RAKed with a JSW

RAK
(Random Act of Kindness)

sometime ago Femke a friend over in Ravelry
in the group Monthly Adventures
told me to
watch my mailbox...
cause she was sending
this.....

(from the Netherlands!)

opening box....


wow this is wrapped up really well....

now to log onto flikr to see how
she took it apart.....



after minimal assembly.....

the JSW
(janet's Spinning Wheel)


single treadle very nice.....

oh you need roving to spin with?

lookie what she sent!

the far yellow is yarn labeled Sunflower
the white is Swiffer Sheep (that she washed and drum carded)
Grey Sheep (washed once and drum carded)
Alpaca washed drum carded
Alpaca white hand carded
Alpaca dirty not washed nor carded.


So i sat down to practice treadling....
Tot is fascinated...
(until she decides that the wheel needs to be milked)

this is what i produced...


so i tried more....

have a lot of practice ahead of me
before there is enough to make a
wedding ring shawl.
But my hands are super soft
and smell lovely.
(yes i like the smell of lanolin!)

thank you Femke!
you are the bestest!

serious update was neeeded!

well this is a much needed update.
what almost killed this blog
was the stupid farming games
over on Facebook.
they are major addicting.

so the animals.....
are all quite well
lets see what i've got...

eggs!
Celia laid the blue one (this is one of her first eggs)
Houdini laid the big white one
and unknown who lays what.

sadly no pics of Little Britches are on the comp.
he got mean and became roast chicken.
leaving Buffy the only rooster.

this is BAR the night before he met
with the knife.

we now only have 10 chickens
2 geese and 4 rabbits.
We got snow on November 9 2009
up until then it was nice, frosty.
The horses are gone as well.
Patches could be found over on Craigslist.

The geese are having a bit of trouble
last night it was -7 F.
There is very little info out
on the internet about
raising African Geese through
a winter.




And finally Tot all dressed up for
Halloween trick or treating.
(it was on the chilly side).



thank you all for sticking with me.

busy weekend

Princess rides Mac very well.
Friday afternoon

Princess night feeding one of the baby bunnies.
one of the bunnies died during the night.
it had a broken leg, that punctured the hide.

Princess and i making sourdough bread.
Princess and DH riding horses
Saturday morning.
(yep key to bringing kids home is get a horse).

and if you get queasy don't look at this last pic.
it is kind of nasty looking.
but looks way better than it did 2 days ago.





and now we are off to a football game.
it is only 1 pm.

All this was in 24 hours

Hugo brought this little guy home.
Just as we were supposed to be leaving for the
vet.
(sorry no graphic images of Hugo's
nasty looking snout).
Vet said staph infection due to bug bites.

We went horseback riding.
Tot loved it!

(about the only time i got to sit down all day-
and today i am absolutely sore).

This afternoon this is what the
bunnies looked like.
(yes the one multiplied into 3)
we are feeding them cat replacement milk.

I fed the first one every 2 hours last night (cows milk).
So this morn, i went out to feed Hugo.
As i reached for his dish- i noticed a fuzzy creature
lying on the concrete.
my thoughts: huh? but how? you are in your box.
uh oh.. there are 2 now!

So i took them to work to feed them while on break.
DH called me.... and said Hugo just brought another one home.

Here we have
On a wing and a prayer.
(yeah i know that is only 2 names and there are
3 bunnies).
i am tired.


Princess is home for the night.
and we went riding today also.
(ok i lead the horse w/a lead line
while Princess and Tot rode).
Remember i am still sore from riding yesterday.

Sunday update

Today has been a busy day.....

First the geese are getting bigger.
such noisy creatures.

Sunday sky,
it never did rain though.
cleared up and got into the 60's.

We have Patches and Mac
living in our backyard.
(leasing the back pasture)
but in the meantime we get to enjoy them.
Hugo is going bonkers.
DH and Thing 2 moving the Chicken coop.
wait it is going to fall!

ok this is so much better.
(there is a dolly under the wooden box)

Sadly tonights chicken dinner contained these.
These are eggs.
i killed the wrong bird.
all day i was watching to see which one
was crowing.
but still managed to grab the wrong one.
This was one of my 6 roosters i bought last spring.

Well that is it for today.
think i will take things slow for tomorrow.

Monday update

Sunday was Elizabeth Zimmermann's birthday.
She has encouraged knitters to think for themselves.
which is much appreciated.


And now folks have asked....
this is the killing post.
have hung 4 birds from it.
this is one of the baby Barred Rocks.
was most delish.

Sunday dinners have been fresh chicken
with homemade buttermilk biscuits.
as i was plucking the last chicken,
was thinking about how relaxing it was
to pluck a bird.
then quickly followed that thought
with how warped i am if i thought
plucking was relaxing.

And now Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
DH was surprised that i picked them
both up at once.
(we need to put up baby gates
to prevent these two from entering the house).



and today was another sunny day...
71 F, Tot went into a wading pool out at DM's.
After I helped finish up the staining of the shed.
Am selling the eggs i gathered for $4.00 a dozen.
we are getting about 6 eggs a day.

catch up

I got more chickens....
they were transported home via this means.

there are 10 adult birds in those boxes.


these 3 layers were in one box.
This S.O.G.
(center bird).
he was ok eating.

Meet B.A.R.
(Bad Attitude Rooster).
we are using him to train Hugo.
We are now averaging about 6 eggs a day.
sadly i go on an egg hunt every day.
and Lady B.A.R.'s eggs
are nowhere to be found.
might be because she is
freerange and has access to almost an acre.


this was in our driveway.
yes it is an ice cream truck.
so exciting.

Tot loves her pony rides.
(4th of July)

the weirdest things were at the parade.
(4th of July)

the geese 2 weeks ago.

And the geese now.
almost lost one of the geese yesterday.
it got caught in some net.
and was choking.
very nice geese.


we have had an exceptional summer.
very sunny.
a typical day was 70 F.
it has been raining for almost a week now.
but still some nice moments in there.
like Monday was 58F and raining on my way to work at 8:30.
after work at 330 it was 73 F and sunny.
(very muggy and humid though).