In the Good Old Summertime

Fireweed.

Brush burning stinging nettles.  And before one of you amazingly knowledgeable peeps say it, yes - you can actually eat the tops of nettles when you prepare them properly.  But I don't want to.  I have no quarrel with nettles, until they start taking over a corner of my sheep pen.  Then, they must be eliminated.  Knocked off.  Incinerated.  Whatever it takes.  They must die.

Adorable Mitts.  He's such a cuddly kitty.  And you gotta love his seven-toed paws...

Reading To Kill a Mockingbird while hanging out at my dad's hanger at the CDA airport.

I had no idea how much I loved to dance until we started attending the Sandpoint Contra Dances.  So much fun!

Despite a few twinges of doubt, my Katahdin lambs are growing well and getting bigger each day.  I had to separate the rams from the ewes, though.  These little guys labor under the delusion that they're all lady killers.  If there's one thing I don't want, it's surprise lambs at Christmas time.  No, thank you!

The twins, Rory and Amy, with their mama Emma.

Our cherry crop was amazing this year.  Way more than I can possibly pick and process by myself, even with friends taking bagfuls home with them.  I did have one friend suggest that if I pick all day, pit all night, and sleep for only 15 minutes, I could probably do it - I don't want to be lazy, right?  To that I say, you don't want me to be grouchy, do you?  *grin*

There's always shade in the orchard.  I have many favorite spots on our property, but the orchard is special.

Ingrid, Sweet Pea, and Katniss.  My beautiful girls.  Katniss as developed a very sweet and docile personality, just like her mother.  She also has a tendency to nibble, like her sister Maggie.  Never a dull moment with those two around!

Cedar trees.

The Muffin kitty got in my lap, so the jealous Bonnie dog had to sit there, too.  And all I was trying to do was thin my lettuce.  Love my sweet kitty and doggy so much.

Service berries.

You see?  I'm not completely immune to the beauty of a daisy in the afternoon light!

My awesome friends helped us put 3 1/2 tons of hay up in our loft.
It's so much easier with 8 people helping rather than just 3. *grin*

Hay photos courtesy of Kellie.  Thank you, dear!

Clara and Michelle

Michelle, looking just lovely. :)

A daisy crown on my head.  Someone made it for me.  I screamed, but decided to wear it proudly. ;)

Music videos in the orchard, complete with fireworks.  We are epic.

Brett and Alex watching The Muppets on YouTube.  I already love the Muppets, but watching these two laughing makes it even funnier.

My faithful farm doggy on the loft stairs in the early morning light.
Mornings smell so good.

Sheepies (and Primrose) enjoying shade in the horse pasture.  The ewes are vastly improved after being wormed and spending time in the horse pasture.  Thanking the Lord for healthy sheep!

My mom and I gardening.  I'm so happy that she's able to enjoy being outside and gardening again!  There was a time when I didn't think we'd ever get to do this together again.

Finally getting to meet Winnie!  I had way too much fun introducing her to my animals.

Ice cream, fluffy skirts...better than this, it does not get.  I've been told that my ice cream eating face is epic.
And I think the folks at Little Town Market in Athol are getting used to a large crowd of us showing up at random times wearing random things like tulle skirts or glow stick necklaces or chalk shirts.  We're awesome like that.

Happy Trails, y'all!

It's awesome.

It's awesome...when your friends come over to pick cherries, and spontaneously offer to help you put 3 1/2 tons of hay up in the barn loft.  Then they stay for dinner, and we spend the evening playing music and being our weird selves.  Thank you so much you guys!!  You all know who you are:)

It's awesome...watching the sunrise.  I'm not much of a morning person, but I do occasionally enjoy seeing the sunrise.  Everything is so still and perfect in the morning...and it smells good, too.

It's awesome...driving home at 5:30 AM after dropping your bro off at the airport.  I wasn't too thrilled about getting up super early (no one - no one - should have to get up at 3:30), but the drive home was definitely worth it!

It's awesome...helping to decorate the church basement for the Vacation Bible School Rally.  Way too much fun!  Give Liz and I some crepe paper streamers, balloons, tape, some thumbtacks, and we'll go crazy. Especially Liz - she's a wedding decorator. *grin*

It's awesome...listening to the Psych theme song over...and over...and over.  That's how I roll - I'll be sick of it before long, but right now I LOVE it.  Also, Gus and Shawn are awesome.  Just sayin'...

It's awesome...trail riding.  Need I say more?

It's awesome...jumping into the lake on a hot afternoon.

It's awesome...that someone invented chap-stick.  Thank you, you genius you, whoever thought of putting lip balm in a small plastic tube!

It's awesome...that when God looks at me, He sees me washed clean, redeemed by His son Jesus.  That, is awesome.

It's awesome...talking on the phone with your bro while he's at your Grandma's 80th b-day party in CA, and the phone gets passed around so you talk to quite a few of your aunts and uncles, too.  I love and miss them all so much!

It's awesome...planning a mini road trip with your bestie. :D

It's awesome...browsing Pinterest for an hour a reasonable amount of time and coming up with outfit inspiration for church tomorrow.

It's awesome...looking forward to the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo next month!  Woohoo!!

Question:  What's awesome in your life?  I want to know!

Sunday Style // Denim & Floral

what you get when you ask me for a big, cheesy smile...you get one.

o u t f i t

embellished denim vest // stolen borrowed from my mom

floral jumper // made by me

white shirt // gifted

brown flats // thrifted

A wonderful Sunday afternoon spent with my bestie.  We went to church together, enjoyed fellowship with friends, ran a few errands, I gave her driving advice ("There's a person there!!"  Sorry about that, won't happen again...;), she treated me to lunch (Pita Pit - sooo good!), and then we took pictures by my pond.  We don't always have time with just to the two of us, but we really needed it.  And yes, we are Betsy-Tacy.

When you're on Google Chat with your bestie, it's getting late, and you're both editing photos, this is inevitable...

Happy Trails!

Primrose

Primrose , petite and pert, she's found a special niche in my heart these past few months.  The sweetest, most forgiving personality, and so darn cute, too!  Prim has adjusted to living with the sheep, and has even grown rather fond of them, I think.  She's only gotten stuck in the fence 5 times, and made her escape about 10.  When she does get out, she goes right back in when you open the gate.  It's super cute. *smile* Even my dad likes her, and he's not a real animal lover so that's saying something.

On a slightly different topic, my ewes have gotten a bad case of worms.  Or rather, their worm load has gotten large enough to start causing some serious respiratory problems.  Ingrid, the ewe who lost her lambs this spring, is doing the most poorly.  She's been coughing, and today she had a runny nose and wasn't interested in eating.  When you've just turned them out onto a lush green pasture, that's not a good sign at all.  So, I isolated her this morning, had a powwow on the phone with my sheep/goat advice friend, and then got to work.  After estimating her weight with my weight tape (which is an awesome little device btw), I got out the big gun - Zimectrin Gold.  It's an ivermectin based horse wormer, but it can be used for sheep, too.  That should take care of tapeworms and lungworms, which the average rubbishy goat/sheep wormer doesn't.  Why do they even sell that stuff?  It doesn't do a thing!  I also wormed the other ewes.

Then, after a bit of research, I concocted my own sheep drench.  A drench is something you give orally.  I mixed Apple Cider Vinegar and water at a 1:1 ratio, then added about 3 Tbs of blackstrap molasses to improve the taste and help with the anemia.  I got about 18 mL down her throat.  After about an hour, she began nibbling at her hay.  I drenched her again and the rest of the ewes this evening (and gave some to Prim - she actually wanted to eat it, and kept getting in the way while I drenched the ewes:), and now Ingrid is really digging into her food.  I also added a bit of Apple Cider Vinegar to all of their drinking water.  That stuff is amazing.  We're not out of the woods yet, but praise the Lord for so much improvement so quickly!

My plan is to drench everyone again in the morning and evening for the next two days, move them all to the horse pasture, and then worm them again in 14 days.  They haven't been in that pasture for over a year, so there should be significantly less parasites there.  Typically, parasites aren't too hard to control here because it's a dry climate.  We have gotten a lot of rain this year though, and I think that's part of what's going on here.

And that's about it.  It's been a busy week, even without the excitement today.  VBS (which was awesome!), cherry picking, bringing in a load of hay, dropping my bro off at the airport (I had to get up at 3:30 AM - no one should have to do that.  But it was very nearly worth it just for the sunrise.  Beautiful!), more VBS, and then today.  Wow, in a way this week flew by, but at the same time Monday seems like a faint memory from long ago.  And now, this farm girl needs some rest...and maybe some Captain America.

Happy Trails, y'all!

Question: Are you a morning person or a night owl?  I want to know!