Blessings

We ventured down the hillside in a fine mist this morning and I stopped dead in my tracks.  The long awaited blessed event had happened - Northside Hay Mow Mama Duck had hatched nine little yellow fluff balls with tiny bills and webbed feet.  I have many baby farm animals here, but there is something about those ducklings.  These are likely purebred Pekins - big white ducks.  We had been watching the nest for weeks.  Oh how I wish Luke was here to see them.  The Southside Swedish Blue Driveway ducklings are so big I had to look hard to distinguish them from the adults.  After several failed nests over the last couple of years these two groups of ducklings this summer are so precious.  I set up a waterer in the barnyard and threw out some dry cat food for mama - her favorite snack.  The babies are already eating grass and bugs, making me thing they are a couple of days old.  I climbed the ladder and checked the nest.  Four unhatched eggs were still in the nest.  I brought them inside and put them under lights.  Who knows?  They were kinda cold, but we'll see.  In the meantime I have counted nine babies several times today.  I hope the three adult ducks in the Northside posse are as protective as the Soutside Swedish Blues.  I don't think so as they look so mellow.  Time will tell.  Cats lurking everywhere but, incredibly, I still manage to hatch dozens and dozens of tiny chicks - one bite and swallow for a cat.  In the meantime, the dye pots are bubbling and the fiber pipeline is moving.  The fleeces start on the floor with me picking through each and every lock, removing any chaff and tags.  Then the washing machine, then the dye pots, then the washing machine again, then the drying rack.  Each step takes time and care to do it right.  In the works now - a purple/midnight blue/black mohair and wool run.  I just started a turquoise Merino felting batt like the one I made last year.  It sold at Maryland.  What else can you do with fiber an inch long?  The lady was thrilled to get it last spring.  Maybe she'll come back and let me know how she liked it.  I have plenty of it.  I will be working hard on fiber from now on, with sneaks at sewing and spinning at night before I close my eyes.   Found some totes cut out and will sew for a while.  Seven Bundaflicka Knitting Totes to add to the bag rack at the Hamilton market tomorrow.  Funny how the mostly non-knitters get to see these totes first.   They look at me quizzically when I tell them I make the bags for knitting as I'm a shepherd and raise sheep for wool.  I don't even say goats for mohair - that's too much for them to ponder.   Rabbits for angora throws them completely.  There was a time when I probably would have given the same blank stare in response.  Now it's my life's work.  Raining steadily now, ensuring the green grass will continue growing and my sheep will be fat going into winter.  Not a bad way to go into the lean times.  I hope Northside Mama Hay Mow Duck has the babies safely tucked away between the round bales.