Keeping Cool Across the Road

I've been taking the dogs for walks Across the Road every evening. A big part of that for them is getting in the water. And I don't even mind getting splashed with dirty water since it's been (as the weather people are fond of saying) in triple digits. Rusty showed photos in his blog of Ginny's new toy that floats. That's an improvement over me having to fish the old toy out of the bottom of the canal. However, it doesn't mean that I still don't have to do some fishing. I think that at first it was a mistake, but now Ginny purposely drops the Toy on the side of the cement canal. I guess she has learned that someone will fetch the Toy if she doesn't. She has also learned that although she can swim against the current in this canal it's a lot of work and it is hard to get out with the steep angle of the concrete.  I have learned two methods--if it is close enough to the side I can usually just reach it with the leash looped into a lasso. My newest method is to scoop it out before it goes under one of the "bridges" (2 x 12 planks). My best idea is to teach her to NOT drop the toy in the cement canal. We're working on that.In this ditch it doesn't really matter. Usually there is no water here, but this week they are irrigating the tomatoes and this is the tail-water. This is at the beginning of the walk so Ginny got in the water right away. She was surprised with the Toy disappeared through that hole in the tarp.She really couldn't figure out where it went.I brought her around to the other side but when she looked in the right place the Toy was in the vortex of water.It's hard to get a dog to look where you are pointing. Ginny never did see the Toy and guess who fished it out. This is the canal where it is acceptable to drop the Toy in the water because Ginny will bring it out.

I throw it and Ginny fetches.

Two wet dogs. By the way, Maggie is with us all the time but she doesn't get in the water very much--only up to her chest. She is usually hoping to find ground squirrels or other varmints.  

Kirby in California Again

Kurtis, Katie, and Kirby made a quick trip to California this month so there are some more cute granddaughter photos to share. Getting ready for an outing. We spent a few hours with Uncle Matt and Aunt Kaleena at a park in Folsom. Matt entertained Kirby by blowing her hair, which she thought was very funny.

Kaleena's necklace was quite an attraction.In her party dress with Aunt Meryl.

With Daddy.It was a long weekend for a little girl.

Rescuing Ginny's Toy (Twice)

I got home after a few days away from the valley heat and saw that Ginny's incision had healed. She was happy to have the cone taken off her collar and then be able to go for a walk. It was still over 100 degrees at 7:30 when we walked Across the Road so the water in the ditch felt good.  Ginny carried her Toy and in this photo dropped it at the side of the ditch before she got in. The idea, of course, is for me to throw it... ...so she can chase it... ...over... ...and over. At one point Ginny dropped the Toy too close to the edge of the ditch. The toy used to float, but not anymore. Ginny went in after it but once it goes under water she can't see it. The Toy is visible in those photos at the bottom of the ditch. Ginny stirred up the mud while swimming and that made the visibility worse for me. I ran to this crossing and saw that 2x4. I crossed the ditch and ran back to where the Toy was floating downstream and after awhile was able to rescue it. (It wasn't easy to force the 2x4 down into running water when it really was meant to float.) We continued our walk but during one catch attempt the Toy bounced off Ginny's mouth and into the ditch again. Again Ginny went in but couldn't see it under the water.  This time I found a tree branch to rescue the Toy. I'm going to have to pay more attention to where I throw it or find a toy that will float.

Ginny's Recovery

Ginny is at that age where I realized that it was time for her little operation. I'm going to be gone off and on this summer and after I looked up info about dogs coming into heat I realized that I couldn't leave and think that someone else might have to deal with that. Ginny was a sad puppy when I picked her up from the vet office Wednesday evening. They hadn't done the spay operation until the afternoon so she was still woozy and tired all night. The next insult was The Cone, but it didn't hold her down long. She figured out how to pick up her favorite Toy even if i was underneath the cone. This is one day after the spaying and she expected me to throw the Toy. I guess she didn't read the instructions. This is the next day (2 days after spaying) and she is rolling around with Rusty. No jumping or climbing here and only a little bit of running. Maybe I can discontinue the pain killers.

At the Loom

The name of my blog is "Life on the Farm and at the Loom, but I haven't written many weaving posts lately. Here are a few of the more recent pieces. Chenille scarves. About a year and a half ago I challenged myself to use up all the odds and ends of chenille that I had accumulated. Here is a blog post with the photo of the original pile of chenille. I ended up with warps for 44 scarves. I wove several last year but then started focusing on the show I had last fall. Last month I started weaving these scarves again.

 

I put a warp on the 46" Schacht loom a few months ago but then had to stop weaving while I waited for tendonitis in my shoulder to get better. The yarn is Imperial Yarn Company's Columbia and there was enough warp for three blankets. I just took these off the loom but need to do fringes and wash them.

The AVL has warp for three queen size blankets that are a commission.

. Here is the front of the loom. I had to stop working on this when a cable broke today.

A friend asked me to dye a jacket that she found at a thrift store. She wanted dark brown. It's hard to see but one of those threads did turn the dark brown that it was supposed to but the rest of the yarns dyed a brick red. Fortunately she likes that color too.

 These  are 35-yard mini-skeins of Titus, a new yarn that I carry. I wanted to create a project that used all the yarns in this sample pack..

.

...and this is what I came up with. I used this as an idea to develop a class in Color on the Loom.

I'll show photos of all these blankets when they are finished. The transformation is always amazing.

El Dorado Forest After the King Fire

Yesterday the dogs and I drove to my son and DIL's house to go on a hike. We drove up Ice House Road into part of the El Dorado National Forest that burned from last year's massive King Fire, parked the truck, and started walking down one of the dirt roads. We found stunning beauty and tragic devastation at the same time. Eventually we made our way down to the South Fork of the American River, finding a new spot that M & K are putting on their personal favorite-place maps. I have lots of landscape and flower photos. For dog fun you can check out Rusty's blog--after I am finished and he can get on the computer.We stopped along the road in a beautiful park like landscape with lots of wildflowers... ...but when you look up you realize that all the trees are dead. I ID'd some of the flowers. Yellow Star Tulip, Calochortus monophyllus.

 This one I don't know and if I take time to try and find them all I'll never get outside.

 Pretty face, Triteleia ixioides.

Some kind of iris.

This looks like Sugarbush (Rhus species) when I looked it up but that is in S.CA so I don't know which species this one is.

Monkey flower.

We saw all those flowers on the way to the river.Sam and Kirin are strong swimmers and spent their time going after the toy that Matt kept throwing for them.Notice where my dogs are. Rusty spent most of his time looking at sparkles in the rocks, Ginny went in the water but was intimidated by the big dogs and the deep water and Maggie lives in her own world (did you see her on the right?)Walking back to the truck.These trees are dead but this gives a glimpse of what the forest might have been like if periodic fires had been allowed to burn during the last century. When fire burns light brush and debris off the forest floor it opens the forest up to light and allows other vegetation to grow, at the same time preventing the fires from burning into the tops of the trees. Wouldn't this be a beautiful site if this had been a much less damaging fire and the vegetation cycle was just starting all over without having killed the trees? The King Fire that burned 97,000 acres was human set. It was not an accident. It was set on purpose. My son and DIL work for the US Forest Service and were directly involved with the suppression of this fire that burned only a few miles from their home.It had tragic consequences for people who lost their homes and was a devastating blow to the El Dorado National Forest. There were peripheral impacts as well to thousands of people who have nothing to do with actually working as fire fighters or who live in the forest. Think of it as a ripple effect. We were on one of those ripples. My other son took the summer off from his regular job on the El Dorado Hotshot crew so that he could compete in the Tahoe Ironman. He had trained to be at the top of his game. The event was cancelled just moments before it was to begin due to the horrible smoke in the Tahoe Basin. Here is the story I wrote then. This is one tiny example of how something impacts lives far removed from the actual horrific event. Imagine the number of weddings, vacations, jobs, etc that were impacted over the course of this fire activity.  And all of those things pale in comparison to the direct consequences of the fire--the environmental impact, loss of property, etc.

Whew! I didn't intend to go there with this post. Let's move on. The oaks surprised me. The fire didn't kill them.   I'm curious to know if they will remain when (if?) this area is logged. 

The next photos are the scene we drove through to get to where it looks much prettier.These areas are being logged to remove the dead trees while there is still value in the lumber. This is an interesting article about the post-fire logging and rehab.  

This is a demonic looking machine. At the end of this long arm there are claw-like grippers and a chain saw.  A sad landscape.

R

May 4, 1916

As I wrote the date today I realized that it is my mom's birthday. She died in 2008. Here are some photos as I'd like to remember her instead of the the shell of a person taken by Alzheimer's.Mom (long before I was born) and her brother, Walt, who was the youngest of the four siblings and died just last month.Another from "the old days". Mom was a WAC during WW2.My brother and I were born in San Francisco and lived there until 1965. We moved to Sonoma County, CA near Cotati in 1965 and Mom had the place until sometime in the late 70's.Raising us as a divorced "older" mother (having kids at age 38 & 40) Mom faced personal challenges. It was an additional challenge to move from San Francisco to "the country". We lived on 2-1/2 acres in what I remember as a fabulous old house (the termites and drafts and well problems didn't bother us kids) and mom encouraged--enabled--us to learn a love of the outdoors and animals. She had no experience with livestock but through 4-H I raised dairy heifers and eventually a milk cow. My brother raised sheep......and when he left for college Mom, who had always knit and learned to spin around that time, had her own small flock of sheep.Mom on the front steps of our house with Murka, named after a dog in a book called Thanks to Noah by George Papashvily. (It's amazing how things come back to you. Seeing this photo made me remember that book. I just googled it, guessing at a spelling for that last name, found it on Amazon, and bought it!)  This photo is probably from the late 60's.During those years in Cotati, Mom turned her pottery hobby into a business (sound familiar?) and supported us by selling pottery and teaching.Although she made mostly functional high-fire pieces (plates, mugs, teapots, etc) she liked to make some more artistic raku pieces. I remember her pulling the fiery hot pots from the kiln, plunging them into a metal bucket full of straw, and quickly covering with a lid. Mom and her friend, Ursula, collaborated on some fountains. This is at our back door.  I was just thinking that this photo is kind of like me with my Farm Club and spinner friends. Yikes! Mom is younger in most of these photos than I am now. By the way, I found this on the wall at the Barinaga Sheep Dairy in Marin County a few years ago and I am sure that it is one of Ursula's pieces.  This isn't much of a photo but it is probably typical (and reminds me of my desk now except for the typewriter). Two cats on the desk. Clutter. That's mom's foray into stained glass in the window.This is mom with her five grandchildren taken probably about 1997 or so. That's my three on the left and my brother's kids on the right.

I'm glad I have these photos to fall back on when I think of mom's last years.

Cute Grandbaby Photos

It's been almost a month since Kirby was here but I found some more photos that I took of her on the last day of her visit. They are so cute that I want to share. Here she is helping me pack up yarn for the mail.  First has to pass a taste test. It looks as though she likes yarn. That's a good sign! She seems to like the box just as much. First step. Yarn in box. Second step. Fold flaps over. I think I took over from here. Kirby with Aunt Meryl. With Grandpa.With Uncle Chris after a long day.

#214 Memories

I was looking for photos of a sheep named Diamond, #214, for the last blog post. I didn't find the sheep but I found a lot of other favorite memories while searching #214. In no particular order: This is a sheep named Fran who is still here. In this photo she looks like her mom, Fanny who had spectacular horns.  Columbia ewes at the Imperial Stock Ranch. I carry this yarn. In Vermont, setting up an arch for Katie and Kurtis' wedding in 2011. Libby meeting Kirby a few days after she was born. All my kids and spouses (and spouse-to-be) in 2013. A mule train walking up the trail in the Grand Canyon on our visit in 2011. Dan and me on the same trip to the southwest in 2011. Zion National Park Modeling a poncho that I wore only a few years ago when I was in high school. I used this as a template for a recent woven poncho. Spring lambs. Maggie. This is a catapult, one of Katie's senior projects in high school.  Chris showing Stephany back in about 2006. Mushrooms Across the Road. Dogs in the canal on a recent walk. Chris' Ironman finish in TX in 2013.

Old Friends

I went to a friend's shearing earlier in the week. She has some "pensioners" who used to live here. This is Diamond who was born in 2002... ...and Lucy who was born in 2007 and is Diamond's granddaughter.  Here is Diamond with one of her last lambs in about 2010......and Laura a few years before she went to live at Jackie's. There is a video of Laura lambing a couple of years ago here.  Old Friends Forever.

Distracted by Kirby

Here's why I was distracted the last few days. She's 8-1/2 months old.

Meet the Sheep - Part 1

Meet the Sheep was a fantastic success. The weather was perfect and dozens of people came out to enjoy the farm, the lambs, and the bunnies. Yes, bunnies! These photos of people enjoying the day were all taken by Dona.

This is Julie Kuroki who raises show quality French Angora rabbits and Angora goats. I can give you her contact info if you want it.

The bunnies are always a huge hit with the kids. There is more in Rusty's blog about the bunnies.

 

Alison led a workshop in Sheep Portraits. 

March Miscellany

I am fairly organized with my photos when I transfer them from my camera to the computer. But the "photo stream" from the iPhone is another matter. They all show up in a file labeled March. I take a lot of these intending to write blog posts that never make it through the fingertips to the keyboard. So this is a jumble of these photos that might have become blog posts if I didn't have to allocate at least a few hours for sleeping. I'll probably need to break this into two posts.The Lambing Board at the beginning of the month.First day on the pasture and looking for mom. The Little Chicken, who has lived here forever, was not too crazy about......the New Chickens that a friend gave me.Finally, fresh eggs again.This is an example of clasped weft in a rigid heddle weaving class......and this is weaving students taking a lamb break in the barn.And speaking of holding lambs, I love this photo. These are three Farm club members (and friends) who have spent many hours helping me here, not only during lambing but at other times also.Weaving. I've spent a little time at the loom, although I still have projects looming hanging over my head and that is getting very frustrating. These are wool blankets woven using one of my favorite patterns, but usually done in one color.Marilyn with the first lamb of twins.About a week ago I went to my uncle's memorial service. His ashes were placed in a family plot with his wife's and next to those of his two sisters (one of whom was my mom). The end of that generation in our family.Life moves on. This is Spring who looks as though she should have sprung days ago.

Lamb Portraits

It's Spring Across the Road

I just posted springtime photos taken near my house. Then I looked at my iPhone photos and found some from Across the Road.  Almonds blooming along the canal.  Mushrooms.  Mustard.

 Even thistles are pretty.Wild radish.The alfalfa field. Rusty has posted in quite awhile. There are a lot of dog photos so I'll let him use the computer tomorrow.

Farm Day

This year's pre-lambing Farm Day overlapped with Stitches West so some of our members chose shopping over barn cleaning, thinking that their yarn stashes needed a little reinforcing. However we still had an effective crew and finished our scheduled chores in just a couple of hours. (Dona was shopping so thanks to Lisa for providing some of these photos.)Lisa, Cindy, Alison, and Stephany helped clean the barn and vaccinate all the sheep. Betty came later and we skirted fleeces.We gathered  all the ewes in the barn. Some are looking quite large.

We checked eyelids of the ewe lambs for anemia using the FAMACHA scorecard and dewormed those who scored 2 or 3.Amaryllis is always happy when Lisa comes.

  Faulkner was all fired up after yesterday's tryst with Donna, who spent the day with him in anticipation of July lambs, but alas, it was just us Farmers who came to call today.After skirting fleeces in the afternoon......Betty and I treated the ewes to snacks.Usually Farm Day lasts well into the afternoon but today everyone had places to be (including me who went to Berkeley to see out-of-state cousins who had all gathered for a birthday celebration), but it was a beautiful morning to spend with friends.We didn't do much hard labor today but someone was tired out.

More Cuteness in Texas

 After a too-short visit here who was waiting at home: 

Random 1030 photos

I had a good time with this post of random photos so here is another. Jazz (#1030 ) is another one of my ewes. Here is her photo and a bunch of other photos that come up when I search 1030.Jazz as a yearling. Jazz with triplets.

 I took this at Pinnacles National Park  when we camped there last year.

 Chris showing his goats when he was a sophomore in 2006.

 A  handwoven vest from the new book Weave, Knit, Wear, that I just got into the shop...the book, not the vest. But I tried on the vest at TNNA and it fit me.  Matt & Kaleena in 2009.

Katie and Benny in 2002.

Distracted

I am updating my sheep info in my sheep database. I am looking through the manual to pick up on the stuff that I haven't figured out or noticed yet--entering photos, entering ancestors of sheep I didn't breed, etc. I am exporting photos so that they can be entered properly. Searching sheep by # and/or name in Aperture, my photo program. As you can guess from this blog, I like taking photos. I have A LOT of photos. Entering #868, a sheep named Clover born in 2008. Not too many photos of her but when I search 868 dozens of other 868's pop up--of course these are photos that have 868 somewhere in the file name. So here is a random idea for a blog post and, in my opinion, a better way to "waste" time than on Facebook because I like looking at my photos. Maybe some of you will too.  Here is the 868 I was looking for. I wonder if I should put the rest in order by date or not... I think I'll go with random. One of the wool blankets I wove for my recent show using Sincere Sheep yarn. This is Katie, about 6 years old, and Sequoia, a calf who was born prematurely and I raised on the back porch for months. That's my first Border Collie, Flash. Kaleena (DIL) and Matt (son) and Guinness and Sam a few years ago somewhere in the El Dorado National Forest. Dan, Matt, and me in my once/year 5 km run to support Kaleena and research on ovarian cancer. This is Chris and Meryl and Matt and me (Kaleena must be taking the photo) taking a Duck Tour in Boston on the way to Katie's wedding in VT a few years ago. A handwoven blanket of Jacob yarn on Mom's rocking chair.  Spotted in the pasture. My cousin, Kyle Vincent, (who has a new album out) performing in our barn. Christmas in 2013 when all my kids and spouses (and spouse to be) were in one place. Leaping lamb. Chris selling a hog at the auction at the Solano County Fair. He looks young--maybe a sophomore?Tencel scarves woven in advancing twill that made an issue of Handwoven a couple of years ago. Well, that's it for 868, Clover. This was fun. I may do it again.

TNNA 2015

TNNA is The National NeedleArts Association and there is a trade show every winter. This year's was in Phoenix where I met up with my friend of 35 years, Irene who owns Cotton Clouds. We stayed at the Hyatt...   ...and here is the view from our window. Kind of makes me think of Ghostbusters. But wait......Here it is as I saw it without the aid of the camera.

We spent Saturday and Sunday on the show floor. I hadn't planned to buy anything for my shop this year because it is already pretty full. But there were some things that I couldn't resist.

 This is just to pique your interest. I will be selling these kits and developing a new class in this technique for making very cool scarves. What a way to use up leftover yarn!I already sell Sincere Sheep's Bannock Targhee yarn but then I saw their Cormo yarn that is grown and spun in Wyoming. How can I choose from all these colors? I really can't have them all.These will be in the shop in a couple of months. I saw the "Olympic sweater" in person. This sweater was knit with very soft wonderful yarn that I sell here and that I used in some of the pieces in my November show.

Irene and I  took a class taught by Judith Sangold who wrote a wonderful book called Weave-Knit-Wear which I will have in the shop shortly. An advantage of taking the class was that we got to try on the garments that are in the book. They all fit me just right!

There were photo ops...

In the Spinning and Weaving Group's booth with Liz Gipson, promoting Spinzilla......and with Irene. Hey, why am I wearing the funky hat and she didn't dress up?

This is in the Lavishea booth. I'll be getting new scents of this great lotion bar. Is there something about us that says The Beautiful Hero and the Weird Sidekick?Speaking of weird, what about this book? I love some of the projects in it. How about a knitted moosehead to hand over your fireplace or a knitted wolf head hat? Hey, I'd wear that scarf. Did you know that I made my husband a cow tie once complete with head and tail? But that's another story.This is Irene and me sandwiching a new friend who also designs kits for Irene but whom I'd never met.

And speaking of yarn, here is more that I bought:Unfortunately this lovely lady won't be coming home with it because she had to return to England. The yarn is called Titus, after Sir Titus Salt who became important in the burgeoning textile industry in Yorkshire in the early 1800's. It is a wonderful blend of Wensleydale, BFL and alpaca. I couldn't afford to buy bags of all 13 colors but will be getting these 4 as well as packs that include all the colors in small quantities.

Here is one more photo of Irene and me. I just learned how to use Instagram and this is my first photo on it.

After getting home I emptied all my loot out on a couple of tables. Can you believe that I got all of this into my carry-on suitcase along with my clothes?