Playing with Sheep

   Okay, we really were not playing, but it felt like it.   Yesterday I took Sheep and Goats 101 through the Cornell Cooperative Extension  service.   It was great!
   The day started out a bit stressfully.  A major road on the way there was closed due to an accident, so I had to get new instructions from my husband, who was home at the computer (thank you Mapquest), and it added about 20-25 minutes to the drive.  I had only left an extra 15 for getting lost, so I was driving like a demon on small country roads - yes, I was that person you hate!  Karma does play a part, because I was nearly there and got stuck behind a Mennonite horse and buggy.  They were very kind and pulled into the grass off the shoulder to let me pass, but there was a lot of traffic in the other direction and I did not want to clip them.
    I got to the farm where the class was held, and met some great folks.  There was a lecture section with lots of emphasis on pasture, hay, forage, etc.  Very helpful.  I learned a lot about goats and goat meat, enough to peak my interest in raising some Boer goats at some point. Then after a lunch and some chatting, we went to the barns.  The shepherd who was letting us use her facility runs about 1000 head. She also has a flock of 600 that she does not own, but shepherds for a monastary nearby.  She had culled about 25 head from the flock and started off with a sheepdog demonstration.  Her dogs are AMAZING animals.
    We spent the next couple of hours trimming hooves, worming, giving shots, shoving sheep into a chute, learning to hold them seated in front of us, using a sheep seat, and then discussing barn configurations for lambing season.  The most fun for me was standing in the tightly packed enclosure with about 18 sheep milling about me, petting them, coaxing them, then shoving them into the chute.
    The sheep were funny.  Many reminded me of people I know - they would run in the opposite direction of what was good for them.  They made lots of noise, which amounted to nothing in the end.  They fought and made an uncomfortable time last longer than it would have it they had cooperated!  The first sheep whose hooves I trimmed was very unhappy.  She was in a device sort of like a chute, but then we squeezed it around her and flipped her upside down to trim, worm, and give her a shot.  She was  fighting the whole time - kicking her back legs as I was working on them, and I got a nice slice on my finger from the trimming shears.  When we let her out, she was annoyed!   However, I gave her a small handful of food, and for the rest of my time there she would keep nosing me, sniffing and licking my hand, not unlike my dog!
     We were working on Katahdins, Dorper crosses and Black Face crosses.  I loved the fleece on the little girls, and I think I do not ever need to have hair sheep. I loved their different temperaments, and the way they ran as quick as you please when the dog came around.
    The drive home was fast and straightforward. After leaving my newly christened work boots on the stoop, I went in side and realized I was filthy and smelly, and very happy!  Over all, it was an amazing day. 

   The weather, with its hell-like heat, has finally turned and we are back in our normal, gorgeous Upstate NY temps in the high 70s low 80s.  BLISS!!  I do not live in Florida for a reason! Due to the excessive heat and humidity, I am now looking out at a garden resembling a jungle and I have to get out there and weed!  
    Farm news: the chicks arrive this coming Saturday with my sister and mom.  My sister added my order to hers when she was ordering her meat birds.  Due to restrictions in whichever state they came from (somewhere out West) we will have 10 chicks not the originally planned for 6.  Sooo, in a few months, I will be looking for folks to buy eggs, because there is no way we are going to use all the eggs the girls will produce! We are getting Australorps 

 and Barred Plymouth Rocks 

for no other reason than they are said to be docile and fairly good layers.  I had no desire to start with flighty birds. What is interesting is, although unintentionally, we have chosen two breeds which will colour coordinate with each other in the barnyard.
   Today I have the task of getting the brooder box components: large plastic bin, dimmer switch, red light bulb, etc. Also looking into feeder/waterers - store bought vs. homemade.  Also need to pick up feed, bedding, etc, but will wait until mid-week for that. 
     Need to pick up steel toed boots as well, as I am planning on attending a sheep workshop through Cornell Univ. Extension services, and I do not own more than hikers and muck boots.  I am really getting antsy about sheep.  I would like to get some ASAP, but  I have to know what I am doing before I get animals.  I do not think sheep who need something or are sick or lambing will wait around while I find the proper chapter in a "how to raise sheep" book. 

Weddings and humidity and visiting and humidity - did I mention Humidity?

    We travelled to Southern Maryland for the wedding of some friends.  It was in their backyard (which was beautifully landscaped!) and, with the exception of a three minute shower, the weather held.  It was sunny, and hot, and humid as only Southern Maryland can be humid.  I'm talking about air you can feel. It wraps itself around you.  You have to push it aside to walk through it.  Thick humid air.  However, with a light breeze which joined the party an hour in, we were hot and sweaty, but not miserable!  The grooms were dashing in their matching seersucker suits and purple and lavender accessories. And since our daughter could not be with us due to her summer camp schedule, one of the grooms carried her photo in his suit pocket.                      

   We were able to visit with old friends and had a nice time catching up.

   After the wedding we headed up to the Baltimore area to visit with family and friends.  The hotel we stayed in was palatial - 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen (dishwasher, full stove, balcony and a flat screen tv in every room - much to my youngest son's delight). We adults did not care about much of that, we were just grateful for the air conditioning! 

    The next day we took the kids and met up with friends at a nearby park so the adults could talk while the children played.  Apparently I did not stay in the shade as I thought and I am now sporting my first sunburn in years.  That's what I get for forgetting to pack sunscreen and wearing a tank top. Ouch!  After a couple of hours we were off to visit my father-in-law in the next town over.  We had brought all the fixings for lunch, but he had already eaten, so we just took over the kitchen and fed our crew.  Then, with the boys in the basement playing pool, the grown ups sat and watched the Orioles play the Blue Jays (and win!) while, sitting in, you guessed it, the air conditioning. 

     Driving back home was about a 5 1/2 hour trip, but construction was pretty quiet on a Sunday evening, so it was smooth.  Now we are sitting in our non-air conditioned house with fans on, and wondering when our weather will return to normal.  In the mean time,  we are a bit quieter than usual as we try to stay cool.  Hope you are doing the same.

I know it's July, but what day is it? What state am I in?

   I knew July was going to be busy.  I knew it, but wow, it is very densely packed.  We started with a July 4th party with a bunch of our daughter's friends.  We had food, and then drove them up to the high pasture on the farm to watch the fireworks (and as it turned out, concurrent illumination shows from the  lightning bugs and the heat lightning over the next mountain).  It was fun, and by about 11:30 pm we had  kicked them out so we could get some sleep.
    The following day we went to CT, stayed overnight there before heading to Long Island to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary.

The Anniversary Kids!

We took the ferry over the Long Island Sound, which was so much nicer than driving down the L.I.E. in the blazing heat.  We had a party/luncheon at a lovely inn and got to spend the time with cousins, sisters, nieces and nephews, Mommy, and various old friends from my family's past. It was great, but HOT!!!  Everyone was so great - between my sisters, cousins, and nephews, everyone helped keep our eldest son as relaxed as he is capable of being in noisy crowded places!
    After the luncheon, we went to Aunt G and Uncle T's house to have a house/home mass celebrated by Fr. Bill who was marking his 50th year as a priest.  We sweltered through it - even outside - even with fans on (outside).  The air was so hot, heavy and still that we had no relief.  Sooo, we laughed and sweat, and kept passing tissues and paper towels to stop the drips!  All the pictures are of our VERY shiny faces!

Not just a natural glow - more like an unnatural melting!

Still, so many of us are in so many places - East Coast, West Coast, now, Chicago as well, that we do not often get to see each others - it was great.
    We took the ferry back - another sunny day that lent itself to sailing topside.

Watching the ferry docking.

A gorgeous day on the Sound

My section of family drove home Sunday night, then Tuesday morning at about 6:30, my daughter and I rolled out the door to drive her to Western Michigan for 2 weeks of Fine Arts Camp.  I stopped (just to fill up the gas tank) in Jamestown, NY, just to say I had been there.  For those of you who do not understand this, Jamestown is Lucille Ball's hometown, and I have always admired her, so it was just my personal nod to her memory to say I had been there once.  (Although I may want to go  back to the museum!!)The drive wasn't too bad, but the construction was everywhere, slowing us down, as did the driving rain storm outside Williamston, MI that brought the traffic to a hazard blinking crawl.

Modern lighting

NON-smoking room accessory!

     We finally got to our motel - a little Mom and Pop place with a sign from the 60s, a room with 1970s panelling and a 1960's bathtub. The sign said it was a no smoking room, but the ashtray on the desk belied that,





 as did the stench of cigarette smoke that permeated the bedding, carpet and curtains. It was...memorable.  At least the bed was firm.  My husband and I had reservations for the return trip to pick our daughter up, and we cancelled them this morning, choosing to stay in a hotel an hour away in order to avoid the cigarette experience again.
    I dropped my daughter off at the camp and got her settled and off to the theatre for her audition, then back I drove.  The return trip was much smoother, the construction starting at hours other than the ones I was driving through.  By 2:30 a.m. I was home, and I have a whole day here before we head down to Maryland for a wedding!  Another week and it is back to MI to pick our daughter up!
    Our house sitter is loving us this month!

Surviving Prom

   My daughter went to the Senior Prom this week.  She looked gorgeous.  Her date looked very handsome and was brave enough to wear a pink vest and pink bow tie to match her outfit.  They drove off to go to his house so his parents could take photos, then off to a restaurant, then to the prom.  Simple, no?
     Well the week before prom was a blur of pink fabric.  The dress we bought (no I did not make this one) had nine different layers of skirt.  Since my daughter is a 5'4" young lady, we needed to hem it up about  6".  This would be a cinch.  I do this kind of stuff for a living.  Except, at my house I do not have a dress dummy that fits her size.  So we  marked and cut by having her stand on the footstool which we placed on the coffee table, and she stood there for ages as I marked and cut, and checked and double checked.  We set up the dining room as dress central - we mopped and vacuumed and then laid sheets on the floor to avoid messing this dress with dog hair or dust.

I just serged the slip, but did a rolled hem on the underskirt.  The crinoline layers were an easy cut, trim, re-trim process.  But the tulle - oy! if the crinolines were wrinkled or folded back on themselves, everything shifted.  Since I was just cutting off the four layers of tulle, it all had to lay "just so"  or there would be a higher section.  

   Prom was Thursday night and  we were ironing the gown Thursday morning.  The dress looked good, and now I know it really is easier to build the darn thing myself. 

 

Second Grade Fiber

   Last week my son's second grade was doing a unit "from sheep to cloak."  They carded raw wool, made books about the entire process.  Wove a bit, and I brought in my spinning wheel so they could spin some.  They were very cute and enthusiastic, but the yard they spun was a variety of thick, thin, tight and non-existant twist.  Still I told them I would finish spinning it and knit it up as a gift from them for their teacher.  Trying to spin with the same inconsistencies they had in their yarn was, um, a challenge.  However, I finished it and knit this very irregular yarn on size 15 needles into a quick stockinette stitch scarf.   The lumps and smooth areas, while difficult to knit cleanly, made for some really interesting texture.  My son told me we needed to dye it because plain cream colored yarn was boring.  So last night we threw together a quick alum mordant/onion skin dye (he was really adamant it be onion skins - maybe the teacher had spoken of natural dyes?) and we came up with a very pretty golden yellow scarf.  Of course, I failed to photograph it, but it was pretty.
    I decided the scarf  was really a metaphor for the second grade: smooth patches,  rough patches, hard spots, soft spots, but golden over all.  

Summer's Insects

   As a bee keeper, this is the time of year when I spend time trying to educate  folks (children, mainly) about bees and their benefits.  But I also find myself defending them and trying to remove the bad rap bees have gotten due to the general public calling ANYTHING that stings a bee.
    So, here is a round up of several stinging and biting insects, how to identify them, and what to do if you end up on their bad side!
   Bees:  there are several types of bees - honey bees are my favorite, but also Mason bees, bumble bees, wood bees (some call them carpenter bees, but I have never seen them heft a hammer), sweat bees, ground bees, etc.
Honey bees:  they have hairy body - adapted to help collect pollen, their protein source.  They have a stinger with a small hook at the end, causing it to become embedded in the victim.  This also means the entire stinger and venom sac is pulled from the bee's body, so it is able to sting only once, and will die soon after. They live in  hives tended by humans, but also can be found in the classic "bee tree" of Winnie The Pooh fame.

Honey bees on comb

Bumble bee: hairier body than the honey bee.  They also use pollen as their protein source. Is capable of stinging many times.

Bumble bee

Carpenter/Wood bees:  These look like and are often mistaken for bumble bees.  Carpenter bees are somewhat solitary, nesting near others of their sort, but not making a hive.  They will eat tunnels into wood - often they can be seen in garage soffits, or porch railings.

                  

carpenter bee

Paper wasp nest

Wasps:          They have a smooth body and a straight stinger able to inflict several stings in rapid succession. Most easily recognized for their  very thin "waist" separating the body into two very distinct sections. Wasps are often feared more than necessary.  Yes, they will defend their homes if disturbed, but most of the time they just want to  live, mate, and eat other insect pests.

Yellow Jacket nesting in a hole near the ground

Yellow Jackets:   These are the nasty ones who end up in that can of soda you were drinking, and can sting your mouth when you take a swig. (Yes, experience talking here!) They are in the same order as wasps and hornets.  They are easily recognized by their bright yellow and black striping.  They are, however, a bit thicker than wasps with a shorter body.  Like wasps, they can, and will, sting multiple times. Avoid leaving food, particularly sweet food, uncovered at picnics to avoid their presence in your food.

Hornets: Again, these guys will sting many times in a quick period of time.  The last time I accidentally disturbed a nest I was stung five times on my fingers before I could even yell. Smooth bodies help identify these, as do their nests which are often found hanging in trees - generally they are quite magnificent to behold.  These nest are made from wood pulp. 

A hornet nest in a tree. 

   
      In all cases, if you are stung, try very hard not to panic.  Flailing your arms and screaming will only continue to agitate the insects and will possibly result in more stings than if you stand still or walk away.  (Hard to remember when you feel under attack, but try.)  Scrape out the stinger (if from a honey bee), do not grab as this will squeeze more venom into the area, resulting in pain and swelling.  Use a fingernail or a jack knife or the edge of a credit card to scrape across the skin and lift the stinger out.  Wash the area and apply ice for any swelling.  Antihistamines (like Benedryl) can help with itching and swelling.
 IF YOU EXPERIENCE DIZZINESS, SWELLING OF THE TONGUE OR THROAT, HIVES(no pun here, really), OR A WEAK  AND RAPID HEARTBEAT, SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY.  These are all signs of an allergic reaction and should not be ignored.


Ticks: They live in fields, bushes, woods, even your yard, so you will probably encounter them periodically.  If you find a tick attached to you, carefully pull it out using a pair of tweezers. Wash the area and keep an eye on it.  It is not only the deer tick which is now carrying the Lyme disease.  Look for the red bull's eye rash and pay attention if you start feeling "off" - aching in the joints can  be a symptom on Lyme Disease, and should be mentioned to your doctor.

Mosquitoes:  They breed in standing water, so be aware of water in pool covers, birdbaths, and buckets, dumping and replacing it.  they are most prevalent in the early morning and evening hours, so to avoid bites, stay inside during those hours.  (Okay, reality check - no one wants to spend all summer indoors during the evenings!)  There are various  mosquito repellents on the market, choose the one you prefer, and wear it.  Many folks swear by citronella candles and torches, others by planting lemon grass near patios.  I do not know how efficacious any of these methods, are, but feel free to try them.
   If you are bitten (a misnomer as they are actually stabbing you with their needle-like mouths to draw out blood),  hydrocortison creams can lessen the itching, as can calamine lotions.  Above all, do not scratch , as this can break the skin, introduce bacteria, and lead to infection.
    Have a fabulous summer!