Now, we have moved on, and it’s no longer cabin construction widow.  Tom left last Friday to hunt elk with his son in Central Washington.  I had to work Saturday so our amazing farm-sitter Dani took care of the farm.  When I got home Sunday morning the dogs, in particular, were happy to see me.  Ryeleigh immediately hopped in the back of my car.

The alpaca fiber I decided to save is drying.  I bought a copy and read of the latest Ply magazine about alpaca fiber to try to figure out what to do with it.

The alpaca can now get within 1/2 field of the sheep.  Unfortunately he is difficult to catch and to do rotational grazing with.  So for now I haven’t shorn him any further, and he is staying in this field.  Now there are goats with him, but they are not interested in hanging with him either.  Rotational grazing will be ending soon so he will be able to stay with the sheep and hopefully they will work it out.

I did notice that Hodor has lost one of his horns.  Thankfully it does not appear to be bleeding nor attracting flies.  I have always worried about horns coming off and bleeding.

I was really worrying about Bambam’s horns as they are getting weak.  But I wasn’t worrying about Hodor’s.  In the past I have used a thick layer of adhesive to keep the horns on.  Maybe that isn’t necessary in old sheep.

I finally got the last of the chickens’ leg bands off.  This Rhode Island Red hen was the most elusive.  I finally caught her in the weasel proof pen with some bread and other critters.

I washed 8 1/2 dozen eggs to sell in our farm stand.  This is usually Tom’s job.

I am doing all of the animal chores.  I noticed the trees are starting to turn on the hillside behind Olivia.

On a friend’s suggestion, I waxed my two Filson rain coats.  It took me a bit to find our wax.  It is quite old as we likely bought it our first visit to Swain’s on the Olympic Peninsula.

On Wednesday Ryeleigh managed to squeeze under a tiny hole under the gate to the alleyway behind out barn and scared three peafowl into the trees.  Here she is going crazy over one of them.

 

I managed to catch her and move her to the back porch. Then she was tearing at the gate so I blocked it with water jugs.

I ended up taking her with me in the car to run some errands so she could calm down. And the peafowl could find their way back to the barn (after blocking the hole first).  They did return by the time we got home.  Two of them took refuge in the hay loft.

I thought this Vorwerk hen reminded me of the season.

I enjoyed seeing the sheep relaxing in the sunshine.

I have been going on quite a few walks out back, testing out the no-pull harness on the beagle.  It has been working well.  I do have a new emergency clip to her collar just in case.  We have really been enjoying these walks.

 

Thursday morning I was plying singles in our zoom spinning group, and the drive band on my miniSpinner (#35) broke.  When I looked more closely I realized it was more catastrophic.  The shaft is damaged and likely the motor as well.  I contacted Kevin at HansenCrafts, and he will be able to fix it for me.  This is quite a relief to me as I had just been thinking this morning how I really need to find more time for spinning.

As the rabbits have eaten every one of my pumpkins again this year, I decided to try my hand at carving a turnip like they used to do in England.  I picked this jumbo to try.

I managed to carve the turnip.  I think it looks even more creepy than carved pumpkins.  What do you think?

I did this during the pregame of the Seahawks game on Thursday night football.

Marcus Trufant and his kid raised the 12th man fled which was nice.  We saw him on his wedding day many years ago (2008).  It was nice to see being honored.

I got to watch two Seahawks losses by myself.  Pretty depressing.

On Friday Ryeleigh managed to dig under the gate to the front pasture.

She then went into the barn and the old pheasant pen and scared the peafowl out of there.  I managed to catch her again and put her on the back porch.  I found some stuff against the gate to secure it  We only use this gate for hay delivery and as an emergency evacuation route.  Farmers like to keep everything in case they might need it, and today I proved that to be helpful.  Which I am not excited about as I am not a fan of all the stuff laying around.  But it did come in handy today.

Tbe peafowl returned, and I kept the beagle in the house all day so they wouldn’t be harassed anymore.

Wally was out and about though.

But one of the big things I have been doing is cooking.  I have been focusing on foods that I like, but Tom doesn’t.  Plus on using up some abundant foods we have right now (rutabagas, kefir, forage blanc, cabbage, eggs).  So I have made:

Cervelle de Canut (Herbed Cheese Spread),

Creamy Kefir Honey Mustard  Dressing,

The “Bear” Omelette,

Russian Vegetable Pie,

Smoked Salmon, Fromage Blanc and Caper Spread,

Creamy White Bean Rutabaga and Roasted Garlic Soup,

Welsh Rarebit,

Maggie Smith,

and Tarte Flambée.

All of these recipes were new to me and found via google (except one from our newspaper).  All were really amazing too.  It was fun trying new foods.  (FYI-All of these recipes and many others I have made and liked are on my Pinterest recipe page.)

When I was eating the Cervelle de Canut, I suddenly felt grateful.  I felt like I was enjoying the life I dreamed of.  I live in a great place and have a wonderful life with people (and animals) I love.  I am thankful for the opportunities I have been given.  I hope I can remember this when things inevitably get tougher.

Tom is back home again so life will be back to our normal.