The "New" Spice Girls

Last Saturday I transported one of my ram lambs on the first leg of his journey to the UP to his new home with Barb Reiter's flock.  My dear friend, Terry, agreed to drive from Princeton, IL the night before, stay over night and then go on my trip the following day.  You see, Terry is a quilter, a very good quilter and I have bullied her into making me a queen sized quilt.  I am going to give her some of my wool batts to use instead of man-made fiber fill batting, so it will extra special.  You can see Terry's works of art at Quilt Crazie.
So the story goes......
Pearl Jam, my little polled ram, took a trip to Beaver Dam (Dr Suess, eat your heart out) We arrived at the Beaver Dam McDonald's, our predetermined meeting place and met, Sandy, another animal lover and fellow Shetland breeder.  Sandy had made arrangements with Barb to meet the following week and she was to get a ram from Barb and deliver my ram.

This picture of Pearl Jam and I was stolen from Terry's blog and was taken in the parking lot of McDonald's, Beaver Dam, WI.  I have no idea what the people at these meeting places think of us and our transferring of sheep from car to car (SUV, Truck or Van)  We sure get some goofy looks. 

 
Sandy mentioned that she had arrived a little early and decided to attend a little Bantam and Pigeon show just 2 miles down the road.  Well......nooooowwww, she had my attention and I had her promptly show me to her car and the carrier containing her new acquisitions.  She had the nicest little group of bantams and among them were my favs, little Partridge Cochin Bantams.  Ok, that did it, we were headed to the show, because you can't go home with an empty crate......right?   Terry just laughed at me and shook her head.
We raced to the fairgrounds, located the show, located the chickens, then the owner and I picked out 3 pullets and we loaded them in the Malibu and hit the road.

My new "Spice Girls" 

I sure hope she doesn't expect us to sing.

 Terry was sufficiently impressed with how quickly that all took place, but I knew what I wanted and we HAD to get to JJ Stitches in Sun Praire to get my fabric for my quilt!!!  This quilt shop specializes in Civil War reproduction fabrics and I loved it there.  The gal that runs the shop was invaluable in getting the colors and tones just right and when she was done laying all the shades of dark blue together, I didn't change a single one.

A few of the lovely fabrics we had to choose from at JJ Stitches.

None of the samples above are for my quilt, just a random shot of the fabrics she carries in her shop.  

Our flowering pear tree in full fall color!!  

Breeding groups go together this weekend, and I've decided to keep my crossbred ewes for another year despite the hay situation.  I am not going to give my girls away and I honestly think that there is going to be people looking for some meat sheep this next year.  Seems like everyone is taking entire flocks to the sale barn, so not many "extras" will be floating around next year.  The processors are so busy they won't give you an appointment for months to get any sheep in for freezer meat, and  the price of feeder lambs has plummeted to about $86 per hundred weight due to the large numbers of sheep hitting the sale barn.  Same thing with beef and hogs......so if you want meat in your freezer, now is the time to purchase it, because next year you will be paying a premium for it.  All the flock and herd dispersal's are going to drive prices up next year or the year after because there won't be enough supply for the demand.   I only have 4 crossbred ewes, but I think I've now located enough hay to get me through even if I keep the extra girls.  So they will be put into the groups with the purebred girls again this fall.

Happy Friday Everyone.