Knock, knock. Who's there?

Sunday afternoon. A knock at the door. I look out the window as I approach the door. State Trooper? Hmm, I wonder if someone else has complained about our birds in the road. Free range birds -- just can't control them!

Trooper: "I was driving by and heard a loud screaming and thought I would make sure everything is alright."

Me: "Oh, I bet you heard one of our peacocks. They sound just like a person in distress."

Trooper looks around, unsure, eyes bugging a little as if it's his first day on the job, maybe his first cold call after suspecting domestic violence.

Trooper: "Sorry to bother you, M'am."

Me: "Oh, I'm glad you stopped and checked this out, glad you were concerned when you heard that noise."

I wonder how he'll write this up in his report today!

The latest surprise

Another spotted fuzzy thing in the field. Smaller than the others. Huh?

I'll get a picture. Lovely coloring from what I could tell. Our surprise summer baby created a surprise summer baby. Seasonal genetics? Not likely. Probably just a chance winter breeding, obviously just before we sold our ram!

A four horned lamb out of a four horned ewe (Fine Fettle Sueprize), out of a four horned ewe (Fine Fettle Gilda) who also gave us a four horned lamb (won't be registered but named George) earlier this year. I'm curious about the genetic strength of four horns in some ewes versus the others.

The bad news: this new lamb appears (from a distance) to be a ram lamb. The good news: one less lovely ewe we'd be tempted to keep! The bad news: we were likely to cull the ewe as her upright horns are much too forward. The good news: she produced a very nice colored lamb and having given us one of the few superb-for-spinning fleeces this year, she may have procured a slot in our flock.

On another note regarding the Jacobs, we have decided to buy Betty Berlenbach's nice two horned ram, Unzicker Captain. His breeder, Royal Unzicker, bought one of our older ewes last fall, and now we'll have some of his bloodlines in our flock. Captain has coloring we like and very nice fleece.

I guess it's time RNB and I sat down and figured out how many ewes we want in our flock, and consider selling some if we are not going to keep them all. I do wish it were easier to photo these sheep -- that's my current excuse for not getting them registered yet! I have named them all, secured our farm prefix with the JSBA, and tracked all the bloodline info I can regarding the rams we've had here over the years. It's those photos that are holding me up, I must admit!

This is from earlier in the year. It's not raining right now so maybe I'll go take some pictures of the new arrival.

New life

One bantam mix hen went broody, and because she created her clutch someplace other than where I collect eggs each day, we decided to let nature run her course and see what happened.

A few days ago I noticed the hen had a different look about her, no longer that spaced out broody look. She was alert. So I was alert, too. The next morning I could see a few downy little heads peeking out from under the hen's puffed up presence. The following morning we figured she'd had 24 hours to hatch all the best eggs, and we moved her and her brood to a safer place. Twelve chicks, cute as can be of course!

Here she is just before we moved them. It amazes me that she can warm, hide, and protect a dozen chicks under her small body!!

Recent sightings

I love the signs of wildlife around here, and I love when I meet some of the locals in person.

Skunk with really wide white markings, freshly caught in the barn.



Local skunk removal service.



Moose print next to the pond, compared to my "women's size 9" muck boot.



A woodcock sitting in the road.



The turtle I moved to the pond, before she wandered off.