Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  It's Monday Nov. 21st and almost Thanksgiving time.  It has been two weeks since I've written and many things have happened.  My poor old Avocado was limping, so Darcy and Todd trimmed her hooves and discovered an abcess on her chest.  They cleaned it and put bacitracin ointment on it and gave her 3 c.c. of Penicillin.  We did this for three days then I decided to have the Vet come to check on her, Blake and Thistle.  Poor old Luther is just ageing faster than Blake and is thin.  I moved Luther and Spartacus to the barn so I can feed him better hay and a little extra grain/cracked corn. Deb, our wonderful Vet, cleaned off Avocado's chest and sprayed it with silvercote and said no more Penicillin.  She also said to give Avocado extra grain/corn as she is very thin.  Its hell to grow old... both for humans and animals!  Deb gave Thistle, our breeding ram, a good physical as he didn't seem to be very interested in Rosie!!!!!!  I only hope he bred Rosie as she is a beautiful,very sweet ewe. 

Maggie and Cedar, the two little ewe lambs that will be going to live with Olivia and Emma, are a constant source of humor for me.  Maggie is loud and just a funny little clown.  Cedar loves to buck,jump and bounce around and makes me laugh every time I am with her.  Olivia said they picked out "Over Every Hill Farm" for their farm name!  I really like that and I'm so glad they are close by, I can go visit the two little ewes.

My son David came up Friday morning and helped me load Rosie into the dog crate for her trip back to Center Sandwich, N.H. Jonathan and I left at 9 a.m. and Rosie was a wonderful traveler, not one little "baaaa" from her!  We ate lunch in Bristol,N.H. and arrived at Ken and Donna's farm at 2 p.m.  Rosie walked out of the crate and over to the barn.  There was a little butting going with her "old friends" and then she settled back in with everyone.  We visited for a short time then went to register at the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at.  It was the Strathhaven Inn Bed and Breakfast.  They had the most comfortable beds and it was a lovely, quiet place to stay. Tony made a delicious breakfast for us on Saturday: an omelet, sausage, and silver dollar pancakes, orange juice and wonderful coffee.  We had a very nice visit there, then back to Ken and Donna's. 

We then went to a little coffee shop so Donna could show me the yarn, looms, wheels, etc. and it was such fun to chat.   Donna also showed me the fantastic pencil roving and yarn that she got back from the Green Mountain Fiber Mill.  They did a wonderful job and Donna has some of the most beautiful truly black roving from her sheep Aberdeen.  It is hard to get a true black, but Donna has it!!!! Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we took Donna and Ken to George's Diner in Merideth,N.H.  My cousin Roger Rist owns this restaurant and we had a delicious seafood dinner!  It is absolutely the very best food!  Thank you Roger!  Well, we loaded Colby into the dog crate and headed for Vermont about 11 a.m. on Saturday.  Colby was a wonderful traveler too and didn't make one "baaaaa" on the way home.  We stopped twice and got home about 3:30 p.m.  Colby went into the pasture with Thistle and Stuart.  Thistle was extremely excited to see Colby and I hope they will make some beautiful little lambs.  I will add some pictures I took today of Colby and Thistle.

Jonathan and I both have come down with terrible colds and I think I will have a nice nap this afternoon.  The sun is shinning in on my bed so I can be like a cat and lay in the sunshine.  I guess that is about all the news for now so I will sign off and go take my nap.  Good-afternoon from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  Its Tuesday night Nov. 8th  and we set the clock back an hour this past weekend.  I do like getting up and having it light to do chores at 6:30 a.m. but I do not like it being dark at 4:45 p.m. when I have to go do chores. I have moved sheep around and have the two little rams in the front pasture.  The big group of ewes (21) are in the pasture by the garage.  Blake and Marcus were out all day but I put them in tonight.  Poor old Blake should be in the barn at night where he can have nice bedding.  The four old ladies are on the backside of the barn.  Chet and Cecil are in the side pasture by the barn.  Thistle, Stuart and Rosie are out on this side of the barn and still no "Romance" between Thistle and Rosie!!!!!!!!  All Thistle wants to do is eat!  I think I need to take him for counseling for food obsession!  Arnold and Okra are in their stall. 

It was a beautiful day and Jonathan fixed a gate for me with Declan helping.  I had Donald Hall here on Saturday and he put up some fencing for another pasture.  He also made a space for the gate which Jonathan hung the today.  I was able to have Flopsy, Maggie and Cedar out in this new pasture and have some adorable pictures to add to this blog.  They are just such little babies and love, LOVE attention!!  How I will miss them when they go to their new home, but I know they will be very well loved and cared for.  Olivia helped me on Saturday and we moved the skirting table, cleaned up pastures and brought in tubs and buckets.  We worked in the fiber studio putting away things from the Gilfeather Turnip Festival.

I have a student coming to do an interview tomorrow for her Art Class.  It will be fun to have her meet the sheep and see my studio and my needle felting.  I also have someone coming to buy wool and felting needles.  Tonight my project is to finish two little cats that I have been working on for a VERY long time.  Cats are very hard to needle felt and I just can't seem to get them to look the way I want.  I'm also knitting a hat with some merino and variegated cotton.  I'm pretty sure it will be a surprise for Rowan.  You will see in the pictures that Declan certainly loves the sheep.  I'm also adding a Halloween picture of Papa, Rowan and Declan.

Well, its time for me to crawl into my flannel sheep pajamas and go do the needle felting that has to be done.  Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  Its Thursday night, October 27, 2011 and we had the first snow of the season today.  This is way too soon if you ask me, and I would rather it waited to snow until at least Dec. 24, but nobody asked me!   There was enough snow accumulated on the roads to make the trip home for David and Jonathan very slick!  I cannot believe that I haven't written since Oct. 12th so there is a lot to add to this blog. 

I have been working all through the beginning of October to get all my stuff ready for the Gilfeather Turnip Festival last weekend.  Thank goodness I have had Olivia to help me on Saturdays or I would have never been able to get stuff ready.  Olivia didn't have school on Friday Oct. 21, so she helped me do a lot of things here at the farm. We moved sheep, packed up everything with the help of Agathe, Emma,and Jonathan and loaded the van for the Festival on Saturday Oct. 22.  I left here at 8:15 a.m. and Agathe, Olivia and Emma helped me set up my booth and be ready to sell.  My booth was outdoors in a tent and by early afternoon, more rain arrived.  There was a very big crowd but not a lot of sales.  We were all very excited because the Library was selling raffle tickets for the beautiful wool mural that was made at the Fiber Fun Camp this summer.  I think someone from Connecticut won the mural.

On Thursday Oct. 20 my sweet little white Casper ( ram lamb) went to his new home in Windham,VT.  He will be with 5 ewes and I'm sure he is a very happy little boy.  On Sunday Oct. 23 my little Cedric (ram Lamb) went to Maryland to be with some very beautiful Shetland ewes.  I am so happy that both little boys went to very nice farms and hopefully produce some lovely lambs.  I have Custer (white ram lamb) that should go for breeding because he is so handsome but so far no-one has inquired about him.

Saturday evening I went with my daughter Darcy and her children Rowan and Declan plus my niece Cindy to a Medieval Dinner at Flood Brook Union School in Londonderry.  We had dinner there that you eat with your fingers, the children did a great job as servers and they put on a skit.  It was a really nice evening with lots of laughs.  The attached picture shows Rowan dressed as a princess and Declan as the Blue Cross Knight!  Cindy and Darcy both dressed up but I went as the party pooper.........shepardess!  HA HA!

Monday morning Jonathan and I loaded three dog crates inro our van and drove to Donna Carlucci's Farm in Center Sandwich, N.H.   We went to pick up two little Shetland ewe lambs and two Shetland adult ewes.  It was such fun to get to have a short visit with Donna and Ken.  I wish they were my neighbors......but oh my, the trouble Donna and I would be in. :-)   You see, we both LOVE our sheep and like the saying for potato chips......"I bet you can't have just one"!  HA HA!   Well we loaded little Maggie and Cedar into one crate.  Flopsy in her own crate and Rosie in the third crate.  They were wonderful travelers and when we got home, they hopped right out into the pasture.  Olivia, Emma, Agathe and Bill all arrived and could not believe how tiny the two little ewe lambs are.  We were all so excited and they are just beautiful sheep.  Emma and Olivia come over each night to take care of the little girls.  Last night I went to their house to check out their barn/stall for the two little girls.  It will work out really well and will be very secure.  Bill has done a great job and will put down plywood for the floor and hook up electric fence for security.  The little ewes arrived on the Oct. 24 and will go up to their new home in three weeks.  It's so rewarding to pass on the knowledge about raising sheep and to see both girls so happy.

My grandson Declan had a sleepover last night and I took care of him today.  I've got on my flannel pajamas and am going to curl up with a good book for a little while then off to bed.  Oh yes, when Darcy got home this afternoon, it was snowing and we decided to move the 4 new sheep into another pasture closer to the farmhouse.  Darcy and Rowan put hay in both sheds, brought some loose minerals for them and I took the grain bucket to the pasture where they were waiting.  I opened the gate and said, "Come with me little ladies" and down the road we walked like a parade.  They are just absolutely too cute and I'm attaching some pictures.  The white spots are the snowflakes on my camera lens.

Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa