Desert Weyr Blog
-
Black Welsh Show and Sale, September 4th, 2008
In the pens, ready to be judged. Ted Williams with his ewe entry. Julia Patterson with her ram. Judge Matthew Evans checking the turn of a ram’s horns. The Adult Ram class. E.O. Williams with his ram. A couple of nice older rams. A very nice boy with wide-spread horns. Checking the shoulders. Checking the… Continue reading
-
Abergavenny, September 3rd, 2008
This is the Park Guest House, the B&B where I stayed in Abergavenny. I took the first day there to recover, then spent all day on the fourth walking around Abergavenny and doing touristy stuff. Our first stop was, of course, the castle. The ladies at the castle museum sent me on to the St.… Continue reading
-
Solar Continues
The installation of the solar hot water system continues. The heat sink pipe is now in the ground, and it’s been fully covered. Continue reading
-
Solar Hot Water System Started
We’ve decided to install a solar hot water system to provide domestic hot water and heat to the house in winter. We already use a combination hot water heater and boiler that gives us domestic hot water and in-floor radiant heat, but it’s propane-fired. We are in an excellent area for solar, and we hope… Continue reading
-
Some of the Horses
Here are a few of the mares out on pasture. We’ve run out of grass in the back, so they’re getting hay for now. Continue reading
-
Chickens
The first batch of dinner chickens is ready to butcher. These guys are a bit smaller than last year, but they’re also two weeks younger. The difference in food costs may offset the smaller size. Anyway, we’ve been out of chicken for a while, so it will be good to get them done. We do… Continue reading
-
Spare Bovine
We had a spare bull show up at the house yesterday. The neighbor had borrowed a bull to breed his two cows to, and the bull decided to go on a walkabout around the entire mesa. He visited several places, including ours. After strolling past the house, he went back to harass the guard dogs.… Continue reading
-
North Fork Fiber Guild
With the loom assembled, the next step was to tie it up and get it ready for warping. Margaret, Monica, and Elena all helped me learn how to tie everything up and set it for weaving. We set it up for a balanced twill and tabby just to play with initially. Continue reading
-
Sheep Show
Thursday was the sheep show at the Delta County Fair. We took nine sheep. Three were ewe lambs, three were ram lambs, and three were aged ewes. Stephanie and Jacob trained the sheep with me, and all three of us showed in the open classes. The poor judge had never seen little black sheep before,… Continue reading
-
Chicken Show
Tuesday was the Delta County Fair Open and 4H Poultry Show. The Hellecksons and I show chickens in the open class. Here we are in the judging lineup with our old Gold Pencilled Hamburg hens, who were molting and looked pretty scruffy. Stephanie took first, Jacob second, and I had a barely-not-disqualified third. My birds’… Continue reading