March Heat Wave

This wallow is about 8/10ths of a mile from the house where we leave the road and cut back into the woods.  A perfect spot for a hot dog on a very warm March day.  And boy, has it been warm.  I think we have had several days of record temperatures this month.  It feels more like June than March.  The bad part is, the leaves are not out on the trees yet, so there is little shade.  I got new cushions for my deck swing and it is too hot to use it!  

I don't think the alpacas are enjoying the heat wave.  It is too early to start shearing because I just don't believe we won't have some more cold weather.  I could be wrong, but it's just too soon to think the hot weather is here to stay.  

Whether the hot weather is here to stay or not, the landscape is starting to look like spring.  Most of the flowering trees are in bloom and the undergrowth in the woods is all turning green.  There are lots of signs of life in the pond.  There are so many fish hanging out near the surface every time I go up there.  This is just a few.  I have seen  schools numbering a dozen or more.  


I have also started to see the little amphibians I call salamanders.  I am not sure if that is what they are.  They swim like tiny  crocodiles.  




Last year they feasted on clusters of eggs that were near the shore.  Not sure if they were frog or fish eggs, but they are not there yet this year.










 


And of course the hot weather means Rowdy is up for a swim in the pond.  His idea of a swim is fetching a stick.  You can see the stick out near the end of the dock as Rowdy launches himself off the bank.

 And here is the splashdown.   I think the water has got to be pretty cold.  Rowdy only fetches the stick 4 or 5 times and he is ready to head for home.


 Sam is working on a spring chore today.  He is spreading a year's worth of poop on the hayfields.  Having the second tractor he bought last year makes the job a lot easier.  

But it still requires several trips down the road and so will take most of the day.   And the alpacas are already making more.....  The chickens will certainly enjoy all the overturned dirt and poop.  Many bugs and worms today!


Yesterday on my way in to the office I got held up in a traffic jam.  It didn't make me too late.

 On the fiber front, I am delighted to say I finally finished spinning the alpaca /bamboo blend I started back in January.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Out of 8 oz, I got 1740 yards of 2 ply yarn.  That is over 200 yards per ounce.  I also did the math and realized that I was only 20 yards short of one mile of 2 ply yarn!  That means I spun almost 2 miles of singles.  Now I need to come up with a pattern that is epic enough for this yarn I worked so long and hard to produce!  I think I will enter a small skein of it in a skein competition they are having at the fiber festival I am vending at in western Ohio in May.  

I took my latest weaving project off the loom, but I still have to hem the ends and I will post a photo after I finish it and after I have gifted it to the recipient.  I will hopefully be putting new warp for more rugs on the loom soon.