Friday, January 30, 2009

Wishful thinking

One of my favorite pictures of Honey and Bubba taken last summer.


It's hard to believe that spring is right around the corner. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that we were at the Sheep and Wool Festival. Hard to believe that it was almost 5 months ago. Between work, school, 4H, family and other activities, it just seems that time has flown!

Still haven't managed to get the loom set up, or the wheel going. Have to pick up some finished fleeces from the Illinois Wool and Fiber Mill. We took a tour of Jane's facility and I dropped of a couple bags of fleeces for processing. Can't wait to get them! Of course, I have more that I need to take down there before spring shearing...

We should start lambing in a few weeks. It's been so blasted cold here that I haven't even wanted to think about it. Checked a couple of the girls and they are starting to bag up, so it won't be long.

Honey is due with her pups in less than 2 weeks. She's getting to that fat and uncomfortable stage; she groans every time she moves now. She is definitely bigger than Yuna was at the same time. Either we're having larger pups or there are more of them... Just what everyone needs is a house FULL of English Shepherds!

Given the pedigree of this litter, we're expecting strong working instincts, even temperaments, and a biddable nature. I can track back the pedigree for several generations, and while that's no guarantee of working ability, it does give some reassurance that the ancestors of these dogs were evaluated worthy of carrying on the breed. The Mohns and Beebe lines of English Shepherds have produced traditional working farm family dogs. Their dogs can be traced back to the 50's and earlier. We can only hope that ours will also fall into that category in future generations.

Next time I post just might be with puppy pictures!

No comments: