Too Cool NOT to Post

Thanks to my friend Pat ... who is married to a wonderful woman named Shannon for this post. This is NOT about them ... :-)

WillowGarden Collingwood

This little girl is out of HarmanyMarsh Lily and Wintertime Red Velvet. Lily goes back to my Iris and Cleome lines, two of my favourite ewes. Red Velvet is the spectacular scurred ram that I imported from Michigan last Fall.
Look at the even-ness of her fleece ... right to the tail!

Collingwood is a double patterned ewe ... both gulmoget and katmoget.

WillowGarden Wooler

Great Plains Isabell, an 11 year old F1 Greyling ... with her grey ewe lamb ... out of North Wind Holiday, an F1 Holly.

FirthofFifth Aman AI

My friend Cynthia sent these pictures of Aman. Aman is from her FirthofFifth flock. Burlington, his son, looks exactly like his dad. Here's hoping that continues ... :-).

Almost Forgot ... Wonderful Message Today From The Universe ... :-)

If you would see everything filtered through the light of truth, Bill, you'd never, ever again know sadness, lack, or limits. You'd see that you are safe. Bathed in love. Surrounded by admirers in both the physical and spiritual realms you grace. You'd see only beauty, perfection, and meaning. And you'd realize that just as the stark contrasts of time and space and the illusions of have and have not imprison you, so too can they make possible wings that will lift you higher.

Seek understanding, or as it was once put, seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and everything else will be added unto you. (Same thing, different audience, grossly misunderstood to this very day.)

Cawwww, cawwwwwww, cawwwwwwwww.... (Soaring bird sounds.)

Tallyho,
The Universe

Burlington ... Out With the Flock ... :-)

Burlington and his Mom joined the main ewe flock yesterday. They are well bonded and made the transition nicely.

The scene above is one I LOVE to see ... Mom headed off and babe bouncing along to try and keep up. It just makes my heart sing ... :-)

Life is good!

WillowGarden Kitchener and Waterloo

Twins this morning out out WillowGarden Gin and V Creek Leo. Gin is homozygous katmoget. Leo is At/Aa, but threw his solid gene twice with these lambs.
In the picture below, the ewe lamb, Kitchener, is in front. She weighed 4.9 pounds at birth. Her brother, Waterloo was larger, at 5.4 pounds.
It was an uneventful delivery and start to life ... just as I like it ... :-)

Life is good!

WillowGarden Burlington

This morning, WillowGarden Amaretto gave birth to my first lamb of the season. It is a single mioget ram with a small krunet marking. He was a good size - 7.3 pounds.
Amaretto is a grand-daughter of Iris, my favourite ewe of all time, and like Iris, it seems that Amaretto will tend to have singles and not twins. The sire is one of my favourite rams, FirthofFifth Aman.
This little guy appears to have a very even fleece from front to back , and I expect that it will have about a 5" length to it, with a tight crimp and lots of lustre.
The theme for naming lambs this year is cities, towns, and villages in Ontario. Should be fun ... :-)

Three More For Sale - SOLD

I have added three more ewe lambs to my sale list. These are from my 'keeper' group, but I know that I'll have tough decisions to make once lambs arrive ... so I am making some of the decisions now ... :-)

WillowGarden Patricia Neal is a grey 2009 lamb out of WillowGarden Guinea AI, a Todhill Glayva moorit daughter and WillowGarden Shake, F2, F3 Greyling, F3 Minder. I have retained Guinea and am expecting lambs from her soon. The 'bad haircut' is from Patricia 'playing' with the LGD puppies ... grrrr
WillowGarden Maggie Smith is a 2009 black gulmoget ewe lamb out of Hopeful Sarah, a gulmoget/katmoget ewe from Michele Minty's breeding, and Firth if Fifth Aman AI, a mioget Heights Orion son. I have retained the dam and the sire of this ewe.
WillowGarden Julie Christie is a 2009 moorit ewe lamb out of HarmonyMarsh Willow (an Iris grand-daughter) and North Wind Holiday AI, a Greenholme Holly son. This ewe is from strong modified colour genetics and will likely be modified (mioget?) herself. I have used Holiday extensively and have retained Julie's dam.

These are exceptional animals that would make a great starter flock. If only sheep from me are on your farm, I will include use of a ram for breeding next Fall. With the use of a moorit based katmoget ram, this flock could produce all colours and patterns, with the exception of white.

The Most Expensive 'FREE' Calf EVER ... :-)

Well ... poor T-Bone just looked so alone and 'un-natural' in a pen all by himself that I felt I HAD to do something for him ... so ... I bought him a 'mom'. Mom is a 7 or 8 year old milking Shorthorn. I have named her 'Hazel'. She is 'dog-tame' and lets T-Bone feed from her, as long as she is eating. And by the look of her, she could sure use the extra food this might take. 'Dairy' cattle put so much into producing milk!

I asked that she come with a milking Shorthorn calf, and they sent along a three week old heifer calf. She is very cute ... but not as used to me as T is. You'll notice T in the picture below, sneaking behind to drink his fill ... That's my boy ... hehehe.
Amber, the Shorthorn calf is quite pretty ...
... and she seems well settled in to her new home.
Life is good ... :-)

T-Bone

I got a call from my neighbour today around noon asking me if I wanted a day old red Dexter bull calf. His Mom prolapsed really badly and was going to be put down. Well, I'd have rather it had been a heifer, but ... what a good chance for me to learn about calves!

So ... meet T-Bone, my bottle baby bull calf!
He had a full belly when I brought him home, and other than being cold and wet from the rain, he looks good ... so far ... :-)
This will be quite the learning curve. I am open to ANY advice folks can pass on to me ... :-)

Oh ... and yes ... his name DOES mean that someday he will be dinner ... no matter how cute he is.

Today's Message ... I Already Know This ... But the Reminer is Nice ... :-)

You can do it, Bill.

It's why you're there.

And it's why I'm here -
The Universe

Great Plains Isabell

This is the first face that I see every time I head into the barnyard ... Great Plains Isabell. She is getting ready for her 11th birthday later this month. Isabell has a very distinctive, deep 'baaaa' that welcomes me everytime I head out the door.

She is an F1 Enfield Greyling Ag katmoget ewe. Even at the age of 11 she still has a wonderfully soft fleece (AFD 26.3, SD 6, CV 22.7).

She came to me from my friend Carol.

This smile is you Carol. I told Isabell that I was taking these pictures to show you and she beamed ... :-)

Hillary Margaret Cecchetto

My newest Great Niece arrived at 6:06 PM on Saturday, March 6th ... weighing in at 10 pounds ... HILLARY MARGARET CECCHETTO.

Congratulations Ang, Mark, and Claire. Life IS good ... :-)

For Sale! - SOLD!! Woo Hoo ... :-)

Lambing will start later this month, and I am already planning ways to make room for lambs that I may want to help. This means that I will have tough decisions to make in terms of who stays! I have come up with three ewes that I am currently offering for sale.

WillowGarden Chocolatini (S28273), a 2008 moorit katmoget, born with a small krunet marking. She is out of SheltrgPines Irene and Underhill Thelonius Monk. I like this ewe a lot, but, for some reason she cycled last week and was bred by FirthofFifth Aman AI for late July lambs! I'd rather not deal with late summer lambs!
WillowGarden Geena Davis (not yet registered), a 2009 black katmoget ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Linyanti AI and WillowGarden Shake. I have retained a sister to this ewe, and have leased her dam to a neighbour, so still have access to her lambs.
WillowGarden Glenda Jackson (not yet registered), a 2009 white ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Macaroon and FirthofFifth Aman AI. She is a beautiful ewe, but ... I have retained her dam, her grand dam, and her sire.

A Blast From My Past

My Aunt sent me this picture of my kids on an Easter weekend ... around 1980-ish. I sure can see where my grandkids get their incredible good looks ... :-)

For Nan and Grumps ... :-)

Anna and Jamie have grand parents on the other side of the world who follow this blog in order to see additional pictures of their grandbabies. I haven't posted many of Jamie, and since they are both here today ... here come a LOT of pictures ... :-)

Hugs

Another 'Princess of the World'? Not a chance. This one is all boy ... for now ... ;-).

PS ... Jamie smiles A LOT! ... but not when there is a camera pointed at him ... ;-(

Anna, on the other hand, smiles ALL the time ... ESPECIALLY when there is a camera involved ... unless she is demonstrating her 'two-ness' ... hehehe.

Sloane ... Pictures Sent to Me By My Son

Sounds like everyone is doing well, except that Will has decided not to sleep. Chris RARELY slept as a baby and growing up. Even now he can function well with just a couple hours sleep. Sooooo ... sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree ... :-)

Isn't she a DOLL!?! ... my Little Princess of the World!