Another one?

 A couple of posts ago, I mentioned Son#3 and I had been at the Humane Society shelter, there were a  couple of bunnies there who had been dumped out by the dam.  We felt so sorry for them we were tempted to bring them home, we resisted. A couple of days ago the boys stepped out into the back yard to check the bees, a little brown bunny scurried by in a bit of a panic.

 It seems somebody has dumped another animal in our yard.  Since it is fully fenced the only way for it to have gotten in a yard full of dogs is to have been placed there intentionally.

 So now we have a bunny. She has made herself right at home in my office.  I am not amused.  When spring eventually shows up she can move outside for now we don't even know she is around except for the liberal sprinkling of bunny poops in my office every  morning.  She is using the papers put down for her and trying very hard to be a good bunny.  Still no name, though I am seriously leaning towards  Osidnaa, short for Oh Shit I Don't Need Another Animal.

 Does she look comfy or what. Speaking of comfy, Yoda kitty has taken over the wool in the vintage suitcase. There was screaming involved to get her out of it, and I yelled a bit too. She was very reluctant to give it up.

 Tigger was dumped in our yard two years ago.  Recently he discovered the vintage doll bed.  For him to see that it might be comfy, jump in and fluff the little quilt and settle down just cracks us up.  He is such a funny little dog.  He may have been dumped on us but to whomever dumped him we are eternally grateful, he is the best, most personable dog ever.

 Can you see the grey cat in the cupola?  The stupid cupola thingy is on the chicken house roof. 
The grey cat seems to think he belongs here now.  This is the only photo I have of him, but since he has abandoned his family and moved in with us I am sure there will be more. 
He wears a tag and I have called his people three times now, they send their herd of small children to retrieve him and within the hour he is back.  He lives about a block and a half away so he must really book-it when the kids release him.  Since he is their outdoor cat he must feel he is a free agent and he has decided this house is the one for him.  As I type this he is downstairs asleep on one of the boys beds.  He does not seem to care there are six cats here already nor does he seem fussed about the dogs. 

Oops I lied, he is actually in the kitchen stuffing his face again.  I guess if they want him they can come get him, but until they make him a house cat I think he will continue to make his way to our house.
Quite frankly the thought of more animals makes me even crazier than I was, they ALWAYS show up here.  But he is a super nice cat and really huggy and sweet, quite the little lover boy.  Two extra animals within one week.  crap. it's really not funny.

Spinning milk fiber.

At the yarn store the little bag of milk fiber was irresistible. Beautiful pearly white, high luster, fine and silky, it was just gorgeous, and obviously I bought it.  

Milk fiber is touted as a environmentally favorable fiber but I don't think it is since it takes nearly 100 gallons of milk to make a pound of fiber. Seems to me that is an awful lot of cow for a tiny bit of fiber.

  To make a long complicated story short, the milk is dried the protein or casein removed ( casein is also used in making artists paints by the way) then it is bonded with acryilate or acrylic at a molecular level.  It is extruded through spinnerets, think spiders extruding spider silk and then used in the textile industry.  The raw fibers are beautiful and quite frankly a bitch to spin.

 Since I spin solely on a  spindle I found the slick fibers to be obnoxious to say the least, maybe if spun on a wheel it would be easier to hang on to.  Though I can spin very fine fibers like silk (which I love) and Merino (which I love more) these fibers had no "grab" and were difficult to attenuate, they tended to drift apart and because of the fineness were prone to breaking if the spindle was the least bit overloaded.

 But I kept at it, though there was much swearing involved, until I had over five hundred yards of very fine, almost thread like singles yarn.  This afternoon I dyed the damnable stuff with acid dyes since  milk fiber is protein based.  It is a very slick fiber but I think it's biggest drawback is it is NOT WOOL.    Anything that is NOT WOOL is probably not worth messing with.

 After it dried I really liked the color though the thread is so fine it does not show the luster well.

 This last photo is a bit washed out, but it is wound on an old cone and ready for lace knitting.  I will show you the finished project,eventually.  Its a matter of deciding what lace pattern to work with.

For the very last photo, Benjamin Button our sweet bird, wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and encourages Ham. Or Beef. Preferably pie of some sort.

Just before the snow.

Son number three and I were driving around a bit the other day, we "spotted" this appaloosa mare.  What a splashy gorgeous girl she is, she seemed curious and good natured.  Wish she could come live at  my house.

We got some pictures of the golden valley and then it snowed last night.
Son number three packed the hen house with straw, the turkeys and hens looked so cozy as the snow fell outside. The ducks don't go in there, I wish they would but they prefer to putter in the mud.

I love this valley.  I don't think I could ever leave here, it would break my heart.

One of the blogs I follow has disappeared.  This bothers me beyond measure.  I cannot help but wonder if something has happened to this person, is he alive or dead?   I hate it.  So Thane if you are out there somewhere, give me heads up will you?  where are you, are you okay, why did you quit writing......Thane?????

Turkey

A million things to do and I am wasting time by posting pictures of Benjamin Button in the living room.  I love this turkey. Just love him.