I Have to JUST Do It ! ( Blog)

One of the last times I posted on my blog I wrote about my dog Whimsy and a walk in our woods with her. Whimsy is still a big part of our lives and here she is as she followed me around just a few days ago. You can see in the background we still have snow here at Laughing Dove Farm.

 The view from my wool shop porch shows a lot of snow in our driveway, across the pastures, and the snow covered hills just across the gravel road that runs in front of our home. ( And there is still snow on the porch , it just drifts in.)

 This is our front pasture. It is in front of our home, the gravel road, the road to our home, runs parallel to it . There are hills and mountains just across this gravel road and bountiful wild life, including moose, bear, deer, elk, coyotes, wolves, cougars, lynx, bobcats, and numerous wild fowl. ( We have captured more than a few of these on our own woods' game cams.)

 Last year I acquired two Finn sheep ewes. I have needed much more white wool than my Jacob sheep provide and bought Mona & Martha. They are due to have lambs any time now, and this will be their first time having lambs. I am pretty excited about this. Here Mona & Martha are enjoying sunshine , WARM sunshine after our very cold and frozen weather.

 Britta is one of my Jacob sheep ewes ( female) and she and her sister Jacob sheep are all due too. I have a total of 17 ewes due to have their lambs within the next 2 or 3 weeks. I will not be getting much sleep in the next few weeks.

 It has been awhile since I blogged. Every day I think about blogging and what I might write, but then I have been away from my blog for so long I don't know where to begin. ( This is the view from our driveway on a very cold and frozen February day last month.) Today I decided to JUST DO IT !

This is our driveway only a month ago. The driveway is still snow and ice covered and my blue truck is firmly entrenched in ice just waiting for our spring thaw . This past weekend I saw my first robin of spring, and yesterday the swallows had returned. The ice and snow are melting, we'll be maneuvering around big puddles soon and the snow melt from the hills and mountain across our road flows down our driveway, through our pastures, into our creek, then into our pond and over and through our neighbors' farms.

We've been loving winter here, and are now excited about spring. We've ordered way too many seeds , and know we'll not be able to plant until at least mid April because our veggie garden still has over 3 feet of snow in it, but we've started seeds indoors in optimistic anticipation of a glorious and bountiful garden.

I am hoping to be consistent with my blogging, especially because my husband said he very much missed my blog posts. For no other reason alone I would blog, but I really miss my blogging friends. One of the main reasons I quit blogging was because I love reading and replying to other bloggers but for some reason my computer treated my responses and comments to other blogs as a virus and would not allow me to comment. ( I tried everything I could to figure out how to take care of that problem, even consulted an"expert" who could not help me at all.) I am going to blog away again and work on being able to comment on the blogs I especially miss.

That being said, we are very much loving our new home and even though we're retired, we're busier than ever, but now we're busy doing what we've deemed important to us and our family, and if we want to take a day off and go fishing or camping, we do !

It's Spring ~So Much To Do !

The most difficult thing about our new home is deciding how to spend our precious time when there are so many things to do, to see, and to enjoy right here on 'Laughing Dove Farm'. Should I take a walk in the woods with our dogs ? ( Picture above was taken on a path in our woods.) Should I work on my spinning, weaving, gardens, scrapbooking, writing, or maybe my husband and I should go camping. But hey, fishing season is almost here and the boat needs to be readied ... I have a few good books tucked away to read, some quilt squares cut out and ready to sew. I know, I'll sit on the back deck and watch the birds, the deer, my sheep and maybe catch a nap in the sun.

 Why do we call our new home 'Laughing Dove Farm' ? We love doves ! We've kept white doves for over 2 decades now and left doves in our dovecote at Cedar Pond for the new family to enjoy , but also brought 3 pairs of doves with us here to our new home. Our doves are the offspring of the many generations of doves from Cedar Pond. Plus, there are wild doves all around us and anyone who listens to doves can hear the distinctive laughing- like sounds they make. ( Picture above is of wild doves perched in trees here at our new home.)

 The chicks I ordered from a hatchery arrived in the mail last week. I bought some chicks that should grow up to lay blue eggs and am very excited about my future laying flock , but not as excited as our youngest grandson is about them. I spend a lot of time tending my new chicks, and also tending the mature laying flock of 8 we brought with us from Cedar Pond.

 I had my sheep sheared the first weekend in March while there was still snow and ice everywhere. My new sheep shearer is a tiny woman who also is a mom of 2 little ones and has a flock of sheep of her own.

 

 Here are my naked sheep, most of them ewes who were still expecting lambs when I took this picture. Within days after the 16 ewes ( female sheep) were sheared they began having their lambs. Every night during this time of the year, no matter how cold and miserable it is outside, I do regular check ups in the barn to see how the ladies are faring, if any new lambs have been born, and tend to what they need at this stage of their pregnancy. Mostly they need deep bedding, and a lot of drinking water, plus a safe place to have their lambs undisturbed by the other sheep or predators.

One of the joys of new lambs is sharing them with grandchildren. Here is a picture of two of our granddaughters ~sisters holding sister lambs.

 We still have snow in our woods, in the fields, and in the surrounding hills, but it is spring and all you need to be reminded of the season is look out onto my fields and see little lambs running, jumping, and playing !

 We have 19 new lambs. All lambs were born alive and healthy, and their mamas are healthy too. That is such a blessing to not be taken for granted when I consider how many sheep I have now (way too many !). My flock doubled with lambing season.

 Have I mentioned we have a lot of wild turkeys here too ? We've counted at least 40. They roost in our woods at night. During the day they range from our woods to the neighbors' on either side of us. They're pretty predictable, we can almost set our clocks by their trek back into the woods at night. Until I moved here and began to observe wild turkeys from our living room windows every day, I did not realize how far and how high wild turkeys can fly, and also how smart they are. ( Picture is of wild turkeys in our field.)

Wild turkeys between our sheep pen and our bee yard. They wander into our hay barn and all around the sheep pens and pasture too.

The hills across the gravel road from our house are still wearing winter snow, but the sunshine and warm rains are melting the snow quickly and next week we're supposed to have warmer , drier weather. I kind of like the rain and the snow and am not concerned about it sticking around longer than it is supposed to. The hot weather will be here soon and by September I know I'll be wishing for the rain and snow again.

" There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven ~ " Ecclesiastes 3:1

Snow, Beautiful Snow !

It's been snowing off and on for the last few weeks. This is a picture of our first snow back in November. The little shed is my new wool shop . My husband is almost finished with it and I'll give you a tour in another post. This is where my looms are and all my wool is now stored , along with all the equipment I need in my wool working.

Snow along the fences and on the trees really do make this a winter wonderland.

Our new front yard . The fence you see in the picture separates our yard from one of our pastures. The wires in the background run parallel to the gravel road in front of our home where hills, forest, and low mountains are just a walk across the road away.

My view from my back porch, and I love it !

" Have you entered the warehouses of the snow , or have you seen the storehouses of the hail ?"

Job 38:22

Hot Chocolate With Real Whipping Cream Snow Day

Tea-Time Tuesday has been postponed here at Cedar Pond .We had our first decent snowfall and had a snow day ! Look out my living room window, see all that snow? With 2 grandsons spending the night here, a day playing in the snow is called for.

                                                                                    

 My 3 Amigos huddle up next to the sun-warmed foundation.

 My sheep were seen licking the snow while waiting for their alfalfa.

The ducks warmed up IN the pond, and then scrambled for the crackers our youngest grandson scattered for them.

Today was a hot chocolate with real whipping cream after playing in the snow day ! Yes, it was.

Chintz Teacup, Snowy Day Dreaming

It snowed yesterday, today, and is supposed to snow tomorrow and the next day. The weather man said our particular area can look forward to 8 to 10 inches of snow. Since I have a warm home and a full pantry, I have the luxury of looking forward to snow days with a happy heart.I filled my teacup not with tea, but my choice of hot beverage, good coffee with real cream ( no just plain milk or half-in-half for me thank-you ) . I then hummed as I looked through my stash of fabric and dreamed about what kind of quilt I might make with these prints.

This tea / coffee cup shows colors very much like the fabric I have pulled out .

This teacup is one of a set of 4, each one is a different chintz pattern and color.The teal chintz is my favorite though, and I have already used it often. It just makes me happy.

I have grown to like these colors more and more. I am thinking of making a quilt for our bedroom of these colors, but first I have to collect quite a bit more fabric (oh fun!) I will take my time doing this all the while thinking about just what quilt pattern would be most pleasing. It really is a rare time to be home bound with such beauty outside and pleasant ways to spend my time indoors. I wish my husband could stay home today too, I will pray for his safety while he drives to work along with all the people who don't know how to drive in the snow and ice .

Did I mention the snow? Oh yes, snowy day dreaming. Please check out the blogs listed below for other Tea Time Tuesday happenings !

• Artful Affirmations *
• Martha's Favorites *
• Rose Chintz Cottage *

"Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation." Jane Austen

Snow ~ Beautiful Snow

"A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together." Author Unknown

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? J.B. Priestly

"Praise the Lord from the earth, sea monsters and all deeps; Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word." Psalm 148:7,8

Snow & Thanksgiving

I am thankful for the first snow of this season. Cedar Pond is a snowy, white wonderland. The sheep have their woolly coats to keep them warm.Our ducks, chickens, turkeys and doves have the warmth of the protective and beautiful feathers God has given them and the shelter of the housing my husband has built for them. Our dogs have their fur coats and beds in the house for the night.Our cat sleeps safe and warm on the sofa... ...before the fire in the wood-stove, burning hot and steady. It warms our whole home , fueled by the wood from the trees here on Cedar Pond. I am thankful for the first snow, I am thankful I can enjoy this frosty beauty from the comfort of our warm home, and that our animals are safe and warm too. I am thankful tonight I know my family is safe and warm. November is a month and season with a beauty all it's own. There are still red and brown leaves stubbornly clinging to the trees, the sunny days are often a bit dim and damp, or frosty and bone chilling. Not quite fall, not quite winter.A time of transition. Don't rush into Christmas just yet, take time to savor the lull before the dashing madness of Christmas time, and the swiftly approaching new year. I am thankful for November, this is a month that has brought me some of my greatest joys. Every year and every season God grants us is an opportunity for great joy, and I am thankful for that especially. "There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen, that it is from the hand of God. For who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge, and joy." Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

Spring is in the Air, Snow is on the Ground!

~The hummingbirds are back, and boy howdy are they back! I have 3 hummingbird feeders and all three have male hummingbirds buzzing each other in threatening hummingbird manner, claiming feeders as their own personal pantry. One bright red little guy has taken to perching on the feeder when not eating or dive bombing other hummers. Aren't they beautiful little feathered jewels?

~Goth is peeking over the fence, just checking out this year's lamb crop...all are his sons and daughters.

~Aren't they cute? You should see them jumping and leaping and playing with one another.

~I think the mole family has expanded because they now have huge mole mountains and way too many tunnels and holes all over our property. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

~My doves all seem to have paired off and my dove pens are filled with egg filled dove nests in and on every possible surface and crevice they can manage to keep a nest from falling. They are even laying and hatching eggs in their feeders, like the dove above.

~Here is an almost grown dove ( above ), ready to start leaving the nest... and as soon as he is out of the nest it will be claimed by another pair of doves , if he isn't pushed out of the nest by them before he is ready. The doves are pretty aggressive about nesting!.

~But the bees are confused...we are still feeding them sugar water because this weekend we had 3 inches of snow.....and today woke up to snow again! Is nature playing an April Fool's day prank on us?

~Welcome Spring, whenever you come!~ "He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine which makes the heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man's heart.....They all wait for Thee, to give them their food in due season. Thou dost give it to them, they gather it up; Thou dost open Thy hand, they are satisfied with good." Psalm 104 : 14, 15,27, 28