Senter's New House (Part 3)

There's a cold, cold rain coming in tonight, and Ken got Senter's house finished just in time!

Poor Senter, he doesn't grow a thick, fuzzy coat like all the other horses, so he needs some shelter from the elements even in our mild Virginia winters. But, being a stallion, he also likes to be able to see everything that's going on everywhere. So this shelter is perfect---it protects him from the wind and rain, but doesn't block his view.

Ken did a great job with building this, even though he's not super experienced at carpentry. I had a lot of input on the design, but Ken pretty much did all the building himself. It's just a simple frame of pressure-treated lumber with a heavy-duty tarp roof. All told, the whole thing cost us less than $300.

Senter already appreciates his new house. Here he is supervising while Ken gets ready to put the roof on:


And here he is enjoying his first meal in the newly completed digs:


Home, sweet home:

Insomnia Again

This whole insomnia thing is getting out of control. Last night I went to bed at 11:00 p.m., didn't fall asleep until after 4:00 a.m., and woke up again at 8:00 a.m. That's been happening a lot lately. Four hours of sleep a night is not enough for me, but a lot of nights, that's the best I can do.

The trouble is the wheels of my brain go into overdrive as soon as I try to go to sleep. I'll lie on the couch watching a video and find myself getting sleepy, so I'll head up to bed. I've never been one to just drop right off the instant my head touches the pillow, so I'll crack a book and read for half an hour or so, until I can't keep my eyes open any more.

I'll put away the book, turn off the light, and roll over to sleep. But at that moment, my busy, busy brain, freed at last from the distraction of work and videos and books, starts whirring faster and faster.

What can I do to earn more money? How are we going to pay our bills? How can I sell these horses faster? I didn't get as much accomplished on the computer today as I'd hoped. I forgot to make that phone call again. When will so-and-so finally respond to my emails? Is it raining outside? We didn't finish Senter's shelter yet. I hope he's not getting cold and wet. Are the hay people going to deliver more hay tomorrow?

My busy, busy brain goes on like this, literally for hours without slowing down. Sometimes I turn the light back on and read some more in my book, which lulls me into being sleepy once more, but as soon as I stop and turn out the light, my worrying starts up again.

It's not totally without merit. For instance, I was able to figure out some decisions I needed to make regarding the horses. But what gets me is the waste of time and energy. Every night, I'm too sleepy to keep actually working and getting anything useful done, but too wound up to get any actual rest. Then, with only four hours of sleep a night, I'm not worth much during the day either.

Ultimately, of course, the solution for this problem is the same as the solution for the majority of our other problems. I need to sell the horses. If I can reduce the herd enough, our money problems will subside and I won't have to worry as much.

Easier said than done, of course.

Where Are the Dakotas?

I'm too tired to think of anything significant to write about today, so instead I'm going to write about something completely trivial. It's something I've been wondering about for a while now.

I use Feedburner to keep track of the traffic to this blog. It's not a lot of traffic, but it's just fun for me to see that a few dozen people a day are reading what I write here, and it's fun to see all the different places where the visitors come from.

So the thing I've been (half-jokingly) wanting to ask is:

Where are the folks from North and South Dakota? Why don't they visit me? Was it something I said? Do I smell, or something? (Well, okay, I've been out doing chores, so we probably know the answer to that question right now).

What I mean is, this blog has had visitors from 48 states plus Washington, DC. It's had visitors from 26 countries on every continent on the planet except Antarctica. But as far as I can tell, no one from either of the Dakotas has stopped by. Where are they?

Heck, since I'm asking anyway, what about Antarctica? It's too cold down there to do anything but stay huddled inside reading blogs on the internet, right? Why not mine?

I'm kidding, really. I'm actually amazed and honored that so many people from all over the world have visited my blog. And I'm so grateful to all of you who have sent me words of encouragement and support. Things have been tough around here lately, and your kindness has been very uplifting on some of my hard days.

If our farm ever manages to get over this slump, I hope to reward you for sticking with me through the tough times by having lots and lots of entertaining, happy things to write about in the months to come.

Meanwhile, if you want to help me in my quest for world domination through blogging, tell all your friends in the Dakotas and Antarctica to stop by here and leave a comment on the blog to say "hi."

Icelandic Fleeces Galore!

It took me just about all day, but I finally got all my new fall fleeces sorted, photographed, priced, and descriptions written of them. I still need to put them up on my sheep website, but it's quicker and faster to post them here, so here's a sneak preview.

Even if you're not in the market for wool, Icelandic fleeces are so beautiful, you may enjoy looking at all the pretty colors and textures.

07F-01 Sarah 3 lb. 5 oz.
Rich, plush fleece, soft and very crimpy. Pale creamy white and palest beige threaded throughout with black to give an overall impression of warm, smoky, pale silver. $53.00 plus shipping



07F-02 Sedona 3 lb. 4 oz.
Long, lush fleece of charcoal black, threaded lightly throughout with pale silver/beige threads. A few cream-colored locks mixed in from her mouflon pattern. Very soft and smooth for an adult fleece. Similar to a lamb fleece in texture, soft enough to be worn next to the skin. $52.00 plus shipping



07F-03 Suzette 1 lb. 13 oz.
Lamb-soft. Pale silver thel under long soft locks of black-tipped tog, threaded lightly with silver. Soft enough to be worn next to the skin. $29.00 plus shipping



07F-04 Savannah 2 lb. 11 oz.
The palest of this year's silver fleeces. Thick, soft, creamy-pale thel, lightly threaded with strands of black. Soft, long tog of silver gray threaded with black. Soft enough to be worn next to the skin. $43.00 plus shipping



07F-05 Poppy 2 lb. 9 oz.
Thick, soft, abundant fleece. Creamy white thel. Long soft ringlets of tog threaded throughout with pale golden-brown. $30.75 plus shipping


07F-06 Persia 2 lb. 9 oz.
Soft, dense, fleece in a complex blend of warm, smoky silvers, grays, and charcoal blacks. Extra crimpy---should be pleasant to spin. This fleece has less tog than average, so if the soft thel is your favorite part, this fleece gives you more for your money. $30.75 plus shipping



07F-07 Nicholai 4 lb. 2 oz.
Our heaviest fleece of the year from the King of our flock. A thick lion's mane of fleece in beautifully complex shades of chestnut, taupe, and golden brown, threaded ever so lightly throughout with silver. The tog is long and fairly coarse. The thel is dense and medium-soft. This fleece was sheared from a mature ram during breeding season, so it has a strong but not unpleasant "sheepy" smell, which will wash out. $49.50 plus shipping




07F-08 Tansy (Lamb fleece) 2 lb. 11 oz.
Photos can't do this fleece justice. It's one of the nicest fleeces of the year. I bred this lamb specifically for her fleece qualities, and with this, her first shearing, she proved to be everything I was hoping for. The fleece is soft, luscious, and incredibly thel-rich and abundant for a lamb fleece. Rich, lustrous, cloud-soft thel and long, soft lustrous tog. The color is cream with a touch of coffee that shines faintly golden in the sunlight. $43.00 plus shipping



07F-09 Teasle (Lamb fleece) 1 lb. 11 oz.
Again, photos can't do this one justice. This may be the year's softest fleece. Identical in color to Tansy's fleece, above, this one is not quite as thel-rich, but is even softer and more stunningly lustrous. $27.00 plus shipping



07F-10 Tutankhamen (Lamb fleece) 2 lb. 13. oz.
Soft, abundant lamb fleece full of gorgeous, complex shades of silvery-taupe, dark chestnut, and foxy-colored golden brown. Long, soft corkscrews of tog, plus thel that is so baby-soft and lustrous that it sparkles in sunlight. There's a little VM in this one, but the color and quality of the fleece makes it worth the effort. $33.75 plus shipping



07F-11 Titan (Lamb fleece) 1 lb. 5 oz.
Long, soft locks of cloudy taupe and foxy golden-brown. Beautifully complex, rich color on a soft lamb fleece. $21.00 plus shipping



07F-12 Tundra (Lamb fleece) 1 lb. 9 oz.
Soft, creamy white lamb fleece. If you prefer fleeces with a slightly shorter staple length, this one's for you. $18.75 plus shipping



07F-13 Pandora 2 lb. 12 oz.
Long, curly, medium-soft tog and dense, crimpy, soft thel, all in creamy white. This one has a little VM in it, but there's still plenty of nice fiber in there. $33.00 plus shipping



07F-14 Paisley 2 lb. 9 oz.
One of my best fleece sheep, known for the beautiful luster of her wool. Long, soft, curly white tog. Rich, fine, creamy white thel. $41.00 plus shipping



07F-15 Taj (Lamb fleece) 2 lb. 3 oz.
Photos don't do this one justice---this is my nicest white fleece of the year. Long, soft, curly locks of creamy tog and abundant, pure-white thel so super-fine and lustrous you'd think it was blended with silk. More VM than I'd like, but the fleece quality is so superb, it's well worth the extra effort. $26.25 plus shipping



07F-16 Regina 2 lb. 8 oz.
Plush, thick, abundant fleece. Medium-soft tog forms long ringlets of black, threaded with enough silver to look dark gray. Thel is pale, lustrous silver, very rich and crimpy. $30.00 plus shipping



07F-17 Paris 3 lb.
A very pretty mix of crimpy pale silver thel and curly gray/black tog gives this medium-soft fleece a lovely silver-gray heathery tone. $36.00 plus shipping



07F-18 Trouble (Lamb fleece) 1 lb. 14 oz.
Silky soft lamb fleece. Long, soft curls of charcoal/chocolate tog make a beautiful, complex contrast with the baby-fine thel that is such a rich, lustrous gray that it looks almost blue. Plus, this lamb comes with a story! See my farm blog to hear all about her adventures! $30.00 plus shipping



07F-19 Salem 3 lb. 1 oz.
Exceptionally soft for an adult fleece---more like a lamb fleece in texture. Very complex coloring for a black sheep: mostly dark charcoal/chocolate tones, but with locks of silvery chestnut and pale---almost blond---taupe. Gorgeous, and soft enough to be worn next to the skin. $49.00 plus shipping



07F-20 Rhonwen 2 lb. 8 oz.
My best fleece sheep---her fleece last year was so good it generated fan mail! Long, lamb-soft, and lustrous. Pale, silky, creamy-golden tog with the softest, silkiest thel of pale cloudy smoke color, plus some locks of charcoal black mixed in from her badger markings. This one's a treasure! $40.00 plus shipping

Done With Shearing

We finished the last of the shearing today. There were only four sheep with prime fleeces left, plus a few that had wool break earlier this summer. Since their fleeces weren't worth shearing to sell, we just trimmed the matted bits of the wool break off and left them with the remainder of their coats to keep them warm for the winter.

The nerve-wracking part of the process was catching Nicholai. He is a very polite and dignified ram, extremely well behaved. But if we scare him, he can get very dangerous. If he was frightened enough to charge, he could easily put me in the hospital. So, as always when I want to handle him, I had to charm him rather than force him.

As soon as I approached him with the lead rope in my hand, he knew I was going to try to catch him. I never chase him or try to corner him. I talk to him. I bend down, look him in the eye, and say his name repeatedly until I get him to stop and look at me. Then I approach and scratch him under the chin. I never take the next step until I can see that he's calm.

The next step is trying to hold onto his horns, which didn't really work today. I got a good grip, but he's so strong, he just twitched his head and wrenched my hand loose. Then I had to start over charming him again, to try to get a rope over his head instead.

I ended up having to follow him around the catch pen for a few minutes and finally just tossed the loop of rope over his horn to catch him. Once the rope is on him, he stops and becomes very polite to handle.

We led him to the shearing stand with a little grain to coax him along, since it's easier to move him that way than to try to drag a large, muscular ram by force. Once on the stand, he stood perfectly still, with immense dignity, for the whole shearing process.

As I expected, as soon as he and his ewes were sheared, he got all excited about all the sheepy nakedness, and spent the rest of the afternoon chasing his girls around.

We got more than 4 lbs. of fleece off him. Although his wool is rather coarse, I always like it. I keep thinking how great it would be to make felted boots or a long winter coat out of his thick wool. But I have no time for projects like that, so his fleece will go up for sale with the others.

That'll be part of my project for tomorrow---photographing all the fleeces so I can list them for sale.

Sorting Out

No immediate progress on the money front today, but I finally started making headway at some of my various projects that have been piling up.

I got my horse sales list recreated and sent out. I worked on two of the websites I'd promised people. I spent a bunch of time on the phone with my sister Donna sorting out which horses I will send up to her house if I can't sell them here soon.

It's very hard to decide which horses to keep without being able to see what kind of foals they'll produce with Senter.

For instance, I'm not particularly bonded with my mare Bonnie, but the foal she produced this year (to Art Deco, a famous Dutch Warmblood stallion) is spectacular. If she will produce that kind of foal with Senter as well, she would be a valuable one to keep, even if she's not my favorite. She's registered AND homozygous for tobiano, so those are marks in her favor.

Then there's Callisto. I picked her when she was a little weanling, and have raised her for two years now. She's turning out SO beautifully, awesome gaits and personality, and is going to be very tall. But she's gray, which is not a plus in a pinto broodmare, since she'll pass that gray on to half her foals.

Of course, the palomino and buckskin fillies, Torchsong and Callista, are high on my list to keep, simply because of their desirable color, their height, and the fact that they too are homozygous tobiano. But they are still young---I have no proof of what kind of foals they'll produce with Senter.

The only ones that I KNOW I'm not parting with are the two Art Deco fillies, Glory and Grace, and my stallion Senter. Other than that, it's all up in the air. How many can I sell? How many can Donna find homes for? How many can I afford to keep? What's the best business decision? What's the best emotional decision? When emotion and business decisions hang in balance, how do you decide between them?

With so much indecision and waiting going on, it was a relief to make some solid progress on some of my concrete, hands-on projects today. At least I can feel like I accomplished something today!

Discouraged

I'm feeling really discouraged lately. I keep experiencing so many pointless little glitches to everything I attempt that lately it seems like I can't successfully accomplish even one simple task during the day.

One of the people who supposedly was sending me a deposit on a horse two weeks ago seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, with no check ever delivered. Money issues are scarily bad. We're out of hay. We were supposed to get a new load delivered today, but the people never showed up, so the broodmares had to go hungry. The hay people have said the load will be here first thing in the morning.

Ken figured out what was wrong with my computer, fixed it, and set back up in my office. I went to start work this morning, and voila---no network connection, which means no internet, which means, once again, I can't do my work from my own computer and have to wait to use Ken's. Ken looked at it briefly and couldn't find what was wrong, but he had his own work stuff to deal with today and didn't have time to figure out my problem.

So, I figured I'd do one simple thing: send out a horse sales list to someone who said they might know someone who'd be interested in one of my horses. I spent an hour looking for the sales list among the files Ken had transferred from my problem computer to his computer, only to discover it wasn't there. I found it on my computer, but---whoops, no network connection, so I can't get it to his computer to update it. Just one simple task, and it took half the afternoon just to figure out that I'm going to have to recreate the thing from scratch.

We haven't been able to finish shearing the last few sheep, because it's been raining. I have quite a few people who have specifically said they want to buy various sheep products (fleeces, skulls, horns), but even though the sales seemed definite, everyone seems to have vanished without actually taking the final step to send us money.

I'm so tired of worrying about money. My sister Donna is helping as much as she can, bless her! But her situation is as tough as ours, so I hate to put any strain on her.

We need to get rid of most of the horses. I've known that for months now, but with the market as it is, it's easier said than done. I think Donna may take a couple that I can't bear to sell to strangers, and she's going to try to help me place some of the others.

But if we don't make some progress in that direction soon, it's going to be a choice between paying the mortgage and buying hay. I don't want to have to make that choice.

I just want to put this whole horse fiasco behind us and concentrate on the farm as a whole again. I'm looking forward to our spring lambs. If we can manage it, in the spring, we want to get chickens. They wouldn't be to raise for a profit, just to provide eggs and meat for us.

I'm so tired of needing money to be the desperate, central focus of my thoughts every day and night. Money has never been my raison d'etre. I would rather do work I love for little pay than be rich at a job that doesn't capture my heart. But this farm means a lot to me, and I'll fight to keep it if I have to.

It just gets so discouraging when all the stupid little meaningless obstacles keep piling up on top of the large, genuine problems. It all gets to be too much sometimes. Hence my whiny posts to this blog!

Still... I try to think of at least one positive thing to talk about in each post. Today that is the fact that the sheep are mating. I think lambing time will be short this spring. For the longest time, none of my ewes were in heat, and now they're all coming into heat at once. Which means that the lambs will probably all start popping out at once in April. There's nothing better than waiting for lambs!

Naked Sheep

We're going to our friends' house for our official Thanksgiving day tomorrow, so we didn't do anything holiday-like today. Instead, we sheared some more sheep, trying to get as many done as possible before the predicted rainy period swept in.

We sheared most of Taj's flock today. He is so funny! He REALLY likes his ewes naked. As soon as we started shearing them all, he got all excited and couldn't help himself from chasing them around (and around and around...) all afternoon. Nicholai is like that too, but we haven't sheared his ewes yet.

It started raining just as we were finished one sheep, so I didn't get a chance to take any photos, but I wish I could have gotten one of Taj's face. When we shear the sheep, if we nick any of them with the clippers, we spray the wound with Blue-Kote to prevent infection. The sheep end up with splotches of purple on them, as if they'd been attacked by a not-particularly-talented graffiti artist.

Taj was so enthusiastic about courting his girls after they were sheared, that by the end of the day his whole muzzle---including his tongue---was purple from nuzzling and kissing the ewes with the Blue-Kote on them. He looked like a kid who'd been messily eating a big purple popsicle!

Just a (Mostly) Bad Day

We sheared some more sheep today. Overall, it went okay, but just lots of little things went wrong that turned it into a bad day.

Several of the sheep struggled and rolled themselves into the hay and leaves as we were catching them to be sheared... putting lots of leafy junk into the gorgeous prime fleeces, which we then had to brush and pick out before we could shear, or else the fleeces would have been contaminated.

Ken knocked over the container of vitamin drench that I was giving to each of the sheep after they were sheared, and it all spilled onto the ground and was wasted.

I badly sprained a muscle in my calf, so now walking is slow and painful.

A sheep Ken was leading got away from him and crashed into me from behind, causing me to cut myself on the gate I was opening at the moment.

The check from one of the people who is buying a horse from me has not arrived---more than a week late---and we were counting on that money to pay our mortgage payment, because we used our mortgage payment money to buy hay.

I'm getting really discouraged about the whole horse situation. I wish they could just be gone, so Ken wouldn't have to worry so much about money. I can't even update my website yet, to help sell them, because Ken is still copying files from my dead computer onto his computer.

On the bright side, while he was doing that, he discovered something that might indicate that he can fix my computer after all. We're copying the files over anyhow, because I don't dare to trust that my computer will be fixed until I see it working consistently for several days in a row!

One cool thing about today: my sister Donna, who is an award-winning nature artist, has crafted a gorgeous one-of-a-kind walking stick for me to sell to help my farm. How much do you think I should charge for it? Can you think of a better place to sell this kind of thing than EBay?

One-of-a-kind, hand-carved, hand-painted cherry wood walking stick. The sorrel and white pony has real horsehair mane and forelock, a rawhide war bridle, and decorative face painting. Four bells on colored thread finish his costume. The staff is oiled with a natural oil.

Sheep Shearing

We finally got our clipper blades back from being sharpened. The weather today was mild, so we started shearing the sheep today. We don't shear them the traditional way, flipping them upside down and all that. My back would never stand up to that.

Instead, we put the sheep on a shearing stand and shear them standing up. Even so, we're not very fast at it, so this afternoon we only got six sheep done (including hoof trimming each one as well as shearing).

The weather is supposed to be warm tomorrow too, so we're going to try to get as many sheared as possible before the rainy cold front comes in. I feel bad for the poor sheep, because we're shearing them a month later than usual, which means they have that much less time to grow more fleece before the truly cold weather hits.

On the other hand, it means that our fall fleeces are that much more abundant, having had an extra month to grow. Some of these fleeces are really exquisite!

This one is Teasle's. I think it is the softest fleece of the year. Absolutely heavenly.


As far as breeding season goes, it was definitely Paris who got bred last night, because she was still in heat this morning. I suspect that Nicholai and Pandora may have bred last night too, because when I came out this morning they were lying down right next to each other. Normally the ewes don't lie down next to the ram unless they're in heat.

Looks like a lot of our lambs are going to be born at once come April!