Spring Chores

Lolly getting her spring haircut.  She came in looking like a fuzzball and left looking like a cow.  If any hairdressers would like to use that as a slogan you're welcome to it.

Sonja getting fleeced.  You really appreciate that expression when you watch a skilled shearer at work.

This is why I could never be a shearer.  You have to be able to  touch your toes easily and work in that position.

Our shearer Paul Hornung is amazing.  He is gentle and firm with the sheep so that they struggle very little, and he makes the whole job look as easy as peeling a bananan - except that the fleece comes off in one piece.

You're not my momma!  Unfortunately Vappu did not recognize her own mother.  Sonja pursued her for the rest of the afternoon.  Vappu cried off and on for about 4 hours until she finally figured it out and began to nurse.  By then Sonja's udder was very full.

Jonathan digging a furrow for the potatoes.

Four fifty foot rows.

Grandpa splitting wood.  Going on 92 and still going strong.

He and Jonathan have already got over half of the 11 full cords of firewood split and piled.

Dandelions, the bane of all those shriveled souls who can no longer take a child's delight in their beauty.

Monarch in the lilacs

Tiger swallowtail.  Trust me, you need to take a lot of pictures of these critters before you get a good one.  They flit about from flower to flower so quickly.

Planting the other garden.  I've got to start giving them names because we have four of them now.  In the foreground the densepack strawberry patch that produced 70 quarts last summer. 

Approaching thunderstorm.  It rained all afternoon and intermittently hailed.  Got  an inch and a half of rain and the temp fell to 50  (It was 90 the day before).

The sheep appreciated a break from the flies, which had been pestering them in  during the hot weather.  Without their long wool they were particularly susceptible.

The Green Grass of May

Vappu has been home at mealtimes.  She weighed 8# when she was born, and here 16# two weeks later.

Now that we have the electric netting up, the sheep have plenty of new grass to  graze.  They've also been  scratching their heads on the lower branches of spruce trees so that a lot of dry twigs get broken off and tangled in their wool.

Chow time!

I wanted to get a closeup picture of the lush grass so I held the camera right up to the electric netting.  Right after this picture was taken the breeze moved the netting so that it touched one finger.  My whole arm automatically jumped back.  An 8000 volt pulse gives you quite a jolt.

Vappu is learning to graze.  It takes several weeks before a lamb's digestive system develops the  bacteria needed to digest grass, so momma's rich milk is still her mainstay.  Sonja has to eat for two.

Grazing is just a hobby for lamb, but it's serious business for a sheep.  They have to fill that big rumen to keep the fermentation going.

Vappu is easily the fastest runner of the flock now, but of course she will slow down once she develops that big "hay gut".  

A Lamb is Born

A beautiful Sunday morning.  Cold, but sunny.  The shepherd waits expectantly as a ewe goes into labor.  In hindsight, I  think I drank too much coffee.  The experience of being the only doctor, nurse or midwife in the room with only book learning and no experience to go on made me jittery enough.  What if something went wrong and I needed to held out?

Sonja digging a birthing nest.

Once the hard labor began, it was sometimes painful to watch.

Sonja would lie on her side and strain during the contractions.  In between she would get up and walk about a little.  I was in attendance for the birth of all five of our sons, so I generally knew what to expect, but it actually was more nerve wracking for me since there were no experts in the room, just a rookie intern with no clinical experience.

Two small hooves emerge, soon to be followed by a nose - the normal presentation for a lamb.  However, when I first saw this I was afraid I was seeing four hooves.  I was already jacked up with caffeine and the thought of a jackknifed lamb or twins coming out at the same time really rattled me.

Fortunately, the rookie never had to scrub.   After a lot of hard work,  Sonja pushed out an 8 lb. lamb.

The proud father looks on as Sonja cleans her lamb.  Go figure - cross a white ram with a brown ewe, and of course, you would expect an all black lamb, right?  Shortly after this Gunnar tried to butt his daughter through the fence so I had to tie him to a tree.  Animals are animals.

This is a miracle.  The theory of evolution cannot explain things like this.  Within minutes of being born  the lamb was  looking for a teat, and she found it.

Ahhh...life is good.

Of course, the shepherd has to meddle a bit.  I am carrying the lamb at ground level so that Sonja  does not lose sight of it.  I then barricaded them in the hayshed for a couple of days so that they are out of the wind and  have some good time to bond.

Spring Arrives

The last storm of February

David tries skijoring with two dogs

Jeni inspecting the greenhouse...

...Where the spinach is growing nicely

A sure sign of spring.  This year all three of our hives survived the winter.

Gunnar and Jeni having a little face time

Our snow melted in one week.

Even the dragonflies came out early

David and Jonathan made one last effort at skijoring

80 degrees in March,  my earliest sunburn ever.

Of course, the hot weather could not last, but cold weather is much better for working with a chainsaw.

Grandma enjoying her jello

This time of year I spend most of the evening outside.  There's plenty of work to do sawing wood, preparing gardens, etc., but the spring peepers are singing, there are geese at the pond and everywhere new grass is spring up.  Life is good.