November Blahs

Yes, the woodburner has been going for the last week or so.  Our weather is fairly typical November:  It can be 25 degrees when we get up and then 55 or only 40 by afternoon.  One never knows.

This may be a fairly short post.  There is not a lot going on on the farm right now.  The chickens are all laying regularly and we are getting 5 to 6 eggs a day.  When you only purchase eggs from the grocery store and then have your own chickens, it is an eye-opener to find that not all eggs are perfectly egg shaped.  Here are 4 of the 5 eggs that were in the chicken coop when I went to let them out this morning.  Look how small and pointy that one is!  Sometimes we will get an egg that has a soft shell.  It will feel leathery and may not even be strong enough to pick up without breaking.  Grover likes these kind of eggs.  Most of the time, the eggs are normal looking, though they can vary in color.

I do love watching the chickens wander about the yard and barnyard scratching for bugs and worms.  That big ole rooster looks like he's watching over, but he will be the first one to scurry for cover at any sign of trouble.  The appellation "Chicken" suits him. 

I have decided I am going to sell off most of my alpacas.  I no longer want to breed and I have some very nice young females who I hate to part with, but I think should be in someone's breeding program.  So the other day was nice and sunny and I decided I needed to take some new  photos and update my website.  This is what happens when I want to take photos of individual alpacas.  They form a clump.  It's like they know which ones I want to photograph and those individuals hide in the center of the clump.  I understand this is "Basic Herd Safety 101" and has helped prey animal species survive throughout millennia, but it is annoying.  Thanks goodness for photo editing programs!

I spent last weekend in the Dayton/Cincinnati area visiting my mom and having a get-together with a group of high school friends.  It was very nice and I have to say it is wonderful to be able to get together with people after 30+ years and have a good time.  

Next week Sam and I will be heading back to Mom's for Thanksgiving weekend.  Most of my family will be there, minus my boys from Portland, and I am looking forward to it.  I am kicking off Thanksgiving day with my sister-in-law, Jill,  my niece and 2 nephews and Jill's mom by participating in the Miamisburg Turkey Trot, a 5 mile walk/run.  It should be a good way to start the day.  I do not get into Black Friday shopping.  I don't need anything so much that I will subject myself to that.  I did it a few years ago and we had a good time, but I would rather sleep and then make our yearly trip to Jungle Jim's in Fairfield.  Its about the only place Sam actually looks forward to shopping.  You should see their craft beer selection.

All my fiber projects this past week have been holiday projects, so I won't be posting them here for a while.  I did acquire some yarn (with money I got for my birthday) and will likely be planning a new sweater project for January.  In January I will also get back to working on spinning alpaca for the blanket I hope to weave sometime in 2014.  

Here I am in Portland with my 2 sons, Sam/Zac/Satchmo  and Ian.  Notice the hand-knit beanies?