Photographic Saturday

Little Red Oak Miia (oops, I thought she was Matilda, Miia's white twin)  is a Finnsheep ewe who looks surprisingly like her aunt,--Lassi, shown in the next photo with the flock.
Miia's mom is pure white, so under her white coat, we have no idea if mom Mari has any spots goin' on...
and Miia and Matilda's dad is Osmo, who is solidly light brown -- though he had a tiny forehead spot as a baby.












Still, check out auntie Lassi, below.  See the resemblance?:

 Emily wants to show off Shetland lamb, Little Red Oak Annie's nice, crimpy brown wool.  I couldn't help bu notice the wall behind Emily-- our reason for getting rid of horned rams!

 Annie is the biggest, in-your-face pet of 2010 in the lamb pasture.  She's Emily's favorite.

Here, Em shows us the distinct line where this Finn ewe lamb's fleece went from black to steely gray.  I know it looks like a brown sheep, but she's truly a sunbleached black lamb... However, if I may ask the Finn breeders to weigh in-- is she a gray lamb, then?  Looks like.

Here's a Shetland lamb, LittleRedOak Candy, wearing her straw bedding.  She's getting cuter as she gets older.  Her mom is LRO Snap, a mostly black ewe, and WhitePine Parker, a musket, scurred ram.  Candy's wild spottedness surprised us, as neither parent's spot gene is expressed very strongly.

Finally, a flock shot-- we think it is LRO Willow front and center--one of my Maple's twin ewe lambs.  We have to check ear tags-- the lambs have all changed a lot in two months while we've been too busy to stay acquainted.  Behind her is a black Finnsheep ewe lamb, another black going gray.  Sweet girls, all.

A new sheep blog, a long Hello

MN breeder Pam Davis just sent me a link to her new blog.  I'm adding it to my list at the right--thesheepcote.blogspot.com-- go check it out!
Pam doesn't live too far from me, as country driving goes-- I can't recall-- 25, 50 miles? Near Cokato, MN.   I went there once for a wonderful dyeing class.  See my post lin September 2008.  Pam was a great hostess and has a nice flock of Shetlands and Icelandics.  Last fall she bought one of my ram lambs to get more color or genetic lines in her flock.
I think we'll be seeing how that turned out.
My whole year, it seems, has been taking care of the seniors in my life-- mostly getting them out of places they've lived a long time-- helping downsize all that STUFF--and into new apartments or senior care facilities.  I've really enjoyed that work, but have had little time for my sheep.
Good thing my daughter's here to keep them tame and keep an eye on them.
I'll put some photos in here soon.
We have a half dozen lambs here who need homes this winter-- although I have a lot of hay this year, so if they winter over here (unbred, please! I can't bear to lamb out 40 lambs!) we'll be okay, and I'll get more lovely fleece in springtime.

I'm especially excited about my Finnsheep fleece, which sells very quickly.  I have a few black lambs whose fleece has taken a dramatic turn to dark gray- which is a color I just love.  Ooh, and a new Finn breeder in WI is bringing me a black spottie ram lamb soon, to trade for a nice little brown one I have here.  Can't wait to see him.

More later, really!