and processed

(along with the 20 alpaca blankets which I'm working on this weekend).

This weekend I'm also working on finishing up the garden...way behind there.  All the plants are in the ground and I've spend much of the day carting waste hay that is mixed with sheep and camelid poo to mulch the tomato plants.  Will is on his way home from an auction in Escanaba...buying lumber for the bunny barn and goodness knows what else!  He scored a couple of cool things from an auction last week in the central U.P. which I will take photos of to show you later.

May and June have flown by too quick!  Haying starts next week, we need to prep for the Ewe-per fiber fair and then getting ready for our trip to NH...and I haven't lined up a house sitter yet (gulp!).  Any takers???

 

Photos from Author Quest

Johnathan Rand posts photos to his blog so we parents out of contact with our kids can see what they are up to! I hope he realizes how much that means.....I think I will tell him.

Here we are checking in...

Group shot.....she is way in the back

A small breakout session

I can't wait to hear what the story behind the pack goat is!

They read their writing around the camp fire in the evening.

It is called "fire reading".

Morning exercise.

Making friends.

Corinne and Lila....bunk mates!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Writer's Camp

 

This is where I left our junior writer this morning.....at camp Wolverine to attend Author Quest! She was so excited and a little nervous and quiet too. First time away from home for four days!

Camp Wolverine is a retired DNR fish hatchery from 50 years back and there are old raceways filled with aquatic inverts, huge birch and white pine and lots of old buildings to explore. It will be a magical time.

It was crazy with the 60 registered kids, counselors, and family members. I got her settled in her dorm bunk and she was busy making a name tag for herself when I left. There were some fun girls bunking next to her and they dubbed that corner of the room "friends corner" so no doubt she will be in good hands. That didn't stop my eyes from leaking when I got to the car though....and I already miss her fiercely.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Weekend Wild Visitor

We have a visitor this weekend....a barred owl that was hit by a vehicle on M77 north of Blaney Park. It has suffered some head damage; the left eye is swollen shut and the beak partially broken near the top. It sat on the road for a couple of days before someone called the office to report it. It is drinking water and eating a little bit. Today it will go to a rehabilitator for assessment.

Yesterday was a nice warm sunny day; lots of flies out. As I was giving out visitor a drink I noticed flies on the would and shooed them away....and saw they had been laying eggs on the feathers near the eye. I like maggots just fine in their place, but I hat when they are on live animals! Eeesh. So I had to clip away the feathers from the wound to get rid of the eggs and some of the bloody mess. Puir wee thing.

It is definitely more perky today so I think the owl and the rehabber have a decent chance of success, depending on that beak injury. It would be difficult for an owl to survive if it couldn't use it's beak for ripping and shredding...maybe some sort of epoxy might work?

 

Posted with Blogsy