Open House ... the Day After

Yesterday turned out to be a wonderful day. The weather was cool and windy ... but it didn't rain. There were over 200 people here again and it appeared that everyone had a good time.


Shearing didn't go real well, as the ewes were cold from the night before. Some were slightly damp, and some were very 'sticky'


The grey ewe here, Hopeful Inky, bred by my friend Michele Minty, sheared well.



This moorit ewe did not. She'll have bad hair days until I can get to her with a dog comb and comb out the matts in the summer. She is WillowGarden Lucy Locket, and one of our tamer ewes, so we will both enjoy the experience ... ;-)


When we took breaks from shearing, I got to wander the flock with the visitors. What an experience. When I walk the flock with visitors ... and add my running commentary (like that surprises ANY of you ... hehehe) ... I see things that I don't see when I am just doing 'business checks' of the flock.

I have fallen in love with another on of my white ram lambs. This guy has a short, very fine, and evenly crimped from neck to britch fleece. He is also VERY square, big, and 'build like a brick sh*t house'. I hope you can see how cool he is in the picture.

With any of the pictures, you can view them in full size by clicking on them ... in case you want to fill your screen with this guy ... WillowGarden Harcourt. He is out of Great Plains Wren, an F1 Minder fawn katmoget and Whistle Stop Lerwick, an F1 Drum Jings white ram. So ... this guy could be either Awt/Aa ... or Awt/Ab. Either way would be cool. I'll sure be watching how this dude develops ... :-)
And of course WillowGarden Okra was the star of the day. I let her wander the yard for a while ... which she does whenever she chooses anyway ... and she made a LOT of new friends.


No lambs where born during the Open House this year, but ... twin ewe lambs greeted me this morning. WillowGarden Rosalind Russell, bred to Wind Water Sean O'Sullivan, had a black ewe (WillowGarden Cayene) and a dark grey smislet katmoget (WillowGarden Cumin). I'll get pictures soon.

Next to lamb should be WillowGarden Eva Gabor, a moorit katmoget ewe. I thought she'd have lambed today, but she is still hanging on ... which will likely mean twin ram lambs ... hehehe