Ian will be here soon to shear the sheep.
Not all of them, just Lori, Robin, Constance and Merricat. Unlike the other sheep their wool grows long enough to shear twice a year. Last spring they had so much wool it was weighing them down.
Ian is coming after his full time job at a Slate mine, so it will be getting dark as he shears the sheep. After Jon and I got back from his appointment in Saratoga I hung a couple of flood lights in the barn to prepare for the shearing.
Fanny was curious as she always is about anything that goes on in the barnyard. And Fate was there to help in the ways she does. Zip showed up too.
I also got some other winter chores done before packing up more wool and dryer balls for the post office.
The things that need to be done this time of year are very different from the warmer months. I ran an extension cord to plug in the hens water bowl and keep it from freezing, put the storms on the bedroom windows, moved firewood into the house and got the fires going.
Ian will stay for dinner and share some of his new poems with us. I made Butternut Squash soup which I have a feeling we will all enjoy after being out in the cold. Although Ian keeps warm with his work, I’m mostly standing around watching and of course collection the wool.
Now we have to go and put the sheep in the barn. Good thing I remembered to get the grain. Without a dog to do the rounding up, grain is the only way I know to get the sheep to come to the barn.
