Season of rebirth

He lifted his head to meet her continual licks.  She knew what to do, and had probably done this natural and maternal instinct many times before.  But I caught a glimpse of this precious beginning as I was going about 65, well maybe plus one or two, miles per hour north headed to Billings.  She was a lone cow in a pasture close to the highway, and there he was too.  Birth on a spring day in a pasture-simply sweet yet complex, soft and quiet yet rough while trucks, trains, and cars sped alongside.  The symbolic meaning of Good Friday came to me as I witnessed this moment. 

How many times have we speed by the chance at seeing 'wholey' or 'holy' the true vision of birth or the act of rebirth daily.  Here in a pasture every spring a calf is born-the miracle, the celebration, the life, the rebirth every year, and we-that'd be us two-legged sorts-are given daily, hourly, minutely, secondly the opportunity of rebirth in Jesus.   He has Risen for us this Easter weekend.
This picture was the closest I could find on google it's from http://theheritagefarm.me/. 

 

 

A little wool goes a long way-Felting

"Agitate the wool in a circle.  Put some elbow grease into it," said my instructor.  With every sudsy circle I made I saw the creation coming together.  What a learning experience.  It was something I had wanted to learn for years, but was gun shy to try it because I thought I 'had' to knit.  I have a dear, dear friend who has shown me how to knit, several times, but I am a tragic student.  Every time I knit something it looks as if mice beat me to it-with the apparent gaping holes.  So when I heard about the 'non-knitting' felting classes at the Muddy Lamb in Fishtail, Montana, I was more than excited.

Now what is felting? 
"Very simply, felt is matted wool. Wool becomes felt when it is subjected to moisture, heat, and pressure. (In fact, if domestic sheep were not shorn, over time their wool would felt or "cot".) Hot soapy water makes the wool slippery, and causes tiny scales on the fiber to "open up". The scales prevent the fibers from backing up again after they slide across each other; with agitation, the fibers get hopelessly tangled together. When cooled and dried, the scales close and lock the wool into the tough, durable material we call felt." ( directly quoted from http://www.gfwsheep.com/felting/felt.html)  There's a detailed project with images for further reference on this link.

Also, here's a little information directly quoted from the Woolery.

"FELTING is an age-old craft. Perhaps developed in the Middle East, perhaps the Far East, it is a process that has evolved with local traditions wherever it was used. And it is still used today, by kids in kindergarten to nomads on the great plains of Asia living in felt yurts. The technique is basic, requires very little experience or tools, and "mistakes" may well lead to interesting results. The Woolery brings you products and information about feltmaking and needle felting.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WETFELTING, FULLING, NEEDLE FELTING & ARTFELT?

WETFELTING or FELTMAKING means that you are working from the fiber (most often sheep's wool) to make a felted fabric or product using soap and water; there is no spinning, knitting, crocheting or weaving involved.

FULLING or KNITFELTING is achieved by knitting a garment and then shrinking it, filling (hence the term "fulling") the holes between the stitches. This fulling can be done on crocheted or woven items as well. Check our knitting books for many projects that are knitted and then "felted".

NEEDLE FELTING, unlike felting, does not require soap and water and does not need to be animal fiber. It is accomplished by using felting needles to make figurines or apply additional fibers to decorate fabric or garments (those can be made of felted material or knitted, crocheted or woven material).

ARTFELT is the name of a new product that is very similar to needle felting but uses a special paper backing that can be needle felted onto and then dissolves when washed leaving just the finished product."


I had a great time at the Muddy Lamb! I learned a lot to bring home, and share with my children and friends.  We've felted Styrofoam eggs and soap, and even needle felted them.  It's a fun and easy project for any age!

 

Here's a couple links of good sites with lots of information:   Muddy Lamb, Gleason's Fine Woolies, Woolery, Ravelry

 

Blue feathered friends

 

No, my blue feathered friends are not a flock of rare blue birds, instead they are none other than my loyal flock of followers-that is if I'm toting my chicken bucket filled with scraps-my hens. 

So in my 'illustrious' wisdom, here's how it went down.

As my oldest son and I were paint branding our lambs, here flitts a curious hen.  Well, naturally holding a spray can of blue branding paint I was feeling a little 'ranch rebellious' and said, "Hey wanna paint a chicken blue?"  Now I do admit there was a slightly sinister tone in my voice as I suggested the 'cool' idea, and I was probably a tad over zealous. 

However it all happened so fast!  I had no control.  The next thing I knew my pointer finger grew a mind of it's own, it pushed down on the spray nozzle and out 'sssshhh'ed the blue paint, and, and, and....Well a blue chicken flittered and fluffed away. "Ha-ha! Sweet! That worked," I said.  Yes, probably a little too excited once again.  "Mom, what's Dad going to say?" my son asks.  "Ah!  He won't notice.  It's only one chicken,"  I said.  I could see his wheels a turnin' as I said this, an idea he did have. "Then...can we paint the dogs?" he asked.  "Um, nope.  He'd definitely notice that," I said.  So after our conversation and branding our lambs, our 'one' blue hen happily dashed and darted around the yard all day.

Well, there's a valuable lesson to ponder when one is opting to paint a fine feathered friend.  Paint dries...obviously-that's how paint has always worked, however chickens aren't aero-dynamic once air borne with feathers painted blue and dried.  Hence when you 'huck' a 'cluck' over a gate, be prepared for its air to ground drop rate.  While they do flitter and fluff through the air they also land with a thud in the mud-and break a leg.

Now, you ask yourself why the photo shows more than one blue painted chicken.  Since hucking the cluck ended up to be bad luck for my fine feathered friend, I felt compelled to hide the situation from my children.  So naturally I painted all the chickens with a dab of blue here, and a dab of blue there.  And while I camouflaged the situation it was a quite colorful scene-now definitely husband noticeable. However, it did work great for the kids which was my primary concern, not the husband, until I hear them running into the house later saying, "Mom that chicken not only broke it's leg...it's head popped off too."   Yep, that did it...I am now wishing I was more worried about what my husband might say about the blue chickens in the yard.

Note to self...don't huck a cluck and paint t'aint good for them chickens.

  

Laser school day

Our youngest son is just at the age where he's in preschool but counting the days until Kindergarten.  He does love his preschool and friends.  However, he is really ready to go to the 'big' school like his brothers.  So on this fine Monday morning I call and call him to get ready.  When I go in search for our little man I find no 'small fry' in sight.  "Hum...where did he go?" I said.  And it was then I saw the end of the pretend 'laser' gun sticking out from under the bed.  "I'm NOT going to school today!" he declared and began firing his pretend laser gun with it's 'amazingly obnocious' laser gun sound.  "Pew...Pew...Pew!" It sounded.  "I'm not coming out!" he said.  Well who can argue with a five year old armed with a pretend laser gun holding up under his bed, not I.  So I left him with the end of the pretend gun still showing it's face from beneath his bed. "Eh-he'll come out when he's hungry," I thought.  It wasn't five minutes later  his tummy and ears got the best of him when he heard his bagel was ready.  He'd come out from his hide out, put down his pretend laser gun, and now was armed with a bagel covered in strawberry cream cheese.  Looked like getting ready for school was in the near future after all.

I will not go to school today

I will not go to school I say
I want to stay home and play
No way, No way
I will not go to school, I say

You will go to school today
You will go to school I say
You will not stay home and play
Yes way, Yes way
You will go to school today

 I will go to school today

Because that is what the mama say
Yes I will I say, I say
Yes I will I say and I will play

Lil' hooves

The wind pelted my face as I walked to the barn.  There may have been shards of ice compounded inside each blow whipping by,"Whew...it was a cold morning," I said to myself.  I looked  to the east.  With the time change the sun wasn't cresting the Pryors yet but the heavens had lifted and I could feel dawn brewing.  It was a little after 6am, a smidge earlier than I had been going out.  As I opened the cold metal gate latch I felt I should be moving faster, and then I saw her.  I definitely should've been moving faster, with good reason.  There she was, pearly white with tufts of fine wispy hair around her eyes and ears, and a rumpled up 'almost' wool coat covering her pink skin.  Her mama had done a good job licking her off quickly on this windy cold morning, and she had a little more to do yet.  But all in all the spindly legs and little hooves held her weight, she was a good size, and bright eyed.  Mama made her 'gurgling' noise at me and kept working away on her little one.  I talked softly to mama and baby.  I told her we had to move into the barn and I wasn't taking her baby away.  So as I coaxed her out of her covering, I felt the newborn lamb's beating heart under my hand as I held her.  "So precious, so sweet-a soft moment in life on this morning," I thought.  Funny how all I could think about was the wind and the cold as I walked to the barn, and now it hadn't crossed my mind since I saw those big eyes peak around the corner when I lifted the gate latch.  She had all but said to me, "Ta-da!  Here I am!" 
I laid her softly in the jug filled with fresh straw and her mama immediately went back to 'checking' her over.  The overhead light's glow cast a soft welcome upon the two newcomers.  Placing a leaf of alfalfa in the corner, I rubbed the mama's nose and said, "good girl".  Next I needed to get the cord taken care of, nutrition, colostrum supplement and water, but first I had to run to the house and tell the boys.
As I pushed open our front door I saw my oldest son putting his socks on sitting over our floor heater.  "Did we have one?" he asked.  "We did!" I said excitedly.  "Come see."  So together we braced ourselves against the wind, and the now sunrise gave us a little extra light.  She looked at us as we interrupted her nursing and smiled with her eyes.  "I think we should name her Sally," my son said.  "I think that's a fine name...Sally it is," I said.

CrittersnGogetters

Welcome to my blog!
As for critters...we have plenty of them to share their zaney antics, and gogetters...well...big and small there are plenty of escapes to report on. 
Stay tuned!