The Big News

Meet Bramble Anna Belle. She came home with me on Friday. After two years of longing for Anna Belle to be in my flock, Kim generously made my wish come true.

I know how you will miss her, Kim. I promise she will be treasured here at Boston Lake.

Anna Belle was the calmest, sweetest ewe today while Clancy and I sheared her. She just leaned her head against my shoulder and enjoyed my snuggles while Clancy clipped away with the scissors. I love her already. She even won Clancy's heart with her beautiful manners and fine fleece. Her softness is just incredible.

Thank you, Kim!

The Big Day

Friday did not get off to the early start I had hoped for. But by 10 am I was zipping East on Highway 2 on my way to Becky's house to visit with her and Kim.

Quite a while back I agreed to meet the wood buyer from Texas on this date. I was using the stick delivery as my excuse to spend the day visiting Becky and her wonderful flock of Shetlands. Then Kim sweetened the deal with an offer I could not refuse. (More later.) At the last minute the wood buyer had to postpone our connection until after Labor Day. My cover was blown. Clancy's suspicions were confirmed-this trip was all about sheep and visiting friends. :)

I spent a whole afternoon in fun conversation with Becky and Kim. And I had the pleasure of spending some time with Becky's flock. Her BFL cross lambs are amazing, especially the youngest little ewe lamb, Dot. I had no previous interest in BFL's, but those cross-lambies were very persuasive. I'll have to think more about that. Plus, they were as cute as Shetlands with Bunny Ears. I want one! Then there was that little purebred Katmoget ewe lamb that had fleece like a cloud. (Becky wouldn't part with her or that adorable Dot.) I was in Shetland heaven.

I also got to try out a spinning wheel for the first time. I want one of those too. And Kim and Becky are up to all kinds of fun projects. It was like a Girls' Day Out for me. I had so much fun. Thank You, Ladies!

Starting with Thursday...

Life has been full steam ahead for the past few days. Such fun and good times. It may take me a few days to write about it all.

This past Thursday we wrapped up SOCCER practice for the summer. (With gasoline prices so high, Selena and I decided we wouldn't be driving the 40 mile round trip to town for boys' soccer league this year. Since Elmer (Selena's Husband) is a soccer coach and a very generous person, he offered to teach soccer to our kids twice a week over at Grandma's house.) Just like the matches we played earlier in the summer, it was grown-ups against kids for the final game.

With the exception of Elmer, who plays soccer with a team regularly and usually acts as referee for our games, Clancy and I, Selena, and Mom and Dad are ordinary people with ordinary stamina and fitness in the "organized sports." Meaning we wilt in the hot hot sun and huff and puff our way around the soccer field. "Is it half-time yet?"

Well, I guess Dad and Clancy have enough of a competitive nature to keep quiet. Sometimes I think they are playing a little too hard...maybe more is at stake in their minds? It's been more than 17 years since I played soccer in high school. I don't charge the ball like I used to. I'm pretty sure Selena, Mom, and I are just trying to avoid major injury. We consider ourselves large moving versions of those orange cones the boys practice around.

At any rate, our sons' soccer skills have improved dramatically with these private lessons. A huge THANK YOU from my family to UNCLE ELMER! You are a great coach.

Here is a photo of the team (my three and Selena's son) with Coach Elmer, taken during half-time. Don't they look like pros?

This is Dad, Mom, and me taken at half-time. What a miracle we are still breathing! :) I can tell you we laugh this hard pretty much all the way through the game. It's endlessly funny the way we look trying to play soccer. Healthy jests abound. We have great team spirit, though!

In case you are wondering.........we lost big time. The edge we had half-way through the season couldn't withstand the well-oiled machine the boys' team has become. Way to go Elmer. Way to go kids!

Emsket and Grey

These photos were taken a couple of February's ago. They are not the crispest images but I hope they illustrate the difference between non-Ag Emsket and Ag Grey.:

Sheltering Pines Dolce-an emsket ewe. No Ag sugar lips, light inner-ear color, pale eye-circles or underparts.

Emsket fleece parted. Pewter color near skin, sunbleached taupe color at tips.

This photo is of Rachel that same winter.She carries a single Ag gene. Sometimes her fleece is dark grey enough to resemble a "bluish hue" But she has the sugar lips, white eye-circles, and light inner ears as well. She has thrown non-iset solid lambs as well as Ag lambs.

This trio is AgAa Rachel (center) with two of her offspring: AgAg 2 year old Zora (left), and AgAa Kyve as a yearling (right). Even after his first shear, Kyve was a dark blue color. He maintained all the tell-tale signs of Ag though. Notice the "sugar lips" on Rachel even from this distance.

Say Cheese...

The boys said "HI," but they refused to leave the pool for anything but snacks. I couldn't blame them. It was over 95 degrees F. yesterday. Thank goodness today is a bit cooler. We also had a small shower pass through-the first in quite a while! It's nice to have the dust knocked out of the air.

'Atta Girl

Megan saves the day. For Herself anyway. Actually she's been taking care of this enormous breech of Canine Meal Rules for a couple of day's now. You know humans though, they are "Slow Learners."

A little background: Meg still gets a special puppy chow. I don't even think she likes this stuff, but she expects her due. Every morning I shuffle into the kitchen at 6 am to put on the tea kettle. If I forget to feed Megan right then, she will hold out for about three minutes, then she gets busy reminding me of my Most Important chores: The ones that concern Her. Megan will pick up her stainless steel dish and drop it on the wood floor which creates a fabulous CLANG. (Much more effective than the clinky nudging of said bowl that she previously employed.)

So now the chow is in the bowl. Sally gets put out for her morning jaunt and Greta slides in for her off-duty nap...

"Ah, but that delicious puppy chow in that handy dish...so different and tasty compared to the regular chow poor Greta has to eat outside in her dish...and it's sitting right in the path from the back door to the living room rug..."

"GRETA! Get out of there!"...and the culprit slips away to sleep off the full tummy feeling.

Meg, who has been exuberantly welcoming the groggy boys that are stumbling down the stairs (having been jarred from slumber by a loud CLANG), snaps to attention and comes to investigate the crime scene: "Dish, empty. Master, crabby. Greta scent leads from Dish to Rug. Greta the Dull lolls on Rug. Outrage!"

Apparently Master is inept. Such things should not occur. The time has come to put the matter into the paws of a more intelligent being...

For the past two days Meg has tucked herself into her crate when I open her food bin. OK, whatever. She wants to be fed in there?... fine with me. This morning I happened to drink my tea in the kitchen. I witnessed the elaborate measures Meg felt obligated to create in order to foil Greta from chow theft:

Get inept Master to put Dish in Crate. Pull Blanky almost all the way out of Crate. Heap large folds of Blanky on top of Dish. Dish completely disguised. Close Crate door. Master is well trained to open it for Me if I can't get it bumped open Myself. Go about my Important Business knowing Dish is safe from The Dull One.

Obviously my 6 am autopilot mode is not sophisticated enough to solve complex problems. Thank goodness Meg has things under control until the caffeine kicks in.

And so it follows...

If Iset is a pattern like Ag grey... it would be found at the same genetic location as Ag grey.

Any one sheep could only carry two pattern genes. Therefore, an Ag Katmoget would not be able to also carry the Iset Pattern gene. Any heterozygous Katmoget, Gulmoget, or Grey sheep that didn't already have another pattern could theoretically carry the Iset pattern as well. But a homozygous Katmoget, Gulmoget, or Grey sheep would not be able to carry Iset. So it shouldn't show Iset either. Now, Solid, is also a pattern. But Solids sometimes go Iset, so maybe that sheep has one Solid gene and one Iset gene...

Since Grey and Katmoget patterns lighten the main fleece so much, it might be hard to tell if they are also Iset. I'm not sure I would recognize an Iset-Grey myself. Unless, maybe I had been watching it closely from birth for that very purpose.

Recognizing Iset in Solids and Gulmogets is easier? I don't have Gulmogets in my flock yet. (emphasis on the YET.) So I really can't comment on Gulmoget fleeces at all. I would love to hear imput from any breeders that have been working with Gulmogets about the occurance of Iset in those fleeces.

Saying that a homozygous Gulmoget could never go Iset, until perhaps old age, feels like I'm right out at the tip of that big limb I hopped up on in yesterday's post. I'm sure that is exactly where I am too. And what if the whole thing snaps and Theory 1 is blasted out of the water.....?

Well then, I would KNOW for sure Iset is not a pattern. The occurance of it would have to be hidden in some other place in the genetic code. After enough chipping away it will be found in a familiar genetic location or we'll discover a new location.

Who wouldn't like to know which pretty little lambs are going to be Iset by the time they are one or two years old? Maybe a lot of flock owners. Some people want mystery in their Shetlands and don't appreciate everything being pinned out like butterflies to a board. I can respect that.

I would be less reluctant, however, to have Iset in my flock if I understood how it was passed on to offspring. If I knew something concrete about it-like it will show if one gene is present-or it takes two genes to produce it-I could make more appropriate decisions about terrific Shetlands that just happen to be Iset too.

For now I'm going to scrutinize my flock for evidence that supports or defies the "Iset as Pattern" theory. Thinking out loud like this helps me clarify my ideas. I may be the first one to disprove my own theory. :)