Fleece Mountain is back!
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
Getting a Whitefish Bay fleece is the equivalent of trying to get concert tickets to a show you *really* want to see. Just trying to get through on the phone lines requires setting your phone on speed dial, or the very least, hitting the redial over and over again. But I perservered, and now I will have (besides my usual 6 fleeces), Kansas, a extra fine, bright white corrie fleece, Prunella, a jet black lamb fleece, and Neville, a chocolate black lamb fleece. Now I need to decide which ones go directly to the processors, and which ones come here for me to fondle.

I also signed up today to take another class which starts tomorrow. This class is the last of my continuing education classes that I'll need for this year. It is a good refresher course for me to take, and again, it runs 2 nights a week for 3 weeks. I'm looking forward to taking it, but most of all, I'll be glad when I'm done with classes.

I also washed up a white Icelandic fleece that I got from Harry and Jimmie. Even the tog is very soft, and I will have this carded up with angora, ready in time for MA Sheep and Wool.

This is a picture of the fleece I washed yesterday. It's Gracie, from Coneflower Farm, which has several beautiful brown corriedales.


And here is a picture of Ripley's babies. You can see a difference in just a few days.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 5:00 PM EDT

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Whew, who would have thought....
Mood:  special
Now Playing: Orinoco Flow by Enya
That it would be this warm on April 19th? Yeah, I know we've had some hot weather in April; both of my boys were born in April, and I seem to recall roasting due to hot temps in both years that I was pregnant.

However, I'm not pregnant, so I was able to sit outside today and enjoy the sunshine, breeze and the warmth. Not only did I do a bit of Spring cleaning in the barn, and the rabbits are now enjoying a nice breeze blowing through the barn, but I was able to sit for almost 2 hours spinning on my Joy wheel. I'm working on my Halcyon fleece from WFB, and when the yarn is plied and washed, it is going to be the most gorgeous color of pale vanilla grey, just as Dick described (sorry, but I reserved her fleece again this year ).

I've also been thinking about putting together some roving packs for CT Sheep and Wool this weekend (I'll be there with David Paul of the Merlin Tree provided that my husband doesn't have to work), and for the rest of the shows I'm doing this year. Sometimes it is nice to be able to buy a variety of roving, instead of having to pick and choose just one color.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 6:17 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 19 April 2004 6:18 PM EDT

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Patriot's Day
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: "Watermark" by Enya
No, not the football players, but an actual holiday here in the state of Massachusetts. It commemorate's Paul Revere's ride to let the good people of Boston know that the British were coming at the start of the Revolutionary War.

The funny thing is that the only people that really get to take the day off are state and town employees. Most other employees, including banks, stores, the post office and other places of business are open. Being in my field, we are caught between a rock and hard place, since town offices are not open for us to get necessary information, but the banks are open, wanting their reports.

Oh well, I'm taking most of the day off because both of my boys are home due to school vacation for Cal, and because I just feel the need to relax. And besides, I already did an inspection this morning. :)

I'm feeling the need to start another project. I really want to knit something from Melissa Leapman's book "Hot Knits" since I saw the pre-printing copy at the Ewephoric Weekend, but it won't be released until May, so I'll content myself with knitting a shawl. I have some instructions for a basic Pi shawl, and will decide if I want to knit the Feather and Fan pattern (I know the repeats on that are extremely easy) or Cat's Paw, which will require a bit more concentration on my part.

Decisions, decisions.

Whew!
Now Playing: The sounds of two little boys playing in the tub
What a weekend!

Yesterday was a whirl wind trip down to Cape Cod for my exam. DH and the boys decided to go with me, which was a great relief to me. While I was in class, they did a Duckmobile tour (which included a drive in the ocean), a beach walk and a visit to the JFK Museum in Hyannis.

After finishing my class, we headed home. Once here, I got ready to go see Elton John. My husband was too tired from the day out to go, so I asked Deanna, and we had a great time at the concert. Not only did we get to see an amazing preformance (I highly recommend seeing Elton John at least once in your life) which lasted over 2 1/2 hours, but we also got to giggle at the way some "adults" act while at concerts (like dancing as if you were ready to mount the pole at a strip club and how we noticed that when Elton played a few of his slower songs, only a handful of hands with lighters could be seen in the audience; have that many people stopped smoking?). And let me just say for the record that Deanna managed to get us the Doris Day parking spot of the evening. I have NEVER been closer to the Mullin's Center than I was last night for ANY event, including basketball games. Not only did we only have to walk a couple hundred feet to the arena, but we were out of there is record time; no waiting for an hour for the parking lot to clear, as I am usually stuck back in no-man's land. :)

Today was equally as fun. I worked the sidelines at the benefit football game played against the New England Patriot's All Stars team. Let's just say that I have a new respect for those people at the games that work the "chains", the two poles that are run up and down the field to show where a first down will happen again for the team that is playing offense. But being on the "chain gang" as we were called. was a lot of fun, and I hope that this benefit football game will be played again next year (and yes, I did originally say that I would be playing today, but sanity took over sometime on Friday evening at practice, when I realized that there were PLENTY of local guys who wanted to go out on that field and be heroes, so I let them ). I will post pictures tomorrow of the photos I had taken with the various Patriot players.

Due to our wonderful warm weather, we finished the day off with a barbeque on the grill.

And as an aside, Ripley's babies went outside today to stay with her. Now that the weather is so warm, and they are starting to become curious as to what is on the other side of those nestbox walls, they will do better out there. :)

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 8:42 PM EDT

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More rabbit baby info
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: WEIB
This morning, Comet's eyes were still not open. Today way day 15, and if left too long closed, the rabbit runs the risk of becoming permanently blind. So, after bringing the babies in from their daily feeding with Ripley, I took a warm, wet paper towel, and gently rubbed the eyelids of Comet. He really didn't appreciate this, after after a few minutes, proceeded to show his displeasure by peeing all over my lap. However, I was able to get his eyelids open, and he started to look around. He is back inside the nest, snoozing with his siblings.

Today is study day. I've cleared my calendar, and will spend the rest of the morning and afternoon studying for tomorrow's exam. Tonight I have a practice for the benefit flag football game against the New England Patriots team which takes place on Sunday. If you are interested in attending, tickets are $10 each, which includes a meet and greet the players, autographs before the game and during half time, and some fun watching this game. :)

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 9:17 AM EDT

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This is what I woke up to find this morning....
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm smooth jazz


All of the albino babies have their eyes open. The only baby that doesn't have his eyes open (and yes, it is a He) is the grey baby. But, he's hopping around the nestbox just like his siblings, so I suspect that his will be open in another day, if not by the end of today.

I've already named this little grey guy. He has a white blaze on his forehead, only it looks like a comet streaking through the sky, so I'm calling him "Comet". The other babies will be harder to name, since they all look alike, and I typically don't name the ones I'm not planning to keep. Four of these babies will be for sale in time for MA Sheep and Wool.

Feeling Good!
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Anita Baker
Yes, I'm feeling good today. I've been able to eat 2 (yes, count them, two) meals today, and no upset stomach. That is cause for celebration.

Maybe it has something to do with getting through my first bit of work on the new software we installed on Friday. I should have been done with this job on Friday, but it took me 3 times as long to write the report as it normally would. So, yes, today has been good.

This is what is sitting next to my desk here at Bay Colony Farm.



This is Ripley's litter. They have tripled in size in the past 12 days since they were born. I expect that their eyes will be open by tomorrow as a couple of them are starting to open their eyelids just a tiny bit.

Illume is a high percentage German crossbred doe who is due on Monday. Today she will get a nestbox put into her cage, and we'll see when she starts nestbuilding. Her babies will be considered hybrids according to IAGARB standards.

Mia (Maid in America), who is from Leslie Samson, was bred last Wednesday to Winter. So her babies will be 1/4 new import. She isn't due until May 7th.

Other than overseeing the rabbits, my husband and I have been getting ready to put in our order for apple trees. We will only order 5 this year, and see how they do. We will be ordering from this company, St. Lawrence Nurseries located out in Potsdam, NY. Bill MacKentley has studied apple trees for over 30 years now. DH and I saw him at the North East Organic Farmer's Conference held at Hampshire College last summer. Bill was an amazing instructor, and we hope he will be back again this summer teaching more seminars. I believe that we will be ordering the following apple trees: Burgundy, Fameuse (aka "Snow Apple"), one type of Greening, St. Johnsbury and Winesap. While the trees probably won't produce this year, we can hope for apples within a year or two after planting.

On the fiber front, I haven't done much knitting or spinning. But I hope to get to some of that later today, if I don't study first. :)

Long Week
Mood:  don't ask
It was a long week.

My first class ended (for me) on Monday night. Since I didn't need to take the exam, I didn't. But I did start my second class on Saturday morning. All the way down at Cape Cod Community College. That meant I left here before the sun was up. I was exhausted by the time I got home late Saturday afternoon. The teacher is very good, but the subject matter is very dry; it's a course on Standards, which is mandatory within my profession. They have made it more interesting now with a Power Point presentation, but still.....

I have the second class and final exam on Saturday. Please send me some dpn waves that I pass this test.

Friday was Calvin's birthday. He turned 6! We went up to Harry and Jimmie's farm, and played with the sheep and baby lambs. Both Calvin and Boo were delighted to have the newborn lambs coming up to them, and sniffing their faces. The sight of my kids giggling with delight over this brought such joy to me. Plus, it renews one's faith in all good things. After the farm, Deanna took the kids to the local kids play land, while I shopped for birthday presents. Following that, we were able to visit with some cousin's of mine that I hadn't seen in many years. My cousin Mike attended West Point Military Academy back in the mid-80's (his brother Jeff was there in the early to mid 80's). I hadn't seen Mike since 1987, when he was down in Philly over Christmas week. Mike is now married to Margaret, living down in Eastern MA, and has a beautiful little daughter named Abby. My boys love playing with Abby. Our visit was too short, but Mike, Margaret and Abby are less than 2 hours away, so I'm hoping we can visit soon.
The day was topped off with Calvin's birthday party; pizza and homemade cake (and yes, I actually made the cake this year!). Calvin's toys from us included 2 Rescue Heroes, and the DVD "Charlotte's Web". But the big surprise came from Deanna, who's been busily working away for several weeks now. She made a Thomas the Tank Engine toy box for the boys! They were thrilled to receive it (Boo's birthday is at the end of this month too). They have spent most of the weekend playing in it, on top of it and around it. They even put their dyed Easter eggs in the toy box yesterday. Pictures of this wonderful gift will follow later today. :)

And me? I've been busy keeping watch over Ripley's litter, which is living here in my office. We are down to 6 babies; we lost the runt (which is very common) and one of the grey babies to a nest box injury. Unfortunately, those happen, and we do what we can to save the baby, but it wasn't possible. I have 5 albino babies, and 1 grey baby left. I'm enjoying having them here in my office, but they will probably go outside to be with Ripley by the end of the week, when they are 2 weeks old.

Annie's litter is doing wonderfully too. The babies are now 4 weeks old, and just too cute for words. I removed the nest box on Thursday, and poor Annie was giving me the look that said "But that was the only place I could ESCAPE them!". She's learning to live with 4 active babies jumping all over her. ;-)

Now, if I could only get rid of this stress from classes and life, and make my stomach feel better, I'd be all set. I can't wait until the certification is done for my job, and the July 4th parade is over. Then I'm home free of stressful things for a long time.

Surprise!
Mood:  special
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
At 11 last night, I was outside in the barn. Temps were falling fast, the wind was kicking up, and I had heard rumors of snow for today. So in order to keep Ripley's babies warm, I decided to bring the nestbox inside. Imagine my surprise to find 8 babies in there, not 6! She must have been at the end of giving birth when I went out to feed yesterday afternoon. So, we now have 6 albinos, and 2 colored babies.
I took them back out to nurse around 8 this morning, and Ripley examined the nest, but after a minute or two, jumped in to nurse. She was quite happy to see a large fistfull of hay as her reward when she was finished.

The babies will reside in here with me, until they have a decent coat on them. Of course that means keeping my office door closed when I'm here, and locked when I'm not (we don't need prowling kitties coming to check things out). :)

New babies!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Enya
A happy discovery was made this afternoon when I went out to feed the rabbits. Ripley had given birth sometime late morning/early afternoon. Her nest has 6 babies in it. There appears to be 4 albino and 2 colored babies. I'm hoping for a couple more sable rabbits (which is what Ripley is). I wasn't sure Ripley would do so well, since she is two years old, and this is her first litter. She keeps checking the nest as if to say "Are they in there?". A bribe of broccoli allowed me to check everyone over, and all look healthy.

I'm really proud of Ripley and happy for her. She was from my first litter of rabbits born here back in March of 2002. Her mother, Buttercream, not only nursed her 7, but 5 other babies born the same day to another doe that scattered the nest on day 10. Ripley grew up with a total of 11 other "brothers and sisters". I only hope Buttercream's mothering skills have passed on to Ripley.

As promised, here is a picture of my finished fulled bag. I think I want to make a big version next. :)