Random Farm Photos from the first part of July

Is it a continuing theme that I never have enough time to write blog post? Sorry if that is getting old. But it’s real. Here’s an attempt so that I can catch up with some of the photos I’ve taken and because I know that some of you do enjoy reading blog posts I write.

The first week of July I taught a Learn to Weave class. This is the students with their finished pieces.

Students learn all the processes to wind warp and weave off this sampler in two days.

In the meantime I’ve had a major custom weaving project hanging over my head. Normally I wind warps from cones, but this one was naturally dyed in skeins with no time to put the yarn on cones. Thank goodness I have a good swift—Schacht Ultra Umbrella Swift which I just put on the website now. The yarn winds from the swift to the AVL Warping Wheel to make 2” sections. More about this in another post when I get around to it.

This is 57 yards wound onto the sectional beam of my AVL production loom

This is after it is all tidied up. I have woven one so far, only 24 to go.

In between working on winding that warp I was trying to wet finish the last 20 blankets I took off the loom. Then they need to be measured and photographed.

These won’t go on the website for awhile because they are destined for a show at The Artery in October.

I have ignored my garden other than trying to keep a few things watered. A few plants are doing well despite my inattention. My Hopi Black Dye sunflowers are over 8 feet tall. I have had to prop up a few of them because they are getting so heavy.

Speaking of watering we are trying to keep the pasture irrigated but the irrigation district has reduced our allotment of water for the season. As we let the interval between irrigations get longer and reduce the time for each irrigation, we end up with less water and the field doesn’t fully irrigate. Those dry parts are what the Central Valley would look like without irrigation.

I have been conducting field trips for a summer camp through Trackers Earth. The kids spend time in the pasture, watching spinning and weaving and with sheep. Jade is always a favorite. She is an amazing sheep to let any number of people crowd around.

I don’t need any comments here about masks. I don’t think any of my blog followers would make those kind of comments, but when I posted a couple of photos on Facebook, I got nasty responses about children wearing masks. We are wearing masks in close spaces in the barn but not outside. I am selfishly concerned about my own health and missing out on some very exciting upcoming events. So that’s real life right now.

The most exciting thing going on is that my daughter and grandkids are visiting. That will deserve more blog posts. Kirby goes out with me every morning for chores. Jade is the favorite sheep and is always there for hugs and pets.

This is Kirby’s lamb, Rose, daughter of Belle, who Kirby showed at the State Fair as a lamb in 2019. Kirby will be at the fair to show Rose.

Family Time

It’s pretty quiet around here now. We just spent the last ten days with grandkids here or nearby. We share the two grandkids with the other set of grandparents who live in Dixon. Katie and the kids got here about ten days ago and Kurtis came about five days later. They split their time here and in town. For the first couple of days my son, Chris was here as well, but he had to get back to Boise, where he and Meryl moved just a few weeks ago.

Right after they got here the kids wanted to get out the toys they remembered from previous visits. There are a selected group of toys left over from when my kids were younger. Kasen had the box of Lincoln logs and the wooden train set. Kirby went right to the Playmobile cowboy set that she remembered from her visit in the summer.

Kirby always likes to spend time in the barn when I do chores. Katie came out the first morning and offered to help with cleaning. You’d think from this photo that they are worn out, but I think they were faking it.

Jade and Hazel are really going to miss Kirby. She spent a lot of time in the barn and in the pasture and those two sheep always hang around her to get pets (and sometimes treats).

One of the mornings we drove to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area between Davis and Sacramento.

The majority of birds were to the east past the line on our map that showed the division between hunting and no-hunting. So we watched and listened to those from afar. I think it’s fascinating to see the city buildings just beyond these massive flocks of birds.

This isn’t a great photo but I think these are sandhill cranes. The majority of the birds in the large flocks to the east seemed to be snow geese.

On Wednesday we spent the afternoon and evening with my brother’s family in Fairfield. Before our Thanksgiving meal the kids played football in the street…

…and then went on a Beaver Walk. Dave usually finds beavers at dusk in this creek, but we missed them on this evening.

After our turkey dinner and traditional pies we also had a mini recognition of Kasen’s birthday which is during “the holidays” and when he’ll be back in Texas.

On Thanksgiving Day we celebrated my mother-in-law’s 90th birthday. My sister-in-law organized the party and about 50 family members of several generations came from all over the country.

Kirby in one of her several holiday outfits.

Kirby joined in with the Wild Woolly Wreath class that I did on Saturday morning. This was also presented virtually while I had 5 in-person class participants. The whole Thanksgiving weekend was a bit of a challenge for me with virtual presentations each day through Camp Yarnsie. These were fun, but I had to focus on my organization for the weekend. Camp Yarnsie? That’s a virtual fiber festival. If you missed all it you can catch replays of a lot of the programs here. I had something on each day of the Camp. Check out the video on Thanksgiving Thursday and the Jacob sheep discussion on Sunday.

On Monday my Wednesday Weavers (virtual on Wednesdays) came for a dye day and Kirby joined in. She dyed some of the warps that I have planned for v-shawls and then I made a warp for a smaller version so that she could dye one that I would weave for her.

Kirby usually leans towards the pinks and purples, but then I wanted to use up some of the dyes left over and she dyed this one yellow and green.

She liked the yellow and green one so much that I wound another warp for her and set this up in the house so she could dye this last one before leaving for the airport this morning.

After the dye project we went to the barn for one last session with the sheep before the kids had to leave.

Last Weekend - Family & Rain

If you live in in northern California then you know about the record-breaking rainfall we had on Sunday. I measured 6.8” in 24 hours here. Our average for the whole year is usually 24.5” and I think we had less than 8” last season.

We had big plans for the weekend. Chris had entered the Ironman Triathlon to be held in Sacramento for the first time. Ironman athletes train all year for an event of that magnitude and he fit his training regime into his smokejumper job all summer with this focus. My daughter and granddaughter flew from Texas to be here for the event. So this post is some about family and some about the rain.

Katie and Kirby got here very late on Thursday evening. When Kirby got up Friday morning she went to the barn with me. Kirby didn’t have full access to all the sheep because right now they are in breeding groups and there are rams with the ewes. We brought selected sheep out where they could be petted. Hazel was ready for attention.

Kirby made a hopscotch grid in the sand.

Back at the house we got out this box of toys that Kirby remembered from her July visit. That box holds many, many Playmobil sets that we had bought when Matt and Katie and Chris were this age.

Ginny became a pest with her constant need for attention. She brought a fuzzy squirrel to each of us hoping that we’d throw it. Katie found a new way to interact with her.

I don’t think Ginny was amused, but she tolerated it. I found myself thinking that Katie was the big sister teasing the little sister. After all, Ginny is one of my kids now, right?

On Saturday we drove to Apple Hill to get together with Matt and Kaleena.

Kirby made quick work of the maze at this farm.

Aunt Kaleena treated Kirby to a princess type headdress with ribbon streamers.

There were three states represented by these cutting boards and two of them were appropriately California and Texas.

We drove up the highway to one of the stations of the El Dorado National Forest. Matt’s main work helicopter is gone now, but this one is still there, so we had a look inside.

Kirby got to try out the seating arrangement.

I sat in front. I am amazed at all those switches and dials. A bit overwhelming to think of learning all of those.

I was amused by the simple calculator attached below all the sophisticated controls. Matt said that you have to calculate the load, fuel, etc. while you’re loading so that is a very important component here.

I have realized that this is really a two blog post weekend. To be continued…

Granddaughter Time - Part 3

Only a couple of days were left for Kirby’s visit. (This was a month ago.) I had plans for the morning and Kirby’s schedule showed that she would spend the afternoon with Aunt Meryl. The next day she would see Aunt Kaleena who was back from fire duty in Washington and then to to the Dixon grandparents’ house and be ready to fly out the next morning.

Jade and Hazel were front and center whenever Kirby showed up at the barn. I’m so glad that Kirby has enough animal awareness that I could let her be in with the sheep and not worry about her getting hurt.

I had bought a kids’ cookbook but we didn’t have time to do much cooking. We did try something that looked fun. I can’t remember what these were called but they were supposed to be made with a lot of hand involvement of squishing and patting dough and stuffing them with cheese that had been rolled into balls. I won’t say that the outcome was very successful but the process was fun.

My new yarn came and Kirby thought it was fun for dress-up.

We visited with Grandma and Grandpa Moo, Kirby’s great-grandparents. who live near Dixon.

They have some odds and ends of cattle still around from the dairy days. This is one of the huge steers that was kept with the intention of having an ox team. After this visit Kirby went to stay with the other grandparents for two nights (including a birthday party with her cousins from that side of her family).

Back with me we went to a friend’s house to see her sheep that are different than mine.

Kirby got to ride in style from the field to the hose to wash off muddy feet.

Then we stopped by Orange Theory to watch Aunt Meryl coach a workout.

This was Monday and Kirby was going back to town Tuesday evening so she could fly out with the other grandma and two cousins the next morning. We had plans for Tuesday morning so I decided that it was time to put all the sheep we’d been halter breaking back with the rest of the flock. This is Kirby’s ewe, Belle.

We led the lambs back in pairs.

Goodbye hugs for Jade and Hazel.

Tuesday morning we were able to meet up with Aunt Kaleena. SeaQuest in Folsom seemed like a good half way point between our house and Kaleena’s.

Can you imagine a rodent this big? Yes, a capybara is a rodent and these were certainly tame.

We’d been having a discussion about spirit animals at home and after reading this sign Dan decided that the sloth must be his spirit animal—it was the part about sleeping and remaining motionless that won him over, not the upside down part.

Kaleena and Kirby went into the parakeet enclosure to have some close-up bird time.

I was amazed that these rays acted as though they wanted attention. You could reach in and touch them.

We finished the morning with lunchtime ice cream. with all the toppings.

I hope Kirby has good memories of her trip to California. We certainly had fun with her here. Katie’s comment to her mom after the flight back to Texas was “Why would you choose to drive?” Good question, but maybe we’ll answer that on our next road trip, to be planned when we can do it without pulling a trailer or being in a fire zone or dealing with Covid (hopefully).

Granddaughter Time - Part 2

Kirby catching a ride from Uncle Chris. We had a plan for the day as shown on Kirby’s schedule in the last post.

We got to the zoo and and planned our visit.

Flamingos are near the entrance.

So is the carousel. As I was writing this I wondered why I called this a carousel and not a merry-go-round and are they the same thing. Its easy to find out with Google: “Merry-go-round” and “carousel” are synonyms… Some people say that the difference between a “merry-go-round” and a “carousel” is that they turn in different directions. ... Whatever the reason, merry-go-rounds in Europe tend to turn clockwise. There is more from another source: “Traditionally, horses are mounted from the left side. This is because most warriors were right handed and kept their swords on their left side for fast access. In England, the carousels rotate clockwise so the horses can be mounted from the left, keeping with tradition.”

Look at what you can learn by reading this blog! This carousel definitely rotates counter-clockwise.

I don’t think it matters to a praying mantis if it is mounted from the left or right. I find this one kind of creepy.

I love the bald eagle.

I’ll share just a couple more shots taken at the zoo. A lot of the exhibits had been redone since I’d been there last many years ago. You can get quite close to some of the animals.

It is an impressive view. Kirby spent that night with her other grandparents and we picked her up the next day, which was her seventh birthday. There was to be a party with cousins and the other side of her family on the weekend but she was with us for the actual birthday.

We drove to Old Sac, the Sacramento waterfront where there are shops, dining, and the railroad museum.

We started at the Railroad Museum.

We had been entertained by the long trains on our road trip back to California from Texas. I think Kirby liked seeing the trains, but we didn’t expect to have the same kind of visit that it would be if we were on our own. In fact I think she may have been more interested in riding the elevator up and down.

They have quite good signage and information about the exhibits as well as docents willing to discuss all things trains. This photo was taken in the train car.

In an engine.

We ended the visit to Old Sac with ice cream.

It’s good to have some down time and not have everything planned out all the time. I used part of the afternoon to introduce Kirby to a few of the board games that were favorites of my kids. We played Monopoly, Parchesi, and The Amazing Labyrinth.

The first birthday cake of her multiple celebrations (another with the cousins on the weekend and one more when she got back to Texas)

And of course there were a few presents.

Granddaughter Time - Part 1

Our trip to Texas was over a month ago and our granddaughter returned home to Texas August 4 and I am only now getting back to my blog posts. I’m been too busy to do anything with my photos. I have plenty of farm and weaving related subjects for posting but I wanted to keep the stories on order. So here I am. Start here if you want to read about the road trip.

Kirby’s first morning here we headed for the barn. Jade is everyone’s favorite sheep.

Kirby remembers Jade from when she visited from a young age. I took this photo 4 years ago.

Jade’s daughter, Hazel has become just as friendly as Jade.

I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to halter break the ewe lambs I am keeping. Kirby and I took those lambs to a pen where we could easily catch them and put halters on each day. That big ewe is NOT a lamb, but is Belle, the sheep I gave Kirby to show as a lamb when she visited here in 2019. That makes Kirby the owner of Belle’s daughter, the dark lamb next to her. Kirby named her Beauty. Are you catching the Disney theme here? So we put Belle in this pen as well. For the 10 days Kirby was in California we worked with these sheep every day that she was at our place—there were a few days when she spent time with the other grandparents and cousins that live in Dixon.

On the third evening here we all went to visit my brother. It was a tight fit for Aunt Meryl and Uncle Chris to fit with the carseat. Kirby was thrilled to have them as her backseat companions.

Uncle Matt had arrived separately. Aunt Kaleena couldn’t be there as she was on fire duty in Washington.

After dinner our evening activity was to go on a family beaver walk.

My brother and his wife live in the city of Fairfield. There is a river that flows through the neighborhoods behind the houses and Dave has discovered that most evenings he can spot a beaver family and sometimes otters.

I don’t have photos of the beavers but they were there.

We finished the evening with a guitar session.

Before we left Texas Katie had written out a schedule so that we could all stay organized. Kirby was thrilled to stay with Aunt Meryl and Uncle Chris (who was able to take a few days off to be home for her visit) as often as she could—that’s convenient since they are right next door. In fact, I had to put some limits on that so that they could get their work done. There was unscheduled time but we had no problem finding things to do.

I had gone to the library before Kirby came to find some books to take on the drive. I came home with an owl pellet dissection kit that was that month’s kids’ project. I’ve taken apart owl pellets before but it was fun to have the addition of the special tweezers and the diagram that identified some of the bones that you find in owl pellets.

I didn’t save most of the things that the kids had when they were younger, but there are some select sets of toys. There is a box packed full of Playmobil horses, cowboys, indians, a fort, and all the other stuff that goes with those scenes. This is probably a collector’s item now-I doubt that this is a politically correct toy set in this era.

But Kirby had a great time deciding which horses were wild (as in the movie Spirit) and which were saddle horses and eventually the whole room was arranged with Old West scenes. I am still amazed at these toys. I don’t know how many sets we bought for the kids over the years, but this box has everything from cooking pots to rabbits, squirrels, and bears.

More in the next post.

2021 Road Trip to Texas - Back to California 3

We woke up early in our crummy rundown motel in Blythe, California and got on the road. There wasn’t any point in hanging around. Most of this blog post is drive-by photography on the freeway.

Near Palm Springs.

Kirby was a real trooper. She never complained about the backseat or the long drive. I think it would have been different if she hadn’t had the electronic entertainment of her tablet. There is a time and a place for that stuff and this was it.

Freeway art.

More freeway art, a little harder to see.

Not art, but interesting to use a fancy style of lettering instead of just the standard freeway sign.

This is a very poor photo but I was lucky to catch a glimpse of the elusive pink brontosaurus and the clothed T-Rex. They aren’t often seen in California.

Its always encouraging to see a sign that says Sacramento even when you’re still several hours away.

Grandparents’ indulgence, a Happy Meal, was probably the most exciting thing for Kirby on this day.

Agriculture dominates the drive up the San Joaquin Valley once you get beyond SoCal.

This is possible due to the California Aqueduct system, part of which makes up the curved edge of the field in this photo.

There is the aqueduct but also a massive warehouse which I think is the Amazon Fulfillment Center.

This is the last shot I took in the valley south of Sacramento. We made it home before dark. Yay!

After showing Kirby her room (now, after 10 years, finally fixed up into a guest room), which used to be her mom’s bedroom, we headed for the barn.

One of the best parts of visiting California for Kirby is hanging out with Aunt Meryl and Uncle Chris.

2021 Road Trip to Texas - Visiting Family

Its taken me awhile to get back to the Road Trip blog posts, but I know you’re waiting for the next chapter (at least I know of one person who is). As I said in the last blog post we got to Katie’s house just before midnight. We knew that it would be best to leave the goats in the trailer and get them out in their new surroundings the next day.

They were glad to get out of the trailer. The new goat pen and shelter wasn’t finished yet so they went into the fenced area where the dog stays when everyone is gone. They particularly liked the big rocks that line the fence. The grandkids were told that they could each name a goat. Four-year-old, dinosaur loving Kasen named one of them Indominus (we thought of Indie for a nickname). Six-year-old Kirby chose Snowflake for the white yearling. Katie and Kurtis will name the kid.

Who needs rocks when there is a picnic table?

…or a dog house?

I’m glad the goats finally made it to Texas.

They will have good lives with our family there.

Kirby's Blanket

This is Belle, a 2 year old lilac ewe. Lilac is this color in Jacob sheep that is kind of a gray-brown instead of black. She is pregnant and due to lamb in a about a week. What is special about Belle—at least any more special than any of the other sheep? She is owned by my granddaughter, Kirby.

Way back in 2019 when we all had normal lives, Kirby’s family came from their home in Texas to spend a couple of weeks in the summer. I had selected a lamb to register in Kirby’s name and I got her gentled down before the family got here. This is the story and photos of Kirby coming to the State Fair and showing her lamb.

This is one of my all time favorite photos. Kirby was thrilled to win a pink ribbon! What color is better than pink when you are a 5-year old girl?

I wish I had photos of Belle being shorn and of her fleece. Instead the story will fast forward to fall, 2020. I spun Belle’s fleece, shorn in February 2020, during our weekly Farm Club spinners meeting on Zoom.

I had decided that I would weave a blanket for Kirby to send her for Christmas.

I gave up the idea of spinning all the yarn for the blanket because I just didn’t have time and I knew that the Timm Ranch yarn I use for many of my other blankets would be just fine for warp. I wanted a generously sized blanket so I warped for a double width piece.

I wove random stripes of the handspun brown and the mixed white yarn.

I shipped this blanket on December 14 with plenty of time to arrive before Christmas. However, I made an error in one digit of the zip code. There is a long story to follow, most of which I have forgotten now, and that’s a good thing. I got a message from FedEx that the package could not be delivered. I think it had ended up in a small town in Texas not that far from where it was supposed to go. I corrected the zip code and supposedly all was well. But it wasn’t. I spent countless hours on-line and on the phone trying to track down this blanket and get it sent to the right address. Katie offered to pick it up at a FedEx office, but I was told that wasn’t going to work. The blanket was eventually shipped to Tenessee (FedEx center of some kind) and then to Mississippi to what is called “Overgoods”. It turns out that is a depository for packages they don’t know how to handle or that are lost. The tracking information kept saying that it had been delivered and signed for. I had to insist that it was not delivered to the intended recipient. I eventually worked my way up the management ladder and found that the only way to get the package out of Overgoods was for me to set up an account and request the package.

I did that and eventually got the package back here in California on January 12. This is how it looked. I shipped it back to Texas via good old U.S. Mail.

Kirby has been using the blanket on her bed, but I asked Katie to get some photos so they went outside.

We have all heard about the extreme weather in Texas last week so I think the wool blanket came in handy. Kirby is looking forward to Belle’s lambs and has asked me if she can name them.