sheep in a heap and some good good music

We had a magnificent downpour today. The ground loves the rain and we don't mind a bit. This little scene of the sheep in a heap was taken yesterday.

It's a quiet Saturday ~ well, everyday is quiet out here in the middle of nowhere. While we work, we've been listening to Yael Wand's newest CD called 'At Your Door'. Her previous album 'Antimony' is one of our all time favourites and this one is wonderful too. You can listen to a few songs from At Your Door by going to her myspace page which we have included in our links list here. Yael deserves to be more well known.

Early May days. Letting the sheep into their next pasture.

A delightful late season snow fall.

May rain storms, contented sheep, happy hummers. Life is good.

Colours on the wings of spring!

Early May on the meadow

Early May. A couple of photos from our most enjoyable wander around the property the other day. An opportunity to check fences and access damage to trees after our recent wind storms.

More lambantics

Just for fun ~

And at the end of it ~ a rest and snuggle with Mom :)

Some portraits of our lambs on a fine spring day.

A little sun, a little snow ~ an awful lot like April

A moose we met on our drive home from town the other day. (Or was it the other week :) Time flies and it's hard to believe it's the middle of April already!

It’s been an off again on again weekend on the meadow as far as sunshine goes, but full of birds and wildlife and the antics of our lambs of course.

A lone moose arrived and hung about in the meadow yesterday, not the same moose we met on the road. Our meadow moose had a very blonde head.

We watched a pair of nesting harriers fend off the advances of a golden eagle this morning. That was quite a show and one of the only times we've seen both harrier's at once.

Most of our wildflowers will stay tucked underground for awhile yet but we have an ever increasing crop of dandelions and they are a welcome harbinger of spring. The pussywillows are about to burst forth all along the edges of the creek and surrounding the meadow! The Canada Geese make themselves at home.

It is getting on 6oclock and time to warm up the wood stove and think about what to make for dinner. Till next time ~ here's hoping spring is arriving on your doorstep too.

Before and after

It's been a bright and beautiful Easter weekend here on the meadow. A busy weekend too!

It was sheep shearing time which meant a fair amount of preparation to set up for the Sunday morning arrival of our friends Brian and Debbie.

David had the sheep dry and fasted. He made auxiliary pens to have the ewes and the ram ready for their shearing. The shearing area was set up and ready to go when Brian arrived.

Brian is a professional shearer who first sheared our sheep last year. He does a lovely job. It's hard work and takes a strong back. His wife Debbie is his ready assistant handing him his tools and his upturned milk carton bench as required.

David brought the ewes to Brian one at time, introducing them by name and disposition. Once the shearing began, David would retrieve the ewe's lamb and hold them close by to minimize the lamb's and the ewe's stress levels. Once the shearing is complete, Brian takes to his milk carton and trims the sheep's hooves. With that, they are all done and David turns them out into their new pasture with their lamb. We gather up the beautiful fleece, seperate it from the tag and bag it up in empty chicken feed bags. The ram was sheared last, his fleece is the very nicest of all the sheep... just beautiful.

The actual shearing operation took just 2 hours then it was time for a shower and some lunch.

They are a happy flock of sheep today. The little ones are full of beans while the ewes and 'Mr.' seem relaxed and content.

Yesterday was also a day of new spring arrivals as our sandhill cranes returned to the meadow. Our bluebirds arrived and an osprey visited too.

Our grandson, new lambs, old pups and our first spring flowers

Our first spring flower! Bright and welcome dandelions poking their heads up at the edge of the house where the sun beats down.

We are thoroughly enjoying our little lambs gamboling about in the yard! Our ewes are such good moms too!

And the dogs are in seventh heaven. It's time to 'Play Ball' again now that the snow is gone from the yard. Well, almost gone!!

And finally, after 5 months of waiting for the roads to be passable and lots web cam visits and lovely photos from Jill and Charlie ... David and I stole a few days to get down to Vancouver to meet our grandson; Aiden! And what a beautiful boy he is!!

Three pies worth!

Our blackbirds.

Enough for at least three pies! :)

Their numbers have swelled in the last few days. Their song echos around the meadow. We counted more than seventy red winged blackbirds this afternoon! They decorate the view out our kitchen window and grace our trees with their beautiful flashes of colour!

Moose the lamb

Our newest and last lamb of the year just a couple of hours old here ~ we have named this little guy ' Moose' ! He is a big lamb; long legged and long bodied. That's a portrait of his mom below. Her name is Snowball and Moose is her first lamb. It was a difficult birth for her but she's doing beautifully now and is proving to be an awesome mom! Moose is finding his legs and learning how to keep his big head up. It's been snowing the last few days. All three lambs and their moms are still in their comfy lambing apartments till it's a bit more spring like outdoors. Soon they'll be bounding about out on fresh spring grass and as Matthew; one of our wood ring folks said " ...they'll be making the place look like an Easter greeting card come to life!" :) It's lunch time and we're just warming up one of our favourites ~ homemade (of course) split pea soup. mmmm.