They're Back!

~I have been doing more research on coyotes in Washington, and was astonished to discover there are an estimated 50,ooo coyotes in this state alone! I think the majority of them are right around our home. I checked my flock of sheep around 2:00 a.m. and saw or heard nothing amiss, no ewes showing imminent lambing. So off to bed for a good night's sleep without too much back pain . Ahhhhhhhhhh.......

~Remember, the coyotes made a raid on our place and devoured all but two of our ducks....~

~Well, they apparently love to dine here at Cedar Pond and last night came back and helped themselves to lamb. The little lass on the far left, looking away from the camera...well, she was a feast for the coyotes. I am so angry! The evidence of the feast is but a few yards away from where the rest of the flock huddled and had to have heard and seen the gory deed. I was shocked as I viewed my sheep pen from our 2nd story window this morning. I looked out and saw what looked like someone had sheared a sheep while I slept. I knew right away I would find a missing sheep. I tracked the path of the villains and left the evidence for Hubby to investigate. ~He discovered they had dug under the fence, and eaten most of her IN THE PEN, and then dragged bits of her off ( probably for snacks ? ). He saw coyote and deer prints in a well used path behind our home , in a wooded and brushy area. We are still finding coyote scat up and down our roads. See, most of the 50,000 coyotes live right around here. ~Hubby is installing electric fencing around the perimeter of our pens tomorrow. He has transformed my weaving area into his own personal "coyote blind" for observation and predator control .

~And then, there is this. The mole mountains have doubled in size and number....~

~The moles have sprung the traps without being caught....our lawn is caving in, YIKES!~

~As time races on we have learned over and over that we really do not have much control over even the simplest things in our lives. Our health, the safety of our animals, the lives of our children and grandchildren, the weather.....the economy, our nation, and it seems even more important to remember to "trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding..." Pretty soon the invasion of tiny black ants and ladybugs will start. A battle for every season here on earth.

Spotted Lambs! O.K., Spotted Lamb....

~I was outside in my jammies around 2:00a.m. setting up my new mama and baby in their temporary pen. Fresh alfalfa, fresh water, clean bedding. Then I dipped the umbilical area of the new baby girl lamb ( ewe) with iodine and left her with her mom, Bide-a-Wee's Chicory.~

~Below is her brother, born late last spring, Cedar Pond's Vandal. He is a big boy, and he is only 9 months old. He is Goth's little brother, they have the same dad.~

~Here ( below ) is Goth, he is the father of this new little lamb.~

~"Keep the ewe and her lamb in a pen together until you have ear marked and docked the tail of the lamb. Three days is a good rule." Ingrid Painter JACOB SHEEP IN AMERICA Blessings: lambs, health enough to care for my sheep

Plans Gone Awry.....

~Thank-you all so very much for your prayers and well wishes. I had so many plans this week. I deliberately made sure this week was set aside to finish a lot of fiber projects and get going on my plans to actually do more with my fiber business than just earn back my "hay money". Well you know what they say about best laid plans..."It is an ill plan that cannot be changed." Latin Proverb ~Most of this week has been spent on the sofa, in pain, with my cats jumping on and off me...and as much comfort as the cats have brought me in the past, I was in so much pain that the cats curled around me only contributed MORE pain and discomfort. The pain was so bad though that I literally could not lift or move them off me and most definitely could not get up off the sofa and put them outdoors. I could not sit at all. Or walk. Which left reclining, very carefully, in the only position that afforded relief. "Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised." Dennis Waitley ~Joey ( above ) the snuggliest cat was not happy about being pushed off the sofa . He is also a sulking kind of cat, and he is a guard cat too. He looks out the window and growls for me when someone comes down our driveway. ~Anyway, yesterday was so awful that when Hubby came home we went to the doctor.Hubby had to dress me because I could not bend, or move sideways without blinding pain.... I don't like going to the doctor even though I have a very nice lady doctor I trust. It was hard for Hubby to get me to the doctor because I almost passed out from pain as I tried to SIT in the passenger seat. We ended up laying me down in the car, on my side. You should have seen me getting out of the car. I kind of slithered sideways , feet first out onto the clinic parking lot. In the waiting room I could not sit, so stood for a LONG time waiting my turn to see the doctor. ~At 9:00 p.m. she gave me a shot that was a potent anti-inflammatory, and by 11:00 that evening I was feeling MUCH better. I am now feeling so much better I have to be careful and remember it is the meds that are helping and still take it easy for a few more days. ~Hubby has done all my heavy chores, he was dressing me, and cooking for me, he picked up my meds, and I know he is always there for me. ~The cats are here for me too. ( Miss Marple and Candy above ) I still have a lot of unfinished projects to do, but what if things were so bad the projects could not get done? My sheep look about to pop with lambs any minute and I really think I might have at least 1 lamb before the weekend. As I lay on the sofa in pain I realized a lot of my life depends on me being healthy and able bodied. It depends on Hubby being somewhat able bodied and his health has not been good this past year. We make plans dependent on things in our lives remaining predictably the same and when life throws us a foul ball, a devastating downturn...why, we ( i ) sometimes fall apart .Guess that is where the "trust in the Lord" comes in! "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Loed. They are plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope." Joshua 29:11 Blessings: my husband, cats, pain meds

OWWWWW!

~OWWWWWWW! This is how I have felt all day and no position, sitting, standing, or laying down felt good. So I pretty much spent the day in Hubby's recliner, accompanied by 2 cats, or on the sofa, accompanied by cats, or ...you get the picture. My back is killing me and I can't seem to get any relief! ~Hubby came home from work and found me carefully positioned in his recliner with a cat and he then proceeded to do all the chores I could not do today. I tried! So he brought in the fire wood, unloaded the feed from the car, and hauled buckets of water out to animals with ice in their waterers. ~I have so much to do....I don't have time for my back to rebel. I have been trying to do without any pain meds, but tonight I got out some pain pills left over from my last dental surgery and was feeling good enough to sit in a chair and read some blogs. I thought I would be able to read more and do some more comments but the pain is setting in, so I am going back to the sofa ( most comfortable place for me) and hope to get some sleep and feel better in the morning. I have 2 more pills left! If I take it easy tomorrow I should be O.K. I hope.....I am hobbling away, hope your day is a great day today!

What A Weekend!

~We started the weekend sharing brunch in our home with our youngest son and his wife, and a friend of theirs. Hubby cooked up a fine early feast of farm fresh eggs, hash browns, bacon, eggs, sausages and toast smothered in home made jam and home raised honey.We had a few hours of catching up time and enjoying each other, then they were away! They live 6 hours drive on the other side of the mountains and weather and time often make family visits rare occurrences. Our daughter-in-law also has a lot of family in the area so they have to share their time here with many of us. We are always happy to have them here and sad to see them leave...but we know where they live and will visit in the spring!

~Sunday we had a Tinkerbell Party to attend! Our great-niece, (granddaughter of Hubby's youngest sister and her husband, who also live next door) was celebrating her 3rd birthday! I'll call her Little 'A'. She is so cute!~

~Here she carefully unwraps one of her many presents. There were a lot of her uncles, aunties, grandparents and cousins here. Lots of wonderful food, and her Grandpa S, our brother-in-law, also known as the "Ice Cream Man", had a soft serve ice cream maker and served us all pink soft ice cream cones! YUM! You know, as Little 'A' knows. PINK ice cream is the best, because it is pink! ~Here is Little A holding our youngest grandchild, Little J( above ). Aren't they cute together ? Little A is so petitie I am surprised she held our grandson so long. He is NOT petite. ~Here I am holding my youngest grandson. I had 4 grandchildren present, but they were very happy playing with all the cousins and the cousin's cousins, and enjoying the snow outside, the ice cream cones...sigh. Grandma's lap cannot compete. But hey, the Little J can't walk or run yet and was happy for laps to sit in. ~And looky here, I got Tinkerbell party favors! I think I will wear my fairy crown tomorrow while I do my chores. The weather calls for clear, sunny, very cold weather, so I just might need these sunglasses and wouldn't it be pretty to blow bubbles in the sunshine while I snack on the candy treats? Blessings: family, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, family

Honey From the Honey Comb

~Bee hives here at Cedar Pond~

~"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul,the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than the honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." Psalm 19:7 - 11

Spot on Love With An 'S'

~Daisy from Smiling With Daisy (which starts with an 's' ) assigned me the letter 'S' along with the challenge to name 10 things I LOVE starting with this letter. BTW, for a good time visit Daisy at her blog! She always leaves you with a smile there. Anyway, one of the things I love is the SEA. I love the smells and sights and sounds of the sea. Sometimes I like to SWIM in the SEA.

~Spinning, I love to SPIN wool into yarn.~

~SONS, oldest Son with SILLY expression above, youngest SON below.~

~SISTERS~

~SNOW~

~Being SILLY, as are #2 granddaughter, #3 granddaughter and #4 granddaughter below.~

~SANTA, I love this SANTA~

~SHEEP, and THE SHEPHERD, "The Lord is my SHEPHERD" Ps. 23~

~Scripture, "All SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate , equipped for every good work." I Timothy 3:17 And let's not forget SATURDAY ! Have a great SATURDAY! If any of you would like to participate in this game , let me know and I will assign you a letter.

Blessings:all the above!

Say It Ain't So In America! Please?

~"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything the government does not first take from somebody else.When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." Dr. Adrian Rogers 1931-2005

Day of Fun With #1 Grandson

~CT, #1 Grandson and I spent some time together. I picked him up, took him to his Tai Kwon Do lessons and watched him . As his Grandma I know I am a bit biased, but really, he does his moves and exercises very, very well. After lessons I got to take him home to spend the night with Hubby and I. We realized he is growing up quickly, and I hope he doesn't get too old or bored with us to spend time with us, because we love him and want to spend a LOT of time with him. ~I took him bowling today. We went to a little 8 lane bowling alley together. I have not bowled since high school...I was a pretty good bowler and was in a bowling league a long time ago. You would never know it from the gutter balls I threw today. CT has only ever bowled once before and look at the score below! His is the higher score. I think we will be bowling together at least twice a month, and I am determined he and I will be competing against each other and THIS Grandma hopes to give him a run for his money, and NOT in the gutter either.

~This score is pathetic. Oh sure, I have a slew of excuses and am very comvincing with them, but really, this is some crummy bowling.~

~We also played our Wildcraft game and we pretty much tied. This is a game of herbal education and also promotes working together for the benefit of all players. In other words, this game rewards being nice to the other players. I like games like this, so does he because he had his choice of games for us to play together and he chose this one. ~Hubby and I are so blessed to be able to be part of our grandchildrens' lives, and are also blessed because our grandchildren want us to be part of their lives. CT is our first of 8 grandchildren and he is growing up so quickly. I hope I never, ever forget each day is fleeting and even the moments spent just holding a young one on my lap, reading a story, or listening to them as they tell me about their interests is about as good as it gets in this life . Thank-you Lord! Blessings: grandsons, time spent with grandsons

Foffy, Hawen, Way Fo Me! ( Happy Birthday Joni)

~Happy birthday Joni! Third daughter of four, younger sister of mine!~

~Look at how cute we were. This is obviously before our youngest sister was born. We are dressed in our Sunday school clothes. I wonder what you were saying. ( From left to right, me, sister Karen, sister Joni, the birthday girl!)~

~Joni, all my earliest memories of you involve a pink, puffy snow suit, Mom huffing and puffing after all the effort to get you dressed for the snow. I remember her helping us three little girls out the door of the trailer house, down the steps and into the small fenced yard so we could play on the swing set. You could barely move with all the snow gear you were wrapped in to keep your little body warm. Then, you would try to follow Karen and I , and we were not too helpful in this endeavor....you would cry " Foffy, Hawen, way fo me!", translated, "Kathy, Karen, wait for me!" Then of course, you would fall, and could NOT get up in all the pink fluffy-ness you were wearing and you would cry. Mom would then come outside and bring you in to go through the reverse process of getting you out of the snowsuit. Every time I watch The Christmas Story and see this clip I remember you, yes, EVERY TIME! So sister, here's to you and long ago memories and the ties that bind us together forever. With much love, your OLDEST sister, Kathy.~

Recipe For Yarn

~Let's make yarn! You will need to start with a sheep.~

~When the wool is long enough, shear the sheep, removing the wool. ~

~Place the wool on a skirting table. This is my skirting table made of PVC pipe and the top is chicken wire secured all around the PVC frame. The wool fleece that was removed from the sheep is placed cut side down on this table letting loose debris, dirt, and 2nd cuts ( very short useless pieces of the fleece) fall through to the ground below. ~If you have spotted sheep like I do, you sort the wool into bags, shown here ( above ) in a laundry sorter. I separate the wool fleece into bags of black, white, and everything else....that is the wool that is so interspersed with both the black and the white that it is not worth the effort to separate the colors. This gives me the gray wool I find very attractive and also use for my dyed yarns and rug wool batts. ~The wool then needs to be washed. Here is my supervisor, Hawk. He has personally stuck his nose into every bag of wool several times and he has given the wool an enthusiastic tail wags up! I will wash the wool in my spare bathroom bathtub. (below) I fill a big bin with dawn dish soap and hot water, being very careful NOT to allow water to run onto the wool itself. I am not making felt here you know. Here I am washing fleece in two bins in the tub...I do have a lot of wool to wash. ~I keep repeating this process, placing the wool in hot , soapy water , then I cover the bin with the lid to keep it soaking in hot water for as long as possible. I then drain the water off while holding the wool in the bins with my hands and run more water and repeat until the water runs pretty clean. After the 2nd rinse I do not add any Dawn soap....it depends on how dirty your fleeces are, and you can be the judge of that.You can see in the picture that the 2 bins are in my tub, and one bin is full of white wool, the other is the 'everything else' bin.

~The wool now needs to dry. Hubby and I bought an amazing drying rack at IKEA! Very affordable and it makes me very happy because I now do not have to layer plastic and towels all over the floor to dry wool. The wool is placed on a drying rack in our spare bedroom, over the furnace vent and in front of a sunny window.~

~Another view of the drying rack covered in wet wool , in front of the sunny window in the spare bedroom.( below )~

~The dry wool is then picked, which means it is pulled apart to then be able to run it through the fine tooth carder , or brushes, and then it is carded into batts. Below are batts of gray ( everything else wool), white and black.~

~Then I spin my batts of wool into yarn. See, you can do it , really!~

~Later I will show you how I weave my wool yarn into fabric for all kinds of projects.~ Blessings: sheep, wool, spinning wheels, the joy of time spent spinning wool

Spot on Good Things

~Don't you just love to receive presents ? I do, and here are two I received from blogging friends blessed with talent and generosity! I am the recipient of the gifts above and I am most thankful! ~Miss Sandy from Quill Cottage sent me the bird in the nest pin. I love it and I think instead of wearing it ( as Sandy intended ) I am going to frame this beautifully packaged , hand made bird nest pin and hang it in my sun room where I have placed my collection of real bird's nests. I might wear it now and then though, especially in the spring! ~Mary, from Annie's Goat Hill sent me the most fragrant Lavender Goat Milk Soap, and she sent another sample piece of soap that I have already used and the soap immediately relieved my very dry, itchy skin!The scent of the soap alone is soothing and I cannot wait to use it, maybe tonight! ~I am sorry the photo of this print is bad, but believe me, the print is truly a work of art. A friend of ours told us of her brother-in-laws' shop on Etsy. I was excited because the friends have many black and white drawings by Ron Frazier in their home and I have always admired his work. I was so excited he had a print of his work entitled Sheep and Shepherd. I ordered it and next week will probably take it in to be framed. I read Ronald Frazier's artist profile on Etsy and was uplifted by what he had to say, "I believe 'art' is 'truth', not subjective 'truth' that is only sometimes true, or maybe not true art at all. I believe art is universally true, absolutely, eternally. I think God gives the gift to the world in order to show people who He is. I don't believe, in that case, that true art can be perverted in the common every day sense of the word. I believe God is the source of eternal, absolute truth." ~" So, I don't sign my original art anymore. If someone believes I have a gift, or if someone believes a painting of mine is a gift to see or own, then I accept it at face value. My motivation , my challenge, my vision for art is to allow God to use me as He sees appropriate. If I have a gift, then I believe the gift came from Him for His purpose. I'll sign a piece of paper, but otherwise how can I pretend to be responsible for something that God has accomplished." Ronald Frazier You can check out his art here: Ron Frazier

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Blessings: gifts of love, gifts of friendship, the perfect gift...Jesus