racing out the door with cell phone, lap top, and grabbing the phone book as well,

wish we had sunflowers this year like we did in 2008

Now why would I need a phonebook if I have all that other "new technology" stuff in hand? Well, I just need to thumb through the pages to look up information. It is like, how will I know what I am looking for if I can't start with one of the pages and work my way to the answer? Or, if I am not were there is internet the computer can't help me. And I don't want to pay extra for the cell phone to call information and have them get me the number. I would rather - grab the phonebook then later, not remember that I stashed it under my seat in the car - right? Oh well, I take so much stuff with me when I run out the door, it would be nice to quietly walk out the door and leave with out thinking I am the eye of the hurricane.

This week has been crazy. I am trying to finish up some deadlines so I can leave next week without so much "guilt" sitting on my shoulders. I am almost finished with the logo job and I will post it here when I am done, I really am liking it. And the new yarn show in Atascadero, Ranch Dog Knitting, I just sent out their on-line newsletter tonight - but I need to get more of their website done soon soon soon... I had a photo shoot with the Central Coast Weavers guild on Tuesday. I shoot the photos of some of the products that will be sold at our November Sale. Then I create postcard and the posters, which need to be sent to the print before I can leave on Wednesday. And I have a meeting for another job just before I leave this coming Tuesday. Could things be picking up in the graphic world? Dare I hope?

My big 2007 winner, Moose, at OFFF, Oregon.

So, were am I going this coming Wednesday. I am going to Canby Oregon to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, which I have shown my Pygora goats at, I think, a total of  6 years. It is 900 miles one way from here. This year, those putting on the show collected money to fly me up since I will bet the Pygora Goat Judge. I will be judging the Pygora shows, two of them and a "All other" fiber goat show as well. I am so looking forward to this trip. I plan on taking my Support Spindle and joining the spinning circle on Saturday and spinning. Sunday I will be judging alllllll day, but I have all day Saturday to check out the festival, visit with my fiber sisters,  and maybe learn something. Friday night I will judge the Pygora fiber show. All these boxes will have Pygora fleeces in them, and I will work my way though them looking for the best and then the best of the best. I know at least one person will be very happy with my work. The Winner! I hope I do good.

My  spindles and Pygora roving

What I haven't done on my to do list. I haven't sheared those bucks yet. I plan on doing it this Sunday - I can I can I can. I haven't worked on cleaning up the garden, and I haven't worked with my horses. I will try to do better.

What I am liking:  the weather has been perfect, I have been walking in the early evenings and it is soo very nice, and I finished knitting a burnt orange beaded shawl. And a friend bought a natural colored shawl and sent it to England to a family member. YA! I hope she likes it.
Until next time - enjoy the last days of summer, Fall starts Sept 23 and it is a full moon as well! Wonder what that means, maybe plant the fall garden that day?

How come, what you think you will do, it isn't what gets done?

Today is Labor Day 2010. How can it be that we have flown thru so much of this year already? Today, I had plans to work on those graphic jobs for my Imprint Design business, shear the billy goats and fix some goat houses - and maybe get to the coast to see my Mom. But what I am doing is sitting outside with my laptop under a nice group of valley oak trees in my yard, guarding the baby chicks and their mom while Jim races to the lumber store to get a smaller gage chicken wire to lace their pen with to keep them inside until they get bigger. The last two weeks all has been fine with these chicks having the run of the farm. But the last three days, we have lost one chick a day for three days in a row, down to 13 chicks. And no one is telling who did it. I am thinking it is ravens, yet could it be a tree squirrel? Well - I am watching and will continue watching as I write this blog. 

Tex, my Angora buck before shearing  fall of 2007

I did get the 6 Pygora bucks moved from their field into the smaller working pens and have used a pour-on to de-lice them. I really didn't look to see if they had any lice, thought I would just hit them up and then give them a good 48 hours for the lice to leave before shearing. However, I think I used the stuff I didn't like last year. I have noticed that there is two different types of pour on. One that will make the lice leave and one that kills the lice and leaves die bodies that then get into the fleece and stay all the way thought the mill process of washing, carding and spinning. So, I will have to deal with that if that is the case. I plan on getting a move on shearing this week. 

2007 at Santa Margarita Lake 

Riding my horses, hasn't worked so far, but yesterday I helped with the lunches at a dressage horse show. I don't think I have ever been to a dressage horse show other then seeing it on tv and my friend Ann needed help so off I went. The advanced freeform with music class was good, but the collection of that big beautiful bay horse was not to my idea of a happy horse. But later I saw a darling Half-linger that did a great job with its pattern and wasn't over collected to my taste, and I thought - hey - maybe Spice and I could do that some day! It all starts with getting my foot into the saddle and making the time - Right? 


I did list a couple roving products on my Etsy store. And one mohair roving sold, Yea!  Still need to list a lot more, but got a start on it. Link to my Etsy Store, click here. And I did sell a natural colored Pygora knitting shawl this week to a friend - thank you my Cheri! - all goes to feeding those goats.


So I need to get about 5 more beads from the bead store in Pismo  - Beads Beads Beads is its name, love that store, so I can finish another shawl. In the mean time, I should get working on those hobby horses, but I just don't want to. What I want is to find a knitting pattern that will be good for the mohair cranberry yarn that I have spun up and dyed from Tex- my angora buck. So far, I have swatched 4 different patterns and I don't like them - so I feel I am wasting time looking. But this is another - what I want to do, and not what I need to do. But this cranberry yarn is sooo pretty. 


Gosh I am getting hungry - this chick guard job is getting tough, hope the husband gets here soon, so he can take his turn guarding, wonder if I can get the chicks into the house so I can fix lunch. Until next week... don't count your chick sales until they leave the farm and money is in your hand :-)


Updated - 4pm today - we have the chicks and the hen locked in their now very secure pen and are they mad! Chirp chirp chirping away. Now two ravens are high in the oak tree above them, I really think it was them that like chicks for dinner each day. So far we still have 13(now) mad chicks locked up - hope we can practice "tough love" and keep them in until they are bigger or have a chick sitter while they are out. Now, back to that list of stuff I wanted to do today.

Fall, 16 chicks, 4-H, Horse lesson - welcome!

Poppy pods

I realize we have a few more weeks of summer before the start of fall, yet to me, the end of August and the start of September is the end of summer and the start of fall. To prolong my summer, I have been sleeping outside in my tent! I don't look forward to the short days which are already hitting us, so I thought if I could stay outside all night, then I would be enjoying the outside air of summer twice as long during a 24 hour time period. And if I could have a say in the matter of sunlight, I would make sure that the sun would not set until  8:30 pm up until September 15, then the day light could get shorter until October 31. This way our gardens would get those extra daylight hours to finish out their growing. This year we had so many cool days that the tomatoes are just sitting there waiting for warm days. And my goats are already trying to put on winter coats and yet I know we will have a heat spell before that happens and they will start to felt right on their bodies.

Notice the goat legs, as they watch the chicks

This morning, I pushed out of my tent and raced over to the dog crate where our Momma hen and her 16 babies - were chirping away -  they wanted out know, the sun was up, time to get going with the day!! They are in the crate to keep them safe from the wild night critters. But during the day they are everywhere, just everywhere. Here is a link to their video I have posted which is about just one of their days. They are a bold fun group. 16 baby chicks video link here.


This morning I went to a friend's home to work with her and her horse on ground behavior. Our goal was to make sure that her horse is listening to her and she is paying attention to her horse's subtle signs on where her attention is focused. We had a good lesson and they both had improved from the week before. Not all lessons with your horse need to be on your horse's back. And this was a case with this lesson.


The day did get a bit warm, yet our oak trees keep us cooler then the neighbors that don't have these wonderful trees. Tonight is the first local 4-H meeting of the school year. Last year was my first year as a 4-H Leader, I am the Spinning Leader. We are using support spindles to make yarn. I had 2 students and 2 moms last year. This year I will be advertising for more students. So tonight I start that campaign. Last year we did have fun. We spun, we dyed roving and yarns and we made our own spindles from clay. And skeins of yarn where entered the fair. So now that I have 1 year under my belt, I am ready for more students. I hope - I hope.


Since this is the beginning of the month I need to make a list of things I need to do, so here they are:

Pygora and silk roving for spinning

1. Shear the goats, their fall shearing
2. Clean all pens and make sure the goat houses are ready for wet weather
3. Clear out the garden and flower beds from over grown plants
4. Get fiber products listed with Etsy
5. Send about 4 pounds of Pygora fiber to the mill for processing.
6. Get working on two hobby horses that will be for sale this November
7. Ride my Horses - fall is a wonderful time to ride!!


Now for the graphics, I have a new web job with a new local Yarn shop. This job has been exciting to work on. It helps to have a web job with products that I love as well. I am really looking forward to  putting together this site. And I have a logo job as well. This is a auto repair company of which the owner is redoing his logo. And it is going well also.  So, I will be busy with these two graphic jobs this week.
Have a great week,
Jill