Esyllt

My oldest lamb is Esyllt. She is out of LRO January and by WhitePine Arvada. I'm very glad to have at least one eweling from Arvada. Here she is standing in front of her dam. January's belly got re-sheared a day later. Esyllt is growing fat and sassy, and she has become very friendly. I love her big doe-eyes! Standing next to Clennam, who is 2.5 weeks younger. Esyllt turned 8 weeks old yesterday, so she got her first shot of C&D vaccine. On a whim, I tried a Rocky Size A coat on her and it fit just perfectly. She looks so cute...like a little pet dressed up in doll clothes. :)

Carys

This little angel-baby is Clennam's twin sister, Carys.She is a shy violet. All of AnnaBelle's daughters are aloof when they are young but they eventually get friendly.

I love Carys' shape and wool. She also has a more proper lift to her ear set than Clennam. The black spot by her eye is actually just pitch from the spruce trees.

Carys shows every sign of becoming a gorgeous ewe just like her two older full sisters, Lyneth and Vianne. Hopefully she will also possess the deep depressions in her scull that Lyneth displays in this close-up photo.Carys is my last Bombarde daughter. Definitely a keeper!

Beck

I decided that little Beck deserved some attention too. He's a cutie...just hard to get to know because he's so shy.He was born with a silky dog hair birth coat. The crimpy wool is filling in underneath it now. And his neck and shoulder wool is lovely. I don't have any experience with his type of birth coat, though. I'll just have to wait to see if it turns out nicely.Conformation and tail are very good.Beck is only 4 days younger than Clennam and his horn buds are very similar. I have a hunch that Beck might have a larger sized scur down the road. But again, I don't have much experience with the polled gene.

Tecwyn

This little guy, Tecwyn, probably has an unremarkable future. But like so many ram lambs...he happens to be adorable and charming.Tecwyn is rarely seen more than a few inches away from his twin brother, Beck. They are the youngest lambs in the flock and they stick together like glue. These are Nhu's first babies and, even though they are two days shy of five weeks old, she still calls to them constantly and keeps them by her side, worrying and fretting if one is out of sight. They seem quite happy with this perpetual baby status. :)Tecwyn and Beck are WhitePine Arvada sons. Their conformation and tails turned out wonderfully. The jury is still out on their fleeces. The wool coming in seems to be quite a bit different from their birth coats. Both of these lambs are like reference material. Arvada is deceased so the breeding cannot be repeated. Every lamb gives some clues about what the parents are capable of. These two aren't my favorites, but I'm not disappointed by any means.Especially since both lambs have very small horn growth so far. I really don't know if Arvada carried the polled gene or not, since his horns were so large. But I did have hopes that Nhu carried polled. These lambs will have scurs for sure, but I think there is a good chance that they are both displaying some signs of carrying polled too. Tecwyn's scurs are a bit larger than Beck's. Beck wasn't cooperating with the camera though.

Clennam

Clennam

gray, moorit recessive

ShelteringPines Bombarde x Bramble AnnaBelle

Clennam continues to impress me. He is my hopeful polled, Bombarde replacement ram. But because I am not very familiar with how the polled gene manifests itself yet, I will not speculate on him. I do feel certain that both of his parents carry the polled gene, though. Clennam is a full 5 weeks old, and if more experience polled breeders want to offer their opinions I am all ears. I just love his conformation and fleece type! He is super soft and crimpy. This photo shows how square he walks, as well as how his scurs are a bit asymmetrical. Again...LOVE this lamb! Four square and a nice tail. Being his regular mischievous self.

Close up of his scurs.

Confirmation

Leif, Isaac, and Asa were all Confirmed Sunday May 23, 2010.

Since they haven't worn dress clothes since perhaps kindergarten, I had to take a picture. :)

Good Reasons

In my effort to catch up on blogging, I must go back a week to announce the purchase of two old scrappy Camaros for my almost-16 twin sons. Why on earth did we get them sports cars? Well, we had some good reasons:

1. We figured the boys would take better care of cars that they actually liked.
2. The bodies may be sporty but the engines and horse-power are really quite average.
3. If they drive nasty, parts are bound to fall off and the cars will likely suffer major heart attacks.
4. Once the racing stripes are painted on the dark car, both Camaros should be Cop Magnets, which is exactly what we want our teenage boys to be driving. evil grin

Do I think my boys should be old enough to drive yet? Good Heavens, NO! Pray for me. Pray for THEM! I expect this little epoch to give me gray hair. sigh

Humble Gardens

I splurged on two apple trees a couple weeks back. The closer one is a Honeycrisp and the one behind it is a Northern Lights. It feels so wonderful to have started our orchard after years of hoping for one! The third little tree in the line is actually one of two walnuts a friend gave me from her own ancient tree. Those are precious to me as well.

Clancy tilled up the old garden spot today. We had been dumping compost and ashes there for more than a year, and it has been two years since I've tried to plant anything there. Clancy is determined to put in some potatoes. And my peonies that we rescued from our old home have decided to live. Of course the chives came up just fine. Can anything really hinder chives? I doubt it. :) The rhubarb bed is further down the hill, closer to the lake.

I didn't take a picture of it, but Clancy also tilled up a nice area that has been underneath a tarp shed for the past decade. Not a weed seed left in the soil there! He is going to plant is special little yellow watermelons there. I think they are Yellow Doll.

I'll be putting several tomatoes and peppers in pots again. I traded a butcher lamb to a friend that grows heirloom organics for all the transplants I need. I don't know why, but life feels so abundant when I am able to barter. It makes me so much happier than buying something. :)