Inconsistency and Flying Time

 Well, so much for posting on a regular basis. Too many things to do and time is just flying by! I still haven't taken the time to put the pictures from my phone onto my computer and organize them, so I can share them on here. One of these days...

I've been working outside a lot, so the fibery end of things in the house isn't getting much attention.  I have three years' worth of fleece to dehair then spin. I've only wove one round of cloth, haven't decided what to make with it yet.

I did make it up to Eureka for the Fiber Festival they have every first weekend in August.  That was fun.  It's a small one, so I get a chance to see most everything and visit with all my fiber friends up there.  It was nice to get out of here and see a bunch of like-minded people for the day.  I really like the venue up there, and the way they have the vendors set up, etc.  It's a good one to go to! Saturdays are the busy day, so I go up on Sunday when there are a lot less people there.  Then I get to visit more with the vendors I know. 

Skippy, our Grand Shepard, is a year old and 115 lbs.  He's supposedly going to grow till he's 3, so this could be interesting.  Ever since November of last year, just before T-day, when he crashed into me in the goat pen trying to get away from one of the goats chasing him, I've only had about one month of being able to walk normally and pain free. I just get healed up, then either he runs into me again, or one of the goats, or something hits me, and I'm back to gimping around.  I must say, it's getting really old.  I have a lot to do around here, and this is really slowing me down.  I'm not using crutches this time, but it is slow going feeding and doing the other things that need doing.

Three baby guineas hatched out a few weeks ago, and they are still alive.  I have them in a large chicken tractor with two layers of fencing any critters have to go through to get to them. It's working quite well, so far.  They are starting to be able to fly a little, so it's time to build a little roost in there for them so they can get off the ground.  Mama guinea is not happy being penned up in there, but in order for the babies to survive, it's necessary till they are big enough to fly well and roost up in the main tree they all use. The other adults pecked and tried to kill them when they were just a few days old, so in the tractor they went.

We broke down and put a metal gate at the end of the driveway finally.  Even set the gate posts in concrete so it's a sturdy gate.  After 30 years of wood pole gates that have to be replaced every few years, we now have a gate that should last for decades. Skippy can't get out of this gate, at least he hasn't yet. He's tried a couple of times without success, so I think it's dog safe. We'll see...

We also fenced along the access road through our place to the neighbors. After 4 years of having that end open and anything walking through, it was time to secure the perimeter again.  It's much better now, their dogs don't come up and get into things anymore, the predators generally don't want to mess with going over a fence, so they are staying out. He's not happy about it, now he can't plow the snow way up into the round pen area anymore.  He has the whole downhill side of the road to plow snow onto, but he thinks that is going to make more work for him.  All the snow he plowed onto the uphill side just melted down into the road and made a mud bog, so maybe he'll figure out it's better to plow it all to the downhill side so the road dries out faster in the spring. We lost the use of the bottom 1\2 acre of our place, but that only fed the goats for a couple of days, so the trade-off for having a secure boundary is worth it. I sure wish we would've had the money to buy these other properties as they came up for sale, but, alas, we didn't, so we have more neighbors. It was so nice back when we only had one other full-time neighbor up here.  Much quieter.  

We've been getting some rain the last couple of weeks.  Not a huge amount, but enough to turn the grass green again.  After over a week of temps in the mid to high 90s with sun and a breeze, the cooler temps and rain is very welcome!  Seems most of the country is having some sort of extreme weather this summer.  Some parts are getting way too much rain, and others are dry as a bone.

I hope you all are doing okay and life is treating you well. I hope to have pictures to post next time, whenever that is.  Have a good day!