Felted sweater with a new life!

So, I found this sweater (probably at the Unitarian Recycle Sale where I am co-chair) that was already felted, and I loved the colors. I brought it home and washed it a few more times, and tried to figure out what wanted to do with it. I thought about making something for one of my girls with it, but I decided they all pretty much hate pink, so that wasn't a good idea. Then I thought that maybe my almost 6 year old niece, Emily might like something with it as she loves pink (just like me!!) So I decided making a "bag" (that's what my 16 year old calls anything she uses that you and I would call a purse...LOL) for her to carry a notebook and other stuff in it. So I asked around if anyone has made anything like it, because I was a little afraid of ruining it... So my friend Wendy said she hadn't made anything like it but looked up patterns for making one and said she would help me with it. So I took it over to her house and she and I talked about it and she sewed the bottom seam after she cut it. I then took it home and finished it. I think it turned out cool! I just hope my niece likes it as much...

Boy, am I pissed!!!

So, the other day my 16 yo daughter calls me at work and tells me that the brand new fence she and her dad and a couple neighbors helped put up this summer was broken and folded back. I told her that I would guess someone cut it, because it wouldn't get folded back by itself and wouldn't just break. Sure enough, she called me back and said indeed it was cut and not only that, but cut in two places! So my husband called the sheriff's who took the report but said they didn't think they would be able to do anything. We have two theories about it - some of us think it was hunters wanting to let the deer out that jumped in. The others of us think it was animal rights activists wanting to let the Jacob sheep out - who weren't even in there! In any case, we are pissed because we put a lot of money and time into it and now it has to be repaired.

Birthday party and goat

So, after church we had a birthday party to go to at a friend's house. She had told my daughter Marie that she wanted to have her goat bred but didn't have a truck to transport the goat and asked if we could pick the goat up. So, when I went into the car this morning and started it, I said to Marie, gee, we are going to Lorraine's, we should go in the van and then we can bring the goat back. So we switched vehicles and went in the van. After the party was about over, several of us went out to gather up the goat and headed to the van. Several of the other guests mothers were outside leaving and I said to them "Doesn't everyone go to birthday parties and bring home a goat??" LOL

An electrifying experience...

So, this morning I went to walk the dogs, and I look over at the ram pen (about 12-15 rams, different sizes and ages) and see an animal twitching in the electric fencing...having noticed just prior to this that the buck kid that is supposed to be in there as well is not. So I run over to the battery, pull off a clip to turn the fence off quick, and run to the house and bang on Marie's window and tell her there is an animal in the fence twitching...She comes out of the house, and we go towards the ram pen, and we each are trying to figure out who it was - we had just gotten a new ram (on loan for a year or so) and we both thought it might be him, as he wasn't used to the fencing. Then we realize that it is Marie's oldest ram, Patrick, and one of the biggest, that is tangled real good in the fence. He had the fence wrapped up in his tight two horns as well as way up his one of his back legs, which is bent at a uncomfortable angle. So, we get him untangled, and he tried to stand up, but isn't able to. Marie massages his back legs a while, and then helps him stand up and holds his back side to support him. As she is doing that, the new ram, Otts (pronouced "uutts") smashes into Patrick and Marie head on, so Marie has to wrestle him to the ground to let him know who is boss, and not to do that again! So I held Patrick, and then we manage to get him with support to the barn, so he can recover hopefully!! He is standing when we go out to see him, but he is still weak on the back legs tonight. I of course sprayed Rescue Remedy in his mouth this morning as well. And that back kid?? (No name yet...) We are sure he took full advantage of the fence being occupied, to jump over poor Patrick and escape!! He wants to hang out with his sister, but we don't want him to breed her! So he is keeping Patrick company in the barn, and hasn't escaped yet.

NYS Fair Sheep Quiz Bowl

So, for the third year in a row, my oldest daughter's team won the quiz bowl, and this year she had all new team members, one of which was her youngest sister, Rosemary. Here is a link with their picture:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/sheep/index.html
The people who run it said they don't think they are making it easy, it's just that Marie knows her stuff. :-)
Proud mom...

Sheep Shearing

So, I took my then 15 year old daughter to sheep shearing school at Cornell last spring so she could shear her own sheep. Bought her her own shearers for her 16th birthday. She has been shearing her flock of sheep (count at 74 right now) and getting lots of experience. So earlier this summer, we go to this Amish store near us, and my daughter notices that they have a couple of sheep that need shearing badly. So she and her dad go into the place and start talking to the owner. Say they noticed his sheep needed shearing. He tells them that he has been trying to get someone but can't get anyone to come. They say that Marie knows how to shear sheep, would he like her to do his sheep? He says yes, how much? Now my daughter (16) thinks to herself she would charge $5 a sheep. plus gas. My husband says 'how about $100?" The guy says sure, and my daughter's jaw drops. Hopefully the owner didn't notice! Anyway, we get there a month later and we start shearing the sheep and the guy asks us if we would be willing to try to shear the llamas. We said we wold try, and it took us a while, and the boy llama was a bucking bronco, but for another $100, it was worth it!!
Lesson one for business school...