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No weaving done today. Went into Chicago with Gary to go shopping for his mom, shovel her snow, have Chinese takeout food for lunch with her. Then he did animal care while I went for our own groceries, and we had dinner and went for assorted cheaper items at the evil W place. We have a sick sheep. Shaun, our original ram, is getting old and has been slowing down for a while. I've been attributing his slow movement in cold weather to arthritis and the temperature, but it seems there may be more. Today he was down and would not get up. Seems alert enough, and eats if you bring the food to him, but even if we pull him to his feet, he doesn't seem able to stand. We got a towel under him and lifted him to make him walk to the lambing pen, where he is still able to see and hear the other sheep but they can't trample him or take all the food away from him. He shifts positions, and moves around the pen, but we still haven't seen him actually get up. Gary turned the heat lamps on at one end so he should be more comfortable for a while at least, but I've got a feeling we can't save him unless he gets up again. I knew this was coming, and can accept it, but Gary's having a hard time with it. I had no idea he was so attached to this old sheepie, but he is, almost like with a dog. Tags: animals, farm, sheep
Current Location: Frozen oak grove
Mood:  sad
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Uh, no, the mice aren't going in the pies... yet. Wednesday I saw a mouse in the kitchen, so we got out the live traps. Thursday we had two mice, and took them out behind the barn and dumped them in a brushpile. Friday we had one in the trap, and yesterday two more plus we each saw one that got away. This morning four out of six traps had mice in them. Gary tried drowning the Thursday catch, but the mouse swam and swam and he felt so sorry for it he fished it back out. I'm beginning to think that five hundred feet away with two barns full of hay between them and the house isn't far enough. Two resident cats aren't doing much. One is too old to catch mice I think, and the other is too fat and lazy. It's apple time again. We went down the road to the nearest orchard this morning and brought back two pecks: Cortlands and Honeycrisp. Because of the heavy rains, the apples are huge and very juicy but the flavor isn't quite as strong as it would be in a more dry year. Anyway, I'm making pie, apples mixed with black raspberries from the freezer. Cortlands are usually very good for pie and applesauce. Honeycrisp is very crunchy and they're nice for eating. Unfortunately, I guess Oprah declared them to be her favorite apple a few years ago, which means they now command a higher price than the others even though orchards have planted them everywhere as a result. Also available this week: Gala, Jonathan, Jonamac, Jonagold, and Senshu. Next week the Empire, another of my favorites, and Al says there aren't a lot of them this year so we should get there on Friday. At the end of the month, Melrose (also called Melreuge,) which is a big red apple with crisp flesh and tart flavor that I love to put in pies and apple crisp. They will also have Golden Delicious and Red Delicious, but neither of those has any appeal for us. Compared to many of the other varieties, they seem quite dull and tasteless. I wish there was a good cider mill around here, but there really isn't. Since cider sold off premises is required to be pasteurized, we can't get really tasty apple cider here. It's something I really miss from back when I lived in Michigan. Tags: animals, apples, baking, cooking
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood:  bouncy
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accomplished
silly