It keeps snowing...

I think we could end up snowed in by Monday evening.  We are pretty close to being there now.  John drove the truck today to work so he could make it home.  The neighbor isn't keeping up with the plowing so there was 7 inches of new snow to go through.  The forecast is for up to 2 feet of snow by Monday night!  We will be snowed in then.  Good thing John has Monday and Tuesday off.
 We are seriously running out of room to put the snow up here in our part of the driveway.  It's getting pretty small.  I am filling in around the loop at the bottom of our hill now.  I'll leave just enough room to get to the canopy holder for the pickup so I can take that off when I get hay, and the rest will end up filled in.  A snowblower is really what we need.  Seriously what we need.

I have 6 goats combed now.  I've stopped for a few days now, waiting for it to quit snowing and get back up into the 20s.  So far the cashmere is looking really nice this year.  No dandruff, lice or anything besides some hay bits.

   This is Shadow after and before combing.  She shrank quite a bit! :-)  Beautiful soft fleece.  With the combing instead of shearing, they still have their guard hair to keep them warm, so they are all doing fine without their cashmere.  I think once it starts letting loose, it doesn't give them the warmth it did when it was still growing and attached to their skin, so it feels good to them to get it off.
  Well, that's it for now.  Back to shoveling trails and plowing. :-)

New things!

 Our new bathroom!  After having carpet in there forever, the new floor is rather cold.  I am getting, or maybe making a rug for in front of the toilet.  I like the floor, though.  It looks pretty nice compared to what used to be in there.  The new vanity is really nice.  The first couple of days I kept thinking I was in a hotel when using it, it's so much nicer than the funky homemade one we've had up until now.  :-)  We've decided to do the kitchen floor in the same stuff, we like it so well.  It should look nice with our rustic wood cabinets and the wood cookstove.

 This is a needle felted horse I made for a friend of mine.  It's in the likeness of her horse "Sly Enterprise" her reining horse.  It's a pretty close resemblance.  I couldn't match the colors exactly, but it's all pretty close. I got the marking on her forehead right, so that counts. :-)

I'm glad it's warmed up into the 20's during the day and the teens at night.  That arctic air was just too much.  We didn't get as cold as other places around here.  We seem to be at the right elevation and in our little bowl that keeps us warmer than down lower, or up by Marion.  The coldest we got was around -12, and up by Marion it was down to -38!  The Valley got colder, too.  Last week when the valley was in an inversion for days and all cloudy and cold, we were basking in the sun and above freezing temperatures.  Life is good! :-)

I'm going slowly on the combing of the goats.  I don't like to take off their cashmere when it's cold, but they are letting loose of it, so I must.  They still have their guard hairs and some of the cashmere.  The one I've done so far is doing just fine and she's just a kid still.  For such a little goat, she had a lot of cashmere to give me!  It's got a nice fine crimp, too.  I'm glad I kept her!

Boy, the country sure is having some wild weather!  The tornadoes in the south, the warmer temps in the north, it's very interesting.  My prayers go out to the people affected by the tornadoes.  The animals, too.

Stay safe everyone!

Doing some remodeling

After living in this house for almost 20 years now, (where did that time go??), we are remodeling the bathroom some.  We bought a vanity and new toilet, and also a new floor!  It's a slow process getting everything just right, but it's coming along.  I am really excited about the new floor.  It's a floating snap together walnut looking one.  I think it will be nice once I get it done.

We've had a few really nice, but cold, days now.  Sunny every day.  The snow is still light and fluffy, which is nice when shoveling things out.  The goats have adjusted to the cold temps, so they are all doing fine.  I'm going through more hay than usual.  Eating hay keeps their digestive tracts working, which creates heat in them.  So, I have a bunch of chubby goats now.  Better they have some extra weight than be too thin in this cold weather.  They are starting to really let loose of their cashmere now.  I'm hesitant to comb them, I don't want them too cold, but I also don't want to lose the fiber.  They will still have their outer guard hairs, so it won't be like I sheared them anyway.  It's supposed to warm up later this week, so maybe I'll start combing the ones who are the most ready.

Next post I'll have some pictures to show.

Winter business

I think I am ready for spring now, and it's only the beginning of January!  We have quite a bit of snow, and the temperatures are colder on a more consistent basis than the last few years.  I seem to spend a lot of time shoveling snow lately! :-)   Our road is getting very narrow already.  We have the neighbors plow this weekend, so we are going to widen the road and get some turn outs on it.  For some reason, he only went up and down it once, even though we got 7.5 inches of new snow.   Right now it is almost 4 miles of narrow one lane with no turn outs!  We're out of luck if someone else is on the road!  Someone is going to get stuck.  So, I am going to widen the road and make some turn outs on it so we can get around each other.  I think it's time we bit the bullet and got our own plowing equipment and stop depending on other people to do it.  Now I just have to convince the husband. :-)

I've spent the last couple of days re-working my website and closing my Square store.  Now I have set-up PayPal buttons on my website so one can buy directly from my site.  One doesn't have to have an account with PayPal, either.  There are two easy options to follow.  I think I've been too scattered over the internet lately, so I consolidated and focused on my website.

I've been spinning more lately, too.   I have a stash of fibers other than cashmere, so I decided to work my way through them and see what I end up with.  I'm doing some needle felting, too.

The goats are doing well.  I have six girls bred for this year.  Babies will be due in April and May.  They aren't too happy with all the cold and snow.  There are little trails leading from their houses to the feeding areas with vast expanses of untouched snow everywhere else in their pens.  The bucks really haven't gone out into their pens at all.  A little trail to their water bucket and back to their house is all the area they go in.

That's all that is happening around here for now.  Hope everyone is safe and warm!

Happy New Year!

 Winter 2017, more of a "normal" Montana winter than the last few years.  We still have milder winters than, say, Chicago, or Minnesota, or even the New England states.  At least Western Montana does.  The goats are full of cashmere and some are starting to let loose of it.  I will wait till it warms up a bit before starting the combing.  Below zero temps are too cold to loose one's winter coat just yet!

 Rocky the Turkish Akbash looking out over the snow.  Him and his sister Cloud are very good livestock guardians.  Rocky takes his job too seriously sometimes.  He gets a bit nasty with his sister whenever anything is going on with the goats.

 One of the buck pens.  You can tell he doesn't like to go out much when the snow is deep.  His private parts could get froze off!  The indents you see are from the dogs going out there before the last storm we had.  Jimmy hasn't gone past his water bucket all winter.  Below is the sunset tonight.  It wasn't spectacular, but it was pretty.

May 2017 be a great year for everyone!

Coming to a close

Winter is definitely here now.  We have about 16 inches of snow.  I'm tired of plowing already and we've barely begun!  The forecast says we are about to have another arctic blast next week.  Oh joy.  This winter is more like the winters of 20 or so years ago.  1983 was the year we moved to Montana, and that was a record setting winter!  Lows of -20 and -30 degrees, without wind chill.  Coming from the desert area of eastern Oregon, where snow was scarce , and cold was 10°, it was quite a shock to the system!   We survived, I learned how to cross country ski and got some snowshoes, and away I went. :-)

I am enjoying needle felting so much, I sold one of my spinning wheels!  Until I get my fiber studio built, I'm just going to have the one wheel, a Louet D75.  It's a good all around wheel that I can spin anything on, from a thread to a rope.

It's almost time to start the annual cashmere harvest.  The goats are full of fleece, which is good since we keep getting these cold spells.  I sold 6 more breeding does, three of which were bred, last week, so now I am down to 30 cashmere producing goats that I can use the fiber off of.  I have 45 goats all together. I've bred 6 does, so there will be a few babies come May.  Chores sure are easier with fewer goats!  Especially the fewer water buckets.

The goats are sure going to enjoy the lower pasture next year. Now that's it's actually a "pasture" instead of a forest, they will have lots more grass and brush to eat.

This is the second year in a row that I haven't seen a bear up here!  I didn't see one anywhere this year.  I didn't even see any tracks.  I admit, I didn't go off the property much, either.  But I didn't see any tracks or scat along the road, which is unusual. I didn't see our little herd of elk around at all.  I did see a few tracks along the road, though. I think it's time I got a horse again that I can just get on and go, and start exploring again.  All the trails I used to ride are probably overgrown, but a little saw will take care of that.

2017 is looking to be a good year, I hope it is for all of you, too!  

It's December already!

This year has gone by so fast, it's almost unreal.  We have a couple of inches of snow on the ground that came yesterday and last night.  Winter might be here now.  A little later than it usually is, but that's okay, it enabled us to get more last minute things done.  It's supposed to be in the single digit temperatures by Wednesday, too.  Brrr!!  The goats aren't going to enjoy that too much.

The thinning project is now officially over.  It's been signed off on, all the slash piles are burned, and we can see through the forest and walk anywhere out in the lower pasture now.  It's actually more of a pasture than forest.  The goats are going to love it next year!  We have quite a bit of firewood for the next couple of years, at least, too.

Polly the horse went back to where she came from.  I am just not set up for a horse around here anymore.  She wasn't overly fond of the goats, the fencing isn't right, I didn't have an area just for her, and she didn't like being the only horse after spending 15 years as a member of a herd of them.  I think maybe next year I will build an area with horse friendly fencing, get a round pen built, a shelter just for a horse and do things right.  Then I will find a horse who is younger, one I can just get on and go that doesn't have any big issues, and that is an Arabian and a gelding.  Geldings are more even tempered usually.  Polly was a pretty girl, the right size, but she had too many issues for me to have the time to deal with properly.  And, I didn't have a good area for her to be kept in.  Everything happened rather suddenly, and I wasn't prepared for it.  I'll get everything set up properly next year and then see what happens.   I really want an arabian again.  They are my favorite breed of horse.  Either a black or bay one.

The Small Business Saturday deal didn't go very well.  There weren't all that many people downtown, and not very many came in the store I was in.  I only sold two needle felted animals and one little skein of mystery yarn I spun up that I didn't know what kind of fiber it was.  Some kind of wool, but I'm not sure what it was.  So, instead of writing a tiny check to the food bank, I donated 25 lbs of apples to them.   Those are a healthy, easy to eat item.

I think I'll start decorating the house for Christmas now.  We re-did things in the living room this summer, and now there isn't room for the tree!  This could be a problem!  I might have to re-do things again.  The joys of living in a tiny house.  At least I stay nice and warm in here.  Every time I go to someone's bigger house, I get cold.  I have to remember to dress in layers so I stay warm.

I was taking care of the neighbors animals while he went to visit family last weekend.  He has a sneaky little dog who is rather mean.  It's some kind of cattle dog, or heeler or something.  It bit me on the hand.  I was petting their other dog, a nice friendly husky, when this dog came over acting friendly, so I reached over to pet him and he bit down hard on my hand!  Thank heavens I had on a leather palmed glove!  Even with that on, he tore a nice jagged cut into the side of my palm, just below my little finger.  I was on my way to town, so I had to go back home, fix up a bandage to cover it, and then head back into town.  It bled quite a bit.  I was glad I only had a couple of quick stops to make.  I am so grateful I had the glove on, or I probably would've lost a good chunk of my hand.  Sneaky, evil dog.  That is the second time that thing has bit me.  The first time was when the neighbor came over here when they first moved here and brought the dog over.  The dang thing nipped me on my rear, on my property!  That was my first encounter with the dog.  It's a very sneaky, quick moving little jerk.  He's nipped at other people, too, so I'm not the only one, although I got the worst of it.  He needs to be neutered.  He also used to sneak up here and get into things, too, until I let Rocky out one day and he went after him and attacked him.  The dog hasn't been here since, at least not that I've seen.

Okay, enough of all the not good things happening around here!  It seems this time of year always has more stress and bad things happen for some reason.  Maybe the short daylight hours, the start of winter, or something.   There is always someone having a worse time of it, though.  I really feel for the people in the fire areas in Tennessee, that is just a terrible thing.  One doesn't think of fires in that region, it's usually more humid and damp.  I send prayers out to them.