It's "Pause for Play" week here!

The kids have been challenged to turn off all electronics and screens for the week. They've been given two hours worth of passes; otherwise, they are to do do physical and family things instead. I've bought in as well! Having said that, I spent just under 8 hours today summarizing comments for the upcoming (Thursday) UCB Share-A-Thon. But after this post, I'm off!

Teeny tiny hint of upcoming babies ... Jazzy remained lying down when I entered the sheep pen this morning. This normally doesn't happen. However, it was a false alarm; there are still no other signs. I believe she'll be the first to lamb. I THINK she is having twins based on her size, which is amazing for a first-timer. We'll see ... soon I hope.

Wednesday, I'm judging the intermediate section Science Fair projects at Sonrise Christian Academy. I'm looking forward to this! AND they've given me another opportunity to sub the following week. I pray these silly sheep lamb at convenient times!

And, some lamb pix for inspiration; not my lambs, but lambs belonging to Colleen Nyman and her husband south or Picton. They have similar breeding to our crew here, and she's a couple of weeks ahead of us. The kids and I did "Maple and the County" this weekend at their barn.

Iain in front of the evaporator in the sugar shack (yes, there is coffee in the Timmy's cup; he gets coffee weekends only!):


Our favourite ram lamb of the flock ... the girls dubbed him "Oreo" :-). We'll be in the market for a ram in the fall, so we're keeping him in mind.



Our favourite ewe lamb ... SOOOO sweet, and love the colour. The pale tan points are characteristic of the Rideau Arcott, a dairy-type breed developed at the Experimental Research Station in Ottawa in the 70's. True Canadian sheep, these!


Claire with one of the farms' 2008 bottle babies.

Yup, spring is here ...

local roads are COVERED with racoons. Some dead, other scuttling off as you drive by. Three nights ago one knocked over our chicken feed. I balanced a bucket on the lid. Last night at 1:30 I heard the bucket fall, and raced downstairs and out the door yelling. I scared him off. Unfortunately I didn't hear he bucket fall later in the evening. The really odd thing? There is still chicken feed left in the bottom of the Rubbermaid garbage can (not a lot, but some); however, there are good chunks of the garbage can missing!

Last year we had a robin nest right on the railing of our back deck. Mama taught them to fly from the deck when they got older. This morning, I noticed a robin sitting on the railing, looking fat, cheeky and extraordinarily calm. I wonder ... I've put out bird seed, and placed the nest back into position. Just in case :-).

I spent two hours gardening yesterday. I was able to dig up all the side garden (rhubarb, tomato bushes and sunflowers planned) and almost all of the front foundation beds. I also dug up a new garden over the septic tank. There was a garden here when we arrived, but it dried out too quickly so I let it grow over. However, grass doesn't grow there either. This year I've added vermiculite and I'll mulch it really well and try again with just annuals, and perhaps a couple of peony bushes. It is much to early to garden; BUT so easy right now because even the weeds are still dead. Eventually I would love to move the chickens away from the house and put in a shade garden; I loved shade gardening in New Jersey and I'd love to give it a try here. In the middle of this windswept patch of clay soil, this one location on the north-east end of the house is my only possibility.

Kevin is into the last month of practices for "Anything Goes". Four members of this house sing the songs constantly; the kids run through his lines with him. I love that they all love the theatre; but my introverted self tends to hide at the computer during the noisiest times!

The sheep is in the washing maching felting as I type ...

Here is the inner leg/tummy piece in progress:


Here is the face in place:


And this photo was taken just prior to tossing her in the washer.



Felting seems a lot riskier than just knitting something. All that work, then in to the washing machine it goes. Hopefully I will have a photo of the completed sheep by sometime tomorrow. If you don't see one, you'll know my washing machine ate it :-D.

The 2008 Prince Edward County Oral Communication Contest was held today ...

We found out two days ago that the Sophiasburgh junior winner couldn't make it, so Iain went in his stead. Alison was also a participant. Both came home with third place in their categories against stiff competition, and Alison had a bad bout of laryngitis working against her. She actually withdrew at the start of the competition, then went back and told them she'd take a go at it. Iain, considering he had completely forgotten about his speech and only had about a day to practise, did REALLY well.

Here are the all-county winners:



And here are Iain and Alison with their cool little trophies.



Good job, guys!

Here are the proofs for Alison's grad photos ...

not sure how they will scan though :-). We'll likely do the first photo, with some wallet size green screen photos as well. What do you think?

Hurray!!! Look closely ...

A robin in each cherry tree :-). Mourning doves on the back railing of the house. Patches of earth. Three ewes acting in very matronly ways (our oldest has that "I'm nine months pregnant of course I waddle!" movement).

Finally!

Spring!

(Despite the sub-zero temperatures we're having, but I digress :-) ...)

As promised, the completed felted bags, and the "amorphous blob" of tan knitting

Here are the girls' completed iPod holders.



Here is the amorphous tan blob.


Aha! This is more like it. It took quite a while before the knitting actually started to look like a sheep!


The person who designed this pattern is truly a genius. To take into account that knit work felts more in one direction than another, then design around that to make a 3 dimensional figure ... I've got to wonder how many felted sheepies ended up at the "Island of Unwanted Toys" before she/he finally got this pattern right. I've got to wonder whether whether this particular one is going to work!!!

Hard to believe ...

that this amorphous blob of tan wool is going to look anything like a sheep someday.

Knitters are optimists ;-).

The wool is positively yummy; made from the icelandic sheep (and in this case, made in Iceland).

(Sorry, all ... I removed the photo and I'll do a link instead to Tongue River Icelandics. Hopefully this won't be a copyright infringement, 'cause I think having the photo here was :-) ... )

Icelandics are the only real triple purpose sheep, making them an ideal sheep for the small homestead. They have a luxurious, primitive fleece with a very long staple; excellent for spinning. In Iceland, they separate the fleece and prepare baby clothes and undergarments with the soft underfleece, and make rugs and outerware with the tog (guard fleece)They are hardy and thrifty and provide an excellent carcass with low input necessary. And they have loads of milk for their own young and for the kitchen as well. (In most dairy sheep, fleece quality has been reduced significantly, and carcass size is also smaller). Lastly, they average 200% lambing rate (twins are expected; triplets not unheard of).

And, it turns out the tog also makes excellent felting wool :-). We shall see.

Edible socks, felting and other knitting adventures (this is a long one, folks, and only of interest to knitting nerds :-) ...)

It's been a fibre-arts type of week. Not surprisingly, visits to Grandma and Grandpa in Burlington always inspire us to greater knitting addiction.

Alison and Claire have finished their felted MP3/iPod purses for 4H Sheep Club. During a moment of boredom, Iain even starting making one!

The girls' projects were knit with "Atacama" 100% Alpaca, hand-dyed in Chile (and paid for by the Sheep Club). Alison used a 6.0 mm 40" cable; Claire used a 6.5. (Cable size of 16" would have worked fine; I don't own any). Using the long cable, they didn't knit "in the round" but used magic loop method instead.

Here are the purses completed, pre-felting. You can see the difference in size due only to Claire's larger diameter needle.


Here is a photo mid-wash cycle. If you look up felting instructions online, the experts tell you that front-loading washers don't work. This is not true (at least for alpaca). Here are both purses, with i-cord attached, plus two relatively clean pairs of running shoes, zooming around in our front loader. Use the hottest water setting, and add just a little bit of laundry detergent.



Alison and I actually sat and watched most of the cycle. We are easily amused ;-). Here are the girls pulling out the felted purses.



Here are the purses being "blocked". In this case, our best blocks were the TV remotes, encased safely in ziplock bags. For most purses, a book or books work best.


And the final product! Dried and ready for the next step ... the girls still need to add velcro, plus at a future 4H meeting they will be needle felting designs on the bag with merino roving. Claire's bag is still slightly larger, but they both felted beautifully. I can't believe the difference made by needle size.


As for the "edible" socks ... we paid a visit to one of our LYS's this week. The girls had visited Joseph Brant Hospital with my mom, who gave them quite the tour. The tour ended with mom buying them lottery tickets. Where is that grimace smiley when you need it? Truly, it's a hospital fundraiser ... I wasn't that concerned. And Alison won $25! She split it with the other two children, and Claire wanted to use her portion to buy ... what else ... yarn to make HER first pair of socks! She purchased double-knit weight; it's lovely to work with and will knit up more quickly than fingering weight. I continue to refine my generic toe-up sock pattern with instructions for different yarn weights and sizes.

I pride myself on NOT having a stash. I try desperately to work on one project at a time. I blew it this week. I was admiring "TOFUtsies" sock yarn at Lisa's store, and she gave me a free ball, and then another one at half-price. She was trying to get rid of it because she's not carrying it anymore. It was inexpensive. It will make lovely summer-weight socks. I couldn't resist. The yarn is 50% Superwash Wool, 25% Soy fibres, 22.5% cotton and 2.5% chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells; a natural antibacterial ingredient). Okay, only some of it is edible sounding ;-). However I have no plans to knit these anytime soon; hence, I now have stash.


I also purchased enough Lopi felting wool to get my started on my next project; one of these. I hope to donate one to the 4H Sheep Club to be used as a fundraiser this year. Heh, heh. Or perhaps next year :-). The pattern is from FiberTrends in the U.S.

copyright FiberTrends

And ... that's it for now :-).

February Issue of More Radio Mag, starring ...

The UCB 102.3, 100.3 and 99.9 Morning Show hosts ... :-). Or as a friend stated when he first saw the cover, "Holy Front Page, Batman!"


This is Kev and Dana, apres (where's that accent when you need it??) a fund-raising buzz cut done at the studio in the fall. They are a great team. Kev has been doing the morning show alone this week, and he says the job is not near as fun without a co-host.

The Saga of Alison's Finger

So.

Alison's finger is still swollen and sore because it may have a hairline fracture. The second x-ray was taken last Wednesday, and I never heard a thing until I called today. We have to pop in to Picton for Alison to have her finger properly immobilized at 8:30 tomorrow morning. They are making noises now that she may have to see someone in orthopedics. Say it isn't so. And I am slightly miffed that they didn't call when they received results; perhaps then I wouldn't have sent Alison off to work and riding lesson this morning. Oops.

This BEFORE the 2+ hour drive in to downtown Toronto to take her to the Hospital for Sick Children. She has had an ongoing issue for the last year, and her clinic appointment has finally materialized. She will be seeing a pediatric nephrologist tomorrow. I don't think this is going to be a big deal; she has had an ultrasound all ready that ruled out most of the big. scary. options.

AND, if she wasn't spending enough time loitering at hospitals, the Board of Education FINALLY called in for more information re: her hearing loss. She has to go to Hotel Dieu in Kingston at the end of April to get a full audiology report (her last was at age 3; although there can be no change in the report, they wish to have a current report for their files). Another day of school lost.

Alison is less than impressed.

After our Sick Kids visit, the kids and I are off to visit Mom and Dad in Burlington! We're looking forward to that :-).

And the verdict is (ultrasound results!) ...

3 pregnant ewes!

We don't know numbers because the lambs are on the larger side now and it was too bright for her to have a good reading on the screen. Here is Rebecca, our ultrasound technician. She travels Ontario east ultrasounding sheep, goats and alpacas only. I asked her if she would mind being photographed for our blog; she laughed and said "Heh, in my sheep pen best?". Here she is preparing the portable ultrasound machine for use. She's a lovely woman who is very involved in 4H Ontario and Scouts.




She did Kivu first. We were very surprised to discover she is pregnant, as you can see by Alison's expression. Very often first year Shetland ewes don't catch. She likely only has a single, which is actually worse for a first-timer than twins since the twins are smaller and come through a small pelvis with ease. A single lamb tends to be larger with more tendency to become stuck. If you click on the photo you might get some more detail from the screen.


We didn't get a photograph of Latifah, however here is Jasmine being done. We couldn't get numbers on either Kivu or Latifah; got a good head measurement on Jasmine and her lamb(s) are at 100 days. Latifah's are estimated to be slightly earlier; Kivu's a bit later. So we will start looking for lambs no earlier than April 5.

Week in Review

* Two snow days

* Two cancelled sub days

* One very productive house cleaning/dusting/organizing day

* One doctor's appointment for Alison ... "Why is my finger STILL sore and swollen three weeks later?"

* One further x-ray at the hospital, where Alison, the radiologist, a coop x-ray student and I had an fascinating conversation about training for, and working in, that field. Alison learned that in high school, she can actually do her grade 11 co-op at the Picton Hospital, rotating through x-ray, labs, dialysis, nursing care, and physiotherapy. She is pumped!

* First work outside with the sheep in 2008 (other than routine care). Feet were trimmed; vaccinations were given, and I spent some time doing a relatively bad job crutching them. We also attempted to guess whether or not they are pregnant. Still fairly clueless about this, although certainly if Jasmine is NOT pregnant, she is on a diet the day we determine this :-).

*First (and possibly last) meeting for the PEC 4H Giant Vegetable and Pumpking Club. It was way too much sitting for Iain; it's not a "fun" club but very serious. (I'm sure they have fun as well!). Even Alison is reconsidering based on all her commitments. Iain really wants to concentrate on perennials and our square foot gardens at home (Hello? Okay son, you are MORE than welcome to do that.) I think we'll still plant giant sunflowers along the house; they're pretty spectacular.

* A visit at HOME from an ultrasound technician; yes, this variety is much less expensive that the kind we go to. Later today (weather permitting) our regional sheep specialist is passing through on her way home from dealing with some larger flocks and she is bringing her equipment. We will be able to find out if the girls are pregnant or not (definitely); approximately when they are due (hopefully) and perhaps the number of lambs coming (a slight possibility only, since our girls could be too far along for this). Hoping for photos, but we're having battery problems. I'm going to pick up Alison from school before she arrives; my name will be MUD considering there has already been two snow days this week, and she left early on the ONE day of school they've had for a doctor's appointment ... heh, heh. However we need two for sheep wrestling since our girls (especially Jasmine) are QUITE big.

*What didn't happen this week was reorganizing the filing cabinet and whip the budget into shape. Having the kids home demo'ed those "to-do" list constants.

See, it's good for us ;-) ... that's why we do it!

Health Benefits of Knitting and Crocheting

Knitting Helps Stave Off Alzheimers?

Knitting Has Health Benefits

Knitting as School Curriculum

(last one just for interest!)

Never mind ... teaching cancelled for today ...

because of yet another SNOW DAY! The sky is bright blue, high of 6 or 7 Celsius ... (for my American friends, that's ... uh ... well, 10 C is about 50 F ... a nice day well above freezing anyway!).

I guess the roads were iced over this morning, but at bus time (right now) they are melted and fine.

I prepared for about 1.5 hours last night ... it was going to be a blast! Oh well. I guess I must start with the 6/7 graders on Wednesday ... unless there is another "snow" day ;-). Perhaps these should be called "snaux" days (as in "faux").

We plan on homework today, taking the dog out for a walk, bicycling (although there is still snow on the ground, the roads are clear), kids baking, some room tidying. At the moment most of us are still in our jammies, although Alison is trying on her graduation dress. We found this dress at Value Village while Kevin was still off ... it looks just lovely; long, boat neckline with skinny straps, navy blue ... she's almost a perfect size 3 since it's a slightly big for her all over.

You'll never guess what I'm doing tomorrow :-).

I am substitute teaching a split first-second grade class at our local Christian school. I'm actually quite looking forward to it! On Wednesday, I'm substituting again; this time a grade 6/7 class. That one I'm slightly more nervous about ;-).

This is something that just came up a couple of weeks ago; at the County speech competition, I was speaking to the principal of the school (Mrs. Scrivens was Alison and Claire's teacher back in 2004). I just mentioned that I was looking at different options, and still was pretty interested in teaching and missed my homeschooled kids. I wasn't even fishing for a job :-). However, timing is everything. We had a good long talk, and she mentioned that she had lost a number of teachers on her substitute list. Would I be interested in being added to the list? Ummm, yes! I can't think of a better way to figure out whether teaching is a fit for me ... than by teaching :-).

Now I did teach, and prepare lesson plans for, a grade 3/4 science class during the 2004-2005 school year. I enjoyed it many aspects of it, but found it frustrating that I couldn't help all the kids master all the material.

So tonight I'm reviewing human teeth and math and language arts lesson plans. I'm going in!

Last week I also volunteered for the first time at UCB and had quite a lot of fun. Great people to work with there. I actually figured out the phone system (I used to joke, back in pre-kid days when I worked at Uniroyal Chemical, that the gas chromatograph and Coulter Counters were easier to run than the phone system :-) ...).

We had the Achievement Day today for the kids' 4H Drama Club. It was amazing. I hung out at a couple of the evenings, and was impressed with how Kyle Watson, the teacher, engaged EVERYONE. Even Iain had a blast; it was right up his alley. Today it was all about the kids' doing improv by various games. They have learned so much about presenting in front of others, critiquing each others work, public speaking, and thinking on their feet.

Just one more reason I love 4H. Next Club to start is the Prince Edward Giant Vegetable and Pumpkin Club, which both Alison and Iain are trying for the first time. The kids grow their own massive pumpkins, or hugely long gourds, or large flowered sunflowers, with the culmination of the project being at the County Fair in September. And sheep club continues with the two girls working on felting projects as we speak.