I have very slowly been working on the sheep wool that I brought home a few weeks ago.
It is so time consuming trying to sort the good from the not so good to the down right unusable.
I have washed and carded some of it and I am anxious to start spinning it. however, the plan is to blend the wool with the mohair and the mohair won't get prepared if I am sat spinning.
I am finding the wool so much easier to work with. The mohair is fine and fly-away-ish. I know that's not a word but can't think of any other way to explain it..
Preparing the mohair seems to take forever. Every little lock has to be teased open before it can be carded and being so fine it seems to take for ever to fill the carder. The wool on the other hand just rolls onto the carded with out much effort and before I know it I have a nice large roving.

Our friend came and picked up Angel the Rottweiler last night. He missed her so much he said he will never leave her again.
He is now looking into another camp job closer to home where he will be able to take her with him.
Picture of Angel.
Picture of day old duck and week old chicken

I was right about the gosling, it didn't survive through the night. There are still two goose eggs in the incubator but don't think they are going to hatch.
I always leave the eggs for an extra week in the off chance one or more will still hatch.
I have duck eggs in the other incubator, that are due next week.
I use to open the eggs after the due date to see if they were in fact fertilized. I don't do that any more, it is upsetting to see fully formed little chicks in the shell that for reasons unknown died before hatching.

Remember our friend with the rottweiler? The job site that he went to work at is closed right now due to poor weather conditions. He came back to town for a few weeks until the site is workable again. He found out that dogs are an absolute NO-NO on site.
Looks like we may still end up with Angel the Rotweiler after all.
We are puppy sitting her for the week end. Oh my gosh.... she is like looking after a two year old on sugar!

Fellow bloggers, Pat and Rita, have both published a graff of their site. Not wanting to be left out I went to the site and had one done for my blog site that I was going to post.
After a very frustrating time I decided it was a job for my friend Sharon.
When ever I have probs with the PC (which is frequently) Sharon comes over and fixes it for me. This time she is as frustrated as me. We don't know how to get it onto the blog!
Sooo, Pat and Rita, how did you get it from the graff page to your blog...??

My friend phoned this morning to remind me that my last post was April 17th. It is now the 26th. Guess she means get busy on a new post..!

Let me think..must be something post-able happened in the last little while..

Oh yes...
A couple of weeks ago, Sam, one of our hounds started barking about 12 30 in the morning. Rob got up and looked around, saw nothing or no one so came back to bed.
When he got up the next morning and looked out the window his van was missing. It had been stolen along with his work tools that were in it.
We got a call yesterday to say it had been located in an alleyway in town. It has been there for the last two weeks.
Wouldn't you think if someone saw the van abandoned two weeks ago they would have called it in before now! It has been two weeks of stress and he still doesn't know if the van is damaged or if the tools are all there. It has been towed to the impound yard where the police are going over it, it will then be towed to ICBC where Rob will have to make an appointment with an adjuster. The police officer that phoned did say it didn't look as if the van had been trashed so fingers crossed it was just taken as a way to get home for whom ever took it..

We dug the rhododendron up that was in our back yard. They are very toxic to goats. Sharon, (my friend) has three Skimia bushes that she is digging up to make room for a new bench in her yard. After checking online to make sure they are goat safe I will take them and plant them in place of the rhodo.

We have a new member to out menagerie. A lone duck hatched this morning in the incubator. A goose is also in the process of hatching but its not looking very good. I don't think it will survive through night.

I said I would take pictures to add to my last post. I procrastinate. No pictures to show yet. Soon though.....

We almost had a 4th dog.
One of our friends is going through a rough patch at the moment.
Due to a work injury he has been off work for many months. He is now able to return to work only to be told there is no work for him.
He has a chance to go out of town and make big money at another job but it would mean leaving his constant companion, his dog Angel, behind. She is a very nice, very large 7 month old Rottweiler cross.
He asked if we would take her and we agreed.
Then he changed his mind and said he would take her with him and work it out somehow.
Then he phoned and said he will be working in a camp and dogs are not permitted, would we still have her.
We met him for lunch today and he said he can't bear to part with her and will take her with him and hope he can work it all out without having to part with her. If not he will bring her back to us.
Until I know he is on the ferry heading away from the island I won't be surprised if get a call saying he has changed his mind again. LOL

Our goat Saline is pregnant. I don't know when she is due but think it may be soon. Hey Babe, being our only male, is the father. He is only 10 months old and has only one testicle, I guess that's all it takes..

Rita suggested I blog a bit of my schedule so here is a little of it.

As soon as I get up in the mornings, still in my PJ's I go out and see to the critters.
Simon the rabbit is usually the first to get fed. We keep the grain in an old freezer and he is normally sat next to it waiting for me.
I have 3 rabbit cages on the way to the goats yard. I feed and water them before I see to the goats. Of course the goats have seen me by this time and are hollering on full volume at me to go feed them..!
My newest addition to the critters is a pair of Old English Bantams. The hen is smaller than a pigeon and the rooster has a lovely plume of feathers for his tail. They are very cute.
Her name is Thelma Louise and his is Mohawk. I have put them in the larger rabbit pen with the rabbits.

After seeing to rabbits and bantams its time to face the rest of them. I enter the gate backwards because goats, ducks and geese all want to get into the feed bucket at the same time.
The chicken coop is with in arms reach of the gate so I open that and let the chickens out. Throwing a handful of grain encourages the chickens and ducks away from me but the goats and geese are too smart for that ploy, They know the bounty is with in the bucket and no way are they going to let that out of their sight.
I have a trough in the chicken house and I put some of the grain in that. While they are all scrambling for that I make my way up into the goat shelter and put out the rest of the grain. Saline, Babe and Jenny will follow me up and eat there, while Arnie, Molly and Becky stay below in the chicken house.
The hay manger gets filled about once a week and Rob usually will do that for me.
We built a small pond for the ducks and geese. It needs to be topped up each morning and the area around it hosed down. Once that is done I clean out the goat house. I keep a kids water pistol with me to squirt at Arnie if he start his nonsense with me. It work great. If he starts coming at me I only have to let him see the water pistol and he will retreat immediately.
By the time I have finished in the goat house I am usually ready for a coffee but before I come in for it I go and feed the other rabbits that are in a pen at the front of the house.

I go out later and do POOP PATROL, With the three dogs I try to get out each day, but if I am honest I will confess pooper scooping is not on the top of my favourite chores to do so there are day I conveniently forget about it!
It is raining today, not a good day for pictures taking. I will go out with the camera if it brightens up later and take pics to give you an idea of the set up here.

I have been doing this blog for just over a year..
I feel like I have two new friends because of it. Pat, is from Vancouver and Rita from France. They are regular readers that I have never met. I always appreciate the nice comments that they leave on my blog.

I didn't think I would get past the first few posts with out running out of thing to write about. Now I realize that having a yard full of critters means there is usually something happening, no matter how mundane it may seem.

The first critters we got out side were chickens.
Friends were moveing and couldn't take their chickens with them. Said they would build the coop if we would take them.
After the chickens came the ducks.
With chickens and ducks laying eggs all over the place it made perfect sense to us to get an incubator and hatch more chickens and ducks!
Then came the rabbits.
Our first bunny was Winston, who of course turned out to be Winnie. We got Simon to keep WINSTON cumpany, however, Instead of having two male bunnies as we thought, we had Simon and Winnie who started the rabbit population that we now have.
From the rabbits we got two goats. We now have 6.
We also have geese and almost had a peacock.
Two of our three dog are Greyhounds rescued from the track. Our other dog is an old grumpy Llasa Apso. She is such a nasty little thing that I am sure she will out live a us all just for spite!!

It takes very little to make me happy, (as the last two post will attest to) unfortunately it also takes very little to get me totally stressed out!
This morning was one of those mornings that I realized I must be nuts to have these animal. What do I know about keeping animal?

Yesterday I did a half-assed job of cleaning the goat house out. That means there is extra to do today. STRESS
I didn't want to get out of bed. That is a bad start to the day. STRESS

Our goose is laying eggs in the most IN-THE-WAY places, Andy, her mate, is the big protector of the eggs, so anything that goes any where near the egg location is in big trouble. STRESS
Yesterday, Arnie the goat got chased by Andy. His only way of escape was through the pond. Of course he fell. This morning he is hobbling, STRESS.
Duke the Muscovy duck and Andie the goose usually get along harmoniously. This morning they got into a fight that looked like it would have gone to the death. Having to separating two very large fighting birds is not my idea of fun. STRESS
One of our chickens is setting on eggs that are due any day. There were 18 eggs under her to start with. I checked her out today and saw she was pecking at something. Looking closer I could see it was a broken egg shell, with a live chick in it.
The chick was all but full term but still needed time in the egg. I have know idea why she did it. STRESS
I looked under her and there are only 6 eggs there so I am guessing she has eaten the others. I took the egg and chick away from her and put it in the incubator. It died. STRESS
All this went on this morning when I went out to feed and clean every one. Half way through cleaning is when I found the chick so there went the rest of the cleaning.
I have a friend on her way over so won't get much more done outside today. More STRESS

Its days like today that I wonder why I am not living in a condo that just has a balcony and no space for critters!!

My friend, Sharon, thinks I must be a little crazy.
She just doesn't understand how I can practically drool over a bag of dirty hair that was sheared from a goat..
When she sees the back of my car she will have no doubt in her mind about my 'mental' state.
But, How, could I possibly pass up an offer of all that sheep wool!!!

I got a call from a farmer who had just had his sheep sheared by the same shearer that did my goats.
Wool from his 9 sheep was going to the dump unless I was interested in having it. Oh my gosh..I went out to pick it up before he changed his mind. I will need to wear a bib for a few days for all the drool. lol
It is straight off the barn floor, not sorted or cleaned.
I am going to share it with a friend, who, is going to help me with the sorting, cleaning of it etc.

Anyone remember the vest I started? (about a year ago)
Now you see it. Now you don't.
Turns out I made it far too big. I took a picture of it before undoing it. I will start it again in a smaller size. Huff..

Happy Easter to all.

Now the work begins with the fibre.
This has to be sorted into usable and none usable.
Although looking at it I think it is all usable. I kept the rear end of the goats trimmed so not to much poopy area to worry about.
Once I get it sorted it will have to be washed.
I do that in the bath tub. What a horrid time consuming job that is!
It has to go into water that is too hot to put your hand into. It need to soak for a bit and the water need to be kept hot. The water turns to mud, then you repeat this until to water is no longer mud.
You then have to rinse it all, again in very hot water, over and over and over again.
Last year I took a chance and put it in the drier for a very short time.
After the fact I was told DO NOT PUT IT IN THE DRIER. Fortunatly it was ok. I didn't leave it in for very long so no damage was done.
I don't think I will chance it again though!
Not sure when I will get started on it. I will post pics as I go.

Looks like the peacock is a no go.
We live too close to the highway andI have been told peafowl can fly a good distance.
Rob is not into building any more fences or enclosures for me at the moment and I would hate to see it mushed one day on the road.

I had two phone calls yesterday about my rabbits. One lady said she would like to come by this evening and take two of them. The other caller asked if they could come out next weekend. My fingers and toes are crossed that they show up and take bunnies.


The shearer came today to shear Hey Babe and Jenny. Oh my gosh, They both look so tiny now.

I have kept Babe intact with the hope of using him for stud. Turns out he only has one testicle and even if he can still reproduce it would be a problem that could be passed on to his male offspring and that would not be a desirable trait to pass on. So I guess in the near future it will be off to the vet to get the poor boy 'snipped'.