Bounties of Life

I have so much to be thankful for; my home, my kids, my husband, my life. But sometimes there are things that jump out at you and remind you just how lucky you really are.
This first picture is of that which I am most thankful for, my grand daughter. Jari and the baby-daddy took Joy out for dinner to the establishment where I work, one of my co-workers gave Joy these balloons, she carried them around all the next day.

She's not a ham, really.... maybe just a little...
I got home from work tonight to find two packages waiting for me, one I expected, the other not at all. This hand dyed roving is from Laura, my amazingly talented friend in Oregon. I saw pictures of this fiber on her blog, and had to snatch some of it up. Its BFL and tussah silk. Delicious!
The second, very small package was a complete surprise. When I saw who it was from I was confused as I hadn't expected anything from that person at all. Sorry, can't tell you who it was from, but it was one of the most awesome and unexpected things anyone has ever sent to me.
About a week ago, I posted on my Ravelry group, Raw Wool Lovers, that I was looking for qiviut. Tonight this is what I got.

Qiviut is the mazarati of fibers, the best of the best, at least in my opinion. I am thinking I will put this on my drop spindle, take it to San Diego with me when we go to get Kevin in ... OH! Eight days!!! :) I'm so excited! Then, after making it into a lace weight (of course) I will make a scarf out of it.
Speaking of Kevin, we got another letter from him, the last I'm sure before we see him on the 7th. The way it reads, he is doing really well and is as excited to see us as we are to see him.

Tis the Season

For lambs!
On the morning of Saturday, March 12th, a full week before any of them should have been lambing, Eliza had twins, male and female. A few hours later, Misty also had twins, two ewe lambs. These ewes normally have triplets - that is to say that they have triplets more often than they don't - but its nice to see them have twins occasionally, they get a bit of a rest. Funny though, every year they lamb within a few hours of each other, and they always have the same number of lambs.
Poor ragged sheep, if you remember, my shearer stood me up last year, so these guys are wearing extra wool. I was able to shear a few of them myself. Eliza and twins.
Misty and twin girls..
Sunday morning found us once again scaring Gracie. She just will never believe that I don't want to eat her. Jari woke me up to tell me Gracie had one lamb on the ground and it didn't look strong, would I go give it a shot of B. When I got out there I realized that she wasn't done yet, but the first lamb was already nursing, so all was good... so far.
I was puttering around when I turned to look at this recalcitrant ewe; there she stood, looking at me like I was the devil, with a lamb hanging out. I called Jari in to help me help the ewe. I went out to do something, when I came back a few minutes later, Jari had Gracie down and was trying to determine the position of the lamb; just the head was emerging, no feet. It was stuck in the birth canal. The ewe wasn't helping, she just laid there like we'd already cut her throat, very typical behavior for her, until Jari put her hand in the birth canal, then she'd push. I took over and was able to flip one foot forward, then with the next push he was liberated. Two ram lambs, black as coal and soft as downy feathers. Me thinks there is a wool wether in my future!

First near disaster of the season diverted, enter Honey, stage left.
Honey is the only Tunis ewe I kept. I love her style - color, length, size, disposition - she's just a nice ewe. Great mom too. Usually. We had her in the 'barn', knowing she would be lambing soon, although my predictions are usually pretty spot-on, I was off by one; I said Eliza, Honey, then Misty would go. Anyway, Honey started laboring, I put her in a jug, watched as she laid down, strained once, the lamb pops out and... Honey didn't get up. She lay there talking to a lamb she couldn't see, and wasn't getting up to check out. I pulled the lamb around in front of her, questioning her in the process, and she started licking the lamb. OK, all good for now, could be a bit before the second is born (I had no doubts that there was a second lamb), so I went in the house to do 'other stuff'. I went back out in 15 minutes or so, and there was the second lamb, laying in the same spot that the first one had lain, with Honey contentedly 'chatting' with the first lamb, and lying in exactly the same spot. The first lamb wasn't very vocal, and the second wasn't doing anything, although I knew she was alive. I got Honey up and pointed the second lamb out to her, she started licking a bit, not very vigorously. ...this is the great thing about blogs, I just realized, typing this out, that none of them were very hale; the ewe wasn't her usual mothering self, the first lamb is healthy but not thriving; the second lamb just last night found her feet, which is the other half of the story, or as Paul Harvey would say "the rest of the story...".
The second lamb couldn't gain her feet. As I said on my Facebook status, she was the lamb that, if she had not been born in a barn, wouldn't have lived through the night. She struggled to get up, but only managed to push all the straw out from under and around her, till she was lying splay-legged on the cold, concrete floor. I would pick her up, aim her at a teat, she would find it, tentatively suckle for three or four seconds then let go. Vitamin B-Complex and Bo-Se were given, we made sure her mouth was warm and helped her nurse every hour or so, until bed time. She was doing OK, as long as she was on her feet she looked like her brother, if she fell over or got pushed over by her mom, she couldn't get back up. So this is already a long story, but I'll shorten it a bit... with a little help from my FB friends (and real life friends, Laura and Correy) I dosed her with some lamb drench for vitamins A, D, and E, then after acquiring a feeding tube in the guise of a catheter, we milked Honey (gotta love that pump!) and got about 4 ounces of colostrum into her. As of last night, she is still not as hale as she should be for three days old, but is getting to her feet like an old pro. Yay!
Two more ewes to go!

Appreciating Time

This is going to sound really spoiled, but I'm going to say it anyway; I really don't want to work.
I look at my blog every day. Every day I check for new posts. There are normally only three new daily; Boulderneigh, In Stitches, and Old Rose, with the occasional input from Amy at Purple Fuzzy Mittens, and of course posts from Mim at Desert Peach. I always read these blogs but never have time to comment. Just so you know :)
Every day I feel horrible for not posting, although by this time most of my viewers have sought greener pastures.
So in short, I don't have time to do the things I want to do, things that are good for my soul; spinning, knitting, crocheting, and keeping in touch with my friends. Hoping that changes very soon.

Kevin Update:
Kevin started Phase 2 a couple of weeks ago. The way I understand it, this phase is about hiking, backpacking, shooting, grueling hikes, and endless runs. Only 35 days to go!

The last time I posted we had gotten his first letter. A bit has happened since then!

My Father passed on February 10th, thank you, but no condolences please. We weren't very close as I was growing up, well actually I didn't care about him one way or the other from about 12 to my late twenties sometime. He kept himself distant from me for so many years, that I just never developed the 'daughter' bond with him. He was a friend at the end though, and I will miss him. I got to talk to him the week before he had the last stroke, so I feel good about our relationship and how it ended. I truly hope he made his own peace.
In light of his passing, I emailed Kevin's Senior Drill Instructor and left it up to him as to how Kevin would be told. I was at work when he called and missed the call (another reason to be resentful?), Derek got to talk to him. Kevin wasn't able to really chat, and Derek didn't know the reason for his call, but Derek did tell Kevin about his Grandpa, so mission accomplished. I was devastated. I cried for about 10 minutes at work after Derek called to tell me.

Week before last we got another letter from Kevin, a very upbeat 3 page letter that started out telling us how he had come to realize how much he depended on us and how much he missed us. He never got negative about anything, although I'd be willing to bet that he could have, but he told us about his life there and described what he would be going through in the coming 7 weeks. He was looking forward to Phase 2 at Camp Pendleton because they had bananas lol he was craving them.
So a few days ago, at work yet again, I was walking past my phone and my notifier went off. I had missed a phone call. I didn't think anything about it, didn't have time to see who had tried to call, so went about my business. A few minutes later Derek calls me. Bet you can't guess who tried to call!! Yeah, I know... too easy.
Some of you may know what a privilege call is, but for those who don't, occasionally someone in the platoon, or the whole platoon, does really, really well at something or the whole group may have a very good day with good times and no one getting hurt or unable to finish a run, that kind of thing, and the SDI (Senior Drill Instructor) will give the individual or group a reward, sometimes in the form of free time, sometimes in the form of a phone call home. Is the suspense killing you yet? :)
Apparently, that day had been spent on the rifle range. Kevin out shot EVERYONE. Including his instructors :))
He got to chat this time, telling his Dad and sister all about what is going on in his life. Again, I'm feeling abused and neglected lol but as I told Kevin in a letter I mailed off a few days later, it was probably better that way, since I was at work... I would have ruined my make up. Again.
I can't help but feel like fate is keeping me from talking to him, and as I said, I will cry and that's probably not what I should do, even if they are happy tears. Maybe Fate will find a way for me to talk to him at home. I can only hope!

Derek and I were in Elko last week, and while in Gun World, I looked toward the front door and saw this:
I squinted, said to my husband "Is that a chucker?" He said "Nah, I don't think so... wait, yeah that is a chucker. What's it doing here?". The million dollar question lol The guy behind the counter laughed and said there were a few of them running around the area, a strip mall on the hill across the street next to the open field makes good shelter from wind and weather and people feed them through the winter. This guy was sheltering from the wind that day, which was especially cold and blustery. I thought it a bit ironic. Definitely a picture worth a thousand words, even if every sentence has a question mark at the end :)