A few weeks ago, Eric and I were driving home from somewhere.  We were on the driveway heading to the house.  All of a sudden….he stopped the car. He had seen something on the road.  That “something” turned out to be a baby sparrow.  It was just sitting there, by itself, in the middle of “nowhere” for a sparrow.  There were’t any trees nearby for it to have fallen out of.

Eric, with his soft heart for birds, brought it home. Eric chewed up some worms and regurgitated them for the sparrow.  NOT!  He looked up baby sparrow care on the internet and made up some food.  He was able to get the sparrow to eat.  We brought it places with us if we were going to be gone past feeding time. It was so cute.

Isn't it cute?

We had the sparrow for a couple of days, until Eric found some additional information on the internet (Thank God for the internet).  It said to put the sparrow out someplace where there are no preditors (good luck!) so the parents can find it and feed it because this sparrow was a fledgling and jumped the nest. So that’s what he did.  Eric found a good spot and put it down.  After he did this, it started churping, and about 3 or 4 birds of it’s kind started churping back. So we felt we did the right thing. The Lord watches out for even the sparrows.  Another learning experience for the Craws.

Until next time…

[productspage]

But we aren’t, only in my dreams.

Our hay we got last October lasted until late June.  The hay we get locally hadn’t been cut yet.  The animals had eaten down  the pasture. Outside the pasture was VERY green and tall grass which is UNUSUAL for this time of the year, thanks to all that rain.  Unfortunately, all that tall grass and brush turns brown and dries out creating a HUGE  fire hazard.  So…. we turned the animals loose, out of the pasture, to free range and hopefully eat down the grass.  That IS one of the many reasons we have them.

Moms and lambs gorging

They LOVE it.

We turn them out in the morning.  They graze during the day, and come back in on their own to ruminate with glazed over eyes, thoroughly content.

Unfortunately, this year, the grass is so green and abundant that they aren’t even putting a dent in it. Marshall is going to have to get out the weed whacker and whack out a fire break around the house and barn.

The hay we get from “down below” the mountain is just about ready so we’ll be jailing the animals soon.

Free ranging with Forest Mountain as a backdrop. The animals say, "Can it get any better than this?"

In the meantime,  they are running around munching with fat bellies, and looking VERY happy.

Until next time…

In 1994, a lightning strike hit Tyee Ridge, 20 miles away from our place as a crow flies, about 38 miles away from Chelan, as a crow flies.  Within 4 days, that fire burned through our place, kept going, and  just about burned the town of Chelan. It was one of the worst wild fires in the history of Washington state. It burned 135,000 acres!

Because of that, every time there is a wildfire (and it’s just about every summer), I get nervous, even if the fire is not so close. It just has to be on our side of Lake Chelan, and on our side of the Columbia River for me to freak out.

It has been VERY windy and fanning the flames of the Swakane fire (just like 1994′s Tyee fire). So I am thinking out an evacuation plan for the animals.  If it was just us, I wouldn’t be so anxious.  We could evacuate on a moment’s notice.  But with 3 llamas, 9 sheep, 2 goats, 3 dogs, 5 cats, 4 pigeons,  countless chickens, 3 pet rats, and 3 hermit crabs, evacuating takes some planning and coordinating.  Like, who’s horse trailer can we borrow?, or better yet, where will we take all these animals?  In past years, the Chelan Rodeo grounds opens up for livestock, but WHO would be willing to house the rest?????

And then, there is the anxiety of losing EVERYTHING we own. That includes family heirlooms and antiques, pictures, furniture (with some pieces THAT would be a blessing!), computers, and my kids precious stuff etc, etc.   I woke up several times last night with adrenaline rushes about what we could lose.   I had to keep telling myself, “It’s just stuff, it’s just stuff, it’s just stuff.) While I was telling myself this, the bible verse, Matthew 6:19-21 came to mind:  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust (and wildfires) destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” This helped me accept that everything we own is “just stuff”.  It can be replaced (although heirlooms and sentimental things are harder to replace) It’s just stuff, it’s just stuff, it’s just stuff.

UPDATE:  The above was written about 2 weeks ago. I never got around to posting it.  Too busy.  Well,  the Swakane fire did burn quite a lot of acres, 20, 000, it did NOT come close to us.  We were concerned if it got too windy for many days, it would jump the Entiat river and get us.  Thankfully it was contained and no loss of life or homes.  It did burn down to Hightway 97 in several places, but God bless the firefighters protecting all those homes along the way.

I know I overeacted worrying about the fire, but the infamous ’94 Tyee fire was so ferocious.  Apparently it was a huge fire storm travelling at 60 miles per hour.  Miraculously, it burned right around the cabin (that is our house now).  It consumed pines right in front of the house and right behind the house, but NOT THE HOUSE.  Amazing! Many homes were lost. It came through our area so fast that there was NO  fire protection, it was too dangerous.

It is miraculous that there aren’t more wildfires in our area than there are.  A vew years ago, some part time property owners near us went home to the other side of the mountains (the WET side)  and left a campfire going.  DURING A BURN BAN and IN SEPTEMBER the dryest month!!!!! We went over and tried to put it out but it was too hot.  We called the Forest Service and they said they would send a truck. They never came.  We baby sat the fire till it went down.  The next day the DNR came up and took care of it.  If that fire had “taken off”, we were right in it’s path.

So, I just keep reciting to myself, “its just stuff, its just stuff, its just stuff, its just stuff…..

If any of you have some wildfire stories, I’d love to hear them.

Until next time…..

June 17, Eric and I left for Eugene, Oregon for the Black Sheep Gathering. It is a large sheep and fiber show that is held every year.  This particular year though, the North American Shetland Sheepbreeders Association was having their annual general meeting and Shetland sheep show at the Black Sheep Gathering (nicknamed BSG).  I was real excited to go and meet other Shetland sheep breeders, and see ones I am already acquainted with. The Northwest Shetland Sheep group has the nicest people, and I have learned a lot from them over the last year.

Eric was excited to go because, having his driver’s permit, he was my chauffeur.  He did a great job.  While I was at BSG, he stayed in the motel room and studied for a ham radio exam, and watched TV.  He wasn’t interested in seeing BSG, only the driving! He liked having the place to himself, and being away from his sister!

I had a GREAT time watching the beautiful sheep, asking questions from experienced breeders, and sticking my hands in all KINDS of fleece.  And, of course, SHOPPING.  There were 3 barns FULL of sheep and fiber products!   In the Shetland tent, there were classes on health, wool, lambing, processing wool etc.  And, in another building, I watched the wool judging where the judge looks over the entered fleeces and critiques them.  I learned A LOT, and had a GREAT time.  I even tasted some Shetland lamb  at the potluck. It was very good (I hate to say).

The night before we left for home (Saturday night), we went to watch the “Spinner’s Lead”.  This is where people dress up, and dress their sheep up in costumes.  They also, try to wear or carry things they have made from their sheep.  There are judges and prizes. About half way through I started feeling really bad, achy, exhausted and a cough started.  The next day, I had a fever and coughing and felt LOUSY.  Thank goodness Eric was able to drive.  I just kicked back and rested.  We did do something I have wanted to do since the kids were little, and since we were homeschooling.  We stopped in Oregon City and looked around at the End of the Oregon Trail monument.  Unfortunately, it was closed, being Sunday and all. But we looked around the outside and through the windows.

When we got home (10 hours later), I was SICK.  I ended up having 101.5 fever for about 3 days, and am still coughing 17 days later.  It was a NASTY virus. I have been in survival mode, but now am getting back to normal. The Lord was gracious to us.  The car ran fine, I had an excellent driver, and didn’t run out of money! But best of all, we returned safely.  Check out the photos I took.  Until next time…

While I have been absent from posting, one of our broody hens sat on some guinea hen eggs and hatched one.  Eric brought it into the house and took care of it.  We had to take it everywhere with us.

One day, Ondra and I had gone to town and did some shopping at the grocery store.  Eric was off with our youth pastor, so WE had the guinea keet.  This little keet was nicknamed Gilligan because it was constantly getting out of it’s box and getting into “predicaments”.  That day was no different.  When Ondra and I came back to the car after shopping, Gilligan was no where to be found!  We heard faint “cheeping” somewhere in the car. We turned the inside of the car upside down, but no Gilligan.  Finally we unscrewed the spare tire because it sounded like the cheeping was coming from behind it.  It wasn’t behind it, but down in the wheel well beneath it!  Gilligan had fallen through a slit beneath the spare tire.

Ondra tried to fit her hand down in there (she has small hands), but could not get to Gilligan. A store worker stopped by and tried too.  I then went inside and bought some barbeque tongs.  We stuck those down the slit, and Gilligan ran to the other end where Ondra could just barely fit her hand in, and she caught him (or her). It took some maneuvering to work her hand (and Gilligan) back out.  He was fine and glad to get warm again.  Gilligan was a lot of fun, but all good things must come to an end.  He died a few days later.  It was hard for him to not be raised by a poultry mother.  His human “mother” did the best he could.  We were glad to have Gilligan for even that short time.

We have had A LOT of rain, for us, this spring.  We are seeing lots of mushrooms (probably not edible) around here.  And I actually saw a SLUG!, (a poor excuse for one).  It was only about an inch long. Not at all near the size that we had them in Western Washington where they can get up to 12 feet long, and slime you to death.  Whole towns have been drowned in slime.  OK, SLIGHT exaggeration.  But we did have those big banana slugs when we lived in North Bend, WA many moons ago. Things are MUCH dryer over here on the eastern part of the state, and slugs are rare, if not, non-existent.

Eric and Ondra bought some Silkie chickens at a chicken show not long ago.  Of course, they are in the house (where else would one keep chickens???). Anyway, they are growing and looking really lovely. On a rare sunny day (lately), the kids took them out to enjoy the sunshine.  In fact, all the animals were enjoying the sunshine.  Check out the photos below, and enjoy the cuteness.  Until next time….

http://schoonoverfarm.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/life-is-good/

sent me this award a couple of weeks ago.  THANK YOU DONNA!  I didn’t know how to put it in my blog so my techie son helped finally.  Donna Schoonover got me started in Shetland sheep, and I have been bugging her with questions ever since!  She has very patiently answered them over the years.  I have learned a lot from her. And she is VERY kind to her animals.

The criteria for this award is answering some questions, so here goes…

What would your perfect day consist of?

All the housework done, kids getting along, kids doing their school work well and understanding it, husband not stressed out from work, all the critters healthy, and NO chickens in the house.

2. How would you describe yourself if you were an item of clothing?

My son says I would be a vintage dress, and I guess that about sums it up.

3. What hobbies are you currently working on?

I wish I could say spinning and knitting since this is a Shetland sheep website, but…currently I’ve been making baby quilts from old, recycled and shrunk, wool sweaters. I make them by hand and they take awhile.  Am planning on trying to sell them at the Manson Farmer’s Market this summer.

4. Walking in the woods in wellies or bare foot on the beach

The woods, but in hiking boots.

5. Have you ever hugged or sang to a tree?

We had a huge Douglas Fir in our yard when I was a kid in Seattle.  I used to “hug” the tree to see how far my arms would reach around it. They would only reach part way.

6. Growing your own veggies or nipping to the supermarket.

I like the idea of growing my own, but realistically, I have to “nip to the supermarket”.

7. Have you found anyone exciting in your family tree?

Oh yes! I am proudly descended from a slave in early 1800′s and her well known (at the time) French plantation owner.  His name was Magloire Guichard, her’s Victoire. He was a big wig involved in the politics of Louisiana etc.  They had 4 children together.  I am descended from one of the sons named, Leopold.

8. Slap up meal in a posh restaurant or fish ‘n’ chips from the wrapper

I’d like a meal in a posh restaurant, paid for by someone else LOL!

9. Which element do you most resonate with, Earth, Air, Fire or water?

Earth, there’s plenty of it in my house!

10. Do you believe in fairy’s?

Afraid not. But, when our kids were little, we had a leprechaun named Danny McDuff that would fly his little jet to our meadow and sneak in the house to do mischief and leave chocolate gold coins on St. Patrick’s day.

Also part of this criteria is passing this award on to someone else. The 3 three people I’d pass it on to, Donna, Tina, Michelle, already have it. I’ll have to find someone…

Until next time…

Last week and this week has been really rainy. I know that is good for the soil, and heaven knows we need the rain, but it also creates MUD.  We live in a pocket of private land surrounded by Wenatchee National Forest.  The nearest paved road is 4 miles away, so when it rains heavily, the road gets MUDDY. We did have a nice day last week, however, and I went for a walk…

Ondra and her friend Melody, who lives on the Other Side (of the Cascade Mountains), have been planning for months for Ondra to go and spend a week with her.  Now most people can just pack a bag and go.  Not us.  We have many places to feed the animals, outside AND inside the house.  This chicken gets this feed, that chicken gets the OTHER feed, and Buckeye gets his SPECIAL feed and MUST have water in his bowl at ALL times.  So and so needs just this amount and shouldn’t have more than that, you need to feed Rose under the tool shed, away from all the others, to be sure she gets some feed, chase the guineas out of the ravine so the coyotes won’t get them, make sure the pigeons don’t get out, you have to medicate the buff silkie with just the exact amount of meds; too much and it could kill her, make sure the blind chick eats,  and so on and so on, you get the picture. And then there is the ELABORATE feeding ritual of the ruminants.  See paragraph 3 of Surprise Chickens Fly the Post Office Coop.

Marshall doesn’t usually do the feeding so he has to be TRAINED to feed while we are gone. We try to condense things to make it easier, but it is still time consuming.  Ondra writes up an extremely detailed “book” of instructions about EVERYTHING you need to know to feed and take care of our animals. It’s exhausting.

Eric, Ondra, and I left last Friday for Seattle.  Ondra had to also bring her school work.  Even though she was spending a week with Melody (who is also home schooled), she wasn’t getting out of school! Eric, who just got his learner’s permit 3 weeks ago, drove the whole weekend.  I didn’t drive even once.  I was so proud of him.  He managed the interstates 90 and I-5 just fine, plus the crowded Seattle streets. We dropped off Ondra at Melody’s (who, by the way, are the nicest people).  She’s having a blast.

Marshall stayed home and did the feeding, as well as taking care of customer issues with our wireless internet business, which is a  24/7 thing for him.  We RARELY can get away, and even rarer, can get away altogether at the same time. To top things off for him, on Sunday (yesterday), there was lightening which took out one or more  transformers on the south shore of Lake Chelan. The power went out and a lot of his customers lost internet service (and were not happy). AND THEN…. he was on his way to service a customer on the other side of the lake, and his car BROKE DOWN.  It had to be towed into Chelan. Have you ever tried to get a tow truck to help you in a small town on a Sunday?  Not easy. Thank goodness a friend was willing to do it. So it’s being looked at as I write.  So we are back down to one working vehicle.  When we picked up Marshall in Chelan, on our way home from Seattle, he looked EXHAUSTED.  I felt sorry for him.

Last week we had an issue of sheep acidosis. Reagan, our 4 year old wether, got out of the pasture (because a board had pulled away from the fence due to a wind storm).  He had gotten into the pigeon food on the back porch. I know that because I caught him jumping off the porch.  I immediately started the baking soda and water treatment (2tablespoons baking soda to 8 oz of water). and probiotics.  The next morning, Reagan didn’t want to eat, and was having yucky diarrhea, so I called my vet.  She instructed me to give him SMZ (sulfa) tablets too.  He got all these things for 3 days and fully recovered.  I lost a ewe 3 years ago from acidosis and did not want a repeat. Anytime I even suspect one of the sheep or goats got into any grain, out comes the baking soda and water.  I even keep baking soda, free choice, with their minerals. Eric has since locked up the pigeon food so it won’t happen again.  During this time, the kid’s Silkie chicks came down with Coccidia.  We started them on some liquid sulfa from our vet.  They are recovering too.  Marshall had to treat only one while we were gone.

Unfortunately, Eric lost a few guineas while we were gone.  Probably coyotes.  The guineas like to go into the raving near the house and hang out.  There is lots of bush cover for coyotes to hide.  Our dogs do a pretty good job of keeping the coyotes away, but once in a while the coyotes win when it comes to the guineas.  They like to wander away too much.  BUT, they keep the rattle snakes away!  That’s it for now.

Until next time…

was fairly minimal.  We lost the roof to a small chicken coop, the pigeon loft went flying with the pigeons in it (which I mentioned yesterday).  The pigeons are OK. They recuperated in the house and were put back out today.  Their loft is damaged but can still hold the pigeons until Eric rebuilds it. A board from the fence was blown apart and several sheep escaped, but we easily lured them back with grain.  A big, heavy sheet   ( 4×8 feet) of plywood was lifted up over the 5 foot fence in the sheep area and went flying across the  barnyard to Ondra’s coop, about 20 feet away. Thankfully, the sheep, llamas, goats were huddled in their barn.  The plywood landed in a favorite lounge spot of theirs. And, all of our trash went flying all over, so we have a big clean up to do.

Back to the pigeons….  They made themselves QUITE comfortable yesterday.

Pigeons "at home" on bookcase

"Life's a Party!"

They were in a container, but “flew the coop” as soon as we left for a 4-H meeting.  This is what we found when we got home!

Lizard update:  He, or she, is doing well, and ate some meal worms yesterday, and was more energetic today.  Plus, one of the scabs from the cat bite wounds fell off. He was showing off his colorful belly this morning.  See below.

Blue lizard belly

That’s it for now, Until next time…

Snow is flying all around, the windows are hard to see out of because of the snow sticking to them.  I didn’t think the lambs would experience their first snow till December!

The wind had been so bad that we already lost a roof to a small chicken coop, with no chickens in it, thankfully.  But, Eric’s pigeon loft went flying, with the pigeons in it!  No one was hurt but the pigeon loft.

Eric posing in front of Forest Mountain (or lack of)

The pigeons are currently recuperating, where else?, the LIVING ROOM.  Also, Ondra’s rabbit that was caged next to the pigeon loft, is lounging here. It is only 11:30 am but this severe winter storm warning will be in effect till 11:00 tonight.  The wind is supposed to get WORSE.

On another note, we have a new addition to our menagerie.  Eric rescued a Western Fence Lizard from the jaws of one of our cats.  It had some bite wounds.

Injured lizard

He put it in a small terrarium we have, and guess where it is? Yep, the living room, which is currently housing  11 chicks, 3 pigeons, a rabbit, and a lizard.  Oh, I forgot, Buckeye, Ondra’s house chicken is out here as well.  Poor Buckeye had 2 violent seizures 2 nights ago.  He is in the living room for observation. He is fine and hasn’t had one since, but gave Ondra quite a scare.  She is VERY attached to him.  That’s it for now.

Until next time…