Oh! What a Shame It Would Be...

...to live in a place such as this...

...where you were forced to see views such as these...

...day after day...

...after day....

It just doesn't seem right that someone should be forced to live like this, does it?

Yesterday was so lovely! In fact, I believe it hit just over 70 degrees here. And today? Rain and wind. Ah, well, such is the blessing of living here in the pacific north wet.

Taffy's udder was filled a bit more yesterday, but still only about 25% of what I'd expect it to be prior to lambing. I've had ewes that looked to have a full udder for a full month prior to lambing, but as this is Taffy's first there's no pattern to follow with her. Keep your dates coming in; let's keep them in March(except my April 1 & 2 guesses), and if she doesn't lamb by the latest day chosen, we can try again in April. But I really do think it will be this month.

With things so lovely yesterday, I decided to go work on the fence line down at the neighbor's place. She let me keep my sheep there last year, which was a real blessing as the extra pasture comes in quite handy. There are three acres there, however, and since I couldn't afford to put in a woven wire fence, I opted for something a wee bit less expensive; this orange stuff that you see in construction areas or out in fields blocking snow.

Now, anybody can tell you that this is not ideal fencing for sheep. Unfortunately, Anybody wasn't around when I purchased it. They did show up, however, a month after I put it up and informed my sheep that it wasn't too terribly tricky to push through. Hence, I had a few loose sheep last summer. Fortunately, sheep are terribly cute and the neighbors got a kick out of them wandering through their yards.

So this is what my orange fence ended up looking like. Not terribly effective, I fear. Which means that this year I'll be spending a bit more time and a bit more money on something a bit more reliable!

The beginnings of a 'hoop house', Tracey style! This shows two rebar meshes that I lashed together, then arched into the air. I have two more that will go alongside these to make the arch wider. They're pegged down with fence posts. Once I've got the 'frame' done, I'll cover it with a tarp for an inexpensive, temporarily shelter in the summer pasture.

For those of you who asked! I've now got the beginnings of the soap blog going. More than soap, of course...lotions, yarns and whatever else happens to be a by-product of my life here at any given moment. So come visit me at the Palace!

Have a great day, and don't forget to submit your lambing dates (you have until tomorrow evening) and your caption for the boot (I'll be taking a look at them all tonight!)