Road Trip to Texas - Day 1

It is exhausting going on vacation...the part before you actually leave. Thanks to friends and family who are taking care of things while we're gone. Self portrait. Near Tehachapi from the truck window. We didn't leave the house until 1:30 and wanted to get some miles behind us the first day. We finally needed to stop and eat. For the first day or two we planned to eat out of the ice chest using up food from our refrigerator. So we had salads and hard boiled eggs at a rest stop near Boron. Trivia: Did you know that the 20-mule train teams that hauled boron out of Death Valley were actually 18 mules and 2 draft horses? Usually we sleep in the back of the truck when we need to stop but this time the truck was packed full with some of the things that Katie has had stored at our house. I had visions of the Conestoga wagons carrying the precious possessions that pioneers wanted to have with them. I loaded my grandmother's secretary desk that I used as a kid, an old trunk that was also from a grandparent, and my grandmother's delicate tile-topped table into the truck. One of the grandmothers was from New York so the desk and the table (and I don't remember about the trunk) came from there to CA, probably by moving van and now were being carried in a pick-up truck back east to TX. Stuffed around and in the furniture are things Katie had packed in boxes--Breyers horses, trophies from her dairy cattle showing days, stuffed animals (lots of stuffed animals),  horse tack, lots of other memorabilia, and two oil paintings that my aunt painted. Dan reminded me, as we had to keep unpacking and repacking the largest painting when we needed something from the back of the truck, that the pioneers ended up leaving things along the trail.

Anyway, we brought a tent because we knew we couldn't sleep in the truck on the trip out to TX.We drove into the Preserve and took a dirt road watching lightening in the distance. We finally found a place where we could park and set up a tent. The moon was spectacular although not a full moon.Here is what it looked like in the morning.

Changing Places

About a month ago I went out to feed and wondered by Ringo, 2 year-old ram, was standing by himself and wouldn't come in. That usually indicates a sick sheep.When I walked out there I saw that one electric fence wire was spiraled across the pen and Ringo wouldn't cross it. I had been fixing the fence a couple times per week, tightening the wires, or replacing insulators, and once in awhile fixing a break. That evening I found this--Foley with wires wrapped all around his horns and his feet. It was worse than it looks in the photo. I had to cut the wraps of wire off of him. I knew that I had to do something better. The goal of this electric wire is to keep the sheep away from the field fence on the south side and the welded wire panels on the north side, both of which the rams can easily destroy. It works well for the ewes and it works for the rams to the extent that they don't try to eat something on the other side or put their heads through the fence. But it is obvious that the charge is not felt through the horns. The rams actually spend time trying to scratch on the insulators and bash the tree that holds some of the fence. Then their horns catch on the wire and I think they like to fight with the wire just because it's there. I thought that if I used 4 wires that would keep the rams away...or at least I hoped it would.  I also thought that maybe they needed a diversion--something to distract them from the fence. (Dona suggested it and that reminded me that I used to have a big tree stump on a post and the rams would spend time scratching on it.)We sometimes wonder if we're hoarders, but you're only a hoarder if you don't have use for all your stuff, right? I had just found a use for these wheels. This is version one--tires held upright with a t-stake. I decided that it was probably boring so added a few things.That's plywood with sharp corners for itchy heads and a couple of dangly chains for sound effects. It took a few days before the rams started to use their new toy but it served it's purpose...for awhile. Yesterday they were back at the fence and had broken the wire as well as broken off all the insulators on their favorite tree (third photo from the top).

We're planning to leave for about 10 days and I found myself thinking how I'd explain to my future daughter-in-law/farm sitter how you take the cane and chase the rams into the shed and make them stay in the shed while you find the ends of the broken wire...no, first loosen the wire at the tensioners, then find the broken ends...etc. We debated about what we could do to create a safe place for these rams and be ready to leave in a couple of days.

I finally decided that the simplest idea was to have our rams change places. Faulkner, the BFL, and his buddy would go to the old ram pen and the four Jacob rams would to to Faulkner's pen, after some reinforcement (2 new welded wire panels). This is the four of them exploring their new digs. They have berry bushes and trees to bash right in the middle of the pen.

 This is Faulker, Jerry, and the biggest lamb in the flock, who needed to be separated from the ewes. He is about 100 pounds and looked big next to all the other lambs, but next to Faulkner (about 250 lb), he looks Puny. Let's hope that everyone is in their proper places in the morning.

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.  

Black Sheep Gathering 2

BSG is at least a two-post event. Here is the first. On Saturday I took a class. I sell the Clemes & Clemes blending board but had never watched the expert work with it. Gwen Powell is the person who worked with Henry and Roy Clemes to design and refine their blending board and she taught an all-day class. This was a full class. Everyone brought their wheels in order to spin samples during any down time. Here is one set of rolags made from two boards-full. This is another in which Wensleydale locks are blended into another wool and can be spun with the locks hanging out but well secured.Here are all the rolags I created. A lot of fun spinning coming up! Later that afternoon two friends practiced leading the ram lambs in preparation for the Spinner's Lead contest that evening. This is Cindy and Beth with Nash and Marvin after the competition. They are wearing their handspun, handknit Jacob garments. Here was a huge crowd pleaser. This is Terri Mendenhall with her spotted ram. Take a look at his mane and tail! He carried Merino samples for all in his saddle bags.Thanks to Dona for the two photos above. On Sunday I had free time.

I talked to Terri about sheep coats and came home with a few. I'll experiment with sizes and get a few more. The purpose of these coats is to keep the fleeces clean from vegetable matter and dirt. To coat sheep all year you need at least three sizes so that you can change the coat as the wool grows. I don't know if I'll coat all year or mostly the last half of the year when the grasses get taller and have more impact on the fleeces.

I browsed the Fiber Arts competition.

This is a gorgeous felt in 3-D made by my friend Shannon of Kenleigh Acres. She takes orders for her felt pups but has about a year waiting list.

Here is another felt piece I admired.

This one too. Of course it's not just about felting and there were plenty of knitted pieces as well. I just didn't get any photos.

The Fiber Arts competition is in the vendor hall. It's not hard to find Dona and Mary where there is shopping. That's Kathleen too, talking to Sally Fox in her booth. Other Farm Club members who were at BSG this year were Peggy, Gynna (working at the Clemes & Clemes booth, but took time to help me show), Tina (FC emeritus, now living in Portland), Stephanie (on a post job-quitting tour of the northwest), and Chris (who isn't FC but a friend anyway and my roommate for the week).

 This is me with Nash outside the barn. Thanks, Shannon, for the photo.The sheep are released at 4 p.m. on Sunday and my goal is to get on the road as quickly as possible and get out of the mountains before dark. I left the fairgrounds at 4:17. At one of my stops I took a look in the back and thought that maybe I should have bought a coat for Nash. Not looking good.Here is bide a wee Bea, who just happened to get in the truck with the other sheep when I left. Mavin stayed behind to take her place at the bide a wee farm.It's always good to come around the last mountain in Oregon and see Mt. Shasta. However, the lack of snow on this 14,000+ foot mountain is very discouraging. But that's a thought for another time. It was nice to be with my friends and other sheep enthusiasts and forget the rest of the world's problems for a few days.

Black Sheep Gathering

Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon is an annual event but I usually get there every other year. When I go I take sheep. Estelle ready for her first road trip. When we get there everyone is ready to get out of the truck. Farm Club members and other friends also drove to BSG. They were always ready to help with the sheep.After the truck ride the sheep need some touching up. They don't get a full bath but we scrub the feet and legs.

The Jacob sheep show was Friday morning. It was a relatively small show this year with three farms represented.Nevertheless, I was pleased to win Champion Jacob ram with my ram lamb, Meridian Nash and... ...Reserve Champion Jacob ewe with my yearling ewe, Meridian Jean.

Black Sheep Gathering is a great place to see a variety of breeds of sheep.My friends tried to talk me into bringing one of these BFL lambs home.

I don't think that this yearling ram would have even fit in my truck.

There are great shopping opportunities in the vendor hall and in the barn. Dona shared her fabulous photos of wares for sale at BSG and the Eugene Farmers' Market in the Meridian Jacobs Ravelry group here. I saw these in the vendor area:  By the way, I'm planning my second annual estate sale for sometime in August!Seen in the parking lot.

Seen near the Farm Club chairs and spinning wheels. Dona and Mary said that they put on their 8th grade sleep-over hats for this shopping trip.

For us Black Sheep Gathering isn't just about the sheep and the shopping and the food. It's also about spending time with friends.

More photos in the next post.

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.

Psychedelia with no drugs

I am going to teach a class called Color on the Loom and a friend brought me a useful tool. This is a teleidoscope and when you look through it whatever you see is changed into shapes and patterns. We thought that it might be an interesting way to look at yarns when selecting colors. In fact when looking up teleidoscope on Google here is what one reference said about how to use it: "1. Yarn ... It’s hard to get a good idea of how the colors will blend until you have started your piece. Holding up balls of yarn next to each other in the store is good, but we like this method even better. ...view the yarns together through your [teleidoscope]. You’ll get a much better idea of how the colors blend. Not only cool, but practical! Quilters love teleidoscopes and often use them as a tool to look at fabrics selected and see how they will look multiplied out as seen through a teleidoscope." In looking up the definition of a teleidoscope, "a kind of kaleidoscope, with a lens and an open view, so it can be used to form kaleidoscopic patterns from objects outside the instrument" I found a link to iPhone and iPad apps! What fun!! Look at what I saw:

Should I tell you what these things are or let you guess?  My computer screen.

 A ribbon from the fair.

Grass in the pasture.

   A yarn chart.

The new cotton yarns I just got in the shop.

More yarn.

The barn roof.

Sheep in the pasture. I must say that some views are a little creepy--for instance when it's a bunch of disembodied sheep noses.

Map of the U.S.Balls of yarn. Those above are all from the iPhone. With that app you can see all these cool designs but you have to take a screen shot to save them. I also got an app for the iPad and it's a little different. There is a button in the app to take a photo. There are also a couple of sliders to change the effect you see. The following photos are the same view but with the slider moved from one end to the other. 

Another great way to waste time when using technology! But it's better for you than drugs. The iPad app is called Kaleio and the iPhone one is Teleidoscope.

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.

Weaving on the Go

I have been gone for a few days but took a rigid heddle loom with me. What an easy way to enjoy weaving away from home. These are scarves in 3/2 cotton (which I have in the shop but isn't on my website). A pressing when I get home will give them a more finished look.A wool scarf in Jaggerspun Maine Line wool. These three scarves are samples for a couple of classes, the new Color on the Loom (in July) and Learn to Weave on the Rigid Heddle Loom. The following photos are of recent weaving in the shop.Jacob scarves with detail below.

Another warp of Jacob scarves.

I had the idea of weaving a wool checkerboard to sell through the Fibershed Marketplace and at the Artery.But first I used cotton--the same 3/2 cotton as the scarves in the first photo. 

Using the the last of the warp I experimented with different weaving order. I think its interesting that at different angles it looks as though I used other colors but all the yarn here is black and white. By the way, I know that checkerboards are traditionally red and black but, oh well...

I don't have a photo of the wool checkerboards yet but here are the checkers I made from horns. What do you think of the oblong shape?

In this photo the checkers haven't been finished.In other weaving, this is the latest issue of Handwoven with my Yarn Lab article in which I compared fulling and felting of Imperial Yarn Company's Columbia and Erin yarns.

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.

Dyeing with Cochineal

Last week my long-time friend, Irene (owner of Cotton Clouds) visited with new friend, Rocio. Rocio is an expert natural dyer and she showed the rest of us how to dye with cochineal. We started in the theater (aka garage) to watch a PowerPoint presentation about cochineal.Cochineal is an insect that lives on a particular species of cactus. It is harvested and dried.The red color becomes obvious after the dried insects are ground. These are some of the scarves that Rocio has dyed.

Dyeing with cochineal is a multi-step process and those steps differ depending on whether you are dyeing protein fiber (wool, silk) or cellulose fiber (cotton). Participants were able to dye both.

Preparing mordant bath.

Squeezing out fabric.

Mordanted scarves and sample pieces hanging to dry.

Adding ground cochineal to the pot.

Stirring one of three pots we had going. These pots simmered while we moved on to the next step.

Rocio showed us how to use varying concentrations of mordant solutions to create different shades of color. From two "mother" solutions, one with iron and one with alum, we ended up with nine different concentrations.

When stamped on fabric you get those shades seen in the squares.

When the cochineal pots were ready they needed to be strained.

Fabric was dyed...

...and rinsed.

Leftover dye was saved and now is in my freezer waiting until I have time to use it.

Rocio and Irene with some of the scarves dyed that day.

Since I was the hostess I didn't have time to dye scarves but I did make a sample using the different mordant concentrations. Rocio says that if I wash this in a wheat bran solution the gray areas will turn white. I need to try that.Happy dyers at the end of the day. Oh..dogs were there too. Look at Rusty's blog for photos.

Dogs in Our Lives

This post started as a way to show what Rusty looked like at the age Ginny is now. Ginny is 7 months.I got Rusty when he was 6 months old. This post has evolved into photos of the other dogs that have been in my life. I am clearing off my old computer before I get rid of it and I found photos that had never been transferred. Then when I searched dogs on my computer I found old scanned photos too. So here you go.This is my mom sometime in the mid-70's. Murka is the German Shepherd that was our family dog. Blue is on the couch--he was my mom's dog that she found somehow. I have forgotten the story. Katya or "Kat" is on the table. She was my half-Keeshound (supposedly the other half was coyote) who was very loving but timid, especially of men...like Bonnie and Maggie, who both came to me later. I had Kat through my moves to Utah and Arizona, but she died before I came back to California. Then there was a no-dog period although mom had Blue. When the kids were young and we lived at the dairy we had Brandy and Flash, both rescues of one sort or another. Brandy was given away by someone who also gave us a huge bag of all the flea and anti-itch things that didn't work on her and Flash was found in a parking lot by a veterinarian I used to work for. I got him as a puppy. Brandy died while we were still at the dairy, but not long after we moved to our current location in 1999 we got Benny, rescued in the Safeway parking lot.  Doc, on the left, showed up as a lost dog and was later identified by his owners from just down the road. They took him back but I told them that if they ever wanted to give him away I'd take him. They moved and didn't want him. He was a wonderful dog, but was killed by a big truck on the road when he chased Benny, who is the only dog we've had that would leave the barn to run to the road.I got Rusty after Flash died, but while we still had Benny. My son and DIL got Sam the next year.This is what Sam looks like now. He outweighs Rusty by at least 50 pounds. That's his buddy, Kirin, who is even bigger now. Bonnie came later. She is the only dog that I have given away but she went to a life that is much better for her. That's a long story that Rusty has told in his blog.Rusty's role is as a herding dog. He helps me when I need it but doesn't have nearly as much work as he'd like.Benny died a few years ago and I wanted to get a dog as a buddy for Rusty. That's when I got Maggie through Dog Spot Rescue. Rusty told that story too. So now there is Rusty and Maggie......and Ginny.

 

Ginny is the only dog here that likes to play with toys. While I was working in the garden she dug that hole specifically to bury her toy. Rusty has the last laugh.

A Spring Morning in the Pasture

I was going to write this post about ewes and their lambs but found a lot more subjects to photograph--not all sheep. Loretta and triplets.Ginseng and twins. Look at the horn spread on that ram lamb. They all have lilac coloring.This is Foxglove's ram lamb, also a lilac.Puddleduck Melinda and one of her lambs. Alexandria.Eliza.It is balloon season. Rusty is hiding in the barn. These ewes were waiting for me to change the fence and let them into that tall grass but I was distracted by other things. Do you see the bird on the fence behind them? Don't look too hard for it. See it below.I looked it up. Western Kingbird. I know my birder friends will tell me if I'm wrong.I think there is pair nesting nearby. I was mowing the pasture later in the day and they followed the tractor catching bugs. They would zoom off toward the trees and then come back for more.  Balloon getting lower. In the meantime......I saw this hawk being harassed by another bird.I didn't know until I zoomed in on the photo on my computer that the hawk had something in it's talons.   Balloon has landed and now I can change the fence. Happy sheep.

Walking in the Woods

I went to a party at my kids' house in Pollock Pines but I went a few hours early to do a little hiking. They were busy with getting ready so I went off by myself. I don't do that very often--at least not somewhere other than around here. I guess I wasn't completely alone because I had Ginny with me. I couldn't take all three dogs because the property below where my kids live is part of the Sly Park Recreation Area and dogs are supposed to be on leash--I can't deal with all three on the leash. Besides I didn't want three dogs party-crashing. This is a leisurely walk, all downhill at the beginning and then around the lake. As usual I had my camera and this time it didn't matter how long I sat in a field of yellow flowers to get the right photo. There are hiking and horse trails all through the area and I walked down one that......meets up with a short nature trail that follows a creek on it's way to the lake.

There is a cedar bark dwelling replica just off the trail.This is Jenkinson Lake. There camping areas all around it and lots of people on this Memorial Day weekend. I had Ginny on the leash and she had a lot of lessons in good behavior when meeting kids, bikes, etc. Matt had told me that it was about 10 miles from their house, around the lake, and back. When I was standing here I though that maybe I'd do that instead of just an out-and-back walk. I would continue to the left in this photo, go around the dam in the center of the photo and back to their place.After walking some more I came to this part of the lake and decided that maybe an around-the-lake walk wasn't going to work for today. This is a finger of the lake that juts back up the valley and I would have to walk all the way around this part and the main part of the lake in the other photo. So I went a little further up the west side here and then turned around but took a higher trail back that avoided some of the crowds that were nearer the lake.This is Ginny sitting on the dock. She didn't seem to care that the ground under her was rocking.That low growing shrub is mountain misery and here are some close-ups.Mountain misery is unique to the western slope of the Sierras and there is a lot of it. It has a pungent oily sap and can play a role in preventing erosion to hillsides in the years following major fires. On the other hand those same deep far-reaching roots use up a lot of moisture and may prevent other plants from becoming established. I don't live in the mountains so don't deal with it as a "weed" and I like the fragrance--it reminds me of the forest after a rain.I came across a small area of striking yellow on a south facing slope. I didn't identify these flowers but in their midst I found some......monkey flowers. At least I'm pretty sure they are Mimulus but I don't know which species.What I noticed first about them were the seed pods.What I noticed first about them were the seed pods.

 The deep green of the trees was in striking contrast to those yellow flowers but the new growth of the trees is a contrast of greens in itself. Back to the more shady woods, taking one of the trails up to the house.

Wild rose.

I don't remember this one but do you see what is on the leaf?

Don't tell Rusty and Maggie where we were. I feel guilty leaving them home.  This was fun for Ginny and me and Ginny got about 6 miles of on-leash work on manners.

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

Farm Day - May 2015

Where is Dona when you need her? As much as I like taking photos I don't take very many  on a Farm Day because I'm distracted. Seven Farm Club members were here this morning to help with some specific tasks. We accomplished those easily all the while enjoying each other's company. This is such a great group of friends First we caught all 76 lambs. We weighed all of them and vaccinated the older ones. We chose four ewe lambs and 4 ram lambs as the most likely options (narrowing it to 2 each later) for taking to Black Sheep Gathering next month. Because my flock lambs in March the lambs are still young and it's hard to think who I might want to take to the show in June. We also caught the 4 yearlings who did not lamb this year to choose which of them I'd take and also to replace their lamb ear tags with larger easier-to-read tags.  After we finished with the lambs I showed Gynna how to go about halter breaking lambs that she is going to take home with her in a few weeks.The birds were happy when we finished in the barn because then they had free access to their babies without worrying about all the people and dogs.

After lunch Kathleen, Gynna, and Peggy went to the barn and helped me change this pile into......this one. By sucking the air out of the bags with the shop vac we condensed that pile of wool into about half the space. That's a much easier job with more than one person.

 Ginny found an out-of-the-way place to sleep.Later this afternoon Dan put the mower on the tractor and I mowed the pasture behind the barn.

I've  been trying to clean out the freezer and I found a turkey the other day. It's in the oven now and I'm getting ready for turkey dinner (without all the trappings because that would take too much work).

Planting Tomatoes Across the Road

We finally found out what crop was going in across the road.We suspected after the soil was worked over and over and finally bedded and rolled smooth and flat like this. Then for a few days these tractors and other supporting equipment (water truck, fork lift, portable toilets) were parked at the edge of the field. On Sunday planting began. Although I've seen the tomato planters (people and equipment) working from a distance I didn't know how it all worked. There are six seats for people in the front and several shelves for flats of tomato seedlings on the back of the transplanter. (I looked it up and that's what the equipment is called. One brand name is Ferrari.)  A truck hauled in huge wooden crates full of flats of tomato seedlings and the forklift moved the crates from the truck to where they were needed. I walked over there Sunday evening and took more photos.Here are empty crates filled with the seedling trays. They struck me as interesting. I looked up on Google how the transplanter works and found videos of some smaller ones. In those the person places individual seedlings into funnel shapes that are part of a revolving horizontally positioned disc. There is more to it than that but as the disc goes around and the tractor moves forward the seedlings drop through the funnel thing into the ground.In this equipment there were no horizontal discs with funnel shapes. Instead the seedlings drop down between those two metal "wheels" in the very center of the photo. (The wheel in the foreground is the one of another pair, but the other wheel is just out of the photo to the left.) You can barely see a left-over tomato seedling between those wheels. At least I can because I know it's there. So the person sits on that yellow seat (and there is another right under where I am taking the photo) and places the seedling in position but I'm still not sure exactly how that part works. Part of the equipment is making a small hole or furrow into which the seedling will fall. At the same time the tractor is driving forward (towards me, the photographer) and the metal wheels serve to fill in dirt around the just-planted seedling. At the same time there are water barrels on the tractor and somewhere that water is being injected into the soil right around the roots.Am I getting a little carried away here about something as mundane as planting tomatoes? I am fascinated with the combination of automation and requirement for people. And living in the Central Valley of California one could use this as a platform to expound on social issues, political issues, and water issues. But right now I'm just interested in that simple question of "how do we get tomato sauce?" because I'm pretty sure that these are processing tomatoes.

I walked around the field (my usual walk Across the Road). The field wasn't completely planted yet and this little seedling was on top of one of the crates still full of seedlings. I was pretty sure that it wasn't going to live through the night so I carried it home and planted it. We'll see if it can keep up with all of it's kin (if I can save it from gophers). The part of the field that was planted has two rows  of seedlings in each bed. They pulled a ditcher along the edges and are beginning to irrigate today. Stay tuned to follow the story of the Tomatoes Across the Road.

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.

Fuzzy Ram Horns

It's hard to believe that these two rams were born just over a year ago. This year's rams will look like that next year. But for now......it's hard to look tough when you have fuzz on your horns.