Woolybuns

All's Forgiven

Button is back to happy.  When she is happy, she doesn't stay still long enough to get a good photo.  She turns into a jumping bean, all frenetic energy incapable of containment.  She bounces around like a basketball in the hands of a Harlem Globetrotter.  With her antics, it is impossible to maintain a good pout.  Once in a while, she'll even curl up in my lap for some bone chewing time.  A very dear little friend. 

The Aussies both demanded equal time.  Amazingly, they cooperated.  Australian shepherds are also high energy dogs.  The theory was, I'd have active dogs that would keep me active.  Yeah, well... they keep each other active far better than I can them, or even they do for me.  I can teach my dogs many things, even things they don't want to do, like "Down!"   But "heel" just doesn't seem to work out.  Maybe it's because I love watching them gambol about in free play in the backyard.   Gromit in particular is an amazing athlete who swoops and swirls and rolls in a fascinating display of coordination so seriously lacking in me.  Doesn't feel right to rein in that gleeful enthusiasm  with a leash.  Manners in the house - yes, but they get freedom in the backyard.  Handy too when the weather goddess is hurling all manner of yuck to the ground - I open the back door, say go ahead, and wait, nicely dry, inside until they've made their deposits and they come galloping back for a tasty cookie.  Button doesn't get that freedom - she's too little to protect herself outside.  She is small enough, though, that a 6 foot leash gives her plenty of romp room.  And she does get to run crazy in the house, which the bigger guys don't get.  Probably her favorite time is when she gets to play with the big guys in the family room.   

This morning, the dogs have a bunny visiting in the family room.  The contractor finally showed up to dig footings for our deck.  Harley's hutch is too close to the action and he distinctly does not like unaccustomed activity sneaking up on him.  So I fetched him in and plunked him in Button's crate.   He's been sitting in there soundly thumping in protest.  But he's safe.   And he needs a haircut anyway.

Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve!

Pooch in a Mood

Button just had a haircut and a bath.  Can you tell how much she enjoyed it?

Sky Moods

Sandy led the way with an after Christmas slump, such a common event that Sandy commenter Laura even gave it a name, Post Traumatic Christmas syndrome, (PTCS).  I figure Sandy needs some sky photos, especially since my sky first thing this morning looked as moody as Sandy reported feeling.  But a brisk breeze cured my sky like a nice trip out into the world cured Sandy.  About 5 minutes after I took the cranky sky pic, I snapped another sky photo.  Looks a lot more friendly up there!

The newest baby bunny picture.  There are indeed 4 babies in that picture but only three heads show up.  Their eyes are open now but they weren't inclined to show that.  Turns out all signs of torte coloring have gone away, pretty much as I expected but torte coloring is sneaky, so when I'm dealing with the possibility of torte, I hold off announcing color definitely until I'm sure.  These babies are all fawn.  At least one boy and probably at least 2 girls.  Gender is another thing bunnies like to keep you guessing about.  I may keep one boy and one girl, not sure yet. 

Today I'm waiting for the contractor again.  He was supposed to come over yesterday to remeasure the door for the deck but I guess the raw wet weather kept him working indoors someplace else.  He's supposed to come over today to actually dig the footings finally, now that the winter warm up has cleared the ice.  We did get a delivery of bathroom stuff yesterday, so the garage is filling up.  I'm not a patient waiter so I'll probably keep myself busy and get some bunnies clipped today.  I might even get some knitting done.  One of these days, I should visit my spinning wheels again.  Poor things are probably pouting from lack of use.

Happy and Not

This Christmas for me was one of both happy times and upsetting news.  I called my mom on Christmas Day and she cautiously asked if I'd talked to one of my sisters. I hadn't, not for a couple months (my sisters and I all live in different states, have for pretty much our entire adult lives).  I of course called my sister.  Turns out, that sister had some kind of medical event sometime over the time we haven't been in touch.  Exactly what happened hasn't been fully identified, I gather.   The situation: she probably had a minor stroke that appeared to be extreme exhaustion rather than a medical emergency.  So she didn't go to the hospital for about 10 days.  Mostly, I didn't notice any problems, but she does have a bit of trouble at times trying to say what she means.  I imagine she is very frustrated and probably a bit more than damned scared of more happening.  I know I am. 

The happy parts: we spent a lovely day with our kids.  And then on Monday, I drove to Ontario to look at a horse.  I looked and I bought.  Here she is:
Cee Cee is a 20 month old Anglo Arab filly, palomino color, though that doesn't really show up well right now.  She's not fully fuzzy for winter yet but her cold weather coat is already covering up the gold.  She will shed out darker in the spring, and should continue to get a darker golden color for the next few years.  Her sire, Guaranteed Gold,  is a Bronze Premium CSH/Thoroughbred, which means he has won a lot of performance championships in Canada.  On her dam's side, Cee Cee is Spanish Arabian bloodlines, with sire of significance Barich de Washoe her great grandsire. All of that sounds impressive, but mostly I just love this filly's look and her friendly and outstandingly willing ways!  She was ready to follow me anywhere!  She's had no training beyond wearing a halter and being petted.  I put her on a longe line and within minutes she was getting the hang of it. Cee Cee has spent the last 8 months in Kentucky, only traveled back to her home in Ontario about a week before I visited.  So she doesn't know the people around her, obviously didn't know me, and hadn't yet explored her new surroundings.  We put her in the indoor arena, which had a variety of obstacles in the center.  Nothing fazed her!  She's never seen a trail horse bridge before but gave it a try without question.  The cavellettis laying around?  Hey, toys to nuzzle and roll around!  Raised cavellettis?  Stepped right over them both on her own while wandering free and when I led her over them.  She's very curious about it all, not the least snorty about it.   I'm gonna have a good time with this filly!!  Now I just have to wait for her to arrive.

Cee Cee's yearling photos, taken last June:

A Horse of a Different Color

Remember those red color genetics I mentioned?  Well, they happen in horses too, only in a much more red fashion.  In some breeds, including the breed I've fallen for, the color is referred to as chestnut.  In others, it's called sorrel.  Whatever it's called, I love it.  (Imagine if I could get that color in my rabbits??  I'm tryin' but horses and rabbits don't crossbreed.) On Tuesday, I took a quick run up to New Hampshire to check out this mare.  She's a coming three year old Arabian.  She's not one of the crazy temperment Arabians.  I like a good snorty show, especially of youthful enthusiasm, but I don't want crazy.  This mare wrapped her head and neck around me and licked me up and down my back, my legs, my arms, my head.  Very friendly girl!  She's pretty, but she doesn't have the longer body type I like nor does she have that floating on clouds trot that makes people gasp.  If I were looking for a second horse, I'd probably grab her.  But I'm looking for my primary horse.   So I'm still looking.  That search is taking me to just beyond Buffalo, NY next.  In the search so far, I find myself constantly comparing the horses I'm looking at to Jazz.  Jazz is an Anglo Arab (Arab/Thoroughbred).  These horses tend to make outstanding sport horses.  So the horse I'm going to see is distinctly sport horse type Anglo Arab.  But she ain't chestnut.  She's palomino.  With a lovely floating trot.  And they tell me she's got that friendly puppy in your pocket personality.  I get tingly just thinking about her!!!

BTW, since I'm driving to visit this horse, I can bring bunnies to deliver along the way.  What's available?   A couple of pure Germans with  outstanding coats but not breeding quality rabbits, and these bunnies, also nice woolers but not breeding quality.    Email me for details if you're interested.

Baby Update

Pandora's two girls are doing great!  They are at that most adorable stage of cute and so very friendly.    The girl that stays here will be named Pandorable.  I'll probably call her Dori or Dora. 

And then there are the newest babies.  I'm still not entirely sure they are fawn or torte.  Non-extension means the black color is restricted or eliminated.  It can take a while for that to sort out.  Self non-extension is called torte and they retain black in the same sort of pattern as a himalayan cat (nose, ears, feet, belly and tail).  Agouti non-extension is either red or fawn (or orange or cream, depending on breed of rabbit). Until the hint of gray/black on these babies settles itself, I won't know for sure if these are agouti or self.  I suspect agouti, as the mother clearly is agouti and that's a dominant gene.  Red requires rufous modifiers and wide band genes, according to ARBA definitions.  These babies should get some rufuous modifiers as the mother is intensely red.    Rufous modifiers are cumulative - the more the rabbit has, the more intense the color.  Wide band is a recessive, which means the rabbit needs two of them to fully express the trait.  The dominant allele, full extension, according to Glenna Huffmon's color genetics book (page 72), may not be fully dominant.  Huffmon says in her book that wide band is not well researched so it's effect is not fully understood.  The dam of these babies is wide band.  But the sire, a pure German, is unlikely to have either wide band or rufous modifiers.  So these babies should get some rufous and do have one wide band gene.  If full extension is not fully dominant, then these babies could get enough wide band effect to qualify as red, if they are in fact agouti pattern.   Lots of if's, huh!  I'm quite happy with what I'm seeing so far. 

Ok, time to get back to holiday knitting!  I'm working on a Harry Potter scarf.  It's 70 stitches per row, 22 rows per stripe, 19 stripes: 29,260 stitches total.  I've got 14,630 stitches to go.  It's noon on Friday.  I need to finish it for 7 am Sunday.   Any bets on how much sleep I'll get Christmas Eve??

Painting the Town Red

Well, maybe just my backyard.  These little cuties are about 36 hours old and already showing their red.  It's too early to say for sure if they are fawn, red or tortes, but all 4 babies in this litter are definitely non-extension babies.  That's doubly exciting for me.  First, I just love the non-extension colors, fawn, red and torte.  Second, the sire is pure German.  Since non-extension is a recessive gene, these babies confirm he carries non-extension.  I hoped he might but this is the first color breeding with him so I didn't know for sure. 

If tomorrow turns out as I'm hoping, I'll have more exciting red color genetics to show you. 

Un-Buffaloed ... A Guest Blogger Clears It Up

Well, Chris asked me to write for her blog as we are working up to processing a lot of Bison and there really isn't much info out there about it.  So what is the fiber like? I would say the down is almost as soft as Chris's angora rabbits in a cashmere sort of way.  The staple is quite short, though, between 1 and 1.5 inches.  It also has "crimp".  Not like a sheep, but extremely fine crimp almost to the point of not being able to see it.   As far as spinning it, it spins quite nicely on the machines that we use from  Mini-Mills.  It sort of flows together while spinning in a creamy, chocolately sort of way if you can invision fiber doing that.  I don't hand spin, but people that have hand spun it are very suprised that it is much easier than they thought it would be to spin, being such a short staple.  As it is such a short staple, it likes to be spun finely with a tighter twist so that it stays together.  In the mill, our current spinner cannot do quite what we want it to do with the fiber, so we have a lace weight spinner coming to create really wonderful yarn with this product and other fibers like cashmere.  Although the bison fiber is brown, we are finding that it dyes quite well.  We have been experimenting (thanks to the tutelage of Alden Amos and Stephanie Gaustad! Dragon Fly Farms and have come up with some very pretty deep reds, mustards, and dark greens.
There really isn't a lot of info out there on buffalo fiber.  This is fairly new to the spinning world.  The reason being that before de-hairing machines were available, the fiber to be spun consisted of several lengths of different type fibers, most of which is guard hair.  Separating out the down is quite time consuming even with the machines.  Collecting the fiber itself is quite an adventure in and of itself.  Ever try to shear a live buffalo?  Unfortunately, the only way to really get the good fiber has been to shear the hide after the animal is slaughtered.  The fiber is a after-thought for most of the ranchers.

Cecil Miskin, from the Buffalo Hair Project, is creating a market for the fiber.  Still River Mill and other mills are creating the intermediate products for him, such as roving and yarn.  He is pioneering a way to remove the hair from the hide without shearing it and/or damaging the fiber.

We will have roving and yarn up for sale on our website in a few weeks.  Possibly more products will come like hats and mittens, etc.

Thanks Chris for asking about the bison and their fiber.  I really enjoy this blog!

Greg Driscoll
Still River Mill

Ho Ho Ho

(Forewarning: If you like Bill O'Reilly and buy into his ... ummm....  stuff, you might want to skip the following link.)  Leslie shared this with me and I want to share  it with you. 

Thursday was final exam time for my class.  We didn't have a final exam so we had an extra long class time, workshopping 4 student stories instead of 2.  One of our classmates works at a pizza place, so he brought in a tasty snack.  At the end, our professor expressed thoughts I've had since early in the semester: the group in this class was exceptional.  I signed up for the class, advanced fiction writing, to give myself a swift kick in the butt jumpstart my writing battery.  I got a lot more than that out of this class.  Turned out to be one of those experiences that I just didn't want to end and now that it has, I will miss it.  These three "puppies" in particular enhanced the experience (sorry about the quality of that photo - it is so totally the  antithesis of the experience).  Right up to the last moment, they demonstrated marvelous wit!  A common impulse in the class was to write a story involving classmates.  I"m still working on mine (winged women, wooly wombats, and warrier wannabees wearing handknit chainmail in a face off with the Dark Lord and his unbalanced 2 apprentices).  As I left the room, that mopheaded master called out "Chris Morgan is leaving the room" and they all started humming the Imperial March.  Hats off to you, guys: you're a class act!  Oh, and when you get rich and famous on your writing, send me an autographed copy of it, ok?

Another ending yesterday.  My bitchy arrogant pushy broad of a mare sweet Jazz now belongs to the barn owner.  Jazz is happy there.  She does well there.  It's just too far from here.  I need a horse close by and I just couldn't bring myself to risk Jazz's comfort again (she's not done well at other barns with that sassy attitude).  The barn owner likes Jazz and can use her at the barn as both a riding horse and a broodmare.  And I have an open invitation to come visit and ride Jazz. 

Now, with this double whammy of endings, what is a gal to do???   As if you have to wonder.  Of course I drove 45 minutes north just in advance of the icy precip about to hit to stock up on yummy yarn!  Left to right, that's Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in red just for me, Cascade 220 in Gryffendor colors, and just because it's so damned fine to fondle, more Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in a soft coral color that's supposed to be for my mom but we'll see if I'm really a sweet soul or a selfish bitch. 

Oh, and tip of the day: don't leave a roll of paper towels standing on end next to a stovetop in use.  When you knock it over on your way to making a cup of tea, it will ignite with amazing speed and glory.

Staying Cozy

I think I won't get dressed today.   My only outside the house duties today don't include interacting with anyone I don't live with, so why bother?    It's cold outside and getting water to the bunnies in the cold demands creative dressing.  A cozy pair of flannels underneath a long, thick terry bathrobe all covered with DH's cast off ski jacket, with  some wool/angora socks and Muck Boots on my feet fits the bill perfectly.  This pair of flannels sports some cheery penguins in the snow - kinda warms body and soul.  Seems pretty appropriate, so I hearby designate my today as official Jammie Day.  Anyone else willing to show the world your cute, cozy jammies that keep you warm and covered?

Speaking of penguins, the bunny water bottles huddled on my kitchen counter always remind me of the antarctic critters.  These bottles aren't as hardy as the animal though.  That metal nozzle freezes up faster than the water does, rendering them useless fairly quickly.  This time of year, I replace them with cleaned out cat food cans, much to the cat's delight.  The bunnies are silly with the cans.  When they aren't sucking down the water in them, they play with them, tossing them, pushing them with their noses, or depositing them in their food bowls or nest boxes.  The herd always seems to have one bunny that insists on grabbing the freshly filled can with a quick yank - which of course spills most of the water, so I have to wrestle the bunny to refill the can.   This year's water spiller looks pretty mischievous, doesn't she?    

Buffaloed

Wanna get buffaloed?  Still River Mill can do it for you.  Deirdre told me a bit about the project earlier this year, but I can't remember the specifics other than she and Greg are one of the participating mills.  I couldn't find any info in a search either.  Lots of buffalo links but some are for the city in upstate NY, some are for meat and some are for history of the old west.  Didn't find any fiber related.  I'll see if I can find out more info, like is there spinning fiber available, yarn only, what's the character of buffalo as a fiber and as a yarn.  Anything else you'd like to ask, put it in a comment and I'll see if I can get the answer.  I of course am wondering how it is blended with bunny.  Hmmm, guess I should try it.  I took these  photos at the last Nutmeg Spinners Guild, where Greg and Deirdre were set up.  Why didn't I plunge my hands into that basket???  I didn't have time to ask a lot of questions. 

Our contractor called yesterday to say he was flat on his back for most of the week, felled by bronchitis (quite smoking, dude!), but he was doing better and wanted to come over today to get the permit signed.  So he was here this morning, tramping through the snow to measure the property and get a sense of where the sewer line runs (right under the deck area unfortunately so we may have to do some girders to juggle placement of footers.  But: Yeah!  Progress.  Our kitchen cabinets are ordered and when they will be ready determines the real start date.  Footings for the deck I think will be done this week.  He's hoping the snow will melt some but as long as the ground isn't frozen, he can still dig even with snow on the ground.  All of this means, of course, I have to put my fiber someplace out of the way. YIkes!  Kind of hard to get real productive on that as I end up fondling stuff instead of moving it.  Kind of cuts into the knitting and spinning time, though.