New visitors in the house
Now Playing: the sound of rustling hay
Rustling hay you say? What in the world is Helen talking about?

I now have four 10 day old baby bunnies residing next to my desk in my office.

Friday night turned so cold, that we lost 3 out of Annie's litter. In order to avoid any more losses, I have moved Annie's nestbox into my office, for another couple of weeks, until the babies are hoping about, and have enough fur on them to live out in the cage with Annie.

Every morning around 6 a.m., I take the nestbox out to the barn, and Annie immediately jumps in and nurses the bunnies. She has taken quite well to this new arrangement, and I know that I won't loose any bunnies to the cold (last night's low was 19 degrees).

The plus side to this is that I get to watch these amazing little creatures grow. I talk to them often, and hold them a lot too. This conditions them to easy handling, and they will be very gentle as adults.

The last time I had baby bunnies in my office was 2 years ago with Buttercream and Julia's litters. They all grew up well socialized to people, and are very gentle and friendly. Annie's litter will be too.

Bleary Eyed
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
Yes, I'm o.k, but extremely tired. I was up most of the night on Thursday night/Friday morning with Nate due to a stomach bug. Then last night, I did myself the disservice of eatting Mud Pie ice cream, which did my stomach in. I fell asleep at 4 a.m., only to be up at 6 this morning when my husband got up to go to work. Yep, I'm tired. I have an inspection at 10 this morning, then I'm coming home and doing NOTHING (i.e. NO cleaning) for the rest of the day.

Carolyn asked where Wooly Knob Fiber Mill was located. They are out in Indiana, and did a fabulous job with my rovings. I have LOTS of fleeces out in the barn that I'm sending them. I just have to get them together and ship them. I have spent some time this week washing up a white Icelandic fleece that I got from Harry and Jimmie at True North Farm last year. I plan to dye it Cherry Red, and process it with some cherry red angora that will be dyed too. Jimmie just loves this combination, and I want to give him the bulk of what I get back.

I was very excited yesterday to get a copy of the MA Sheep and Wool brochure in the mail. My ad for Bay Colony Farm was in there as a half page ad. O.k, I know this sounds strange, but I've worked really hard for the past few years building up my business, and I finally feel like we are worthy of that ad now. Plus, I will be doing two workshops at the wool fair; the first one on Saturday morning on Care and Grooming of an Angora Rabbit and the second one on Sunday morning of Spinning Angora and Angora Blends. Go to MA Sheep and Wool for more information.

Planning for the Future
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Elton John "Little Jeannie"
Winter's are the slow time on any farm. You wait for the ground to thaw so that you can start planting vegetable gardens and fruit trees. You wait for the air to become warm, and smell of that sweet scent that only warming earth, growing grass, and blossoming flowers can bring.

Here at Bay Colony Farm, it is no different. We've had snow 4 days in a row this week. The most we had on any given day was 3 inches; certainly nothing to worry about, but I do wish that it would warm up so that I don't have to worry so much about Annie's litter. She has done a fabulous job of mothering. But we did loose one of her babies last night. It was the smallest of the litter, and I don't think it was feeding properly. Nature has a way of taking care of things, and the rest of the babies are growing big and strong, now covered with a fine fuzz of white fur. Within a week, their eyes will be open, and they will look more like bunnies than baby pigs, as my oldest son believes. :)

Of course, with all this down time, it has given me a lot of time to plan classes for next year, 2005. So far, I have had contact with one knitting instructor, and am waiting for my confirmation of dates, and the contract. I'm still trying to decide who else to bring in to teach. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to bring them to me.

We've also had to cancel the bus trip we had planned down to MD. We had less than 1/4 of the bus full, and the touring company was expecting their $1200 check within 3 weeks. I'm not too worried since I found out that the spinning guild is setting up a 2 day bus trip down and back. I might sign up for that instead.

Here is a picture of Annie's babies, taken yesterday. You can see the difference in size already.

Good days
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
Some days are just great days.

Friday and yesterday were two of those days.

Friday's mail brought a wonderful surprise; the box of roving from Wooly Knob Fiber Mill. Matt and Jamie out did themselves with several fleeces. The two I was most concerned about were ones that I'm keeping for my private stash; Halcyon's fleece from WFB, and the prize winning black Border Leicester fleece I purchase at the Big E fleece sale. For those that don't know, the black BL fleece was just lovely in the bag. And then I did the unthinkable. I accidentally let it agitate in the washing machine, because I got distracted by something and didn't give fleece washing my full attention. By the time I realized what that sound in the background was, I was heart sick. My lovely black fleece was now a giant matted cat bed. I took it out, and let it dry anyway. I figured I would send it out, and see if it could be salvaged, but sent a note to Matt and Jamie saying "Do what you can; if you can't do anything, toss it". Some difficult words to write. The other fleece, Halcyon's, has been sitting in my office since last April. A lovely fine corriedale fleece in varying shades of pale and medium grey, with some fine black streaks in it.
What came back in that giant box had me overjoyed. Matt put a funny little note in with the black BL fleece; the words "silk purse" were written on that note. He truly did turn a sows's ear into a silk purse. And Halcyon's fleece is stunning. So incredibly soft that I sat down at my Joy wheel and started spinning for the first time in months. Even spun as thin singles, the singles are deliciously soft.
The other roving's are lovely too, and they will be put up on the web page later today. If I don't sell out of them, I will be bringing them to MA Sheep and Wool in May.

My other wonderful surprise on Friday was that Annie gave birth to 8 healthy kits sometime shortly before 4 p.m. When I went out to feed everyone, I found her looking rather smug, cleaning herself up, and 8 very active little bunnies in the nest. Annie so far is doing a fabulous job of mothering, and is enjoying the treats of banana and broccoli that I'm giving her.

Saturday was equally fun, but in the different way. Calvin and I were invited to my niece's birthday party at a skating rink. I haven't been on skates in over 20 years, but it came back easily. I had so much fun skating around that rink, listening to current pop tunes playing and some old ones too, ones that I used to skate to when I was 11, when I learned how to skate. I did manage to get Calvin around the rink a few times, before he was too tired to continue, so while the kids were playing games, I skated. What freedom is it to fly around, feel the muscles loosen, and remember how much fun I used to have when I went skating with my friends and cousins.
I'm not even sore today! So I've made the decision to try to get back to the rink several times a month; teach Calvin and Nate how to skate, and maybe even go on a few dates there with my husband, when they have retro night, and play music from the 70's and 80's, when we were teens. :)

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 2:20 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 14 March 2004 2:48 PM EST

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The Waiting Game
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: "Your Touch" by Seal on WEIB 106.3 fm
When you have any animal bred, it is always a waiting game, and the same goes with rabbits. While Annie has built a beautiful nest, and is enjoying pats on the head, she has me playing the waiting game. When it is still cold outside, it is always a good idea to check on the expectant mother often to see if she has delivered her babies. Sometimes, new moms (and even seasoned ones), don't deliver in the nest so sometimes it is possible to save the babies if you get out there in time. Annie is eating less, and I'm taking that as a good sign. Her official due date is the 12th, but rabbits can deliver at 26 days, or wait as late as 38 days (this happened to another mini-lop doe I had). So for now, we play the waiting game.

Not much knitting going on, because my sleep schedule is slightly messed up again, and I'm too tired at 8 p.m. at night to pick up the needles. However, I have almost the whole day ahead of me to do what ever I want (with the exception of a lot of laundry that needs washing), so maybe I'll get my first sock done.

What the???
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: WEIB fm
Tripod must have a serious gremlin working at it, because last night, when I uploaded the new photos to the blog, they were in the correct order. I had a picture of my sheep sign and a sock I was knitting on Saturday's blog entry. Then I put 1 picture of my boys sitting at their new table on the entry from last night. It looked fine when I signed off.
Then this morning, I go into my blog, to find the pictures completely rearranged. I spent 2 hours this morning trying to get it straightened out. It appeared to be fixed finally (I even checked my blog from another computer), only to log onto it tonight, and find that the picture I had up of my boys has suddenly morphed into the sheep sign. What the?????

I'm not fixing it again. It took too much damn time this morning to get it done, so I won't even try again.

On the plus side....
Topic: Various things
Annie, my German doe from Leslie, appears to be in nest building mode. Please keep your fingers crossed for a successful delivery.

I had another nice chat with Leslie today. We spent a great deal of time discussing IAGARB, and the direction it is headed in. Primarily, wool production records. That said, I really need to get a scale that gives me weight in grams, rather than ounces, as it is more accurate. Wool production records are going to become more and more important as time goes by, and let's face it, besides having these beautiful animals, and loving them, we all want to make some money to help cover the cost of having them, yes?

My husband's creativity
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm Smooth Jazz
My husband works for a company that makes point of purchase display units for companies such as Yankee Candle and TY Beanie Babies. He used to be a moldmaker, but this change of careers really suits him. He has access to all sorts of machines that can do various things with wood, and melamine.

Last night, he told me he was planning to make our boys a new arts and craft table, to be used within his office, here at our house. He showed me the design, and my only suggestion was to have 2 cut outs, instead of just one in the middle.

This is what he came home with tonight. :)
Our happy little campers at their new table.



Here is a picture of my husband and boys putting the table together.

Blue Eyes
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: I'm Still Standing by Elton John
Yes, I'm celebrating. For the first time ever, I scored tickets to see Elton John within minutes of them going on sale! The first time Elton John was at the Mullins Center, I got a ticket 45 minutes after going on sale; they were almost sold out and I was in the nose-bleed seats. The second time, I totally missed out, not being able to get through at all. The last time he was in Amherst, I got tickets, but had to call Philadelphia's ticket office to get the tickets. Today, I got lucky, and was able to get my tickets within the first 3 minutes of them going on sale. I am so excited about this. Elton John is my favorite performer, and his music means a lot to me; songs of his always seem to say something about my life at the time they come out. He is really an amazing performer!

Now, I have a picture to share of my sheep sign.

New knitting group!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm Smooth Jazz
Jenn and Lauren from the area put together a knitting group, which met for the first time last night at Barnes and Noble in Hadley. What a nice group of people that turned out, and we had a great time. The exchange of ideas, sharing the knitting community with people that were unfamiliar with the resources in the area, and just hearing tales of people's families, farms and friends was enough to give even the most tired of us, some well needed friendly energy.

I worked on the first of a pair of Inca Alpaca and wool socks, double stranding the yarns. I have about 6" of the sock done now.

Thank you to Jenn and Lauren for getting this group together. It will be meeting the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. I hope that it continues for many years to come.

And on a non-fiberish note, I spent the day yesterday with my friend Carol, shopping in Templeton. Carol took me to a very interesting store (actually, it's two separate stores, but owned by the same people), called Casual Mischief. After having a lovely lunch in their restaurant, we were walking back to do some more shopping, and I spied the coolest sheep sign I've ever seen. It's a reproduction, but the sheep is 3' wide by 2' high, and says "American Woolen Mills. Est. 1867 Dyeing Carding Spinning Knitting". This sheep will be hung up on the wall in our family room. :)