Sidney kept me company yesterday while I made cranberry strings. He likes raw cranberries! He likes all berries, blueberries the best. I didn’t give him too many but he was most fascinated as the string grew and wiggled around under his nose! Along with our living room tree, I wanted a little tree for the kitchen this year. It’s decorated with animal ornaments and bobbles. It’s a fun addition!

We have had a number of gray days lately so yesterday Shelley and Sidney took advantage of the warm rays. Sidney loves to lay out in the front yard pondering his universe, moreso with some warm protection underneath. Both these dogs love the snow…Sid gets such a charge out of running the fields with the snow on them and they both snuffle into the grass tufts looking for unsuspecting mice.

I am diverting from the horrors of yesterday. In a numbness now. I could just stare out the window all day but need to get back to my routine of the farm, work and friendships. Life without Ursus now begins.

This is a fun way to help feed the hungry and boost your knowledge of the English language. I got a 41 pretty quickly but then seem to have leveled off. You can save your score and come back to it later by clicking Options. Click on this link and fire away!

www.freerice.com

The past couple of days have been absolutely frigid here. It always seems colder before the snow is on the ground but that event is upon us. We are supposed to get at least 4″ out of this storm which will put a nice start on the White Christmas theme.

I celebrated my birthday this weekend and had a fine time of it. My friend Debbie came up from the coast on Friday and we had lots of fun. Debbie is a fantastic chef and so Friday she cooked for me here at the farm. We had a fire, drank good wine and watched a dumb movie! Saturday we went north to Norwich, VT to the King Arthur Flour store www.kingarthurflour.com which was great fun. Loads of baking items plus gift ideas and fresh baked goods. A chef’s treat for sure. We topped it off with dinner at Nicola’s resturant in Keene.

Debbie got on the road mid-day today and is now safe and sound by the sea once again. The snow has started and the sun is down, the sheep have full hay racks and a great shelter from the storm. Jack has been hunting all weekend and we look forward to his arrival! All in all a great weekend!

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the NY Sheep and Wool Festival and how the fleece sale “lost” one of my fleeces. Well it’s true. Not lost but stolen. I dropped my fleeces off at 8AM on Saturday in time for the judging and went off to vend at my booth. My friend, Maryann, who helped me at the festival with the booth, took a walk over at noon to see how things were going. At that point Daphne’s fleece was already gone. And the staff had no record of the sale. I checked twice more, incredulous that someone would steal the fleece. Nothing ever came of it. I received the check for the sold fleeces today and it didn’t cover the missing fleece. I am so shocked.

What also shocks me is the way the staff treated the situation. It was no big deal to them; I was made to feel a nuisance in their day. And I didn’t even make a stink, like some might. What was the point? I called last week to check and see if they had come up with any paperwork. No return call. No nothing. I will never do business at that show again regarding fleece sales. I have shown and sold at festivals all over New England, never once losing one. And the security at some of the other festivals was looser that NY.

I was so proud of that fleece, it was the best I had this year. But 7 pounds of beautiful, soft gray CVM/Romeldale fleece is in some house somewhere at the hands of a thief. Shame on that person. Their taste is excellent, their conduct deplorable. May the grease never wash out!!