Chickens with bloomers

 I love, love, love blue cochins, but they certainly don't pull their own weight in the egg laying department.  So, when I placed my layer chick order in June, I sprinkled in a few bantam blue cochins, and some d'uccles that I simply adore to just see in my coop.  Both breeds are calm, sweet little chickens.
The standard sized Blue cochins are my very favorite, but I will settle for the little version for now, it isn't as hard on my checkbook to feed them this way, 4 bags of chicken feed a week is killing me right now.
I also got indulgent and threw in 6 Blue red laced Wyandottes, I already had some silver laced Wyandottes, and I really like their temperament as well.  I always am careful to house chickens with similar personalities, it stops me from being attacked by aggressive roosters and the coop is a much happier place for everyone.

Some newbie sheep

I am a hopeless case......I got to move 2 rams to new homes a few weeks ago and transported them to WSWF to deliver them to their new owners.  I took 8 sheep to Jefferson, 7 were in the show, 1 went home with Kim Nickoli of Kimberwood Farm and one went home with Garrett Ramsay of Ramsay Farms.  I, on the other hand, can't simply be happy with finding my sheep good homes, I have to bring even more sheep home than I took with me to the show!!!  

Here are 2 of the girls that I brought home with me.....both are ewe lambs.  I also leased an older ewe and purchased/traded for another 4 yr old ewe.  I'll talk more about them when I get their pictures.  

I bought my first little girl the second she hit the sales list from Juliann Budde of Lil Country Acres, she's out of her ram, Saturday Night, so as a nod to John Travolta, she is now Lil County Disco!  Juliann is kind enough to let me name the sheep I purchase from her.  Thanks Jules.

Killian's face.....Salina in the background. 

My other ewe lamb was a trade with Garrett......my ram Cadillac for his gray kat ewe lamb.  His naming theme this year is beer names, so she is named Killian.  

Lil Country Disco 

White Pine Killian

R to L: Killian, Disco and Salina (Salcional's 2011 ewe lamb)

They are currently penned up in an attempt to settle them down, and so far, we are making progress.  Disco will not quite take grain from my hand yet, but she will stand 12" from me and eat from a bucket and the other two will eat right out of my hand now. 

Say hello to my little friend.....

Here she is........my new camera that I have been patiently waiting to buy until the funds and a humungo sale came along.  My patience has paid off since I got this considerably less than I thought I was going to have to spend.  She's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH22 a member of the point and shoot family and I love it!!!!  NO more blurry close up shots of fleece, no more blurry shots when I use the zoom.  Thank you Michelle for pointing me in the direction of this great line of cameras.  I didn't get the exact model that you did, but I'm very happy so far.  I can't wait to see what kind of shots I get in the daylight.  (grin)  

I went out last night to get a few shots of my sheep, and of coarse, it was already dark.  But, I will not let that stop me from taking pictures of my sheep!!!  Heck no.  Here's a few shots of one of two rams that I have for sale yet.  He is for sale, but if he doesn't sell, I'm keeping him anyway.  

Sawyer's butt-the hair on the end of his tail is wonky , but he has a  wonderful fluke tail. 

Side shot of Sawyer.   Keep in mind that it's dark outside and
his cooperation was minimal 

Sawyer's horns-clearing nicely on the sides, they've begun to
angle away from his face already.

A day of reflection

I am a blessed woman.....I know I've said that before, but it has never been more apparent to me than right now.  I found out last night that good friend of mine has an inoperable brain tumor and I'm going to lose her.  I've known this gal for years and I've never had any clue she was fighting cancer the entire time.  She told me last night and I just need to process the information, I don't think I've gotten that done yet.
I'm left with questions.........
What is important to me?  How many people do I love that I haven't spent time with lately?  How does this sort of thing happen to people that only give of themselves?  What is it about the "C" word that strikes terror in our hearts?  Why aren't we doing more to prevent toxins in our water, air and our food?  Why, why, why?

I have a friend that just lost his 14 yr old daughter to cancer last month, his only child.  What words do I have that comforts a man that loses that much?  We have an aunt that is a dear, sweet woman and she was just diagnosed with breast cancer.  I lost my aunt to cancer a couple years ago, my point here is that everyone is touched by this disease.
 
Our ability to face all of this with strength and love is what makes me take notice.  We are made of strong stuff, and our capacity to love is only deepened when faced with this sort of trial.  I am in awe of my friend and her strength, it has humbled me and made me proud to call her my friend.

I am BLESSED, and I thank the Lord that he will be there to take this journey with my friend, my aunt that is going to fight this and win, my aunt that lost her battle, my friend that lost his daughter and when I had to fight my own battle with this disease.


That which angers us, controls us.

MSSBA Show results

2011 MSSBA Annual Show ~ Results

Youth Showmanship

1st Clayton Mahlkuch ~ AlabamaYoung Handler Award

2ndElexis Eisenhower ~ Leon

3rd Clara Snow ~ Sommarang Ivy

4th Gavin Snow ~ Sommarang Isaac

5th Tori Gygi ~ S'more Samba

Senior Ram

1st  Lori Stephenson ~ FirthofFifth Avyt

2ndJuliann Budde ~ Windy Acres Hickory

3rd Andy Fulks ~ Boston Lake Jchen

4th Corinne Rasso ~ Sommarang Gilroy

5th Garrett Ramsay ~ WhitePine Levi

Yearling Ram

1st Meghan Namaste ~ Wintertime Grasshopper

2ndLori Stephenson ~ Sommarang Hackett

3rd Garrett Ramsay ~ WhitePine Flo Rida

4th Tori Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Gunpowder

5th Andrew Tobey ~ Tobeys Sampson

Ram Lamb

1st Theresa Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Velour

2ndTori Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Tarlatan

3rd Theresa Gygi ~ Dungaree Dungaree

4th Garrett Ramsay ~ WhitePine Miro

5th Lori Stephenson ~ Sommarang Innis

6th Lori Stephenson ~ Sommarang Ian

Pair of Ram Lambs

1st Tori Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Tarlatan, UnderTheSon Cendal

2ndLori Stephenson ~ Sommarang Ian, Sommarang Innis

3rd Garrett Ramsay ~ Nesse's Monster Mash & Nastro Azuro

4th Kelly K Bartels ~  OK Acres Cadillac and OK Acres Sawyer

5th Maegan Snow and family ~ Sommarang Isaac, Sommarang Ivar

Champion Ram:   Firth of Fifth Avyt, Owner- Lori Stephenson

Reserve Champion Ram:  Under the Son Velour, Owner- Theresa Gygi

Senior Ewe

1st Kelly K Bartels ~ SheltrgPines Salicional

2ndKaren Valley ~ Winter Sky Marrakech

3rd Theresa Gygi & Tori Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Tralee

4th Maegan Snow and family ~ Sommarang Elise

5th Lori Stephenson ~ Sommarang Farrah

Yearling Ewe

1st Theresa Gygi ~ UndertheSon White Lilac

2ndTori Gygi  ~ S'More Samba

3rd Theresa Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Assam

4th Garrett Ramsay ~ WhitePine Nivea

5th Andy Fulks ~ WhitePine Regina Spektor

Ewe Lamb

1st Andy Fulks ~ Fulks Family Sophia

2ndMeghan Namaste ~ Wintertime Vanity Fair 

3rd Corinne Rasso ~ Crosswinds Athena

4th Kelly K Bartels ~ OK Acres Vienna

5th Theresa Gygi & Tori Gygi ~ UnderTheSon Sateen

6th Kim Nikolai ~ Kimberwood Magic

Pair of Ewe Lambs

1st Lori Stephenson ~ Idelle,Irene

2ndMaegan Snow and family ~ Isla, Ingrid

3rd Kelly K Bartels ~ OK Acres Vienna and OK Acres Seneca

4th Garrett Ramsay~White Pines Saigons Special and WP Saku

5th Penny Becker~Tia and Kahlua

Champion Ewe:  SheltrgPines Salicional, Owner Kelly K Bartels

Reserve Champion Ewe:  Winter Sky Marrakech , Owner Karen Valley

Dam & Daughter

1stKaren Valley ~ Mandalay,Marrakech

Best Small Flock

1stKelly K Bartels ~ OK Acres Cadillac, ewe-OK Acres Vienna, ewe-Sheltering Pines Salicional

Best Fleece on Hoof

1st Karen Valley ~ Winter Sky Mandalay 

2ndMeghan Namaste ~ Wintertime Vanity Fair 

3rd Theresa Gygi & Tori Gygi ~ Velour

4th Lori Stephenson ~ Sommarang Irene

Supreme Champion SheltrgPines Salicional   Owner Kelly Bartels 

Supreme Res Champion Firth of Fifth Avyt  Owner Lori Stephenson

I know there are a few missing sheep names, so if you read this and can fill in the blanks, please let me know so I can get the correct names for each sheep that placed.  

That which angers us, controls us.