Barking for a reason

Posted by kenleighacres on October 7, 2012
Posted in: Border Collie, Farm Life. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

Poor Kate gets a bad rap.  She likes to bark.  She feels like she has to tell us when anything she feels is important is happening.  That could be someone pulling in the driveway (appropriate), someone walking past our house (semi-appropriate), our neighbor two doors down sneezing (not really appropriate), or anything else that may be happening within earshot.

This evening she was being exceptionally bad.  I had looked out front, looked out back and couldn’t see or hear anything that would cause her to bark.  Regardless of not seeing anything, she continued to bark every 5 minutes.  I was going to bring her in but I had to get something in my shop first.  As I was headed to my shop, she jumped at the fence and started barking at something across the road up on the hill.  I looked and looked, but didn’t see what she saw….

until this guy took a step and crunched a leaf.

He was well camouflaged and was holding very still.

We don’t see many deer here, so it is a treat when we do.

I followed him up the hill and he didn’t seem very concerned.

I think he has been the cause for a lot of barking because he was very comfortable on his hillside.

He slowly meandered out of sight, but I’m sure he will be the cause for more barking in the future.

The Wonderment Project

Posted by kenleighacres on October 5, 2012
Posted in: family, Jacob Sheep. Tagged: , , , , . 5 Comments

Wonderment – Amazed admiration, puzzled surprise.

Seeing this car driving down the road, with a big ball of hay on top, would fill you with amazement.

I handle a lot of hay, but I have never seen it bundled quite like this 🙂

The sheep and llama were definitely full of puzzled surprise.

The Hay Ball project is a small spectacle meant to offer a bit of wonder and create smiles as it travels across and meets America.

It was created by my uncle and you can visit his blog to see the other amazing art pieces he has made with hay.

It seemed fitting to do a photo shoot with the sheep and the big ball of hay.

The message is simple, but so profound in today’s world of go, go, go.

Here is a bit from my uncle’s blog –

‘Traveling with The Hay Ball is something I have been doing for a few years around Maine and New England. With every trip either to a different city or to the supermarket it inevitably is a bit of an adventure producing numerous smiles, conversations and insights. Having done this for some time locally, I have decided to take it on the road. Support this project and virtually come along!’

You can follow along on his journey by liking his Facebook page.

‘Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.’  Guillaume Apollinaire

OFFF

Posted by kenleighacres on September 29, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

Outstanding, Family, Friends, and Fiber…also known as the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.  What a great time we had at the festival last weekend!

It started on Friday with a fabulous felted boot class with Carin Engen.  It turned out that 3 very fun ladies were also taking the same class.  At the end of the day, there were a lot of beautiful boots around the room.

Here are mine.  I will be ordering soles soon and adding buttons up the side.

Since I was in a class all day, I was a little short on time to set-up my vendor booth.  Thanks to a couple spectacular friends, this wasn’t an issue at all!!!!

Love these two ladies!!!  In addition to helping me set my booth up, they also watched it for little bits of time throughout the weekend.  Words can’t describe how much I appreciate their help.

My parents also came over and helped me put the finishing touches on it.  They have an apartment close to the festival location and I got to hang out with them for the weekend, what a treat!  They also watched my whippet, Paisley, for me during the day.  She did a very good job of convincing them that the princess only does what the princess wants to do 😉

The mornings were beautiful and the weather was so cooperative!

A friend’s dog, Zeke, got to show off his mad duck herding skills.  It was a big crowd pleaser.

A mama llama and her mini me.

I love seeing all of the breeds of sheep.  This poor guy needed a new hairdo…

there, much better!

I think this guy was a little jealous 😉

Lots of baaaaing back and forth between the barn and the show ring.

Love those Border Leicesters!

The Icelandic Sheep breed was the featured breed and there were a lot of lovely fleeces to admire – on the sheep…

and off.

and of course…my favorite breed.  Love the horns on this little girl.

Quality time with great friends enjoying what we love!

Morning chores…

Posted by kenleighacres on September 15, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

also known as the loudest part of the day as all of the sheep start screaming for their breakfast!

The breeding groups are still together, but only for one more day.  The boys will go back to their bachelor pads and the girls will go out on the pastures that still have some grass.

By my calculations, it is going to be a busy lambing season…33 girls were bred in 3 weeks.

Speaking of lambs…here are the ewe lambs we are keeping with the 2 retired girls, Holly and Dolly.  We were only going to keep 4 ewe lambs – 2 for us and 2 for our son.  Somehow there are 10 there…

but they are such a sweet group 🙂

They scream for their food, but they really like their morning scratches.  This is Unzicker Rosalind and she often leaves her food to come get extra scratches.

These girls think she is crazy!!!

To get to the back corner pasture, I have to walk through the chicory that is in full bloom right now.  Summer is still here, but Fall is definitely in the air, especially on the frosty mornings.

You can also sense the urgency in the bees as they prepare for Winter.

The two ram lambs, Roy Rogers is in front and will be staying…if he starts behaving himself that is!  He doesn’t think it is fair that he didn’t get any girls and has been creating a lot of commotion because of it.  He will soon be with the big boys and they will surely put him in his place, at the bottom of the ladder!

I enjoy my morning chores, but will enjoy them even more when the sheep aren’t all spread out.  I love spending time with the girls and it is hard to do that when they are with the boys.

25 dogs and counting…

Posted by kenleighacres on September 4, 2012
Posted in: Crafting, Dogs, Farm Life, Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, Photography, shearing, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 10 Comments

It all started on July 27th when I posted photos of a felt dog that I made as a ‘thank you’ gift for someone who went above and beyond for us.

Say ‘hello’ to Doc, a Blue Heeler.

I posted photos on my Kenleigh Acres Facebook page and the orders started coming in and the dogs started moving out!

The first group shot.

Some of them have been special replicas of dogs that have moved on and left a hole in their owner’s hearts.  This is Kodi.  She was a very special dog for my sister and I can remember hiding her in my room as a tiny puppy for a few days before Christmas, many years ago.

This is Sally Sue…a Basset Hound.  Don’t tell the others, but she is one of my favorites 🙂

More dogs and another group shot.

A fun group of Aussie girls…

Bubbles, Dabble, and Mardi.

Some of the dogs are serious workers, much like they are in life.

When I finished this American Eskimo, I went to bed thinking about where I wanted to take a picture of it the next morning.  My mind went on a creative tangent and my poor husband woke up to me asking him if he could help me take another group shot of the dogs on the back of one of our sheep!  Bless his heart, he just kind of shook his head and said ‘sure’.

So, we boxed up the pups and headed out to the pasture.

An adult ram in a breeding group isn’t the sheep I would normally choose, but Aragon isn’t really a ‘normal’ ram.

My husband scratched his chin while I set the dogs on his back.  Aragon just kind of melts and goes into a trance when you touch him.  Perfect for taking photos!

Unfortunately, he also wags his tail, so a couple of the pups took a plunge.  They were set up again and…

we got the shot!

I added a little bit of wording and

I now have a sign to take with me to the upcoming fiber shows.

I love that my passion for sheep and dogs have collided in such a fun way!

All of the dogs can be seen on my Kenleigh Acres Facebook page.

There’s no place like home!

Posted by kenleighacres on September 3, 2012
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Photography, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

That statement isn’t more true until you have been gone for awhile…but before we could say it, we had a lot of miles to cover!

The views and the laughs and the music trivia helped!

I love how you can see the rain coming from miles away!

The clouds make such interesting shadows on the hills.

One day I want to go exploring in this type of country.

The sunsets were beautiful.

We didn’t see very many sheep, but to see these guys near…

seemed very fitting!

A pretty scene as we were leaving Utah.

Another pretty sunset as we drive to Mud Ranch!

I always enjoy our visits to Mud Ranch!

This visit had an extra perk because we got to see and hear ‘The Boss’.  The boys had a great ‘spin around the block’ in it and they showed me their skid marks as we made our way up the hill headed towards home.

Such a welcome sight!

but not as nice as seeing our little valley.

There truly is ‘no place like home!’

All for one day of fun!

Posted by kenleighacres on September 2, 2012
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

I just noticed that in my previous post I said that Saturday finished with the Spinner’s Lead…that should have said ‘Friday’.  We were all confused on what day it was for most of the trip, so I’m not surprised that I wrote the wrong day.

Saturday started with breakfast and great conversation.  The thing I look forward to most about attending the AGM is seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  This year didn’t disappoint…I just wish we had more time to visit!

The Junior show followed breakfast and was well entered.

Our son helped show sheep…

as well as showed his ram lamb that he brought to trade for a ewe lamb from Royal Unzicker.

After the Junior show was the Open show.

It is always fun to see Jacobs from across the country in person.

Buying new sheep is always fun, but I went with the resolve that I was only coming home with the sheep that I had prearranged.

This girl REALLY tried to change my mind 🙂  Luckily, my friend Joan bought her!

Which is more fun anyways, because now we have matching sheep 🙂

Saturday afternoon was filled with workshops and presentations.  I really enjoyed them, but after several days of late nights and early mornings, our son needed a little bit of down time, so Tony took him back to the hotel for some time in the pool.  They found a prairie dog colony, of course we had to stop and take pictures when we drove by later.

Little mounds everywhere!!!

They are so cute, but I am thankful we don’t have them here!

 I wish I had taken a moment to take a picture of Saturday night’s dinner – it was DELICIOUS!!!  Brian and Jennifer Tucker did a great job of hosting this year’s AGM and deserve a round of applause.  I know what a tough task it is!

Sunday morning started early and consisted of loading up different sheep to be brought back with us and saying ‘good-byes’.  We got back in the truck and thought to ourselves, ‘wow…that was a LOT of driving for one day of fun!’  How nice it would have been to click our heels together and be whisked home…but I wouldn’t have been able to take the photos I did on the way home, so I guess the drive was good.  Those photos will be in my next blogpost.

3,240 miles, 4 people, and 28 sheep!

Posted by kenleighacres on August 30, 2012
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Photography, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

We just returned from the Jacob Sheep Breeder’s (JSBA) Annual General Meeting (AGM).  We travelled 3,240 miles and hauled 28 sheep to and from the event.  The AGM travels around the country and this year it was held in Brighton, CO.  We travelled with our friend, Joan, from Mud Ranch.  My husband, our son, and myself left last Wednesday and drove to CA to pick up Joan and a couple of her sheep.  We took her truck and our trailer and headed out early the next morning.  If I was Joan, I would have been a little scared to get in a truck to travel all the way to Colorado with us, but she assures us that she had fun 😉  Actually we all would take a trip together again, we had so much fun!  Lots of laughs and on more than one occasion we found ourselves saying ‘Just smile and wave boys…just smile and wave’.

Our destination for the first night was Salt Lake City, UT.  If you had told us how many hours we were going to be in the car that first day or how boring it was going to be driving across Nevada, I’m not sure we would have gotten in the truck!

It was a whole lot of this!  There are mountains there somewhere, but the smoke from forest fires was really thick.

I can’t remember what time we finally fell into bed that night, but we did indeed make it to Salt Lake.  Joan had to keep promising Tony that it was just around the next hill.

The next day we finished our short little jaunt through Utah and then we were in the land of Antelope…aka Wyoming 🙂

Their white rear ends can be seen all over the hillsides and there were a lot on the side of the road.

Wyoming was full of a lot of stuff to look at…

and we all decided we could move there.

This Bison Ranch…

had Bison and…

Camels!!!

Wyoming can get very windy and they take advantage of all that wind with the turbines…

You don’t realize how big they are until you drive under them!

We drove right by Buford, I love this sign!

Once we hit Colorado, it was just a short little drive to our destination.

We arrived just in time for the fleece show!  It felt good to be out of the truck for more than a couple minutes 🙂

The sheep did well on the trip and were very happy to get out of the trailer.

I got to see our new sheep in person…here I am with Perfect Spot Ailsa.  I am so happy with her!

Saturday finished with the Spinner’s Lead.  I was participating, so I didn’t get any pictures, but Joan has wonderful pictures of the participants on her blog.

More on the rest of the AGM and our trip home soon!

and the cycle begins again!

Posted by kenleighacres on August 15, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

The breeding groups are together and lambs are in the works!

The list of who was going with who has been reworked numerous times and I believe I am happy with the ram and ewe combinations, only time will tell if the results are what I was hoping for.

Kenleigh’s Reno is with Kenleigh’s Emeline, Timber’s Hallelujah, Ruby Peak Penstemon, Kenleigh’s Sublimity, Kenleigh’s Infiniti, Puddleduck Cleora, and not pictured Rolling Hills Eva (owned by Lisa).

Windy Acres MacCallum is with Mud Ranch’s Susannah, Kenleigh’s Legacy, Newberry Calgary, Mud Ranch’s Queenie, and Kenleigh’s Carrera.

Queenie wanted to be front and center (big surprise), so here is a better picture of Mac.

Perfect Spot Ailsa will also join this group when she arrives later this month.

Patchwork Abraham is with Mud Ranch’s Jonquil, Kenleigh’s Amelia (owned by Lisa), Newberry Opal, bide a wee Althea, Kenleigh’s Avalon, Kenleigh’s Canby, Kenleigh’s Liberty, Kenleigh’s Wren, and not pictured Hunter’s Glen Florence (Precious).  Abraham loves his ladies!

Unzicker Aragon is with Kenleigh’s Azera, Kreutzer’s Izzy, Kenleigh’s Petunia, Kenleigh’s Mercedes (owned by Lisa).

Today, he only has eyes for Meridian Bronwen.

Byeburn Hector is with Kenleigh’s Flirt, Mud Ranch’s Hyacinth, Mud Ranch’s Lisette, Kenleigh’s Pacifica, Rolling Hills Veronica, Windy Acres Delight, and Kenleigh’s Molalla.

bide a wee Dalton is with Windy Acres Amber, bide a wee Shana, Hunter’s Glen Echo, and not pictured Huntsberger Venus.

Amber was immediately taken with him.

The ram lambs have been given their own pasture and are hanging out as a bachelor group and the ewe lambs are enjoying the company of the two retired girls – Holly and Dolly.

Pretty soon the pastures will be full of black and white spotted lambs bouncing around once again!

Caught ’em!

Posted by kenleighacres on August 9, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life. Tagged: , , , . 6 Comments

The summer has been flying by, just like the little Goldfinches.  Each morning starts with them taunting me…I can hear them through the windows and just as I grab my camera and sneak out the door, I see them flying away and singing their little song.

Not today!

I finally caught them!

I have so many favorite birds that visit our farm – quail, swallows, doves, pheasants, but I think the goldfinches top this list.

Their vibrant colors and joyful chattering is very contagious.  You can’t help but be happy when you are watching them.

They were focused on the thistle and I finally got the pictures I was hoping for!

I’m not a fan of the thistle, but I do love the goldfinches that it brings!