Well one of our sheep finally figured out how to give birth!  I went out yesterday morning to let the sheep out and there was a brand new baby in the straw, momma still had cord hanging out and had not passed the placenta yet.  For all  those curious souls out there, each baby lamb has its own placenta usually.  So we waited for her to pass that afterbirth and have another lamb.  It was not to be.  We got one little baby, a boy. (I was hoping for twins every time!)  We kept momma in the barn for the day to let the baby nurse as much as possible without having to chase momma down.  When I went out this morning I caught the baby and got my snuggles in.  Nothing like a three pound ball of fuzz that is 18 inches tall.  I will post pictures tomorrow.
Sarah and I spent all day yesterday finishing her room.  We installed the chair rail (painted black) and finished all the touch up paint, then rearranged all the furniture.  I still need to hang all the pictures and butterflies on her wall and we are going to install some sheet metal squares on the wall to use as magnetic/dry erase boards.  It turned out very well.  She did a great job.  We let her paint her mirror frame, and she is going to stain her two shelves and paint a small display stand (black of course).  She still has to decide whether to stain the shelves black or dark blue.  It turned out so well that Annmarie and I have already decided we are not going to change the color when she leaves and goes to college.  We like it!!  Well it just started snowing and I have places to be.  Pictures tomorrow.

I am sitting here on the computer laughing at teenager angst.  We have a young ram, Lucky, who is 7 months old.  He has been learning the ropes from our older ram.  All the ropes except how to actually mount a ewe.  All our female ewes used to be quite a bit larger than him.  Plus, they are all pregnant.  We managed to successfully integrate the five new ewe lambs and they are out running around the pasture.  The snow melted enough that we let them come out of the barn lot.  Those lambs are quite small.  Almost half the size of our larger ewes.  So Annmarie and I figured they were still babies.  I don’t think so now.  Lucky is out there trying to mount the poor little dark ewe.  He just won’t leave her alone.  But every time he gets up on her he quits paying attention to his surroundings and our adult ram runs up and butts him in the side with his head thereby knocking Lucky off of the ewe and back three feet.  But like any adolescent boy he just gets back up on that ride.  This keeps playing out over and over again.  The ewe finally ran off and everyone ran after her.  Sheep are not supposed to go into heat until they are at least six months old.  So maybe they are just tiny sheep.

Well it is official, we are really in the sheep business now.  Annmarie finished our new registration form to send out to buyers of our sheep.  I just addressed and stamped the very first one.  Very nice.  Of course we won’t have any more lambs for sale until our sheep squeeze out more lambs.  Our two pregnant mothers are huge.  Their bellies look like they are going to start dragging on the ground any day now.  So we expect them to give birth this month.  Now we expected that last month, but those bellies cannot get much bigger so I will go out on a limb and state that it WILL happen this month.  We will keep buying a few more ewes this year to enlarge the herd.
Our back creek is still running.  It had started to freeze over in the subzero weather we were having.  Today it warmed up over freezing for the first time in 10 days.
Sarah just about has her room painted.  The blue turned out very nice.  She is retouching the edges of the chair rail I am going to install this weekend.  We wouldn’t let her paint the walls black so we compromised with a black chair rail.  There is a small piece of ceiling trim to touch up also, but we needed the wall paint to dry so we could apply masking tape.  The amazing part is I am finally going to be able to finish installing her window trim pieces.  I have had the two pieces to install under the window sill since we moved into the house, but I had to patch the sheetrock first.  I just finished texturing and priming before she painted.  It turned out very nice.  I will post a picture after it is all finished.

I had to remove the top trim on the entertainment center to get it into the library.  It was a very tight fit! I did remember to reinstall the trim once it was safely ensconced in its new location.

I am writing this post on what is quite possibly the best gift my loving husband and daughter have ever given me. In order to understand my glee, you will likely need a little history as it relates to the gifting habits of our family. Steve invariably asks for some technology gadget, despite the fact that he is only marginally technologically capable. Usually I get him what he wants, and spend a couple of days after Christmas setting it up for him and teaching him the basics. He learns enough to make the whatever work, and then asks me for help every time he gets stuck for the next year or so. And all the while, I am secretly wishing the nifty gadget belonged to me. This year, though, he s
Really really surprised me. For my birthday, he got me a very nice piece of technology that I have been covetting almost from the moment I saw it. I just could not justify the purchase. But, Steve and Sarah got me one for my birthday!

Yes, my friends, I have joined the masses of iPad users. I have only had it in my hands for about 6 hours, and I am sure I have only barely scratched the surface of what this little thing can do, but already I am infatuated. I am going to have to put it down to knit, because all but five of my booties have sold, so I need to replenish my stock. But for the short term, this toy is one of the best distractions I could have hoped for. I have a wonderfully thoughtful family. Now, I am going to go watch a movie with my family. I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed holiday.

How do toilets flush?  Any guy will tell you that flushing is optional that is what the great outdoors is for.  Now any woman will tell you that going outside to pee in the middle of Winter is not a pleasant experience, especially without an outhouse.  So early this morning as I was outside with the dogs “watering the lawn” I was then instructed to fetch the holy water to flush the toilet.  I went out to the shed and gathered up two five gallon buckets and went to the back creek and filled one full and the other half full.  Lugged them inside the house and placed them inside the tub.  Now we have four toilet flushes ready to go.  They (the women) have already used two flushes.  Hopefully, (the plan is to) have the water line redug and all new line placed in the orchard today.  So when I show up from work tomorrow the water will have magically returned.  Absolutely amazing!!!