MOVING DAY FOR THIS BLOG!!

Ok gang I finally got it done..... still working on the rest of the web site. Feel free tolet me know what you think. http://doremafarm.com/blog.html

Big News!

For me... anyway! I got professional help and this blog will be moving!! A very computer savy friend is developing a web site for me. She has included a blog page along with the farm info and page to sell my soap,lotion, and other farm products. We should have it set up and running very soon. I will post the info as soon as I get the hang of it!

Major Glitches

I have no idea what is going on with this blog. It will not work at all when I am in the "compose" part of adding a post. This writing is possible because I clicked on the HTML setting. It will not let me post pictures at all in any format. For some reason in the last week, there have been over 400 hits on the last test post I put up and most of them are from the Ukraine..... I think I am done here. If I manage to get another blog up somewhere else, I will try to post it here.

test post

Having trouble.... again! Been trying to blog for a couple of weeks but can't get them posted. Can't get pictures at all.....

ADGA Nationals

I have been rambling this week...... and pretty far from home if I do say so myself. Adam and I hitched a ride with a friend from Oklahoma and we are spending this week in St. Paul, Minnesota at the American Dairy Goat Association National Show. I am earning my keep at Hamby Dairy Supply again this year.

I was very surprised at just how beautiful southern Minnesota is. Unfortunately, it is pretty dang hot, too. I got myself in trouble with dehydration on the first few days that I was here helping to get the booth set up.

Anyway..... it will be at least a week before I get back to normal farm life.......

Ewes Are Done!!!

This was the sheep shearing weekend. I was determined to get the sheep cooled off before July. We made a really good stab at it this weekend.

I have pics on my phone and someday I will figure out how to get them on here..... again! The phone service changed up the proceedure and that means that I have to just start all over again.

I briefly found the digital camera that had been lost in the old blue Ford truck but.... fair season is approaching and my budding photographer snappd it up to get a head start on pics to exhibit..... and promptly put it down somewhere and it is gone again!!

Anyway, we got nine ewes, the ram and one big black lamb sheared. All that we have left are lambs. In looking at them, only a few, less than six, really need to be sheared. The others are late lambs or were ill when I got them and they just do not have the heavy wool cover that the ewes did. They are not suffering in the heat at all and seem to have just enough wool covering to give them relief from the dang flies.

Adam has two ewe lambs picked out to show and they will certainly get a really close hair--- I mean--- wool cut......just not for a few more days!!

I did not try the professional shearing method this time. I am just too old, fat and weak to wallow those sheep around and get it done with out terrible strain to both me and the poor sheep. We put them up on the milking stand. Neil helped me hold them still, shifted the big sheet of wool and generally made life MUCH easier. I soon had a system and I am down right proud of the job we did. I still had clipper and blade issues but we have decided that the three sheep that I had problems with must not have been sheared last year. They were a greasy, nasty, hard-to-shear mess. Also they were obviously cross bred ewes and I am actively encouraging Neil to cull them because their wool was just .... very different to try to cut. After they were all cleaned off, we were shocked at just what nice, good quality sheep we have!! A couple of these girls have raised two lambs. The combined weight of those lambs is much heavier that the she is!!! We still have a month or so before actual weaning time. They have done an excellent job for us.

I ended up with six rolled up fleeces that I am not ashamed to admitt that I cut off. Two of them are probably not spinner quality but I am donating them to a local group of ladies that put on spinning demos. Those fleeces should at least give people something to look at and touch. They can demo to their heart's content.......

Right now, I have them rolled up and bagged in an old sheet. I just tied up the corners of the sheet and it looks like a huge hobo bundle. Every time I see that big old fashioned looking bundle, I find myself singing,  " Baa, Baa black sheep, have you any wool?"

Again......

Just in case you haven't guessed by now--- I have been sick AGAIN! The normal allergy stuff was bad enough but this year, we had the added sinus infection that traveled up behind my eyes and settled in for the duration.

I had one round of antibotics and thought that it was over but..... I was wrong. That was the passing out over the silage barrel incident.

Round two consisted of several small stroke like sessions with facial cramps and more vision problems. Started a second round of stronger antibiotics with lots of very glamorous nasal passage rinsing. I felt better for a day or two and then just generally felt awful and wanted to find a nice place to lay down and die. I still did not have any pain at all. Just felt too bad to go on. I tried anyway but spent lots of time trying to cope with crazy, staggering, dizzy spells.

Back to the Doctor's office. My daughter came home for a visit for the day on Monday and ended up playing nursemaid and babysitter. She also managed to crack the whip over her brothers and get some house work done. Turns out, I was having an allergic reaction to the stronger antibiotics. They gave me a killer shot of something that knocked me out for 18 hours. I apparently visited and talked with several family members but I don't remember a thing...... Now I have a different pill regime that seems to be helping. Still have very mild dizzy/eye cramp spells but I must be doing MUCH better because I was able to spread three and a half tons of gravel rock out in the pot holes in the drive way today at high noon--- hottest part of the day..... I am pretty much finished and heading for a nap.

Just to be on the safe side, I am visiting an eye doctor tomorrow to let them have a look at what is going on back there......

All this to say---- the blogging has been a little on the light side lately and may be for a few more days.

I am alive and kicking and the farm life is going on steadily--- with or with out me!!