Welcome to the Dark Side

Our power went out around 10 am on Sunday.  It was returned to us around 7:30 Thursday night.  That is, for those keeping score at home, just under four and a half days with no power.  Some of that was broken up by the fact that Adam and I still went to work, and some of that was broken up by the fact that when you have no electric, you go to bed when it gets dark out- which runs about 7:40 pm these days, if anyone's interested.

But to fill the other hours without tv, video games, cell phones, or the computer, you can:

curl up under quilts and read (or nap!)

play with the dog

look up knitting patterns (in real books!  Instead of on Ravelry!)

Knit in the sunshine

or by lamplight

after you convince your husband to wind some balls of yarn for you.

(winding yarn is not Adam's favorite past time)

You could find new and exciting uses for the garage overhang and some 550 cord

when the power goes out mid-laundry cycle.

Harvest some lavender

or play in the sunshine

All in all, it wasn't a terrible experience.  Not one that we would like to repeat at any point in the near future, but not awful.  We kept thinking how much harder the whole thing would have been had we been in the middle of a sweltering heat wave and trying to keep the animals cool or in the middle of a blizzard or cold snap and trying to keep the water troughs from becoming 50 gallon ice bergs without power to the electric heaters.  Honestly, the animals didn't have a clue that anything was different.  We ran two borrowed generators, one for the chest freezer in the garage and the other for the water pump and furnace so that we could water the animals and take quick, hot showers.  And flush the toilets, which becomes more important than you might imagine after Day 1 without power.   

The one good thing that came out of the whole experience (other than getting a lot of knitting done) was the fact that without other distractions, Adam and I got to spend a LOT of time together.  There was not much else to do other than talk to each other, no video games to play or Facebook to check.  We went to bed early together, got up early together, and spent a lot more time, in general, together.  We also got to spend some time with his family, as his sister had power, so those without were huddled around her table for hot meals. 

So, in short, it could have been a lot worse.

Off the Grid

A quick post from a borrowed computer-

The animals and farm came through the storm ok, but we've been without power since Sunday.  A call to PPL reassured me that "most users in that area can expect to have power returned by Sunday, September 4 at 11pm." 

That was somewhat less reassuring than I'm sure they were going for. 

An Awkward Conversation

I was in the fabric store the other day, in line to get things cut, when the woman behind me pipes up.

"Hey, you guys live up north of Honesdale, right?"

"Yes..."

"You live on such and such road, right?"

"Yes..."

"You have the yaks, yeah?"

"Yes, those are our yaks."

"And the turkeys..."

"Oh.  Yes.  Sorry about that."

See, the turkeys aren't really domesticated, not in any sense you might imagine.  Nutsy is used to people and will hang around, the babies are not.  So there's not really any way to pen them in that would keep them contained (and since all chicken containment efforts have failed, I shudder to imagine our attempts at enclosing turkeys). 

The biggest problem with that is that for some reason, baby turkeys like to lay down on the road.  I can't even begin to understand this; it seems utterly contrary to any sort of evolutionary sense  you could possibly imagine.  Laying in the middle of the road (while warm and comfy) would defy every practical application of "survival of the fittest."  And yet, that's their favorite place to be, so a couple times a day we usually hear a horn honking outside as someone tries to encourage them to be smarter, or at least have a little self preservation. 

The other new favorite activity of the turkeys is scaring Thora to death.

The couch in the window is Thora's couch, where she sleeps and hangs out.  The turkeys have taken to sitting on the porch railing just outside her window first thing in the morning, completely surrounding her, so that the first thing she sees when she wakes up is an ambush of turkeys.

This has led to some unpleasantly loud mornings in our house. 

I have to say, I love animals.  I love all the animals on our farm, each and every one of them. 

But I am seriously looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. 

Happy Birthday Thora!

to

4 years old today!

Don't worry, the birthday girl will have some cake as soon as she wakes up from her very strenuous nap. 

Contessa

Over the past weekend, we sadly lost Contessa, one of our CVM ewes.  She passed away during the night.  Adam suspects bloat may have been the issue, as there were no signs of animal attack or previous illness. 

She will be very missed.

In Pictures

Victor

Pullo playing hide and go seek with Adam

One of the visiting Beach Lake ewes

Being helpful

Harvested garlic

CVMs in the pasture

 Godiva

Coming Up for Air

My sister has been scolding me for not updating more frequently, but it seems like we've only had two types of days lately.  The ones where it pours rain and all I could post were pictures of wet, miserable sheep or sunny days where we are frantically trying to make up for lost time and don't have a camera anywhere near us.  So to make up for it, here is a list of things that have happened while we've been treading water:

1.  We had two new pastures fenced off.  This was supposed to be done in the end of April, but see the note above about the endless rain and inability to get anything done during. 

2.  The yaks, despite getting new pastures, are relatively unimpressed. 

(Niobe, giving Adam "The Unimpressed Yak Look."  Note how she is standing next to the barn, and not in a new pasture)

3.  Nutsy's babies have gotten a lot bigger:



4.  Adam got three of our CVM girls sheared, Dutchess, Contessa and Princess.  Dutchess and Princess had really nice fleece this year, but Contessa has a little wool break.  So does Milady, who had a difficult time birthing Charlie and Edmund.  I have a feeling that we won't even try to spin up their fleeces, but rather have them made into batting or pillows.  Dutchess is so soft I couldn't resist washing up a few handfuls and then drop spinning it right away to see how it did.  And that was so lovely I had to then blend it with some of Nimbus's angora.  Wonderful yarn both ways (although being a big softie, I prefer with the angora)

From top to bottom:

Princess

Dutchess with angora

Dutchess plain

5.  Speaking of Charlie and Ed, they have been temporarily transplanted.  The Bratlings, as they were called around here, had no respect for fenced pastures, new or old.  They were constantly climbing under the fence to nap under the lawn mower, of all things.  They were also getting into the neighbor's yard and inching ever closer to the road, so we've sent them to live with Adam's parents for awhile until they're too big to fit under our fences.  Fathead, The Nose and Sweet Pea also went with them.  In exchange, some of the larger ewes from their farm will be coming over here to stay through the fall. 

6.  We are not having baby chicks this year.  We had several hens that went broody, but we were gone for a week to California and during that time, in a supreme act of mean girl-ness, someone kicked someone else's eggs out of the nest and then laid new ones and some hatched and didn't make it and it was a big mess.  And to tell the truth, we need more chickens right now like we need more mosquitos.  So Adam cleared out all the eggs to prevent any disease from starting in the coop and we'll try again next year.