Photo bombing Goat

On Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving the first real good snow fall came to the homestead.  After feeding everyone I grabbed my camera to take some photos.  Mr. Rooster had settled down on the gate to take watch over his domain so I decided to use him as my morning subject.

 

 

As I was clicking away I had not noticed nosey Nelly coming our way ( actually I realized I had a photo of her when I was looking back on the photos I took).

 

Mr. Rooster noticed however, that nosey Nelly was intruding on his photo shoot.......

 

.........and in addition, was intruding in all the wrong places. 

Nothing like good goat humor on the farm;) 

Those Stupid, Stupid Green Things

Autumn is my favorite time of the year for many reasons..........

 

 

 

...........except when it comes to these stupid, stupid green things that call out to all the young sheep who don't know any better than what they want to nibble on requires walking through all these stupid, stupid green things to get to all the good things to eat.

 

As one can see, Milton walked right into a whole bush of those stupid, stupid green things......he even has them on his you know whats.  What he doesn't know is his you know whats are coming off in 2 weeks.   Milton is just a train wreck right now.......poor guy.

Balancing the Insanity

The last 5 weeks can be summed up in one word: insanity.

This year started my 20th year of teaching and it was the first time I truly felt that the educational system was failing my students and myself and that perhaps it was time to walk away.  Last year I decided to change grade levels after having taught 8th grade social studies for 18 years.  I went to 9th grade World History and honestly, there is not a whole lot of difference between an 8th grader and 9th grader until about March.  Now I will be honest and tell you that history is not high on the priority list in school systems.  Math, Science, and English are all that matters....I mean history is totally literacy based and if you don't know your history, your doomed to repeat the past, right?  So, I definitely see why the powers in the educational system would rate history as low subject on the totem pole.....losers.

 

Perfect example is all the core subjects in 9th grade at my school had 2 teachers.....except history.  That meant I was teaching history to the whole 9th grade expect the self-contained special ed. students.  So just a quick break down...... I teach six, 40 minute classes of Modern World History and each of those classes was averaging between 40 to 50 kids and 2 of the classes contained special ed inclusion students. The new "contract" said no more than 30 students in a classroom. Sure glad math is one of those priority classes.  Quick math....low end I had 240 students and it fluctuated as students transferred in and out the first weeks of class.  I am in a large urban school district so there is a lot movement those first weeks of school.



 

I was coming home everyday exhausted. I was not teaching, I was controlling a crowd because by fire code regulations, my classroom should only have 35 students max at any given time. The paper work was just a tragedy, I barely knew 30 kids by name by the third week, and getting another history teacher seemed to be falling on deaf ears but my principal and union were pushing hard for it.....I was reminding them daily how many kids I had......ok, I was annoying, relentless, and a total B for 5 weeks.   

 

To say that I my sanity was slipping away from me is an understatement.  In 5 weeks I felt like I had been teaching for  months already.  Then the light came and last Friday my principal came to my room and introduced me to the new social studies teacher.  I didn't know who to hug first so I hugged them both at the same time and then I told them I would be back in time for Christmas Break.  This past Monday my class sizes were cut in half and I started to be a teacher again.  When I come home from school now the animals don't run from me .....I was kinda like a crazy woman for the past five weeks and I noticed my head stopped spinning like I was in some horror movie.  And now when I see my pretty Fall mums I don't look at them like I want to pop their heads off and stomp on them.

I do still hear voices in my head.....but they have been there for awhile and know me so we are cool.

After all...... my favorite time of the year is right around the corner and I am kinda batty at times;)



Blue Ribbon Goes to the Cotswold & Shetland Fleeces!

Each year I enter my favorite fleeces in the county fair.  For the past 2 years Essex, my white Cotswold has won the white spinners AOB category........

 

 

.......and she won again!!!!  And yes there are other fleece entries in the category!!  Hers just happens to be the best!

 

Essex is very modest about her blue ribbons.... she never wants to smile for the camera:)

 

In all honesty I have not had much luck with Shetland fleece entries at the fair.  Usually getting 3rd and 4th in the natural color category.  BUT this year I really felt Colechester's wool was blue ribbon worthy and his took a blue ribbon!!!!  Oh yeah!  Take that, you other natural colored sheep breeds!! 

 

Colechester could not be pictured in a previous post because he is usually in a time out for being a shithead about something but due to his blue ribbon win I figured he should get picture credit. 

I have not told him about the blue ribbon because I know he will just become a bigger shithead, demanding more green grass, special treats etc. so I am keeping it on the download.  You can tell by that belly he already gets enough to eat;)

The grand champion fleece at the fair went to a Merino.....again.  Maybe I might have to slid a Merino somewhere in the flock cuz if my merino won at the fair it would be a different story...........

 

 

Dare I Say the "F" Word?

Right now the "F" word is right there, on the tip of my tongue.

I am done....loosing my patience.

Its getting on my last nerves....its getting all over my skin.

Its frying my existence to be productive.

Its straight up driving me to do irrational things and think irrationally.

I. Can't. Deal. With. The. Humidity.

Therefore, I am thinking of the "F" word already.........

 

 

"Whoa! Did you say the "F" word? I almost choked on the grass I was chewing!" Chelsea exclaimed.  "I don't know if my wool is long enough for that yet!" 

 

"But Chelsea, the sunflowers are blooming in the garden......"

 

"And the pumpkins on a stick are starting to grow......surly all signs of the "F" word," I stated.

"It will be so much better when I say and feel the "F" word Chelsea!  You will love it too!"

 

"Say it. Say the "F" word or I will say it for you," Abby stated without blinking an eye.

"Heck, you can say the "W" word for all I care cuz this humidity is pissing me off and reeking havoc on my wool!"

"Gee Abby, a little testy? I thought I was having issues."

 

Picking a Favorite Fleece

This year 27 sheep got sheared.  Not all 27 fleeces were "awesome". 

Piled in this cart are what I personally felt were the best fleeces.

 

 

Fleeces to be stored in the house, in the spare bathtub because I have nowhere else to store them include: 2 white Romney fleeces, one white Cotswold,  6 Shetland fleeces, and one Shetland x Cotswold fleece. 

 

Meesha picked this fleece as her favorite fleece.....perhaps its the resemblance to her blue merle color.

 

This fleece belongs to Colechester,  a Shetland yearling grey kat wether who could not be pictured today because he was in a time-out for going in the neighbor's yard and eating the neighbor's grass.

 

Even in a black & white photo the resemblance I told Meesha is just crazy! 

 

I do have to agree with Meesha that this was one of my favorite fleeces also....though the owner of the fleece is still on my sh*# list.  Regardless, I think I am going to enter it in the fair this year along with a Cotswold & Romney fleece.

 

 

Meesha is now 9 months old and is becoming quite the sheep herder......that's good cuz some butts need to start rolling out there in the barn starting with Colechester;)

 

 

 

On Day 16 it Rained Again

Today the weatherman said it would be the 16th day of rain in Northeast Ohio.

There hasn't been that many days of rain in a row since the 1920's.......wtf???

The word "rain" is like hearing little voices in my head driving me crazy.

Last summer I was doing rain dances for weeks trying to squeeze one, itty, bitty drop of rain out of the sky.  This summer the faucet hasn't turned off.

 

 

After the severe storms went through today ( in addition to a tornado warning during which I was trying to patiently shove   put 4 dogs and 7 cats down in the basement )  I went outside to see the results of the rain.  Above is a "river" that cut across my property, NOT!!  There is a natural swale that runs there but very rarely has it ever gotten to be a river 

 

And look another new "river" that is running down the south property line!!   The small creek couldn't handle all the rain and this was the result.  It took about 3 hours for the "river" to subside.

 

In honor of all of the rain this bird seed has started to grow as grass......I told the birds its a special treat for them.

 

At least I have the daisies in the garden that are still smiling regardless of all the rain.

Tonight the weatherman said there is suppose to be 6 days of "NO RAIN".

He better be telling the truth cuz I am packing some pretty serious piles of wet manure

 ......just sayin'  of course.